Coral Reef or Cape May Cafe?

[bar423]

I'm leaning towards Cape May Cafe but would love some feedback.

 

[hogwartsdropout]

I would go for Cape May personally. I have never had a good experience at Coral Reef. I've always disliked the food, had long wait with ADR, and had bad service. I like the selection of food at Cape May Cafe.

 

[bar423]

the selection at cape may looks great and we all love seafood!! I wasn't sure if the atmosphere was worth a dining credit since we my family never ate at Coral Reef. How is the food at Cape May? I was at Coral Reef many many many years ago but never Cape May.

 

[L&Lfan]

Don't care much for either, to be honest with you.
For seafood at WDW, we go to bluezoo, Fulton's Crab House, Flying Fish Café, Narcoossee's or the new Boathouse. Not many one credit places have great seafood, imo. Pretty mediocre.

 

[Travis B]

I haven't been to Coral Reef so I can't comment, but on our last trip (4/15) we went to Cape May and really enjoyed it. My overall impression of the food was very positive, service was good, pleasant atmosphere. On the same trip we had lobster tail at Narcoosee's, which was delicious, but I enjoyed our meal at Cape May just as much (if not more), and it was only one credit on the DDP. It's also a very pleasant walk or boat ride to BC resort - we left Epcot and then walked the resort loop, visiting lobbies and relaxing before finally ending at BC for dinner.

 

[samsteele]

If you could only choose one, I'd go with Cape May. Better & faster service (and its a buffet LOL) and a wide selection that will likely please more people in your party including picky eaters & kids. Cape May also seems to try harder to seat people quickly whereas Coral Reef routinely runs at least a half hour late seating ADRs. While Coral Reef's atmosphere is much better (the tank) and Cape May's atmosphere is bland to non-existent, the food at Cape May is arguably better. The boatride to & from Epcot's international gateway is lovely and if your return trip is in the evening, the lights from the Boardwalk area reflected in the water is beautiful.

 

[SouthJersey]

I'm leaning towards Cape May Cafe but would love some feedback.

We avoided Coral Reef for several years due to the mix of reviews, but we finally caved in two years ago and we actually loved it. Not sure if we caught them on one of their better days.

Service: Our waitress was better than all of our signature dining waitstaff that week lol.
Food: Would I take Coral Reef over Bluezoo, Narcoossee's, Boathouse or Fulton's? No, absolutely not. But for being in the parks and easy access with lesser pricing than those, it's ideal for a lunch ADR for us and the food was cooked perfectly for what we ordered. My steak was an exact medium rare, no complaints on anything food wise.
Wait: The wait, even with an ADR, is the issue. We waited like 25 minutes or so past our ADR time and that was with being 10 mins early. I'm not sure if this is a staff fault, or people tying up tables to relax, take pictures and wait to get their kids close to the tank.

 

[aj23]

I'm trying Coral Reef for the first time this trip. I've seen very mixed reviews for it, but I picked it for the experience. I've been to Cape May a couple times but it's not a favourite mainly because I'm not a buffet fan.

 

[DekrRini]

I enjoy both Coral Reef and Cape May Cafe. Some of it depends on the sort of experience you want because they are very different. I find the ambience more enjoyable at Coral Reef and I've had good food as well. The wait staff was always good and I've never had to wait on an ADR. I love crab legs so I'll go to Cape May Cafe for those. And I like buffets from time to time and I find it to be one of the best. For my birthday in December, I'm going to Coral Reef for dinner. Hope my luck holds and I don't have to wait for my ADR.

 

[NatalieMT]

If I had to choose I'd go Coral Reef, been there around 3 times and it was always a good experience, I know it gets a lot of bad press but we have never personally experienced all the issues, I think once we had to wait maybe 20 minutes for the ADR but that was it. My favourite restaurant for fish at Disney is Bluezoo, honestly it's sublime or Flying Fish comes a close second.

I did used to like Cape May, been again 3 times but the last trip I got the worst stomach pain of my life during the meal and I just can't get over that so avoid now.

 

[mickeynut1]

I'm leaning towards Cape May Cafe but would love some feedback.

We've never been to Coral Reef, but we love Cape May.

the selection at cape may looks great and we all love seafood!! I wasn't sure if the atmosphere was worth a dining credit since we my family never ate at Coral Reef. How is the food at Cape May? I was at Coral Reef many many many years ago but never Cape May.

Cape May is one of our favorites that is a must do for us every trip. We have always found the buffet to have a lot of variety and the atmosphere is nice as well, IMO.

 

[minnie mum]

Coral Reef was one of the worst dining experiences we've ever had at WDW. If you just want to see the aquarium, you can do it inside the Seas Pavilion. Cape May's buffet is OK, but you can get better seafood at the restaurants mentioned by L&Lfan.

 

[disneybliss2]

We're not a fan of either. We didn't have a great experience at Coral Reef, service or food, and Cape May was just bleh. The atmosphere reminded me of a cheap Golden Coral. We're not overly picky either. We have few restaurants that we don't want to return to at WDW. Both of these restaurants are on that list. I would choose something else, but if you're narrowing it down between the two , I'd go with Coral Reef. I'd give it a second chance before I would Cape May.

 

[dutchdisneyfamily]

I am going to start off by saying I hate buffets as a general rule, except the Disney buffets I have been to. Cape Maybis one of them. We live it there. When o asked me family what place they wanted to eat at again this trip it was a unanimous vote for Cape May. So I booked it. I have always talked us out of Coral Reef every trip. My husband has always wanted to eat there, so I gave in and we are trying it on this trip. I would say go with Vape May, bug don't rule out Coral Reef forever.

 

[bar423]

thanks for all feedback. I'll keep my adr for cape may dinner.

 

[JenSop]

Personally, I'd choose Cape May Cafe - lots to choose from and unlimited!

 

[huntconn]

They are both sub par IMO. Poor service, small serving sizes, over priced, waited long time to get seated with ADR's at Coral Reef. Limited selection, poor quality crab legs at Cape May. But, I haven't eaten at either in several years so maybe things have changed (but I doubt it). Btw, the character breakfast at Cape May is great!

 

[justme0729]

We had a great experience at The Coral Reef. The service was really great, we had a comfortable booth right in front of the aquarium, the steak was very good for a one credit restaurant, and the mashed potatoes and chocolate wave were delicious. The atmosphere was really calming and comfortable and it is on our list to go back to! I haven't been to Cape May but since I don't like buffets and the menu doesn't look great to me, I would go with The Coral Reef

 

[Disneyfanatic108]

We have done both and I would go back to Cape May

 

[goofy4prez]

I am another that was hesitant to give Coral Reef a try because of all the less than raving reviews; I'm glad I chose to finally try Coral Reef. I have been there twice and both times it was a pleasant experience with decent food. The only drawback I had is that it was a bit of a wait past our scheduled ADR, but really not a big deal. As for Cape May; I am not impressed at all. For me it is another typical buffet in that the food is less than average and more about quantity rather than quality. I was not all that excited about the stringy and rather anorexic looking crab legs. The local Chinese buffet from me offers better crab legs on their table for a 1/4 of the price.

Coral Reef for me = pleasant surprise with good but not what I would call great food.
Cape May for me = Overhyped, noisy and very typical of most buffets... Massive amounts of pre-made food intended for quantity rather than quality.