Wow, I think I officially have to cross Ohana's off my list!

[Nom]

We always go to Ohanas, every trip, for years. Recently though, the changes on the menu and the extremely rushed service have made me rethink this, and I had planned to skip it this year. However, dh was nostalgic and asked me to add it back on to our PS list, so I did. What a mistake- after the experience we had this time, it's officially off my list of places I will dine in WDW. Here's the short list of problems we encountered; our main issues this time were with service:

- Food Allergy Carelessness: I always make sure to tell our server about dd's peanut allergy. In the past, the chef would always come out and talk to us about it. This time? Right after I tell our server, the food delivery man (for lack of a better term) plunks down the dipping sauces on our table, with the peanut sauce literally right in front of my daughter!!! I was stunned! If I had not seen that and known it was peanut sauce from previous visits to Ohana, this could have been a life-threatening 'mistake'!

- Dry, unappetizing food: The food was somewhat dry, as it has been over the past years, but the sausage took the cake. Wow, was that sausage or wood? I long for the days of salmon being an option. Also, the peel and eat shrimp was so appetizing when you looked closely and saw that it was not pre-cleaned (evident by the shrimp poop line intact within the shrimp). Yummy! I decided to skip the shrimp and sausage and wait for the pork and steak, which rolls into my next issue...

- Spotty food delivery people: For some reason, the food delivery people never brought over steak or pork, even though we asked for it multiple times. Finally, after about 15 min of waiting, the busboy started taking our plates. I had to stop him and say, "You are not taking our plates until we get the other 1/2 of our meal!!!". Finally they brought the steak and pork. It's a good thing I knew we were supposed to get it, or we would have missed out!

- Dessert Disaster: After they brought the steak and pork, the waitress came over and asked if we wanted dessert. Another show was starting, and my parents, daughter and I were getting up to join in. I told the waitress that we were all getting up, and to please hold the dessert until the show was over. We came back, and there was our dessert on the table, all melted and having sat there through the whole show I am sure. This was the final straw for me. I know Ohana is busy, but the other problems could have just been mistakes as the servers rush around. However, I specifically asked her to hold the dessert, and she just totally ignored my request to try to turn over the table faster. I had to act with my wallet and leave her a poor tip.

... and of course this list does not mention the wait time to be seated, crouded atmosphere and rushing service, since those are to be expected at Ohanas. I guess Disney has finally bled the rock dry with this formerly great restaurant. I just wonder how long people will keep going there- I guess they may not know or remember how truely great this place used to be.

I just had to share my terrible Ohana experience. I know that everyone says that Ohana is a must do. It used to be a must do, but not anymore. It has been going downhill for years, but now it has hit rock bottom. My advice would be to save your money and try somewhere else first.

 

[suzimar57]

wow - we haven't gone to ohanas since they changed the menu (and removed the shrimp skewers and those delicious shrimp pot stickers) - sounds like we're not missing much!

 

[Got Quattro?]

I have to admit, The peanut allergy thing baffles me. I know of no one in my family or cirle of freinds with this allergy. yet I know it is out there. While I do not condone people with this allergey trying to ban planes of peanuts or schools of peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches....I do expect that if you tell a server of the allergy, they should make sure the dipping sauce doesnt come to your table.

When we were there last thanksgiving, we had the same issues with the meats not comming to the table in a timely manor. We would request with our server, buss boy, the turkey guy, we want steak...yet no steak would come. I think they have a set [pattern around the dinning room and dont deviate.

It sounds like you just had a very bad server.

With 60,000 employees in disney, and all the other tourist places in orlando, i find it remarkable we get as good of service as we do. For the most part, the disney park and food jobs are low on the pay scale for adults. It's hard to be upbeat and happy making $10.00 an hour.

I would try it again. It's worth it when the food and service are right.

 

[tedisney]

We ate there twice on our trip this month, and had mixed results.

I still find that I could live on the appetizers alone - I love the salad and fried thingies with the green and brown dipping sauces. I also love the wings, but they weren't as good this trip as previous trips. The grill meats were all rather dry both times.

Our first time this trip, we had a great server who took great care of us. She spent plenty of time chatting with us, didn't feel rushed at all. She always asked if we were ready for more, rather than pushing it on us.

Our second time, the service was not so good. We requested the mac n cheese/fries for our 18 month old daughter, and the server Morrice said "We like them to try the other food before we bring out the kids food" in a very condescending tone. Since we've eaten there at least a half dozen times (including just 5 days before), I managed to convince him that I had a better idea of our needs than he did.

He brought the kids meal and appetizers right out, which was great. Before I'd had one wing, the meats started coming fast and furious. Regardless of our desires - we'd ask for one thing, and we'd get two of another. This continued throughout the meal, and we left plates full of meat, since we apparently were not allowed to decide for ourselves what to eat.

We asked for a box to pack up the remains of the kids meal, and he told us that we weren't allowed to take the mac n cheese, again in a snotty tone. When I gave him a "are you kidding me with that attitude" look, he said "You know, for health reasons". Okay, whatever.

It definitely has slid quality-wise, but I can't completely cross it off my list. I think it will become an every-other-trip meal instead of at-least-once-a-trip meal.

 

[dizneydiva2005]

wow! sounds like a terrible evening. I've never eaten there for dinner. I did have ADR but when they changed the menu- I cancelled. We now eat at Kona's every trip. LOVE it!

 

[hildarumpole]

Sorry to hear of your bad time. We tried Ohanas this year for the first time based on all the rave reviews and were completely disappointed. Fortunately, our server listened when we told her no peanut sauce, but everything else was pretty much the same as your experience. Yes, it is busy, but that's no excuse for being so disorganized, nor serving inedible and dry meats. We had even worse service at breakfast, but the food was at least better. The restaurant seems to be suffering from overall poor management. Unless we hear of major improvements, we have no plans of going back.

 

[metsfan11]

That allergy comment is surprising. When I was there in August the chef came out and was EXTREMELY accommodating. They brought out special chips and sauce that I could eat, and explained everything clearly. Sorry you were there on a bad day..

 

[Nom]

Honestly, another issue was food for my 3 yr old dd. We were never offered an option to order a kids meal for her, and getting her to eat the hard sausages which I was calling 'hot dogs' was difficult. It was only at dessert that I saw kids food being delivered to a neighboring table. If only I had known kids food was available!

 

[SnowWtch]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad time. We went earlier this year and had a blast. We didn't feel rushed at all and we were seated an hour early after less than a 5 minute wait. They brought us more of anything we asked for and I felt completely relaxed. The food is something I dream about. I didn't find anything dry or unappetizing except the sausage but I'm not a fan of sausage anyway. In fact, we're doing it again this Dec b/c it was so much fun. You might want to give it another chance sometime.

 

[grumpymakesmehappy]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad time. We went earlier this year and had a blast. We didn't feel rushed at all and we were seated an hour early after less than a 5 minute wait. They brought us more of anything we asked for and I felt completely relaxed. The food is something I dream about. I didn't find anything dry or unappetizing except the sausage but I'm not a fan of sausage anyway. In fact, we're doing it again this Dec b/c it was so much fun. You might want to give it another chance sometime.

Ditto SnowWtch! We love Ohana's. We've yet to have a bad experience there over the years. We've been before and after the menu changes and we will keep going. Yes, we miss the old menu but this one is pretty good too. Our family thinks the food's fantastic. Sorry you had a lousy time. It is inexcusable about the peanut allergy mistake and the spotty service. But I'm sure while you were having a lousy time there was another family there like mine having a blast and planning there next Ohana visit.

 

[Goofyish]

We ate in Ohana in 2001 and had a lovely experience. Great food and good service (although the server was a little abrupt).

We tried Ohana again in December 2005 and were very dissapointed. We didn't like the changes to the menu. Only starters I liked were the salad and the wings. The stirfry veg was bland and tasteless.

As we were half way through the starters the server came to take our plates away and we felt very hurried. Then the skewers came round and we only got the sausage and turkey. The server then came round and asked if we wanted 'more' steak or pork - to which we told him we hadn't had ANY yet never mind MORE!

By a twist of fate we actually had the same server we had in 2001 !

We will not be going back there again.

 

[yesmylove]

We went to O'Hana's in September and I was very disappointed. We have been several times and always had a good time. My problem was more so with how rushed we felt and the amount of food. There was only the two of us, myself and my husband. When we got there they brought out the app's which were fine, however I felt that there was way too much food for two people. We barely had the app's, when they were bringing out the rest of the food and the meat. Our table was completely covered with dishes of food, and way more than we could eat. Everything was getting cold because we could not eat all that was there. I would rather they brought out smaller dishes of food and give me the chance to ask for seconds. The amount of food that was wasted at our table was so unnecessary. I am really on the fence as to wether or not we would go again.

 

[DisneyLaura]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I know what you mean about food allergies my DS who is 6 has an egg allergy and it is hard. I am kind of sad because when we go in a couple of years I was adding them on our list to go eat at.

 

[yooperfan]

Just out of curiosity, what time were the ressies for when you felt rushed and had poor service?

 

[tedisney]

Just out of curiosity, what time were the ressies for when you felt rushed and had poor service?

Our good server was at 5:45 on a Thursday, bad server on 5:45 on a Tuesday. LOL

 

[goofy4tink]

I have eaten at 'Ohana 3 or 4 times now. The first times were wonderful. But, in August I wanted my dh and dd to see how great it was, so booked it for all of us. Well, our service was spotty to say the least. We got our drinks but never were offered refills. Our food came out with alarming speed, until we got to the meat skewers. We had to find another server (ours was nowhere to be found) and ask for some meat at our table. When it did finally come, it was very dry and salty. I could eat just a bite or two of the beef. Dh said the sausage was really dry as well. Dd did get chicken strips so that worked out okay. But, we then had to wait about 15 mins or so before they finally brought out the dessert. It just wasn't the experience I had had before...sad to say that 'Ohana isn't on my 'must do' list at this point.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

WOW we really loved the place last year. I am glad we tried it despite bad reviews. It sounds hit or miss. Our server was wonderful and brought the baby out pbj's and fries without us even asking. He always had our drinks filled and actually talked with us for few minutes during dessert. The only thing I didnt like was the noise level but at least I didnt have to worry about hushing up a toddler. LOL. Maybe next time it will be better. I hope it is good for our upcoming trip.

 

[Aimeedyan]

You know, 'Ohana could really learn a thing or two from Texas de Brazil or other Brazilian style steakhouses. They have it down to an art.

 

[bavaria]

You know, 'Ohana could really learn a thing or two from Texas de Brazil or other Brazilian style steakhouses. They have it down to an art.

I agree! I'm a veggie but still love eating at Texas de Brazil. O'hana has been off my list for a long time, mainly for similar reasons posted in the OP.

 

[drag n' fly]

You know, 'Ohana could really learn a thing or two from Texas de Brazil or other Brazilian style steakhouses. They have it down to an art.

Mmmmm we have a Brazilian churrasco place here also that does that and it is so yummy! We had very rushed service and semi-warm food there at Ohana's also and won't be back.