Restaurant recs for nut, gluten, and dairy allergies?

mikaza

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
56
Hello all!

We will be heading to Disney World for 2 weeks this fall--our first time travelling since our children were diagnosed with severe food allergies (peanut, almond, cashew, dairy, and gluten). I have heard that Disney is great with accommodating food allergies, but I'd really love some recommendations for restaurants that make delicious food that we can enjoy given the limitations.

I would like to do one character meal with Mickey, and one with the princesses. Other than that, I'd like a few sit downs and a few quick service that I know are go to safe options.

Thanks!
 
one thing I can add is to make sure all allergies are listed in ressies. remind as you are seated. we only have peanuts as allergy but it was some odd things off limits that got us. we had more trouble at counter serves that table serves.
 
As you've been told, Disney really is amazing with allergies. If the restaurant is owned by Disney then you'll be fine. If a basic ingredient (protein, starch, vegetable) is on the menu somewhere then the chef should be able to prepare a safe version of the food. Just make sure that there are basic ingredients that will be enjoyed by the person with the allergy. For example, because of our particular set of allergies, my 15yo would eat bacon and Van's waffles for breakfast at Akershus and I'm not paying that kind of price for so little but I've had great experiences there for dinner so the menu really is important because they have to have the ingredients in order to prepare something safe. That's the only real limitation I would suggest as to which restaurant to choose. So basically, any restaurant with Mickey and princess should be fine so choose the experience and menu that look most appealing. I've read some not so great allergy reviews of Garden Grill so maybe avoid that one.

My go-to in-park CS locations are as follows.
MK: Columbia Harbour House (allergy chicken tenders), Cosmic Ray's (chicken, ribs at dinner, allergy buns for the burgers), I hear that Pecos Bills also has allergy buns for the burgers but I've never been.
DHS: We usually eat TS but there are allergy chicken tenders at Backlot Express, ABC Commissary and Studio Catering Company.
Epcot: Sunshine Seasons has lots of great options. Electric Umbrella and Liberty Inn (US pavilion) have allergy chicken tenders and allergy buns for the burgers.
AK: Flame Tree BBQ (chicken, ribs)
 
I agree you will be fine says the mom of a 10 yo ds with dairy, tree nut, egg white and hopefully not peanut anymore after Thursdays food challenge.

They have the Udis buns but I brought my own since he doesn't have a gluten allergy and they have the gluten free pizza crust.

We mainly did CS and didn't have a problem. Most places handed me the book to look thru while waiting for the chef. I got a beeper at a few places and all our food came out at the same time which was great.

Enjoy!
 

My family and I LOVE the Disney Parks ... I have a severe gluten allergy and the Chefs / Managers at the restaurants in the parks are always helpful. Let me tell you, it is really really nice to be able to go into a restaurant and have OPTIONS!!!!! From cheesburgers to quesadillas to deserts I can really eat and have fun with my family :)
 
ClanMc has great suggestions, that I would echo. I would look at all of the menus (we usually use allears.net) and find places that have dishes that sound good to you, or sound like they would be modifiable. If there is a particular restaurant you are unsure about, you can search that with the name of the allergy - "Ohana dairy" - in this forum, and will likely find what you are looking for.

We just visited over Christmas week, and three of the four of us have allergies. Mine are mushroom/mango, and I am a vegetarian. Friend #1 is allergic to strawberries, peanut, tree nut, shellfish, fish, eggs in large quantities (baked into a cake is ok,) soy in large quantities (lecithin is ok,) limited milk, limited wheat. Friend #2 is allergic to latex (her dishware needs to be rewashed,) banana, kiwi, avocado, chestnut, hazlenut, cashew, mango, passionfruit, papaya and guava. We all ate very, very well.

Of note, we went to Chef Mickey's for breakfast (we thought it was brunch *sigh*) and the chef walked the buffet with us. The fruits were off-limits, obviously, and there were some fruit compotes. IIRC, there were no nuts at all. The wheat allergy is not severe, so she did not mention it to the chef and just avoided obvious gluten, but there did appear to be a good selection of GF items, so long as the breads table was avoided. Dairy might have been a bit harder. If you are concerned about cross-contamination, they will bring out fresh food from the back (for example, friend #1 wanted watermelon, but it was next to the strawberries, so the chef just brought her out a fresh plate.) She might have asked for one other item, but mostly ate off of the buffet, since there were so few problematic foods.

We did not do any princess meals.

Our favorites for allergies are: Plaza (I am pretty sure poor Chef G is frightened of us, but he is awesome) and Le Cellier - although they have changed head chefs, so our favorite favorite chef is not there any more, but the new chef handled us just fine.

'Ohana has been really hit and miss for us; we went in July '11 (friend 1 was not along) and it was fine. We went in September '11 with all three of us, and it was the single worst Disney dining experience we've had. We tried it again, in August '13, again without Friend 1, and it was amazing. We had Chef Susan and I have every confidence she could have fed Friend 1 with ease. Garden Grill was great for us, but we have read mixed reviews. Via Napoli was our surprise on this last trip, our chef was amazing and the pizza was sooooo good! And we did Flying Fish in August, which is a sig so maybe not where you want to take the grandkids, but holyyyy cow was it great, no issues with allergies.

Be Our Guest has handled us well - they seem to rotate chefs (as opposed to some of the other restaurants, where we seem to always encounter the same chef each visit) but we've never had a problem. We had Chef Jerry this last trip and loved him, Chef Chappy before, plus various other chefs have handled us when we've gone for CS lunch.

CS, you might check out Sunshine Seasons. The head chef - Chef Paul - from LC is over there now (or so our server at LC told us) and that guy gets allergies like no other. We walked into LC in July of '11 with Friend 2's newly developing latex allergy, and he actually created a protocol with us that we were able to explain to each chef as we went along, and is now the protocol that special diets sends out for latex allergy. We had some time to speak with him on a later visit and he was able to talk to us about some resources to pass on to local restaurants about how to set up an allergy-safe kitchen. So I am guessing Sunshine Seasons is up to snuff with the allergy items, although when we went in December, we were all able to find safe items without having to call for the chef. The only other places we have invoked the allergy system at CS are Pecos Bill's (they're always great) and Pizzafari (where I was able to get a dairy-free pizza, just had to wait a few minutes. I know they can do gluten free too.) Oh, and Casey's, the guy managed to upsell me to vegetarian nachos when I was waiting in line with a friend, not intending to get anything at all lol. I know they have GF buns. But with a dairy allergy, it might not be the best fit, not sure about their hot dogs and they have lots of cheese both in the kitchen and the toppings bar.

We have eaten at a good number of TSes on property, so if you are thinking of a specific one maybe someone here can give you specific advice :)
 











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