50's Prime Time Cafe -- Lunch/Dinner -- Table Service -- Hollywood Studios
*These dining experiences took place in April & May 2013. This is a combined review of two dining experiences.
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| Time warp! |
It's a blast from the past...50's Prime Time Cafe. It feels like I was just there hanging out with all of my favorite "cousins." Oh wait, I was just there not that long ago!! This review is a combination of two meals that I had in the past month at 50's PT. They are important to share because of what I was served that was different from my normal order of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. So here we go. Let's do the time warp again...
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| These two hosts are some of my fav folks here |
On these particular trips, I contacted the chefs at 50's PT ahead of time to order the GF/DF/SF fried chicken and GF/DF mashed potatoes with GF/DF gravy as a part of the "Mom's Sampler" menu item. I had been told that the meatloaf was GF/DF and was a combination of pork and beef. Now I don't normally eat beef, so this was a gamble for me (beef and I don't get along too well). I normally eat like one hamburger or two a year, so this was going to probably be my threshold for a long time. But I really wanted to try it and was hopeful that it wouldn't settle too badly. I weirdly don't too as badly with ground pork, so I was hoping the mix would also deflect some of the potential tummy ache.Upon arrival, I was greeted by Chef Eddie who was very busy helping others, including a table next to us who hadn't noted their child's allergies and were having difficulty with the child finding anything they wanted. Poor kid only wanted Mickey waffles lol When I told him that I contacted them ahead of time he remarked, "Oh you're the lady!" Guess my reputation proceeds me :) He said he had everything ready and raring to go. When the dish came out, I noticed the pot roast was on it. (which normally comes with the Mom's Sampler) I didn't really think about it at first but then I remembered that some blog readers mentioned it was not safe. Yikes!! I think I had taken 2 very small bites before I remembered that. Uggh. I tried to flag down Chef Eddie but he was slammed, so I decided to email when I got home and eat nowhere near the pot roast just to be safe since I couldn't confirm it's safety. The fried chicken was definitely gluten free and the meatloaf was just ground meat from what I could tell. Also, I really REALLY disliked the meatloaf. Like, I won't ever order it again meatloaf. Yuck. It tasted like sausage! And not even good sausage. My stepdad is from Sweden and he said that they must use allspice in their recipe because that's what it tasted like to him. Either way, it wasn't a personal winner for me. I liked the texture of it though, but that is not a redeeming enough quality for me to order it again.
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| Mom's Sampler modified--note that the pot roast in the back is NOT gluten free. |
The mashed potatoes were really good--and they gave me an extra portion (which I didn't eat half of anyways due to proximity of the pot roast)--I think they know I love the carbs! The veggies were also good and it was nice to have the green beans & carrots AND the collards (my favorite). On a side note, they somehow forgot my gravy which got brought to me a little later in the meal.For my dessert, I ordered the gluten free/dairy free brownie with rice dream and chocolate syrup. Only I got hot fudge sauce. Yup, I knew right away before I even ate it that it was hot fudge sauce. Yikes. So, I wasn't feeling overly confident with this meal, and 50's PT has always been exceptional with the allergy service.
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| This is NOT the sundae you are looking for--hot fudge city=not dairy free :( |
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| Now THIS is the sundae I'm looking for! |
Once I returned home, I contacted the restaurant and sure enough they should NOT have given me the pot roast. It contains trace amounts of gluten according to Chef Brandon (who's over at Hollywood & Vine now). He assured me that they would make sure this did not happen again. How scary. This is probably one of the first most blatant near glutenized moments I've ever had at Disney. I was glad I had some knowledge and only ended up with a slight stomach ache, but still--this could have been disastrous for someone else. It just goes to show that you can never be too vigilant and even when you think you are safe mistakes can happen. As I learned from my next visit, this was turning into a common theme....
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| Here we go back in time... |
My next visit fared a little better, but still had some bumps in the visit that made me want to wait for a while before I go back again. Once again I emailed beforehand confirming that I really only wanted the chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy. Forget that other stuff! This time I wanted to stick with what was tried and true.I was once again greeted by Chef Eddie. This time, he said that they were ready for me, but then he asked if I really wanted mashed potatoes. Uh-oh, I see where this is going...someone didn't get the potatoes ready. He said that it's not so much that they didn't have them ready but that I should really try something different. huh? He said he could still make the potatoes but that it would take some time and didn't I really want to try something like the sweet potato mash that they have with their seasonal fish? Sigh. Now, I'm not really that picky so rather than go in circles with him (which we sort of did), I said fine. But really...mashed sweet potatoes with coconut milk doesn't seem like it would go w/fried chicken and collard greens, but maybe it's just me?! He actually wanted me to try the broccolini too which I opposed. I really love those collards and didn't want to miss out. Some of the discussion that he and I had is actually why I email ahead of time. If you know you want the fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy, it's easier for everyone involved to notify them ahead of time. But clearly, they just forgot it because it did take a while (more than normal) to get the food.
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| GF/DF fried chicken, collard greens and mashed white sweet potatoes with coconut milk |
While we were waiting, Chef Eddie actually came back and asked if I still wanted gravy. Now, for the life of me I can't figure out why they would have gone to the trouble of making gravy and not the potatoes. But never mind--too little too late. Once the dinner came out I dug in. The chicken was delicious as usual. The one good thing is that he did give me two chicken breasts which was great. The collards were excellent as well. Now onto the sweet potatoes. Now don't get me wrong--they were very good. They would have been excellent with the new seasonal fish dish (mahi mahi) but for the rest of the meal--a little weird. I gave my family samples to try and they mostly liked the flavor but everyone said it did not go well with fried chicken. Yep, that's why I ordered mashed potatoes ahead of time!Then it was on to dessert. I ordered the same thing as the time before--the allergy brownie sundae. But this time, I made sure to specify no hot fudge sauce and told the server why and to make sure they didn't do the same thing as the time before. I truly had thought the time before was that our server must had put the fudge on (b/c she was very frazzled) and that it wouldn't happen this time, but now I'm convinced it was a kitchen issue because sure enough....hot fudge. Sighs...what is going on with my 50's PT?! Well, back to the kitchen it went. And when it came out, I had extra syrup. I guess they really wanted to prove a point that it was syrup! lol
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| Brownie sundae with a shot of syrup? |
Overall, I was pretty disappointed with both of these dining experiences primarily because someone could have gotten extremely sick. Had I consumed more than two bites of pot roast I would have been violently ill and probably out of commission for days. As it was my stomach was a disaster for a day or two though at least I was functional. On top of that the dairy consumption would have been equally bad and life threatening for someone highly allergic. What concerns me is that the hot fudge situation happened twice. Once I could have chocked it up to user error, but twice? That's a pattern of non-allergy attention. I understand that the kitchens are busy and that it happens. But I try to do due diligence by contacting them ahead of time to help make their lives and mine easier. This just was a little bit of a back slide for me with 50's PT.On a side note, I saw Chef Frank as I left and I wish I had had a chance to work with him. He's always been really great and I haven't had any problems when he's handled my meals. Chef Eddie seems like a really nice guy and he seemed like he wanted to try to accommodate but someone there were too many errors to make me feel overly confident in him right now.I plan on waiting a few months before I head back there to try it again. I think I need a break and hopefully, in the meantime they will improve their procedures so nothing like this happens again.Normally, I'd give this a 9 out of 10, but these two experiences were about a 6 for me in terms of major issues.What have your experiences at 50's Prime Time been?
50's Prime Time Cafe -- Lunch/Dinner -- Table Service -- Hollywood Studios
*This dining experience took place in January 2013.
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| 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! :)
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| 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).
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| My chicken with the dairy free mashed potatoes, gluten free gravy (yum), and greens |
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| 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.
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| GF/DF brownie sundae |
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| 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!
50's Prime Time Cafe -- Table Service -- Hollywood Studios -- Lunch/Dinner
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| Welcome home! 50's Prime Time Cafe is just like mom's house... |
*This review is from July 2012Here we are again for another review of 50's Prime Time Cafe. I love this place; the atmosphere and the hijinks are always great. In fact, I look forward to visiting with Cousin Tom and the rest of the delightfully in-character crew at 50's PT. It doesn't hurt that the food here is pretty good too. Nice homey, old fashioned 50's - 60's food with a modern flare (no jello molds here!). While I have tried other items on the menu, the main reason I head to 50's PT is for the one and only gluten/dairy (and soy free, likely egg and nut free too) fried chicken, dairy free mashed potatoes, and the brownie sundaes! They also carry dairy free milkshakes here too, but I'm usually too full to add that to my order!For this trip, I had emailed Chef Williere Justin who used to work at 50's PT (and always made sure we had a great meal); however, I found out he had moved to Whispering Canyon Cafe (see my July 2012 review of WCC--it was excellent!), but the great thing is that he got in touch with Chef Brandon who is at 50's PT.Working with Chef Brandon, I was able to work out what I wanted. I made sure to request gravy this time, because I've only ever had it one time (and I had not requested it).When we arrived at the restaurant, we sat and enjoyed the retro vibe (although I must say vinyl/pleather chairs and really hot humid Florida weather do not mix!) and I noticed that a seating ticket came up and a chef came out and spent a lot of time with the hostess going over it. Hmmm....ten bucks says that has to do with me! Yep, I was right. The chef was waiting for me and said he'd let us settle in to the table and then he'd come over to go over the food.
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| Retro seating and decor |
Once seated, Chef Ivan came back out to speak with me. Wow, they were prepared! He had a stack, and I mean a stack of stapled correspondence from me to them. Too funny. He said that he was ready for me; he went over the ingredients with me, which was nice. He explained that this was the first time he was making it, and he wanted to make sure it turned out well. The chicken uses rice flour and the mashed potatoes (which are AMAZING) are made with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, salt, little bit of water, pepper. The greens were sauteed in evoo and also had bacon in them. Then the gravy he used rice flour to thicken it. This all sounded good to me. We also discussed the brownie for dessert, and he said that the brownie was still safe (they make it in-house) and they could do chocolate or vanilla tofutti. Naturally, I went with chocolate. The only odd part was that he asked me if M&Ms are ok. I had to remind them that they have dairy in it, which he said he forgot about. They said the sprinkles would be ok and that the popcorn doesn't have anything related to dairy or gluten in it. (For those who don't know, the traditional "Dad's brownie sundae" comes loaded with whipped cream, sprinkles, ice cream, M&M's, and a caramel corn of some sort.)The food came out pretty quickly. My mom and stedpad also had the non-allergy friend chicken meal, so there was a lot of fried chicken at our table. Yum! Mine came out on completely different dish-ware and also had a place marker that said "Allergy" on it. I've never seen any other WDW restaurant do this, and I really like it because it allows for less confusion (in the past I've been brought regular non-allergy friendly fried chicken b/c they weren't marked). It would be nice to see this in other restaurants in the future. It's also nice that they use different dishes because that is another way to distinguish a special diets meal.
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| Gluten Free/Dairy Free/Soy Free awesomeness--fried chicken, mashed potatoes, greens, and gravy! |
After they brought the food out, the chef did come back to check on me to see how it was. It was excellent. Although, I think it might have been a tad greasier than I've had in the past, it was still really good. Moist and tender and the fried chicken crust was amazing. The mashed potatoes here are something spectacular. Seriously! In my humble opinion, these are consistently the best mashed potatoes on property. So flavorful and rich. Whispering Canyon Cafe's are a close second. The ones at Liberty Tree Tavern are also good, but they don't have the depth of flavor that they do here. I need to find out exactly what they do to these potatoes to make them so darn good. My attempts with evoo haven't turned out quite as well. The greens were also good here. Anything that involves bacon is A-OK with me. I personally like them cooked down more, but that's me. I grew up on mushy greens and green beans, etc. Then we get to the gravy. Yum! I liked the gravy I got here the first time better, but this one reminded me of my mom's chicken gravy. It was almost identical. I had her taste it, and she even agreed. So, it was nice to have something taste so familiar. Double Yum!
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| Close-up of the chicken with potatoes and greens. That's a lot of chicken! |
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| Close-up of the chicken gravy. Yeah, I ate the whole thing... |
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| I didn't quite make it to the "Clean Plate" club...that was a lot of food! |
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| Sarah's awesome gluten free/dairy free brownie sundae. Delish! |
Then it was on to dessert. The chef prepared a great sundae (and another nice touch that the allergy market was on it. It was also in a different type of dish than the traditional sundae). I didn't really eat the popcorn (doesn't always settle well with me), but I scarfed the rest down. Somehow, it doesn't matter how full I am here, I can always make room for dessert. Well...that happens a lot at WDW!
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| Our Cousin Janice was singing "Happy Birthday" to my stepdad...she was a hoot! |
Overall, I had a really good experience at 50's Prime Time Cafe. Chef Ivan was very kind and very attentive to make sure that everything was done just right. Just remember whenever you go someplace to be mindful of ingredients and ask if you think the offering doesn't sound safe. (i.e. M&M's on a sundae here is a no go for dairy free folks).I can't wait to head back again...another solid 9 out of 10. Love the ambiance, the staff interaction, and of course the food!!! Definitely a continued must-do for me.
50's Prime Time -- Dinner -- Table Service -- Hollywood Studios
I love 50's Prime Time. I love gluten free/dairy free fried chicken. I dream about it!!! So good. 50's Prime Time has been one of those places that I have become very spoiled with such a wonderful meal. I always contact them ahead of time, so that they can make sure to make the gluten free/dairy free fried chicken and dairy free mashed potatoes (my favorite on property by the way!). Yum!Sometimes, I get green beans and carrots and other times the collard greens with bacon (depends on my mood). I've only received gluten free gravy once...but I wish I could get it more often. That gravy was divine. Here's an example of the standard allergy friendly fried chicken:
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| Gluten free/dairy free fried chicken with olive oil mashed potatoes and veggies |
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| House made brownie with rice dream |
It's a lot of food! I usually have to give myself time for dessert, but I usually manage :) They have a house made brownie (thank goodness, there is still a brownie that I can eat on property) with rice dream and sometimes syrup. Just depends on the chef and day (and how full I am).I recently went (May 2012) with an ADR but no contact ahead of time regarding the allergies. I was just curious how they would handle things, especially since I was not really wanting fried chicken at the time. When the chef came out, he said that he could do several of the options including the blue plate special (which was some type of pork chops with an apple chutney of some type). I opted for the Boneless Pork Tenderloin. It normally comes with mashed potatoes (which I really really wanted), but they said they could do a brown rice. Boring, but I decided to try it. I also got green beans and carrots.
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| Boneless Pork Tenderloin with rice and veggies |
When the entree arrived, it had a nice marker in it that noted allergy. That was the first time I'd seen that, and I appreciated that. That made it fairly clear that it was for me. I hadn't asked for mushrooms, but they arrived on my plate (I think some variation of mushrooms were on the regular dish). I am not a big mushroom fan, so I gave these to my mom, who really liked them. The boneless pork tenderloins were good. Tender, flavorful, nothing fancy though. I like their veggies there. The brown rice had cranberries in it. Not bad, gave it a little bit of a zing. But, I still would have liked to have had the mashed potatoes. Oh well.For dessert, I got the same house made brownie with rice dream and chocolate syrup; however, the server brought it too me with the m&m's on them, which are not safe! eek!!! They were all around the dish, not really on the brownie or the ice cream, so I gambled and had my mom give me a clean spoon and gave her all of the offending areas. I didn't get sick, so that was good. I think it was just a miscommunication and the server seemed a bit new.Overall, I love 50's Prime Time. Even when I didn't give any notice, I still found the food to be pretty good. Next time though, I'm going to plan ahead and make sure to ask for mashed potatoes!Also, don't forget to have a good time while you're there.....I love the 50's PT hijinks. I was once there with a friend who was so full from the meal that he joked he couldn't possibly eat anything for dessert except for water. Well, don't say things too loudly...Our Cousin Tom (one of my favorite servers) brought out a big o'le bowl of water for his dessert. Too funny!
50's PT always gets a solid 9 out of 10 from me. Love, love, love this place. Just make sure you contact them ahead of time (by contacting WDW Special Diets), and they will be able to accommodate you beautifully.
50's Prime Time Cafe -- Hollywood Studios -- Table Service
Oh boy, do I love 50's Prime Time. I adore the gluten free/dairy free fried chicken and the greens. It's soooo tasty. I've been in contact with Chef Williere on the last trip and this one as well. I had arranged to have the chicken ready and they wanted to know if I wanted a special dessert (um, brownie sundae from the last time was A-OK by me). Chef Williere was also on duty, so he said he would try to catch up w/me. When we got there, I was greeted by Chef Albert, who looked at me like I was crazy and he had no idea about me arranging this ahead of time. (It takes a while to make the chicken, so if you get a hold of them ahead of time, you can have it ready pretty close to when you would get regular entrees). However, when I mentioned Chef Williere, he went to get him. Chef Williere apologized that they basically forgot it. But that he would take care of making sure Chef Albert got it done for us (we were not on his side of the restaurant). He also said he had sorbet for me for dessert (I really wanted chocolate, but it ended up being ok, b/c we had so much food). He asked if we were going to order appetizers and we said no. He said that the chicken would be a wait, so he said he would bring us appetizers on the house. This was so nice of him. He gave my mom and stepdad onion rings and crab cakes and the seafood salad for me. The seafood salad had a citrus vinagrette and it was fabulous. Very fresh tasting and lots of seafood. One of my favorite things on the trip.
Very delicious seafood salad appetizer.
Again, Chef Williere couldn't have been nicer about things. After eating my appetizer I ran to the restroom and when I came back, the waitstaff had brought out fried chicken, but it did NOT look like what I got the previous time and had gravy all over it. Ummmm, I don't think that is mine! I asked the waitress about it, and sure enough they brought me a regular dinner. Chef Albert came out with mine not too long after. Good thing, I checked!! Holy cow! That would have been bad for everyone! My entree was the fried chicken, dairy free mashed potatoes, and greens. Unfortunately, he didn't give me gravy this time, which was a bummer. The greens were also not cooked very well. But the potatoes and chicken were excellent, so it worked out ok. I was very full after that meal and the appetizer. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the entree, but if you check out my other blog post about 50's PT, you will see a tempting picture!
For dessert, they brought me out the strawberry sorbet, and that was pretty good. Next time, I will go for a sundae though!
A refreshing dessert after piggin out on fried chicken!
Overall, despite a few hiccups, it was still a great meal, and I wouldn't hesitate to go there again. Perhaps next time, I'll check in a few days before the meal to make sure they have the chicken order on hand b/c I could definitely tell a big difference from that. Overall a 8 out of 10 on this trip, but a 9 out of 10 in general for being a great allergy friendly place!
50's Prime Time Cafe -- Hollywood Studios -- Table Service
Welcome to 50's Prime Time Cafe!I've been long waiting for the delicious gluten free/dairy free fried chicken I've heard rave reviews about. Prior to my visit, I was in contact with Chef Williere Justin who was very helpful. So, I was looking forward to the meal. Upon arrival, we waited for a few minutes (it was fairly busy) and then were seated in Mom's house.
Mom's calling!
While waiting for our meal, we got to experience some "family hi-jinks." One of cousins was a real hoot (we were close to another room with a window and he kept grabbing a wooden stick and poking our other "cousins" with them...hilarious! While we were finishing dessert, he decided to get into a garbage bag and balance an egg on a spoon throughout the "house." We were busting up laughing. Love the hi-jinks!
Our "cousin" showing us how the races are done!
"We wants the fried chicken! We wants the fried chicken!"
Best fried chicken--EVER!
Gravy!
Now on to the good stuff--DESSERT! The brownie sundae was so good. I believe they actually make their brownie b/c it sure didn't look or taste like the one from French Meadow. The chocolate tofutti ice cream and brownies and syrup--yum! Chocolate overload!
My favorite dessert of the trip!
(also I did send lots of praise to customer service for them because it was so memorable! They all did a great job, and I was glad to send an email saying so!)