Review: Decadent Delights Epcot Festival of the Arts

We continue from Citrus Blossom and Deconstructed Dish.

Decadent Delights takes over in what was known as Promenade Refreshments years ago. It’s located across from Citrus Blossom on the right as you walk towards the Canada Pavilion.

The menu selection is kind of sad compared to past years, when we’ve seen a number of innovative desserts, some of which worked better than others. This year, we’ve just got two flavors of ice cream and the beer.

As a comparison, here’s last year’s menu:

Obviously, we’re paring things down for the “Taste of” event, but you could probably argue that a couple of these desserts, which are prepared in backstage kitchens, could make the menu. With no food items whatsoever offered at Citrus Blossom, and everything broken down into pieces at Deconstructed Dish, there isn’t exactly a cornucopia of options as we make our way into World Showcase. They do say you should start small. Fortunately, one of the best booths in “The Masterpiece Kitchen” isn’t too far off and we’ll find Lobster Poutine just ahead at Refreshment Port.

Raspberry, Lemon, or Twist Soft Serve Ice Cream Each Served in an Unadvertised Waffle Cone Smushed Into A Cup – $5.25 Each

If you’re wondering if that’s $15.75 worth of ice cream photographed on top of a trash can with a $2,000 lens, the answer is yes. I expected these to be your standard Dole Whip flavors, but they’re evidently not. Dole was probably the way to go with the Raspberry Soft Serve tasting like a very cold version of an artificially-flavored berry Dimetapp yogurt.

We liked the lemon better. It enjoyed a much more natural, tart flavor sweetened up with sugar, and a light, creamy consistency reminiscent of a sorbet. But unless you’ll die if you don’t have lemon soft serve at the moment you pass the kiosk, I’d save your money for L’Artisan des Glaces in the France Pavilion, where a scoop of something like Caramel Fleur de Sel or Cinnamon with Caramelized Apple and Crumble Crunch Ice Cream will cost you less money and also be served in a waffle cone smushed into a cup. Other more interesting desserts are also available, including that Strawberry Shortcake back at Deconstructed Dish for a dollar more.

Taste: 2/10 on the Raspberry, 5/10 on the Lemon and the Swirl

Value: 2/10

Beer Flight with North Coast Brewing Co. Scrimshaw Pilsner, M.I.A. Beer Company Deco IPA, and Saugatuck Brewing Co. Peanut Butter Porter – $9.50 or Individual Pours at $4.50 for Six Ounces or $8.50 for Twelve Ounces

For whatever reason, Beer Flights weren’t offered at the Festival of the Holidays, but they’re back for the Arts.

The Scrimshaw Pilsner has been available at BaseLine Tap House at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for a couple of years now, and was also last seen at Epcot in 2019 at The Painter’s Palate kiosk during the same seasonal event.

The Scrimshaw is exactly what you would expect from the style – a very drinkable beer with mild citrus hops, moderate carbonation, and a malty finish that’s on the sweeter side for a pilsner.

M.I.A. brings back its very piney, very hoppy, very citrus-y IPA that it usually offers as its July specialty beer at its taproom in Doral, Florida. The mouthfeel is a little thinner than you would expect given the bold flavors of tree sap and orange zest, but anyone who enjoys an IPA should consider trying it. It’s not going to be available in a lot of other places.

The Saugatuck Brewing Co. Peanut Butter Porter brings the distinct scent of peanut butter to the party, with a flavor that isn’t nearly as strong as the aroma. The peanut butter does combine with the cocoa, coffee, and dark roasty malts to make for an interesting sip, but those looking for a stronger peanut butter presence may be slightly disappointed. It’s still quite good in any of the sizes.

As usual, the beer flights are three 4-ounce pours, which brings the per-ounce price to 79 cents, versus 75 cents/ounce on the 6-ounce pours and 71 cents on the 12-ounce draft. So you may want to commit to whichever style sounds best or put together your own flight by simply purchasing one of the larger sizes of each and do as much or as little sharing as you like. The flight is served in a handy cardboard container with the printout, which is probably why it costs a little bit more.

It’s worth mentioning “The Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine,” since this is where you’ll pick up your complimentary culinary (cookie) treat:

The participating menu items range from pretty good to very good, though it seems like a bit of a hassle to remember what they are, order them, remember to collect the stamp while you’re trying to figure out what you want to order and pay, and then bring your booklet back around to the kiosk.

But doing all of that will result in the materialization of this complimentary cookie, which can also be purchased separately for three dollars, even if that isn’t explicitly stated on the menu.

It is clever, with a sweet, crumbly shortbread base, a thin layer of chewy fondant, and then more icing on top to create the appearance of the painter’s palette, where you probably won’t have much luck combining the colors. Hopefully your memory is better than Eric Idle’s should you wish to go on your technicolor journey of stamp collecting, but it “feels” like more effort than it’s worth with such rigid guidelines for a pre-packaged cookie that tastes like it’s from a grocery store. Potentially, it’s a good excuse to try a few things that you otherwise wouldn’t, but I’m not sure how many people are going to go through with the trouble.

Overall, I’d probably skip the soft serves and try the beers, either as part of the flight or in their larger sizes. The cookie is fine, but I’d be more likely to drop three bucks on it than try to keep track of everything. You may have things more together than I do. Just remember the exact items, the stamp collection at each kiosk, and the fateful return to Decadent Delights for the cookie.