QueenGoblin
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2006
- Messages
- 438
I really thought about being one of those people who takes pictures of her food and keeps detailed notes to share back here on the DIS...but hats off to you guys...I'm just not organized enough!! But since we were traveling as vegetarians I figured I would post a quick review on the places we ate.
We stayed at Pop and I know there is a bit of an ongoing discussion as far as which is the best "Value" resort. If we were judging only based on the food court Pop would win hands down for us. We only stopped in a few times, but having some choices like hummus and bagel chips to supplement the usual soy burger type offerings really made my hubby (the vegan) a happier camper. We also stayed at AKL which had a decent falafel pita at the CS Mara, but the menu in general was more limited than Pop's.
As far as Counter Service (we were mostly in the MK) Cosmic Rays and Pecos Bill's topping bars saved us from total soy burger monotony. But the stand out is Harbor House, where DH had the vegetarian chili and I had the Light house (hummus) sandwich. The CS place at the Land (Sunshine Seasons ? The name escapes at the moment) had a decent vegetarian entree from the Chinese food section. The veggies were really nice, but the food in general was a little bland.
We did have some TS meals and here is where some places really stood out.
Akershus: Last time I checked the menu there was a vegetarian-pasta option, but when we were there for lunch the menu had no vegetarian dishes listed. So we had to tell our waiter our problem and he promptly brought out the chef. He ended up making us Mickey Shaped pasta with root vegetables and grated beets on top. It was actually pretty tasty...not my favorite thing ever...but filling and different from what vegetarians usually get fed in a pinch. The salad and cold table had a lot to offer in the way of salads too. They brought tofutti out for my DH's dessert, which meant DDs and I got the whole family-style dessert plate to ourselves. That was the highlight of my meal, since DDs were only really interested in the berry sauce which left the actual rice cream, white chocolate and berry cake and mocha flavored cheesecake for me...YUM!!!!
Hollywood and Vine: i was most worried about this place because the menus I had seen didn't have a lot of detail. Luckily, even if they don't have a designated "vegetarian entree" the buffets all seemed to have a good selection of cold salads and rice and vegetable dishes. This place probably had the least variety for us, but there was still plenty to eat and I really loved the corn spoonbread. It did offer one tofu dish (a green bean curry) but the tofu was hard to fish out because they were using tongs to serve it.
Tusker House: I know a lot of people were sad to see the CS go at Tusker House, but this was probably my favorite meal of the trip, in part because it was unexpected. We decided to try and walk up and we were seated within 5 minutes. WOW! Everything was delicious. I'm a sucker for carbs and there was a whole bread table with delicious cornbreads (yes, multiple kinds) chocolate/fruit breads...I could have stayed all day at that section...but they also had yummy vegetable samosas and a nice tofu dish, hummus and flatbreads, and then more rice and vegetable dishes. And yummy yummy deserts. I can't even think of a standout. The atmosphere is not as nice, but I have to say, for vegetarians at least, Tusker House is a rival to Boma for best buffet on property.
Boma: We got the special chef treatment at Boma after the waitress figured out DH was vegan and he scored a personal platter of BBQ tofu. DH is a marathon runner (we were in WDW in part of him to run the Goofy Challenge) and he is also just one of those people who just naturally burns through tones of calories, so the man EATS. We he had already been scarfing down the delicious Boma goodness when that plate of tofu arrived. I think he barely got it down, he was so full! But he finished it! We had also ordered a vegan Birthday cake for DD at Boma. We had asked for a Mickey head shaped cake, and it was very nice, but it was just plain chocolate ganache type frosting (no facial features). DD didn't seem to care and it was good. No one would know it was a vegan cake, but it was a little dense, as I have noticed vegan cakes often are.
Crystal Palace: The character interaction is the real gem here. Our DDs were both thrilled to see the 100 acre woods gang. The buffet is consistently good too, however, and always has some good veggie choices. This was the first time there wasn't a tofu dish on the buffet however. Maybe because it was lunch time instead of dinner? I don't remember the vegetable fritata being there at dinner time, so maybe it takes the tofu dish's place at lunch. I liked the fritata, but it wasn't an option for DH. Luckily he found a curried noodle dish that he liked and there were the standby rice and veggie dishes that were tasty too.
Overall, there continue to be some really great places for vegetarians to eat at WDW and the chefs and servers really do a great job of accommodating special requests and pointing out good options. Even if there is a vegan/vegetarian protein dish on the menu/buffet, there are so many salad, grain, vegetable and dessert options that I never felt like I was missing out on anything.
We stayed at Pop and I know there is a bit of an ongoing discussion as far as which is the best "Value" resort. If we were judging only based on the food court Pop would win hands down for us. We only stopped in a few times, but having some choices like hummus and bagel chips to supplement the usual soy burger type offerings really made my hubby (the vegan) a happier camper. We also stayed at AKL which had a decent falafel pita at the CS Mara, but the menu in general was more limited than Pop's.
As far as Counter Service (we were mostly in the MK) Cosmic Rays and Pecos Bill's topping bars saved us from total soy burger monotony. But the stand out is Harbor House, where DH had the vegetarian chili and I had the Light house (hummus) sandwich. The CS place at the Land (Sunshine Seasons ? The name escapes at the moment) had a decent vegetarian entree from the Chinese food section. The veggies were really nice, but the food in general was a little bland.
We did have some TS meals and here is where some places really stood out.
Akershus: Last time I checked the menu there was a vegetarian-pasta option, but when we were there for lunch the menu had no vegetarian dishes listed. So we had to tell our waiter our problem and he promptly brought out the chef. He ended up making us Mickey Shaped pasta with root vegetables and grated beets on top. It was actually pretty tasty...not my favorite thing ever...but filling and different from what vegetarians usually get fed in a pinch. The salad and cold table had a lot to offer in the way of salads too. They brought tofutti out for my DH's dessert, which meant DDs and I got the whole family-style dessert plate to ourselves. That was the highlight of my meal, since DDs were only really interested in the berry sauce which left the actual rice cream, white chocolate and berry cake and mocha flavored cheesecake for me...YUM!!!!
Hollywood and Vine: i was most worried about this place because the menus I had seen didn't have a lot of detail. Luckily, even if they don't have a designated "vegetarian entree" the buffets all seemed to have a good selection of cold salads and rice and vegetable dishes. This place probably had the least variety for us, but there was still plenty to eat and I really loved the corn spoonbread. It did offer one tofu dish (a green bean curry) but the tofu was hard to fish out because they were using tongs to serve it.
Tusker House: I know a lot of people were sad to see the CS go at Tusker House, but this was probably my favorite meal of the trip, in part because it was unexpected. We decided to try and walk up and we were seated within 5 minutes. WOW! Everything was delicious. I'm a sucker for carbs and there was a whole bread table with delicious cornbreads (yes, multiple kinds) chocolate/fruit breads...I could have stayed all day at that section...but they also had yummy vegetable samosas and a nice tofu dish, hummus and flatbreads, and then more rice and vegetable dishes. And yummy yummy deserts. I can't even think of a standout. The atmosphere is not as nice, but I have to say, for vegetarians at least, Tusker House is a rival to Boma for best buffet on property.
Boma: We got the special chef treatment at Boma after the waitress figured out DH was vegan and he scored a personal platter of BBQ tofu. DH is a marathon runner (we were in WDW in part of him to run the Goofy Challenge) and he is also just one of those people who just naturally burns through tones of calories, so the man EATS. We he had already been scarfing down the delicious Boma goodness when that plate of tofu arrived. I think he barely got it down, he was so full! But he finished it! We had also ordered a vegan Birthday cake for DD at Boma. We had asked for a Mickey head shaped cake, and it was very nice, but it was just plain chocolate ganache type frosting (no facial features). DD didn't seem to care and it was good. No one would know it was a vegan cake, but it was a little dense, as I have noticed vegan cakes often are.
Crystal Palace: The character interaction is the real gem here. Our DDs were both thrilled to see the 100 acre woods gang. The buffet is consistently good too, however, and always has some good veggie choices. This was the first time there wasn't a tofu dish on the buffet however. Maybe because it was lunch time instead of dinner? I don't remember the vegetable fritata being there at dinner time, so maybe it takes the tofu dish's place at lunch. I liked the fritata, but it wasn't an option for DH. Luckily he found a curried noodle dish that he liked and there were the standby rice and veggie dishes that were tasty too.
Overall, there continue to be some really great places for vegetarians to eat at WDW and the chefs and servers really do a great job of accommodating special requests and pointing out good options. Even if there is a vegan/vegetarian protein dish on the menu/buffet, there are so many salad, grain, vegetable and dessert options that I never felt like I was missing out on anything.
