Walt Disney World has announced the full menu for Poly's newest restaurant, Wailulu Bar & Grill, including food, beverages and desserts. This article shares the breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus for the lounge located inside the Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, as well as our reviews and thoughts about the area.
First up, Wailulu Bar & Grill is a new casual pool bar and grill that will be home to the new island tower of Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows when the new Disney Vacation Club expansion opens on December 17. 2024. You may be familiar with this polarizing addition, but if not, see New Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort: Opening date, timeline and progress photos.
As you take in the stunning waterside views of the Seven Seas Lagoon at Wailulu Bar & Grill, you'll be surrounded by Polynesian-inspired artwork created specifically for the location. Some pieces are even made from recycled materials and recycled fishing nets. For those dining as the sun goes down, Waillulu Bar & Grill will offer views of the Magic Kingdom’s fireworks.
Whether you enjoy specialty coffee and ready-made breakfast pastries or venture out for lunch or dinner, your taste buds will be in for a journey at Wailulu Bar & Grill, according to Walt Disney World. The new Wailulu Bar & Grill menu focuses on Polynesian flavors with influences from the Pacific Islands, from Easter Island and New Zealand to Fiji and Guam.
Some cultural highlights include sweet potato hummus with breadfruit toast, spiced prosciutto musubi and chocolate cake with the essence of Kona coffee. The drinks menu has been carefully crafted to combine modern flavors from the Polynesian islands with classic ingredients such as hibiscus, sake, yuzu, pandan, oolong tea, coffee and passion fruit. Some standout drinks include cocktails, Pandan Gin Gin Mule, Passion Fruit and Pineapple Daiquiri, as well as non-alcoholic specialty drinks, Hibiscus Iced Tea and Yuzu Oolong Tea Lemonade.
The name even draws inspiration from these cultures too! Wailulu comes from the Hawaiian words “wai” meaning water and “lulu” meaning calm.
Below is the menu at Wailulu Bar & Grill at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort…
Wailulu Bar and Grill Menu
food
- Sweet Potato Hummus, Crispy Chickpeas, Espelette Peppers and Breadfruit Toast
- Ahi Tuna Crisps: Marinated ahi tuna, crispy fried wontons, avocado crema, Sriracha aioli and soy sauce
- Grilled Shrimp, Smoked Paprika, Black Garlic Emulsion, Garlic Lemon Butter and Crispy Garlic
- Spiced ham knots with traditional pine-flavored glazed lunch meat served with crispy rice pearls
- Crispy Chicken Wings: Adobo Marinade, Soy Sauce and Tomato Fresno Sauce
- Wayfinder Burger: Two pressed patties, American cheese, onion jam, Volcano sauce and sweet bun, served with macaroni salad or sweet potato fries
- Beef Short Rib Loco Moco: Mushroom gravy, crispy rice cakes and fried egg
- Grilled Fish of the Day: Green Curry Soup, Jasmine Rice, Chickpeas and Sweet Potatoes
- Poke Bowl: Sushi rice, pickled cucumbers, vegetables, hot sauce and macadamia nuts, choice of tuna, grilled teriyaki chicken or grilled tofu
- Chow Mein Salad: charred cabbage, chili, hearts of palm, pickled sweet potatoes and sunflower butter dressing with choice of sautéed shrimp, grilled teriyaki chicken or grilled tofu
- Sticky ribs, pickled greens, jicama salad and pineapple slices
Children's meal
- White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese
- Teriyaki Chicken
dessert
- DOLE Whip Sundae with hibiscus meringue and passion fruit crisps
- Chocolate cake with salted caramel ganache and chantilly cream, infused with the essence of Kona coffee
breakfast
- Pineapple Coconut Bread (Breakfast only)
(I thought it was interesting that they specifically stated that this would only be available at breakfast. My first reaction when I saw it was that it could become the next crave-worthy Walt Disney World snack. Maybe they think so, too , and want to be ahead anyway, if so? yes Great, I wonder how long the “breakfast only” situation will last. )
drinks
- Hibiscus Tea: Hibiscus tea with lime and agave nectar (non-alcoholic beverage)
- Kura Strawberry Sake: Wildflower Junmai Sake, Campari Liqueur, Rocky Botanical Liqueur and Wild Strawberry
- Passion Fruit and Pineapple Daiquiri: Ten to One Caribbean White Rum, Minute Maid Passion Fruit Orange Guava Juice, Pineapple and Lime
- Pandan Gin Gin Mule: Ford's gin with pandan, lime juice and ginger beer
As far as reviews go, I just have a few main thoughts. First off, the menu at Wailulu Bar & Grill looks great. It has a pretty extensive food selection by lounge standards, with some crowd pleasers (with interesting variations) as well as some more creative options. It also looks pretty on-topic for a Polynesian, so that's a win.
This seems to be the “formula” for new lounges at domestic Disney parks these days. That’s not to say that recent lounge menus are formulaic, because they definitely aren’t—quite the opposite. It reminds me of Palm Breeze at the Disneyland Hotel and Bar Riva at the Riviera Resort. It's probably no coincidence, as these are the two newest large Disney Vacation Club properties.
Next, I couldn't help but wonder how busy Wailulu Bar & Grill would be.
For one thing, other similar lounges haven't been full lately. I would go back to Palm Breeze and Bar Riva, two of our regular dining places. Although none of them are particularly large, they are usually adequate for the needs. The same goes for other locations at Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs and Wilderness Lodge.
Paulie, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. Unlike the hotels mentioned above, Hotel Poly is a destination resort. Many off-site and on-site guests staying elsewhere enjoy dinner here to experience Walt Disney World's most iconic resort.
I think the restaurant capacity is already too low for Disney's Polynesian Resort, and that was before the Island Tower. So it will be interesting to see what happens when all these rooms are added to the mix. Will Wailulu Bar & Grill be able to handle the increased capacity? Will the Magic Kingdom spectacle lead to more demand than usual?
I hope the answer is yes and no, but I'm guessing they'll be reversed. It's really hard for me to believe anything You can't be busy in Polynesia. This is also one of my biggest concerns about Island Tower – that the resort and monorail infrastructure are not adequate to support new room inventory (unless the resort is locked down, which would be a very controversial move). I guess we'll see.
Finally, we've heard a series of complaints over the past few years that are essentially: “Walt Disney World only builds bars! They need to focus on more family-friendly things!!!”
To each his own, but I don't think that's a fair criticism anymore, and hasn't been for a while. Of course, that's true when it comes to places like Trader Sam's Grog Grotto, Jock Lindsey's Hanger Bar, The Edison, and a few other establishments that are very clearly targeted at adults (and adults only). Especially during the heyday of Downtown Disney being reimagined as Disney Springs. This complaint also makes sense when more bar kiosks pop up or restaurant menus place more emphasis on alcoholic beverages.
However, this has not been a trend for the past few years. Instead, Walt Disney World has added a number of family-friendly lounges with more extensive food options. These are more fairly classed as restaurants rather than bars (or at least “There’s also a grill”), and exudes an inviting ambience and boasts an extensive food menu that arguably goes above and beyond some of the regular restaurants at their respective resorts.
We know this because we have kids (well, kids, singular) and dine at these locations regularly. These include Geyser Point Bar & Grill at Wilderness Lodge, Three Bridges Bar & Grill in Coronado Springs, Nomad Lounge at Animal Kingdom, and the redesigned Banana Cabana (as well as Bar Riva and Palm Breeze) in Caribbean Beach.
The point is, we strongly recommend you give these so-called bars a try before dismissing them as only for heavy drinkers. I would even say that in many cases we actually prefer lounges as they tend to be more laid back and lower risk. If we were eating at Bar Riva or Banana Cabana, it would be easy to walk out or speed up the whole process, which is not possible at restaurants like Topolino's Terrace or even Sebastian's Bistro.
All of which is to say that we will be regulars at the Wailulu Bar & Grill (assuming it's not always busy, weakening this paragraph) and will do a full review at some point to let you know how this menu compares to the Wailulu Bar & Grill Competition for lounges around Disney World is pretty fierce.
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your thoughts
What do you think of the menu at Wailulu Bar & Grill? Is this restaurant expected to be busier than its recent counterparts at other resorts due to the poly factor or its view of the Magic Kingdom? Or do you think there is a cap on bar demand at Walt Disney World and that should be fine? Do you agree with our assessment that this type of “grill” lounge is actually more like a restaurant than a bar and is a OK Types of add-ons at Walt Disney World? Will you make it a point to go here the next time you stay at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort or do a monorail crawl? Have any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback (even if you disagree with us) is both fun for us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!
