Kona Cafe at Disney’s Polynesian Resort is a cozy little spot to enjoy some vegan options with a little bit of south seas flair at the Walt Disney World Resort. The cafe underwent a major remodel in 2022 and they’ve just added a new dinner entree in May of 2023.
Kona Cafe Vegan Menu Items at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
Kona Cafe is loacated on the second floor of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort adjacent to the Kona Island Sushi Bar and ‘Ohana.
We started with the Vegetable Nigiri ($16) on the sushi menu.
This is an update from previous having only asparagus on the veggie roll, I’m sure it depends on what’s available in the kitchen but with the new vegan entree featuring carrots, and some other menu changes, they seem to have more variety.
Kona Cafe Vegan Lunch Option
The lunch menu at Kona has a section titled “Dashi Bowls.” There you’ll find the Vegetable Dashi Bowl ($21 – lunch menu only) filled with glass noodles in a jasmine broth. Ask for a side of soy sauce as the broth doesn’t have much oomph to it when omitting the fish flakes. The noodles are topped with shredded carrots, umami tomatoes, diced pineapple, green onion and pineapple tofu.
I’ve seen people served a noodle stir-fry dish using the ‘Ohana noodles here as well, so always worth asking about.
New Kona Cafe Vegan Dinner Option
On the dinner menu, they have now added a new entree in place of the Dashi Bowl – Sauteed Red Quinoa ($24) – you can add the pinapple tofu for an additional $7 (yes, you read that right). This dish is the same price as the chicken entree withOUT adding the tofu – adding it brings it to a $31 entree. Here’s what you get:
Now imagine this dish without 7 and a half pieces of tofu cubes on it. That’s not a lot for $24. Then adding in the tofu, that’s about $1 per tiny piece of tofu. Yikes! Obviously, had I known that going in, I probably wouldn’t have added it, but I wanted to get photos and video for you, I would definitely not order the tofu again.
The dish itself was actually really unique and a great whole food plant-based option, in fact, I think the sweet pineapple flavors on the tofu actually took away from the unique toasty flavors of the quinoa, which had a little kick of spice too. The rainbow carrots and asparagus were perfectly cooked, the broccolini was a little too crunchy for my taste. Note: you can also get a side of the broccolini or asparagus if you’d like. The tomato confit was also super packed with flavor and had a sweetness to it that complemented the rest of the dish. The quinoa was crunchy and really fun to eat in my opinion. I just wish there was more to this dish. It is gluten-free as is too. It would’ve been great with some seared tofu that wasn’t pineapple coated, and more of it (and included in the price!).
Overall, I’m excited that this is a well-constructed dish and something we don’t see all the time, and especially not just another noodle or cauliflower dish! So keep on giving us these new items, Disney! I for one appreciate the attempt even if it does need a little tweaking.
We were also told the salmon entree and the airline chicken entree could be modified to be vegan, and tofu replace the other protein, which would be the same tofu seen above, from the Dashi bowl lunch option, with the pineapple glaze.
Dessert is the Coconut Tapioca “Dessert Glass” ($5) these are smaller dessert items meant to order multiple and try or share, but this is the only one we can enjoy. This is pretty much a shot glass.
A little over 3 years ago, it used to come in one of the tiki cocktail glasses the Polynesian is known for, and was $9:
It used to start with a base of blackberries, covered in the thickest, creamiest coconut milk pearl tapioca pudding. The entire dish is topped with tropical fruits like mango, blueberry and strawberry as well as passion fruit boba balls.
Each mini dessert cup is $5 and this version comes with a pineapple compote in the very bottom.
These shooters aren’t even close to half the size of the former dessert and are slightly more than half the price. Even with the new entree, these desserts have stayed the same since that change a few years back. You can also get these at Kona Island sushi and coffee bar (right outside Kona Cafe) to go, at lunch and dinner hours, which I love to do during race weekends and bring back to the hotel for a snack anytime. Those are slightly larger servings too, in my opinion, unless they’ve downsized those too.
Let me know if you try this new dinner entree, and what you think!
Want to see what the vegan dinner options look like at Ohana, which is also in Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort? Check out our review here: Vegan Disney Food Review: Dinner at Ohana in Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
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Note: VeganDisneyFood is an informational fan site run by a lifelong Disney fan and vegan, doing constant research, speaking to chefs, and giving honest reviews of our experiences. We cover our own expenses 100% of the time unless noted and appreciate your support, and love helping you plan worry-free meals on your Disney vacation. If you would like to let the Walt Disney World Resort know your thoughts on your favorite vegan items, what you would like to see more or less of, you can email Walt Disney World. If you have 4 or more allergy-friendly requests, you can contact Special Diets no more than 14 days prior to arrival.
