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REVIEW: Can We, in Good Conscience, Recommend EPCOT’s $9 Fried Dough Balls? You Might Not Like the Answer…


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Buone vacanze! For those of you who don’t speak Italian, that means “Happy Holidays!

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2023 Tuscany Holiday Kitchen

We’re at the 2023 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays, and it’s time to head to the Italy pavilion! We’ll be checking out every single booth at the festival, all of the entertainment (including the Candlelight Processional), and more. But now, it’s time to try the Tuscany Holiday Kitchen! This booth has been hit or miss in the past, but can the Italian booth pull through this year? We’re about to find out!

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Menu

Over at the Tuscany Holiday Kitchen, you’ll find an all-new menu this year. Along with these new items, you can find a variety of wine and other drinks to sip on while you dine.

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2023 Tuscany Menu

Now that we’ve taken a look at the menu, let’s dive into the food itself!

Eats

First up, we grabbed the new Montanara. This one is made of fried house-made pizza dough with Pomodoro sauce, parmesan, and fresh basil for $9. 

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Montanara: Fried house-made pizza dough with pomodoro sauce, parmesan, and fresh basil

Warm, cheesy dough balls. Need we say more? These had a nice flavor and a soft and doughy texture. The marinara was bright and vibrant and made the ideal topping for a warm ball of fried pizza dough, while the parmesan was great, if not a tad sharp.

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Montanara: Fried house-made pizza dough with pomodoro sauce, parmesan, and fresh basil

But really, we have to get real for a second. Are you willing to pay $9 for four pieces of fried dough? For what you’re getting here, we felt that these were a little too expensive. These were nice and had a great flavor, but it’s hard to justify the price.

The next item making its debut at the festival is the Farfalle Salmone Affumicato! It’s Farfalle pasta with smoked salmon and cream sauce, which you can try for yourself for $10.
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Farfalle Salmone Affumicato: Farfalle pasta with smoked salmon and cream sauce

We liked the flavors of this dish, but this pasta isn’t winning any major awards in our book. The pasta was cooked al dente, which we liked, but unfortunately, if you don’t eat this quickly, the sauce starts to thicken quite a bit. We tasted a mild salmon flavor, but this was an average pasta dish for that $10 price tag.

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Farfalle Salmone Affumicato

Then, it was time for some sweets! We grabbed the Torta Caprese for $8.50. This treat is a flourless chocolate torta with chocolate sauce and vanilla cream.

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Torta Caprese: Flourless chocolate torta with chocolate sauce and vanilla cream

Tuscany might redeem itself here! This is a chocolate lover’s dream. It is so dense and decadent, rich and creamy. Seriously, it was SO CHOCOLATEY. The vanilla cream is soft and light, complementing the dense cake nicely. The chocolate sauce was juuuuust sweet enough without tasting like a kid’s treat. The whole thing was decadent without being overly sweet, which is a hard balance to strike.

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Torta Caprese

And finally, we tried a dessert made with fried house-made pizza dough with sugar and cinnamon called the Dolce Pizza! This one will cost you $7.50.

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Dolce Pizza: Fried house-made pizza dough with sugar and cinnamon

Ooh — this one reminded us of Zeppole. The dough, similar to the Montanara, seemed like good-quality dough, and they were fried to a nice golden brown color with the perfect crisp-yet soft texture. If you love cinnamon sugar and sweet fried dough, TRY THIS. But again, they’re pretty expensive for what they are, so we can’t really say that these are a good value.

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Dolce Pizza

We’re thirsty from all this talk about food. Here are the drinks you can get!

Drinks

To drink, you can find a variety of alcoholic beverages — none are new in 2023. Grab the basics like Prosecco for $11.50, and Moscato for $12. You’ll also find a Chianti for $11, and Italian Sangria Red or White for $12.

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Italian White and Italian Red Sangria | 2021 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

There’s also an Italian Margarita with tequila and limoncello for $12, which has been a BEST of the Fest pick for us in the past. The drink is usually incredibly refreshing, which we love; however, it is VERY tart. If that’s not your jam, you may want to skip it.

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Italian Margarita

Finally, you can buy a Peroni Pilsner here for $6.50.

OVERALL

Was this the best booth we’ve ever visited? No. Was it the worst booth we’ve ever visited? No. The sweet treats were the real winners here; we ADORED that Torta Caprese. But overall, the menu items here felt a little overpriced for the portion sizes. You can get a better bang for your buck elsewhere at the festival, so if you’re working with a limited budget, you might be better off somewhere else. The food booths at the Italy Pavilion are notoriously hit-or-miss, and this year is no exception.

Click here to see FULL reviews of EVERY. SINGLE. BOOTH. at the Festival of the Holidays!

Trying to plan the PERFECT trip to the 2023 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays? We’ve got you covered! We’ll be keeping you updated on all of the latest — check out some more resources below.

Don’t forget! You can pick up our 2023 DFB Guide to the Holidays at Disney World! Find out more about the book below.

DON'T MISS A MOMENT
OF HOLIDAY MAGIC


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Holidays at Disney World: DFB's Merriest Guide is a one-of-a-kind resource that will help you get the most out of your holiday vacation at Walt Disney World.

It includes all the must-have information for navigating the holiday season at Disney World, including:

  • The COMPLETE schedule of events for the Holiday Season
  • How to avoid the crowds on Disney World's busiest days (and when Disney World closes their parks due to capacity!)
  • ALL of the events, activities, and holiday additions in Walt Disney World. ALL. OF. THEM.
  • And, of course, we'll tell you where to eat!

Save 20% on the Holidays at Disney World: DFB's Merriest Guide with code PEPPERMINT.

What do you think of the Tuscany booth? Tell us in the comments!

The post REVIEW: Can We, in Good Conscience, Recommend EPCOT’s Fried Dough Balls? You Might Not Like the Answer… first appeared on the disney food blog.

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