Is the Busch Gardens Classic Crab Cake a hit or miss? We revisit this festival food option to check for consistency and taste.
Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival and Concert series runs on Fridays through Sundays until May 18. We visited on March 21 to check on the consistency of the festival food items. Our visit took us to the United States of America Cabin, which serves a lobster roll and a crab cake.
Recently, this food and beverage location added an apple cobbler. During our most recent visit, which was during a significant Florida spring break week, we noticed several Food & Wine Cabins added a dessert to their menus. Those desserts, such as flan or chocolate cake, had not been on the menu when we completed our Best and Worst article. However, almost all the new desserts that appeared on the menu looked like former festival food items.
Since we planned to write a food review for Main Street Magic, we drew inspiration from Jeremy Stein. That caused us to select the Classic Crab Cake.
We tried the crab cake earlier in the festival event. We found it to be an okay option but not the best. Still, consistency at theme park food festivals is always an issue. Thus, we tried it again.
Classic Crab Cake at Food & Wine Festival at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Like most Busch Gardens food festival items, the best way to purchase them is by using a sampler lanyard. This crab cake shines as a perfect example. The Classic Crab Cake cost $12.29. However, by purchasing a sampler lanyard for 15 items for $85, the price of the crab cake does not look too bad.
How Was the Crab Cake?
Well, the question “How was the crab cake?” is very pivotal query to explain this Food & Wine Festival item. The online menu and the in-person printed menus say “Crab Cakes.” Still, the menu photo shows only one crab cake. In fact, we got one crab cake. That will not make a good start for most guests looking to try this item.
Menu Description Issue
The Classic Crab Cake (they only say Crab Cakes on the in-person signage) has an interesting description. It reads, “Jumbo lump crab, mayonnaise, mustard and old bay seasoning, seared to a golden brown, accompanied with a mustard sauce.
On the positive side, the crab cakes were filled with the crab mixture. That mixture worked well. For one person, this makes a fine festival food item. However, this would be a challenge to share, at least for us.
Nevertheless, we noticed a significant change in the crab cake since trying it only five days before. This time, the texture was not very soft. It lacked the significant Old Bay Seasoning we expected. Still, those issues failed to detract from the quality of the food.
However, the menu description indicates a mustard sauce. Food reporters hold dining operations to a tight line when it comes to delivering what they say the customer would get. Our sauce had no sign of mustard. The sauce we received was like the sauce on the Lobster Roll, which almost made our best list. The sauce works as a safer choice for most theme park guests.
Overall, this festival item makes sense for most guests to purchase if they are using a sampler lanyard. If not, we would avoid this one.
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