When you get to Fort Wilderness you have to park up front and then either take an internal bus to Pioneer Hall where the restaurants are which is at the other side of the resort or walk the approximate mile. Since it was a nice night (and we knew we would be eating a ton!) we decided to walk.
Once we got there they surprisingly took us 20 minutes before our reservation, which I was surprised since it was Christmas week. But then again we were just at a resort and not one of the parks.
When I made the reservation I noted our food allergies and they did confirm this when we checked in. Our server said he would send Chef TJ over to our table. Sadly I forgot to take a picture with TJ, but I felt like I was meeting a celebrity! He was super nice and always likes to walk his guests around the buffet to show them the options. As a vegetarian there would have been several options, but I really wanted his full vegan creation. I told him I would prefer if he made mine from the kitchen and added that I am not a fan of mushrooms and he was happy to accommodate.
The first meal he brought out was a salad for my husband. If I wanted I could have gotten a salad from the buffet while waiting, but I opted to save room for the 4-5 course meal coming my way! Chef TJ dropped his salad off and we were both surprised to see it was topped with cheetos?! My husband who is not a fan of cheetos was actually pleasantly surprised that it did add flavor to his salad.
Shortly after I received my first meal, Chef TJ's famous samosas. I still have no idea what was inside them, but they were so delicious! I would go back for these alone! I think it was some sort of BBQ sauce that was drizzled on top. The inside did have a little spice kick to them as well which I do enjoy.
My next meal/appetizer were vegan nachos. The "cheese" sauce was actually quite tasty and again I have no idea what other sauce was on them. I am bad at identifying food! I brought home more than half of these and my son ate them the next day. Even cold and soggy he sad they were super yummy.
Chef TJ then brought out my husbands main course:
Basically every meat on the buffet was piled on his plate on top of corn, mashed potatoes, baked beans and roasted potatoes! (I was bummed my picture came out blurry, but you get the point)
I was expecting my main course when he came out with a soup dish. Again I really wish I had asked what any of these dishes were, but he was so busy I didn't want to take up any more of his time! The soup was creamy and smooth. It may have had a hint of ginger to it? I'm not usually a soup person, but I would eat this again in a heart beat!
I finally got to my forth and main dish.
I love tofu and this was cooked just how I like it. Soft in the middle and crispy on the outside. There was a red pepper, tomato and some other green vegetable? on top of a mix of rice I believe and some other stuff that I had no idea what it was? Wow I am really terrible at this! Around the outside with the tofu were zucchini and yellow squash. I was so full, but still ate a pretty decent portion because it was that good!
Lastly came the dessert portion.
When he brought these to the table he drizzled Hershey's Syrup over top of the desserts. Mine was cotton candy, mini ice cream sandwiches, I believe tofutti ice cream, strawberries, bananas and at the bottom of the mug was a candied apple! Instead of the ice cream sandwiches my husbands had gluten free cookies in his.
Chef TJ definitely makes sure you get your moneys worth out of the buffet! We gladly walked back to the car and even got to look at the many lights and decorations that people go all out with around the resort.
