This review reflects our experience from September 2016.
A few years ago we would joke about how Magic Kingdom was full of veggie burgers for both vegetarians and vegans. Over the years some of the quick service options have changed which have made it so that our options have expanded beyond the world of the Malibu Gardenburger while in Magic Kingdom. One of those more recent changes was over in Tomorrowland at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe.
Cosmic Ray’s used to offer three different menus in one restaurant which changed depending on which ‘bay’ you ordered from. Now it offers one single menu throughout the whole restaurant. The newest menu is basically just burgers and chicken. The lonely vegetarian item is the Falafel Burger. We were pretty excited when we heard this was the new option so we had to try it on our next trip.
We had read from others that this burger came with hummus, which is awesome. However, the week we went they changed that. We ordered our Falafel Burger and double checked the ingredients with the allergy binder. This is one of those locations that often has buns with honey in them, so be sure to ask if you avoid that. There was one weird item listed on the binder that we weren’t quite sure of what it was supposed to be, but we ordered the burger and waited for our food. It took probably 15 minutes for us to get this, which is super annoying since it was on the menu and not a special request.
Our burgers finally came out and we made our way to a table before heading to the toppings bar. This restaurant has a pretty standard toppings bar of lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, pickles, ketchup etc. We noticed once we sat down that we had two small containers with a white sauce in it. This definitely did not look like hummus, we thought it may have been tzatziki. I quickly left our table to go ask a cast member working in the kitchen section and was told they no longer did the hummus and had switched to tzatiki. The menu board literally says nothing about this, just “Falafel Burger” and the allergy menu didn’t reflect this either.
So now we’re stuck with some dry falafel burgers with some lettuce and tomato. Now, when I say dry I mean DRY. These guys really needed that hummus, or tzatziki if you’re vegetarian. We put lettuce, tomato, and mustard on it, because what else would you do? This meal was awful. Our fries were cold, the falafel was dry, it took forever, we could go on. As much as we complained and never really loved the Malibu Gardenburgers, we would have much rather had that. If you’re in Magic Kingdom and need a quick service option, go to Pecos Bill’s or Columbia Harbour House.
Price?
$
Would we go back?
Nope.
Corey & Melissa
They either must have improved it or I had a completely different impression. I thought it was excellent! It was a great, easy option and easily skipped the tzatziki as there were mushrooms, lettuce, jalaeno and a variety of great toppings to utilize instead. I’d say try it again… Mine was great!
By the way, I enjoyed it so much, the reason I found this forum is I’m online looking for how to purchase or make them!
I agree. I was just there yesterday, and typically don’t eat honey but made an exception this time and opted for the falafel burger. I did the same, ditched the dairy sauce and loaded up with other toppings. Still dry. The flavor was good though.
Later I ate at Pecos Bill’s as well. Now that meal was great! I had the roasted veggie and black bean soft tacos with yellow rice. And the toppings bar was loaded with vegan options…guacamole, roasted corn salsa, regular salsa, taco sauce, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos, onions… I made my two tacos so stuffed that they would barely fold over, lol!
Overall I am not happy with the vegan food options here at Disney World, and plan on writing them about it. My family (not vegan) were quite unhappy with their food quality as well.
This is far from my favorite place to eat, but I like to pop in and catch a Sonny Eclipse set!
It’s horrible that you had that experience! I was there this past November (2016) and had a really different experience! My “burger” came out with the rest of my family’s meal (they are not veg) and only took a short time, and it was hot, tasted fresh and was delicious! I can’t remember all the toppings, but I think there were more available than what you had available to you, as I remember thinking “whoa look at all these options” and my “burger” was so loaded it was hard to bite it! Sounds like I must have caught them on a really good day, and perhaps you caught them on a bit of an “off” day!! Too bad they are not more consistent so that we could all know exactly what to expect!!
I meant to write up my experience with this “burger” because I really enjoyed it. I didn’t have the service issues, which I admit would be annoying. I had the burger with a bunch of sauteed mushrooms and ketchup. I can see how the patty would come across as dry without toppings. The first time I had it the patty wasn’t as dry either, so it may depend on whether they over cooked it or not. I have no self control with french fries so opted for the green beans. They may also have added to the overall moisture level of the meal which may also counter patty dryness. In the interest of science I’ll try it with the fries next time :D.
Did you have to ask for the mushrooms? I was there back in Oct and had this burger as well. At that time I was vegetarian but now strive for vegan. It was the first time ever trying a falafel of any kind. I thought it dry and bland. We are going back in May and thinking if I want to try it again or not.
I went there last week, the toppings bar has sautƩed mushrooms and sautƩed onions, I put both on my falafel burger with lettuce, tomato, and ketchup. I thought it was really good.
I was at Disney in Oct 2016 & this was one of my favorite meals. I had it for lunch on our second day. First, there was no hummus on my burger at that time either, and no tzatiki sauce. I may have been asked & declined the sauce, though. I don’t really remember. But regardless, I had neither. I don’t remember it being dry at all. I also used mustard, lettuce, tomato, & onion. Secondly, the fries were delicious!….my favorite part. It’s difficult to find fries that aren’t fried in the same grease as meat items, so I was super excited about and pleased with them. I hadn’t had fries in MONTHS, haha. Lastly, my family had the Quick Service meal plan. And even with the help of this site & others, I had a lot of trouble finding vegan options at Quick Service. I’m sure there are more & better options at sit-down places. That being said, this was one of the best I had with my meal plan options. I would definitely eat it again.
I am a bit more annoyed with the first few ingrediates being sugar…or a sugar type…and oil. The Falafal could be so much healthier then what they are serving.
Pretty sure that’s the Bun – on the Print Page – the Falafel is Chickpeas as the first ingredient.
Is it not the same “Soy Tzatziki” that Disney serves at Beaches & Cream, Hurricane Hannah’s, etc.? (Ie, not dairy)?
No it’s different. Also we asked about hurricane Hannah’s last year and was told that it still had dairy even though it was soy based.
I got the “soy tzatziki” from Beaches & Cream and was told it’s definitely still got dairy in it š
I didnt hate the burger.. it was filling at least.. agreed, kind of on the dry side though – the toppings definitely helped. I’m confused, what are the ingredients listed above for? Which one is the actual burger? Thanks as always for supplying info to the masses !! š