Almost every family that visits Walt Disney World more than once has their favorite restaurant.  It’s the place that is the first ADR that you make … the place that you will eat at even if your budget is really tight.

For our family, that place is Cape May Cafe.  Located in Disney’s Beach Club Resort, it offers a character breakfast buffet as well as a dinner seafood buffet.

This review will be of our most recent dinner.  It took place during our November trip and was on our twentieth wedding anniversary.  What better place to dine?

Cape May is centrally located in the Beach Club.  It’s a short walk from any of the Boardwalk area resorts and also only a short walk or quick boat ride from Epcot’s International Gateway.

We arrived for our 7:45 reservations around 7:30.  After a short wait, we were seated around 7:40.   A tip is to wait for a booth.  Sitting at a table in the middle of a buffet can get a bit tedious!

My wife makes no apologies.  She is here to eat crab legs!  My son tries the clams, mussels, and a couple of other items.  Then, he tackles the crab legs!  I, however, in my quest for dining diversity, try a bit of everything!

The menu usually consists of several cold salads, cold shrimp, a selection of cheeses, a couple of soups, steamed corn, potatoes, clams, mussels, Hand-carved Strip Loin, fried cod, Fried Clam Strips, and crab legs.

The salads were tasty but unremarkable.  The Chilled Peel-n-Eat Shrimp were done spot on and easy to peel.  I found the cheese board to be particularly good.  I made a couple of trips just to get cheese!

The strip was done to a very nice medium and went very well with their horseradish sauce.  Note: they sometimes have prime rib!

Their fried cod and clams were both good but nothing special.   The Steamed Mussels were really delicious.  They are served in a garlic tomato sauce described as a Tomato Sambuca Broth.

There are buckets on the buffet line, so you can make a steamer with clams, corn, and potatoes if you wish.  The main event, though, are those crab legs!

I’ve tried a couple of local buffets that advertise all-you-can-eat crab legs.  The crab legs served by those places are generally small and, for the most part, not done correctly.

Cape May has several steamers right in the middle of the buffet, ensuring fresh crab almost every time you head up to the table.  The legs are perfectly steamed and nicely sized.

Many, many, many, plates later, I did try several of Cape May’s desserts.  Their caramel flan with fresh berries and Boston cream pie are my favorites.  My son had at least eight servings of the flan!  He’s 17 and can get away with it!

There are a couple of other noteworthy things I’d like to add.  They do have a child’s buffet with pizza, Fried Cod Nuggets, and a couple of other items, for example.

There is butcher paper placed on your dining table, so you can use the crayons they give you to “decorate”!

I’m not a wine drinker, but I did notice a couple of custom mixed drinks.  As a beer guy, I usually take the chance, here, to get a couple of Sam Adams on draft.

This time, however, I took notice of an offering of beers I hadn’t tried before.  I ended up drinking two Session Black Lagers.  They were dark but balanced the crab legs very nicely.

In conclusion, folks, this is a seafood buffet.  If you don’t like fish or shellfish, don’t bother.  The roast, and a lot of the other non-seafood items, can be found on buffets more to your liking.

If you do like – or, love – seafood (particularly shellfish), however, by all means, put Cape May on your next ADR list!

A travel agent, and an Orlando native, John is the Florida correspondent for the WDW Main Street Podcast.  He’s a regular contributor to the show.  John can also be found as the co-host of The Weekly Pint Podcast.  Find him on Twitter @beersolo.