Steakhouse 71

Steakhouse 71 is a table-service steakhouse on the ground floor of Disney's Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. It opened on October 1, 2021 — the first day of Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary celebrations — and its name is a direct reference to 1971, the year both the resort and the Contemporary itself opened. The restaurant replaced The Wave... of American Flavors, which had occupied the same first-floor space since 2008, and it serves breakfast, lunch and dinner alongside an adjoining lounge of the same name.

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History

The ground-floor restaurant space at the Contemporary had previously been the resort's Fiesta Fun Center arcade before it was converted to dining. The Wave opened there on June 7, 2008, offering contemporary American cooking with an emphasis on fresh and locally sourced ingredients; in early 2010 its full name became The Wave... of American Flavors. It traded for thirteen years before closing on July 16, 2021, at the start of a major refurbishment of the resort for the 50th anniversary, with its popular breakfast temporarily served upstairs at California Grill during the works.

Disney announced the replacement concept, Steakhouse 71, in August 2021, released its menus the following month, and opened reservations in mid-September. The restaurant opened on October 1, 2021, exactly fifty years after the Contemporary welcomed its first guests, as part of a resort-wide refresh that also reworked the lobby and guest rooms. Early coverage of the opening consistently made the same two points: the restaurant replaced The Wave on the resort's first floor, and the "71" in its name stands for the year Walt Disney World opened.

Setting

Disney describes the room as sleek yet comfortable, and the design is a studied piece of retro-modernism: the 1970s reimagined rather than recreated. Warm wood tones, low-slung seating, burnt-orange and teal accents and period-style lighting evoke the Contemporary's opening era without turning the room into a museum, and Florida heritage runs through the details, with citrus-grove motifs and a nod to the Orange Bird among them. The approach corridor and lounge are lined with historic photographs of Walt Disney World under construction and in its earliest years, making the walk to a table a short history lesson in the resort the restaurant commemorates.

The adjoining Steakhouse 71 Lounge repeats the same design language in a more casual, first-come format, serving the restaurant's signature drinks and a shorter menu of lounge dishes.

Cuisine

The menu is a family-friendly American steakhouse offer, deliberately more classic than its predecessor's. At lunch and dinner the centrepiece is a choice of steak cuts — filet mignon, New York strip, prime rib and others — each served with a choice of side and sauce, supported by French onion soup, crab cakes, a stack burger, gourmet grilled cheese and a vegetable Wellington for non-meat eaters. Breakfast is a full American service built around dishes such as the Steakhouse 71 Feast platter and Walt's Prime Rib Hash.

The 1971 theme is carried on the menu rather than in period pricing: dishes and drinks are named and composed as tributes to the opening era and to Walt Disney's own tastes. Walt's Prime Rib Hash honours one of Walt's favourite dishes, the cocktail list is anchored by the 1971 Sunset, and the signature dessert, a fifteen-layer chocolate cake, is built with one layer for each floor of the Contemporary tower. Disney presented the opening menus in exactly those terms when they were revealed in September 2021. The result has been one of the most favourably received resort restaurants of the anniversary period, regularly praised for delivering steakhouse quality in a relaxed setting a short walk or monorail ride from Magic Kingdom.

See also

• Disney's Contemporary Resort
• California Grill
• Walt Disney World