50's Prime Time Cafe -- Lunch/Dinner -- Table Service -- Hollywood Studios

*This dining experience took place in January 2013.

Take a trip back in time at 50's Prime Time Cafe

There are a few restaurants at Walt Disney World that tug at my heart-strings. They have nostalgia written all over them, and 50's Prime Time is one of those restaurants. It feels like Walt Disney would just walk in and order the same fried chicken and a few Mouseketeers might join him! It's kitschy and in a good kind of way. The staff also has some great hijinks, but it's not overwhelming that you don't enjoy your meal. On top of that, they have real honest to goodness gluten free & dairy free fried chicken for goodness sakes! And dairy free mashed potatoes...and gravy! Yep, it's a real winner for me. Sure, it's not the kind of culinary food to write home about, but it's good ole' hearty old fashioned comfort food. And that's a good thing, especially when you're GF/DF. It's hard to come by when eating out!I try to head here every few months or so, and this time I brought some friends with me. It's nice to bring friends who've never been before, because I get to share the GF/DF fried chicken love! It's a beautiful thing! :)

Hang out in the living room while you wait for a table

One of my friends who came to dinner is gluten free & can't have yellow food coloring (on a side note, it's pretty amazing how much yellow food coloring is in a lot of processed food! Gross!), so I contacted the restaurant ahead of time and let the chefs know that we were coming, what our allergies/intolerances were, and that we wanted the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy. While, I know folks who have gotten the fried chicken as a walk-in, I do highly recommend getting a hold of them (through WDW Special Diets Department) ahead of time, just so your wait is a little shorter. Plus, I like to ask for gravy because the meal is complete with gravy! I will say that on this particular trip, my gluten free only friend was also served the dairy free mashed potatoes, but I think that he liked them! They also gave him the Rice Dream ice cream but more on that later...For my fried chicken, I asked for the greens to accompany the dish (the normal veggie for that dish, even the non-allergy version). I love a good collard green, especially one with bacon in it (bacon can seriously make a dirty shoe taste good!). My friend got the green beans & carrots (which I've had before and are good).

My chicken with the dairy free mashed potatoes, gluten free gravy (yum), and greens

My friend's chicken with the green beans & carrots

I will say that this was not the best version of the fried chicken I've had (maybe because I was too busy chit-chatting and I ate my chicken when it wasn't as hot), but it was still heads & tails above any GF/DF fried chicken I've had before. Yum! I would have liked to see a larger portion of the mashed potatoes, but then they have really good potatoes!For dessert, we both went with the brownie sundae because of the famous in-house made allergy brownie that they have (one of my favs). The chef said that many of the chefs actually prefer it to the regular house-made brownie (yep, it's that good). I think there might have been a slight mishap though because my guest (again who is just gluten free) got the same dairy free ice cream as me (Rice Dream), which neither of us were expecting. Still, he said the Rice Dream was actually not bad at all, so it was cool to know that (my taste buds have totally changed with dairy free, and I love Rice Dream). So, we're still not sure if the regular ice cream has a gluten or yellow food coloring issue or they just made them both GF/DF so as to not mix things up. Either way, I think we were all satisfied with the meal.

GF/DF brownie sundae

Love the 50's decor

If you get the chance to visit 50's Prime Time, I highly recommend it. It's a good ole' standby for me, and where else can you get decent (and safe) fried chicken?!As usual a solid 9 out of 10 for me. An oldy, but a goody!