The Solo Scale:

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Dining in Disney Springs means a wealth of choice when it comes to restaurants. Even if you’re at Disney for weeks, you’d still have options for dining, which means that you need to make difficult decisions. However, if you’ve got someone in your party that has dietary restrictions, the list of options can sometimes dwindle. On my most recent trip, I went to Disney Springs with a friend who’s celiac, which meant we had to be careful about the food we ate or we’d lose precious vacation time. Lucky for us, Summer House on the Lake wasn’t only accommodating, but had an absolute feast of options to enjoy.

I’m personally not gluten-intolerant, but can admit that as much as I love bread and pizza, it can definitely get a little heavy sometimes.

Quickly, during our dinner reservation, my friend and I realized we actually wanted a lot of similar things. I decided to lean in and do a gluten-free meal at Summer House with my friend. That gave us the chance to order a lot of different things and share. Plus it brought the overall bill down. An extra bonus: I actually wound up feeling better than usual after dinner (likely because I didn’t have that much gluten).

Want to recreate our menu and do a gluten-free dining experience? Read on for the review!

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Rather than order in bursts of appetizer and mains, we ordered everything at the same time. While most of it showed up in the same delivery, the one thing that took just a little longer was the pizza. That’s understandable given that the gluten-free crust would take a little longer before it goes into the oven.

So, what was the gluten-free dinner? It was four delicious items.

The rosemary cheesy dream puffs (a repeat I had the last time), a mushroom pizza on gluten-free crust, watermelon tuna tostadas, and a hazelnut pesto burrata. The latter did come with toast, but I quickly learned that the toast actually didn’t enhance the dish at all and was better without it.

Let’s go item by item and review a gluten-free meal.

The last time I dined at Summer House, I ordered the cheesy dream puffs and had no idea they were gluten-free. I also couldn’t finish them and found that they went stale pretty quickly as soon as they lose their heat. That makes a lot more sense now that I know that they’re not a bread flour. Just like last time, they were fantastic, but made better by having someone to share them with. They’re not something I’d order solo, but being able to split them helped a ton. That said, even with two of us, there were a few of them left on the table. You do get a sauce with them, but I find them so cheesy and rich that it’s not really necessary.

Next, it’s on to the mushroom gluten-free pizza. The crust was a little less crispy than a gluten option, but the taste from this came from the toppings. The crust is just a vehicle and you don’t really notice the difference after a while. The mushrooms are absolutely dreamy and the crust is thin enough that the pizza isn’t too filling. Unfortunately, the pizza did get cold pretty quickly due to that thinness. If you’re ordering pizza, maybe stagger it instead of doing what we did and having it all at once.

Next was the watermelon tuna tostadas (which were creamy and spicy and amazing). They had a little avocado crema at the base with basil oil and had a bit of a spicy kick to go alongside that freshness of the fruit and the tuna. The texture was so perfectly blended that sometimes, I couldn’t tell what was watermelon and what was tuna. This and the burrata were my two favourite dishes that we ordered. There’s also a couple limes to give the little tostadas one last acidic punch. What I also enjoyed about this is that the tostadas did still stay crispy, which was impressive. That said, these are definitely single bite enjoyments.

Last, the true star — the hazelnut pesto burrata. The burrata was amazing with arugula that gave it spice and freshness. Plus, the hazelnut pesto is an awesome twist on the normal pine nut. This does come with ciabatta. I had a single piece before realizing that you absolutely didn’t need additional bread for this.

With all the food, I ordered a tinto rey glass of wine as I thought it would go with everything. It was nice, crisp, refreshing, and didn’t overwhelm the dishes. Plus, it was on the cheaper side of the glasses of wine, which is always nice.

If I had one complaint, it’s this — the food all came at once. That’s by virtue of how we ordered. In retrospect, I think we should have staggered it a little more, both for the heat of the dishes and to not feel as rushed.

While we didn’t eat dessert here (I did get some Summer House cookies to go), I absolutely felt like I had room. However, as we were snacking around Disney Springs, there were other bakeries for us to visit and we needed that stomach space!

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Normally, I wouldn’t even consider a full gluten-free meal when I’m dining (I really love bread). However, this swerve wound up being absolutely delicious and didn’t impact my enjoyment of the meal one bit. Everything was delicious and tasty and I did feel a little less bloated after the fact. That’s not just the gluten-free aspect, of course, because being able to split meals with someone else is one of the non-solo travel benefits.

If you or someone in your party is gluten-free and needs a dining option at Disney Springs, I highly recommend Summer House on the Lake. They take excellent care of you, but also have a wide variety, so you aren’t just forced to eat a salad for your dinner.

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