La Hacienda de San Angel -- Dinner -- Table Service -- World Showcase -- Epcot

*This dining experience took place in May 2013.Nestled on the World Showcase Lagoon is La Hacienda de San Angel. A non-Disney owned restaurant, this location has been open for a couple of years now, and this was my first experience going here for dinner. I've long been wanting to head here but for some reason hadn't made it yet. I recently heard rave reviews about this from some friends, one of whom is gluten free, and so I decided to check it out ASAP.

View of La Hacienda & La Cantina de San Angel

I had reservations for this location during the Disney 24 hour event, which meant that the parks were exceptionally crowded. Holiday weekend + special event = Disney chaos! Luckily, Epcot wasn't as bad as other parks, and so we were very lucky we nabbed ADRs for La Hacienda. From the outside, we checked in and it didn't seem that busy (5:30 p.m.) but once we got into the main lobby area, we discovered it was swamped. Very busy. Luckily, we were seated quickly and were able to get settled in without waiting for long in the crowded lobby. What I love about this restaurant is the decor and ambiance. Everything is very spacious and big. My brother and I had a huge booth that offered a lot of space. Good thing because we got a lot of food!

Once seated our server Eduardo came by to greet us and take our drink orders. Now here is where things differ from a Disney owned restaurant. Instead of having a chef come out, Eduardo went over the menu with me. One thing I'll give him, he was actually fairly knowledgeable (like he blew most servers away with his knowledge). He said pretty much the majority of the menu was gluten free which was the easy part. The dairy was also not a big deal as they don't use a lot of dairy. Of course no queso, but I could have figured that out!! :)

My friends reported to me that only the salsa verde was safe and not the red salsa. So, I was surprised when he said both were OK. I mentioned to him that a friend had dined there semi-recently and said only the verde was safe. He said that it used to the be the only safe salsa but that they changed it and now both the red and green were safe. Since I knew the salsa at La Cantina is not safe, I opted to not eat the red salsa and only have the verde. (I'm paranoid what can I say?!) It's probably a good thing too because it had chipotle in it according to my brother and was spicy. Um no thanks. I like spicy but not THAT spicy. The salsa verde was a nice amount of spiciness with some tang to it from the tomatillos. Very good. Note that the chips here are not at all the same as the ones from La Cantina (no crazy dyes in them) and they are made in a dedicated fryer. Thank goodness. I would have been an unhappy camper without chips!

Chips & Salsa!

We decided to split the Parrillada (platter) De Mer (seafood) which is a mixed grill platter. It came with mahi mahi, scallops and shrimp. The other platter came with beef, chicken and chorizo which my friends ordered on their visit and said was excellent. Since I'm not a beef eater, I really wanted to go with the seafood option. It also comes with corn tortillas, black beans (which are normally topped with cheese but was removed for us) and rice (which I didn't eat--it was the one thing that didn't look appetizing to me but my brother said was quite good).

Black Beans

Rice

The platter was huge! I mean huge!!! It could have easily been shared by 3 people if they had added just a little bit of extra protein to it because the amount of veggies was ridiculous. And we ate a lot of them too! It came with grilled zucchini and squash and onions, as well as sweet corn with lime (this was awesome even though I only took a few bites--Crohns and corn do not mesh well). Lots of fresh lime was on the platter too for topping on the meats. The mahi mahi ended up being one of my favorites. I loved the chimichurri on top of it. So flavorful. And the fish was well cooked, not overcooked. The shrimp was good--nice seasoning and the scallops were also yummy. My brother thought they were a little underseasoned but they were fine to me. The veggies were all delicious. The black beans were also great fav, and I ended up dipping some of the leftover tortilla chips in them. They were also very generous with the corn tortillas. They brought us seconds which was good because they were a bit on the small side.

Parrillada De Mer

We opted for no dessert because we left way too much food even though we both porked out (and yes, we can both pack away the food!). I think it's just a very large portion for two people. I can see it is a very popular option too, as many people also orders the platters. Eduardo did mention that they had sorbet for dessert if I wanted it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this restaurant, and I plan on visiting again. I love that most of the menu is naturally gluten free, which means there are a lot of choices and a whole lot less chance of cross contamination. I would definitely come back again to eat here. Very good! I'd give this a 8 out of 10. It would be nice if the chefs came to the table and chatted with but I was pleasantly surprised by my server's knowledge.