Best vegan gluten free restaurant in Disneyland is a steakhouse?! Yup!

I know this sounds crazy but boy is it true! We have had some of our favorite meals of all time at Steakhouse 55.

Ren and I have our go-to restaurants for any celebration. Shojin a vegan sushi place in LA and Steakhouse 55 are the very top of our list.

What does Disneyland say about the atmosphere?

“Named for the year that Disneyland Park opened, Steakhouse 55 takes you back to a bygone era of decadence, when attentive service and lavish steaks were the order of the day—every day. Dine in a dimly lit, well-appointed space replete with dark-wood furnishings, black-and-white photos of movie and music luminaries of the era, including Walt Disney, and an impressive wine cellar. The private Oak Room can be reserved for parties of up to 24 Guests.”

Steakhouse 55, located in the Disneyland Hotel right next to the character dining experience Goofy's Kitchen is a bar and restaurant. The dining room is one to maybe leave the kids with family for the night. That being said I have often seen kids happily chomping away on their steak or shrimp scampi.

The main dining room is not that big, and feels intimate with its low lights and dark interior. Steakhouse 55 is open for breakfast and dinner only, but does afternoon tea on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I have yet to try the afternoon tea but it is very much on my list. During certain times of the year the afternoon tea is themed!

How do you order Gluten-Free and Vegan at a steakhouse?

OK guys so here is the big key we have found with all Disney dining at sit down restaurants. Call, email, contact any way you can to talk to them about when you are coming, what allergies you might have or modifications you might need. Don't trust that the notes you have put on the reservation online are enough. (truthfully this is a spoonie thing/ life hack that all spoonies live by in all areas of life!) I am going to write a whole post on how to get the food you need at any Disney park or resort.

Back to the good stuff WHAT WE EAT! Ren and I are those people that love to talk to the chef and tell them to go wild! We have never had the same meal twice at Steakhouse 55 and we have eaten there A LOT. The last meal we had there before the pandemic hit was Ren's birthday. Everyone at our table ate a gluten free vegan meal. However, the time before that we took my father for is 60th birthday and he had meat versions of the same foods we had the vegan version of! How cool is that? I will include some photos of the of our meals.

Never be afraid to ask to speak to a chef. This is one of the reasons I absolutely love traveling to Disney properties. I know they take allergies seriously and are always willing to help make our experience magical. I can't thank these chefs enough. They have made me cry on many occasions. Getting to eat food that is not just an after thought is really wonderful. Having an autoimmune disease like Celiac and then choosing to go vegan for health reasons I thought was going to be very difficult to enjoy birthday dinners out but Disney proved me very wrong, and I'm so glad they did.

The food.

The pictures above are from my fathers birthday dinner. My mouth is watering looking at these. The picture on the left was our appetizer: gluten-free flat bread, house made chimichurri, and pickles, whole grain mustard, and pickled onions. All served with two different types of VEGAN SAUSAGE! It was amazing. Middle picture, course two: a beautiful cauliflower puttenesca with olives and fresh basil. The main course (pictured on the right) was celeriac noodles in a vegan cream sauce with mushrooms, vegan scallops, and crispy onions.

Dessert? you bet!

WOW! We have had so many different kinds of delicious treats to top off our meals here. Above you can see: (left to right) a chocolate cake with raspberry house made gelato and freeze-dried mandarin oranges, a birthday cake for my dad, and peach and sumac cobbler with house made bourbon walnut ice cream. Seeing all these pictures it still blows me away the level of food we get to enjoy when we dine at Steakhouse 55.

*Please be aware that our experiences may be different from others.