Frontera Cocina: What to Order and What to Skip

Published June 24, 2026 · Updated September 9, 2026

Here’s the move at Frontera Cocina: this is a Rick Bayless restaurant in Disney Springs where everything — chips, salsa, all of it — comes out of your pocket. So order like you mean it. The mistake most guests make is treating it like their neighborhood taqueria and defaulting to basic tacos or a plain chicken dish. That’s how you spend premium money on food you could’ve gotten anywhere for half the price. The whole point of eating here is the kitchen’s specialty dishes, the slow-roasted stuff that justifies the check.

This isn’t a quick-service grab-and-go. It’s a sit-down splurge, and a splurge only pays off if you order the things the kitchen is actually built to execute at a high level. Let’s break down what to get, what to skip, and how to get a table when it’s full.

Start with the guacamole — yes, even at the price

Do not skip the guacamole. It’s made fresh, it’s well-seasoned, and it sets the tone for the whole meal. Here’s the part that trips people up: you’re probably used to a local Mexican spot where chips and salsa just land on the table for free. Not here. At Frontera, those starters are a paid line item. So don’t be surprised when it shows up on the bill — budget for it on purpose, order it, and enjoy it instead of resenting the charge.

The smart framing: treat the guacamole as a planned part of your order, not an impulse add-on you’ll second-guess. It’s one of the dishes this kitchen does genuinely well, and starting with it is a much better use of a few dollars than filling up on generic filler later.

Order what the kitchen is built for, skip the familiar stuff

The single biggest value lever at Frontera is avoiding filler. Every dollar here is real money, so don’t spend it on the dishes you order out of habit. Standard tacos, plain grilled chicken, the safe familiar plate — skip them. Not because they’re bad, but because you’re paying a Rick Bayless premium and getting a version of something you could make at home.

Instead, point yourself at the dishes the menu is anchored around — the slow-roasted, regionally-specific plates that are the reason this restaurant exists. That’s where the cooking shows off and where your money actually buys you something. The rule of thumb that applies at any specialty Disney restaurant: order what the place is known for, not what you’re comfortable with. You can get a basic chicken dish in a hundred places at Disney World. You can’t get this kitchen’s signature work anywhere else on property.

If you’re the type who freezes at a big menu, simplify it to one question: which of these dishes can I only get here? Order that.

The booking play: get an ADR, but don’t panic if you miss it

Frontera Cocina is a popular Disney Springs spot, busiest at dinner. The good news: it doesn’t book up quite as ferociously as some of its harder-to-get neighbors. The smart move is still to lock in an Advance Dining Reservation rather than wing it — Disney World dining reservations open 60 days before your arrival at 6:00 AM Eastern in My Disney Experience, and grabbing a table ahead of time means you’re not standing in Disney Springs at 7 PM wondering where to eat.

But here’s the realistic scenario: you didn’t plan dinner, you’re wandering Disney Springs, and suddenly you really want slow-roasted pork and a margarita. No table. That used to mean you were out of luck or stuck refreshing the app yourself for the next hour.

This is exactly where SupaPark’s dining Drop Watch earns its keep. Set a watch on Frontera, and SupaPark monitors the restaurant for cancellations and pings you the instant a table frees up — then you grab it yourself in My Disney Experience. Reservations free up constantly as other guests’ plans shift; the only thing standing between you and that table is knowing the second it opens. SupaPark catches it so you don’t have to babysit the app.

The light-eaters move

A trick that works at most Disney spots and applies here too: if your group runs light, don’t reflexively order a full entrée per person. Specialty restaurants like this tend to plate generous portions, and you’ll often do better ordering a couple of the signature dishes plus the guacamole and sharing across the table. You taste more of what the kitchen does well, you waste less food, and your check stays sane.

The goal isn’t to spend the least — it’s to spend on the right things. A shared spread of dishes you can only get here beats a full plate of something familiar for everyone, every time.

The one thing to remember

Frontera Cocina is a splurge, so order like it: get the guacamole, chase the slow-roasted signature dishes, and skip the generic tacos and chicken you could eat anywhere. Lock in an ADR 60 days out if you can — and if you can’t, don’t write it off. Set a Drop Watch in SupaPark, let it catch the cancellation, and walk in for the margarita you actually came for.

Go deeper — the full guides: The Insider’s Guide to EPCOT’s Regal Eagle Smokehouse: What to Eat, Skip, and Share · The Insider’s Menu and Booking Guide to California Grill · The Insider Guide to Vegetarian Dining in EPCOT’s World Showcase

SupaPark tracks live wait times and crowd forecasts, and pings you the second a hard-to-get reservation opens or a ride goes walk-on — free to start at supapark.com.

Keep planning: Frontera Cocina · live dining reservation drops · is Lightning Lane worth it