Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant/Dining Help Thread

[laurabelle]

I'm going to keep my eye out for your post. We also don't make breakfast reservations much (not big breakfast eaters) and would love to have dinner made by him again.

Still haven't heard anything.

 

[laurabelle]

I found out Chef TJ will be moving from breakfast to Dinner at Trail's End. He is usually off Friday & Saturday.

 

[etoiles]

hi all,

We are planning a trip to WDW with our little guy who will be 19 months at the time. He is being raised vegetarian.

Sometimes he can eat a lot so it might not always be possible to share one meal since he can eat quite a bit (and DH is not vegetarian and so when we dine out he usually eats meat so he couldn't share his meal). I checked out the kids meals but the vegetarian selections are lacking with cheese pizza, pasta with tomato sauce or mac and cheese at most all menus.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get better kids meals at mainly quick service places? For TS we have a lot of buffets reserved and could always order an appetizer.

He eats a lot of food and is not very picky - for example this week he loved red lentil soup and black bean tacos with avocado.

 

[bumbershoot]

Check out all menus on places like allears.net.

See if there are appetizers he might like, and you could share an entree and have the appetizer there as well.

The cheese pizza isn't the same *everywhere*. For instance, it's quite good at Sanaa. And if he likes that style of food, then it's a win win.

 

[DCDisney]

If you aren't doing the dining plan you can order him anything off the QS menu. There are some things like soups, salads, yogurt, side items that you could order for him plus share some of your food too. Resort quick service places have many more options for the kids menu and frequently are willing to serve kid sized portions of adult food if you explain and ask nicely. My kids were vegetarians until they were about 8 and with a big QS breakfast, treat, and buffet dinner they tended to not eat much midday. If you are on the DDP you may find it easier to get a kids breakfast (they will sub for the meat) with the credit and buy something for QS lunch to have more flexibility. My kids did get very tired of the sides from kids meals quickly too--carrots, grapes, and applesauce. But they love the big packs of fresh cut fruit you can buy at the fruit stands.

 

[etoiles]

Check out all menus on places like allears.net.

See if there are appetizers he might like, and you could share an entree and have the appetizer there as well.

The cheese pizza isn't the same *everywhere*. For instance, it's quite good at Sanaa. And if he likes that style of food, then it's a win win.

I have looked through the menus but the vegetarian children menus are very disappointing even at 'exotic' ethnic restaurants that have nice adult vegetarian choices. I am not too worried about sit down places since it seemed it will be easier to order appetizers to share.

It's good to know the cheese pizza isn't the same everywhere which I assumed it was. I don't think I would order him that at Sanaa though since he loves Indian food so much.

If you aren't doing the dining plan you can order him anything off the QS menu. There are some things like soups, salads, yogurt, side items that you could order for him plus share some of your food too. Resort quick service places have many more options for the kids menu and frequently are willing to serve kid sized portions of adult food if you explain and ask nicely. My kids were vegetarians until they were about 8 and with a big QS breakfast, treat, and buffet dinner they tended to not eat much midday. If you are on the DDP you may find it easier to get a kids breakfast (they will sub for the meat) with the credit and buy something for QS lunch to have more flexibility. My kids did get very tired of the sides from kids meals quickly too--carrots, grapes, and applesauce. But they love the big packs of fresh cut fruit you can buy at the fruit stands.

Thanks, I did not think about yogurt or the fruit. He loves fruit so maybe we could always buy a fruit pack and take it with us to a QS place. It's also good to know that places are sometimes willing to give kid sized portions of adult food. We definitely might try that at some locations.

We are staying off site so we will have a full kitchen and so I do plan to bring plenty of snacks and easy foods with us but I didn't want to have to bring a whole cooler full of food.

 

[DHSbutcher]

Hi!

We had an amazing chef called Anthony when we went to Captain's Grille. He fixed one of the best vegan meals we have ever had. I think he was there in early 2013. When we went back to see him again in December 2013, he was not there anymore.

Does anyone know about this amazing chef? Is he still working at WDW?

Thank you for your help.

Kate

Chef anthony is currently at ESPN grill, across on the boardwalk. I am unsure of the hours/days he works though. There is a chef tony who works at the captain's grille in the mornings however.

 

[SunnieRN]

Fantastic thread!! Thank you everyone!! I am newly vegan, one more th now and we are going g to WDW next month. I am happy to see on the 2/2014 list for VEGANS from Di s net that they serve gardiene products. Has anyone been there recently and found this to be accurate?

Thank you again, the thread is wonderful and the knowledge you all are willing to take the time to shAre is much appreciated!!

 

[bumbershoot]

There was a gardein dish at Sunshine Seasons in January and I have no reason to expect it to be gone. I've also heard that there's another gardein dish at Coral Reef (is that the name?) and it sounded good when I read about it, but that's a tough one for me to eat in, because everyone else is eating fish while looking at the fish...and it just doesn't set right with my brain. And it smelled like fish when we were there. Not appetizing for me.

 

[SunnieRN]

There was a gardein dish at Sunshine Seasons in January and I have no reason to expect it to be gone. I've also heard that there's another gardein dish at Coral Reef (is that the name?) and it sounded good when I read about it, but that's a tough one for me to eat in, because everyone else is eating fish while looking at the fish...and it just doesn't set right with my brain. And it smelled like fish when we were there. Not appetizing for me.

Thank you so much!! I totally agree about Coral Reef. I don't think I could eat watching and enjoying the view knowing full well that people all around me are eating fish!!!

 

[Kimmers127]

There's definitely some Gardein stuff at the vegan food & wine booth, so it makes sense to me that that's a product they offer.

Anyone have any input as to how doable the Cape May buffet is for vegetarians? My DH wants to eat there this trip. Even when I are meat I never did seafood, so I've never eaten there.

 

[champsun]

I ate at F&W today and had a lot of the vegetarian offerings. The crab'less crabcakes at Terra and the veggie moussaka at Greece were my favorites. Both were excellent.

The other dish at Terra, chicken gumbo something, didn't seem like Gardein. I'm pretty sure they used tofu today. It was ok. Veggie haggis at Scotland was flavorful, but dry. Spanikopita was yummy, but pretty standard.

I also had the Gardein fake beef dish at Sunshine Seasons. I liked it and so did the kids.

 

[SunnieRN]

I ate at F&W today and had a lot of the vegetarian offerings. The crab'less crabcakes at Terra and the veggie moussaka at Greece were my favorites. Both were excellent.

The other dish at Terra, chicken gumbo something, didn't seem like Gardein. I'm pretty sure they used tofu today. It was ok. Veggie haggis at Scotland was flavorful, but dry. Spanikopita was yummy, but pretty standard.

I also had the Gardein fake beef dish at Sunshine Seasons. I liked it and so did the kids.

Sounds yummy!! I'm really wanting a vegan plate at Tangieriene Cafe but was considering the Sunshine Seasons plate for our other Epcot day. Nice to know it was good!!:

 

[Caboosey]

I ate at F&W today and had a lot of the vegetarian offerings. The crab'less crabcakes at Terra and the veggie moussaka at Greece were my favorites. Both were excellent.

The other dish at Terra, chicken gumbo something, didn't seem like Gardein. I'm pretty sure they used tofu today. It was ok. Veggie haggis at Scotland was flavorful, but dry. Spanikopita was yummy, but pretty standard.

I also had the Gardein fake beef dish at Sunshine Seasons. I liked it and so did the kids.

I'm so excited for Food and Wine! It seems like there are a lot of vegetarian choices this year - a few years ago, I felt limited to desserts and drinks and had to get a Tangerine Cafe vegetarian plate to fill me up.

 

[champsun]

I got the Tangiere platter last trip and this trip. It was good, but the olives were not high quality (pet peeve). We stayed at BCV, so I ate quite a bit at Epcot before the F&W started. The Gardein beef was not spicy at all (bad for me, but good for kids). They also had some nice Mediterranean flavored veggie pinwheels at the grab and go of Sunshine.

I won't lie, I did top off with sharing nachos (they were yucky) at a counter service in mexico during F&W, but mostly because it was raining and had been all day, so grabbing quick bites all over the place with two little kids was growing old. There were things in Puerto Rico and a few other place that weren't entrees but would have been yummy and supplemented well. I would have gotten second on the crab cakes or the moussaka too of I wasn't tired of the rain.

My pleasant surprise this trip was Biergarten. I did much better as veg than I thought. It was a great meal!

BOG quiche was a huge disappointment. Tasted like made with powdered reconstituted eggs. Yuck.

 

[bumbershoot]

BOG quiche was a huge disappointment. Tasted like made with powdered reconstituted eggs. Yuck.

Shudder. That's really good to know. I'm sticking to the soups, which are both awesomely vegetarian.

Thank you so much!! I totally agree about Coral Reef. I don't think I could eat watching and enjoying the view knowing full well that people all around me are eating fish!!!

Glad to help. And this is the only thread I'll mention that part of my problem with the place, because we're all veggie types and understand.

Which leads to my thought for Kimmers127. Years ago I got to eat in a restaurant where people were eating crab legs all around me. That's something I never had before I went vegetarian, and it doesn't smell nice to me. But harder for me was the sound of the shells cracking. It really started getting to me.

Think about if that will bother you, because as far as I know they are still included on the buffet (there's a whole thread about if they are still there).

 

[disneyfav4ever]

There's definitely some Gardein stuff at the vegan food & wine booth, so it makes sense to me that that's a product they offer.

Anyone have any input as to how doable the Cape May buffet is for vegetarians? My DH wants to eat there this trip. Even when I are meat I never did seafood, so I've never eaten there.

I think it's good for vegetarians. The salads there are very fresh and tasty, and they have excellent macaroni and cheese.

 

[champsun]

Shudder. That's really good to know. I'm sticking to the soups, which are both awesomely vegetarian.

I totally should have done the soup! French onion is seldom vegetarian. That would have been a nice treat that it is veggie. I wonder if the quinoa is good? Probably is good, it's hard to mess up. I skipped it because it's easy to make, so I eat it all the time.

 

[itchin2go]

My pleasant surprise this trip was Biergarten. I did much better as veg than I thought. It was a great meal!

BOG quiche was a huge disappointment. Tasted like made with powdered reconstituted eggs. Yuck.

Oooh - tell me more about Biergarten! We have Le Cellier booked for our first night (mainly for my meat eating daughter and husband), but I'm put off by recent BAD reviews. Keep thinking about switching to Biergarten.

I have to agree with the quiche assessment. I thought it was dry and flavorless. It *looked* really good though. Too bad. I also tried the french onion soup and thought it was watery and flavorless. I have had GREAT vegetarian french onion soup, and this was not it. I was really disappointed in BOG overall.

 

[Kimmers127]

So excited to hear that Buergarten was good! I've booked this mainly for my DH.

I tried BOG for lunch twice, once before I was vegetarian (I got the pork, it was awful) and once since (I tried the quiche which looked dry and was). Not impressed overall, though some of the options for meat eaters seem decent - my DH had the turkey sandwich and liked it. For me even the desserts are seriously mediocre.