Plaza Restaurant with Chef Ken

If you were fortunate enough to get to go to Disney World growing up, you may have a few nostalgic places that you no longer eat at because of being vegan. One of those for me was the Plaza Restaurant in Magic Kingdom. We often ate there on trips as a kid because of their cold sandwiches and great views of Cinderella’s Castle. The vegan option there looked pretty sad, so I have avoided it for a long time.

But that recently changed. We had heard of a wonderful chef located at this restaurant who really takes care of special diets and allergies. We decided to give it a try and hope that we would meet Chef Ken. We checked in and let the hostess know of the allergy in the group and that we were all vegan. When we were seated we were only given the allergy menu. We had also completely forgotten that you can order wine and beer here, but we had another drink in mind.

Soon after being seated, our server let us know that the Vegetable Burger on the menu was a vegan gardenburger and that they could also do the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich vegan.  We were skeptical because we assumed there was an egg wash, so she offered to bring the chef out. Soon after Chef Ken came out and took a seat at our table. Chef Ken was a real treat. You can tell he just really loves helping people and making great food. He asked us what we wanted to do for the kids, we ended up getting them fruit and some steamed vegetables (knowing they would just end up stealing our french fries). They also have a PB&J, but with a peanut allergy and the bread being honey-wheat, we didn’t ask. For our meals we asked about the Fried Green Tomatoes, he said they remove the cheese, bacon, and sauce. But he had just picked up some vegan mayo and could do that. We said absolutely! He also said he would make us hand mixed vegan milkshakes with his signature combo, 90% vanilla Tofutti and 10% chocolate Tofutti.

The kids fruit and veggies came out pretty quick. The fruit plate was full of grapes, strawberries, and banana. The veggies were just steamed baby carrots and broccoli. They seemed to enjoy it. When we were talking with Chef Ken about the kids food, he kept saying whatever we wanted to do for them he could do, so if you have kids that need to eat more than some fruit he can take care of you.

Our sandwiches took a bit longer, but we didn’t mind. We noticed Chef Ken coming out several times to speak with other guests, so he was clearly busy. Soon enough our sandwiches arrived and we were stoked. The Fried Green Tomato Sandwich comes with more tomatoes, arugula, and the vegan mayo on a vegan brioche bun.

The tomatoes were super light and crispy. There were two slices of fried tomatoes. They were very flavorful and we really enjoyed the sandwiches. I couldn’t really taste too much of the mayo, but I got a few bites of it where it was flavorful. We ended up asking what it was and it was just Vegenaise. My only complaint on the whole sandwich isn’t really a complaint, I wish it was on sandwich bread and not a bun.

The fries that come with it are nothing to write home about. Just thin cut fries, great for dipping in ketchup… or milkshakes if you’re like Bridget. There is also a vegetable or chip side, we didn’t ask if those were vegan though.

While we were stuffing our faces with our sandwiches, Chef Ken returned with our milkshakes. They call them bottomless here, and they are. We both got so much shake we didn’t know what to do with them. The mix of the chocolate and vanilla was great, I always want to like Chocolate Tofutti but it has such a strange strong taste. But mixed with the vanilla it was very subtle. They were very creamy and thick. Just the way a shake should be!

We really enjoyed our meal here. I would highly recommend the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich over the Vegetable Burger since you can just get that at Cosmic Rays. If you are looking to dine with Chef Ken, he works lunch services (11am-4pm) Tuesday-Saturday. Thank you for a wonderful meal, we will be back to see you!

Price? $$
Review from September 2018.