The new vegan options rolling out last week meant that we would be trying some restaurants we had never eaten at before! This week we stopped at Tony’s Town Square in Magic Kingdom to try their new plant-based options.
Tony’s is a super cute little Italian restaurant located at the very front of the Magic Kingdom. It is themed around the Lady and the Tramp, there is artwork all around and even a fountain with the two pups. You can even ask “if they are out in the alley” and ask your server to get you an autograph for your book. In the past I had always been told that Tony’s is basically an Olive Garden, and as a vegan a big skip. But now they have a vegan appetizer, entree, and desserts.
The restaurant offers bread and oil with the meal. The bread is vegan as is and delicious. It is a focaccia bread with some nice salt chunks on top. I paced myself on this knowing how much food we were about to get, but I could have eaten that whole loaf of this. Our server said the bread is made in house too.
We ordered the Garden Salad to start. My friend Gabrielle and I shared the appetizer and it was the perfect amount of food. The salad came with mixed greens (mostly spinach), grape tomatoes, cucumber, and radishes. Our biggest wish with this salad was that it was pre tossed as it was pretty hard to mix on the small plate.
The dressing on the menu says it is a House Vinaigrette, but when we asked our server she said it was just a house made Italian style dressing. We were mostly curious because it was so good. I haven’t been so surprised by a salad before (who have I become?). It was pretty peppery, so if you aren’t a big black pepper fan you probably won’t like this.
For our entrees we got the Spaghetti and Mushroom Meatballs which is vegan as is. The bowl is pretty large with three massive meatballs on it. The sauce was nothing special, but the meatballs were great.
I have no idea why they are called Mushroom Meatballs because I don’t think they had mushroom in them. They were Impossible Meat based (there was no mention of that on the menu) and we noticed onion and herbs as well. They reminded me of a Italian version of the Felucian Garden Spread from Docking Bay 7. They were very firm and held together well.
I really loved this entree. The meatballs were super hefty and filling. I wish they had a vegan parmesan for this dish though (HINT HINT). But if you aren’t a big fake meat fan, I’m sorry because you won’t like these. I was honestly expecting them to be like an eggplant meatball I’ve made at home, something more mushy and less meaty if that makes sense. I don’t know anywhere else that I can order a massive meatball dish that’s vegan which makes it special to me. As someone who doesn’t love Italian food, I would absolutely eat this again and again.
Since there wasn’t a kids option, they made the kids Spaghetti and Meatball for Finn vegan with the same mushroom meatball. You get to pick two sides so I just opted for fruit for him.
Now for dessert there was two options, sorbet (meh) and a Italian Strawberry Shortcake. What makes shortcake Italian? Apparently adding balsamic to the strawberries. The shortcake was incredible. The little cake squares were super moist and very vanilla heavy. There was a ton of the soy whip as well. The balsamic was odd, but I didn’t hate it.
I am so impressed with this meal. To be honest, I was pretty indifferent heading in. Like, yay salad and pasta, as if I haven’t eaten enough of those in Disney for the last decade. BUT I was so surprised that the dressing was so unique and flavorful. The pasta had a hefty topping and not just some steamed vegetables, and this dessert is a can’t skip. I absolutely recommend adding Tony’s Town Square to your next trip. I’m super excited to go try another new option now!
Price $$
Review from October 2019.
