GF dining review

[honugirl]

I'm here right now. Have been here for a week now, leaving at the end of the week. Staying at Pop.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my chefs here at Pop! Chef Jose leads the pack in awesomeness with Chef Huy close behind! Chef Jose loves a GF challenge and makes the most amazing chicken parmesan. He also made corn dogs just for me! They tasted completely "regular!" and totally amazing! Huy rocks chocolate chip pancakes in the morning. Chef Jesus is good too. Not really a fan of the evening guys unless Jose is working nights. They don't seem to be too interested in thinking outside the box so I mainly get the allergy chicken tenders or Amy's Mac and Cheese.

Important note- I was told the chefs at the resorts do not do allergy food requests past about 11:30 at the very latest if the food court closes at 12. They would prefer not to do any after 11 because they start shutting down equipment in the kitchen and they may not be able to cook much.

Beirgarten has not disappointed once again. Ate myself silly there!

The QS in Mexico is completely GF except for the kids chicken nuggets. They only use corn tortillas there. I happily enjoyed nachos and the kids cheese empenada.

50's Prime Time- GF Fried Chicken is AMAZING! A little disappointed that they don't do the allergy gravy there and personally, the brownie dessert left much to be desired. It was nothing like the chef promised. He made it sound awesome. Next time I would do the smores sans graham crackers again, that was much better.

Liberty Tree- FANTASTIC! Chef Jim totally rocks! He told me no stuffing and no mac and cheese, then later came out with a bowl of Amy's Mac and Cheese! The meats and veggies all came on the same platter since they are naturally GF, so if you are truly worried about cross-contamination, I would ask for a separate plate. Chef Jim said it was done that way to give me the full dining experience. I got the Raspberry sorbet and it was good.

Cosmic Rays- Had the burger with tapioca bun twice. It is what it is... Not bad but not great. If you haven't eaten 5 billion pounds of rotisserie chicken by then, you might want to choose that instead. No fries are offered here because of cross-contamination. One thing I did notice that could be a source of cross-contamination that I do not think they are aware of is they passed my tapioca bun through the bun warmer thing (I watched it go through) and I think ALL the buns go through it so if you are really super sensitive, you may want to ask that the bun no be heated.

Casey's- Hot dogs are good, buns are just meh. I'll eat there in a pinch, but wouldn't be my first choice.

Sunshine Seasons- Mainly eating rotisserie chicken kids meal with mashed potatoes. Always an old standby for me. The creme brulee here is GF, but it's very thick, so I rarely eat it.

My biggest complaint right now is truly the lack of desert options. Almost every chef keeps throwing brownies at me because that's really all they have to offer. There really aren't any good grab and go sweet treats like there are for everyone else. Even the rice krispy treats with the good toppings are a no-no. Chef Jose is working on getting GF tie dye cheesecake if they can. I was hoping for the end of my trip, but doesn't look like that will happen. Apparently it may be available from a vendor, but they have to look at cost, etc. to get it here, which is frustrating. The closest I seem to get to come to desert is ice cream or the Kozy Shack chocolate pudding is GF (says so on the label).

If I remember anything else, I'll try to post it.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Thanks for sharing!! Always great to read an allergy review.

Chef Dan's no longer the head guy at Pop? I wonder where he went? He was the BEST!!! I don't remember Chef Jose but I do remember Chef Huy. I think Chef Huy was still new to pop when we last stayed there but he certainly did try. We love Pop for the food court.

Gotta love that 50s PTC fried chicken. MMMMmmmmmmmmmmm................. good.

I think we got chef Jim at LTT as well though we ate there for lunch. He was so wonderful!! I think he walked over the CHH to get chicken tenders for my girls since they don't normally carry them. When we were discussing their options for lunch, he paused and asked if they'd like those which surprised me. I commented that Special Diets said they don't carry them but he smiled and said he'd see what he could do though he did discuss other options just in case he couldn't get them. Well, he did. What a great guy!!!

At Cosmic Ray's they couldn't do fries for you? They baked some for us in February. The manager said he's working on getting a dedicated fryer (it was cute how excited he was with the prospect) but until he gets it he could bake the fries. We had to wait but we could get them. Weird. He probably felt bad for my girls since they couldn't have even the allergy buns due to other allergies.

Last June, Chef Dan baked some Kneads cookies for DD13 since she can't eat the French Meadow brownies (she can't have eggs in addition to gluten). At POFQ the chefs baked her a batch of her own brownies using Bob's Red Mill brownie mix with apple sauce instead of eggs and apple juice instead of milk; they were much tastier than French Meadow even though FM are good (DD10 would ask for these ones instead of the FM ones even though she could eat both). Did you ask at Pop about other desserts? I guess they made these because she can't have even the French Meadow stuff. They will do up some wonderful sundaes at Pop. It would be nice if there were more options for desserts. I know that at Chef Mickey they have both chocolate and vanilla multi-allergy safe iced cupcakes and at Crystal Palace they have a multi-allergy fresh made brownie/chocolate cake so you can always give those a try for restaurants in the future. Lots of CS locations also carry Enjoy Life cookies. I really do get the frustration but I try to remind myself that WDW even DOES offer options. Plenty of chefs will try to put the items together in more appetizing and interesting ways. Also, some places will carry Kinnikinnick muffins. Chef Dan at one time was considering getting them in but after that trip where we had discussed those we discovered DD13's egg allergy so she can't eat them any longer.

There are also lots of frozen treats that are gluten free from the ice cream carts as well as in the food courts.

What kinds of things do they offer at Biergarden? I keep ruling it out since I'm not sure what they'll have that my kids will eat.

Thanks again for sharing your review!!!!

 

[honugirl]

Chef Dan I think still is the head guy here at Pop since Jose talked to him about the Tie Dye Cheesecake, but I've never actually seen him around.

Chef Jim is way hecka cute!

Cosmic Rays wouldn't do fries for me at all on this trip. Only mashed potatoes or fruit.

I did ask about other deserts but no one seemed to really jump on anything. I did get a lot of nice fruit platters though! Jose made me the most wonderful fruit platter one night. The apple was in the shape of a bird! Everyone else just kept tell me about the FM meadow brownies. And honestly, after the brownies at 50's prime time, I wouldn't touch them again with a 10 foot pole if you asked me to. I'd starve first. I also burned out on the ENjoy Life cookies the last time I was here in September so those don't even look appealing. Not that I really needed desert anyway I guess...

Biergarten basically had very few items I couldn't have. I think one salad, the salmon, the spatzle, and something else, and of course the bread. I could eat the cauliflower soup, all the sausages, the red cabbage, the meatloaf, the carving stations, most of the salads, and the vanilla pudding and the berry compote with vanilla topping.

 

[honugirl]

Guess I should also include babycakes.

For those who don't know (I didn't) Babycakes is NOT a free standing bakery. It is inside Pollo Campanero/Fresh Appeal. I had a hard time finding it. Guest relations at DTD told me it didn't even exist, they had no such bakery on property and when they finally found it they told me it was just Pollo Campanero offering a few selections.

I was very impressed by the donuts! So yummy and good! But they are not so good the second day, so I would say buy to eat that night.

The cupcakes were OK. They were pretty light, but I didn't like the frosting at all. It is very cream cheesey to me, even though it's dairy free, I HATE cream cheese frosting. I will only eat buttercream. If you like cream cheese frosting though, these might be up your alley.

The cranberry apple whatever loaf was pretty good.

 

[livndisney]

Guess I should also include babycakes.

For those who don't know (I didn't) Babycakes is NOT a free standing bakery. It is inside Pollo Campanero/Fresh Appeal. I had a hard time finding it. Guest relations at DTD told me it didn't even exist, they had no such bakery on property and when they finally found it they told me it was just Pollo Campanero offering a few selections.

I was very impressed by the donuts! So yummy and good! But they are not so good the second day, so I would say buy to eat that night.

The cupcakes were OK. They were pretty light, but I didn't like the frosting at all. It is very cream cheesey to me, even though it's dairy free, I HATE cream cheese frosting. I will only eat buttercream. If you like cream cheese frosting though, these might be up your alley.

The cranberry apple whatever loaf was pretty good.

Seriously? Do you happen to catch the name of the CM at GS that said Babycakes did not exist?

I LOVE the donuts. I think they are better the second day if you put the in the fridge overnight and then let them warm up to room temp.

 

[honugirl]

Seriously? Do you happen to catch the name of the CM at GS that said Babycakes did not exist?

I LOVE the donuts. I think they are better the second day if you put the in the fridge overnight and then let them warm up to room temp.

I didn't catch the CM's name. I was too busy trying to get my donuts since by the time I got there I was starving. I do know it was a manager typer person since they were in street clothes. I may try to go back there and see if I can figure out who it was. But they truly did not know anything about it, which seemed strange for guest relations.

I don't have a fridge here at Pop, so mine sat out all night. They were OK, but not as good as the first day. I may have to go over there today since this is my day off from the parks. Going to Trail's End tonight. Will update with that review. My BFF works there and she says the chef there is AWESOME! So we'll see.

I did ask about chef Dan @ Pop and he is on mornings, I just never see him.

 

[livndisney]

I didn't catch the CM's name. I was too busy trying to get my donuts since by the time I got there I was starving. I do know it was a manager typer person since they were in street clothes. I may try to go back there and see if I can figure out who it was. But they truly did not know anything about it, which seemed strange for guest relations.

I don't have a fridge here at Pop, so mine sat out all night. They were OK, but not as good as the first day. I may have to go over there today since this is my day off from the parks. Going to Trail's End tonight. Will update with that review. My BFF works there and she says the chef there is AWESOME! So we'll see.

I did ask about chef Dan @ Pop and he is on mornings, I just never see him.

OOh we have had a wonderful Chef at Trails End. He was even more careful than I am!

 

[honugirl]

Trail's End worked out very well. I went after all the storms. Originally when I got there they didn't have the GF cornbread and I was going to end up with the typical tapioca roll, but Chef Jonathan came out a few minutes later and told me that "a leprechaun" was coming over with some GF cornbread. It was so good! I ate 2 gigantic pieces! The roast beef there rocks as does the ribs. Not super happy with the ice cream sundae bar. The ice cream is nice since it's different, but they have cookie pieces on the line and with the amount of kids that go there, it basically means that all the toppings are out of play because the kids just can't keep the cookie pieces in their area. Also make sure you get your own thing of butter because the regular butter is next to the regular cornbread and people would spread it right onto the cornbread there and put the knife back.

Chef Jose made me a wonderful Mickey rice krispy treat today (homemade!) with what I think was homemade vanilla ice cream (it had the texture of homemade, softer and I think he used real vanilla beans in it!) plus chocolate sauce and strawberries. It was heaven!

Also if you can't do soy, Pop has sweet potato fries, which do not contain soy like the regular fires do (according to Chef Jose). They are FANTASTIC! Not sure where else might have them, but I'm guessing the resorts do.

 

[Singledad]

Pop has sweet potato fries

I don't even have allergies, but I LOVE sweet potato fries...

great, now I am hungry!

p.s. thanks for the good info, I've been trying to convince a GF friend that she could actually pig out in Disney, and not just on ice cream. so reports like these get sent her way!

 

[honugirl]

I don't even have allergies, but I LOVE sweet potato fries...

great, now I am hungry!

p.s. thanks for the good info, I've been trying to convince a GF friend that she could actually pig out in Disney, and not just on ice cream. so reports like these get sent her way!

Welcome! I've been eating like a GF Queen here! LOL!

I haven't seen the sweet potato fries on the regular dining line though... (not that I check often...) so not sure if the regular peeps can get them or not. Sometimes being GF has it's advantages! LOL!

We also ate at Marakesh today. It was OK. Lots of naturally GF options. Wasn't really my style, but the food was good. I had the lemon chicken. The staff was really nice.

 

[livndisney]

Trail's End worked out very well. I went after all the storms. Originally when I got there they didn't have the GF cornbread and I was going to end up with the typical tapioca roll, but Chef Jonathan came out a few minutes later and told me that "a leprechaun" was coming over with some GF cornbread. It was so good! I ate 2 gigantic pieces! The roast beef there rocks as does the ribs. Not super happy with the ice cream sundae bar. The ice cream is nice since it's different, but they have cookie pieces on the line and with the amount of kids that go there, it basically means that all the toppings are out of play because the kids just can't keep the cookie pieces in their area. Also make sure you get your own thing of butter because the regular butter is next to the regular cornbread and people would spread it right onto the cornbread there and put the knife back.

Chef Jose made me a wonderful Mickey rice krispy treat today (homemade!) with what I think was homemade vanilla ice cream (it had the texture of homemade, softer and I think he used real vanilla beans in it!) plus chocolate sauce and strawberries. It was heaven!

Also if you can't do soy, Pop has sweet potato fries, which do not contain soy like the regular fires do (according to Chef Jose). They are FANTASTIC! Not sure where else might have them, but I'm guessing the resorts do.

THANK YOU!!!!!! You just solved a mystery for us! We have not been told the fries had soy.

 

[honugirl]

THANK YOU!!!!!! You just solved a mystery for us! We have not been told the fries had soy.

Welcome!

 

[clanmcculloch]

THANK YOU!!!!!! You just solved a mystery for us! We have not been told the fries had soy.

The chef at Captain Cook's at the Polynesian told me in February that they had just (as in within the week) started receiving a new type of fries that contain soy.

 

[davebon23]

Thank you for your review. It has been great so far!!

 

[snorris49]

Great reviews!

I actually got gluten free gravy at 50's PT the first time I went for the fried chicken, so they can make it, I think it just depends on the chef and the time they have to do it. It was very good

I agree about the lack of dessert options. It can be really boring and frustrating to get brownies over and over again. Over sorbet...at least some different flavors would be nice! Sugar free raspberry is good and all, but after a week, I don't want brownies or sorbet for a while lol

 

[4mama2]

Thanks for the info on the fries!