Gluten-Free at Maya Grill or Pepper Market?

[Deberlee]

Hello, everyone!

DH & I will be staying at CSR in late August and will have the DDP for the first time (first time staying onsite, as well). I am a celiac and following a gluten-free diet. I've been in contact with Brenda Bennett in the Special Dietary Requests department - and wowsa, what a great deal of information! This will be the first vacation since my diagnosis 13 years ago where I will not have to cart in all my own food - I'm ecstatic!

Are there a variety of gluten-free menu choices at the Maya Grill and Pepper Market at Coronado Springs? Has anyone eaten there and had any trouble? Do you just contact the manager at the time of the visit? Since we're staying there, I thought it would be nice to pop in there for breakfast or lunch. We'll probably eat at least one TS meal at the Maya Grill if they have a decent gluten-free menu.

From what I could see in the great information that Brenda sent me, it only includes the parks. She also sent me GF food choices at the water parks and Disney Quest. But what about the restaurants at the other resorts? I read somewhere that most of the table service restaurants can accommodate a special diet with advance notice - are there any exceptions to that?

Thanks in advance for your help..... I'm on Disney overload since we booked our vacation a couple weeks ago. I've been listening to the Dis Unplugged on iTunes at work and have really enjoyed the podcasts....what a funny bunch of people.

Deb

 

[mechurchlady]

Coronado Springs restaurants are run by the people who run San Angel Inn in Epcot. They are at your risk places and San Angel did not have gluten free tortilla chips. You need to contact special diets listed in the FAQs stickied on this board. You can talk to chefs there and try to get them to do gluten free. It is not a Disney run set of restaurants. There are been too many complaints about this company not being up to the Disney type of allergy and special diets.

Write Brenda and ask for information on the hotels. She can advise you what course of action to take.

 

[sleepingbean]

We dined there multiple times, and it was TERRIBLE for dealing with allergies ! You can read in my trip report if you want, but basically, they are not trained, not equipped, and not interested in helping deal with a true condition like Celiac.

I had such unbelievable bad service and horrible mistakes made in the food. We didn't eat it (or we would have surley been sick).

Some examples: After much MUCH effort, I was able to get a chef at Pepper Market, and explained celiac, gluten, wheat etc. He agreed he could make me safe waffles (gluten free) and he went and poured them right into the same waffle iron as all the others. No designated safety area. The bacon he took off a vat of bacon that rested on BREAD!!! They must have been using the bread to soak up grease? I don't know, but they really didn't get it there.

We loved our dining everywhere we went and I even posted pictures of our gluten free meals for all three trips
http://glutenanddairyfree.com/restaurants.html
The CSR, while a beautiful resort that I would stay again, gladly, is not the safe or enjoyable place to eat with allergies.

Enjoy safe meals EVERYWHERE else on disney property! This was the only place we would not go to again. (unless getting whole fruit, or coffee/tea).

 

[Deberlee]

Wow! After I read the post from mechurchlady, I talked to DH and we decided to change our resort - we had no idea that the restaurants run by CSR are not celiac-friendly and not Disney-run restaurants. That is the last thing that I want to have to deal with, not to mention losing the convenience of being able to stop in for a quick breakfast or lunch at the resort that we're staying at. Thank you soooo much for posting. It saved me a lot of hassles.

Then tonight when we got home from changing our reservations (now going to Port Orleans Riverside), I saw sleepingbean's post about the horror of eating at the CSR restaurants. The experience of them making the so-called GF waffles was horrifying to read about, so I can imagine what it must have been like to witness. I will definitely review your pictures of the other excellent places to eat at Disney - cool!

I'll send an e-mail to Brenda in Dietary about the various choices I will have to eat at the resorts, particularly at our new digs - Port Orleans Riverside. Have either of you dined at their food court/restaurant?

Thanks again - your advice really helped me avoid a potential nightmare. Fortunately, we're far enough out from our trip that it wasn't difficult to switch to POR - same price and availability. Plus, we were somewhat familiar with POFQ (for transportation and how the resort looks) from 2004 when we visited my BIL & SIL who stayed there (we stayed offsite then).

 

[mechurchlady]

Morocco, Chefs de FRance, San Angel, Yak & Yeti, T Rex, Rainforest Cafe, Coronado Springs and the Italian Epcot restaurants are not Disney run.

Tutto Italia Ristorante at WDW and DLR's Tortilla Joe's, Catal, Uva Bar, and Naples Restaurants is run by Patina Restaurant Group.
http://www.patinagroup.com/

Yak & Yeti, T Rex, Rainforest Cafe by Landry's
The Coronado Springs sites know as Francisco's (bar), Maya Grill, Pepper Market, and San Angel Inn are out of Spring Foods.
http://www.springsfood.com/www/home/our_restaurants.html

E-Brands runs Restaurant Marrakesh and Tangerine Cafe. They manage LaDoble which was renamed Paradiso 37 at Pleasure Island's Rock n Roll spot. It is a new restaurant.
www.e-brands.net

http://www.glutenenvy.com/2007/09/01/gluten-free-marrakesh-epcot/

Les Chefs de France is owned by 3 Michelin star French Chefs: Bocuse, Lenotre and Verge.
http://www.chefdb.com/pl/7863/

 

[sleepingbean]

We didn't eat at POFQ. We did visit and have a drink there, though. It's nice
We would stay there. CSR is really nice, too. The newly remodled rooms are great. I have no problem staying there as long as I know I won't plan to eat there (again, with exception of coffee/tea, whole fruit).

We stayed there last time, and I brought rice milk, chips, food bars, and a few other snacks with me, plus fresh fruit from the quick store and nuts. With all of that, we just ate our bars and fruit (and vitamin drinks) in the morning and then we enjoyed bigger sit down meals throughout the day. Plus we scheduled a couple breakfast meals out.

So, I would not throw out the entire CSR ... just plan your eating differently if you stay there. I have heard good things about POFQ, though. We had a tough time deciding between that and CSR. It's nice and quiet there (or it was when we visited) and the boat ride to DTD was relaxing.

Next time, I am thinking we'll try the Carribean resort for something new.

If money was no object, I can say AKL was great for our allergies at their quick service restaurant!!!