Review: SeaWorld Seven Seas Food Festival, is it worth it?

The food is the reason you are taking the tour of the Seven Seas so is it worth the price? The answer to that is yes and no. Later we will compare the Epcot festival at Disney World and give you an idea of what works for both and what doesn’t but today we are focusing on the food at SeaWorld.

The best food is what you want to seek out and there are few options you should skip from the start. For me, my favorite was the Beef Barbacoa Tacos at the Mexican Market located near the arctic pavilion.

These were good street-style tacos and the flavor blended well. The corn tortillas were nice and warm and were topped with a clean white sauce with hints of spices that when spritzed with lime really popped. You got two tacos which was a good amount for the price. This market also gave guests the choice of Mexican Roasted Corn and Drunken Shrimp Tostada. I sampled the tostada and can say it was one of my favorites as well although I wish the tostada was a little warmer.

For dessert, the Dulce De Leche Empanadas at the Caribbean Market can’t be beaten. You receive four of the caramel drizzled chocolate-filled empanadas and that is more than enough, well not really.

There were plenty of other decent options like the meatballs at the Italian Market as well as the steak option at the Brazilian Market which had an incredible green tomato chimichurri sauce that was on their Picanha Steak.

Some offerings didn’t work so much. At the North Atlantic Market, the lobster roll was so bad I spit it out and had to cleanse my pallet. The roll was not toasted or buttered and wasn’t warm and the employee who made had a bad attitude with an “I could care less” demeanor. The lobster itself was disgusting and there was nothing special about it at all. It was the worst of the bad and I had I not needed to get rid of a few more lanyard punches, I would have asked for a refund.

The longest line of any on the day was at the All-American Market where Briskett Tachos and Lobster Mac and Cheese highlighted the menu. I can say the mac and cheese were really good and worth the taste but I lost half of it to my two-year-old who couldn’t stop eating it. The Tachos, not so much.

I was disappointed when I watched them make it. A boat of overcooked tater-tots topped with strings of brisket and then drizzled with Heinz ketchup-mayo literally straight from the bottle. You would think they would have put a little more effort to hide the fact there was nothing glamorous about it. Tastewise, it was o.k. but tasted like brisket over tater-tots. To call in “Tatchos” would have suggested some kind of Nacho twist. There wasn’t any.