A Vegan Visit to Flame Tree Barbecue at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Flame Tree Barbecue is a popular quick service dining location at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You’ll find a variety of barbecued items ranging from smoked chicken and ribs to pulled pork. While that sounds like a lot of meat, don’t worry. Flame Tree Barbecue has a wonderful vegan menu item, the hot link smokehouse sandwich. In this review of Flame Tree Barbecue, we’ll take a look at the plant-based menu item. (Update: Unfortunately, the former plant-based sandwich discussed below is no longer available. The restaurant, however, still offers at least one vegan dish on their menu. You can check the current menu here on Disney’s site.)
Flame Tree Barbecue sits on the outskirts of Discovery Island. If you enter the park and take a right at the Tree of Life, the restaurant will be on your immediate left. It appears not to have a dedicated seating area. However, an extensive (and beautiful) seating area sits directly behind it.
Flame Tree accepts mobile order service. I recommend taking the time to familiarize yourself with using mobile order before your next vacation.
I had attempted to eat at Flame Tree a couple of times before this visit. But it seemed like something was always coming up. So on this visit, I promised to finally stop in and try the vegan item at Flame Tree Barbecue. I was in the Pandora section of the park when I placed a mobile order for the sandwich. Since I wasn’t too far, I placed the order and then selected the “I’m Here, Prepare My Order” option. My order was ready shortly after my arrival.
On average, it seems to take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes to receive mobile orders, depending on crowds. I recommend not waiting until the moment starvation kicks in to place your order. Once your order is ready, you’ll be assigned a number to pick up your items.
If you can’t mobile order or have a food allergy, someone outside the restaurant can assist you. Here is a look at the menu for Flame Tree Barbecue.
Once your order is ready, you pick it up at the window.
While waiting on your order, I recommend getting your family situated at a table before picking up your food. Flame Tree Barbecue has a huge outdoor dining area with a variety of seating.
There is a nice water feature in the center of the dining area. Some of the tables and chairs have umbrellas providing a little extra shade.
I often come down here and sit when I need a break or have a little work to do.
Flame Tree has several pavilions that provide covered seating areas.
One of the cool things about Flame Tree Barbecue is the theming. It’s predator versus prey, like the snake and the mouse on the corner of the pavilion.
A spider is weaving its web to catch a moth.
There are so many references. One could write an entire review on the subject alone.
In case you haven’t noticed, there is a plentiful amount of seating.
The landscaping and trees add a touch of privacy, make it a serene spot to enjoy a meal.
I prefer to walk down to the seating area near the Discovery River, where Expedition Everest sits in the distance.
Here is a photo of the plant-based smokehouse hot-link sandwich
It was actually fairly different. I believe Beyond Burger makes the hot link. It had enough of a kick not to be bland. However, it wasn’t spicy either. I loved the mustard cabbage slaw that came on top. The slaw was somewhere in the middle of not too dry and not too soggy. It might be hard to tell but this was a huge meal. French fries come on the side.
Had I known it would be such a large meal, I probably wouldn’t have ordered these onion rings. (The onion rings are not listed as plant-based.)
As the time of this meal, I was eating a vegetarian diet. Since then, I’ve returned to a regular diet. We have a separate review of Flame Tree Barbecue that details a regular visit to the restaurant.
We always enjoy dining here, vegan or not.
During this time, we were able to see character cruises. Unfortunately, those character cruises have now ended.
The views around sunset aren’t bad either.
Here are a few more photos.
For more quick service dining at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you might enjoy the following
In the Comments
Flame Tree Barbecue is a wonderful option for a vegan-friendly meal. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Do you enjoy barbecue or have a favorite item on the menu here?
