Review: New Menu at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom!
Editor’s Note: Burgers had previously been removed from the Pecos Bill menu altogether, but a new burger, the Southwest Burger, has recently been added. Also, rice bowls aren’t currently available.
Howdy hey there! After being closed for a few days, Pecos Bill Tale Tall Inn and Cafe is back up and running with a completely new menu!
I know this may be not-too-happy news for those old school Pecos Bill fans, but the new menu isn’t so bad. Let’s take a look at the changes!
So there was some speculation that since the restaurant was closed for a few days that they might have done some redecorating, but the atmosphere looks exactly the same!
Multiple dining rooms with rustic, Old West elements remain your air conditioned dining options.
Go a little further down the hallway to check out a dining room that fits a bit more into the Adventureland side of the restaurant (it straddles Frontierland and Adventureland after all).
Pecos Bill still watches over the ordering area.
The biggest change I could find inside was some of the cast members having fun with the new theme — sombreros!
But the Code of the West still stands.
So here’s what’s no longer on the menu: the Barbecue Pork Sandwich, Deluxe Chicken Sandwich, Angus Bacon Cheeseburger, Chili, Fries, and Corn on the Cob are all gone. But there are plenty of new items to choose from!
New entree items are a Fajita Platter with either beef or chicken, Burrito with beef or chicken, Rice Bowl with beef, chicken or roasted vegetables, and the Southwest Salad with Beef or Chicken. The Southwest Salad is the same as it was on the previous menu, but now you have a choice of beef or chicken.
Side options now are either a Chicken Enchilada Soup (which I’m looking forward to trying once the weather cools down a bit!) or chips. They also have some new dessert options: Churros and Sopaipillas.
So first thing I wanted to try: The Fajita Platter with chicken.
I heard chatter about the price of the new menu items being high, but I must say the proportions are really large! To me it seemed the portion sizes are larger than at other quick-service spots.
The chicken is served mixed with sautéed green peppers and onions and is marinated and well seasoned.
You also get a great helping of black beans and a large roasted green chile pepper.
Also served with the Fajita Platter was a side of 4 flour tortillas.
And you can make your own.
The other item I wanted to try was the Burrito! For this one I decided to go with beef.
This one is also served with the Cilantro Rice and Black Beans, but they are layered inside the burrito. The burrito isn’t rolled, so you can add as many toppings from the Fixin’s Bar as you want!
You get a lot of beef, which was finely shredded and tender and also had some great flavor. The main negative to this one was the set-up. The ingredients are placed next to each other so one side is all meat and the other is all rice and beans. I imagine cast members will soon learn to layer the ingredients so guests get a bit of each in every bite.
Now let’s take a peek at those new toppings from the Fixin’s bar!
For those of you who like to customize your meal, the burrito is going to be the perfect choice.
Individual packets of sour cream.
A delicious Chipotle Ranch Dressing.
Banana peppers, if you’re looking to kick up the heat.
What might be my favorite new topping: a verde salsa that added great flavor without adding any spice.
A delicious dark salsa that added a slight spice, but not too much!
A fresh-tasting Pico de Gallo.
Some lime wedges to add some extra lime flavoring to the rice if you’d like.
And finally, some roasted corn mixed with onions and tomatoes, which I used to mix with my black beans! So there are plenty of ways to customize your meal here! I can’t wait to see how some of the DFB readers get creative here.
Also new to the menu are Mexican influenced desserts, and since I can get Churros right outside at the Frontierland Churro cart, I decided to venture out and try the Sopaipillas.
Sopaipillas are a fried pastry with a nice crispy outside and flakey, layered inside — doused with powdered sugar.
The texture of these was great and they had a nice, moderate amount of sweetness. For those of you who want to add some extra sweetness, just ask a Cast Member for a side of chocolate dipping sauce, which usually comes with the Churros.
For those of you die-hard Pecos Bill fans who loved the old menu, I am strongly suggesting for you to give this new menu a try. Tortuga Tavern fans, you will find this menu very similar to their Mexican influenced items — and at least Pecos Bill doesn’t close seasonally!
You can always get Barbecued Pork Sandwiches, Chicken Sandwiches, and Burgers over at Cosmic Rays if Mexican fare isn’t your thing. But I must say that I throughly enjoyed everything!
Will you be trying to new menu items at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe? What menu item will you miss the most?
I went there for dinner tonight during MNSSHP. I was very disappointed when I found out they had changed the menu but decided to give it a try. The prices are steep but portion sizes were good. I wish I could say the same for the flavor. Neither my rice nor chicken had any kind of flavor. The chicken was dry and tasted like frozen chicken that hadn’t been given time to thaw and then had been sitting under a heat lamp for an hour after cooking. I am hoping that this was only because it’s a new menu and they haven’t become accustomed to making the items but I will not be going back for quite a while.
I tend to go to Disney with picky eaters who prefer burgers and chicken nuggets, so it’s kind of limiting to only have one place with that kind of food in the Magic Kingdom now. That said, I’m pretty excited by that guac and queso.
Mexican food in Frontierland? Uh, okay.
We weren’t regulars at Pecos Bill’s anyway. Disney counter service burgers range from gross to edible. By I don’t see this change luring us in.
I’m tempted. Think we’ll have to try this on our next day trip.
I like Burritos and I’ve had authentic ones which are different from the fast food chain burritos, so, if I was in the mood for Mexican, I would def go here.
That’s crazy that there is no plain rice option. A ton of people have that genetic predisposition where cilantro tastes like soap/cleanser/poison. Hope Pecos remedies that soon.
Our favorite food at Pecos Bill’s was the taco salad. We are quite disappointed to see it gone. We will be going to WDW soon. We are not sure we will try Pecos Bill’s new items. Why don’t they offer taco salad & meat quesadillas? We would eat those.
Thank you for this review! When I heard about the change, I wasn’t happy at all. We loved the fixins bar of the old menu. Now that the fixins bar is back but in a different way plus the size of portion for the money, we’ll definitely give it a try.
I’m excited about trying the new menu. I love Mexican!
Just curious though, anyone know if fries or chips are available as substitutes for the kids meals? Carrots and applesauce don’t go over well with my son!
I am so disappointed about the changes, I’m coming Christmas and Spring break, but I will NOT be eating at Pecos Bill, I always ate at least once or twice a trip because the burgers were wonderful and the bar to go with it. Sorry, another disney disappointment and I’m a family club member. Off for a new place to eat in the Magic Kindom.
No more Pecos for us! If we all can’t find something to eat at one restaurant we skip it. Loved old Pecos… new one, not so much.
Um, are you people all insane? The food is wonderful….such a nice change!!
This is awful. Pecos Bill’s was one of the only “fast” restaurants I liked eating at in Disney. It was my absolute favorite and now it is gone. All of this food looks horrible. I hate beans, I hate chili peppers, I hate spicy food, I really just hate Mexican food. There is nothing on this menu that I would ever eat. This makes me really sad.
I’m looking forward to trying this new menu out! We liked the previous menu but missed not having a southwest option since Tortuga Tavern is always closed when we go. The queso looks yummy!
We went there tjis weekend ..they purposely seperate it so yiu mix or not mix..it is a production line each cast member has a scoop to add.. Also the beed is very salty …hopefully they fix that . We had both chicken and beef rice bowl …chicken was great . You can add to your plate from the bar dont waste the cups ..
We ate here over the weekend and have to say it was wonderful! My only suggestion for the topping bar is shredded lettuce and a plain rice option would be good.
Anyone notice in the comments section of the Disney Parks Blog’s post on the menu change: “If you love BBQ, you’ll love the changes coming soon to Tortuga Tavern!”?? So maybe if Mexican isn’t your thang, there will be a new option on the horizon!
Have some plain rice and I will try it! I can’t eat cilantro. It’s horrible!
Does anyone know if you can order the fajitas or burrito without beans?
Erin, of course you can order the fajita platter without beans! Disney is great with customizing orders.
My family has always liked going to Pecos Bill’s because it was one of the very few places to get a good angus burger with fries and all ” the fixins” . We are saddened to see this new menu. It seems more traditional in a frontierland to have beef burgers and not fajitas and burritos. I like Mexican food, but everytime I have tried it at a place other than a traditonal Mexican restaurant, it does not taste good. So, we are very disappointed to hear of the menu change.
I cannot wait to try and really looking forward, as others say above there are still plenty of places to get burgers or nuggets with fries.
It’s appetites like yours that make them adding more and more italian restaurants!
Live a little, try some good food!
For the people who are complaining about no longer being able to get chicken nuggets or a burger at Peco’s, stop complaining. You can get almost everyone that was on the old menu at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland INCLUDING the toppings bar.
Why does WDW always screw up something that was successful? Pecos Bills had the best burgers. We used to love the taco salad until the removed it from the menu. I wish they would have just left it alone.
I’m pretty excited about the change to the menu! I always want to eat in Tortuga Tavern, but it’s closed almost every time I’m there. I love Mexican food so this will be a treat for me. And shredded cheese and guacamole on the all-you-can-eat fixins bar?! That’s pretty awesome!
I agree with Mike V! There is a whole world of food to enjoy. I saw a person in line at Harambe Market at Animal Kingdom ask what sauce is on the flatbread sandwich. The hostess answered “Tzatziki ,” and the person yelled, “WHO???” And I always wonder at folks who go to Epcot during the Food & Wine Festival and seek out a place to get fries and nuggets. I wish burgers and nuggets didn’t have to be at every restaurant to keep people from freaking right out. There’s so much more out there. And this is coming from an American born in the Midwest who grew up eating only basic American food.
I loved this quick service when we were there last week. I am a huge fan of the new menu and my chicken fajitas were so good. I know it’s shocking to some with the changes, but I loved it, and I can’t wait to go back and put this on my to do list!
Loved the old taco salad and was intrigued with the new menu and topping bar. It was very good and a nice addition to MK quick service. We ate there a couple of times, trying the fajitas (chicken and steak) and the chicken rice bowl. Food was a little slow to come out, but everything was fresh, hot, very well seasoned and tasty. The topping bar is seriously awesome, it almost had me forget the lack of plastic cheese. All you can eat guac, sour cream and grated cheese! The pinkish sauce is not queso, it’s chipotle ranch, and it is very good too.
We ate at Pecos Bill a couple days ago. Using the quick service dining plan, this was a great value because of all the food we got — plenty for our toddler to eat off our plates instead of purchasing her own meal. I had the fajitas with beef, which were good — not mind-blowing but good. My husband had the salad with beef, which he enjoyed, but my mother-in-law had the rice bowl with beef and that looked like the biggest winner. We all enjoyed the entrees. The churros were a little tough, but the sopapillas were the best part of the meal. So light and airy. We all loved those! Enjoyed that they had a yogurt option for dessert, which we got included on the dining plan and which went straight to the toddler. I love Mexican food, so for me this menu is a hit.
So I guess if you don’t like cilantro you’re pretty much looking for another place to dine. 3 out of the 4 menu choices come with a generous serving of cilantro rice – yuck!
I’m so excited to try the new menu. This is exactly what Disney needs. Have been to Pecos Bills in the past and was not impressed. I would have never eaten there again, but now I can’t wait to try it. I really don’t understand all of the complaints about the change. There are plenty of places to get a burger and fries.
We ate there on Thursday. It was pretty good overall. Just so you know, the “queso” you have pictured is not queso…it is chipotle ranch, which tasted good, but my daughter was expecting queso after reading your review, and she was grossed out when she dipped her quesadilla into what she thought was queso. Needless to say , she does not like ranch. I agree with a previous comment that the churros are way too crunchy. If you’re on the dining plan and have to pick a dessert option, I would definitely recommend the sopapillas over the churros.
Holly and Stephenie D. — Thanks so much for the update about the queso vs. ranch question. I’ve corrected the text to indicate that it’s a dressing, not a cheese sauce.
There still is a burger!
Heather — YES! One burger (the Southwest Burger) did return. We did a news post to announce it, but didn’t add an editor’s note to this post. I’ve taken care of that now. 🙂 Thank you!
Not much for vegetarians. Sure you could order without meat (but probably pay for the meat anyway). It would be nice to see a salad option without meat. Usually Mexican is great for vegetarians with all the rice / beans / veggies.
Wish a cheese quesadilla was offered. Can that be ordered?
If you check out the menu on the Disney website, it is different from what is listed here – especially for kids. It has uncrustables, mini corndogs and mac and cheese listed. For adults, no rice bowls are listed. Has it changed since this review was done? Anyone been here recently?
Cristin — Yes, the rice bowls didn’t last long. You can see a post with our most recent visit here. I’ll make a note on this post that the rice bowls are off of the menu for now.
Unlimited guac. There is nothing better.
With these changes are gluten sensitive people able to find a selection to eat. Can’t eat anything with flour shells or meat cooked with flour base. Miss the good burgers even without the bun.
Hi, Steve! If you click this link and scroll down, you’ll see the allergy information for gluten free options. Hope this helps!