Satu’li Canteen at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Satu’li Canteen Review at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Satu’li Canteen is located in Pandora.

See this page for all of the Disney’s Animal Kingdom quick service reviews.

Location: Satu’li Canteen is located in the Pandora section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

You’ll find Satu’li Canteen in the very far right hand corner, to the right of the entrances to Flight of Passage and Windtraders.

Food Type: Grilled meats, for the most part, with shrimp and tofu as options.

Dining Plan: Yes, quick service.

Satu’li Canteen Menu

Most adults will go with one of the bowl options. First, you’ll pick your protein, then your base, and then your sauce.

Pull up the latest version of Satu’li Canteen’s menu here.

Unique Items: Just about everything on the menu is unique to Satu’li. Disney makes a couple of the other beers available at Pongu Pongu, the takeaway bar outside. Those beers includes the Mo’ara High Country Ale and Hawkes’ Grog Ale.

Advantages:

• Indoor, air-conditioned seating is available. Plentiful, covered outdoor seating is also available.
• Ordering process is usually quick and mobile order is easy to use with the pickup window on the far left.
• Some of the freshest quick service food available on property. Lots of customization opportunities.
• Convenient from Africa and Pandora.
• Refillable fountain beverages.
• “Real” plates and silverware.
• Operates most of the day.

Disadvantages:

• The menu may initially seem a little “out there.”
• More expensive, on average, than most quick services.
• Indoor seating is often congested.
• Inconvenient from Asia and DinoLand.

Value: Above average, for the most part. You’ll pay a couple dollars more for steak here than a burger somewhere else, but most people find the expenditure worth it. Most meals are also an above-average value on the Disney Dining Plan, given the higher cost.

Reputation: Among the best. It’s rare to hear a negative word about Satu’li Canteen.

Satu’li Canteen Food Reviews

$14 Slow-Roasted Sliced Grilled Beef Bowl

Here with the Red & Sweet Potato Hash and Creamy Herb Dressing.

The tender beef was lean and enjoyed a nice, flavorful, nuanced marinade with some garlic, red wine vinegar, and pepper notes. Thankfully, there was a considerable amount of it on top of the hash. The potato base featured some softer, sweeter orange root vegetables, in addition to the firmer red potato, both of which were spiced up with some red pepper, onion, and herbs. The slaw added some more vinegar and a nice contrasting crunch that we’ll see alongside each bowl.

$12.49 Chopped Wood-Grilled Chicken Bowl

The chicken does an admirable job of soaking up the flavors from the herb-y, creamy sauce, crunchy slaw, and potato base, in addition to offering some garlic and olive oil notes in its own right. It’s a lot of fresh, flavorful food for the money. Really fantastic.

$17 Combination Bowl: Grilled Beef & Chicken

The Combination Bowl: Grilled Beef & Chicken – Slow-Roasted Sliced Grilled Beef marinated in a blend of Garlic, Herbs, Red Pepper Spice and Red Wine Vinegar, paired with Wood-Grilled Chicken Thighs marinated in Garlic and Olive Oil, topped with crunchy Vegetable Slaw and Boba Balls served with your choice of Base and Sauce is exactly what you would expect if you’ve tried either the Chicken or Beef Bowls in the past. The cost is $3 more than just beef and $4.50 more than just chicken. You probably come away with about two-thirds of the regular portion of each, or 1.5 times the meat of ordering one or the other. Portion size can depend on who is plating the meals.

Underneath is the Lo Mein Noodles Base. That adds quite a bit of heft to the dish, along with a light soy flavor mixed in with a few mild peppers. The Charred Green Onion Vinaigrette adds a salty, garlicky onion flavor that works better with the meat than the noodles.

$15 Shrimp

Here we have Chili-garlic Shrimp, Lo Mein Noodles, Red Pepper, Broccoli and Green Onion tossed in a Honey-soy Dressing served with a Cucumber and Mango Slaw. At $15, the shrimp is the most expensive protein. You come away with just five, each of which is medium in size. They do a nice job of soaking up the subtle flavors of the salty soy and sweet honey, but I think you’re better off sticking with the Steak or Chicken for less money and more to eat. Ostensibly, Disney had pulled shrimp from a variety of menus due to people being severely allergic to shellfish. It’s a bit odd to see the move back to shrimp here given the quick service’s success. They used to serve fish.

$12.49 Chili-Spiced Crispy Fried Tofu Bowl

This is the Chili-Spiced Crispy Fried Tofu Bowl – Crispy Fried Tofu seasoned with Chili-Spice topped with Crunchy Vegetable Slaw and Boba Balls. The base is rice with the black bean vinaigrette sauce. Vegetarians, or those who typically order tofu, are probably familiar with how easy it is to screw up, or how often it’s tossed into a dish as an afterthought in place of something else. But the bean curds enjoyed a fantastic crispiness and a very pleasant kick of spicy chili at the front of each bite.

Onion, pepper, garlic, and vinegar notes in the black bean vinaigrette added a lot of flavor to the rice. It would be pretty bland without it. The portion size on the tofu wasn’t as good as the chicken. We agreed that five or six more pieces would go a long way, but the quality was certainly there. Even with more plant-based options now available, this remains a great choice.

$75 Satu’li Sampler Platter

The Sampler is usually available for dinner and includes your choice of four proteins, a bowl of each of the bases and sauces, and four non-specialty drinks. That brings the per-person price down to around $18.50. That’s about how much most people would be spending on a bowl and a beverage anyway.

We thought the serving of each protein and side was about 1.5 times the size of a regular entree. The big downside here is how quickly the food gets cold sitting on the platter. How much time it takes to divvy everything up also comes into play. I’d recommend each ordering your own bowl and doing a little sharing.

$8 Cheeseburger Steamed Pod

While it might not look like much cut in half, the buns were surprisingly satisfying. It’s packed with delicious, lean hamburger meat inside of the soft, chewy bun that did a nice job of keeping it and all of the spices inside.

The chips were made with a variety of vegetables, each offering a really crispy bite and a variety of earthy flavors with just a sprinkle of salt and spice. For whatever reason, the Cheeseburger Pod is now only offered as a Kids’ Picks option with one bun. Originally, Disney offered an adult version with two pods on the plate. Should you still desire two Cheeseburger Buns, you can pick up two kids’ meals.

$7.29 “Teylu” All-Beef Hot Dog Wrapped in Dough

My favorite of the Kids’ Picks, and a guilty pleasure, is the $7.29 Teylu’ All-Beef Hot Dog wrapped in Parker House Dough served with Vegetable Chips and Grapes and small Dasani Bottled Water or Lowfat Milk. Again, you can double up on the chips, either when you order at the register or, more conveniently, via mobile order, and switch out the drink for a refillable fountain beverage. This is a delicious, relatively light theme park meal. The dough is soft and fluffy and the hot dog is plump and carries a nice spicy flavor. Even as somebody who eats at Victoria & Albert’s at least once a month, it’s really good.

$6.49 Cheese Quesadilla

Your last of the Kids’ Picks is the $6.49 Cheese Quesadilla. This is about as basic as it gets – melted cheese plus tortilla. But Satu’li gets its right again. You can see that there’s a little crispiness in the tortilla towards the center and there’s a nice amount of perfectly-melted cheese tucked away inside. It’s a nice “safe” bet and for a vegetarian, a good little snack or very light meal.

The kids also have the option to go with a smaller version of the Bowls. In addition, those can also make for smaller, satisfying meals for adults.

$5.29 Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse

This was everyone’s favorite dessert. It married the fruity, delicate flavor of the blueberry, against the soft, sweet passion fruit curd on top. You’ve also got the crispiness of the meringue hat above that.

It had a really nice, naturally sweet fruitiness. The cool temperature made it all the more refreshing.

It’s now on the small side, so you may want to order one for yourself.

$5.29 Chocolate Cake

We were less impressed by the Chocolate Cake with a Crunchy Cookie Layer and Banana Cream Topping. It is quite attractive as far as fast food desserts go, though.

The “cake” is more like a bitter chocolate cream with the crunch of the cookie on the bottom, which didn’t seem to sweeten things up at all. The banana cream on top didn’t seem to add much flavor, either. I’m not sure what the red topping on top of that is, but it seemed to add little more than a very small bite of slime for whoever sucked it up (me). The pineapple was a nice fruity complement and the chocolate piece on top was good, but this didn’t come together for us.

$4.49 Pandoran Sunrise – Refreshing balance of Tropical Juices blended with Powerade Melon

This is cloyingly sweet and little more than pineapple juice stirred in with some Powerade. Altogether skippable.

For eight dollars more, you can order it in this flute cup, though.

$10 Dreamwalker Sangria – Refreshing White Sangria with a hint of Blue Curaçao

This tasted like watered-down, store-bought Kool Aid. Only if you added a lot of table sugar to it. And added grain alcohol. I’d skip it in favor of something else.

$11 Banshee Pinot Noir or Chardonnay

I tried the Banshee Pinot Noir without accurately capturing the size of the cup. It’s much larger than the thimble they serve during the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. The pour was much closer to five ounces than three ounces of the bottle that would have a retail price of $28 directly from the winery. It’s a nice, smooth wine with some cherry notes and a silky texture. It’s quite drinkable, and not a terrible value for the money if you’re in the mood for a red or white, particularly with wine no longer appearing on a lot of quick service menus.

I review both Pandoran beers in the Pongu Pongu review.

Seating

Outdoor seating is typically plentiful, which is nice when you want to get away from the people. The exception is when it’s raining, when a hundred or more people will be bunched up all around.

Indoor seating is quite the spectacle in its own right. I’m on the main walkway to the ordering area with tables on both sides of me.

Disney designates some of the longer tables in the middle as communal.  Thankfully, few people will take you up on that offer unless there are no other tables available.

To the rear, you’ll see the beverage refill station. Satu’li also uses “real” plates, forks, knives, and spoons, which makes for a classier overall experience.

Overall, Satu’li Canteen is one of the best quick services on property, offering fresh food in a multitude of ways. In addition, there’s air-conditioned seating and refillable drinks, which you won’t find anywhere else at Animal Kingdom outside of Restaurantosaurus. Most people will want to add Satu’li Canteen to their short list when considering a quick service meal at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.