Bad dinner at Coral Reef

[pasgt21]

"I tried again for Le Cellier without luck, although we have it for a different day. I made the ADR at Flying Fish on the BW ~ it's DH favorite. As you mentioned, we can walk back in the park. The food and service is always wonderful."

Thanks for your help!




Great Choice, plus its a nice break from the crowds for dinner.

 

[Artoo]

I was thinking of making another ADR for the Coral Reef. I'm glad I came across this thread...Now I am SERIOUSLY thinking about my other options!

 

[DisneyBride'03]

WhileI am usually a firm believer in judging by my own experience....
THe fact that bad reviews actually exist, and seem to be more consistent as of late...has me re considering our ADR for our first nights dinner at Coral Reef.

We have read positive comments, and thought our DD would be amused...however at what cost ?
So I am thinking of cancelling tomorrow...and reserve a breakfast at Cape May for a character breakfast...since we dont have that type of dining yet, and its so convenient
If there were just a few comments...but so many...service it just as important to us as the food!
Thanks everyone for contributing

 

[wideeyes]

Thanks for the review, shame it was such a disappointing meal, raw food is never acceptable IMO.

 

[geomacey]

We have ADRs for Sept 30 and I'm REALLY hoping that we have a good meal, but if we don't, I am not above getting the server or the manager or whoever it takes to make it a good meal. We are not on the DDP and I will not willingly hand over (very) hard earned money if it was not worth it ...
They can't fix what they don't know about! And I can't believe EVERY server there is apathetic to the customers.....
So flame me, tell me I don't know what I'm talking about or that's not the way it works, but that's the way I see it.....
If I won't put up with bad food/bad service in my hometown, I CERTAINLY am not going to put up with it at Disney!
On the same token, if the meal is good (or GREAT!), I am also not above letting the server and the manager know that also .....

 

[travelmaniac02]

That's bad news. I'm sorry that you didn't have a great time there. Maybe my friends and I were just lucky when we went there. We had a decent experience.

 

[Tam1067]

We ate there last week for the first time. Our food was very good and our server was attentive and pleasant. DH said it was one of his favorite meals of the trip.

 

[Bama_C]

Our experience last September was similar to what some of you have described with regard to the service. Our waiter was Haul, (maybe some of you with bad experiences had him also).

Setting the scene: It was 8:00 pm and our ADR was for 8:30, so admittedly we were 30 minutes early. There had been a massive downpour on the way to CR which we were caught in without protection, and we were all soaked to the skin. Apparently everyone else in EPCOT thought that was a great time to go to CR, too. And upon arrival we were told the wait time would be an hour. So, we were soaked, now inside in air conditioning, and told we would still be waiting 30 minutes past our original ADR before our table would be ready. As time went on we were chilled to the bone.

We tried to occupy ourselves while we waited by playing games, looking over the menu, taking pictures, etc. We finally got our table around 9:05, and our waiter brought waters out right away. We already knew what we were ordering, having had plenty of time to look over the menu. But, he had disappeared. After about 15 minutes, he came back and took our appetizer orders. Then he disappeared again. He finally came back and we ordered entrees. He brought our appetizers a little later. We had ordered coffees because we were so cold. They were never refilled, nor were our waters. The entrees came out about 45 minutes after sitting down.

Since sitting there drinking our coffees, we had warmed up a little and dried off significantly. So, we ordered our desserts and asked for coffee refills. Well, about 20 minutes later our desserts were brought out but with no coffee. We asked for the check thinking that as MIA as this waiter was, we would need to get him started on that. We just ate the dessert sans coffee. We finally received our check about 10:30.

My hubby says we were held hostage at CR by the waiter! He hates that. If the waiter had looked interested or communicated with us what was going on, we're a pretty understanding bunch... especially since they were obviously overloaded with people due to the rain. But, nothing!

HOWEVER, our food was delicious even though we didn't have enough drinks with it. We WILL be going back this September but our ADR is much earlier in the evening (5:20 pm) and we're hoping we don't get Haul as our waiter. We are giving it another shot because we really believe that our bad time was more due to waiter and weather than anything. HOPEFULLY, we will not be disappointed!

Pixiedust!

 

[patsal]

THis has always been a family favorite, and we just dined there last Thursday--the service was horrible, the food just OK and the noise level way over the top--between the kids screaming a shark a shark, the crazy grandmother taking her grand kids table to table down front bothering the people who were seated and eating and the large party up top row running back and fourth from table to table to show each there what they ordered--well I won't be going back any time soon. My son and husband have hearing difficulties--but DH can turn it all off becasue if his hearing aids, DS can't and the noise got to him so much that he had to leave twice to clear his head. I am at a plce where at first I thought an increas int he DDP via having to pay my own tip would be a bad thing--now I'm just hoping it returns some of my favorite places back to normal since it may deter people from going to the more expensive places to avoid tipping higher (yeah I know these are the people that will max the plan and not tip anyway) but I can hope!

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Well, irregardless of negative reviews, we are still keeping our ADR here intact. I will have to experience it before I can judge....I am hoping for the best And if service, food, is not up to par...I will be sure to make mention of it
Knowing full well a restaurant can only be responsible for so many things..staff cannot control guests who cannot control themselves or their children.
I will be sure to report back....its our first night's ADR and we are looking forward to it

Sorry to those who did not have memorable experiences.

 

[TxTiggergal]

We had dinner at the Coral Reef on Fri., 7/13 and it was the best meal, in terms of food, of our trip! We had the blackened catfish over cheese grits and it was sooo good! And the chocolate wave for dessert was quite possibly one of the tastiest treats I have ever had! Service, however, was the worst we encountered all week. We arrived about 5 min. late for our ADR time and were seated within just a few minutes. Hostess was friendly. But our waitress was very inattentive. She never once checked on us after we received our meals, to see if it was satisfactory or to offer drink refills. When she did come back, it was to give us our check. I had a question about the DDP and she smarted off at me in answering. This was the one case on the DDP where I lamented that the tip was included, because she sure wouldn't have gotten 18% from me. But the food was outstanding and we will try it again....hopefully with a different server!

 

[Tam1067]

We were also there on Friday, July 13! Our service was great (we had a waiter). One thing--DS ordered chicken and ended up with mahi mahi, but he discovered that he likes mahi mahi, which is a good thing for us. The waiter apologized and said he'd keyed in the wrong item (DH and I both ordered mahi mahi). Since DS ate the whole thing before I told him it was really fish and not chicken, we didn't ask for a replacement.

Our waiter also volunteered to customize DS's chicken/mahi mahi so he got mashed potatoes instead of couscous. And the kids got the pizza with dessert even though the "complete" meal on the kids menu didn't include that option.

We will certainly return there again, but next time, DS is going to order mahi mahi to begin with.

 

[rushing]

We also had a bad experience. Sorry you guys did also.