Is Disney restaurant service slipping??

[Uncleromulus]

In reading the posts the last few months, I notice more and more meals where service was poor, inattentive, indifferent, slow, etc etc.
That's not good, especially in a place where customer "service" is a top priority. And nowhere is service more personal than at a table service restaurant.
So --not counting the occasional bad day (and not including Fultons, where service is always poor:D :D ) do you think restaurant service at WDW isn't quite what it should be???

[webray]

Just like everything else at disney..service has been slipping in some of the restaurant areas as well..not all of them..some of them needed work to start with.

Disney isn't the only place though..even our local restuarants...customer service just isn't what it used to be. People just don't seem to take pride in their work anymore.

Good customer service people are very few and far between these days.

[wdwgoofeeee]

I completely agree with webray. Service anywhere today is purely hit and miss. Some people take pride in their work while others do not care. Recently we had a so so waitress at a local Bertucci's restaurant. The service was good but she had no personality. We left her a good tip (20%) but while we were walking out the restaurant she walked right past us as if we did not exist. In the past some wait people would come back to thank us at various restaurants. She had her tip and no longer cared about us. It left me with a strange feeling. She did thank us as she took the money, but at that point she did not know what her tip was. The least she could have done was to acknowledge us when we were leaving.
We have been mostly satisfied with the wait staff at the Disney restaurants. At least most of them try to be nice.

[MickeyisanNDfan]

I think at Disney people pay more attention to service and expect more and that might be the reason why there are so many posts about it. My feeling is that if you ever went to Disney restaurants in the early 80's there is no reason to really complain now. The food used to be horrendous and stellar service wasn't noticable. I think the restaurants is one area where Disney has improved tremendously.

[mickeymousefan]

Ok.... i have to add another point of view here. I am a mother of two small children and a nursing student at my local college. In order for us to be able to do the little extra things, like trips to Disney, I work part time in customer service at a home improvement warehouse.
Every evening I start my shift with a positive attitude. I smile, I say please and thank you, and I work my butt off because I genuinely care if someone has a problem. BUT every night I have some jerk who treats me like I am beneath him or her, talks down to me or is rude to me for no reason. I somehow become responsible for everyone elses mistakes and held accountable for things way out of my control. As soon as someone says to me "How come you people..." my stomach turns. Some people go nuts when they have to wait on line for a minute or two or have to wait for an item to be bought up from the back and then they just stare and stare at me thinking its somehow going to speed someone else up!!!!
While there is no excuse for poor or rude service, there is also no excuse to be rude to the people that serve you. I often wonder how rude customers would feel if someone talked to there wife, mother or daughter the way they had just spoken to me. I am always polite to servers and never overly demanding, so they have no reason to give me attitude. If they do, then the tip goes down accordingly.

[OaksPAC]

Well said! I remember visiting in the 80's and we would go off property to get a decent meal. Disney has come a very long way in the food and restaurant areas in a very short time. I think that rapid rise has heightened all of our expectations concerning service. I would offer this one personal observation...........on the rare occasion that our server was not up to Disney standards, it seems that we never encountered them again. By contrast, our favorites, like Kevin in MM and Tom in CM continue year after year to work their "magic" and keep us coming back for more!:tongue:

[ILUVDXL]

I don't think you can put ALL he blame on the servers. We had wondeful dining experiences and wonderful servers during our October trip but we tend to be friendly, up-beat people. We noticed on serveral ocassions, specifically Citrico and Artist's Point where the customer needed a dope slap. You're not going to get good service if you are picky, demanding and rude. We even witnessed this happen at counter service. We are returning in October and hope to find the same wonderful service we're use to.

[sotoalf]

Uncleromulus, the service in the restaurants you frequent at WDW - your tastes, I've noticed, are similar to mine - is as exemplary as always. We dined at Citricos and Narcoosee's last weekend and were blown away by how top-notch the service was, especially at Narcoosee's. Our server at Narcoosees in fact matched the diligent, informed friendliness of Hamid, our waiter at Citricos.

Even at the Contemporary's Fun Center the new cashier (I know she's new because on Friday her manager was training her) made it ap oint to smile and say, "Have a magical day." The same goes for cashiers at Norway, China, and the Fantasia gift shot at the CR.

[daffyfordisney]

I'm happy to report that on our last trip to WDW the service was good at every place we ate. We've had the occasional grumpy server from time to time, but the vast majority of the time we've been pleased with the service.

On a similar note as ILUVDXL and mickeymousefan, we had a server at the Concourse Steakhouse once that was not having a good day. He was having to cover a huge area, the kitchen was behind on getting the orders out, and several tables of patrons were less than happy. He was almost defensive when he came to greet us and take our order, but after a few minutes of us being cheerful and joking with him, he came around and was great for the duration of the meal.

It's amazing how attitude (good or bad) is extremely easy to pass along.

[jwfla422]

Of all the places we ate at WDW last trip I can't say service has slipped at all.

We were very happy with all of the restaurants we ate at as well as the service. Maybe we've been lucky with that?? We even discovered some new places that we really like:p

So to answer your question..YES I think restaurant service (and food quality) at the WDW S/D restaurants has been great.

[OaksPAC]

ILUVDXL,
Excellent point about some of the patrons at WDW. We are also friendly and outgoing people and never really have any problems with anybody,however,we have witnessed occasions where people have been downright nasty and intolerably rude to the CM's. Had I been the one waiting on these people,well,they probably would have gotten more than a "little attitude"from me. Anyway, people like that are everywhere,we just have to make sure they don't become a majority. Be nice to people and they will be nice to you!:wave2:

[hmp2z]

Another one in agreement with the "treat others as you expect to be treated." We have never, EVER had a rude server at WDW. We have had slow service at Narcoossee's, but that restaurant is always full, and I've come to expect that from the servers there. We aren't thrilled about it, so we voted with our feet, and won't be returning there this upcoming trip.
We tend to frequent the pricier restaurants, usually avoiding counter service and buffet (with the exception of Cape May), and because we are paying more for our meal, we have higher standards for our service. We are also mystery shoppers, so we know what some of the "nonnegotiables" are in this industry. But we have not once been disappointed, beyond the slow service that I mentioned above. Even at Fulton's, we have always had prompt, friendly service, with very personable servers.
On the other hand, I have seen (thankfully, not at WDW - this was actually in Sonoma County, CA) a diner actually ask her waiter if he would mind changing the tire on her Mercedes. I think some diners deserve a good smack.
Cheers!
Heather W

[jennymouse]

I haven't found that the service at WDW restaurants are slipping. I think you have to take some of these reports with a grain of salt. There was one I read lately where every server at every restaurant these people ate at was poor or fair. Sorry, but I just do not believe that for a minute.

[lwestwise]

I couldn't agree with MickeyMouseFan more. I work in a law office so I don't have to serve the general public, BUT
I do go out to dinner and I refuse to go to dinner a 2nd time with anyone that is rude to the wait staff. My son-in-law included. I would rather have a waiter not be as attentive as I expect than to have someone I am with treat them as if they are beneath them.

[skiwee1]

I have to disagree. I don't think anything is slipping at WDW. I go about 30 days a year staying onsite and eating all meals at WDW. I have yet to have bad service at a restaurant and never at the parks.

[BriarRosie]

I've found that the only times I didn't care for the restaurant, the place was an "operating participant", not Disney-owned.

I thought the Big River Brewery / Grill on the Boardwalk was lackluster at best, mediocre for the food and service.

Flying Fish was hit and miss with me, as my first experience in 1997 was wonderful, but my 2002 was not.

I had a blast having a solo dinner at Jiko in May, while I was sitting at "The Cooking Place". The sous chefs that worked in front of me were really fun, and they gave me a couple of samples of things they were making. :)

My experiences at most Disney restaurants have been fairly positive.

[Kaycee]

One of the nicest surprises of our trip earlier this month was the number of great servers we had. I can honestly say, when comparing this trip to our trips in 2001, 2002, and 2003, the service this time was the best we've had. Not that we've ever experienced bad service at WDW - we haven't. But we had more exceptionally good servers this trip than ever before. Among the highlights were Jackie at Kona Cafe and our servers at H&V, Donald's Breakfastosaurus, RFC (DTD) and 'Ohana (unfortunately I've forgotten their names, but that's a weakness on my part, not a reflection on the service I received).

[Dreamfinder2]

We just got back. As a party of ten, I wondered if service would be up to par.

Because of the nature of our group (4 adults, 6 teenage girls), we didn't come close to anything like fine dining. Having said that, our table service meals were at Hoop De Doo, the Grand Gatherings International Dinner and Dessert Buffet, Liberty Tree Tavern, 50's Prime Time, Hollywood and Vine, Ohana, and 1900 Park Faire. (Anyone notice the "bulk loading" theme here? Don't let anyone tell you that teen girls won't eat.) Several of these were buffets, and my criteria was whether the server kept dirty plates cleared off and glasses filled.

The only place we felt was a little off was 1900 Park Faire for breakfast. Our waitress just seemed distracted and off her game -she wasn't rude, but she wasn't particulary engaging. I did have to wave her down a couple of times for refills.

Otherwise, I didn't sense any slippage at all. With a large party, where the gratuity is automatically added, I wondered if this would make a difference. It sure didn't seem to.

[April in Disney]

During our last stay we did notice services was not the way it used to be at Narcoosee's" We have seen how crowded this place has been getting" and I do believe it was because our server had too many tables and she was really just not a server, but she was young and pretty, " I have a feeling we will not see her next time we dine there." When we find a great server we go back and request them and let the restaurant manager know why we request that specific server. We sometimes have to wait an extra 30 minutes to get our favorite servers, well worth it IMHO.

[BCV23]

One of the reasons that we so enjoy the full service restaurants at WDW is because of the unusually good service we've enjoyed over the years. Even before there were as many fine dining choices as there are now, we could always count on truly fine service. Like Uncleromulus and some of the rest of you, we are longtime visitors although my first trip wasn't until 1980.

By and large, I think the same is still true today. However, we have had a few instances of less than stellar service in the past few years. Certainly never rude service but just not Disney standards. I suppose it may just be the scale of the operation these days....so many positions to fill. And as OaksPAC noted, those servers don't seem to be around long.

Finally, because the service at WDW is usually SO good, I think a less than satisfactory experience sticks out like a sore thumb.

[jann1033]

our last trip before this past jan. was 7 or so years ago and yes it has changed. food is better but service , while not bad, was not the" happy to serve you" attitude it used to be a decade or so ago. we felt this to be true all over, resorts, parks and restaurants.we only had 1 really "rude" waiter in 11 days but did get a number who pretty much did only what they "had" to . before they were all very friendly and cheerful. case in point at ohana, he basically ignored our table of 2 adults( we actually had to wave him down a number of times to get our pineapple after a long period of him totally ignoring us as he repeatedly walked past our table while we did everything to get his attention but reach out and grab him ) while he doted on a large table beside us who basically acted surly to him. i definitely felt in a number of places they catered to larger groups thinking they would get a better tip from them. and no, we are not crabby nor are we rude. while i have at times in other restaurants sent an order back if it is wrong, i didn't in any of the rest. we visited at wdw. only 1 waitress, at trails' end, acted like the "old " disney cms. most acted like they were "just doing their job"...in other words just like they act in the real world!

[crbalb]

Our family goes to WDW 3 times a year and we love to eat at sit down restaurants. Over the years, we have come to expect a certain level of service from Disney CMs. I know that they are just "normal" people, but they should work to create magic in a Magical Place.

That said -- we have been to Disney twice in the last month. In May, we spent 10 days and as I reported upon return, service for the first 6 or 7 days was bad -- lack of attention, robotic and even rude. We saw it as a slip in service in some of our favorite places. It seemed the Disney Management had not been encouraging their staff to strive to improve.

In early June, we went for the weekend and experienced a totally different spirit. The CMs went out of their way to make things special. At the BWVs, CMs were playing with balloons and engaging the children, then giving the balloons away. At MK, many CMs rounded up a large group of children to sing and dance on Main St. while waiting for the parade.

Maybe some changes are in the works. I hope so.

[hannahryan]

I really think it is individual personality. We ate at Beaches & Cream one night and Darlene was absolutely one of the best servers we've had anywhere. We went back a couple of days later and were served by someone else. It was like night and day! This second server had no personality and was not very helpful. We ate at Kona cafe several times for lunch and one of the reasons it was so great was because of our awesome server Billy...he is the best! We went back for dinner one evening and the service was completely unremarkable. Just like in any industry, you have your great workers and not so great workers.

[Erikarate]

Hi Uncleromulus...

It's been awhile since I've been active on the boards...very busy with work...

Anyway, we will be going to Disney in 6 days :p , so when I get back I'll provide detailed reviews. (will be away from 7/8 - 7/20)

This year we are also spending our first three nights at Portofino Bay Club Level at Universal, so I will be able to compare Disney vs. Universal...

[Tinkergirl]

IMHO, I think that when people post on boards it is because they have a strong opinion on a subject. Lets face it, those who don't really care either way or have a "it was good" attitude are not going to post. I also think that if your comparing servise from a few years ago and the posts now, you are not factering in that many people did not have internet access at that time. Therefore, you were basically left to read a guide books opinion rather than from first hand experience.