Coral Reef Was Awesome!!!!

[atisikitabasket]

Ok we just got back Sunday and I will do a full review later but for now I wanted to let everyone know how great the Coral Reef was when we had dinner there. I was considering changing it due to a lot of bad reviews and I am so Happy I didn't. We were 2 adults a 12 yr old and 4 yr old all on the meal plan

1-Lobster soup
1-Crab Claw
1-BBQ Beef

12yr old loved the soup I liked the claws. Husband said the beef was a little too sweet and tough.

2 - Strawberry Stingers included as drinks on plan "Awesome"

Entree's
1- KC Strip
1-Shrimp Pasta
1-Catfish with mashed potato instead of grits
"all were excellent"
1- Cheese pizza with apple w/no sugar, and fruit cup
He actually ate every bite and informed us "yum! very good mommy!"

Dessert
2-Chocolate Wave
1-Pinapple Upside down
1-scoop ice cream

The Pinapple cake was ok a little dry but I didn't think this until I tried my husband chocolate wave which was incredible I can not decribe how great it and the white chocolate ice cream was. I thought me and DH would have a knock down since he wouldn't let me have a second nibble! The only place that the desert plates were licked clean. we were a row back from the window and the view was awesome our server was great I believe her name was Blanca but not for sure she was great!!! If you are worried about going I wouldn't change this one go ahead and give it a shot.

[MainStMandy]

Great review! I have to say we loved it as well!! We were there last Wednesday night and had an awesome server and great food!!

[momofdbsdc]

Great review! Thanks for sharing!!!

[bigbabyblues]

We had an awesome meal there last weekend too!

[Laurafoster]

i love the coral reef! Great Reviews!!

[TigerKat]

Coral Reef has been getting great reviews lately, it's now on my list for next trip!:thumbsup2

[GrantMyWish]

Just returned from trip 2/3-2/9 and we all LOVED Coral Reef!!! Outstanding Ahi Tuna and the Chocolate Wave lived up to the hype. Best dessert of the trip.

[crazymomof4]

We have PS (or ADR- whatever they are calling it these days- I can't keep track anymore) for Coral Reef on this coming trip. I haven't eaten there since 1994. I was looking forward to it until I read this awful review: http://www.wdwinfo.com/reviews/coralreef.htm :scared1:

I am so glad that you started this thread! I'm keeping my PS and once again excited to be eating there.

One question: The kid's pizza- is it like Ellios? If not, how would you describe it? I would hate for DS9 to order it and then hate it.

Waiting to read more positives here, so everyone please give more reviews!popcorn::

[minniemee]

Thanks for the review, we have an ADR there next week!!!!!!!!!!!:banana:

[ktink]

Thanks for the review. I plan on going for the first time for our Sept trip. Can't wait. :thumbsup2

[amykathleen2005]

Referring to the link. Is it customary to allow customers to order off a dinner menu at lunch??

[SLDL]

And is it possible to order kids meals for adults?? Or to just order dessert? I would love to go back just for the Chocolate Wave!!

[elump1]

Thanks so much for this post, we have ADR's for Coral Reef next Monday and the negaive reviews scared me! I thought about changing it, but I really want to try eating here, and hearing this makes me happy!

[crazymomof4]

And is it possible to order kids meals for adults?? Or to just order dessert? I would love to go back just for the Chocolate Wave!!

I'm fairly certain that adults can only order kids meals at counter service eateries. Most TS restaurants specify an age for ordering off of the kids menu.
Don't know for sure about just doing the dessert, but off the top of my head I'd say "yes".

[Minniespal]

Thanx for sharing.

[vaiomega1]

I just ate there myself and i agree with you on all points.;)

[lady_hlh]

We ate there last year and it was wonderful, which surprised me because it does get so many negative reviews on the boards. I enjoyed our meal at CR even more than Le Cellier.

[latexscooter]

Thanks for posting your review. I recently booked this ADR against the advice of several people and I thought to myself "I hope they don't get the opportunity to say I told you so." Your feedback is making much more comfortable about my decision. I'll post a review too when I return in May.

[dbmarie]

We ate there with the candlelight processional on Dec. 24th and we felt that the entire experience was bad from seating, service, to the food. Thank you for your post I'm hoping that it was just a bad day when we were there because we really enjoyed the atmosphere.

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the review. We ate at Coral Reef for the first time this past December and really enjoyed it also. :)

[ppiew]

We just ate there last week. I admit I was VERY hesitant, as we have eaten there several times over the years and it was horrible! Bad food, service, dirty restaurant. But after a lull of about 4 years, we decided to give it another try. WOW! It has REALLY jumped several notches! Every single BAD thing we had experienced in the past was GONE! The food was really very very good, as was the service. The restaurant is definitely cleaned up. We had Lobster Salad which was just excellent! Also the Ahi Tuna and of course the Chocolate Wave! It is one of the few restaurants we experienced at WDW that seasons their food properly - not over done but certainly not bland as so many of the restaurants have become.

I am looking forward to going back next month. This is definitely a 'keeper' after years of bad and so so food.

[n2mm]

Referring to the link. Is it customary to allow customers to order off a dinner menu at lunch??

I tried and was told NO. I wanted the shrimp pasta from the dinner menu for lunch and the server said it could not be ordered. So I ordered the prime rib, which was OK.

We have had great meals here recently. We ate at CR twice last week, once for dinner and once for lunch. I do find eating here for lunch a much more relaxing meal. Dinner is very chaotic. We had a great server for lunch last weekend. His name was Riley and he was the best server we have had in many, many trips. We were on the DDP, but tipped him alot extra and he came over and personally thanked us. It was well deserved!

As someone else noted, I had the strawberry stinger smoothie and it was the best smoothie I've ever had.

[MommaTinkerbell]

Thank you!! We have ADRs here for DD9 birthday! I having been holding my breathe since I have read bad reviews. I probably would have changed our ADRs since it's such a special occasion but this was the Birthday Girls only request for her special day and so we booked it. Can't wait to post my good reviews when we return.

[dawgfan]

Thanks for the review.

[jenr812]

Thanks for the positive review! I recently changed our Cape May Cafe to Coral Reef :) I have really wanted to try CR but all the bad reviews made me leary. It seems like things are turning around!

[DisneyDarlings]

Would the OP please address the issue I've read about in other reviews concerning the noise level at CR. Was it really noisy while you dined? I've read reviews that said you couldn't hear others at your table unless they were speaking very loudly. I'm just curious what your thoughts are on this issue. Thanks!

[ppiew]

We were there for lunch last week and the noise level was in no way intrusive. I suppose you could have some wild people that would be excessively noisy, but that was not the case in our visit. The dining room was almost filled - probably about 5 or 6 empty tables. I have been in many Disney restaurants a lot louder than CR - CG for example - now THAT IS noisy!!

[dawgfan]

In reference to the noise....I have eaten here twice and never had any problem with the noise at all.

[tink's girls]

So happy to hear the excellent reviews for Coral Reef. We plan to celebrate my DD's 10th B-day there next year! Thanks for the posts!!

[caribear]

And is it possible to order kids meals for adults?? Or to just order dessert? I would love to go back just for the Chocolate Wave!!

I went during the lunch hour for dessert only with my daughter. I had to have the chocolate wave :love: DD had the make your own sundae. We had the latest lunch seating and I mentioned to the CM when we arrived that we were doing dessert only. The restaurant was pretty empty at the time and they had no problem with this.

[atisikitabasket]

I think maybe timing could be a issue we had ADR's at 5:10 it opens at 5 we got there at 10 till and was seated at 5. As far as noise I would say it is about the same level as most of the places at Disney. We did hear a baby crying a couple times but it wasn't piercing or anything. We were too busy watching the tank and eating. We were able to carry on a conversation so I would say it wasn't that bad. My DS$ has PDD and loud places scare him and he didn't mind this place at all.

Thanks for the positive feedback maybe I should do a review of all the places we ate.

Le Cellier
Liberty Tree - Lunch and Dinner
Wolfgang Puck
Coral Reef
Chef Mickey's
Playhouse Disney Hollywood and Vine
Kona

Thanks again guys. Also my son is picky on pizza and he loved it it was a thin crust not paper thin but not pan pizza either I didn't get to try it because he scarffed it down and said "no mommy leave pizza alone!!!!" So I let him be.

[jenr812]

Thanks for the positive feedback maybe I should do a review of all the places we ate.

Le Cellier
Liberty Tree - Lunch and Dinner
Wolfgang Puck
Coral Reef
Chef Mickey's
Playhouse Disney Hollywood and Vine
Kona


Please do! From your list, we're going to Le Cellier, LTT (for dinner), Coral Reef, and Kona in May and I love reading reviews.:)

[aes74]

I ate at CR today, and it was horrific. I REALLY wanted it to be good. My thinking, is eat dinner instead of lunch. And I wish I would have asked for advice on what to order. I am really bummed about our experience. It was a really expensive disappointment.

[crazymomof4]

I ate at CR today, and it was horrific. I REALLY wanted it to be good. My thinking, is eat dinner instead of lunch. And I wish I would have asked for advice on what to order. I am really bummed about our experience. It was a really expensive disappointment.

Going to CR for lunch on March 6th............What did you order, so that I can avoid it?

[swankybeth]

Thanks for sharing your review. We ate here last month and unfortunately didn't really enjoy our meal. I'm glad that you had a good experience, though! :)

[crazymomof4]

Thanks for sharing your review. We ate here last month and unfortunately didn't really enjoy our meal. I'm glad that you had a good experience, though! :)

Hi!
Same question as in my last post. Could you please share what you had and why you didn't like it? That would really help those of us who are going there to decide what to order.
Thanks!

[aes74]

Going to CR for lunch on March 6th............What did you order, so that I can avoid it?

I actually posted somewhere about it in more detail...but I had the Mahi (YUCK) and DH had the bbq salmon sandwich. His was better than mine, but still not good. We did like the lobster bisque we had as an appetizer.

[jmpellet]

We ate at Coral Reef back in October and it was terrible from the service to the food. Our waiter ignored us (dining plan??) and my t-bone was terrible. Dessert was very good though and the atmosphere was nice. I will never go back there again and my family is not fussy about eating. During this trip we ate at Tony's, Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree Tavern, Chef Mickey's, Ohana's, 1900 Park Faire, Le Cellier, Donald's Breakfastasaurus, Hollywood and Vine, and Akershus so you can see we went to lots of different places. I would rate Coral Reef as the worst. In January 2007, my husband and I dined at Raglan Road, Wofgang Puck downstairs, 1900 Park Faire, and Le Cellier. Le Cellier continues to be my favorite.

[swankybeth]

Hi!
Same question as in my last post. Could you please share what you had and why you didn't like it? That would really help those of us who are going there to decide what to order.
Thanks!

For my appetizer I had the braised BBQ beef with polenta. I liked that. DH had the shrimp cocktail and did not like it. My entree was the blackened catfish and I didn't enjoy it at all. DH had the steak and it was pretty good. Dessert was the Chocolate Wave for me and the Butterscotch creme brulee for DH. Dessert was good all around. For more details and my pictures, you can check out my reviews. :)

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1346992

[jenr812]

For my appetizer I had the braised BBQ beef with polenta. I liked that. DH had the shrimp cocktail and did not like it. My entree was the blackened catfish and I didn't enjoy it at all. DH had the steak and it was pretty good. Dessert was the Chocolate Wave for me and the Butterscotch creme brulee for DH. Dessert was good all around. For more details and my pictures, you can check out my reviews. :)

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1346992

Wow! How can you screw up shrimp cocktail? LOL Off to read your reviews :)

[aes74]

Wow! How can you screw up shrimp cocktail? LOL Off to read your reviews :)

No doubt! I was just thinking the same thing!!!

[distrekker]

We ate at the Coral Reef in October and were very disppointed. It was noisy, dark, cold and the service was mediocore. The menu had very little variety and the food was average. I am glad you had a good experience though!

[PrincessTrisha]

Wow! How can you screw up shrimp cocktail? LOL Off to read your reviews :)

because it's not just shrimp on a plate like many other disney restaurants. It is served in a martini glass with an Asian noodle salad.

[NDAMomX2]

I posted a review in another CR thread (post #15) http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1364120

I want to add that this is the only truely bad experience we have had in a Disney TS restaurant. The service elsewhere has been very accomidating and friendly. I dont want to stop people from going to CR, and I hope my experience was not normal. Howevor, I do want to warn people that at least once there was a CR experience which was less than average.

[elump1]

We just got back from our trip and ate at CR last Monday. It was wonderful! Here is a list of the things different people in my group had:

3 Lobster Soups
1 Seafood Souffle
1 Cesar Salad

1 Seared Ahi Tuna
1 Mahi Mahi
2 Ribeyes
1 Kids Chicken

Chocolate Waves for dessert

The lobster soup was delicious. I tried the seafood souffle, it was okay, but nowhere near as good as the lobster soup. My brother ate all of his salad so I guess it was good too. I had the seared ahi tuna which was delicious. It is a sushi-grade tuna cooked medium rare. If you like sushi, I think you would love this because I did! However, if you are not into raw fish stay away! The middle of the fish was red and cool (just like it was supposed to be). It was served with wasabi mashed potatoes that went perfectly with the fish. My whole meal was SOOO GOOD!!! The steaks were huge and my husband and brother ate all of theirs. I tried the steak and it was good but not the best I've ever had. My mom seemed to enjoy the mahi-mahi but I didn't try it so I can't give an opinion on it. The chocolate wave was out of this world! The restaurant was a little loud, but I didn't think it was any worse than others that we dined at throughout the week. I didn't really notice the noise until the end of our meal when we were waiting for our check. The service was okay, not bad but not great. Overall, I loved this meal. I will definitely be going back to CR on my next visit.

[DumboDreamer]

Thanks for the help. me and my family were looking for the perfect place to go and that's deffinetley a choice. thanks
&♥
xox:love:

[ryantab02]

I'm so excited about out Coral Reef ADR on Tuesday. We're having a diver hold up a sign for my MIL and FIL. I can't wait. It's going to be so great! :banana:

[Sea-Donkey]

I had to settle for lunch at 2 for a party of 7 week from Thursday. Wanted diner but it was booked all week long. Must not be too bad. It was good last time I went, but that was 10 years ago...they were probably on a different batch of fish then.

[MommaTinkerbell]

I'm so excited about out Coral Reef ADR on Tuesday. We're having a diver hold up a sign for my MIL and FIL. I can't wait. It's going to be so great! :banana:

Do you mean you can have divers hold up a special sign??!!!:hyper: My DD9princess: has chosen Coral Reef for her special 10th Birthday celebration and this would be so cool to do for her......how do you arrange this and can they do a birthday banner?? My travel agent hasn't mentioned this at all and she is sooooooo great with details.:scratchin ::yes::

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing

[MommaTinkerbell]

:banana: Oh Yeah! My Travel Agent called until she found this info out. We will have a surprise diver! At Coral Reef..you can ask for a diver to hold up a birthday sign(or anniv.) for FREE!!!!:cheer2: My Travel Agent apologized for not thinking of this first but was great and set the whole thing up!!:yay: :yay: My DD will be "blown out of the water". haha! I am not sure if her name and 10th bday will be on the sign....my TA asked to confirm the spelling of her name and age she will be. I will try to post pics when we return. I am so thrilled! Now, I have to keep this a secret for just a little longer!:cool2:

[Laurafoster]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!

[DisneyDarlings]

I tried and was told NO. I wanted the shrimp pasta from the dinner menu for lunch and the server said it could not be ordered. So I ordered the prime rib, which was OK.

We have had great meals here recently. We ate at CR twice last week, once for dinner and once for lunch. I do find eating here for lunch a much more relaxing meal. Dinner is very chaotic. We had a great server for lunch last weekend. His name was Riley and he was the best server we have had in many, many trips. We were on the DDP, but tipped him alot extra and he came over and personally thanked us. It was well deserved!

As someone else noted, I had the strawberry stinger smoothie and it was the best smoothie I've ever had.

Riley was the best!!! We ate at CR on 3/15 and he was our server. He was one of the best servers we had this trip. He has worked at CR 18 years and knew so much about the menu and helped us a lot. You can ask for him when you go. (I suggest you do!) I'm glad to see his name mentioned. It's such a more pleasant meal when you have a great server.

[christinadei]

We ate there last year and it was wonderful, which surprised me because it does get so many negative reviews on the boards. I enjoyed our meal at CR even more than Le Cellier.

ITA:)

[Jenna319]

I have been wanting to try Coral Reef on our honeymoon in October but we both are not fans of seafood..... will we still enjoy it? do they have good steaks??

[ppiew]

This may be heresy, but the steak at Coral Reef about a month ago was better than the one at Le Cellier!

[christinadei]

I have been wanting to try Coral Reef on our honeymoon in October but we both are not fans of seafood..... will we still enjoy it? do they have good steaks??

Yes! Me and DH aren't huge seafood fans either and we had prime rib/steak at CR and LeCellier and we both liked Coral Reef better, both the food and the atmosphere. You should definately give it a shot!

[DisneyDarlings]

I have been wanting to try Coral Reef on our honeymoon in October but we both are not fans of seafood..... will we still enjoy it? do they have good steaks??

My DH and DD(20) both had the steak (I believe it was a NY strip), and they both really liked it! They still thought LeCellier was better, but said CR was really good! I'd say go for it because the atmosphere is really cool. I'm glad I read some good reviews and decided to book it a week before we left. We were blessed to even get an ADR. I heard them turning away a family when we checked in saying they were only seating people with reservations because they were totally booked.

[Adi12982]

We love it there - DH always insists we go every trip. He loves the steak and I am usually adventerous - have loved the crab cakes, the shrimp. . . haven't treid anything i didn't like yet. We have always had great service and enjoy it - I know I have read a lot of negative reviews but couldn't disagree more.

[jenr812]

Oooh I so can't wait to eat here :)

[ryantab02]

The Coral Reef was so wonderful. Our diver was great too! Here's a picture. It came out a little blurry, but you can get the idea. Hope everyone has a great time at their ADRs! We have another one for our Disneymoon in August.


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b265/ryantab02/Disney/3-13-2007-037.jpg

[Doors]

This place sounds awesome and I know it looks incredible as well.

I'm really thinking about getting the pan fried Ahi Tuna or the Grilled Mahi Mahi.

[dawgfan]

Thanks for the review.

[D,L and K's Mom]

I pmed you a few days ago with some info.....did you get it??

[Hidden_Mickey]

Can you describe the atmosphere? Will kids like it more than Le Cellier?

[Dreamfinder2]

Its been ages since we've eaten at Coral Reef ... did I hear or read somewhere they had a new chef?

I'm really encouraged by all the positives. We're eating there in May.

[heatherlynn444]

Can you describe the atmosphere? Will kids like it more than Le Cellier?

the atmoshpere is amazing, and kids will love the fish! the hostess gave us a guide of the fish in teh tank to look for, and kids have alot of fun seeing who can spot the certain fish. I liked it a LOT more than lecellier. tables at le cellier too close together, food was overcooked, waiter was S-L-O-W and kinda "spacey"

[Dennyha]

Coral Reef is definately one of our favorite restaurants. We've had poor service one time, but the atmosphere and the food overshadowed that.

[Bev J]

We had a wonderful meal at this resturant. We never thought we would eat here since none of our family eats seafood.
We had taken a tour of Epcot that included seeing the inside of this resturant, it was soo cool with the aquarium.
We had had a poor experience at our then favorite resturant- Le Cellier and had another ADR scheduled. We called dining to see where we could change to and he recommended Coral Reef so we went for it.

We had a wonderful meal, service and a great view of the aquairum. One of the best steaks of our trip and that Wave desert- YUM!!
I would suggest not to have a table right up at the aquarium. We watched other guests go right up against tables with people eating to look at fish and such, nearly pushing people out of their chairs...so rude! Then another man brought his baby down and sat at an empty table to watch the turtles, the server was getting really irritated- but never said a word to him...we had a booth across from these tables and it was a perfect spot for veiwing and no extra people at our table!

This resturant will be at the top of our list for future trips!

Bev

[mermaid86]

I have a quick question about the diver...

How far in advance should I call for this?? (I'm going June 12th)
and does it have to be a birthday or anniversary message??

[C50T]

We appreciate the info. We're watching the Disney marathon on the Travel Channel and making plans now. The reviews help.
:goodvibes

[WAHMto5]

Thanks for the great review, we are trying this for the first time this up~coming trip!

[ryantab02]

I have a quick question about the diver...

How far in advance should I call for this?? (I'm going June 12th)
and does it have to be a birthday or anniversary message??


I was told at least 48 hours in advance. We called about two weeks before. It doesn't have to an anniversary or birthday message either. If you can do it, it is so worth it! The look on my MIL and FIL's faces were priceless! Worth every second of keeping my mouth shut before the trip!