'Ohana with peanut allergy?

[MikeP22]

Have any of you who have a peanut allergy (or more importantly, small children with a peanut allergy) been to 'Ohana?

I know WDW dining is amazing when it comes to handling meals for those with food allergies, both from anecdotes and from experience, but I'm wondering if it's worth the risk with peanut sauce being such a major part of the meal. Peanut allergies are trace allergies so I'm curious what degree of traces might be left behind from previous diners, etc.

Also, some recent reviews seem to bag on the service a bit so I'm concerned that service staff won't take our requests seriously if in the event the service is in fact declining.

I know what my risk tolerance level is for my daughter, but I just figured I'd put it out there and see if anyone else with peanut allergies in their families have had any experience at 'Ohana. Thanks.

 

[FireFighterWife]

I am also curious about this. I have a peanut allergy and see it as too risky. Curious what others have to say.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

My nephew has a severe peanut allergy and we had zero problems with Ohana in Dec.

 

[cajunprincess]

I went to 'Ohana when I was allergic to peanuts just hadn't been diagnosed with an allergy yet. I did avoid the peanut sauce since I knew peanuts bothered me, and I had absolutely no problems at Ohana.

My DH and I will be eating here in January, and I did let them know that I have a peanut allergy. We'll see how that goes.

 

[MikeP22]

Good to know...

I'd ask you to let me know how it goes for you in January, Cajunprincess, but we'll be down there in October. If we go there I will let you know how it goes.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I think you need to consider the severity of the allergy and if contact is an issue. The food itself isn't in any way an issue regardless of the quality of your particular server. When you're seated, you'll have a flower placed on your table to indicate that there's an allergy at your table and a chef will come out to discuss your allergy. Your food will be prepared in an area of the kitchen specifically used for allergy safe foods so no peanuts ever enter this area. You will be asked if you want the peanut sauce served to your table at all; if you're comfortable with it being on the table for others in your party then it'll be brought out and if you're not then they won't serve it all for anybody at your table. I like that they leave this up to the guest to decide. The problem that people need to be aware of is contact allergies. Kids are encouraged to get up and participate in activities. There's nothing preventing sauce covered little fingers from touching things like brooms, coconuts, backs of chairs, etc. Of course if this is a concern then you'll likely want to be carefull all over the parks as well because many CS locations serve uncrustables and sticky little peanutbutter covered fingers can be anywhere. Most likely the only place you'd really need to be concerned is in the actual CS restaurants where you'll want to have wipes to clean off tables and chairs. If you're not needing to do this then you definitely don't need to worry at all about 'Ohana. I would only ever be concerned if the person has a contact allergy. The food will absolutely be safe.

 

[OhThePain]

My girlfriend has a tree nut/ peanut allergy and never had an issue at 'Ohana. The chef has come out to talk to her a couple of times durring the meals. Usually they have told her that there is nothing wrong with the meats and that they would put the peanut sauce in front of me so she wouldn't have to worry about having any (they have brought out the peanut sauce after everything else was brought out). The chef also has returned before dessert to warn her that some parts of the dessert come from a factory that handles nuts and that they can still serve it to her if she wants or if she wanted something else (she usually just ends up with ice cream, which the chef has brought out himself). The wait staff service has been bad enough in the past that the Chef has actually cleared off our table since our server was no where to be found. The chef's have been the best part of our last couple of meals there while everything else has been awful.

 

[RMulieri]

I think it depends on the severity of the allergy.If contact is the only issue you should be fine.If the allergy is so sever that airborne particles can be an issue I would skip it.

 

[brown1442]

We've eaten at O'hana twice with our peanut allergic son and had fabulous experiences. Now I will say he has autism so he never got up and participated in any of the activities though. The chef came to our table discusses his allergies and gave us the option to have the peanut sauce on the table or leave it off. They prepared him a feast fit for a king complete with an amazing dessert!!

 

[MikeP22]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Good to hear that there weren't any problems for folks.
My 3.5 peanut allergic daughter is PAINFULLY shy, so she most likely won't participate in anything on her own. I can probably get her to get up and do stuff if they don't mind if a parent comes with their child, and that way I'd be right there with her to run interference/etc for any potential hazards.

 

[TDC Nala]

I think it really depends on if you are OK with just omitting the peanut sauce for your table or even just for the allergic child, because all the other tables will have it. If you don't want the risk of any peanut dust in the air, or contact with persons who HAVE been eating peanut sauce (like contact between kids during the games) then you will need to skip the place. If the allergy is not that severe you will be taken care of.

 

[MandM22]

We had a family Birthday celebration at O'Hana. My DW made a point of mentioning the allergy at the time she made the ADR. She also confirmed this a week prior to our celebration. The Chef came out and spoke to us.. They were fantastic. Even suggested other dessert since the Bread pudding has coconut. Anyway, even with all of that... as they started to bring out the first course... they placed the 3 dipping sauces down on the table and I immediately told the server to take away the peanut sauce. Luckily it was no where near the child with the allergy. Everything else went perfectly. Sometimes with all of the advance preperation the message doesn't get to all of the servers... The server was not the main server for our table... but just someone helping since our party was large.. (10 people).

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . Your food will be prepared in an area of the kitchen specifically used for allergy safe foods so no peanuts ever enter this area . . . The problem that people need to be aware of is contact allergies. Kids are encouraged to get up and participate in activities. There's nothing preventing sauce covered little fingers from touching things like brooms, coconuts, backs of chairs, etc . . .

1) They have a separate grill for preparing ONLY allergy foods.
2) They only prepare the blandest of menu items.
. . . no nuts
. . . no dairy (eggs-milk-etc)
. . . no fish
. . . no shellfish
. . . no soy
3) Cross-contamination in the eating area cannot be helped.
4) Frequently people will touch others and spread contamination.

 

[clanmcculloch]

1) They have a separate grill for preparing ONLY allergy foods.
2) They only prepare the blandest of menu items.
. . . no nuts
. . . no dairy (eggs-milk-etc)
. . . no fish
. . . no shellfish
. . . no soy
3) Cross-contamination in the eating area cannot be helped.
4) Frequently people will touch others and spread contamination.

I'm not so sure about the no shellfish in that area of the kitchen. My kids' favourite food there is the shrimp and the chef prepares it for them from what I understand in the allergen free area.

Also, the food brought out is by no means bland. It's quite nicely seasoned and in fact my 11 year old finds the meat to be too heavily seasoned since she has a very boring pallet and complains all the time about my heavy handed use of seasonings, especially pepper.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . My kids' favourite food there is the shrimp and the chef prepares it for them from what I understand in the allergen free area . . .

1) Shellfish remains CANNOT be removed from the grill.
2) Thus, it is not prepared on this "allergy grill".
3) I have been in the kitchen often, and have seen it. *

* I have also been in the kitchens of WL and GF. When one
wants to send free food, fruit or wine baskets to a room, you
must go to the restaurant manager. You see a lot of the good
and bad things in a kitchen.

 

[MSLRAC]

1) Shellfish remains CANNOT be removed from the grill.
2) Thus, it is not prepared on this "allergy grill".
3) I have been in the kitchen often, and have seen it. *

* I have also been in the kitchens of WL and GF. When one
wants to send free food, fruit or wine baskets to a room, you
must go to the restaurant manager. You see a lot of the good
and bad things in a kitchen.

It was my understanding as well that that NO shellfish was prepared in the allergen free kitchen because shellfish allergies can be just as bad as peanut allergies...ie contact and inhalation reactions.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Any allergen can be anaphylactic and can be contact or inhalation induced. I'm not going to debate the whole one allergen being more worthy of consideration than another. I'm just surprised to hear that the shrimp isn't prepared in the allergy area. Next time we eat there I'll have to ask how they're handling the shrimp because it's been put on our platter each time we've eaten there yet we have long lists of allergens. The chef prepares us individual skewers with 4 or 5 shrimp per skewer since the regular ones contain something in the marinade that we're allergic to. I wonder where he cooks them? We've never had any kind of reactions from the food there so I'm sure they take sufficient precautions. I'm just surprised and curious. They have amazing chefs there who I have full confidence to serve us safe food.

 

[MSLRAC]

Any allergen can be anaphylactic and can be contact or inhalation induced. I'm not going to debate the whole one allergen being more worthy of consideration than another. I'm just surprised to hear that the shrimp isn't prepared in the allergy area. Next time we eat there I'll have to ask how they're handling the shrimp because it's been put on our platter each time we've eaten there yet we have long lists of allergens. The chef prepares us individual skewers with 4 or 5 shrimp per skewer since the regular ones contain something in the marinade that we're allergic to. I wonder where he cooks them? We've never had any kind of reactions from the food there so I'm sure they take sufficient precautions. I'm just surprised and curious. They have amazing chefs there who I have full confidence to serve us safe food.

I'm sorry if you felt like I was saying you were wrong. I will admit that I am not 100% sure about all things prepared in the allergen kitchens because DS just has gluten and casein issues and his food did not require being prepared in a special area...it just requires special/different ingredients.

I was just going off of info that was told to us by the chef there and he left us with the impression that that kitchen was totally allergen free...no nuts, shellfish, eggs, dairy, etc. But I will also admit that when he heard that DS just has a sensitivity and not a true allergy that he kind of dropped the subject of where it would be cooked and started telling us what would be cooked for him.