Need restaurant recommendations for gluten and dairy free dd

[Mama Steph]

We are fairly new to gluten and dairy free. About 6 weeks ago, we took our dd off gluten and 3 weeks ago we took her off dairy as well. We are noticing great improvements with her but are still babies in the whole thing. She has done great accepting the new diet and eating at home has been so much easier than I ever expected. We have not yet attempted eating out with her without taking a picnic style lunch for her.

We are currently visiting my parents in Jax and will be spending Tuesday night in Orlando to catch our early flight Wednesday morning. After hearing all the great things about Disney dining with a special diet, I have decided I want to take the kids out to eat at Disney on Tuesday and then watch the fireworks from the beach at the Poly. What better way to try eating out than Disney, right?

We will not be visiting the parks at all since this is a cheapy trip for us. Therefore, I need restaurant recommendation for either DTD or one of the
resorts. I'll have a car so I don't mind hopping around a bit.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas! Thanks

P.S. If you have any other restaurant recommendations, I would love to hear them. Thinking chain type restaurants, fast food, etc....

 

[Mama Steph]

Bumping for the morning crew.

 

[snorris49]

Without knowing how old your dd is, it's hard to make a lot of recommendations, since I'm an adult with food allergies and have no kids with those needs. I don't usually DTD restaurants for gluten/dairy free b/c they are not disney owned and not always as conscientious; however, I've heard good things about Wolfgang Puck Cafe and Raglan Road. I like Wolfgang Puck Express, but the options are VERY limited. (salmon, rotisserie chicken)

My favorites are usually resort options. I love Kona Cafe for breakfast, as well as Boma (kids may or may not like the exotic offerings from Boma). I love Ohana for dinner and places like California Grill. Whispering Canyon Cafe is good. If you are looking to stay at the Poly, I would highly recommend their restaurants--they are very very good with food allergies there.

 

[Mama Steph]

I was hoping to snag Ohana but can only get 935 and fireworks are at 10. Dd is 9. Looks like I'm going to have to do cs at one of the resorts. What are your fave? Also going tolook into WCC.

 

[Mama Steph]

Ok, I can get WCC or Kona cafe. Any experiences?

 

[Michigan]

At chef Mickey's in Feb I heard the chef tell a day that everything on the buffet was gluten free except 2 things and I didn't hear what those were.

Cindy

 

[clanmcculloch]

I agree with everything snorris said.

We never dine at DTD though I've read good reviews of the places she mentioned. If you do make it to DTD then you really must stop in at Babycakes; the entire bakery is gluten free and vegan and DELICIOUS.

All of the restaurants at the monorail resorts are owned by Disney. You'll be able to get safe foods at any of the restaurants so choose based on the experience that you want. At Beach Club and Yacht Club the restaurants are Disney owned so they're all pretty safe bets. Boardwalk on the other hand I believe are owned by outside companies as are the ones at Swan and Dolphin, though Kouzzina has a great reputation for handling allergies.

Since you're wanting to watch fireworks from the Poly beach I would try for a Kona ADR since as you said, 'Ohana is not an option. If you can't get a Kona ADR then you can always go to the CS location Captain Cook's or you can try the Kona Island Sushi Bar if she'll eat sushi (it's amazing and yes they have gluten free soy sauce; chef Jonathan made us platters that were works of art). If you can't get Kona, don't want the sushi bar and want table service then stick with the monorail resorts since they're so much closer. I'd park at the Ticket & Transportation center, take the monorail to whichever resort you're dining at and take the monorail over the Poly after eating and after the fireworks just walk back to TTC to get your car. If you're eating at Poly then valet park at Poly; it's just so much easier.

All of the restaurants around the monorail will have milk free ice cream and should have the French Meadow brownies. Your daughter will likely be offered a brownie sundae for dessert. I believe they can all prepare the allergy safe chicken tenders for her though they'll gladly get more creative. The chefs seem to really enjoy putting together fun and interesting allergy safe meals.

I just saw your last post that said you can get the Kona ADR. Take it. Kona's great!! It's also SO much more convenient for watching the fireworks.

 

[Mama Steph]

Definitely going to Babycakes! So would you pick Kona over WCC? We've been to WCC before but never Kona. Do they have good stuff for kids? Both look so good! We will have a car and plent of time so I'm pretty flexible. Thanks!

 

[clanmcculloch]

We haven't been to WCC. I ruled it out a long time ago because of transportation (I use Disney transportation exclusively and really dislike eating somewhere that requires more than walking or monorail from where we already are) and because of the activity and noise level due to DD13's autism. I've read great reviews and I hear they can do a GFCF bottomless milkshake there. For me the choice really is more about the convenience than the food. I think either is a great choice as far as food options go. If the antics and bottomless milkshake would be something you'd enjoy then go for WCC. It really does come down mostly to what's most important to you. Convenience and lower volume are more important to me than the milkshakes and the fun factor at WCC is actually a negative for us. Just figure out what YOU would want most.

I believe that the cotton candy at Kona is GFCF so they can make a fancier sundae using the brownies, dairy free ice cream and cotton candy, plus chocolate sauce and mickey sprinkles. I believe they have the allergy chicken tenders at Kona as well.

Both really are good options food-wise.

 

[snorris49]

I will second clanmcculloch. I like both. It just depends on which you like. WCC has gluten free/dairy free cornbread too! If you like more bbq style food/home cooking go w/WCC or if you like asian/pan asian go for Kona. Both are fab! Oh and WCC has lots of atmosphere with the CMs...so be prepared if you ask for ketchup lol!

 

[Mama Steph]

Ok, since the kids love WCC, and now that I know they have gfcf cornbread and milkshakes, I'm going to stick with that! Can't wait for an easy dining out experience tomorrow! We don't go out very often since it's a lot of work and is scary! I hope my expectations aren't too high!

 

[snorris49]

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

 

[Mama Steph]

Sorry for the delay, I finally made it back to the boards!* We went to WCC and had a wonderful experience!* I took the kids to DTD for some shopping and then we hopped over to the outlet store.* They thought this was our big surprise.* I told them I had plans for dinner but wouldn't tell them any more.* My oldest dd, who is a huge Dis fan and knows where every restaurant is located, knew where we were going when we took the turn to WL. Once they figured it out they were all very excited to go to "Ketchup!" as they call it.
As soon as we checked in, the host asked about our allergies and said he would send the chef to our table.* Chef Eddie came to our table almost immediately.* We chatted a bit and I asked about a milkshake since the other kids were all getting one.* He asked Sarah if she liked banana or strawberry and said he could make one with rice dream.* He came out a few minutes later to ask Sarah if she knew that Hershey syrup was dairy free and would she like chocolate banana. He delivered her shake and reminded her to only drink slowly since she was going to be getting lots of food.* It tasted like a banana split!!*
Dd told him that she wanted the skillet with ribs and he explained that the only thing she couldn't have were the mashed potatoes. He said they would make her corn without the butter and offered her fingerling potatoes, of which he gave a very silly description involving babies and fingers.
Eddie served all of Sarah's food and built up a great rapport with all of my kids, he had them all giggling hysterically, even 12yo ds.* He was at our table at least 6 times throughout the meal.* When Sarah wanted more ribs, he "made" her eat a piece of brisket and some pulled pork from my skillet first.* He was very into encouraging her to try new foods. He kept giving me small looks and signs to make sure I was on board with his "forcefulness" which of course I was.* He was also great about explaining to here what she could and could not share due to cross contamination.
Towards the end of the meal, she looked and me and said, "I feel so special."* It melted my heart and made the whole day worthwhile!
The things I noticed are that Eddie said the cornbread has dairy so she was not able to eat that and was given a tapioca roll instead. She didn't really like it but had plenty of other food.* Also, her dessert choices were very limited and she ended up with a popsicle.* Neither were big issues.
This was such a great experience that I have considered taking her with my sister and I on our adults only trip in 2 weeks just so she can eat for 5 days with no concerns!!

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Aw, that's great!! What a wonderful experience, especially for your DD. That WL chef sounds fabulous!

Hmm, reading this makes me think I should reconsider WCC. I wasn't a big fan of the skillet meal but that was before I was GF so maybe that has something to do with it.

Thanks so much for sharing. It certainly sounds like your DD had an amazing time. I am constantly impressed by the Disney chefs.

 

[SueM in MN]

Definitely going to Babycakes! So would you pick Kona over WCC? We've been to WCC before but never Kona. Do they have good stuff for kids? Both look so good! We will have a car and plent of time so I'm pretty flexible. Thanks!

I want to also give some good words for Babycakes.
My niece is gluten free and ate things from Babycakes several times. She was a little disappointed in the doughnuts because they looked like they would taste like regular ones, but they didn’t. She said they were not bad, just not as good as she expected.

She also felt the restaurant that Babycakes is located in was very good. For a non-Disney owned restaurant, they seemed to be pretty up on gluten. They do advertise that they have vegetarian, gluten-free, sugar-free, low-sodium and organic dishes available.
Pollo Campero

 

[AllergyFreeMouse]

We plan to visit BabyCakes DTD this weekend, possibly Saturday. Our big allergy is dairy, so we look forward to exploring a lot of their treats.

As far as dairy suggestions, we tried La Hacienda but did not let our daughter eat there, because we did not feel comfortable with the responses we got from the waiter and manager. We hear it is OK for gluten, but the dairy is a concern since they use a lot of cheese and butter.

At Tutto, she was able to get grilled chicken with pasta marinera.