Pepper Market -- Lunch/Dinner -- Quick Service -- Coronado Springs

*This dining experience took place in August 2013.

Entrance to Pepper Market

Coronado Springs has always been one of those resorts that I haven't spent much time in. This visit, I checked out Pepper Market which is the quick service location at this resort. This is a non-Disney owned restaurant and run by the same company that owns & operates La Cantina & La Hacienda de San Angel. While the theming proved to be quite nice in this location, the gluten free & dairy free accommodations were less than stellar. In fact, this proved to be a restaurant that I will not go back to again.When we arrived at this location, we noticed that it is set up very differently than other quick service locations (which I did know about ahead of time). You are seated by a hostess at a table where you have an actual server. You are given "menus" which give you an idea of dishes available and a ticket sheet for you to get stamped (a bit like a passport). Our server, who was the bright spot of this dismal meal, came over and cheerfully greeted us. She went over the restaurant concept, telling us that we go to the station we want. Choose the items we want. Get our passport stamped and then pay at the end like you would at a table service location (including gratuity). I told her that I had special diets and would need to speak with a chef or manager.

You take this ticket to the kiosks & get it stamped based on what you order. Um, weird.

Once the chef came over, he talked to me briefly about the options. Basically, he told me I could have nachos with no cheese and my choice of the beef, pork or chicken. I could also have a "deconstructed" burrito with corn tortillas, the same proteins, beans, and the rice pilaf because the Spanish rice contained wheat. I could also have the carved roast of the day (which was something beef), fresh fish, or burgers with no buns. They said they had a fryer that they could use that was cross contaminated. It seemed like I had fairly limited choices. The chef also didn't seem too thrilled with helping out. In fact, he pretty much took off once we went to the stations. I told him I wanted the "deconstructed" burrito with chicken. He went and got rice and had the cast member at the station take care of the rest.

 One of the things that he told me I could have was all the toppings were OK (guacamole, salsas, etc.) but as you know they are not great for cross contamination!

Cleaner than most fixins' bars but there was cheese in most of the condiments

I really wanted guacamole, but it had cheese all in it. So, I asked for that and some salsa verde (as with cheese in it). They weren't too thrilled about getting it but they did from the back. One of the things I noticed while waiting was how "pre-packaged" everything looked.

I thought the green sauce with meat was chicken but it was pork. Also, yuck to the nacho cheese!

Once I got my food I went back to sit down. I will say that the restaurant itself is nice and open and spacious.

 Then we got to my food. Blech. This didn't look that appealing to begin with. Maybe it was just me. You be the judge.

 In general, I just thought it didn't taste very good. It was 1) very bland and 2) very pre-packaged "out of the box" tasting. Even the guacamole tasted like that. The chicken was rubbery & bland. The rice was so plain. The guacamole was watery and barely seasoned. The beans were just blah. And the veggies were not fully cooked as they should be for fajitas. The corn shells were also griddled but as you can see don't really looked griddled.

Close-up of my meal

I didn't take a pic of the salsa verde but it was horrible. I love salsa verde & I barely at any of this. It was just a bummer overall. I would have rather have eaten at Chipotle any old day over this. This was bar none the worst Mexican food I've had on property or anywhere for that matter in a long time. Just boring and unappetizing. :(I was so shocked that the company that runs La Cantina & La Hacienda would run this. I love La Hacienda (La Catina is good but I'm sad they have no safe tortilla chips anymore). Just crazy! Perhaps Maya Grill next door has better quality food but overall I found this very unappealing. I mean, honestly, I can handle less than stellar experiences if the food is decent but this was just nasty.I'm not planning on going back any day soon, and I certainly can't recommend it to anyone in good conscience. Yuck, yuck and double yuck. This may officially be my least favorite place on Disney property (that I've eaten at).Overall, I'm giving this a big fat 3 out of 10. The only reason it gets a 3 for me is because our server was so nice & they at least had a few GF options (mind you not tasty ones). Unfortunately, I was just not a fan of this place.