Vegetarians at DL

[KEH]

We are having our first trip to Disneyland in August and will spend 3 days there. As we are vegetarian I am curious to know what experience people have of veggie food at the parks, at Downtown Disney and outside the parks.

We will probably want counter service for lunch (veggie burgers, wraps etc) and more of a sit down meal in the evening.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[TravelingJen24]

I'm a vegetarian and have been to Disney many times. I will say that some places are harder then others. I love Goofy's kitchen because there is such a diverse amount of food to eat. I am not as fond of the character breakfast at GC because you have to order a lot of food that doesn't have meat. Napa Rose had excellent food, but my husband and I just ordered to meals and he ate the meat and me the sides. They really don't have vegetarian meals. Another great place is Catal at Downtown Disney. They have a lot of pasta meals and there are many substitutions. Any other questions let me know.

 

[HaleyB]

We always end up eating a lot of fries, and there are kids meals that are a cheese pizza and a salad back in Toon Town that taste like cardboard, but work. In Adventure Land you can get Dole whips and fruit salad. We always seem to manage, with counter service- we are too cheap to eat sit down meals very often. In Down Town Disney the menus are posted out front so you can check to see what you can eat.

I have never gone into DCA (I know, shocking) but have heard there are several veggie friendly choices in there, I think there is a Mexican place.

 

[CalGal]

I'm not a vegetarian, but I do like to eat lots of veges and generally avoid red meat. I love the vege kabobs at Bengals Barbeque near Jungle Cruise. You can get pasta several places; I like Redd Rockets, which also has some decent salads. Like the other poster, I love Goofy's Kitchen, in part because of the variety of dishes. I'm trying to think of where I might have seen vege burgers, but I can't remember any place that offers them. You might do better at DTD for sit-down dinners. I just think you are more likey to have more choices for vegetarian dishes.

 

[EeyoreJMH]

Has anyone ever asked their server for a vegetarian option not listed on the menu at a sit-down DLR restaurant? I know that in most sit-down restaurants in WDW I can request a vegetarian option if one is not listed on the menu. I've had some of my better WDW meals this way and the servers have always been pleasant about the request.

 

[disneychrista]

My two fav's are the vegetarian Taco/Toastada Salad at Rancho. You have to ask for it special, they will replace the meat with rice.

And the Pasta Marinara at Plaza Inn. I usually get the kids meal version with a garden salad.

Another yummy meal is at DCA at the Pacific Wharf Cafe. The Vegetarian Chilli served in a bread bowl.

The key is to not be afraid to ask for something to be made special for you. Places were you "see" them making the food is the best place to do this. I love Rancho for this, you can get burritos, nachos, the Tostada Salad etc all made without the meat.

At counter service don't be afraid to order off the kids meal. You can get PB&J, Mac & Cheese, and other meat-less meals by ordering off the kids meals.

 

[HaleyB]

Has anyone ever asked their server for a vegetarian option not listed on the menu at a sit-down DLR restaurant? I know that in most sit-down restaurants in WDW I can request a vegetarian option if one is not listed on the menu. I've had some of my better WDW meals this way and the servers have always been pleasant about the request.

Yes you can. You can even ask for other options if they have something on the menu that you don't want. We do this pretty often and have had some fantastic meals. We never ask for anything specific, we just have the chef tell us some options. Expect to pay in the high range of what is on the menu. It used to be the other way around, special orders had low prices, but Disney caught on...

 

[disneychrista]

Another thing to note is if they have an item as "part of" a combo/meal you can also order that item a la cart. Like you can order just the mashed potatoes or just the rice. At Blue Bayou I ordered the potatoes and veggies and it was plenty to fill me up.