Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant/Dining Help Thread

[DragonWings]

This thread has been super helpful thank you, I'm visiting WDW right now. And was struggling to find stuff to eat and had only snacked on Dole Whip. Now I know I have many more options for a Lactose-free diet, thank you!

 

[Mariearistocat]

So we went to WDW this past weekend. We went to Le Cellier and 'Ohana. Horrible and bad experiences so I wanted to give a quick review as I highly recommended Le Cellier on here above.

It was my and my daughters' birthdays and we were all really looking forward to Le Cellier! We have been there probably 5 times in the past two years (we live in Florida). We are fly under the radar vegetarians and not at all high maintenance about it.
First, their vegetarian menu has changed. The vegan menu is gone, according to our waitress--not sure if this was just her as she was one of the nastiest people we have ever experienced in years of going to WDW. I spent years as a server and I found her attitude to be shockingly rude, never mind for such a pricey restaurant. The hostess that seated us could not have been sweeter, typical of Le Cellier. Then...Lauren, our server, comes over and the night went downhill quickly after that. She seemed bothered that some of us were vegetarians. Said the vegetarian menu was gone. We asked if they had the vegan poutine still--yes (it is not on the menu FYI). And yes, we had to ask but they still have the vegan butter. We usually get wine but we made the tragic faux pas of ordering sodas. Slammed on the table and straws tossed at us at such velocity that I kind of jumped lol now but at the time I was shocked. Nasty woman. Anyway, I ordered the mushroom tart and it was awful. I had a few bites and just left it. Someone brought us more bread and we asked Lauren for more vegan butter (we were actually afraid to at this point lol). She comes out and plops a messy pot of real butter down and takes off. When she came back we told her it wasn't the vegan butter. She actually started arguing "Well I asked them to give me vegan butter back there so it's not my fault". With that, I lost it on her. Told her she could just forget the vegan butter and while she's at it, take my mushroom tart away as it's awful (I have never sent food back in my life and this was unplanned). I told her she was rude and sloppy and should be working at McDonalds (which is unfair to those people). She disappeared quickly and I got up to wait outside. Ran into the front desk person and she asked why I looked so sad as it was three of our birthdays and we should be happy (not sure how she remembered this). I explained what happened and she told me that Lauren person is really rude to her too. Anyway, if you dare try this place--the vegan menu is gone and it isn't like it used to be. Refuse to have Lauren as your server!

'Ohana was spectacular though! Food, service, everything! They do have the special vegetarian skillet and it is delicious! They have the plant based sausage, chicken and also barbecued jackfruit. Also sesame noodles. DELICIOUS! Vegan butter and bread! The salad was delicious. My dessert was tofutti and pineapple--looked like everyone else's ice cream which is nice. The server was from Hawaii and just saw sweet and kind, everyone there was. I cannot say enough great things! It was such a salve after the night before. My husband is a carnivore and raved about everything he was served too. Highly recommend this place for vegans and carnivores alike.

We also had AMAZING experiences at Tutto Italia (the gnocchi!) and Beaches and Cream (Impossible burgers). Great, warm and kind service. Exceptional food. Still kind of schockd about our Canada experience but so grateful for the rest of the weekend.

 

[bluecastle]

So we went to WDW this past weekend. We went to Le Cellier and 'Ohana. Horrible and bad experiences so I wanted to give a quick review as I highly recommended Le Cellier on here above.

It was my and my daughters' birthdays and we were all really looking forward to Le Cellier! We have been there probably 5 times in the past two years (we live in Florida). We are fly under the radar vegetarians and not at all high maintenance about it.
First, their vegetarian menu has changed. The vegan menu is gone, according to our waitress--not sure if this was just her as she was one of the nastiest people we have ever experienced in years of going to WDW. I spent years as a server and I found her attitude to be shockingly rude, never mind for such a pricey restaurant. The hostess that seated us could not have been sweeter, typical of Le Cellier. Then...Lauren, our server, comes over and the night went downhill quickly after that. She seemed bothered that some of us were vegetarians. Said the vegetarian menu was gone. We asked if they had the vegan poutine still--yes (it is not on the menu FYI). And yes, we had to ask but they still have the vegan butter. We usually get wine but we made the tragic faux pas of ordering sodas. Slammed on the table and straws tossed at us at such velocity that I kind of jumped lol now but at the time I was shocked. Nasty woman. Anyway, I ordered the mushroom tart and it was awful. I had a few bites and just left it. Someone brought us more bread and we asked Lauren for more vegan butter (we were actually afraid to at this point lol). She comes out and plops a messy pot of real butter down and takes off. When she came back we told her it wasn't the vegan butter. She actually started arguing "Well I asked them to give me vegan butter back there so it's not my fault". With that, I lost it on her. Told her she could just forget the vegan butter and while she's at it, take my mushroom tart away as it's awful (I have never sent food back in my life and this was unplanned). I told her she was rude and sloppy and should be working at McDonalds (which is unfair to those people). She disappeared quickly and I got up to wait outside. Ran into the front desk person and she asked why I looked so sad as it was three of our birthdays and we should be happy (not sure how she remembered this). I explained what happened and she told me that Lauren person is really rude to her too. Anyway, if you dare try this place--the vegan menu is gone and it isn't like it used to be. Refuse to have Lauren as your server!

'Ohana was spectacular though! Food, service, everything! They do have the special vegetarian skillet and it is delicious! They have the plant based sausage, chicken and also barbecued jackfruit. Also sesame noodles. DELICIOUS! Vegan butter and bread! The salad was delicious. My dessert was tofutti and pineapple--looked like everyone else's ice cream which is nice. The server was from Hawaii and just saw sweet and kind, everyone there was. I cannot say enough great things! It was such a salve after the night before. My husband is a carnivore and raved about everything he was served too. Highly recommend this place for vegans and carnivores alike.

We also had AMAZING experiences at Tutto Italia (the gnocchi!) and Beaches and Cream (Impossible burgers). Great, warm and kind service. Exceptional food. Still kind of schockd about our Canada experience but so grateful for the rest of the weekend.

Thanks for sharing, but so sorry for your terrible experience at Le Cellier! The last time I was there I noticed that they have really crammed the tables close together. I bet the wait staff is overworked. No excuse, but I noticed it was no longer a relaxing place for a nice dinner. At those prices, not going back!

 

[Mariearistocat]

Totally a good point. Our reservation was around d 8:30 PM and I have noticed that is one of the worst times to WDW dine! Screaming kids, it cannot be easy. Like you said though, no excuse. We saw her snickering with coworkers so she wasn't that worn down. Beaches and Cream was crazy when we went Sunday afternoon, but the waitress was adorable and sweet.
We have found the best time to go to 'Ohana is around 4:00 PM. People seem much calmer all around. Back in the day, all of these restaurants seemed more for adults after 8PM. Kids are tired and frustrated at that time.

 

[elvispursley]

So we went to WDW this past weekend. We went to Le Cellier and 'Ohana. Horrible and bad experiences so I wanted to give a quick review as I highly recommended Le Cellier on here above.

It was my and my daughters' birthdays and we were all really looking forward to Le Cellier! We have been there probably 5 times in the past two years (we live in Florida). We are fly under the radar vegetarians and not at all high maintenance about it.
First, their vegetarian menu has changed. The vegan menu is gone, according to our waitress--not sure if this was just her as she was one of the nastiest people we have ever experienced in years of going to WDW. I spent years as a server and I found her attitude to be shockingly rude, never mind for such a pricey restaurant. The hostess that seated us could not have been sweeter, typical of Le Cellier. Then...Lauren, our server, comes over and the night went downhill quickly after that. She seemed bothered that some of us were vegetarians. Said the vegetarian menu was gone. We asked if they had the vegan poutine still--yes (it is not on the menu FYI). And yes, we had to ask but they still have the vegan butter. We usually get wine but we made the tragic faux pas of ordering sodas. Slammed on the table and straws tossed at us at such velocity that I kind of jumped lol now but at the time I was shocked. Nasty woman. Anyway, I ordered the mushroom tart and it was awful. I had a few bites and just left it. Someone brought us more bread and we asked Lauren for more vegan butter (we were actually afraid to at this point lol). She comes out and plops a messy pot of real butter down and takes off. When she came back we told her it wasn't the vegan butter. She actually started arguing "Well I asked them to give me vegan butter back there so it's not my fault". With that, I lost it on her. Told her she could just forget the vegan butter and while she's at it, take my mushroom tart away as it's awful (I have never sent food back in my life and this was unplanned). I told her she was rude and sloppy and should be working at McDonalds (which is unfair to those people). She disappeared quickly and I got up to wait outside. Ran into the front desk person and she asked why I looked so sad as it was three of our birthdays and we should be happy (not sure how she remembered this). I explained what happened and she told me that Lauren person is really rude to her too. Anyway, if you dare try this place--the vegan menu is gone and it isn't like it used to be. Refuse to have Lauren as your server!

'Ohana was spectacular though! Food, service, everything! They do have the special vegetarian skillet and it is delicious! They have the plant based sausage, chicken and also barbecued jackfruit. Also sesame noodles. DELICIOUS! Vegan butter and bread! The salad was delicious. My dessert was tofutti and pineapple--looked like everyone else's ice cream which is nice. The server was from Hawaii and just saw sweet and kind, everyone there was. I cannot say enough great things! It was such a salve after the night before. My husband is a carnivore and raved about everything he was served too. Highly recommend this place for vegans and carnivores alike.

We also had AMAZING experiences at Tutto Italia (the gnocchi!) and Beaches and Cream (Impossible burgers). Great, warm and kind service. Exceptional food. Still kind of schockd about our Canada experience but so grateful for the rest of the weekend.

We must have had the same server!!! Seriously, we ended up crossing Le Celler off our list after this near-exact encounter 2-years ago. As
Soon as she realized we weren’t ordering steak or any expensive alkali’s beverages, she became just awful. We’re lacto-ovo vegetarians so we ordered a few side dishes and the impossible dumplings. Food was slammed on the table and we never got refills on our water. In fact. She never came back to check on us. I was shocked that this person, who was initially pleasant, turned so nasty after realizing we weren’t ordering steak t ordering expensive steak, drinks, or desert (we wanted out of there asap).

Glad to hear about Obana. I’ve been curious about the plant-based option. May have to try it next time!!

 

[Mariearistocat]

We must have had the same server!!! Seriously, we ended up crossing Le Celler off our list after this near-exact encounter 2-years ago. As
Soon as she realized we weren’t ordering steak or any expensive alkali’s beverages, she became just awful. We’re lacto-ovo vegetarians so we ordered a few side dishes and the impossible dumplings. Food was slammed on the table and we never got refills on our water. In fact. She never came back to check on us. I was shocked that this person, who was initially pleasant, turned so nasty after realizing we weren’t ordering steak t ordering expensive steak, drinks, or desert (we wanted out of there asap).

Glad to hear about Obana. I’ve been curious about the plant-based option. May have to try it next time!!

Wow, the slamming definitely sounds like Lauren! I'm sorry you had to endure that too. I wonder if she hates vegetarians? I really feel she plopped the real butter down on purpose. What Lauren does not know is that the vegan butter is very sweet (maple?) so there was no tricking us with real butter lol.
We've had such magical experiences there before, it's a shame that we've both crossed Le Cellier off of our list due to service like this. We went for my birthday last year October and the server was so kind. When we were ordering dessert, she told me she had planned to bring me out a surprise piece of cake but it had dairy. I told her not to worry about it and thank you for the thought. She surprised me with a glass of (good) champagne instead! I was ready to cry it was such a sweet thing to do! I hope people who read our posts still go there but just request not to have Lauren as everyone else is so nice.
And the Impossible dumplings were SO good! Thanks for reminding me of one of the things we loved when they had the vegetarian menu.

 

[elvispursley]

Wow, the slamming definitely sounds like Lauren! I'm sorry you had to endure that too. I wonder if she hates vegetarians? I really feel she plopped the real butter down on purpose. What Lauren does not know is that the vegan butter is very sweet (maple?) so there was no tricking us with real butter lol.
We've had such magical experiences there before, it's a shame that we've both crossed Le Cellier off of our list due to service like this. We went for my birthday last year October and the server was so kind. When we were ordering dessert, she told me she had planned to bring me out a surprise piece of cake but it had dairy. I told her not to worry about it and thank you for the thought. She surprised me with a glass of (good) champagne instead! I was ready to cry it was such a sweet thing to do! I hope people who read our posts still go there but just request not to have Lauren as everyone else is so nice.
And the Impossible dumplings were SO good! Thanks for reminding me of one of the things we loved when they had the vegetarian menu.

We figured she was ticked off that we weren’t going to have a typical high-priced meal because we ordered sides and split the dumplings as well as only having water, ending up with a lower tip than what she generally gets?? So I guess she could hate vegetarians/vegans

I wouldn’t have done Le Cellier this trip because I’m allergic to mushrooms and the tart didn’t sound appetizing to my mom, who’s also vegetarian. Glad to know we didn’t miss anything!

 

[delsol]

Heads up on the menu changes at Pecos Bill at Magic Kingdom.

The new entrees being "Create Your Own" only have meat choices with no veggie meat alternative. If you are using the app to order you are forced to pick a meat option before you can add it to your cart so you cannot really order any entrees in the app.

However if you order onsite/in the line you can order any of the entrees (Cheese Tamale/Nacho Bowl/Rice Bowl) without the meat which also takes off $2 from the price.

​

 

[Simba's Mom]

Heads up on the menu changes at Pecos Bill at Magic Kingdom.

The new entrees being "Create Your Own" only have meat choices with no veggie meat alternative. If you are using the app to order you are forced to pick a meat option before you can add it to your cart so you cannot really order any entrees in the app.

However if you order onsite/in the line you can order any of the entrees (Cheese Tamale/Nacho Bowl/Rice Bowl) without the meat which also takes off $2 from the price.

​

Thanks for letting us know! I was seriously thinking of doing that next time (just ordering without the meat) and you saved me from the time and frustration of trying to mobile order.

 

[dkostel]

Corn in Harambe is no longer vegan. Used to be a favorite but they now have them pre wrapped in foil and they are buttered. This trip it has felt like they are getting less veg friendly. More Impossible fake meat and less real food.

 

[mistysue]

Corn in Harambe is no longer vegan. Used to be a favorite but they now have them pre wrapped in foil and they are buttered. This trip it has felt like they are getting less veg friendly. More Impossible fake meat and less real food.

Oh that's sad - this sudden surge in vegan options finally made eating with a dairy allergy possible. (the number of times dairy alone has ruled out entire menus is mind boggling)

 

[Miffy]

Vegan report from Universal. I travel with my sister, who's also vegan.

We're just back from a trip to WDW that included, for the first--and last--time a stay at Universal. As a side note, Universal is no place for someone who isn't into high, scary coasters and motion simulators that make Star Tours look like a kiddy-park attraction. Sure, there are other things to do, but try doing them after you've been motion-sickened and don't even feel like standing up. The stand-out wonders at Universal are the Harry Potter attractions, particularly the train ride and the interior of Hogwarts. And I'm not even an HP fan.

But, forget the rides, I'm here to talk about the food. We stayed at RPR. And, OMG, Universal is pretty much of a vegan desert, despite all the info given on the vegan Universal site and by vloggers.

First, there's breakfast. Want some overnight oats in a package? Available at Tuk-Tuk. Inedible. I threw them out. Then we went over to Portofino, since I'd read that they have scrambled tofu for breakfast. What we were served was scrambled salt with some tofu in it. I'm not kidding. It was maybe 90% salt and 10% tofu. Completely inedible. At least we weren't charged for this meal . . . but we didn't have breakfast!

I suppose Universal might be okay if you like Beyond burgers. I do not, so I didn't even try several of the places I'd read about. And after we were salted-out by the lousy tofu, we were reluctant to get pretzels and popcorn, which are always salty, so we didn't even try them.

There was a not-horrible (translation: brilliant-for-Universal) prepackaged salad at the Tuk-Tuk. I mean, it was edible. Would I crave this? No. Go back for more? If desperate, yes.

I had the vegan hot dog at the hot dog place at City Walk. Now that was heinous. So for lunch I had a hot dog bun, mustard, and french fries. At least the fries were okay.

We had dinner at Jake's, a sit-down restaurant at RPR. I think this is off-menu--a vegan spaghetti dish with fake meat in it. It was edible. For vegan food at Universal, that's high praise. Would we ever have this again? Never. And, btw, without a reservation, even on a super slow night, you will wait eons for a table at Jake's.

The one vegan food highlight at Universal was, of all things, donuts. Voodoo Donuts has a truly delish vegan donut--the Portland Cream. Incredibly tasty. Unfortunately, one cannot live by donut alone, so we were thrilled to be back at WDW after two Universal-starvation days!

I think most of the WDW vegan items have already been discussed here, so I won't add anything except to say that we had several wonderful meals at WDW, especially at Yak & Yeti and Tony's Town Square. Shout-out to Rose & Crown as well.

 

[mistysue]

Vegan report from Universal. I travel with my sister, who's also vegan.

We're just back from a trip to WDW that included, for the first--and last--time a stay at Universal. As a side note, Universal is no place for someone who isn't into high, scary coasters and motion simulators that make Star Tours look like a kiddy-park attraction. Sure, there are other things to do, but try doing them after you've been motion-sickened and don't even feel like standing up. The stand-out wonders at Universal are the Harry Potter attractions, particularly the train ride and the interior of Hogwarts. And I'm not even an HP fan.

But, forget the rides, I'm here to talk about the food. We stayed at RPR. And, OMG, Universal is pretty much of a vegan desert, despite all the info given on the vegan Universal site and by vloggers.

First, there's breakfast. Want some overnight oats in a package? Available at Tuk-Tuk. Inedible. I threw them out. Then we went over to Portofino, since I'd read that they have scrambled tofu for breakfast. What we were served was scrambled salt with some tofu in it. I'm not kidding. It was maybe 90% salt and 10% tofu. Completely inedible. At least we weren't charged for this meal . . . but we didn't have breakfast!

I suppose Universal might be okay if you like Beyond burgers. I do not, so I didn't even try several of the places I'd read about. And after we were salted-out by the lousy tofu, we were reluctant to get pretzels and popcorn, which are always salty, so we didn't even try them.

There was a not-horrible (translation: brilliant-for-Universal) prepackaged salad at the Tuk-Tuk. I mean, it was edible. Would I crave this? No. Go back for more? If desperate, yes.

I had the vegan hot dog at the hot dog place at City Walk. Now that was heinous. So for lunch I had a hot dog bun, mustard, and french fries. At least the fries were okay.

We had dinner at Jake's, a sit-down restaurant at RPR. I think this is off-menu--a vegan spaghetti dish with fake meat in it. It was edible. For vegan food at Universal, that's high praise. Would we ever have this again? Never. And, btw, without a reservation, even on a super slow night, you will wait eons for a table at Jake's.

The one vegan food highlight at Universal was, of all things, donuts. Voodoo Donuts has a truly delish vegan donut--the Portland Cream. Incredibly tasty. Unfortunately, one cannot live by donut alone, so we were thrilled to be back at WDW after two Universal-starvation days!

I think most of the WDW vegan items have already been discussed here, so I won't add anything except to say that we had several wonderful meals at WDW, especially at Yak & Yeti and Tony's Town Square. Shout-out to Rose & Crown as well.

Something interesting to me, the large groups for allergies at Universal have people who MANAGE the universal nutrition department monitoring them. You can (and will!) be banned for giving bad reviews. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a piece of why you see only glowing reviews. After it happened to me I met other people online with similar experiences.

We had an incident where a Universal location served my son his allergen, we caught it, they remade his food and did the same thing. I was not only banned from the group for telling the story, but she looked me up through her work portal and wrote to me complaining about my Facebook review as the official head of the nutrition department.
Yes, they could have killed someone in my family, and her response was to write to me from the official UO offices to blame me for it. Then uninvited my family from eating in their parks again.

The issue was that my son was allergic to both egg and dairy, and when you place a special order they give you the "allergy bread" - We kept asking what the allergy bread was, they refused to tell us other than "it is safe for allergies" and served him Udi's brand gluten free bread made with eggs. I would in no way be shocked if they serve the "allergy bread" to vegans regularly, which according to follow up emails is the standard across ALL UO locations and she blamed me for not knowing that.

 

[only hope]

I personally find Universal parks to have better food and a wider variety than WDW, especially MK. I don’t try to eat at the resorts much though as I mostly make day trips. There’s a Facebook group I use for reviews, people post positive and negative comments.

 

[mistysue]

I personally find Universal parks to have better food and a wider variety than WDW, especially MK. I don’t try to eat at the resorts much though as I mostly make day trips. There’s a Facebook group I use for reviews, people post positive and negative comments.

After I had reason to care, I noticed in some of the groups that the negative reviews are edited out later. So if you search and get older questions/replies, anything serious is missing. I believe you that you have seen negative posts, but I have brought this up and met others who have been banned for posting negative events, especially people fed allergens. With most vegans/vegetarians they wouldn't know they were served something hidden or baked in to foods.

 

[jess2022]

Has anyone requesting a vegan meal at SciFi that is not the impossible burger? They used to have an appetizer and a pasta dish too but took it off.

 

[only hope]

Has anyone requesting a vegan meal at SciFi that is not the impossible burger? They used to have an appetizer and a pasta dish too but took it off.

That’s a shame. Most people don’t want to eat Impossible every meal but that’s what a majority of the plant based dishes are at WDW now.

 

[mistysue]

Has anyone requesting a vegan meal at SciFi that is not the impossible burger? They used to have an appetizer and a pasta dish too but took it off.

As much as I hate to be suggesting it, if you speak to a chef they can always do more. I hate to say it because it takes time away from people with complex medical food issues, but I get at some point needing something else. I'll just ask people are considerate enough not to ask for a chef every time if it's not a need because there are people who can not trust the food at all without a chef, and people overusing the "ask for chef" feature has made places more resistant to get a chef to come out.