Best and worst new food - Dining and Cooking

Worst new Epcot Food and Wine food items

In all the best and worst articles ever written, some items must fall in the worst category. This year, three new Epcot Food and Wine Festival food items earned this distinction.

Tortellini alla Vodka – $8.00 (Italy)

Epcot Food and Wine

While we applaud the Italy booth for offering better food options this year, this pasta dish fell short of meeting the high standards of most items at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. In fairness, we tasted this item three times on the opening day of the event.

This is not a bad item. In fact, it should make a “safe” option for picky eaters. However, the sauce lacked a robust flavor. Additionally, the pasta preparation varied significantly between the three festival samples we tried. Most guests will want to taste more of the Parmesan and Calabrian chili oil listed in the menu description for this item to be received better.

Paella Caldoso – $8.00 (Spain)

This new food item looked so good. However, the mussel flavor dominated the other components. For example, when we ate just rice, all we tasted was mussels. The shrimp and scallops did not get a chance to shine. Additionally, our order looked very greasy. Sure, we get that these things can happen with festival samples. However, we suspect that unless a preparation change happens, guests will need to really like mussels for this paella to be a winner.

From our understanding, this Epcot Food & Wine option appears to be facing an identity crisis. It says it is paella, but a caldoso dish, which is soupier as well. This makes it a challenge to declare a paella. We appreciate the chef’s creativity, but the flavor falls behind.

Trio de Pintxos – $7.25 (Spain)

Epcot Food and Wine

The Spain booth also offered us another new food option, which was not on the worst new food at Epcot Food and Wine list. This sampler-style festival item offers three different classic Spanish appetizers to enjoy.

However, we found the Jamón Croquetas lacked any authentic ham flavor characteristic of Jamón dishes. Additionally, the Pan Con Tomate failed to offer a robust flavor that one would expect from this item. The Tortilla Espanola, a potato and egg omelet, served its purpose but will not impress most guests.

This season’s lineup features some standout stars that deserve a permanent spot on the menu, alongside a few newcomers that might have you wishing you’d saved that snack credit or your Disney World cash for something else. We wish you happy eating during your tour of the food options at the 2025 Epcot Food & Wine Festival.

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