Boma, officially known as Boma – Flavors of Africa, is a buffet service restaurant located at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge in Jambo House. Boma is open for breakfast and dinner and features food from over 50 African countries, with a few American classics tossed in. The operating hours are 7:30 am to 11:00 am and 5:00 pm to 9:30 pm. This review will focus on the dinner menu.
Boma is located on the ground level of the resort, right beside Jiko – The Cooking Place, a table service restaurant. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is very expansive and getting around can be a bit confusing and overwhelming. The beautiful main lobby is actually on the 3rd level of the resort. Once you enter into the main lobby, there will be elevators on your right. These will take you down to the ground floor and to Boma. If you prefer the stairs, just head past the elevators. There are a set of stairs that go down one level to Victoria Falls Lounge, and then continue down to the restaurants. The outer doors near the restaurants lead outside to The Mara, the quick service restaurant, and the Uzima pool.
Boma has the look and feel of an African marketplace with thatched-roofs over the carving stations and brightly coloured rugs draped from the ceiling. The word boma in Swahili loosely means animal pen. Maybe not the most glamourous way to think of a restaurant but there are decorations around that support this look. There are low wrought iron fences that look like they are fashioned out of sticks throughout the restaurant.
The dinner buffet has many different entrees, sides, soups, stews, salads, and desserts! The soups and stews include options such as butternut squash soup, carrot-ginger soup, oxtail stew, coconut-chicken-curry soup, chicken-corn chowder, and seafood gumbo. My favourite? The butternut squash soup!
The salad section includes avocado grapefruit and papaya salad, pasta salads, spinach and quinoa salad, watermelon rind salad, and pearl couscous salad. There is also a small section of bread with hummus and other dips. The sides include couscous, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes. The entrees section includes chakalaka, roasted turkey, salmon, pork ribs, bobotie, and pork shoulder.
The dessert section is the best! I honestly regret not getting as much dessert as I could! The dessert options include bread pudding, zebra domes, key lime cheesecakes, and an assortment of cookies and cupcakes. The good news is that if you need some extra dessert later on in the evening, many of the desserts are sold separately at The Mara.
Please note that all of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is currently doing a cash-free test. This means that all of the restaurants and shops throughout Jambo House are only accepting credit cards, debit cards, Disney gift cards, Magic Bands, etc: anything but cash.
Boma – Flavors of Africa is a fantastic restaurant! If you are not staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, it is definitely worth making the trek out to dine here. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time because you will want to spend some time exploring the resort and watching the animals in the savannas.
To learn more about Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, check out this detailed review by VeraVise Wow Travel.
I’ve haven’t made it over there, but this is one of my top restaurants to try.
I love Boma for breakfast, especially the Simba waffles!
I haven’t been for breakfast! I would love to try it someday!
We love Boma for breakfast and dinner! Such delicious offerings! Last time we went I mentioned that I was sad there weren’t any Zebra Domes and the waiter brought some to us from the quick service location! Gotta love that Disney magic!
I love this restaurant. I think about it all the time!