Vegetarian, Vegan and Pescetarian Dining Reviews With Pictures

[Vegcentric]

Day 5 - Sci Fi Dine-In and 'Ohana

Hollywood Studios has never been my favorite park, which is why I always save it until last. Most people would leave the best for last, well...I always go to Hollywood Studios last because I haven't learned yet that I shouldn't make an entire day of it. When I go in October, I will remember to make a half day out of Hollywood Studios.
I'm sure what it is about it is that I'm just not crazy about. Perhaps it's the fact that most of the rides excluding the Tower of Terror and the Rock'n Roller coaster are so dated. Fortunately there's the new Toy Story Mania, which was totally worth standing in line for thirty minutes for.

The food in Hollywood Studios has never impressed me, so the park loses more points for that. I ate at the 50s Prime Time Cafe in the past as an omnivore and I remember liking the meal but not our server. This time, my husband suggested the Sci Fi Dine-In because he was amused by the novelty of sitting in the cars.

We arrived about 30 minutes ahead of our check-in time for our ADRs, and this was probably the only restaurant where we waited a considerable amount of time. We were seated about 30 minutes after our ADR time, and by the time we got to our seats we were both starving so I did something really uncharacteristic and ordered some onion rings. Normally I do not consume fried foods since they make me sick to my stomach, but there wasn't really much else on the menu we could order or felt like ordering.

Our server was nice and was willing to get my husband a soy milkshake, though he couldn't get the flavor he was after (he wanted strawberry, she could only get him vanilla). The onion rings came out about twenty minutes later, and by then we had already seen the tape loop over on the movie screen.

These were just okay. They were onion rings. There is nothing interesting about them other than they're onion rings and filled a void in our stomachs until we received our main courses. This restaurant would be ideal for children, since I can only imagine that they would love to sit in the cars (I know I would) and it's dark enough in there that some of them might fall asleep.

My husband is left handed and kind of a big guy and mentioned that he felt a bit too crammed in, like a sardine and had a hard time eating his food without bumping me. We were both really pleased to see the tofu dish was still being offered on the menu, though as I mentioned before, he and I are really picky about the texture of tofu. These sorts of things don't deter me though, as I am afraid of missing out on something really delicious. I would be sad with myself if I skipped out on it just because I was afraid of it being mushy.

The lighting was really terrible in here, since it was supposed to look like an outdoor drive-in theater, so I apologize for the bad photo:

This is actually one of the better tofu dishes on property but for some reason it tasted a bit odd. There was the savory flavor from the tofu conflicting with the sweetness of the mango puree. The puree contains honey, so it isn't vegan. I think this dish would have been much better if the puree was not on the tofu, and if I were to order it again it wouldn't be with the mango puree. The texture of the tofu was also a little strange, but not as bad as the other tofu I've had on vacation. I believe it was baked, but it wasn't baked for very long.
When I baked tofu as home I usually leave it in there for 45-60 minutes so this dish had a similar texture to an egg mcmuffin. Strange comparison, but it did kind of remind me of egg whites! The rice mixture it was sitting on was really good and I ate more of that than I did the tofu. The portion was generous - four slabs of tofu was really nice of them. I was expecting one slab of tofu. I thought it was also a really creative recipe even though I personally wasn't a big fan, but it's so much better than just having a measly salad for the vegetarians. Even though my husband and I won't do this one again, we still suggest it to vegetarians and vegans.

After walking around the park a bit more and doing a little shopping, and of course seeing the animation studio...

It was time to go see Fantasmic and the Osbourne Festival of Dancing Lights and then leave to get ready for our 8:30 ADR at 'Ohana. I was worried about eating so late, but I had heard so many wonderful things about this restaurant when it came to vegan food because of the very famous Chef TJ, that I was really pumped for this meal regardless.

Of course, if there was one thing that I learned at the beginning of the week, it was not to expect pixie dust and Disney magic everywhere we go. It can really set you up for disappointment in the end. Just because other people had a great time at the California Grill didn't necessarily mean we would have the same experience. I learned this first hand, and I was about to learn it again at 'Ohana, unfortunately.

I had read about the days that Chef TJ wasn't available, and I didn't think Thursday would be a problem and went ahead and booked the reservation. It was a last minute addition to our reservation list, and I was really crossing my fingers that it would all pay off. We got there about 30 minutes ahead of our ADR time again, and when I spoke to the hostess I mentioned that I had filled out the special dietary needs sheet.
More blank stares. I was really not having any luck with this at all and it kind of put me in a bit of a funky mood. When the hostess was taking us to our seats, I mentioned to her that my husband and I were vegan (I specified vegan because I really wanted to eat vegan on this trip and was really hoping for the best, haha). She assured us that we'd be able to "make a meal out of the sides."
I felt a little crestfallen at this remark, but thought well maybe we'd get to meet Chef TJ anyway. Once we were sat at our seats, it took ten minutes for our server to come to our table to welcome us and bring us the bread. I then told her that we were vegan, and she looked at us as though she was a deer in headlights before saying, "Oh that's no problem! Okay, sooooo...you'll be okay with the noodles, and the salad..."

The salad actually has honey in it, so it isn't suitable for vegans.

She stopped mid-sentence and then said, "Huh, actually let me go and see what else we could get you, I think there's a veggie dish. Better yet I bet the chef is going to come out!"

My husband and I perked up a little bit at the potential of still being able to speak with the chef. She wandered off to the kitchen and to take care of other tables, and about five minutes later a man approached our table. It wasn't the chef, but rather a guy with shrimp. He asked us if we wanted any shrimp and we politely said no thanks. He stood there and looked at us both closely and then pressed on with a, "Are you sure?" We said no thank you again and then he wandered off.

A few minutes after this happened, another server wandered up to our table very, very apprehensively and literally DROPPED a plate of noodles onto our table before picking it back up again. He looked so confused before putting it back down on the table while stammering, "O-oh!" and then ran off.
We had no idea what was going on, and my husband and I were very close to asking for a manager (we're actually very bashful and never do this, but this was getting kind of insane) and to also see if we could be seated somewhere else because the air conditioner was really cold.
Our server returned but made no comment about whether the chef would come out and smiled cheerfully, placing two veggie dishes in front of us:

Now, the service at this place was absolutely horrendous and I think I've already made it evident, so now to talk about the food. This is the "staple vegetarian dish" that they give to all of their vegetarian customers, or so our waitress told us. The tofu was lightly coated in some type of batter and lightly fried, giving it a very satisfying texture. This was probably the tastiest tofu we had during our entire stay and we were quite pleased with it. We were also surprised when our waitress said that it was "all you can eat tofu", but I would have personally liked more veggies (if they weren't in the sauce) too in order to balance things out.

The sauce the veggies were sitting in was way, way, way too sweet. I couldn't eat very much of this dish because of its sweetness. Loved the tofu, hated the sauce. My husband picked at his dish and wouldn't even finish his tofu, which worried me a bit. He normally finishes everything on his plate (he finishes even the stuff he doesn't like) so this tipped me off that the entire situation just soured his mood to the point where he didn't want to eat. I only get really upset when someone or something upsets my spouse, so this had me really bothered.

(But yet we still didn't say anything and I fully admit that this wasn't the right thing to do...we should have said something!)

I could eat those peanut lo mein noodles every single day if I could, they were really tasty. And since I couldn't do more than pick at my tofu dish, I was still pretty hungry and so I dived right on into the salad, honey be darned! Actually, that salad is not bad at all and quite refreshing. The salad dressing was light and quite good, but I preferred the noodles and broccoli, even though the broccoli was nothing really special.

When the fireworks went off, my husbands mood lightened up and he seemed to be forgetting his meal and paid attention to everything that was going on outside (I promise you, I am not married to a kid, though he sometimes acts like it ), which made me feel a bit better. Our waitress brought out fresh fruit, and everything was nice and ripe and delicious. I am not really into ice cream or cakes so fruit was just fine with me.

I would unfortunately have to say that this was the worst meal we had all week, and it wasn't just because we didn't get to see Chef TJ. It was definitely a bummer we didn't get to eat his multi-course veggie feast, but if the veggie dish that they did give us was good we would have been happy. Also, if we had actually seen our server for more than three seconds during the entire night. It just felt like we were pushed in a corner to be forgotten about. My husband and I are generous tippers when we eat out (we've both worked in the service industry before) but there were only maybe two servers the entire vacation that got a 20% tip.

The bottom line for 'Ohana is that I wouldn't personally recommend eating here as a vegetarian or vegan if you are going alone. I might be going back here in October, but that's because my sister and her boyfriend want to take his nephews. It's a great place for children, and I know they will enjoy it and I will be able to make do just fine with the tofu, noodles and broccoli. I know this probably goes without saying, but Chef TJ isn't a guarantee so I don't think I'd risk it by making a reservation here again in the future. The food just wasn't interesting enough to warrant us going back, but there are things here for vegetarians and vegans to eat if they find themselves in a party that is dining at 'Ohana.

I've also heard very mixed things about the service at 'Ohana, and it seems that my husband and I really just didn't luck out here. The next day was a really pleasantly surprising day for food because we played it all by ear (no ADRs, gasp!). We had so much fun the next day and just winging it turned out to be very rewarding!

 

[mkleinbe]

Awww, I'm feeling very sorry for you guys. I can't explain it, but my heart goes out to you. I think I'm just as disappointed in your experience as you are. I look forward to more reviews.

 

[disney_princess_85]

What a shame about 'Ohana. I ate there in September and I was lucky enough to meet Chef TJ. I received some chips and various types of houmous to snack on before he brought my entrée out, which was a huge plate of tempura vegetables with tofu and noodles. It was fantastic! I think if you can manage to get there on a night Chef TJ is working, then it's totally worth going. We had a really good server that night too, which obviously helps.

By the way, I had the WORST tofu sandwich at The Wave. While I was absent-mindedly eating it, I actually thought it was an omelette before I remembered it was meant to be tofu.

 

[Vegcentric]

What a shame about 'Ohana. I ate there in September and I was lucky enough to meet Chef TJ. I received some chips and various types of houmous to snack on before he brought my entrée out, which was a huge plate of tempura vegetables with tofu and noodles. It was fantastic! I think if you can manage to get there on a night Chef TJ is working, then it's totally worth going. We had a really good server that night too, which obviously helps.

By the way, I had the WORST tofu sandwich at The Wave. While I was absent-mindedly eating it, I actually thought it was an omelette before I remembered it was meant to be tofu.

It seems as though everyone has managed to meet Chef TJ. I honestly have no idea what went wrong that evening, but I wanted to write the review from a no Chef-TJ perspective since not everyone is going to get a chance to meet him (even if you do go on a night he's working, which we thought he was but he might have just been too busy or the staff didn't bother to talk to him about it). Obviously if you can get Chef TJ, it's worth the risk.
We aren't going to risk it again, since the veggie meal they did give us just wasn't that good and the service was really terrible. I'm sorry you didn't like your sandwich at the Wave! It seems as though Disney dining is extremely inconsistent just about everywhere because I have two vegan friends who just got back from their trip and they loved that sandwich at the Wave.
If there is one thing above everything else that truly bugs me about a restaurant, it's inconsistency.

 

[jamjar84]

What great reviews, thanks.

I'd class myself as a pescetarian, which isn't normally a problem, but actually more so in the US, as a lot of restaurants completely forget to cater for vegetarians, it has got better in the past few years, I remember about ten years ago going to Charlie's steak house in Kissimmee, and when I enquired about a non-meat option they suggested chicken. Coming from a family of carnivores I was the only one who left hungry. :lol: Though when I went back to Charlie's a couple of years ago on I drive I noticed that they have started doing sea food too.

It's a shame that you seemed to find such a difficult time catering for your vegan diet.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry your dining experiences didn't totally work out. We didn't have any TS just CS. He had to figure out things from the hints and tips I had brought and what was on the CS menus. He's a different sort of vegan. Doesn't like tofu, and is "not a big fan of the wraps."

I can't wait to read your next review. I feel like I'm right there with you guys.

 

[Vegcentric]

What great reviews, thanks.

I'd class myself as a pescetarian, which isn't normally a problem, but actually more so in the US, as a lot of restaurants completely forget to cater for vegetarians, it has got better in the past few years, I remember about ten years ago going to Charlie's steak house in Kissimmee, and when I enquired about a non-meat option they suggested chicken. Coming from a family of carnivores I was the only one who left hungry. :lol: Though when I went back to Charlie's a couple of years ago on I drive I noticed that they have started doing sea food too.

It's a shame that you seemed to find such a difficult time catering for your vegan diet.

I've heard about places offering chicken as a non-meat option...which I think is absolutely ridiculous. I totally and completely understand when someone asks me what the difference is between a vegetarian and a vegan. That can get a little tricky...but I didn't think anyone actually believed chicken wasn't meat, LOL.
Here in Canada I have noticed that we have quite a few veggie options, even at the fast food places. Our Burger Kings around the area serve veggie burgers and certain KFCs actually have faux chicken sandwiches. I don't eat fast food very often unless there is just nothing else available but I do appreciate that there are options for those who may be out on the road and in need of some food.
I've seen other vegans have huge success with their diets while at Disney World. I just think that the biggest problem here is lack of consistency and the fact that the woman I spoke to about our special dietary needs said she contacted all of the restaurants - it's not that I don't believe her, she most likely did do her job, but something got completely lost in translation. I don't think I'll be using the dietary hotline again in the future. Next time, I am either just going to order right off the menu and ask to omit a couple ingredients or I'm going to call ahead.

Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry your dining experiences didn't totally work out. We didn't have any TS just CS. He had to figure out things from the hints and tips I had brought and what was on the CS menus. He's a different sort of vegan. Doesn't like tofu, and is "not a big fan of the wraps."

I can't wait to read your next review. I feel like I'm right there with you guys.

I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews. Despite the fact that we couldn't eat vegan like we wanted to, we had a fantastic time. I know quite a few vegans and vegetarians that actually don't like tofu. How does he feel about tempeh? I like quite a few things but I actually had to force myself to enjoy avocados. I can be a little picky sometimes, and I get fussy when someone else prepares my tofu (as you can probably tell from the reviews, hahaha).

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews. Despite the fact that we couldn't eat vegan like we wanted to, we had a fantastic time. I know quite a few vegans and vegetarians that actually don't like tofu. How does he feel about tempeh? I like quite a few things but I actually had to force myself to enjoy avocados. I can be a little picky sometimes, and I get fussy when someone else prepares my tofu (as you can probably tell from the reviews, hahaha).

He's been living with his dad for the past 3 years, and that's when they went from vegetarian to a vegan diet. I'm not sure how he feels about tempeh. I'll have to ask him.

On one of his dishes, I think at Lotus Blossom Cafe, there was tofu and maybe the vegetarian platter at Sunshine Seasons. He just ate around it.

 

[dpndka]

Thanks for the reviews. Sorry to hear about O'hana. I guess Chef TJ is what makes it special for vegans.

 

[ehartman4]

The bottom line for 'Ohana is that I wouldn't personally recommend eating here as a vegetarian or vegan if you are going alone. I might be going back here in October, but that's because my sister and her boyfriend want to take his nephews. It's a great place for children, and I know they will enjoy it and I will be able to make do just fine with the tofu, noodles and broccoli. I know this probably goes without saying, but Chef TJ isn't a guarantee so I don't think I'd risk it by making a reservation here again in the future. The food just wasn't interesting enough to warrant us going back, but there are things here for vegetarians and vegans to eat if they find themselves in a party that is dining at 'Ohana.

I've also heard very mixed things about the service at 'Ohana, and it seems that my husband and I really just didn't luck out here. The next day was a really pleasantly surprising day for food because we played it all by ear (no ADRs, gasp!). We had so much fun the next day and just winging it turned out to be very rewarding!

It seems the main thing that ruined your experience was your server. Chef TJ isn't the only chef who cooks vegan/gluten free/etc. It was the server's responsibility to get the chef and tell him or her your dietary needs. I am so thankful I got the meal I did when I went there. It's a shame your server sucked so bad!

 

[disney_princess_85]

If there is one thing above everything else that truly bugs me about a restaurant, it's inconsistency.

I agree, although it's one of those unavoidable things I guess. There is only one place I have never read a bad review on and that is Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney.

 

[Vegcentric]

I agree, although it's one of those unavoidable things I guess. There is only one place I have never read a bad review on and that is Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney.

Really? That's actually surprising to me because I actually have read some fairly rough things about the place, specifically about how the chicken was dry or the service was just really lackluster. Something that has to do with Wolfgang Puck himself not being involved with the restaurant anymore.
Because these places are frequented by vacationers and therefore there are usually large gaps of time between visits, it's more difficult to gauge whether a restaurant is really consistently good or consistently bad.
I would really like to have dined at some of the same places more than once during the week, but since it was a vacation and not an article this just didn't happen Still, it makes me really curious.


When it came to 'Ohana, it wasn't just our server that kind of ruined the whole thing but a whole bunch of other things that just added up. The vegetable dish we were given wasn't very good, the other servers didn't seem to be sure of what they were doing. It was just a really meh experience overall. If the food they gave us was really good, then it would have salvaged the experience. I agree, it was definitely the server's responsibility to let the chef know about our dining restrictions, but to me so-so food is just so-so food and it can really make or break a place for me.
I really hate lingering on this one particular restaurant though because it just makes me feel uncomfortable overall whereas the rest of our trip was so good.

I'll get to the rest of the reviews tomorrow at some point

 

[mkleinbe]

I'll get to the rest of the reviews tomorrow at some point

Get to it girl! I'm excited to hear about the rest of your vacation. We're not huge Ohana fans either (I prefer my shrimp deveined thank you....).

 

[Plasticletters]

I'm sorry to hear that so many of your experiences were not up to the level they should have been. Our experience with the "Special Dietary Request" only worked for one of our ADRs. The thing that really seemed to save us was having the cast member we made our actual ADRs with note we are "vegan" on the ADR and list us as having "allergies" to dairy, eggs and shellfish. These notes made on the actual ADR caught all of our servers attention (as they are printed right on the table bill), the special dietary requests only made it to one of our restaurants.

 

[Vegcentric]

Final full day of food - Cinderella's Royal Table (And counter services)

Okay, so I kind of lied a bit ago when I said I was going to get around the last bit of the reviews tomorrow. I was in the mood to jot down my thoughts on our last day of eating at Walt Disney World, which also happened to be our favorite day. The strangest part about it was that it was all totally random. Neither my husband or I knew we would be eating at Cinderella's Royal Table when we woke up that morning.
We headed back to the Magic Kingdom since we didn't feel as though we got enough time in the park on our first day. We did a few of our favorite things that we had done the first day as well as a few new things until it was getting pretty close to lunch time.
The hunt for our lunch was on, but we were all out of table service credits and were down to our last counter service credits. We had planned on using those for dinner, so my husband and I wandered over to Tony's and check out their menu. We weren't exactly impressed with the selection and wandered around a bit more when my husband had remembered that he had wanted to see the sword in the stone before leaving. While we were walking through the castle to get to it, we both noticed people lining up for their reservations to Cinderella's Royal Table.
We both looked at each other and shrugged and decided to approach the menu which was hanging on the wall.
"I don't think we'll get in, but we can always just look at the menu" I suggested to my husband, whose stomach was already gnawing away at his insides. He was completely okay with eating literally anywhere at this point, and I wasn't feeling particularly picky myself (for once). I noticed there was a pasta dish on the menu - vegetable penne pomodoro, I think it was. I was in one of those moods where I just wasn't in the mood for eat anything in particular so this sounded fine by me.
We approached the hostess to inquire about any availability for lunch expecting to be turned away when she said that she actually had one time slot open. My husband and I took it, not even actually knowing what Cinderella's Royal Table was. I had no idea that we were actually in for quite a treat at this point, and we still had time to kill before our meal so we did a little bit more shopping at Sir Mickey's and go our pictures taken with the sword in the stone:

We returned to the restaurant at the time they suggested we be back, and stepped into the hallway. A woman turned around and handed us our "royal invitations" and quickly explained what we were about to do, which was head into the next room and get our pictures taken with Cinderella. We had no idea this was part of the experience, but we were pretty pleasantly surprised nonetheless.

There was a chandelier hanging on the wall in this room, and a Christmas tree next to Cinderella. My husband and I were already pretty impressed just by the fact that we got to eat in the castle, but we were also delighted that Cinderella stayed in character really well despite the fact that two adults were getting their pictures taken with her.
She made me laugh when we approached her and she asked me if I was with my prince. When I told her yes, she asked for my permission to take his arm for the picture and said very sweetly, "Oh, I promise I will give it right back!" She then asked me if he still danced with me, and when I said he never has because he doesn't know how, she turned to him and said, "But it's always easy to dance with your one true love!"
It was adorable and my husband was very amused. After getting our pictures taken, we were led upstairs into the dining room where we took our seats towards the back. It was extremely sunny in the dining room and I was actually grateful we got to sit in the back and out of the sun, and I could still see everything in the castle dining room.

Our server greeted us and brought us our water and menus and explained that we would be getting a tasting dish but we could order our entrees and desserts right away at the start. I ordered the pasta dish with the vegetables, which was the only vegetarian dish on the menu (they have another one for dinner, but I can't comment on how that one tastes) and the rice pudding with pistachio cream.

When we were brought the tasting plate, they princesses were being introduced and entering the room. It was at this point my husband and I wished we actually had a daughter, because the experience felt a little lacking without one (though don't get me wrong, this was a really great experience...maybe in a few years or so, who knows).

We had absolutely no idea what was going to be on this tasting plate so I was relieved that most of it was vegetarian, except for the piece of salami on the very, very bottom. There was only one piece of it, and we just completely steered clear of it. The grapes were really ripe and juicy, the bruschetta was...well, I've definitely had better but this wasn't bad. My husband ate all the cheese cubes and for the most part it was okay.
I don't think most people who eat here eat here for the food, and I wasn't expecting to even like the food but I was pleased with it. I had pretty low expectations for it and while it wasn't memorable cuisine the experience of eating in the castle and getting our pictures taken with the princesses was well worth the price.

Sorry about the poor quality pictures...my husband and I really don't know how to take pictures. The pasta dish was large and I couldn't finish it all, and it came with a nice bit piece of garlic bread. I was content by the end of the meal but the best part was actually the dessert:

This was the best rice pudding I've had in years. I looked around the dining room at the other desserts and they were all just as pretty as this one. The princesses didn't even skip a beat when they approached our table. We didn't have a child with us, but they took the time to talk to us and take pictures with us. When Princess Aurora approached the table she asked for my husband's name, and when he told her that it was Philip she gasped and said, "Did you know that I have a Prince Philip!?" She was great fun, and definitely our favorite of the princesses that visited us.

We were given our picture package before leaving and we both decided that we definitely had to go back again in October, though it wouldn't be for the food. Overall, it was the only experience that week where we truly felt like there was some pixie dust sprinkled around the air, a definite Disney moment.

I got a few last pictures of the castle before leaving the Magic Kingdom:

Later that evening we ate dinner at our resort's food court, which happened to be just a couple veggie burgers and fries. It was really late, my husband was groggy and wanting to just go back to the room to relax before our early morning departure and I wanted to eat and use the hot tub. Before leaving the food court, the girl ringing up our meal noticed we had a bunch of snack credits left. She was very adamant (but extremely polite and friendly) about not letting us pay out of pocket for our meal and just rang it all up as snacks. The veggie burgers themselves were okay, nothing special but they were better than average.
I'm actually not sure if this was okay for her to do this (I really hope it was okay and she didn't get in trouble) but I greatly appreciated the effort she gave us even though it was nearing closing time and she looked so tired. I was just really impressed in general with Port Orlean's staff and I will definitely be back in October when we return.

Overall, we found it to be a bit of hassle to try to squeeze our vegan diet into our vacation. We really just wanted to relax and not worry about much since we do plenty of that back at home. But that's the kind of people we are. We're adaptable as long as it doesn't involved eating meat (excluding a little bit of shellfish on rare occasion). There are other vegan reviews around these boards that helped me a great bunch when deciding on where to eat.
If we could name one thing that disappointed us the most during the entire trip, it would be the service. The service just wasn't where we would have liked it to be, and I think if we had better luck with our servers we would have been able to pull off our vegan diet without as many hitches.
I know quite a few people who like to go with the flow when they're on vacation, and fortunately every restaurant we went to had a veggie option on the menu. By omitting a couple ingredients, many things can be make vegan.
Some meals I ate had cheese on them just for the sake that sometimes I really cannot resist it no matter how hard I try. Out of all the restaurants we ate at, we will probably only be returning to Cinderella's Royal Table, Boma and Tusker House on our next visit. Of course, these are all matters of opinion and I hope that these reviews helped at least a little bit for some of you.

A big thank you to Ehartman, Plasticletters and V_gan for their vegan dining reviews that I am sure many of you have already seen on these forums. If you're wondering why so many of the restaurants I chose echoed their reviews...well, that's why. Your reviews rocked, guys. While I wish I could have recreated ALL of their experiences in my own vacation, it wasn't bad. I think I'm going to take Plasticletter's recommendation next time and get them to put a food allergy note on my dining ticket. Good advice, thanks!

Next time I'm at the World I'm going to branch out and dip my toes into some other restaurants and try not to be so fearful, especially since the day we decided to wing it turned out to be the best day of all. Thanks for reading!

 

[Linda67]

Thanks for taking the time to write such great reviews
Hope you have a wonderful trip in October

 

[disney_princess_85]

Great CRT review! The Cinderella you met sounds really nice, the one we met was a good one too. DBF took quite a liking to her!

Thank you for all your reviews, I've enjoyed reading them and I look forward to more in the future.

Really? That's actually surprising to me because I actually have read some fairly rough things about the place, specifically about how the chicken was dry or the service was just really lackluster. Something that has to do with Wolfgang Puck himself not being involved with the restaurant anymore.

Just to clarify, I meant the counter service restaurant, not the table service restaurant. If that's what you meant, I've heard quite a few bad things about it too.

 

[ehartman4]

Out of all the restaurants we ate at, we will probably only be returning to Cinderella's Royal Table, Boma and Tusker House on our next visit. Of course, these are all matters of opinion and I hope that these reviews helped at least a little bit for some of you.

A big thank you to Ehartman, Plasticletters and V_gan for their vegan dining reviews that I am sure many of you have already seen on these forums. If you're wondering why so many of the restaurants I chose echoed their reviews...well, that's why. Your reviews rocked, guys. While I wish I could have recreated ALL of their experiences in my own vacation, it wasn't bad. I think I'm going to take Plasticletter's recommendation next time and get them to put a food allergy note on my dining ticket. Good advice, thanks!

Next time I'm at the World I'm going to branch out and dip my toes into some other restaurants and try not to be so fearful, especially since the day we decided to wing it turned out to be the best day of all. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for YOUR reviews! I'm glad there are vegans/vegetarians on here who can help each other

I've heard so many good things about Boma. I think Michael and I will have to go there next time!

 

[Vegcentric]

I'm sorry to hear that so many of your experiences were not up to the level they should have been. Our experience with the "Special Dietary Request" only worked for one of our ADRs. The thing that really seemed to save us was having the cast member we made our actual ADRs with note we are "vegan" on the ADR and list us as having "allergies" to dairy, eggs and shellfish. These notes made on the actual ADR caught all of our servers attention (as they are printed right on the table bill), the special dietary requests only made it to one of our restaurants.

Aw, no it was okay. I am really into your idea of marking them down as food allergies, though. I think we're going to attempt this and see what happens because we'd both really like to keep with our lifestyle while on vacation...even though I slipped up and ate a little cheese when it could have been avoided at some spots. Thanks for the awesome suggestion!

Thanks for taking the time to write such great reviews
Hope you have a wonderful trip in October

Thank you, and thanks for reading. I hope these were helpful!

Great CRT review! The Cinderella you met sounds really nice, the one we met was a good one too. DBF took quite a liking to her!

Thank you for all your reviews, I've enjoyed reading them and I look forward to more in the future.



Just to clarify, I meant the counter service restaurant, not the table service restaurant. If that's what you meant, I've heard quite a few bad things about it too.

Thanks a lot! I actually haven't heard a single thing about the counter service to begin with but since you pointed out that there hasn't been anything negative said about it, I think we may try to eat here when we go in October. We're always looking for places to eat in Downtown Disney.

Thanks for YOUR reviews! I'm glad there are vegans/vegetarians on here who can help each other

I've heard so many good things about Boma. I think Michael and I will have to go there next time!

Boma is our must-do for every trip just because I have never had a bad meal here and I love how different the food is. If you guys liked Tusker House, you will probably love Boma, though of course this is a matter of opinion and the service always waxes and wanes.
I do remember my trip in 2005 was extremely different from my trip in 2009 in terms of service. Every single host and hostess in 2005 asked us if we had any dietary restrictions or allergies up front so they could let the chef know, and this time around in '09 we even went out of our way to tell them and were still let down. I wonder what happened? I liked that they asked up front!
But lots of things at Boma are vegan and the people working there are always pretty nice and they would definitely tell you what is and what isn't vegan. I actually heard from a vegan blogger that he managed to get a sandwich wrap at Boma made for him using gardein chik'in. We eat this every now and then at home and it's really good and he mentioned the chef being a woman, but I can't remember her name. Oh well.
If you do decide to go to Boma, I left out a good bit of information from my review on accident - their house punch/juice whatever it is, is REALLY good.

 

[TillyMarigold]

In this picture we have some spiced tandoori tofu, endive, apple and walnut salad with bleu cheese dressing, tunisian couscous and curried basmati rice.
I had heard many, many negative things about the tofu here and I just want to say...

It was pretty much as gross as everyone said it was. For some reason though I ate three platefuls of it (I was famished). The zucchini that was in with the tofu was horribly overcooked. It was mushy, and mushy zucchini is not appetizing zucchini. The tofu was shriveled up and dry. The tofu that was in my noodle bowl at Sunshine Seasons was much better than this tofu, and that isn't saying much. Someone really needs to rework this recipe, because it's not working.

I'm sorry you didn't like the tofu at Tusker House. It's the same tofu you can get with Picnic in the Park, and it was our absolute favorite QS food that we ate the whole trip. Ours was absolutely perfect. The zucchini was a little soft, of course (I mean, it was cooked, but still firm enough to need chewing) but the tofu was just the right level of firm and it had a nice spice level to it.