UPDATE POST 32! Reviews of Olivia's, Citrico's, Jiko's and DISAPPOINTING YACHTSMAN

[jodifla]

We just got back from a 5 night visit at OKW. We ate out four of the nights, quite rare for us. Normally we eat in the room more. We used the DDE and saved about $110 on this trip alone. We had drinks like wine or martinis with every meal. We agreed that we would have been very uncomfortable with the DDP, which would have been too much food for us.

Olivia's: The food there has improved over the 10 years we've been eating there. There were six of us, four adults, and two children. They were very flexible on the kids meals. The baby got mashed sweet potatoes, and DS got his beloved chicken fingers from Goods to Go. I got the penne pasta with shrimp and pasta dish, DH got the barbecued grouper, another diner got the steak salad and subbed the salmon, and the last dinner got a fish special that was excellent. The onion ring appetizer with dipping sauces was a treat as well.

More to come....

[jodifla]

Jiko's: Just DH and I dined here. Had about a 15 minute wait after checking in for our ADR. Great South African wine list here!

DH had the meat dumplings and the sturgeon, which was just excellent. A really tasty fish. I had the Barbecued Chicken Flatbread and the Scallops, which were spicy and perfectly prepared. We split a dessert, the apple trifle.

Our service here was excellent. It was only our second visit, but we'll be back.

Citrico's: Again, just DH and I. Our first time, and we really enjoyed it. More kids than we expected, and a litle loud, but OK. We even saw fireworks that had been scheduled to coincide with the press event.

One look at the menu, and I was very glad I wasn't hemmed in by the DDP. Not much on the entree list intrigued me, but several appetizers did. So I got the Romaine Salad to start, followed by the Sauteed Shrimp appetizer and the Rissoto appetizer as dinner. DH got the Romaine Salad and the Sicilian Steak. All our food was wonderfully prepared and presented. The tender, flavorful steak really stood out after our horrible Yachtmen episode (which I'll write about next.)

[jodifla]

We have been dining here a couple times of year since it opened. It was our FAVORITE restaurant on Disney property. I had a so-so dinner here last February, but DH's was good, so I thought it was a fluke.

But no. The place is being poorly managed, and the menu is a poor shadow of its former self. The chef should hang his or her head in shame...this formerly wonderful restaurant has been turned into an overpriced resort sham.


It started before we even got in the door. There was mayhem checking in. A huge line...something was wrong, and nobody checking the people in would tell us what was going on. The staff seemed clueless. We waited and waited before the line cleared.

After we were seated, we were given the menus, which look now like a Morton's wannabe. Nothing original. Nothing even all that interesting. Where's the buffalo, and the other game meats they used to have??? All dumbed down.

DH ordered the strip, and I the prime rib. DS got chicken. My Caesar salad was good...no longer prepared tableside like it was in the Yachtsman's glory days, but good. Then our meals came. My prime rib was just tasteless. DH's strip was tough. The potatoes that came with them were a gummy mess. YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sent my prime rib back and got a strip, which at least had flavor. It was an expensive meal, and not worth the money. A huge disappointment.

I complained to Paul, the manager, after dinner, who basically shrugged that all meals couldn't be good every night.

I'll be following up with a lengthy letter to WDW Food & Beverage.

Also, while the service was OK, we were shocked to find out that our server was brand new at the Yachtsman, and new to WDW overall. Used to be, servers waited years for a chance to move into the Yachtsmen. Now, apparently, they take anybody and shove them into a prime dining establishment.

[janets]

So sorry to hear of your disappointing dinner at the Yachtsman. While dh and I only ate here once (I was pregnant w/ ds#1 and it was our first anniversary) we had an absolutely wonderful meal. I had, up until that time, been unable to eat red meat, but I thoroughly enjoyed my prime rib. The roasted garlic for the bread was divine. And when we noticed a couple at the next table celebrating their anniversary, we commented to them that it was our first too. Our waiter overheard and within minutes, a special dessert was delivered to our table.

I'm so sad to hear that both the quality and service seem to have suffered over the years. Dh still talks about going back, but until I hear some concrete evidence that it has improved to what it once was, I'll save my dollars.

Enjoyed reading your reviews. And I'm hoping that you were able to get food your kids liked while there (I've been reading your posts regarding the kids menus over the last few months). We'll be heading down this Saturday for a 3 night weekend for ds#1's 9th birthday. I'm hoping we'll be able to manage the kids menus fairly easily, as we'll be 3A (my mom is joining us) and 2C.

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

[Checkers]

Thanks for sharing. My DH & I just returned last week and we, too, ate at the Yachtmans. While both of our meals were good they were by no means the best meal I had during our visit. It was our first time there so I couldn't compare it. I personally had my best meal at Spoodles (the lemon chicken served over spinach risotto). We have been going to WDW every year (sometimes more than once a year) for the last 10 years and have seen the decline in the menus at most TS restaurants and really attribute it to the DP. We weren't on the DP this time but still noticed the menus at most restaurants were stale, no "specials", etc. Glad to hear Olivia's was good as we will be at OKW later on this year.
Thanks again for sharing.:)

[RSoxFan]

I couldn't agree more about the Yachtsman. We always ate there twice each trip (first night and last night) and were shocked when we arrived last July. The tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad was off the menu, most of the specialty drinks were gone, the Jack Daniels mousse cake was gone. Pretty much everything that made Yachtsman Yachtsman was gone! And to make it worse, Oscar was gone! Oscar was part of the reason we kept going back. He was the most wonderful server. He always remembered us and made us feel special. It's little touches like that that made Disney Disney. On our last trip, we didn't even go back a second time. There's no point when every restaurant is serving the same food.

DDP strikes again!

[dumbo71]

I couldn't agree more about the Yachtsman. We always ate there twice each trip (first night and last night) and were shocked when we arrived last July. The tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad was off the menu, most of the specialty drinks were gone, the Jack Daniels mousse cake was gone. Pretty much everything that made Yachtsman Yachtsman was gone! And to make it worse, Oscar was gone! Oscar was part of the reason we kept going back. He was the most wonderful server. He always remembered us and made us feel special. It's little touches like that that made Disney Disney. On our last trip, we didn't even go back a second time. There's no point when every restaurant is serving the same food.

DDP strikes again!



You got that right. DDP is really ruining WDW dining. I now make an effort to eat offsite and to patronize the restaurants that WDW doesn't run like Wolfgangs, Rainforest, Fulton's, Portobellos, etc.

Really is sad.:sad2:

[ufgator]

Thanks for your reviews! I agree about Yachtsman - I think it's poorly managed, and they need to make changes there.

[jodifla]

Enjoyed reading your reviews. And I'm hoping that you were able to get food your kids liked while there (I've been reading your posts regarding the kids menus over the last few months). We'll be heading down this Saturday for a 3 night weekend for ds#1's 9th birthday. I'm hoping we'll be able to manage the kids menus fairly easily, as we'll be 3A (my mom is joining us) and 2C.

Thank you.

It was our experience that the restaurants were more flexible than was first reported when the first wave of dismal new TS menus rolled out. We had no trouble finding things for DS to eat.

I do think that the CS kids meals leave a lot to be desired, but we sometimes just ordered an adult meal, and saved half of it for later for DS.

[Disney owl]

Enjoyed the review sorry to hear you had a bad meal

[MamaKate]

Jiko's: We split a dessert, the apple trifle.


How was the apple triffle??? We are eating there in a week and this sounded good to me. Was it good??

Thanks!
;) ,
Katie

[jodifla]

How was the apple triffle??? We are eating there in a week and this sounded good to me. Was it good??

Thanks!
;) ,
Katie

I did like it! It was light tasting, and sweet and tart.

[dawgfan]

Thanks for the review.

[MamaKate]

I did like it! It was light tasting, and sweet and tart.

Thanks! I will keep it on my list to try then :thumbsup2

[shovan]

Thanks for the reviews. Sad to hear about your meal at Yachtsman. We had a great meal there in Sept. But we just returned on 1/23 and were rather disappointed. I'm working on my reviews now & will post soon. We dined at Jiko also & thought it was great!

[diesel]

RSoxFan - My husband and I ate at Yachtsman at the end of October and we had Oscar as our waiter so I guess he has returned. We've had him over the past few years and really enjoyed his service. I was shocked that you said that he was no longer there but then saw that you were there in July and we had him in October so hopefully it means he has returned.

[jodifla]

Thanks for the reviews. Sad to hear about your meal at Yachtsman. We had a great meal there in Sept. But we just returned on 1/23 and were rather disappointed. I'm working on my reviews now & will post soon. We dined at Jiko also & thought it was great!

I look forward to your reviews. I'm also writing up a letter for the folks at food and beverage to complain about the Yachtsman.

[shovan]

jodifla, I haven't posted my review of Yachtsman yet. It's coming soon. (It's the Who Dat review, we started out at ESPN club cheering on our Saints.)

But as I started typing it up, I'm sad to say I'm agreeing with you. I don't know how a restaurant could have changed so much. What was most noticeable to me was the whole ambiance of the place felt different. It must start at the top with the management.:confused3

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the reviews. I am so glad that you liked Jiko. Jiko and California Grill are our two favorite WDW restaurants. On our last visit to jiko I had the lamb shank and it was excellent.

[jodifla]

Well, I mailed off my letter to the Food and Beverage people about the Yachtsman. Hope they take it to heart!

[mysparky]

I'm so with you on the Yachtman's Steakhouse. I was very excited to try it, decided that with all of the great reviews it would be worth the 2TS credits, and walked away fully disappointed. The service was very poor, the steak was essentially flavorless, and the potatoes were inedible due to being heavily oversalted. Although we were served appetizers and entrees rather quickly, it still took just over 2 hours for dinner. Our server disappeared so we couldn't have a rare steak put back on the grill, we were never asked if we'd like another glass of wine, the bill took forever to get, and I ultimately went up to the hostess station to pay the bill. The manager really couldn't have cared less.

At the time, I was amazed that the restaurant had received so many rave reviews, but now I understand that things really have changed for the negative.

[ppiew]

Thank you for your very complete reviews. We were at WDW 2/5-2/12 and I have to agree with every review (I think we ate at the same places!)
Olivia's was definitely a cut above what it was in the past - not great, but definitely good. I did like Citrico's menu but was a little disappointed in the Veal Shank which I have had every year for the past 5 or 6. They have had another change of chef's and it shows. Jiko's - RIGHT ON!! Definitely a 'must do' place! Food, atmosphere, service excellent in every respect. (love the SA wines!)
And sadly, the Yachtsman's IS very very sad. Hostess/seating service is terrible, food tastes like it came off of a steam table. In a word YUK! For premier dining, it REALLY misses the mark in most every way.

[RSoxFan]

RSoxFan - My husband and I ate at Yachtsman at the end of October and we had Oscar as our waiter so I guess he has returned. We've had him over the past few years and really enjoyed his service. I was shocked that you said that he was no longer there but then saw that you were there in July and we had him in October so hopefully it means he has returned.

Oh you have no idea how happy that makes me!! :cool1: He really had become part of our trip tradition. I'm going to make sure we see him in July. Thank you so much Diesel!

[LibertyLover]

My husband and I ate at Yachtsman for the first time a year ago and found the same problems. I had ADRs and we still had to wait for 40 minutes. The food was ok. I've had better steak at Outback (or Backyard at DD4 calls it). We are not in a rush to go back.

[MEM]

For those who don't like Yachtsman, you might try the Yacht Club Galley. It never seems crowded, the food is less expensive than Yachtsman and we quite enjoyed it. Their crabcakes are the best on property and I have attempted to try them all! (Doing a similar study of les creme brulee)

[jodifla]

I encourage all of you who had bad meals at the Yachtsman to write a letter complaining! We need to band together to get things changed, and they respond to complaints.

[NMW]

We ate at the Yachtsman in 2002 and 2003 with the old Gold dreammaker meal plan, so this was pre-current dining plan. We were not all that impressed either time. Nothing was "bad", just not that great. In fact, the best part of the meal were the lobster tail add-ons (included with the old gold plan-I miss that meal plan SO much) We stayed at the BC both of these trips and did Yachtsman our first night, both trips.

We both thought the steak at Flying Fish was way better. We do Flying Fish every trip-it's my favorite. In 2006, we ate at Le Celliar for the first time and DH said he thought that was better than Yachtsman too. Now, he's remembering a meal from 2003, so take that with a grain of salt. ;) Neither of us have been dying to return to Yachtsman since our last meal in 2003. Our service was very good, no problems there. I just knew that when DH said he'd rather eat dinner at Cape May Cafe than Yachtsman, that we were done with Yachtsman. It's sad to hear that so many people had dissapointing meals there.

[jwfla422]

We have been dining here a couple times of year since it opened. It was our FAVORITE restaurant on Disney property. I had a so-so dinner here last February, but DH's was good, so I thought it was a fluke.

But no. The place is being poorly managed, and the menu is a poor shadow of its former self. The chef should hang his or her head in shame...this formerly wonderful restaurant has been turned into an overpriced resort sham.


It started before we even got in the door. There was mayhem checking in. A huge line...something was wrong, and nobody checking the people in would tell us what was going on. The staff seemed clueless. We waited and waited before the line cleared.

After we were seated, we were given the menus, which look now like a Morton's wannabe. Nothing original. Nothing even all that interesting. Where's the buffalo, and the other game meats they used to have??? All dumbed down.

DH ordered the strip, and I the prime rib. DS got chicken. My Caesar salad was good...no longer prepared tableside like it was in the Yachtsman's glory days, but good. Then our meals came. My prime rib was just tasteless. DH's strip was tough. The potatoes that came with them were a gummy mess. YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sent my prime rib back and got a strip, which at least had flavor. It was an expensive meal, and not worth the money. A huge disappointment.

I complained to Paul, the manager, after dinner, who basically shrugged that all meals couldn't be good every night.

I'll be following up with a lengthy letter to WDW Food & Beverage.

Also, while the service was OK, we were shocked to find out that our server was brand new at the Yachtsman, and new to WDW overall. Used to be, servers waited years for a chance to move into the Yachtsmen. Now, apparently, they take anybody and shove them into a prime dining establishment.

Yes, it is really unfortunate how much YSH has changed. DH and I loved this place in the 90's. The chateaubriand for 2 was just "to die for". And, then they took it off the menu, and added it back on and took it off and...so on.

I started reading bad reviews a few years back on the boards and it was quite some time since we were there.

I took dd here about a year ago. This was actually her first experience there but being that she was 7 at the time she's not terribly hard to please as long as they have good chicken fingers and mac n cheese, etc.;)

They seated us at a two top table against one of the walls and we were looking at the menu and there walks an ant by my plate. So I smushed it (sorry nature lovers), then a minute later dd points out another one and another one on the tablecloth. OK, I am a Floridian and I know those ants are everywhere but what are they doing on my table at a first class and pricey eating establishment??

C'mon, this is supposed to be a "classy" place. I called over the waiter and quietly mentioned we'd like to be moved and why. Of course, he looks around the table and sees nothing.

Anyhow they moved us and I saw the host pulling the table apart (of course it's very dark in there so good luck finding anything under the table). There was no apology or anything. They must not have seen anything because I kinda felt like they thought I might be a "swindler" trying to get a free meal (which I wasn't)...just an "ant-free" meal....:lmao: To add, the food was mediocre at best, the air was stuffy where they sat us next to a huge, loud party. But, after that experience we won't be returning there. It really went downhill compared to what it once was.

If you never dined here in the 90s or early 2000's you wouldn't really understand, but we do and I totally understand your disappointment.

[Luv2Roam]

We ate at Yachtsman in December (I think).
That was ourfirs time, so hav eno comparisons to what once was.
Overall we enjoyed our meal, and am glad we tried it. But I too thought it was way over proced for what it was.
Our meal and service was very good. But not good enough for the cost to have a repeat visit.

[MickeyCrazed]

We had a reservation there for Tuesday night, but decided not to go since I wasn't feeling well.
Based on these reviews I'm glad we skipped it. It sad, but I truly believe that DDP is ruining the dining experiences at WDW.
It's good for Disney because it keeps people onsite spending more money... however, fine dining is one of the main reasons we go to WDW, so the changes to the menus are definately noticed and disappointing.

[jodifla]

UPDATE: Well, I got a pretty lengthy voicemail from Guest Services. The gentleman was quoting quite a bit from my letter, and he said the experience I had was not acceptable to WDW. They would share my letter with Food and Beverage, as well as the manager of the Yacht & Beach Club resort. He also noted that I tried to speak to the manager of the restaurant last night, who basically blew me off, and that was not protocol for Disney restaurants. They expect managers to deal with customers.

It helped, I think, that I put in my whole experience: That we had good meals at the other restaurants, but found the overall selection lacking on the menus. And that we'd been coming to WDW for 30 years and were DVC members.

This is the WDW customer service I expect, where they at least hear you out!! We did get some compensation which I considered more than fair; I did not ask for anything in my letter (other than to return the Yachtsman to its former glory!)

I encourage everyone who is finding WDW dining lacking these days to write to them and tell them WHY! Be specific! Tell them what's lacking, and what is great.

I believe we are all stewards to this great American institution, and it's up to us to be honest and point out when they are failing to meet their own very high standards.

[RSoxFan]

UPDATE: Well, I got a pretty lengthy voicemail from Guest Services. The gentleman was quoting quite a bit from my letter, and he said the experience I had was not acceptable to WDW. They would share my letter with Food and Beverage, as well as the manager of the Yacht & Beach Club resort. He also noted that I tried to speak to the manager of the restaurant last night, who basically blew me off, and that was not protocol for Disney restaurants. They expect managers to deal with customers.

It helped, I think, that I put in my whole experience: That we had good meals at the other restaurants, but found the overall selection lacking on the menus. And that we'd been coming to WDW for 30 years and were DVC members.

This is the WDW customer service I expect, where they at least hear you out!! We did get some compensation which I considered more than fair; I did not ask for anything in my letter (other than to return the Yachtsman to its former glory!)

I encourage everyone who is finding WDW dining lacking these days to write to them and tell them WHY! Be specific! Tell them what's lacking, and what is great.

I believe we are all stewards to this great American institution, and it's up to us to be honest and point out when they are failing to meet their own very high standards.


Good for you! I'm so glad to hear that they listened to you and took your letter seriously. I only hope that with enough complaints, they can return all of WDW dining to its former glory.