Rodizio-Style Beef Skewer Epcot 2025 review: flavorful steak, chimichurri, and roasted veggies from Flavors from Fire. Is this a must-stop festival dish?
The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2025 has once again fired up the grills at the Flavors from Fire Global Marketplace, and this year, one of the new headliners is the Rodizio-Style Grilled Beef Skewer. It comes with marble potatoes, charred shallots, roasted baby peppers, and a chimichurri sauce. Also, it’s a mouthful to say and thankfully, also a generous mouthful to eat.
About the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2025
The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2025 is one of Disney’s most significant annual events, running through November 22. This global celebration transforms Epcot into a culinary playground, with more than 25 outdoor marketplaces serving up food and drinks inspired by cuisines from around the world. Guests can sample small plates, sip international wines, and enjoy live entertainment throughout the park. The festival is included with regular park admission, though each menu item is priced individually. It’s a favorite with locals and tourists alike, offering a chance to try flavors both familiar and adventurous.
Rodizio-Style Grilled Beef Skewer Epcot Review: A Beefy First Impression
On the opening weekend of the festival, we decided to review the beef skewer at Epcot. Right out of the gate. This dish impresses with its portion size. For just $7, Disney serves up a dish that doesn’t feel like festival small bites. You’ll get a nice helping of beef, potatoes, and veggies, which is refreshing when so many festival items lean “snack-size” at “entree-price.”
The beef itself is tender and flavorful, although not every piece we sampled was cooked to the perfect consistency. That’s festival-style grilling for you…one bite medium-rare heaven, another bite medium-well reality check.
The beef skewer Epcot version has a star in terms of the flavor profile: the chimichurri sauce. Zesty, herby, and bright, it ties everything together beautifully. Still, here’s the rub: there’s not enough of it. We would have bathed the entire plate in chimichurri if given the option. Ironically, it tastes very similar to the chimichurri served at the Garden Grill, the table-service restaurant inside Epcot’s Land Pavilion that rotates oh-so-slowly while you eat. So yes, you could say Disney is really spinning the chimichurri game in circles.
The Supporting Cast – Veggies on the Side
The vegetable medley here is solid, though perhaps not the headline act. The marble potatoes are tender, the charred shallots add a nice bite. However, the roasted baby pepper—well, let’s just say “baby” might have been taken a little too literally since we only got one. Still, it paired well with the beef.
Some festival-goers might find the veggies a touch soft, but in this case, that texture works just fine. After all, you don’t want your roasted pepper crunching like an apple while you’re trying to enjoy steak.
Rodizio-Style Beef Skewer Epcot: About That “Skewer”…
Now for the elephant—or in this case, the missing stick—in the room: there’s no actual skewer. Guests get the pieces served on a small plate instead. We assume it was cooked skewer-style and then plated, but Walt Disney World spared us the hassle of stabbing ourselves in the mouth while navigating Epcot crowds. In a way, it’s a blessing.
It also saves us from the unfortunate skewer mishap we’ve seen elsewhere, like the Jamaican Surf and Turf situation at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s Bier Fest, where “awkward stick management” nearly overshadowed the great flavor. Lesson learned: sometimes, no skewer is better.
Rodizio or Not Rodizio?
Here’s where things get funny. Traditionally, a rodizio-style dining experience is a Brazilian tradition where servers circle your table, carrying giant skewers of meat, and slice off portions until you can’t eat another bite. At Epcot, however, the closest thing to that experience is circling the World Showcase with your festival passport.
So is this truly rodizio-style? Well, yes and no. The preparation borrows the grilling technique but lacks the theatrical tableside service. In other words, it’s rodizio without the showmanship. Some might call it “churrasco-inspired,” but hey, when you’re grabbing it from a festival booth, you take what you can get. Just don’t expect a waiter to spin the skewer like a lightsaber and shave meat onto your plate.
Rodizio-Style Beef Skewer Epcot Festival Review 2025
Despite a few quirks, such as unevenly cooked beef, vegetables that don’t quite steal the show, and insufficient chimichurri, this dish earns high marks. The portion size is excellent (for now—festival veterans know portions tend to “mysteriously shrink” as November approaches), and the flavors make it worth a stop on your Food & Wine journey.
If you like steak, chimichurri, and a good deal, this is a strong contender for one of the best savory options of the festival. Just don’t go in expecting a full-on Brazilian rodizio parade. This is Epcot, not Fogo de Chão.
We publish theme park dining reviews every weekday at noon Eastern Time just like this one. For more theme park-related news and information, visit MSM News. AS always, eat like you mean it!
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