Gorgeous views of the Magic Kingdom across the Seven Seas Lagoon and wonderful vegan dishes is what you’ll find at Narcoossee’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa at Walt Disney World.
This Disney Signature Dining location is known for its costal eats in a waterfront setting. Even though the restaurant relies heavily on seafood dishes, there are a handful of beautifully crafted vegan dishes on the menu as well. Narcoossee’s recently closed for an extensive refurbishment and has now reopened with an all-new menu. We share the vegan options in our review below:
Updated: April 2023
Vegan Dinner Review of Narcoossee’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
You’ll find Narcoossee’s set along the shores of the Seven Seas Lagoon adjacent to the Magic Kingdom. Like many of the buildings at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, Narcoossee’s is representative of a section of the Sunshine State. Narcoossee is a small town in Osceola County. The name is the Creek Indian word for “little bear.”
Narcoossee’s Atmosphere
Previously, Narcoossee’s featured a unique dual-level dining room and a sunken bar area. Water and fishing-themed murals adorned the walls behind the bar and royal blue table clothes led to the coastal feel of the restaurant. The refurbishment has elminitated that dual level, and the warm wood tones have now been replaced with white-washed wood and cool blue tones on the walls.
The sunken bar is not longer sunken, but the bar area does still exist where you can enjoy a drink or order from the full menu.
Here is a look at the previous dining room and bar area before the refurb:
And some of the new look for the reopened Narcoossee’s – you can see how the mood changes as the sun goes down (click photos to enlarge):
Almost all of the seating options offer breathtaking water views.
A wrap around porch offers guests the opportunity to step outside to view Happily Ever After fireworks over Cinderella Castle. You can also opt to stay indoors as the firework soundtrack is played throughout the restaurant.
Narcoossee’s Vegan Dinner Options
Dinner service here starts out with a complimentary bread service. The sourdough bread happens to be vegan as-is. You can enjoy olive oil for dipping or Earth Balance with Himalayan salt.
We loved the bread here. It arrived warm and had a nice crust with a soft pillowy inside.
Sadly, we once had quite a few options here previously which are now no longer available. We could modify the former Endive and Pear Salad, but we were told the new Blueberry and Feta salad could not be modified as it would be basically just lettuce and no dressing, since the dressing has egg in it. The Hearts of Palm dressing contains anchovies and would be dry without that. Hopefully at some point they will add a vegan dressing option, but for now, they don’t really seem worth modifying anyway.
Additionally, the delicious BBQ Crispy Eggplant is gone from the menu, this was a crispy and delicious option. The former entree was Sweet Potato Gnocchi with plant-based meat sauce, and this is now the plant-based appetizer option for $16.
They have added clamshell mushrooms and kale to this dish, but other than that, it is pretty much the same as previously available – with a poma rosa tomato “meat” ragu made from mushrooms and tofu with micro sage.
I will get into my review in more detail below but I will say that I prefer the gnocchi to the new entree option.
Unfortunately for the “Sides” section, we cannot order or modify the “Loaded” Mashed Potatoes, the Mushroom Risotto has cheese mixed in and they use a chicken stock base (important note for vegetarians reading this!). The Sweet-and-Sour Brussels Sprouts even without the bacon have a fish sauce on them, which is very disappointing. However, we were told by the chef that they could make a vegan glaze for us. We opted not to do that at this time, but were told it could be requested by anyone (the server was unaware so be sure to speak directly to a chef).
Additionally, when asked if any other entrees could be modified to be vegan (Shrimp without the shrimp or Salmon without the salmon) we were discouraged from that as it would really “take away from what the dishes were.” Previously we could get an off-menu pasta and vegetables dish, but that does not seem to be the case now. Since they have just reopened, this may change in the future or vary based on the chef working the night you are there.
The new vegan entree at Narcoossee’s is now Roasted Vegetable Paella – $34
For me personally, this dish was a disappointment. The carrots on top were delicious and super flavorful and well-cooked. The “paella” part was pretty bland to me and actually tasted a bit too “seafood adjacent” to be enjoyable for me. I’m not sure if it’s just that I don’t like saffron or something but to me when I ate the rice, it reminded me of seafood paella and I didn’t enjoy that at all. I have had vegetable paella at Jaleo and loved it, so I’m not sure what the issue is here for me, maybe the contrast of flavors from the carrots and the paella. I will give it another try at some point to see if it was just a fluke, but I’m thinking the appetizer and dessert and watching the fireworks might be the way to go, if at all, for Narcoossee’s.
The dessert option here is now the Hazelnut Chocolate Bar – $14. When the new menu was announced, I thought this would be similar (if not the same) as the former dessert at Citricos. This is not actually the case, however, it is similar underneath the ganache. What you have are layers of chocolate cake and a chocolate mousse type filling, enrobed in a Magic Shell-like ganache with hazelnuts mixed in. It’s topped with cassis, which is a black currant flavor and wasn’t my favorite. I know I say all the time that I am a fan of chocolate and fruit combos, but this one doesn’t really work for me as it’s so tart. You have the sweet chocolate flavors but also the nuttiness of the hazelnuts and it’s just not a good pairing with the black currant, in my opinion. As I always say, food is subjective and this may be your new favorite. If I get it again I’ll probably just avoid those bits because I am a chocolate and hazelnut fan and think that part was great on its own.
So I would say definitely give Narcoossee’s a try and see if this is worth it for you. I will most likely keep Citricos as my number one spot for near-perfect vegan options from start to finish. While it is nice that the chef offered to make us a vegan glaze for the Brussels sprouts, the fact that pretty much zero of the vegetable sides are vegan as is or easily modifiable is pretty disappointing (and unforgivable in 2023).
Let me know if you give Narcoossee’s a try and what you think. I’ll update this review when we return and share a video review at that time as well.
You can read our Citricos review here: Vegan Disney Food Review: Dinner at Citricos in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and our California Grill review here which shows the updated menu after the end of the 50th Celebration menu: Vegan Disney Food Review: California Grill at the Contemporary Resort
