Favorite Allergy Friendly Restaurant

[sharlon]

First time posting here and have heard the disAbilities forum is great help.

My sister, a WDW veteran, is taking her first trip back to the World now that her son is on a HIGHLY restricted diet. My nephew can't have dairy, egg, soy, wheat, seafood, treenuts, peanuts, or red 40.
My sister if wondering what your favorite allergy friendly restaurants are and why.
Thanks for the help!

 

[jmartinez1895]

We have found that most of them are great as long as you plan ahead. The person you need to talk to is Brenda you can contact her at Brenda.Bennett@disney.com Just let her know when your trip is, what things your nephew can not eat, what he does like and your ( or your sisters) contact infor. She has always been a great help to us and know that she will be able to help you as well. I hope you al have a great trip. http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=595713 This is the thread that Sue has that may help you out alot. I think that it is post #3 that talks about food allergies and special diets.

 

[toi]

We have found that most of them are great as long as you plan ahead. The person you need to talk to is Brenda you can contact her at Brenda.Bennett@disney.com Just let her know when your trip is, what things your nephew can not eat, what he does like and your ( or your sisters) contact infor. She has always been a great help to us and know that she will be able to help you as well. I hope you al have a great trip. http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=595713 This is the thread that Sue has that may help you out alot. I think that it is post #3 that talks about food allergies and special diets.

Thanks for replying to my sister's post about my son. I've already contacted Brenda and received the information....not really helpful with our extreme limitations but a good place to start.

I know some restaurants deal better than others with food allergies. Do you have any favorites? Thanks!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

The "Disney owned and operated" generally are more responsive than "participants". Generally the problems tend to be in DTD, World Showcase and Coronado Springs, all of which tend to have more participants.

 

[valree]

I've had good luck at all of the table service restaurants that I visited this past trip: California Grill, Whispering Canyon, Narcoosee's and Kona Cafe. At each restaurant, the chef came out and spoke to me about what items I could have and what he could modify.

I've read lots of good things about Chef TJ who I think is the chef at Ohana. It seems like he has a good time creating specialties for allergy-restricted diners.

 

[hildarumpole]

I agree with Cheshire Figment that the Disney-owned restaurants tend to be more on the ball than non-Disney owned. We've never had any problems with accomodating my kids allergies, but some places have been more considerate than others. The chefs at Mama Melrose, Chef Mickey, and Hollywood & Vine were amazing during our last trip in May. The kids got really good special off-menu desserts and were treated like royalty. The chef at Mama Melrose even personally served all my kids food, because she was so concerned that the server might have touched something they were allergic to and didn't want him handling their plates. The best point of contact at Disney is the Special Diets Dept. After your sister makes the ADRs, have her email specialdiets@disneyworld.com. They'll email her a form she fills out with names, allergies, ADRs, what food can and cannot be consumed and contact info. This info is forwarded to the chefs at each restaurant prior to your visit, so they can plan ahead and have foods ready. We also got phone numbers if we needed to speak to the chefs personally. Your nephew will be in good hands at Disney.

 

[jmartinez1895]

The chef at the POP resorts seems great at paying special attintion. We also liked crystal palace and the play house disney play and dine. I htink that the places that offer a wide food selection will be better for you because the chef has more options on what they can whip up for you ( or at least this has been what we noticed). Also at AK the breakfast with Donald was great.

 

[sharlon]

Thanks everyone! She has actually a true WDW vet and has dealt with allergies there before, so is familiar with the process. It's great though to hear your favorites and which ones have been most accomodating.
ADRs that we were able to get are Cinderella's Royal Table, Kona, Chef Mickey's, Boma, Mama Melroses, and 1900 Park Fare (can you tell she has a Princess, too?).

Thanks again! Y'all were a HUGE help! Merry Christmas!

 

[toi]

Thanks so much for all of the great information!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'll answer for a family I overheard. Their son had allergies (I don't know what). They were at the next table at Coral Reef. The manager came out and talked at length with them. After he left,the family talked among themselves about how impressed they were with the attention and detailed discussion. I heard them say that it was themost detailed anyone had been. Hope they liked the food.

 

[DVCDawn]

In addition to the restaurants named by previous posters, my peanut and nut allergic DD has had outstanding food and service at:

Flying Fish
Artist Point
Oktoberfest (the buffet in Germany in the World Showcase)
Ray's Starlight Cafe (in Tomorrowland @ MK)
Cinderella's Castle Princess Breakfast in MK
and, of course, Dole Whips (in Adventureland @ MK)

Over many years of visiting WDW our family's all-time favorite TS restaurants are Narcoosee's, California Grill, Artist Point and Flying Fish.

DVCDawn

 

[scojos]

i have food allergies, and was most impressed at CMs, were the head chef went and fetched food from The Wave as i couldnt eat ANYTHING off the buffet except tomatoes and cheese cubes!
we also had excellent service at boma and o hanas, but i felt that the service at coral reef was the worst...
hope you have a great holiday
Tracy

 

[snorris49]

My favorite restaurant from our last trip was Jiko. They were amazing with dietary restrictions! : I'm gluten and dairy free, and they were so accommodating. They even brought out a special menu for me to look at. That was so nice--to be able to just pick something off the menu without having to ask for modifications, etc. The modifications were already noted and I just simply had to choose what looked yummy!

The service was impeccable and the food was so good. I was really impressed by the service, both from the chef and the server.

I also had a great breakfast with really fantastic service at Kona Cafe. Chef Kim was amazing! He really made me feel special and took the time to make me a delicious modified Big Kahuna meal. He even brought the food out to us.

Overall, I think you will get great service at most restaurants at WDW. They all seem to be very accommodating and helpful.

 

[toi]

Thank you all so much for the great information! I was pretty worried when we booked the trip because my son has so many restrictions with food. But, you all put my mind at ease about it. Now, I just wish the next month would fly by so we can get down there!

 

[nfceagles]

I haven't been yet, but when I was researching where to make ADRs, Chef TJ at Ohana's got rave reviews. The place does serve a peanut sauce with most of the meals so some people are nervous about the place, but everyone I talked to said they had no problems (ie, skipping the sauce at their table, contamination from the table, cross-contamination, etc..) and that Chef TJ was the most wonderful chef ever. You'll probably get some sort of skewered meat served over rice.

 

[thejman]

We had very good experiences at all Disney restaurants. We also had a very good experience at the T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney. The chef came out and talked to us. He was very knowledgable about food allergies. He met with us again after we ate our meal to discuss safe desserts for my food allergic children.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Of the places you booked, we just ate at CRT and Chef Mickey. You picked our best 2 from a dessert perspective. Almost all restaurants had Tofutti ice cream, but these had other things DD11 could eat (she can't have gluten, milk, eggs, yeast or citrus). CRT carries Enjoy Life cookies and CM has cupcakes that are free of the top 8 allergens as well. DD11 loves red meat so the prime rib was a no brainer for her (we ate dinner; prime rib is a dinner only option). The sides were more difficult since she doesn't like potatoes other than shoestring fries or steamed veggies. She got a big bowl of black grapes (her favourite grapes) and the chef tried mashed for her but they weren't the way she likes them. At CM, the chef had plenty of options of what he could do for my girls (DD9 can't have milk, a few tree nuts, peanuts, citrus, cranberry, blueberry or citrus). They're partial to chicken wings and white rice so he whipped some up for them. There were LOTS more options though that met both of their needs.

We've eaten at 1900PF in the past, but not since DD9 was diagnosed and not since we figured out the eggs so at that time she could eat the French Meadows brownies. The chefs did have lots of options of what they could prepare. We had breakfast there twice and dinner once. Every time was great.

Just an FYI: The allergy Mickey waffles are made using Bob's Red Mill gluten free mix. I've been told by a few chefs that they use apple sauce instead of eggs and apple juice instead of milk for the allergy mix.