Places to avoid dining with food allergies?

mycutiepatooties

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My daughter (age 4)has food allergies (milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, and tree nuts). We are planning our ADR's right now. I call to schedule them on Sunday. Are there certain restaraunts that truely cannot accomodate you? I think "livendisney" stated in the San Angel Inn food allergy thread that O'hana told her they could not. We were going to try eating at Ohana for dinner--so now I'll need to think of something else that night. Any other places to avoid? Specific meals? Places that use peanut oil? I am a little freaked out after reading the San Angel thread. Thanks!
 
My daughter (age 4)has food allergies (milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, and tree nuts). We are planning our ADR's right now. I call to schedule them on Sunday. Are there certain restaraunts that truely cannot accomodate you? I think "livendisney" stated in the San Angel Inn food allergy thread that O'hana told her they could not. We were going to try eating at Ohana for dinner--so now I'll need to think of something else that night. Any other places to avoid? Specific meals? Places that use peanut oil? I am a little freaked out after reading the San Angel thread. Thanks!

just tell them when you make you adrs what the allergies are and they will do their best to accommodate you.

the chef came over to our table and offered us the options at each meal and walked us though the buffet lines to explain every item including the sauces and everything

Disney is wonderful in accommodating food allergies.
 
I think Disney overall does a great job accommodating allergies. However....it is possible to go to the place people thing is the best and run into a chef who does a terrible job. I think when you have allergies to more than one thing it increases the chances that you will have problems - or at least fewer choices.

Since your child is so young it might help if you suggest to the chef what items your child really likes (hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pasta, rice, mac and cheese, pizza, grilled chicken, veggies, etc.) and see if they have a safe version and they will make sure the restaurant has it. I would especially ask about the desserts if that is an issue (my son with dietary issues used to dislike any ice cream and often the only safe dessert was tofutti - which he didn't like. So it made it difficult for the rest of us to have dessert - like we could choose from the whole buffet of desserts and he had only one choice and it wasn't something he liked).

Look at the menus for the restaurants online so you know what they typically have and what might be safe or they could do a safe version of. The menus can be found at allearsnet.com and here too I think.

I think the biggest problem is that with many restaurants (especially those in the parks) you end up talking to someone at a central number who passes the info along to the chef. You don't actually talk to the chef directly - that did not used to be the case. At some places they still give you the # to the restaurant and one of the chefs will call you. Yet it might *not* be the chef who ends up working the day you are there and preparing your food.

Brenda Bennett is very helpful and you definitely want to give her office a call and they will email you lists of items at CS and carts that may and may not be safe.

Chef TJ at Boma is probably the best on the whole property - but I can only recommend Boma IF you go on a night he is there. I think you'd have to make your ADR (maybe make a back-up at the same time for another place though I hate to say do two but sometimes you gotta) - call close to the time you are going and find out if he is working that night and if he can call you to discuss.

We've had good luck at Crystal Palace, Le Cellier, Biergarten, Mama Melrose, and the Rose and Crown. Chef Mickey's was "ok" though some have gotten great service there (I had a terrible chef - luck of the draw).

We haven't done the princess meals cause I have boys - except for the one at the GF (with the stepsisters). The food there was so-so but it was fine - We got a big kick out of the characters though! We have eaten at CRT and Norway without the princesses and both were fine but that was a few years ago.

Don't worry too much about it. I think the older the person is and the more sophisticated their tastes (and adult vs. a 4 year old will mean a VERY different meal usually!) makes a difference too.

My younger son is allergic to peanut and tree nuts and a type 1 diabetic - fyi. Don't worry!:goodvibes
 
I was told by a chef today (I'm doing a special order) that when you ask dining for the chef's number that it sends a message to the chef to let them know you will be calling, the chef I spoke with suggested calling about a week in advance of your meal.
 

Look at the menus for the restaurants online so you know what they typically have and what might be safe or they could do a safe version of. The menus can be found at allearsnet.com and here too I think.
There is a link in my signature to the disABILITIES FAQs thread. Post # 3 of that thread has a lot if links to information about various subject. One section is about diets and has a link to the DIS site's menu page.
I will also add a link to the allearsnet.com menu page too.
 
My DD8 is peanut and tree nut allergic. We have had outstanding service regarding her allergies at California Grill, Mama Melrose, Biergarten, Flying Fish, the Hoop De Doo Review and Artist Point.

On our last trip this May I found that the counter service CMs were also very helpful. Anytime I asked to see the ingredient list (which I would do before getting on a line) a manager appeared and reviewed it with me. Previous years it took more time to do this, but most CS locations had a person standing around near the end of the lines directing traffic and answering questions.

:tink: DVCDawn
 
In theory every place would be safe but some places are less safe. I have heard that the Japanese restaurants sometimes use peanut oil. Also any restaurant that uses soy sauce may not realize that their soy sauce is not gluten free.

The problem I have had outside the park is that some tortilla makers state the tortilla is gluten free while others do not. The corn tortilla may be made in the same factory as wheat tortillas. I was in a Mexican grocer and there was so much cross contamination that I walked out. I sooo wanted them tamales,ooh, sigh. Some companies add flour to corn tortillas to make them soft. That grocer made their own tortillas and you could see the flour everywhere.

Know your body so that the second you have a reaction you know. I got sick on caramel corn in a bag from a Frito-Lay owned company. I thought it was my dirty fingers so I took two kernels and munched away then went to my office. I immediate started getting hyper, jittery and my pulse racing very fast. I had internal problems as well and finally ended up puking in my roses. Take a bite and you will know pretty fast.

San Angel is one I have heard a lot of complaints about. It is a very dark restaurant and they use a lot of flour tortillas in cooking as well as cheese. You seen that thread. I read a lot of stuff here and rarely here complaints bout WDW food. Off-site avoid Subway restaurants as they will put meat on the bread then take some back and use it on your salad. Outback is great with food allergies. I am not a fan of McDonalds as they use soy in everything and can not eat anything but some condiments, jelly and soda pop. If I was going to WDW I would scrutinize their menu before eating.

I love sorbets which are easy to make and there is no reason to hand kids tofutti when there are other deserts that can be made. Rice Dreams makes some great deserts. Good luck on your trip.
 
I had a bad experience at San Angel Inn. On the other hand Boma rocks!!! Every place else was pretty good. The nut free choices weren't as limited as I expected. Also try the snacks at the hotels called divvies. They are great. They have carmel corn, jellybeans, choc chip cookies and brownies. I think I'm gonna order some of the carmel corn it was soooo good.
 
We just got back last Saturday-

(trip report here- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=25570487#post25570487 but it's still a work in progress)

I had emailed and called and Justin was in the computer system. Every table service the chef came out, went over the allergies with us, made notes on their little allergy notepad, made suggestions, they were all really good with it.

Except. ;) Yak & Yeti. They didn't do "the routine" like the other table services. The CMs in front did not pull us up on the computer (which everyone else did, and therefore saw the allergy note) The chef didn't seem to know we were coming. He didn't have the notepad. There weren't as many options. It seemed more like they weren't expecting us, even though they were notified far in advance and all the other table services were prepared.
 





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