Terralina Crafted Italian Thanksgiving Dinner Gluten Friendly Review
A big thank you to Terralina for providing this meal for us! We were so excited to have our first ever Holiday meal at Disney at one of our absolute favorite restaurants and thankful they worked with us for it! Oh also so you guys know, I’m going to go through a sort of traditional food review of our meal and then get into a discussion of our thoughts about holiday meals on property at Disney after.
A few basics first, Terralina Crafted Italian is a Table Service restaurant in Disney Springs, it’s right next to Paddlefish its sister restaurant (the one that’s a boat!). Both restaurants serve some pretty amazing sounding holiday menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. If you’ll be around Disney for Christmas or New Years I highly recommend considering them, we really like both restaurants and the meals they have planned sound so good (especially New Years, Terralina has a grilled 8 oz filet with jumbo shrimp, saffron potatoes, and garlic parmesan asparagus that’s literally calling my name haha!). Both restaurants also have some fun holiday events planned like Terralina’s Risotto Cooking Class on 12/15. Yum!
Okay, so to the food! Our meal started with drinks, David got the Revered Heritage bourbon based cocktail and I got the (non alcoholic) Italian Iced Coffee. You guys know my love of iced coffees and until now Trattoria al Forno at the Boardwalk held my award for best iced coffee but y’all this one gives it a run for its money! The flavor was super sweet and creamy but still had a strong coffee flavor. Overall it was a hands down winner and one I’ll definitely be getting again (and again). It is a bit pricier at $8 but if you like super delicious iced coffees you owe it to yourself to give this one a try!
Next up was bread service, I got a few slices of gluten free bread and my own little jar of their pickled vegetables but I opted instead to top mine with some of their house olive oil. They get this stuff imported from Italy and if you’re a fan of olive oil like I am it’s SUPER good with a really robust olive flavor. Plus if you have any foodies on your Christmas list they sell the bottles of it too (hint David, hint hint!).
David got his own loaf of homemade bread which he absolutely loves. It’s a classic crusty Italian bread and he always eats at least a loaf of his own, sometimes more haha. He really likes using it to soak up whatever sauce his entree comes with too so don’t be shy to ask for more!
Then came the appetizers (this is Thanksgiving, right, gotta go home with a food baby haha). I got the burrata and beets, it normally comes with crostini but they served it with an arugula salad for me to keep it gluten free. David got the meatballs and polenta and both of us really enjoyed the appetizers.
David’s portion of meatballs and polenta were generous and quickly devoured. This is not gluten friendly since the meatballs have bread crumbs so I couldn’t try it but he said the sauce was absolutely fantastic and the polenta was a great way to make sure he got every little tomato-y drop of it.
The main event- entrees! David got the Turkey Feast while I opted for a more traditional pasta dish- the gravy and stuffing were not gluten free so they could have done the platter for me leaving those off but I figured I’d probably enjoy the pasta more.
My dish was gluten free pasta with house made sausage and escarole. It tasted sort of like a pasta version of Italian Wedding Soup which has always been a favorite of mine and that escarole was absolutely fantastic. Perfectly soft and super flavorful, so good!
David’s Turkey Feast was truly a feast, it was filled with grappa-marinated turkey, apple pancetta stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, roasted winter squash, and cranberry sauce. Overall David said it was the best Thanksgiving turkey he’d ever had (I think he’s still partial to his mom’s sweet potato casserole over the roasted squash though haha). He said it was super moist thanks to the grappa marinade but what really made it exceptionally good was the gravy.
We actually asked how many turkeys they made in preparation for Thanksgiving and they literally said “too many to count” haha! David was really happy with his meal and since he’s not getting a turkey from me was glad to have a traditional meal on Thanksgiving- but we’ll get to more of our thoughts about holidays on property after dessert.
It wouldn’t be a visit to Terralina without dessert and y’all they seriously win the award gluten friendly desserts. Of the 8 dishes on their dessert menu FIVE are gluten friendly!!! And while they have the sort of go-to gluten friendly option of gelato, they also have some really interesting and absolutely delicious options like a flourless chocolate hazelnut cake and what we got….. Cappuccino Creme Brûlée and Lemon Thyme Panna Cotta all the heart eyes If you’ve read my past Terralina posts you know I have an obsession with this panna cotta. It’s fresh, bright, sweet, and refreshing, overall absolutely delicious but somehow I think they managed to out-do themselves with the creme brûlée.
