Cap'n Jack's
Downtown Disney
Lunch
Date of Visit: 9/1/2007
Time of Visit: 13:00
Adults in Party: 2
Children in Party: 1
Total Cost: $49.87
Average Price Per Adult: $21.19
Ten Point Scale
Food: 8.0
Value: 7.5
Service: 8.8
Environment: 8.0
Overall Rating: 8.1
This restaurant was so named long before the Disney Pirates of the Caribbean movies, so don't expect any thematic overlap, yet we did hear children clamoring to see Capt. Jack. Disney should change the name, or else re-theme it to fit expectations. Regardless, this restaurant next to Rainforest Cafe has a lot of visibility and wait times to correspond.

We were pleased by the crab cakes appetizer ($10), despite only coming with two cakes and including some tasteless cole slaw. The cakes were excellent: smoky, crispy, and light, with overtones of dill and peppers. But it really shined with the drizzle of cajun horseradish. More of this sauce should have been placed on the side of the plate; that alone would have raised the food score at this restaurant.

Alas, things went downhill from there. The child PB&J meal ($8) included chocolate milk, an Uncrustables brand sandwich, apple slices, a bag of goldfish, and a fruit smoothie, yet it still felt like a ripoff, except for one other inclusion: the clam chowder. This tasted just fine--all Disney chowder tastes the same--and those familiar with it already know what to expect. The French Dip sandwich ($12) was similarly decent and unexciting; I've had identically-tasting sandwiches from Disney parks before. Nothing unusual there.

What should have been unusual, a shrimp and penne pasta dish with lobster sauce ($19), was merely disappointing. The five medium-sized shrimp were cooked but essentially flavor-free. The lobster sauce hinted at amaretto rather than lobster. None of the flavors gelled here, and the price was wholly unreasonable for such a sloppy ensemble of non-flavor. For that matter, this restaurant bills itself as a seafood restaurant, but had precious little actual seafood on the menu.

Our server was pleasant, and while refills were late, they did come without prompting. We had been seated fast and ordered fast; and only the return time before a dessert offer took too long. 

The restaurant is a touch noisy, but that's not a problem. The building juts out into the marina like a peninsula, and the tables are arranged mostly only along the windows, so every seat is a good seat. Alas, water dripped from the A/C vents over head, and a sink in the bathroom inexplicably shot water so violently it sprayed water droplets everywhere, no matter what you did to block it. Not the way to leave customers feeling happy as they walk out.