Cítricos

Cítricos is a signature table-service restaurant on the second floor of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at Walt Disney World, next door to Victoria & Albert's. It serves Florida cooking with a Mediterranean influence, in a bright dining room that since 2021 has taken its decoration from the film Mary Poppins Returns. Cítricos is listed as a recommended restaurant in the Michelin Guide Florida, a distinction it retained in the guide's 2026 edition.

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History

The Cítricos dining room began life as a different restaurant altogether. When the Grand Floridian opened on 28 June 1988, the space was occupied by Flagler's, named for Henry Flagler, the railway and hotel developer whose grand Florida east-coast hotels inspired the resort's whole theme. Flagler's served Italian and continental cooking and operated for just over nine years, closing on 6 July 1997.

After a refit, the room reopened on 8 November 1997 as Cítricos, the name — Spanish for "citrus fruits" — announcing a change of direction towards Mediterranean flavours built around the produce of Florida and the coasts of Provence, Tuscany and Spain. The restaurant settled into a long and stable period in that form, known for a sunlit room, an open kitchen and a chef's counter, and for being the more approachable of the Grand Floridian's two signature restaurants.

Cítricos closed in early 2020 for a planned refurbishment that the resort-wide pandemic shutdown greatly extended. It reopened on 15 July 2021 in its current form, with a new interior and a new menu created by chef Andres Mendoza. Recognition followed quickly: Cítricos was among the Walt Disney World restaurants recognised when the Michelin Guide first covered Florida in 2022, and it has kept its recommended status in subsequent editions, including 2026, when it received its plaque alongside the starred Victoria & Albert's.

Setting

Cítricos sits off the Grand Floridian's upper lobby level, sharing a foyer area with Victoria & Albert's but presenting a very different mood: light, colourful and garden-like where its neighbour is formal and hushed. The 2021 redesign took, in Disney's description, subtle cues from the animated sequence of Mary Poppins Returns. The room was reimagined as a fanciful garden under a London sky, with floral detailing, decorative lamps and chandeliers intended to recall the film's glowing street lamps, and prints and colours drawn from the Banks family's world in the film.

The references are deliberately restrained. There are no characters in the room and no costumed entertainment; the theming is carried by pattern, colour and small details for guests who know the film to find. An adjoining lounge serves the full dinner menu, giving the restaurant a more casual entry point than the main dining room, and the open kitchen and chef's counter carried over from the earlier design remain part of the layout.

Cuisine

The cooking is described by Disney as Florida cuisine with a Mediterranean influence, and the Michelin's inspectors characterised the current menu as coastal American, noting its use of seafood, citrus and tropical fruit and a refined, technically assured style. Menus change seasonally. Dishes introduced with the 2021 reopening included a sweet corn bisque with pickled fennel and popcorn, and a strawberry salad with chamomile-infused goat cheese, both of which became closely associated with the relaunched restaurant.

Larger courses have typically combined fish and shellfish from Florida waters with meats, house-made pastas and Mediterranean accompaniments, and desserts that return to the citrus theme in the restaurant's name. A substantial wine list, weighted towards Mediterranean regions, and cocktails served in the lounge complete a format that positions Cítricos between the Grand Floridian's casual restaurants and the ceremony of Victoria & Albert's next door.

See also

• Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
• Victoria & Albert's
• Narcoossee's
• Walt Disney World