Space 220 Restaurant at Epcot: The Complete Guide



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Photo by Grace Hoyos

After multiple delays, the long-await Space 220 Restaurant finally opened on September 20, 2021 in Epcot.

Located right next to Mission: SPACE, Space 220 takes you into the future, literally elevating classic American cuisine. Begin your journey with a ride up the space elevator to the restaurant – located 220 miles above the planet. Once you arrive, you’ll have a view of the world below, space-walking astronauts, a X-2 Deep Space Shuttle or two, and other amazing sights. Not to mention the thousands of stars visible to the naked eye!

Space 220 opens for lunch at 11:30 am and runs until 3:55 pm, switching over to dinner at 4:00pm. Staying open until 9:00pm gives you a greater chance of snagging that last minute reservation, although this restaurant is extremely popular. Moral of the story – book it early.

This is a fixed-price dining experience – adults are $55 for lunch and $79 for dinner, while children nine and under are $29 for both mealtimes. Included in the meal is an item from the Lift-Offs (appetizer), Star Course (main entrée), and Super Nova Sweets (dessert) portions of the menu. You can also add an extra Satellite Side or for one of the Space Station Supplementals instead, although both are an additional charge. No matter what you choose, everything is delicious!

Let’s blast off together to explore this Space 220 Restaurant experience.


Table of Contents


What is Space 220 Restaurant?

Space 220 is immersive signature dining experience, meant to take guests literally out of this world. Through the simulated space elevator, you leave the world of Epcot behind (along with the rest of the planet) and travel to the Centauri Space Station for your meal. This is the same space station featured in the Mission: SPACE ride, continuing the story in a different way.

Image: Lorin Merkley

This restaurant brings a contemporary, upscale dining option to Epcot. This helps to balance some of the other international dining throughout the park. Don’t get me wrong, classic the French cuisine at Chefs de France is still incredible. However, it’s nice to get an option with a new vibe, totally different from anything else we’ve seen in Epcot.

First Impressions

There’s no other way to say it – the space elevator is so cool. It’s amazing to watch the ground slip away, Epcot spreading out before you as if in perfect miniature. As you ascend into the clouds, look up to see the space station come into view. This is the location of the restaurant.

Video by Grace Hoyos

Once you arrive, you’ll enter through a beautifully lit tunnel towards the restaurant itself. When walking from the space elevator to the restaurant, to take in the incredible rotating farms that help to provide the food for the restaurant. Growing crops in space is no easy feat!

Photo by Grace Hoyos

The atmosphere reflects the design of a space station, with a bit of comfort and refinement thrown in for the guests. The sleek style shows a sense of elegance that reflects the functionality of the space station, and gives that sci-fi feeling we love. Muted silver-gray tones go nicely with deep browns, all accented by the pop of blue light that borders elements of the dining room.

Image: Lorin Merkley

History of Space 220 Restaurant

Originally announced in 2017, Space 220 Restaurant had a vision of taking guests out of this world into space. Run by the Patina Restaurant Group, which runs a number of other restaurants on Disney property, they have an excellent track record of bringing the vision of Imagineers into a practical reality. It doesn’t matter how amazing the restaurant looks if the food, service, and atmosphere are substandard!

While Disney intended to open Space 220 Restaurant in fall 2019, restrictions and closures due to the pandemic caused the project to delay opening for two years. It seemed like just another in a long list of 2019-2020 disappointments for Disney fans, but trust me it was worth the wait. The extra time allowed Imagineers to flesh out their vision, creating the unique and wondrous atmosphere of Space 220 Restaurant.

Finally, in September 2021, Space 220 Restaurant opened its doors to enthusiastic Disney dining lovers. Between the atmosphere, the quality of the food, and the overall experience, the only disappointing factor is the price.


Open from 11:30am-9:00pm, Space 220 restaurant has both a lunch menu and a dinner menu, featuring slightly different options for the times of day. The lunch price is $55 per adult, including an appetizer and entrée. Meanwhile the dinner price of $79, which also includes your dessert. Nonalcoholic and soft drinks are not included in this price, so just be aware going in!

As the name suggests, the food items are definitely out of this world. While Space 220 boasts classic American flavors, they have a particular twist that takes these meals to the extraordinary. However, this is definitely one of those food spots where you’ll want to check the menu before you book your reservation. If you don’t see anything that stands out in particular, you might want to pass.

Lift-Offs

Space 220 restaurant has the same appetizers, or Lift-Offs, for both lunch and dinner. They vary from fried cheese, calamari, and yellowfin tuna, to protein-rich salads and fried cauliflower. Truly, Space 220 is a plant-based person’s dream. They are taking plant flavors to a whole new level, not just sticking with the salads.

Photo by Grace Hoyos

Between our trips, we’ve had the chance to try the Big Bang Burrata, Space Greens, Blue Moon Cauliflower, and Centauri Caesar Salad. Both salads were delicious, and a nice light way to start the meal. The Space Greens in particular had a fantastic apple cider dressing that was the right balance of tangy and sweet, setting off the cranberries and pears nicely. We also enjoyed the Blue Moon Cauliflower, which was a great alternative to a heavier fried appetizer. The zesty nature of the house-made hot sauce added incredible flavor to the cauliflower, and complemented the blue cheese dust. Someone who wanted to go completely plant-based could always have them leave off the cheese and still enjoy this appetizer. 

Star Course – Lunch

For the lunch Star Courses (entrees), you get solid meals without overeating, as the portions reflect the lunchtime. It’s also nice to see other options than just sandwiches for a lunch menu!

If you are in the mood for a sandwich, the Centauri Burger will hit the spot. Enjoy Space 220’s special blended beef patty topped with white cheddar cheese, bacon, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and sriracha aioli, served with thick fried potato wedges. Otherwise, we recommend the Roasted Free-Range Chicken or the Bluehouse Salmon. For the chicken, herb roasted chicken comes with perfectly seasoned mashed potatoes and yummy Brussel sprouts, while the salmon has sweet glazed carrots, king oyster mushrooms, and baby bok choy on the side, topped with an incredible beurre blanc sauce.

Star Course – Dinner

At dinnertime, the menu definitely takes turn to the more sophisticated. While the Roasted Free-Range Chicken and Bluehouse Salmon are still listed for dinner, additions like the Slow Rotation Short Rib and X2 Duck cut the options up a notch. Lucky for you, we got to try them both!

Firstly, there aren’t enough words to describe the deliciousness of the short rib. By its nature, short rib is a moist and luscious cut of meat, but when it’s perfectly cooked and seasoned? Forget about it. Totally out of this world – no pun intended. The short rib comes with a side of cheddar grits, bacon, and haricot verts, all of which complement the meat.

Photo by Grace Hoyos

As for the X2 Duck, this is another rich dish that blows the socks of the taste buds. The duck meats comes two ways – roasted and confited – which gives you a chance to experience two different flavors. Both preparations sit atop a butternut squash flan, along with a side of Brussel sprouts. Having two vegetable options helps to balance the duck’s richness, as does the tangy orange glaze on the meat.

Photo by Grace Hoyos

If you’re looking for a good plant-based option, you’ll love the Terra-Bolognese. Corn linguine serves as the base, smothered in a flavorful tempeh ragu made with macadamia nut “ricotta,” zucchini, and mushrooms. All vegan and gluten-free friendly, and not a lettuce leaf in sight!

Supernova Sweets – Desserts

As part of the dinner price, you get to choose a dessert to complete your meal. They range in both sweetness and decadence, which means you can choose just the right dessert to complement your tastes…and the remaining room in your stomach.

We tried the Carrot Cake and the Chocolate Cheesecake, both hitting the spot but definitely different in flavor. The carrot cake is the plant-based option, but you wouldn’t know it from the taste. A moist, flavorful carrot cake comes layered with plant-based cream cheese (which totally tastes like the real thing), with more “cream cheese” on the side. Finished with candied walnuts, and toasted pepitas for some crunch, this was a nice complement to the rich foods we had during dinner.

Photo by Grace Hoyos

On the other hand, the chocolate cheesecake was rich and chocolatey, just want you want out of such a dessert. We especially loved that they used every kind of chocolate, incorporating white chocolate with the crunchy pearls and dark chocolate in the decorative shards. You definitely need to have room to eat this one though – it might be a good idea to share this and one of the lighter desserts between two people.

Flight Bites – Space 220 Lounge Menu

Can’t get a reservation? Try the lounge instead!

Space 220 does have a bar or lounge space with its own menu, which is ideal if you can’t get a seat in the main dining room. You do have to make a reservation online or through the My Disney Experience app – you can’t just walk into the restaurant and sit at the bar. However, lounge spaces tend to be easier to come by, and they are also a great way to save money.

Image: Lorin Merkley

In the lounge, you can order a la carte off their menu or just order drinks, whereas in the main dining room you have to go with the fixed meal price. With that in mind, the lounge might also be an ideal alternative when you’re looking for a smaller meal. We found this to be the case on the first of our trips to Space 220 restaurant – the lounge was the perfect early lunch that day.

Lounge Eats

Image: Lorin Merkley

During our lounge visit, we had the chance to try the Astro Deviled Eggs, free-range eggs bursting with an excellently flavored filling. On the side are thick slices of maple-glazed bacon, sprinkled with scallions, pickled shallots, and micro-cut cilantro. This was particularly nice since at that meal, we were there closer to opening, so it was an ideal brunch type item. We also order the Short Rib Sliders; succulent short rib topped with white cheddar cheese, sriracha aioli, lettuce, tomato, and sliced butter pickles. These two items were perfect for sharing, which meant we got to try everything!

Also on the lounge menu is a spectacular looking Chicken on Waffle, house made fried chicken and smoked bacon atop a roasted corn waffle drizzled with a bourbon maple glaze, with spiced coleslaw on the side. We also spotted a lobster roll bursting with fresh lobster meat that we’re dying to try the next time we’re in Epcot.

Kid’s Menu

While there are some slight differences between lunch and dinner, kid’s meals come with an entrée, dessert, and beverage for $29. Only spacers nine and under can get these meals – another reason to check the menu ahead of time. As someone who was a picky eater well into middle school, I can attest that my parents always had me check if there was something on the adult menu I would eat. No sense in paying the adult price and having food go to waste.

Entrees

Kid’s food items include spaghetti and chicken meatballs, salmon filet, chicken tenders, cheeseburger, and macaroni and cheese. The salmon comes with mashed potatoes and broccolini, while the burger and tenders both come with fries. The major difference between lunch and dinner is that instead of the cheeseburger, kids have the option of a steak filet and French fries.

Sweet Treats

Children choose between three dessert items – the Cosmic Cupcake, a scoop of gelato, or scoop of sorbet. The Cosmic Cupcake is a chocolate cake topped with swirled “galactic” frosting and fun space sprinkles. Gelato comes in either chocolate or vanilla, topped with chocolate sauce if you wish, and the sorbets come in strawberry or mango.

Check out our lounge experience here!

How to get Space 220 Restaurant Reservations

To make your reservations, you will need to go through Disney’s website or through the My Disney Experience app. Even if you click on Reservations on the main website for Space 220 restaurant, it will redirect you to Disney’s site.

Select Check Availability, and then put in your date and the size of your party. You will also select the time of day for your meal as well. You can choose lunch or dinner, or put in a specific time. From there, make your selection and you can book your reservation.

As with other Disney dining options, all reservations are online or through the app. You can call the restaurant with other questions, but you will not be able to book a table through that route.


Tips for Getting into Space 220 Restaurant in 2022

Photo by Grace Hoyos

Let me be honest up front – Space 220 restaurant is already full through March 2022.

However, reservations change all the time. As that’s the case, you always want to check back to see if a time opened on the day when you are trying to go to Space 220.

#1 – If you’re staying on Disney property, you can make your reservations sixty days out, all other guests are thirty days. With that in mind, make your reservations as soon as you can.

#2 – Make sure you have your Epcot park pass and park ticket. You cannot get into the park without a valid ticket and park pass, even if you have a reservation.

#3 – Patience and Persistence. Like I mentioned, constantly check for changes and updates. Just because you didn’t get a reservation when you looked the first time doesn’t mean you won’t get a reservation later on. We’ve even snagged reservations for other popular dining spots the day of as other people cancelled.

#4 – Try for the lounge. If the experience is the most important part, then it doesn’t matter where you sit. However, if you have people in your party under 21, you won’t be able to sit at the bar, so consider that when booking.

#5 – Look at different times. Dinner and later lunch are going to be the most popular, so look for that 11:30 time slot or even some of the later meals closer to 8:00 or 9:00. Just be prepared to have snacks if these are different from your normal mealtimes.

The lounge used to have a walk-up stand-by line, but with the new year it shifted over to the reservation system as well. As the year goes on, we may see the walk-up waitlist come in to play, so that could be an option for getting in. For now, just check back as often as you can, and you might get that last minute reservation!


Grace Hoyos, Staff Writer

Grace is a life-long lover of all things Disney, particularly the parks at Walt Disney World. She is also an avid Disney Cruise Line enthusiast who regularly dreams of the white sands of Castaway Cay. Grace loves the fact that her Disney trips give her time to spend with her family, enjoy incredible food, and try new experiences.



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