We’ve been going to sea world’s seven seas food and wine festival for years. And by years I mean pre-pandemic years and years. We typically go with the same friends, both without children, and now that the kids are older, with them… they do their ride thing, we do our eat and drink thing.

Our first stop this year was over at high tide brews, where we activated our pre-purchased passes, grabbed our punch cards and, for me, a strawberry seltzer. Not my favorite. It was really watery, even for a seltzer.

Our first stop was over in the fortune area, where we were treated to chinese lion dancers, while we tried the bao bun (hello… have you met me?!?) and the gyoza.

We found the bao bun to be tasty, but very bun forward. And the consistency felt more microwaved than steamed. However, I would try it again, because I believe if you timed it right it would be a wholly different experience.

I love gyoza. The flavor on these was good. They were a little too crunchy/tough for my preference, but the ponzu and fresh scallions were a positive addition to the dish.

So this dish was one of unfortunate circumstances. The fries were crispy. The cheese curds fresh, and the gravy was surprisingly good. (And I have a very low good gravy threshold). The problem, you ask? Who ever plated the dish didn’t realized that you plate the fries first, then the curds, and then you pour hot gravy over all of it, so it melts the curds, and coats the fries. Instead, the gravy was layered on the bottom, then topped with fries and then the curds. Which were still cold when we had them. I’m hoping this will be rectified by the next time we go, because it would really be a great dish.

We enjoyed the salmon and cucumbers with cream cheese and dill. The toast points were thin, and not heavy at all. The salmon was fresh and not fishy, and the cucumbers were crisp. The only critique I have, is that I could have used more dill. But I’ll definitely grab this one, next time.

This is another case of good ingredients, bad execution. Traditionally with a pan con tomate, fresh tomatoes and garlic are rubbed across toasted bread. In this case, the bread was not toasted, and it was a lobster roll, not toast, so way too much bread. The tomato and garlic were combined, cold, however because it was premixed and spread, you almost felt it should be warm. The tomato flavor tho? Bomb. The jamon? Delish. Another dish I’m interested to try a month or so into the festival, to see if they change it up.

This is exactly what you think it would be. A standard humus plate. Nothing fancy, just pita, veggies, and humus. The perfect choice for picky or simple eaters.

Year after year, our favorite dish is always the lamb. Doesn’t matter if it’s balled or a chop. We always love the lamb. Flavors are all on point, the sauce was great, and we all devoured it (even the kiddos).

This one is pretty self explanatory. It’s definitely super sweet, and meant to be shared.

All in all, I think we made a pretty good dent. We’ve still got lots of punches left, so we’re excited for round two, and to taste more dishes and tasty drinks. I’ll be sure to share when we do. And in the meantime, you definitely need to go check it out.