Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant/Dining Help Thread

[Abra Cat]

Oh, I just wanted to share a quick review of one vegetarian meal my daughter and I had while at WDW last week-- sorry if it's been recently mentioned, but I dip in and out of this thread. We ate at Kouzzina on our arrival night, and it was FANTASTIC. The chef came out and talked to us about our options, and we decided to order the oven-roasted vegetables dish from the menu, as well as the sides-sampler the chef recommended, and we shared both. The roasted veggie dish was very good, but the sides-sampler was amazing, and one serving could have easily satisfied us both. I'm trying to work another visit in on our December trip...

 

[HunnyJar]

Thank you on the Flame Tree rec-- somehow I missed the fruit plate on the menu. It's funny that the park that's so committed to animal welfare has the fewest vegetarian options...

Here is a nice picture I found of the fruit plate and of Flame Tree.. I love fresh fruit and this was so refreshing and really a nice change from veggie burgers..

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32433980&postcount=1

 

[Abra Cat]

Yum-- that looks terrific! Thanks!

Here is a nice picture I found of the fruit plate and of Flame Tree.. I love fresh fruit and this was so refreshing and really a nice change from veggie burgers..

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32433980&postcount=1

 

[ILUVPOOH1]

I was not able to read through each post (only through about pg 6) so sorry if this is a repeat
But please do not forget that BabyCakes NYC is now open in DTD!!!!! Totally vegan yummo desserts!!!! And the owner (I think) does a vegan "blog" on Allears so she always has great ideas on where to grab great vegan eats while in WDW!!!

Also, I know it has been mentioned, but totally bears repeating...Sanaa...awesome for veg and vegans!

 

[cherylp3]

Emily, the manager of babycakes at dtd does the vegan blog for allears. she is a friend of mine.

 

[Meshell2002]

glad I found this thread. I'm a lacto-ovo-veg, and newly working on going more raw....just starting this month....by the time we go I hope to be about 60% raw....though i know the raw part may be hard on vacation. other than the allears board are there any other places to look for info regarding WDW/ traveling on l-o-v or raw diets? We are staying DVC, and I am bringing my vitamix for making breakfast smoothies and snacks....but will probably eat an average of 1-2 meals in the park a day. My family is for the most part S.A.D. eaters, so they have to be happy too Also since we have a car can anyone recommend any produce markets? looking forward to some citrus

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

glad I found this thread. I'm a lacto-ovo-veg, and newly working on going more raw....just starting this month....by the time we go I hope to be about 60% raw....though i know the raw part may be hard on vacation. other than the allears board are there any other places to look for info regarding WDW/ traveling on l-o-v or raw diets? We are staying DVC, and I am bringing my vitamix for making breakfast smoothies and snacks....but will probably eat an average of 1-2 meals in the park a day. My family is for the most part S.A.D. eaters, so they have to be happy too Also since we have a car can anyone recommend any produce markets? looking forward to some citrus

I'm a raw vegan. I do slip up and sometimes allow myself to eat vegan or vegetarian treats, but most gluten and dairy makes me sick. I had a pretty difficult time being raw at WDW when I went in 2008, I didn't even try to stay raw on our 2009 trip, but vegan is totally doable and vegetarian is a cinch. I would suggest as many TS meals as you can handle/afford/have time for, they were always helpful in getting me something I could eat, but CS meals were much more difficult and coupled with the fact that my dd is a picky vegetarian and I was trying to find kid meals that she could eat, we preferred TS meals where the chef would make sure we got what we needed!

 

[packofjedis]

I haven't read through all the pages to see if this was mentioned. I just got back and while there we ate at Rose & Crown. The vegetarian option is no longer shepherd's pie. Now it is a vegetarian curry dish. I don't eat curry so they let me get a couple of sides and count it as a table service credit. (I'm pretty sure they would have approved an appetizer as well - but there's only a salad minus bacon that would have been vegetarian.)

Sci-Fi has, like this thread said, gone to veggie burger instead of the mango tofu. I personally didn't like it. They have thick slices of cucumbers and roasted onions on it as well as lettuce and tomato. It had too much going on to be able to eat it as a burger. Plus the veggie burgers they use are the same as counter service places and I didn't like them at all.

We also ate at Coral Reef. Didn't like it at all. It was extremely loud and either the accoustics are great or there was more than a fair share of screaming children in there. I ordered the one vegetarian option which is NOT what allears has listed. It was some kind of vegetable/potato concoction rolled up in phyllo dough. Absolutely disgusting in my opinion. I couldn't eat more than the one bite I tasted. It looked good. Description seemed good. I can't figure out what they did to it. (Glad we tried it once - everyone else loved their meals.)

 

[Meshell2002]

I'm a raw vegan. I do slip up and sometimes allow myself to eat vegan or vegetarian treats, but most gluten and dairy makes me sick. I had a pretty difficult time being raw at WDW when I went in 2008, I didn't even try to stay raw on our 2009 trip, but vegan is totally doable and vegetarian is a cinch. I would suggest as many TS meals as you can handle/afford/have time for, they were always helpful in getting me something I could eat, but CS meals were much more difficult and coupled with the fact that my dd is a picky vegetarian and I was trying to find kid meals that she could eat, we preferred TS meals where the chef would make sure we got what we needed!

Thanks for the tips about the TS. Since part of our party is on the DDP, we do have TS ADRS (about 1 a day) scheduled. I'm not new to WDW, but am to traveling with the diet changes I've made. I think the hardest thing for me is not straying because I CAN eat anything.....but need not to for my health, so unlike some vegans who can't stand regular food, I'm still new enough to it that I WANT it. The vitamix and green smoothies have been wonderful for my sweet & fried food cravings.....so this is why we choose to stay DVC so I can get my smoothie fix

I made all the ADRs for our trip, I even scheduled my parents' for after we leave (the day before they fly out) they got the dx DDP and had sooo many credits.....I made sure to schedule Biergarten (Dad's favorite) for the day after we leave.... Do to all that my family is not doing the DDP. I just figured between my kids that eat little and myself wanting to order different than usual dishes....we would have a hard time using the credits, plus our tickets are leftover no exp tickets from 2009.

I haven't read through all the pages to see if this was mentioned. I just got back and while there we ate at Rose & Crown. The vegetarian option is no longer shepherd's pie. Now it is a vegetarian curry dish. I don't eat curry so they let me get a couple of sides and count it as a table service credit. (I'm pretty sure they would have approved an appetizer as well - but there's only a salad minus bacon that would have been vegetarian.)

Sci-Fi has, like this thread said, gone to veggie burger instead of the mango tofu. I personally didn't like it. They have thick slices of cucumbers and roasted onions on it as well as lettuce and tomato. It had too much going on to be able to eat it as a burger. Plus the veggie burgers they use are the same as counter service places and I didn't like them at all.

We also ate at Coral Reef. Didn't like it at all. It was extremely loud and either the accoustics are great or there was more than a fair share of screaming children in there. I ordered the one vegetarian option which is NOT what allears has listed. It was some kind of vegetable/potato concoction rolled up in phyllo dough. Absolutely disgusting in my opinion. I couldn't eat more than the one bite I tasted. It looked good. Description seemed good. I can't figure out what they did to it. (Glad we tried it once - everyone else loved their meals.)

Hmmm, not sure about the veggie burger, I typically avoid soy products since I'm a thyroid patient....most veggie burgers have some soy in them. I will have to check out the menu on allears for sci-fi.....that's one of our ADRs.

 

[bumbershoot]

We also ate at Coral Reef. Didn't like it at all. It was extremely loud and either the accoustics are great or there was more than a fair share of screaming children in there. I ordered the one vegetarian option which is NOT what allears has listed. It was some kind of vegetable/potato concoction rolled up in phyllo dough. Absolutely disgusting in my opinion. I couldn't eat more than the one bite I tasted. It looked good. Description seemed good. I can't figure out what they did to it. (Glad we tried it once - everyone else loved their meals.)

I liked the phyllo, and as long as I didn't inhale I was relatively OK with the taste of the innards, but the tomato sauce was DISGUSTING and just too salty!

It also smelled like stargazer lilies, and I despise that smell and coudln't figure out what on earth they had put in the dish to make it stink like that. I seriously had to shut off my nose in order to eat it. As it was, I ate only half and handed it off to DH, who doesn't have the same lily-smell problem, but mainly felt it was far too salty.

We gave the server lots of feedback in hopes that she would tell the chef.

Hmmm, not sure about the veggie burger, I typically avoid soy products since I'm a thyroid patient....most veggie burgers have some soy in them. I will have to check out the menu on allears for sci-fi.....that's one of our ADRs.

From what I can still tell, it's a Malibu Gardenburger, just overcooked. Everywhere. I don't know what they are doing to this poor burger; it looks like it's the same thing I had in June '09 at Disneyland, which was the Malibu Gardenburger (WDW switched over to it a bit later), but there it was decent and tasty...heck, it was decent and tasty in December at Cosmic Rays, but now they are nearly burning it and making it hard and crusty. The innards are still the same in appearance as the Malibu, though.

Gardenburger Malibu Burger, not available through retail.

INGREDIENTS: ORGANIC COOKED BROWN RICE (ORGANIC BROWN RICE, WATER), WATER, ORGANIC CORN, ORGANIC CARROTS, ORGANIC ONIONS, ORGANIC GREEN PEPPERS, ORGANIC ROLLED OATS, ORGANIC RED BELL PEPPERS, ORGANIC SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, ORGANIC CANOLA OIL, ORGANIC HIGH OLEIC SUNFLOWER OIL, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF BROCCOLI, SEA SALT, CARRAGEENAN, ORGANIC SOY SAUCE (WATER, ORGANIC SOYBEANS, SALT, ORGANIC WHEAT, ORGANIC ALCOHOL), ORGANIC ONION POWDER, KONJAC FLOUR, ORGANIC GARLIC POWDER, ORGANIC SPICES.
CONTAINS SOY AND WHEAT INGREDIENTS.

We gave heavy and kind feedback everywhere that had the veggie burger, that they needed to add something *else*, not just have the burger. And we gave strong happy feedback to the manager (we ran into her coincidentally) of the Brown Derby that they are NOT to change their tofu dish for the world! And that it's just wrong to have real meals turned into Yet Another Veggie Burger at other places like scifi, etc.

 

[Meshell2002]

thanks bumbershoot

 

[CarrieR]

Just got back from the World a couple of hours ago, and thought I would post a few pictures of my veggie eats. I am not a big "take a picture of your dinner" person, lol, but there were a few things I couldn't find pictures of so I thought I'd provide them. (I certainly rely on the photos enough when trying to figure out where we are going to eat!)

Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized picture, I am not adept at resizing so I let photobucket handle it, lol.

Le Cellier, Tomato Stack:



Grand Floridian Cafe -- there is no veg meal on their menu but they do a series of small plates. They were delicious, I wish I was more hungry!



Le Cellier, Cheddar Cheese Soup -- vegetarian version (This, along with the pretzel bread, was my entire meal and I couldn't even finish it!):



I didn't take a picture of the actual dish, but the veg dish at Liberty Tree Tavern is not what I'd seen listed on the menu. It's vegan, and VERY good!:



Also ate at Chef Mickey's (good variety,) Sci-Fi (shrimp pasta with no shrimp; unfortunately since they no longer have the tofu dish they can no longer add tofu, but it was still good. Smaller portion than I had in July, though, significantly so,) 50's Prime Time (I had a pasta dish with veggies, since the veg spaghetti and "meatballs" was mushroom based, as was the standard substitute of veggie burger,) 'Ohana (standard veg dish there,) and Plaza (ordered the veg sandwich off the menu.)

I ate each of my meals with multiple-food-allergic friends and eight of our nine meals were PHENOMINAL. The ninth, at 'Ohana, was a safe meal but had a bit of a rough start... odd as we had a great, safe meal there just in July. Several of our Chefs (Chef Paul, LC, Chef Ken, Plaza) were people we raved about all week. It is very rare for us to have a restaurant experience all together in the "real world" and I can't speak highly enough of our entire dining experience. I'll be happy to answer any veg questions here, and I'll start a thread in disABILITIES for the allergy stuff.

 

[HunnyJar]

Grand Floridian Cafe -- there is no veg meal on their menu but they do a series of small plates. They were delicious, I wish I was more hungry!

That's interesting! That's totally different than the option I was given on September 10th. I had a tofu and veggies dish with a pomegranate BBQ sauce. Yours looks very good! Maybe you got lucky, I've read that while Chef TJ is supposed to be at 1900 Park Fare he has been reported to help out at Grand Floridian Cafe from time to time.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I noticed that the menus indicate which items are vegetarian, but it doesn't look like very many are vegan (if any). We'll be in WDW in four weeks (YAY!) so I'm curious to know if there will be any booths worth stopping by for us.

Teresa

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I was looking at menus earlier today for my next trip and noticed the change to LTT too. As disappointed as I am for just another veggie burger option, this one does sound good.

 

[CarrieR]

The LTT veggie burger is very different than the standard veggie burger available most places on property. It was very good, and in fact, one of my traveling companions was randomly talking today about how good it looked, lol.

I'm not sure about the Food & Wine items, as we never made it there. Sorry

GFC -- my chef was not TJ, although I read the night before that 1900PF shared him sometimes and I got excited. It worked out fine though, the small plates really were great!

 

[DaymanX]

I'm at WDW now and was at Boma tonight.

Possible bad news for Boma fans:

No more fallafel or yellow curry with tofu. Chef Brian said they haven't had it since he's worked there, but he did make a decent effort to make me the curry (at least they still had tofu in the kitchen, but it wasn't featured in any buffet item).

He also told me the pita wasn't vegan but I think he was wrong.

Anyhow, with my two faves no longer on the menu, we won't be hitting Boma again this trip. There were only a few salad options and hot foods were limited to white rice, pasta w/o sauce, and chaka laka. Chef said none of the five soups were even vegetarian.

On a much kinder note, I'm hoping Chef TJ is working at 1900 on Weds.

How's Chef Mickey's for a vegan?

 

[poeticeclipse]

I'm planning on enjoying Chef TJ's vegan meal at 1900 Park Fare on Sunday. Late last week I emailed the special diets email to have an "allergy" or "vegan" note added to the ressie but they wrote me back and said that "all Disney restaurants have a vegetarian or vegan option on the menu." That's it!

What's my next move? Calling the dining line to have it added to my reservation? Confused!

 

[HunnyJar]

I'm planning on enjoying Chef TJ's vegan meal at 1900 Park Fare on Sunday. Late last week I emailed the special diets email to have an "allergy" or "vegan" note added to the ressie but they wrote me back and said that "all Disney restaurants have a vegetarian or vegan option on the menu." That's it!

What's my next move? Calling the dining line to have it added to my reservation? Confused!

Even the dining line isn't listing vegetarian/vegan on the ADR's lists any more. I don't know why they changed it, but they did. When my husband was setting up our ADRs for our last trip (9-2011) all the different CMs he spoke with said the same thing. I just mentioned to each of our servers that I was a vegetarian at the start of each meal and at certain places like 'Ohana I also mentioned it at the podium during check-in.

 

[poeticeclipse]

Even the dining line isn't listing vegetarian/vegan on the ADR's lists any more. I don't know why they changed it, but they did. When my husband was setting up our ADRs for our last trip (9-2011) all the different CMs he spoke with said the same thing. I just mentioned to each of our servers that I was a vegetarian at the start of each meal and at certain places like 'Ohana I also mentioned it at the podium during check-in.

Okay! As long as this is what everyone is doing. I don't want to get there and then they say "You needed to let us know before now."