Table Service Restaurant.... To-Go?

[SDSorority]

Hi everyone. Is it possible to get food from a table service restaurant to-go? How do you do it? Do you call your order in ahead of time and go pick it up? Or do you go in, sit, order, and then ask that the food be immediately boxed up into a to-go container??

The reason I'm asking is last trip I had major melt-down panic attacks in the WDW restaurants. It was a combo of feeling claustrophobic, all of the stimulation that is WDW, and our newly diagnosed food restrictions. We hadn't ordered allergy food before, and it was just an anxiety inducing experience for me. Now that we have been GF/SF for almost 2 years now (WOW!), I'm hoping that experience doesn't happen again this upcoming trip. But just in case, it's good to know the protocol of I want to get out of there.

Thanks for any info!!!

 

[Gracie09]

Most table service restaurants are not set up for take out. They don't have containers to package food up or bags for you to carry it in. You may want to consider eating at off hours or doing counter service meals.
Some
Places like yak and yeti and raglan road have attached counter service places where you can order from a more limited menu but similar food

 

[SDSorority]

Most table service restaurants are not set up for take out. They don't have containers to package food up or bags for you to carry it in. You may want to consider eating at off hours or doing counter service meals.
Some
Places like yak and yeti and raglan road have attached counter service places where you can order from a more limited menu but similar food

Oh dear. I always thought they would package up whatever you didn't finish to take home. I know at least the GF Cafe offered that to us last trip- maybe that's changed.

 

[MouseMomx2]

All restaurants do have food containers for left overs. The problem is that these containers are often not full-meal size. That means you'll have several smaller boxes for your meal.

I wouldn't go into the trip planning to do the "sit, order, box it up" method, but if you find it is necessary on occasion I am sure you will be accommodated.

 

[SDSorority]

All restaurants do have food containers for left overs. The problem is that these containers are often not full-meal size. That means you'll have several smaller boxes for your meal.

I wouldn't go into the trip planning to do the "sit, order, box it up" method, but if you find it is necessary on occasion I am sure you will be accommodated.

Thanks!

 

[Fuhnuh]

We have received meals to go at several TS restaurants, but I can only remember one specifically. That is the Grand Floridian Cafe. Last year DD12 suffered a setback after knee surgery and we would get her breakfast and bring it back to the room. The only problem we had was that one chef would not allow us to take allergy compliant waffles out of the restaurant. It may be worth your while to see if there are some restaurants that will allow you to order food to go.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We have received meals to go at several TS restaurants, but I can only remember one specifically. That is the Grand Floridian Cafe. Last year DD12 suffered a setback after knee surgery and we would get her breakfast and bring it back to the room. The only problem we had was that one chef would not allow us to take allergy compliant waffles out of the restaurant. It may be worth your while to see if there are some restaurants that will allow you to order food to go.

That is very interesting! Did he give you any reason? DS6 has food allergies and they have always been handled well, but I can't remember asking to take any specific food prepared special for him out of the restaurant.

OP, we have taken full meals out a couple of times but i would never count on them doing this. Once was at MM when DH was sick and we still wanted to do the meal without him and to get his ticket in case he felt up to going later. They made us order his meal but offered to box it up to go and did a beautiful job at it.

If you have a car, maybe you could do take out at somewhere off site such as O'Charleys and take it back to your room. I am sure if you had a situation arise while you are dinning, they would do their best to accommodate you.

 

[catne]

Don't count on getting to-go orders...

We have been to almost all of the Disney table service restaurants...and have been in line to check in on table reservation, and many times behind people who are trying to get to-go orders when they can't get a table. That has happened at 'ohana, Kona Cafe, Grand Floridian, The Wave, Turf Club, Boatrights, Whispering Canyon, Sanaa, The Plaza, Le Cellier, and Hacienda (the inside one--they were told to go around the corner to the counter service)...to name a few. Every single time people were told "No take out" for the table service restaurants. Some of the places...like Kona...they suggested people call room service if they were staying at The Polynesian because there were some of the same dishes on the the room service menu (or similar) But most of them just said "Sorry, we cannot accommodate take-out orders because the kitchen and wait staff is only set to handle the number of tables we have in the restaurant...our facilities are not big enough to handle doubling or tripling the number of orders being taken." Which makes sense, that there would only be sufficient cooks/dishwashers/prep/wait staff to cover the tables. Especially when there are so many counter-service places to handle folks who want fast-food. Now I suppose if you're willing to have a reservation, sit down & order, wait for the food then request boxes they'll handle it for you. But that would not require additional staff to handle that kind of a "take-out"...it would just turn the table over faster.

 

[SueM in MN]

Besides the issues that catne mentioned, I would guess they almost never get a request to box food.

- there are no picnic areas, so no good place in the park to eat the boxed food

- the resorts have refrigerators, but no way to warm the food unless the guest is staying at a Disney Vacation Club resort.

- most guests won't have a safe way to keep the food cool or hot until they get back to their resort.

Rather than worry about whether or not you can do take out (which can be stressful itself) are there some ways you can make yourself feel more in control of the situation?
Knowing you have some control can go a long way toward avoiding panic attacks.

- would a certain type of table make things more comfortable for you? A booth? A table?

- what about location? Along a wall? In the middle of the room? Near the entrance? Out of a traffic area?

If you think those things might help, ask when you check in.

Once you are being seated, is there a spot at your table where you would be more comfortable?
Just because the waiter directed you to one seat doesn't mean you can't move to another seat at your table.

- take some plastic food storage bags or containers with you. Being prepared to pack up and leave if you have to may be the help you need to feel safe staying.

Be aware that the chef will meet with you.
Avoid restaurants where you will be seated with strangers to make a full table. Biergarten in Germany, the 50s Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios and Teppan Edomite in Japan all seat strangers together,

 

[Fuhnuh]

That is very interesting! Did he give you any reason? DS6 has food allergies and they have always been handled well, but I can't remember asking to take any specific food prepared special for him out of the restaurant.

We were staying at GF and DW had gone to the GF Cafe to order allergy friendly Mickey waffles to go the previous two days (during a slow time of the year) and had no problem. On the 3rd day a different chef refused because "he had no control with what we were going to do with it." I am guessing that he took it as an increased risk of a lawsuit (ironically, it was the same chef who delivered a bowl of buttered noodles to dairy allergic DD11 at lunch our first day there). It seemed clear that ordering to go wasn't the problem, it was that we requested an allergen free food. We only made a request for food to go for her four times. I guess we we just lucky the three other times. I asked the CL CM nicely about the policy and although he was understanding at first when he called the chef he was short with me and said that I should have ordered it through the CM desk and would not give me an answer on the policy at the GF Cafe. We have not had a problem taking leftovers the several times we have requested it.

 

[LisaFB]

We deal with severe, multiple, life threatening food allergies with both our boys and have taken the kids to WDW twice (once when our older son had over 30 allergies) and never had any issues. We do table and counter service each time we go. We email WDW Special Diets (WDW.Special.Diets@disney.com) before we go each time and plan out exactly where we'll be eating each day and what time. We also ask for the chef to email us before we go so we can discuss what exactly we'll order for the boys. When we get there we speak with the chef again and remind them of what we pre-ordered. If the table service makes you nervous, you can definitely do all counter service for your entire trip.