Join me in welcoming guest author Courtney Ketzler from Omaha, NE, with a review of the brand new Monsieur Paul Restaurant. When we first published the Monsieur Paul menu, many folks were concerned about the complete lack of vegetarian dishes. Courtney found that this isn’t a problem after all!
Being a vegetarian in the real world can be hard. I live in Nebraska, and the dining choices here are, well, limited. Dining at Disney World is another story.
My boyfriend and I are vegetarians, and we both LOVE food. It’s the only art we can really consume, and Disney World is one of the best places to visit with dining restrictions. I have yet to run into a bad meal, and during my last trip, encountered some very pleasant surprises, the biggest of which being the newly opened Monsieur Paul in the France Pavilion at Epcot.
Monsieur Paul Restauarant in Epcot's France Pavilion
Atmosphere
When we arrived, there were several unhappy looking people waiting to get seated. The very frazzled looking hostess told us we were on time for our reservation, but the reservations were not on time — it might be a 30 minute to an hour wait. We were using the deluxe plan and didn’t really have any other 2 credit options, so we sat down and decided to wait.
About 10 minutes later, a very kind manager came by and offered us both Kir Royales for waiting. Of course, how could we turn that down?
Stairwell leading up to Monsieur Paul
Eats
The drinks were delicious, and we ended up getting seated within a few minutes after that. Our server was very nice, and offered to walk us through the menu. We let her know we were vegetarians, and she started to tell us about fish options. I explained we don’t eat fish, and she said she would go speak with the chef.
She came back and said “the chef has told me he will be able to make you both a salad and a plate of vegetables”. Needless to say, we weren’t too excited by how the meal was being described and were hoping for our money that it would be a bit more sophisticated. She reassured us by bringing the chef out, and as he started to describe the meal, our fears melted away.
I am going to try my best to remember everything that was described about the meal – the heavy French accent and my glazed eyes of hunger might have missed a few things!
First we were presented with a Seared leek, parmesan crisp, and cucumber dill frisee salad with a fried tomato slice and aged balsamic and olive oil. What can I say? This is new French cooking at its best. All the flavors went perfectly together – the textures and flavors were a symphony that Remy would be proud of!
Seared leek, parmesan crisp, and cucumber dill frisee salad
For the entree, we were served Rice Pilaf in a tomato crown with buttered green beans, Romanesco broccoli, olives, and pine nuts. This was the reddest tomato I had ever had in my life! Both the vegetables and the rice pilaf were heavy on the butter – but I’m not complaining!
Everything here was delicious and this was my best meal of the trip.
Rice Pilaf in Tomato Crown
For dessert, I ordered the Red Berries Napoleon, and the server let me know it is made with pork gelatin. I was very grateful she was thinking of that, and changed my order to the Moelleux au chocolat noir et amandes, croquant feuilletine, glace pralinée (Warm chocolate and almond cake, feuilletine, and praline ice cream).
My boyfriend ordered Soufflé chaud au Grand Marnier, sauce à l’orange (Warm Grand Marnier soufflé with orange sauce).
The chocolate almond cake was dense and light at the same time – I can’t describe it, but it had a rich cocoa flavor, not too sweet. The praline ice cream was great and had little praline crunchies all through it.
Chocolate Almond Cake
My boyfriend said the souffle was amazing as well. The server offered to pour the orange in the center, and he obliged. He said it was rich, but delectable.
souffle
Overall
I went into Monsieur Paul with somewhat low expectations. I didn’t know if we would find much to eat, or if the chef would be ready for meatless dishes.
I left with it being possibly my new favorite restaurant in Epcot. We were both blown away by the meal, and cannot wait to come back here again.
Is Monsieur Paul on your list to try? Let us know in the comments below!
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Hello fellow Omahan — great review! We’ve added Monsieur Paul to our list for future trips. Thanks!
This is great. My boyfriend is a vegetarian and we were really disappointed by the lack of vegetarian items at Monsieur Paul, but both your entrees look delicious! Thanks so much for sharing. We’ll have to give it a try after all.
Awesome. Your positive experience with special dining needs has made me interested in trying it out.
I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m positive that your meals would have made me happy and left me feeling satisfied. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Oh thank goodness and thank you for posting this. Pretty much my entire extended family, large network of friends, and myself & my husband (we live here and go to Epcot all the time) are vegetarians and thought we’d have to skip Monsieur Paul’s due to the lack of any single item on the menu without meat. I wish they’d mention somewhere on the menu that they can make these items, (the Disney park restaurants are theoretically supposed to have at least one vegetarian option per sit-down restaurant and a lot of veggies were upset about this). Very happy to know that they can do this upon request though! Looks mighty tasty, too. I’m a big fan of Remy, so even the slightest comparison is music to my ears.
Looks like I’d better book this one!
This looks amazing! Can not wait to try it soon! This meal looks wonderful, I would be all over it!
The food looks wonderful! I’m not a vegetarian, but I try to have one meatless day a week. It’s great to know that Disney goes out of their way to cater to guests’ needs. This article is making me hungry!
Thanks for this! I haven’t been to WDW since I became a vegetarian, but would like to return soon and had been disappointed when researching to find that I would most likely have to skip this one. This is great!
I’m very glad I found this review. While I’m not a Vegetarian, I do appreciate that some people are and it is very telling that you got such a delicious meal from off-menu. My Fiancee and I are planning to eat at Monsieur Paul the day after our Disney Wedding this coming May. This review has made me very happy with my choice.
All looks lovely. However parmesan cheese is not vegetarian unless it is a specific veggie type and I have never found a restaurant that uses a veggie one yet. It does get me a bit annoyed that I am constantly offered non veggie foods by chefs, like fish, meat stocks and animal fat cheeses etc.
Clare, if I’m not mistaken vegetarians can have cheese, rather it’s vegans who cannot? My sister is a vegetarian and still eats eggs and cheese as long as the animal is not killed.
You are correct vegetarians, like myself, can eat cheese. However if the cheese is made with animal products/animal fats it is not suitable. Parmesan is always made with animal products except for specialist vegetarian varieties. I have never yet found theses used in any restaurant expect speciaist vegetarian places. Given this restaurant offered fish as a veggie option I highly doubt they woud opt to buy in veg parmesan
That looks great……just one thing I’d like to point out. Parmesan isn’t vegetarian.
My family and I are currently staying at disney and are all vegetarians. Restaurants try and put Parmesan on and in lots of dishes so be aware!
Mediocre food. Terrible service. Will never go back.