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WDW Radio # 726 – Nomad Lounge Review

Join me at the table at one of my favorite lounges in Walt Disney World, Nomad Lounge in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We review not just the entire (large) menu, but the entire experience, as I do something I’ve never done before.

Thanks to Amanda Bauner from Me and the Magic, Lisa DiNoto Glassner from The Castle Run and Core Memory Candles, and Conor Brown from WDW Opinion

Have you tried the menu at Nomad Lounge yet? What did you think? Share your thoughts in the WDW Radio Clubhouse at WDWRadio.com/Clubhouse, or call the voicemail at 407-900-9391 (WDW1) and share your story on the show.

Comment and share your questions, thoughts, and tips in our WDW Radio Clubhouse Community on Facebook or call the Voicemail and be heard “On the Air” at 407-900-9391

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Click Here To Read The Full Podcast Episode Transcript

Lou Mongello: In more than 18 plus years of podcasting, I am happy. I pride myself that I've never, at least I don't remember, ever repeated a topic of the show. And within that, I've never repeated a live dining review of a restaurant until now, because when I hear that one of my favorite live dining review menus has almost completely changed, I think with no power comes great responsibility.

I feel an obligation almost to come back to Visit Nomad Lounge. When we do our top 10 lounges of Walt Disney World, there's a good chance this is gonna be very high. On the list. So for the first time, I think ever, I'm returning back to a, a destination, a dining destination for a live dining review. And when I say that I can't do, do these alone, I mean it for many reasons.

One, because I've never monologue a show. Two, I could not attack this entire menu by myself literally having to call in reinforcements as I looked online and saw just how many items are on this menu. So joining me again on the show in no particular order other than ladies first and somewhat clockwise around the table is Amanda Bonner from me and The Magic.

Amanda Bauner: I am very hungry and so excited to be here. I love Nomad

Lou Mongello: Lounge. You're so excited. You're literally wearing a custom Nomad lounge. A refreshing Oasis shirt of your own design. Yes,

Amanda Bauner: soon to be available Lounge Wear by me and the magic.com.com.

Lou Mongello: It'll be like, it'll be available soon. June 1st.

Amanda Bauner: June 1st. June 1st will be available

Lou Mongello: yet.

This is like impressive. Also coming back, not her first rodeo or live dining review is Lisa de Nodo Glassner from the Castle Run and Core Memory Candles. I'm

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: always here to volunteer as tribute for a review, especially I, I happen to have been here for the first live dining review at Nomad Lounge and I was telling Lou after this morning that I remember that like as one of the best ever.

So I'm very

Lou Mongello: excited. And is there a core Merry Candles that smells like, no. What does Nomad Lounge smell like

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: there? Sure, there is, it's called Ocean Flight.

Lou Mongello: Is there like a tuna poke, chicken wing, scented candle, something? Some things shouldn't be invented. And I think our last dining review may have also included chicken wings.

It didn't, but it is. Connor Brown from wdw opinion.com.

Conor Brown: You know, am I excited to be here because it's an historic day, the first time you've revisited a place. Sure. What am I really excited to hear? Uh, to be here for all the food. All the food, and I'm happy

Lou Mongello: to be here. And there's a lot of it. Yeah. Like I'm not getting, like Amanda and I were talking about like coming to do a review of Nomad and this week as I looked at the menu, it's huge, right?

Cuz for a short period of time, like sort of post covid, the menu around property, were, were much smaller. This menu is extensive at best. I mean, it, it's almost, it, it's, it's almost more like dining experience than I would call it like a lounge because there's so much, cuz some lounges have like one or two kind of signature items here.

There's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 plus wait, including specials 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 plus. A super, it's not a secret cuz it's on the menu, but like a bonus menu. So I lost count. There's like 16 items on the menu if my math is right. That's why there's four of us. Um, there is a lot. So you've all been here before?

Conor Brown: Oh yeah. Many times.

Many times. And I love the variety too. It's not just traditional bar food, lounge food, there's substance, there's different flavors. That's why I love it here so much in the atmosphere

Amanda Bauner: obviously. And they also have really creative drinks. Mm-hmm. But it's one of my favorite places to come in Animal Kingdom and in any park.

And I'll go on record right now. I know it shares the same kitchen as Tiffins. I prefer coming here over

Lou Mongello: Tiffins. I agree with you. And you're right. The, the drink menu itself is a six page front and back fold out. So there's a lot. And I agree with you Connor. The menu here is why I like it is it's super flavorful.

Like there's a y sort of spectrum of flavor, including some stuff that doesn't mind getting a little spicy, a little. Mm-hmm. A little saucy, a little spicy, much like Lisa, little saucy, little spicy sometimes.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Yeah, I mean, I think it's definitely like, setting aside the fact that it's even a lounge, it's I think one of the best dining experiences in the parks period.

And I mean, I don't know that it's fair to say like, you prefer Tiff's or you prefer this. I mean, I would come, I've probably been here 20 times for every time I've been to Tiff's, Tiff's just a nice restaurant and a fine dining experience. This is just a gorgeous chill lounge. They've got great food.

We're sitting outside, which is just the place to be under the fans. And like, if Lou isn't hot on a mayday and animal kingdom, like, you know, they're regulating their temps, right? Because with the fans overhead in the shade, I think it's, it's a good temperature.

Lou Mongello: I know I'm hot, but it's only cuz I've been reading the menu.

But yeah, there's, there's an inside and there's a, you know, you could sort of just walk up to the bar. There's, there's high tops as well as couches, but outside is the place to be. Um, it's a semicircular outdoor area that overlooks the bridge into Pandora. If you listen behind, you hear not just, Um, themed music, but you hear the sounds of Pandora sort of bleeding over into the area.

Um, so let's just take a quick sort of overview of the menu, decide we're gonna get to order and we can also look at the beverages as well. The Nobel Lounge menu consists of Cuban Frida sliders beef and pork patties. I'm smiling and drooling, a little bit crispy shoestring potatoes and moho yuko fries at $16.

Yes, please. Impossible sliders with Chipotle aioli. Also with yuko fries. I think we have to smoked pork ribs with a sweet, so soy glaze. An apple, apple hiam slaw at $10. A chicken manchurian bowl with steamed rice, red cabbage, kimchi, ginger scallion oil, and cremini mushrooms at $13 and it has a big square around it, which means the tuna poke bowl is exceptional at $16.

Steamed rice edamame, pickled radish, chili, sesame glaze. I remember this from last time, and I'm a, I am, um, I'm a huge fan of poke. There's also churros, but there's also a special menu that has tiffins bread service with coconut curry sauce, guava sauce, and ginger paired chutney at $14. You had me at bread service.

Um, there's a seasonal soup. The land what? What's that word? Salat. Salat. Salad. Salad. Oh. It's this week's harvest of young lettuce and vegetable from the land pavilion at Epcot center. Walnut, roasted tomato muhammara, garlic breadcrumbs, fed sumac and citrus vinegarette. We'll just assume that that's delicious.

The charcuterie, um, is $19 and there's also a honey glaze, uh, sorry. A honey chili glazed pork belly at $15 with chorizo goat cheese biscuit. Soft poach eggs and toss. So great. Good night. I can't even get the words out of my mouth. And timing is everything to honor Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, also known as A A P I H M.

It's the Bangkok crispy chicken wings with Nook Cham, caramel, peanuts, and cilantro at 16. And a coconut mango cocktail. Par Parrot babe Coconut Rome stole vanilla vodka, mango puree, and coconut milk. Just bring us everything but the leafy

Conor Brown: greens. I could watch you read that menu all day.

Amanda Bauner: Next is the drink menu.

Here we go.

Lou Mongello: I'm so, I'm so happy. Like just reading that menu gets me. So was there anything on there that stood out to you? Other than all of the above.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: So I'm, I mean, we're obviously like a little familiar with the menu. I'm crazy excited for the pork belly. Yeah. I'm very, very excited for all of the Asian American offerings and that chicken Manchurian bowl and the Cuban sliders.

Lou Mongello: I just like con in the background, just going like, yeah, just like cheering. Like let's go.

Conor Brown: Hey, let's go team.

Amanda Bauner: Let's go. I've had their, a lot of those things, but the wings and the sliders and those yucca fries really good. Yeah.

Lou Mongello: And just look like we're on this big, like u-shaped, like comfy like couch that we're sinking into.

It's, we literally, we went around the table. We've literally postponed all of our afternoon meetings until later because we know that this is going to be a bit of an experience. Okay. You mentioned the fact that there is, uh, an extensive and beautiful menu too, um, here at Nomad Lounge. Take us through some of the, the highlights cuz there's, I mean, there's gotta be 10, 15 different drinks on there and they're all, they're all themed different.

Regions of the world. Right. There's an Africa section and Asia section. Yeah.

Amanda Bauner: And there's both alcoholic and a lot of non-alcoholic drinks for those who are not imbibing, but they have different rum. Vodka of course, wine and beer. There's a coffee drink with some whiskey and brown sugar and butter. That sounds very interesting, but I will not be getting that.

But says, and then they've got a lot of the non-alcoholic versions of the alcoholic drinks that uh, are pretty potent. So they're tasty but potent

Lou Mongello: and that's new. Right. I, I think as you were reading, many said that having a non-aco, it's not just having non-alcoholic drinks, but I love the idea of non-alcoholic versions of some of the popular signature drinks here, cuz Connor's also 11 by the way.

We forgot

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: the question. Yeah, so this is actually new to me since the last time that I've been here. They have phenomenal cocktails. Their snow leopard salvation is actually one of my favorite drinks on property. But now on the menu for several of the drinks, there is a non-alcoholic version that. Still like a proper mixed drink without the alcohol.

Um, which is awesome. Like every time you see that on a menu, anytime you see like a mocktail that's not just like lemonade with something in it, it's nice. So these, I'm excited pr, maybe we could try one of them.

Conor Brown: When compared to other bars around Disney property, what I love about this is the drinks aren't cut and dry.

Like you see a very similar menu at most bars on property. This has a lot of exclusive stuff, a lot of stuff that you might have never even tried before. One of my personal favorites, the High Tower Rocks, you might be familiar with the term high tower in the Disney World. I think maybe in a little bit we'll talk about like the Imagineering side behind it cuz there's a lot of cool stories.

Not just within the restaurant, but they put in the menu and all these things. One of my personal favorites, beer wise, Which I might be getting is the Congolese another, uh, imaginary reference from the Adventurers Club, which again, to date myself was a little bit before my time, but I love that beer. The only three places you can get on property right now are right here at Nomad Lounge, um, at um, um, skipper Canteen, and then also at Jock Lindsay's Brute, exclusively for Walt Disney World.

So another cool little addition on the menu. Can

Lou Mongello: you do the Adventures Club Congo Salute?

Conor Brown: I told you it predates me. I was, I was a little, a little boy when it closed.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: I was gonna say, if you use the frame, not to date yourself to talk about how young you are, it speaks about Can

Conor Brown: I not, is that not how that works or, oh, sorry.

Amanda Bauner: They have a lot of the wines that Animal Kingdom Lodge has, which has one of the largest wine selections of all the African wines, but the spice throughout Chocolate Locker, red blend is one of my favorites.

Lou Mongello: Is that what you're, is that gonna be your lunchtime indulgence?

Amanda Bauner: Um, maybe not today cuz it's, I want something a little more icy cuz it's a little warm.

Although we are in the shade with lovely fans to, uh, cool us down.

Lou Mongello: Yeah, I think I'm probably gonna try one of the non-alcoholic versions because I'm driving and podcasting of one of the, like the, the night monkey. That the Happy, happy ack is the non-alcoholic version of the Night monkey, which normally would have plantation, dark ru guava, purees coffee, simple syrup, and lime juice.

With that, just a hint, a hint of cilantro and it comes in the little fancy glass too.

Conor Brown: A, a fancy glass for a fancy boy.

Lou Mongello: Listen, considering that you're getting a drink that comes up with a light up buzz light ear, I would not, I would

Conor Brown: no.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Some of these drink, you read them and then you wonder what's left.

And the non-alcoholic. Yeah. But I'm sure they're really good. I think the, the, an apping is always really good. Um, and I've never had the dings delight, but that, so the Night Monkey, the an apping and Thes Delight all have non-alcoholic versions.

Lou Mongello: I'm, I'm

Conor Brown: incredibly excited. I think it's time to order.

Lou Mongello: Uh, so Sean, in the, in the interest of doing, uh, thorough and extensive research, when I say it's probably easier if I tell you what we don't want, but I'll still go through it anyway.

We're gonna do the, the Cuban sliders. Sounds good. Are we also doing the impossible sliders too? They're good. Very flavorful. All right. The impossible sliders too. Okay. The smoked ribs, the chicken bowl, the tuna poke bowl. You guys got my four top? The bread service, obviously. Just outta curiosity, what's the seasonal soup?

So it's a Calabasas soup. It's gonna be a squash soup. A little bit on the spicier side. Has some jalapenos in there. And ginger paired. Cheney cream based. It's hot enough as it is. I'm gonna bypass the soup and the salad salon. We're obviously, we have to do the pork belly. Okay. And the chicken wings. Are we doing or not charcuterie?

Or not charcuterie? I don't think we need to. All right. Well, if we're still hungry, we'll get, get the, uh, the charcuterie and then to drink.

Amanda Bauner: Uh, hi hibiscus. Henna please.

Lou Mongello: Oosh.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Um, I'll have the, the zing gier busy. The non-alcoholic unpr. Cool.

Lou Mongello: And I'll try the, the happy Mahachi Macka, the non-alcoholic night monkey, please.

Thank you all guys. I'll put it right in. Thank you. Any allergies or anything maybe I need to know about? No. Nope. No. Good. Thank. Okay, so we just had our drinks and our first two out of 17 or so appetizers. First things first, cheers, my friends and to you at home. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you.

Gimme a let me, uh, quick review of a taste of your

Amanda Bauner: beverage. Love it. Hibiscus, henna with the watermelon lime spread

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: up my alley. It's very good. I forget what it was called. It was the, an apprentice z non-alcoholic. So it's the Z gibber fizzy. It's very good. It's got like a nice little pineapple and I think there's, there's supposed to be ginger beer in it.

Conor Brown: It's good. The oosh, again, what I was uh, describing before spiced ale. Very refreshing, but very flavorful. I'd love it. Get it every time I'm here. What did you get, Lou?

Lou Mongello: Listen, I'm gonna pronounce it how I think I need to, I'm gonna call it the Happy Macha, which is the non-alcoholic version of the Night Monkey.

Uh, you definitely, um, uh, taste the, the guava. It says guava puree, but it's, it's a very thin, um, it's, I was afraid it was gonna be like when I heard puree, it was some sort of a heavy smoothie type drink at all. But it's got some lime juice and a little bit of cilantro. Almost like there's a little, like a little bit of pepper on top.

It's not super sweet, which I really like cuz it's not, cuz sort of overpower the first portion of our lunch today, which is the bread service. Um, there are three different types of breads in there. There's a Papa don, like a Brazilian cheese bread, and

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: I think it was a Thai milk bread. Um, and they said the Thai milk bread to have with the guava, the Brazilian cheese bread to have with the curry that's here.

And then the papa do, I think is, I forget the third. It's like a chair. It's like Anu of some other

Lou Mongello: chutney. Yeah. And I love this, right? It's sort of served in this, um, we have our wings. Oh, we doesn't matter where? No, just as long as it's in front of me. Put it wherever you like. This is the veggie sliders.

Oh, look at that. The Cuban Frida sliders. Hello. And then the poke cable. Hey. And the chicken and the ribs are on it work. Nice. Thank you. Nice. We're gonna need a bigger boat. Um, wow. Uh, I'm obviously gonna post photos of these in the show notes@wwradio.com. First of all, I love the presentation of the food here.

Mm-hmm. It's beautiful, right? We really do start eating food with our eyes before we get to actually taste it. Um, but I love the presentation. Everything is actually super share. I was talking about the briers being super shareable. Those wings look insane. Lisa put my poke down. Um, and then we also have the, the pork belly too, while they're, while they're photographing everything.

Taking a quick look. Connor, what is your, what is your heart? Your mind? Your eyes and your, your, your little tummy. Go first. Hi.

Conor Brown: Everything. Um, that braised pork, uh, pork belly with like a perfectly cooked poached egg. It's so pretty. Um, I'm going to destroy it. Uh, and then the pork ribs just showed up and it might change my mind.

I think it's a pork ribs chicken. Oh, thank you. Oh my god. Everybody's doing

Lou Mongello: good. Yes, sir. We're, this is the best. Apologies at all, right. None at all. This is like the best day ever, ever. Amanda's holding the chicken wings cuz there's nowhere else to put them. We decided to hit the crispy chicken wings first.

I'm so happy we did. Lisa literally flung herself back against the, the cushion. Rolled her eyes on the back of her head and uttered something that was unintelligible. Those are delicious.

Amanda Bauner: I dropped the bone. I got really excited as I was eating it. They're fantastic. Nice crispy skin and the flavor is phenomenal.

Conor Brown: I love a chicken wing that isn't just a buffalo chicken wing, you know, as much as I love buffalo chicken wings, but it's got, it's crazy. When you read it, it says caramel peanut cilantro. You think that doesn't make any sense. Bangkok crispy chicken wings, nuke, chum caramel, peanuts, and cilantro. But it's not overly sweet.

It's got just the right, you know, savory to sweet level. Uh, they have some peppers over there too, which might be nice to, as an acure ma for a little heat, um, was so crispy.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Best wing on property. What I think that's a best wing I've had on property. There were, they were all like, what you'd call a flat, I think.

Yeah. But they had a ton of, of meat on them. The crispy on them is just perfect. The sauce that they're in is great. And doesn't take away from the crispy on the outside. That was, I don't, I don't know where we go from here, but that was No, you

Lou Mongello: go to these red, so I won't even, so I was afraid. I'm not afraid.

Cuz sometimes you get wings that is just mm-hmm. Drenched in sauce. They're thick. And when you see sweetness sometimes it doesn't work. Let's just talk about the wing itself. A super meaty, thinly fried, but super crispy on the outside. Yeah. But like so moist and tender on the inside. And I love the fact that there was a lot of meat on the wings as well as it's supposed to be.

The sauce is an accent to the flavor of the wing that, that doesn't sometimes get lost. You hear like, you know, Peter Brenner and Jelly Wings are fun and they're, you know, Instagramable. But this is, you're right, this is actually, somebody write this down. I need to do a top 10 chicken wings on property because this, I'll be there.

Conor Brown: I'm, I'm free for that. I'm available for that.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: And look at, I mean you can see it fell off the bone. Yeah. Like absolutely nothing went to waste here. That was great. So excited.

Lou Mongello: In this short amount of time, Connor's already done with his rib. Wow. You literally just got down to the little nobb of her. You're not supposed to eat the bone.

Conor Brown: Yeah, well too late. That ribs fantastic. As good as that chicken wing is, that rib is delightful for all the same reasons. Falls off the bone tender crunch. The dipping sauce that it has is great. And again, it's not like your traditional American barbecued rib. It's got some, some different flavors to it.

Um, it's good cuz it's, it's a lot of accessible food, right? Like we see sliders, we see chicken wings, we see ribs, things we're all comfortable with. But if you're not adventurous eater, this is a nice gateway to a little bit of a more adventurous palette with familiar item.

Amanda Bauner: I mean, the bone is clean, pick clean.

It's a really good rub. Little seasoning on it, nice saltiness and the sauce. I didn't get enough. I was trying to be kind. I was the first one to take it, leave plenty of sauce for everybody else, but it is phenomenal. Again, really, really good.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: I was not aware there was a sauce, but I'm pretty much finished.

My, I know they're like, oh, Michael, what sauce are they talking about? It's phenomenal. It's phenomenal for all the same reasons as the Wing. Um, let me, it falls off the bone and if you tend to not, sometimes I don't love ri wings as like a, I'm sorry, ribs as like a textural thing, like if it's fatty or something, and that's not an issue for me here.

Lou Mongello: It has a wonderful char and sear on the outside, even just, again, I'm talking about the quality of. The, the rib and the meat and the way that it's cooked. First the sauce is, is delicious. It's flavorful, it's not overly thick. Again, sometimes you get wing, you get ribs that are drenched in a, in a sauce, although there is extra on the side.

If you do want to drench just a little bit, that's a phenomenal rib. Um, it's, it's very different. So I think more and moto ribs are sort of in a, in a classical body. Yeah. Totally different. Cause that has a, that has a very thicker sort of, um, crust and stuff on it. Sweet. This is not this like the chicken wings.

The star is the, the rib itself, not necessarily just the sauce, which is delicious. I'm gonna dip my pinky in just to sort of taste it. Hold on. What? Hmm. I would put that on just about anything. You could put that on a, I'm a shoe and I would taste it. I'm, I'm gonna dip one of those. You could fries in that sauce.

Just so you know. I like the way you think. It's now slider time and we decided to do with the impossible sliders first. In order to, to be fair to the Cuban Frida sliders thoughts,

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: I love impossible. Like whenever it shows up in the parks, like, you know, if you're picky about your burgers, you can critique how close it is to the real thing.

But I think it comes darn close. And we were just talking about how texturally and like otherwise it holds up against, you know, other, other meat substitutes. And I think like the impossible stuff does get the texture just right for the burger. And it had a nice little kick when that the, uh, Chipotle aioli that was on it.

Connor

Lou Mongello: still eating the chicken wings. Why? There was another chicken wings. It

Amanda Bauner: reminded me of the impossible slider. That was a couple years ago. I think it was at Flower and Garden Festival Flavor and Fire. Yeah, I think it's a really good flavor. I don't know what the, uh, aioli or whatever was on there that was vegan, but uh, it added really nice, um, flavor to it.

And overall very good. And I like the uca fries a lot too.

Lou Mongello: I really like the impossible stuff. Um, we were just saying, I, I'm not a huge fan of the beyond. It's a, it's a textural and, and flavor thing for me. Uh, my daughter eats a lot of, of impossible stuff. I think Disney does a really good job with it. And I like the fact here too much.

Like at the, the festivals, they're not afraid to put a little bit of heat in there. There's in that Chipotle oli, I think texturally it does. It's sort of, it's almost a combination of ground beef and like, this reminded me almost of like a sloppy Joe, right? Yeah. You know, the texture of like a sloppy Joe, which I miss from grammar school, but I digress.

But like, I would be happy ordering this not as, oh, I need to order a vegan option, but I would order this. Because I just really enjoyed the, the flavor and the taste of it. I do it all the

Conor Brown: time. I'm not, I'm far from vegan and, but I order, I order these all the time cause I like 'em so much cuz the heat, the texture, the flavor, uh, pro tip, the yucca fries are very good, but if you're not about that, you can just get regular french fries as a substitute if you want.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: But you shouldn't do that because the yucca fries are

Lou Mongello: delicious and we've been dipping. Oh, thank you. We've been dipping them in one of the sauces that we got with the breads. Or we're gonna eat some more sauces. Yeah, those

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: are, if you have never had a yucca fry, don't let it hold you off from trying it.

It really just tastes like a very like, sort of hardy, dense french fry, like a super thick, hardy french fry. Um, they're really, really good. Um, and sometimes it's nice just to get the impossible, like on a hot park day. Like I too, I'm nowhere near a vegan, but it's a nice option to have sometimes because, The meat options can be a little bit heavier and sit a little bit heavier in your stomach on

Lou Mongello: a day like this.

The two of you, I'm nowhere near vegan. I hunt my own food, like I'm not sure what, like the distinguishment between near vegan and not near vegan. Right. Let's move on to the non-vegan burgers. So these are the Cuban Frida sliders, which are beef and pork patties, which is almost more of like a pulled pork type of of meat.

But you even said as Conor likes speakers, um, that it, it actually tasted more, somebody said it tasted almost more like a sloppy joe Yeah. Than the other one did. Yeah, that

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: tasted more like a sloppy joe to me. Like it had that pooled pork, like you said, texture and it was a little bit sier. It was good, but not what I expected.

I was expecting more of like that Cuban, when they said the word Cuban, I was thinking like more of a Cuban sandwich type flavor. And it's not that, but it is still good.

Lou Mongello: I think these, um, crispy shoestring potatoes, which is not. What I was imagining, I was imagining those things that my grandmother gave me out of a can, like when I was a little kid.

Frenchies, but Frenchies. Yeah. But these are like, like super, super thin. Um, very like, sort of wispy Yeah. Potatoes. But it has like a nice little seasoning to it, uh, as well. And it gives a nice little bit of texture that the other one didn't have.

Conor Brown: I guess when I read a menu and it says Cuban, I have a, a very distinct idea in my head of what it's gonna be.

It's gonna be a Cuban salmon tray. You're gonna have your pork, you're gonna have your, your ham, your pickles, your, your mustard on some great bread. It's very different. Um, I think maybe they would've going for Cuban as in the sense of the flavors that it was bringing as a flotilla comes by. Another great reason to, uh, dine here.

You see the characters going by on, on the river. Um, but I put impossible over that. That's crazy. It sounds.

Amanda Bauner: I think that it was very good. I actually like the impossible better. I know they're far different, you know, items, but I really like the impossible flavor. And, uh, this one I could, it was fine. Uh,

Conor Brown: I could skip it.

One important point, when you order the sliders, they come two, so two sliders and some, uh, . Uh, Usually you ask 'em if you can get an extra one. They'll order, uh, they'll put on an extra one for you if you have a lot of people at the table. I,

Amanda Bauner: I will say that this is one of my favorite places to come solo, and everything on this table is like a really good portion for one person.

Maybe not like all 17 items we ordered, but if you got like one bowl or one thing of the two sliders and four big yucca fries, you know that that's a good portion for a snack or a meal

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: for someone. It's also very sort of hangout friendly because it's not like you're sitting here and you're ordering one big plate of food that's gonna sit in front of you while you sit and nurse a drink and maybe do some work or something while you're sitting here for a few hours, but like to be able to like, Order a lot of different options off this menu since there's so many good things to try.

We're awesome. Thank you. Um, and then also kind of have fresh stuff coming to you in small pieces throughout the day. It's sort of like a top of style ordering almost more than, it's

Lou Mongello: almost like they bring the buffet to you, just sort of like, what an idea. Right? If you just sort of like space 'em out a little bit.

Like just keep the food coming every five minutes until I pass out and every, every 15 minutes after that. Um, I agree. I would order the imposs, I would come to order the impossible scenarios. Cause I really like the flavor and I like the texture a little bit better. And then come closer. Come closer. Pro tip.

Cause we overheard somebody talking to the, one of the servers about this rumor has it that if you ask very, very nicely, you can also order the lobster mac and cheese from Tiffins outside here. It's not on the menu, it's not on a secret menu. But if you ask, we did hear it happen at a nearby table that I want to go into this so I can try some of her lobster mac and cheese.

But we got it. We still

Conor Brown: have, we, we have pork belly, uh, we have poke, we have chicken bread. We

Lou Mongello: gotta eat. I know. I think, I think we should move to the pork belly next. Cause we don't want that to sort of, is that like a euphemism or you just literally want 'em to crack the egg? There's an

Conor Brown: egg on there and it needs to be cracked.

That yoke needs to be broken on that bad boy.

Lou Mongello: Stop the presses. Vicki Veil. That is really, that's, I know it's a DC reference. I'm sorry, but I go You, you don't know who Vicki Veil is? No. Oh my God. Wait, you've never seen Michael Keaton's original one and only Batman? Oh, I

Conor Brown: know. Uh, let's get, you wanna get nuts?

You

Lou Mongello: wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts. How is he? But whatever. We'll come back to. We we're gonna have good

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Gandhi. That is rich. That is phenomenal. Like what? There's some, I have to talk about what flavors are happening because that's like, it's very, very rich.

Lou Mongello: I want to ask about getting a basket of those biscuits to take home with me and just eat on the chorizo goat cheese biscuit.

I want to just dip anything I can into this sauce too. It's very,

Amanda Bauner: very decadent. Uh, there is some, I don't know if it's. Butter and or different oils and or something. But it is really, really rich. You look like you're about to cry. Like No, in a good way. In a good way. My heart is

Lou Mongello: happy. No, I mean, it's a good cry.

Connor's still looking up Batman. I think

Conor Brown: to, to re to redo it, we just ate the honey chili, glazed pork belly, which is, uh, it comes with chorizo goat cheese biscuit, which is just a little like, almost like a soft, tiny muffin, soft poached egg tasso gravy. Um, you know what that tastes like? That tastes like more, that's what that tastes like.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. Wow. I'm so sad. I had to share that with a little bit for

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: you. I don't get a lot of goat cheese. I'll say I, it's phenomenal, but I almost get like a parm. There's something else going on from the cheese, on the cheese end. I'm not sure what it is. I'm gonna

Lou Mongello: take another piece of, let us know the pork.

Yeah. And I'm just gonna, Slather through whatever that only because I, cuz con right, the other chicken annoying again, the pork, like what came off the rib is meaty and it's not, it's, it's tender and it's soft and it con looks so sad now cause it doesn't have any con, lemme just tell you all it's, it's all gone.

Um, I love the sort of the, there's this little tingle on the back of my pallet from something that's like, not spicy, but a, but a spice. I really like

Amanda Bauner: that Tasso gravy. I had to look it up because I'm not familiar with it. It has leaks as the base and then a bunch of different seasonings, seafood seasoning, and then clammed juice and tomato juice.

Lou Mongello: So it's healthy. So I'm basically eating, it's like a protein

Conor Brown: shake. I don't know how you could have heard any of those words and thought, oh, that's healthy. Um, you know what's so great? This is. This is a lounge connected to a signature dining experience and it shows you don't get a whole lot of that across property, and that's where it really comes to the fore with this food.

You know, it's coming out of a kitchen where the people know what they're doing. Presentation flavor, bang, bang. It's a winner. Yeah,

Lou Mongello: it, that's a great point because it, it is a, it's an elevated lounge food experience and it's

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: also really, really accessible. I'm kind of running through my head of like the restaurants on property that have accompanying lounges with great menus and things like Steakhouse 71 or like.

Even the fact that you can like go to a space two 20 and like sit in the lounge there. But it's not that level of accessibility like here where you're literally just like walk up. You might have a little bit of a weight, but you're kind of killing time enjoying yourself at Animal Kingdom anyway. And then sitting in this beautiful space, it just feels like a more relaxed setting than like being like in the other side of the room at a restaurant necessarily, where you're kind of just ordering off the same menu.

Because this has a menu in its own right too. It's not like you're just getting like the same menu that you'd be getting at a different restaurant. Yeah.

Lou Mongello: I just want you all to know how, like genuinely happy. My little heartened something like I'm just, I'm like all of us have moved from somewhere else to be here.

Like just look where we are. We're among friends and Connor, and like, wait a second, but like, how nice is this?

Conor Brown: It's great. And this is one of the benefits obviously of, of living here or coming here frequently. You can just come and chill. You know? Is, is this something where you would. Factor into, uh, like a gungho plan, like a, a mor a sun up till sundown.

You just want to be in the parks. Maybe not, but if you've come a lot and you want to try something new and you want to be in the parks and you love just being in the parks and chilling and relaxing, nomad lounge is, is perfect for that in the animal kingdom.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Yeah, and I think it's also just a good, even if you are coming here like on a gungho like family trip where you're rope dropping the parks, I mean, I think it's really lovely just to know that something like this exists as an option.

Like if you're rope dropping animal kingdom and running in and doing flight of passage and it's like in the nineties and hotter than you know here, um, then it's, it, it, it's nice to know that there is an option like this because even if you didn't start your Gungho Park Day thinking that you'd be wanting to sit here in, in the afternoon, like it, remembering that this is an option is really nice, even if it wasn't in your original plans.

And that

Lou Mongello: would be a nice way to sort of round out. Our meal today, but we have not one, not two, but three more items to go.

Conor Brown: You bet your bottom dollar. We're getting dessert too,

Lou Mongello: by the way, right now. Um, I think we should hit next. I think we've got the bread, we've got the poke and I think we also have the chicken.

Chicken bowl. Manchurian.

Conor Brown: Chicken bowl. Yes. Uh, the chicken which stalling for time. Chicken Manchurian bowl. Uh, not to be confused with the Manchurian candidate. Steamed rice, red cabbage, kimchi, ginger scallion oil. Cini mushrooms. Huge portion. Portion. Um, you know, when you think about that rice protein, it, it's a bowl like thing.

Um, plenty to share. It has some fun little like styrofoam, peanuts, things. I always call those that just nice crunch to it. Um, but it's a

Lou Mongello: figure fork. At least don't even bother putting it in your plate. Oh, now you're just making 'em, now you're just making a mess. Sorry. So I love food. That's served in a bowl or in a sandwich or on my plate, but especially in a bowl, cuz you can sort of like mix it all up in there and get like a lot of stuff like in a single fork.

I would actually eat that with a giant spoon if I could. Um, this too, like has wonderfully flavored chicken, delicious jasmine rice. I love the, the pickled onions and the mushrooms as well. Thoughts around the table. It's got

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: a little heat to it actually. It's, it's really good. The rice is wonderful. The red cabbage gives it a great little texture as well as the little rice straw crunchies or whatever they are.

Um, the, the chicken is a really nice option. The tuna poke, which we'll try next, I'm sure is, is phenomenal. But this is a really nice option too, especially if you're not a raw fish person.

Conor Brown: And Amanda mentioned, you know, coming here by yourself, crashing at the bar. $13 for one person. That's a nice entree.

You could get a cocktail, you could get that. Maybe the bread service are, you're feeling a little risky, but that's, that'll, that'll fill you right up.

Amanda Bauner: Yeah. I had several s sizeable pieces of chicken breasts. They were breaded, but it was a light breading. And then when I bit into them, it didn't taste how I expected it to.

And I don't know if that's the ginger scallion oil or what exactly that was, but it was very, very good. And I liked the mushrooms especially added some good flavor.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. I would come back, like you said, and just, I, I would get that like, like you said, going to sit at the bar. Yeah. Speaking of bowls speaking, why'd you laugh when I said I like food in bowls?

I,

Conor Brown: I, you, I thought you were just gonna stop at I like food. I'm like, well, yeah.

Lou Mongello: Could've stop at any port in that, in that statement. I like food in bowls and on sandwiches and on plates.

Conor Brown: Tuna, poke bowl. It's got a box around it like Lou said, which means it's, it's a call out. Steamed rice, edamame, pickled radish, chili, sesame glaze, just right off the bat.

It's such a pretty dish, right? Colors everything. It's now being destroyed, but it's, it's, I gotta get my hands on this. One second. Oh, it's

Amanda Bauner: got some heat. I just took a bite. I that

Lou Mongello: chili. Give her a second. Yeah. Yeah. But that's like, I, I like the facts and first of all, some things do and you can certainly temper based on your palette, but I like coming to a place like this where I know I'm gonna have something that's sort of be a sort of wide hit on sort of the flavor spectrum.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Yeah, it has, it definitely has some heat to it. It just tastes really fresh. Like the colors are beautiful. It just feels like a very sort of full sensory experience. I

Lou Mongello: wouldn't know cause Connor's still taking his portion. I'm just, now he's just teasing me. So I love tuna poke. I probably get it at least once a week, uh, locally around my house.

I think this is a great light option. Like you said, there's a little bit of heat. You could probably ask them to maybe temper that a little bit because of, of the glaze. Uh, I think it's a, it's a very nice light meal, especially on a, on a hot day like today where you, the 360 some odd days of the end are really hot in Florida.

Um, but I like this one a lot. And this is what comes in at $15. Yeah,

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: it's 16. Um, you know, it's, it's also a bowl type dish and again, it's gorgeous. Like Lou always says, you eat with your eyes first and this is definitely like, checks all the boxes there. I love the rice that it's served with. It's not a sticky rice that's a jasmine rice, but it's very sort of buttery almost.

If you've had rice that's cooked like that and it's really just wonderful and it's very just fresh and light.

Conor Brown: I think what's great about it is yes, there's some spice to it, but everything's sep separate to a certain extent. Yes. The tuna poke is, is covered in the, the, um, the, uh, What is it? The chili sesame glaze and it's on top of the rice, but the edamame is over to the side by itself.

The pickled radish is over to the side by itself. So it, if it is a little bit too spicy, get a couple edamame, cleanse the pallet, cool it down, and then go back in for more. Or you can be crazy and just mix it all together and it's delightful. I just went

Lou Mongello: back in again. I can't get, now I'm actually looking for some of the spice.

I think Amanda just ate all of the spice. I think I was the

Amanda Bauner: first one in, and I'm feeling it even the back of the throat. But it's good spice and I would definitely have that for a, a full meal. Um, that's a very plentiful portion for one person. And like everybody said, the freshness, love the edamame. I'll definitely give that again.

Lou Mongello: And that now brings us to the last item on our, our culinary journey was with the first one that he brought out, which was the bread surface was sort of the making the bread service our pred dessert appetizer. Excuse me. But this, again, this is the Tiffins bread service that comes with the coconut curry, the guava, and the ginger pear chutney, and the three different types of bread.

See this, this is almost like desserts for me. Con, let me tell you something. I'm not really a sweet guy per se. I would like to right this

Conor Brown: state for the record. I feel like I'm one of the first people to call you out on that. Really. When you think you're the first time when you're not a sweet guy.

Lou Mongello: Um, this is, this is so nice, right?

Three vastly different types and styles of bread. It is, it's a little sort of bread buffet. And then, oh, mixing and matching and pairing the different dips or the different type of bread brings out all different types of flavors, right? So we did the, the sort of thin, like a, it's like a Papa Don with, what is this?

The pear

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: chuney. It's this chutney. Um, it's, it's almost like. If you're, if you're of my people, it's almost like a OSA style, but it is, it's like a, it's a like a fruit chutney with some nuts and stuff in it. And it's nice cuz it has a little bit more to it. And the papa do of course is like a simple, um, cracker style.

And then there's the Thai milk bread,

Lou Mongello: but the papa dos ice cuz there's a little bit of like, there's a peppery Yeah, a peppery to it. And it's sort of, it's offset by some of the sweetness Connor's Googling all the words you just said.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Um, and then there's the Thai milk bread, which is a nice sort of loaf style.

And then there's a guava um, puree that's sort of a smooth puree that is really, really nice with that. And it has sort of a ma like a breakfast vibe I could see coming here, like when they first open and almost treating this like a continental breakfast style meal. And then there's of course the Brazilian cheese bread, which never disappoints, but actually our waiter recommended that we pair that with the curry, which tastes like almost like a peanut curry.

Which was really, really nice. I've never had a Brazilian cheese bread with that kind of a sauce with it. And it was really nice.

Amanda Bauner: I mean, this is a new brunch, pork belly with the egg and the biscuit and the bread service. That's, and guava to me goes on all three. It was fantastic. But I love just being able to mix and match.

And of course, the Brazilian cheese bread we're all familiar with, if you've been to any Upcott

Lou Mongello: festival, right? And there's a lot, there's a lot of it too. Like there's a lot of it still in

Conor Brown: there. You've heard of the meat sweats. I might be getting the carb sweats right now, but I wanna go back in for more.

I love this bread service. I think one thing, people here at Bread Service and they think Walt Disney World, they obviously think Sina, this is not like it at all. Um, it's not, that's not a good thing or a bad thing. It's just very, very, very different. Um, but I love how it's almost like each sauce has an accompaniment, right?

You can go as crazy or as basic as you want, but even on their, on their own, the breads themselves are, are really, really tasty.

Lou Mongello: I may or may not have been dancing in my seat with Joy, cuz I was just, I was just loving every single part of this. Um, and it's a great sort of fun, shareable, picky conversation food too, like this.

This is just great. I love this. I really, really like that. Um, and I think you're right that this is sort of a nice alternative if you're thinking like Sina bread service. If only there was somebody, anybody who would, well I did find somebody and anybody. Yeah. I like this a lot.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Yeah. I mean I just, and, and it, it does have that, it's not the same idea as a Sonata bread service cuz it's not that non with the spread it, but it is the same sort of like you said, like interactive.

Like, oh, what is the like, and it really changes the taste and flavor profile of the breads to eat them with, you know, a savory curry versus a chutney that has a little more texture or that smooth guava like, brings out different types of flavors in the breads that we might not have experienced before.

Lou Mongello: So we've now literally eaten the entire menu up. We're coming to the churros. I'm sorry. We'll, he really is like a kid like, whoa, like, like Dad, what are you doing? I promise, son, you did good with your lunch. We're gonna get dessert. But you've tried them all. What stands out to you? What would you come back here for?

Or what are the two items that you would come and eat when you came back? And I know it's gonna depend on the day and how you're feeling, but if you could come here and order two things, or even if just one, what do you think it would be?

Amanda Bauner: Thank you for giving me two. Um, I would go for the ribs and I'm really torn on the second one, but I'm gonna go with that chicken bowl.

Conor Brown: I, I had two things and then you said ribs and I had forgotten about the ribs. So I always order the impossible slider. So I won't count that cuz that's, I just always get that those ribs were fan. Awesome. The pork belly was exceptional. I'm thinking of. What I would do if it was, if it was just me and I had it all to my little self, that pork belly is, is next level.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: So I did love the pork belly and I think it was like a really nice thing to have with a group of people, cuz it's extremely rich. So I loved it. But I'm gonna let you have been, been the one to have said that. Um, nobody has said the wings yet, so I am all in on the wings rather than the, the ribs are great, but the wings were just next level for me.

And then since I picked the wings, I'm gonna go a little lighter and then do the tuna poke rather than the Manchurian with the chicken just to kind of balance out the richness.

Lou Mongello: Well, clearly I wanna come back and dine with you all again so we can order everything. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm speech. I'm without speech.

I love the chicken wings. I like the poor, I love the chicken bowl too, right? Cuz there's sort of a lot in it. And I really like the bread service. I would maybe, I would maybe get bread service.

I like the sliders, but I almost feel like I can get impossible sliders anywhere. Maybe the bread service and the wings. And I usually, I don't, I don't bypass a good tuna poke anywhere. Um, yeah, those Bangkok crispy chicken wings. Play it, play it, sing it, girl. Um, yeah, it's that good.

And yes, Connor, we can get the churros, the vanilla with the vanilla crema and today's

Conor Brown: seasonal sauce. Oh, that's all right. We don't, we don't need it. That's okay. Sure you're good. No, no, no, no. Get, get 'em. I will say there is, if you ask, there is a kid's menu, right? So we've been talking a lot about, about how kind of bold and different these flavors are.

There are some, some traditional kids stuff that you can get here if you want to bring the whole family. What is on

Lou Mongello: the, uh, do you have the kids menu pulled up handy?

Conor Brown: No. No. Please, please don't ever call me out on the spot ever again. Okay. I just see what I see around myself, but we can find that out. Oh, I see.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. I, so I knew, I mean, I'm crazy, but I, I did remember when I was looking at the menu ahead of time that the kids menu, and I'm, and I'm sorry that I forgot about it, did have something special out because they have create your own entrees. So they do have a couple of kids' appetizers, garden vegetables with dipping sauce and falafel.

How did we not get the falafel with garlic yogurt? What? I'm getting one of those as my dessert. But they also have create your own entrees. Grilled shrimp with ginger, tamari glaze. Uh, two selections and choice of milk, water, and apple juice. Impossible chow. A grilled beef skewer and a grilled teriyaki chicken thigh.

There's four items on the menu. Shrimp, impossible grilled beef skewer and grilled teriyaki. Like that's a great kid's

Conor Brown: menu. And, and they pick their entree. One of those, and then they pick two sides. And the sides are green beans, baati, rice, vegetables, white cheddar, mac and cheese cookies and cream brownie and fresh fruit.

Lou Mongello: That's awesome. And the kids menu items come in between 12 and $16. The kids' appetizers are five bucks. I am getting a falafel. I'm about to be a kid. We're gonna get a falafel and we're gonna get not one, but two orders of churros. How's that?

Conor Brown: Thanks

Lou Mongello: Dad.

Guys. Doing? We're doing great. I didn't realize that there was falafel with garlic yogurt on the kids' menu. Yeah. Can I have one of those? Yeah. And two churros please. Absolutely. Thank Connor. Just when you thought you were out, I pulled you back in because our children's kids' menu item of, uh, falafel just came $5, got two sort of golf ball size pieces of falafel and a dipping sauce.

Go

Conor Brown: it. You know what, I never thought I'd wanted to end a meal with falafel, but if I have to, that was good. I mean, great price, especially for the little kiddos. Um, really good love the, their take on almost like a tiki of sorts. Solid well done.

Lou Mongello: Considering how full we all feel like the fact that it's, cuz usually by the time you get to an end of a dining review, you're just like, we've eaten so much.

Nothing tastes good anymore. We're all

Amanda Bauner: slumped over. But that falafel was a very nice. Flavorful, savory ending, and I like the tang. You sauce us to balance it up.

Lou Mongello: I'm not saying that somebody who actually fell off the couch had nothing to do with alcohol consumption, but okay.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: It was falafel, it was fine.

$5, two pieces of falafel. It was an anti climactic end to a delicious meal. But if you're in the mood for falafel or you have a child and toe that would like two pieces of falafel, then I highly recommend it.

Lou Mongello: That's code for Ello. Get to the churros. Alreadys. We ordered, con made, ordered two orders of churros that comes with the vanilla dipping sauce and it comes with a seasonal sauce or a daily sauce, which today is strawberry.

All right, Connor, you order, you wanted two orders of churros. I, I, I never said two orders. You said one for me and one for everybody

Conor Brown: else. No, I am about to eat my third churro, if that's what you're asking. I love 'em. You know. Different than the normal churro you get in the theme park. Of course, these are almost cut and quarters, um, but they're each like individually deep fried, so you get the crunchy on both sides of it.

The dipping sauces are good, the strawberry one, much more liquidy. Um, and then the vanilla one, it's almost like dipping it into a pudding, which I love. It's, it's great crunchy covered in cinnamon sugar. You can't go wrong even when you've eaten so much. B b Pryor to said

Lou Mongello: churro who doesn't love a good pudding?

You're too young to remember bringing pudding to school. And he took like the top off and it was like that thin little layer of like the hard, and he had to sort of like, take off the layer of putting on top. Your mother never made you pudding. Well, why are you looking at me putting,

Conor Brown: no, she, she didn't make me pu him.

That sounds like a great depression kind of thing with, you know, saving the pudding with the, uh, skim on it. What did you say?

Lou Mongello: Pudding. Skids. Anyway, onto

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: the chro. The pudding skin when you put it in the fridge and it forms the skin is the best. The TROs are lovely. Um, I actually really like the strawberry dipping sauce.

They're nice and warm. They bring 'em out fresh. Um, I am very full at this point, admittedly, but they're, they're delicious. And yes, I too enjoy a pudding. So

Amanda Bauner: it's fried goodness covered in sugar. What can be wrong with this? Yeah. And combine the vanilla and the strawberry makes for a delightful experience.

Lou Mongello: So I do like the fact that they're, they're smaller, so it's easily shareable. So I'm not committed to the big giant churro, which I can never eat. I also like that, that these sort of taste a little bit, they're a little bit lighter fried than some of the other ones. So it's not a heavy like charry sort of trench to it.

Like one churro with the vanilla sauce was a perfect way to your point, that last flavor that you want on your palate, like that's the way I want to end it, which is something this with a hint of sweetness. And, um, my 17th class of water cause it's so hot outside. So at $9 for, I guess you get about five or so, uh, the small CHS in there.

Um, yeah, a nice way to sort of punctuate um, the meal

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: and there is a gluten-free option on the menu that we've heard is very good. So I'm sure that's a nice option for people. And actually the description says it's strawberry guava, which makes sense to me because it has that little extra kick. Yeah. Um, cuz I liked it more than I expected to.

And I think that that's it. It's the guava in there. It's really good.

Lou Mongello: All right. So round out the, the meal and the review for us, uh, your, your final thoughts on the Nomad Lounge Ladies first.

Amanda Bauner: It still remains one of my absolute favorite places. I will say, when we got here, it was about what, 1130? There's a line.

They only take a walk up list or just walk in. You can always ask if you're one person, if there's a seat at the bar, but just, you know, be prepared to put your name in. It was a 75 minute wait when we walked up, so just be prepared for that. But overall, still one of my favorite places to come.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: There's a really short list of places on property that, like, I feel really lucky to be local because they're just great places to be able to chill and like, enjoy the parks in the opposite of a rushed way that you normally went on vacation.

Um, nomad Lounge has always, always been probably in my top three, you know, for that list. And I, many often, like, I'll come to Animal Kingdom for the sole purpose of like, sitting here with a friend, having a drink, just relaxing for a little while. So, yeah, I, I just love that this place exists and that there are places like this throughout Disney where you can just kind of take a step back from running around and being exhausted and just enjoy a good meal.

Conor Brown: I loved coming here when I was a visitor traveling down. I love coming here as a local. I love bringing people here who are visiting me in the parks. It's awesome. It has the three things you always look for in a good Disney restaurant. It's got awesome food, it's got great theming and storytelling. We didn't even talk about the, the Imagineer stuff inside that you can kind of look at.

Uh, it's got an awesome, awesome setting as well. Whether you're inside or you're outside, it's peaceful. It's well done. It's Disney at its best. Um, it sounds like we're just like, we can't be liking it that this much. Right? But there's a reason why you've only ever done two or one dining review where you've revisited it.

This place is, is is a home run. But like Amanda said, come with a plan if you want to come here cuz it gets busy for good reason.

Lou Mongello: Connor, that's very well said. I mean, if I sound surprised, I'm slightly, I slightly am surprised, but no, I'm about to go in for my third Shur. No, I agree with everything that, that all of you said.

Um, I think it's, it's, I think it's not just one of the best lounges on property. I think it's one of the best overall dining experiences on property. Dining experience does not have to be a sit down, you know, type of a meal. All the things that you talk about, location, the food, the company, the environment, the background music, it all sort of comes together for a really, really nice afternoon or evening, lunch, brunch, whatever it might be.

Uh, it's a place that would make a special trip here to come back to. Not, you know, we don't just come for flight of passage. We come here sometimes for these types of experiences. At Noma Lounge is a place I would absolutely come back to. I would also love to come back to each of you again so that we can do this again.

Tell people where they can come or come back to in order to find you online and social. Absolutely.

Amanda Bauner: You can find me, me in the magic.com, and I have me in the Magic podcast. We just hit 100 episodes and soon it will be coming a lounge where June

Lou Mongello: 1st, tell me one reason why I should go visit me in the magic.com.

Amanda Bauner: If you are interested in solo travel and you wanna connect with fellow travelers, and I feel like this is a perfect place to be because no man LA celebrates the love of travel.

Lou Mongello: Lisa Glassner.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: Um, you can find me on my site and blog The Castle Run. And on Instagram I'm very active as the castle runner and also of course I have core memory candles, which I'm very proud of.

And there to bring the scent of your vacation home, um, in a lovely and understated aesthetic way.

Lou Mongello: Quickly. In one sentence, tell me us about your new scent that I love so

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: much. So Rope Drop Coffee Shop is our brand new scent. I just launched it last week. It's this gorgeous coffee scent that's got notes of caramel and cream and warm vanilla.

Um, and it just smells like the morning and the promise and like that first stop into Main Street to get your coffee before you kick off the day or at your resort. And that sort of scent that I associate so much with, um, with the energy of the morning here at Disney.

Lou Mongello: I mean, it would be nice if we had one to actually, I mean, she would've brought us one over.

But anyway, Connor Brown.

Conor Brown: Connor Brown, you can visit me, wdw opinion.com, um, to help you daydream, plan for and daydream about your next perfect Disney vacation. We might be doing a little bit of a rebrand, and that's what we call a tease in the business. So that's why you should visit it at WDW on Instagram, Facebook, all the social medias.

Follow along. Um, hopefully you enjoyed my, uh, I guess, banter on this and you wanna learn more about it. So that's where you can find out about

all

Lou Mongello: that. Awesome. Well, this was a ton of fun. I appreciate all of you being here, not just because I love the conversation and the friendship, but the excuse to order literally everything except the leafy greens on the menu.

So thank you again. Um, very quickly, if you had your choice, where would you want to go and do a live review next, quick go,

Amanda Bauner: chef Smith's homecoming, but you've probably already done it.

Lisa DiNoto Glassner: I still can't believe that you haven't done Tono, but if Takumi comes up on the availability list sometime soon, I think I would also be down for that dude

Lou Mongello: when that is AIA opens in Japan.

Just get, get Oof. I would

Conor Brown: like to be on the Taku list as well. I'm sure it's becoming an extensive list. Um, keep the lounge stuff going. Bar Riva. I love me some bar Reva. It's a, it's a cool setting. We could do that Good food as well.

Lou Mongello: I have not been to Barba since the day that I first walked through

Conor Brown: Riviera.

Have have you done a um, prima yata at all? I have not. So combo, you know, two kind of smaller menus. We can kind of two birds, one stone, but all the food.

Lou Mongello: So why don't you get like a big suite? We'll do like a staycation there and I'll take care of the food. You

Conor Brown: got it brother. Three bedroom right at ya.

Lou Mongello: And I would love to know from you, have you ever been to Nomad Lounge?

If so, what are your thoughts? If not, Is this something that you'll put on your menu for your upcoming visit, and where else would you like to hear a live dotting review? You can let me know by emailing me lou ww radio.com. Better yet, be part of the community and conversation over in the clubhouse at ww radio.com/clubhouse.

Now I just wanna lay back on this couch and take a little nap

because we've been here for three hours.

Amanda Bauner: I'm assuming you already.

Lou Mongello: Yes.

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About Lou Mongello

Lou Mongello is a former attorney who left the practice to pursue his passion, and is now a recognized Disney expert, author, speaker, and host of WDW Radio. Learn more…

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