I became fed up and walked out of Ohana. Was I being unreasonable?

[Ana~n~Joseph]

We just got back and OHANA was the only restaurant where we had to wait to be seated. We checked in at 9:25am and were seated at 10am.

 

[Preston Chatsworth]

I hope they did not have the cheek to charge you the $10 fee pp or the table they do now for 'cancelled bookings'. That would have been the icing on the cake!

This is what I would be concerned about too. Please let us know if they did charge you.

 

[CruznLexi]

Thus happened to us some years ago in Jan at 50's. We got there at 720 for 730 pm reservation we saw many people seeatrd in front of us. Finally at. 745 we asked was told not long I am think less than 5 at 8pm we walked out! Have not been back since.

 

[LilyWDW]

99% of the time there will be a decent wait at Ohana to be seated, especially within an hour or so of the fireworks. With it being "all you can eat" parties often take longer before departing. It stinks and I absolutely believe they need to adjust the number of reservations taken at the restaurant to fall more in line with table turn over... but it is common. It is also not something I would have gotten that upset about.

Most likely by the time the manager got involved, the table was now gone. Another party was most likely already sat. So now they would have had to wait until another table opened which stinks, but not too much that could be done at that point for THAT specific issue. They can't just tell another party "Oops, sorry. You will have to leave so we can seat these folks." 20 minutes right at fireworks time? Sounds like they were willing to seat you in just about any table that opened up even if the size was different then what you needed.

As for the wait for drinks? I would have spoke up a lot sooner. I would have grabbed a server and told them to please get the manager to my table. I would have been polite about it (as it is most likely not the fault of that server AND you get more flies with honey), but I would have made it clear that I found the wait for a server to come to the table unacceptable. I would have requested something be done (free drinks from the bar or a discount on my meal). However, I would NOT have sat there getting more and more upset about it without speaking up before that point.

I think this can be a good lesson for anyone. Speak up before it becomes a huge problem. Waiting 10 minutes at the table and no one has approached? Speak up. Bad service in general? Speak up. It is the only way to get things resolved.

 

[soccermom21]

We were there for a 5:30 dinner reservation last week and waited a ridiculous time to get a table (at least an hour with 3 young kids). We had an ADR 2 days later for breakfast and waited 30 minutes and then left. It's just not worth the wait! Out of our 15 ADR's that's the only one we had to wait more than 10-15 minutes for a table. Then we saw nothing of the "fun" kids activities they are supposed to have. Big appointment for me but my husband really liked the food (at least it was good, I'm not a big meat eater like he is but my son and I loved the noodles).

 

[AmyB2006]

I think before leaving, I would've left one of us at the table and the other one find a CM to tell them you had been overlooked and needed a server. That might have gotten the ball rolling for you without having to miss your meal. It could easily have been a misunderstanding between servers thinking one or the other was taking care of you.

I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. But I probably would have tried this too, before walking out. But I can understand being frustrated and just wanting to get out of there too.

 

[DoughR]

I wasn't even aware you could see the fireworks from Ohana and I got punished for it. To be clear my conversation with the manager was as polite as it could be.

 

[rebbyparker]

I don't think you over-reacted in any way. I would have also grabbed someone and at that point, I don't think I would have cared if I grabbed a CM or server or manager.

I'm not being mean, but how on earth can you be "overlooked"? I think that's just giving the restaurant a pass. You're sitting at a table, with no food, no drinks and I presume you're looking around expectantly for someone to take your order? Wouldn't you think someone would have noticed? I don't think I've ever had to wait more than 15 minutes to be seated for an ADR, so if that had happened to me, I would have left as well. But someone would have known about it before I did.

 

[Spunky946]

I don't blame you, but I would have snagged someone else sooner to get my waiter/waitress to come over and be served.

 

[henry72]

I don't blame you, but I would have snagged someone else sooner to get my waiter/waitress to come over and be served.

 

[Imhere]

I'm sure I would have had a drink in my hand when seated, probably a Lapu Lapu.

When sitting around happy and chatting before dinner I wouldn't really look at a 10 minute wait as being the end of the world.

If I were in the least bit upset, I probably would have just found a manager and made sure I got immediate service.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

1) As for overreacting, absolutely not.
2) But, being me,
. . . I would have asked for a manager
. . . I would have complained, politely, but strenuously
. . . I would have requested comp'd food or drinks
. . . I would have had the manager bring the server over for an apology
. . . THEN, I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN UP AND LEFT !

I would have done the same thing. Sorry you had such a crappy experience.

 

[AliceandAriel]

So last night I had a 8:20 reservation for 2 at Ohana. I try checking in 10 minutes early but there were at least two people who walked up--while people were in line waiting to check in--asking for availability. The line was maybe 7groups deep by the time it started moving again. I can't really fault the cast member for this one, she was just being nice and answering questions. According to our table print-out, we checked in at 8:23. We proceeded to wait until about 8:55 to be seated. I step away to use the restroom and tell my brother to ask for a coke if the waiter/waitress comes. I come back and sit down and my brother tells me no one has come by yet. About 10 minutes later a family of 3 is seated next to us to have their drink orders taken a couple of minutes later. So I express interest in leaving and my brother agrees. I tell a cast member I'm on my way out and she gets the manager. She offered me another table and says its probably another 20 minutes out because of the fireworks so I refuse. She gave me her card and told me to contact her if I have any interest in coming back during my trip. Tonight I'll be at Seaword so I'm not sure if I want to make the effort in finding transport from Pop where we're staying and Wednesday we have reservations at BoG. Thursday we leave early morning.

So did I overract? I don't like make cast members feeling bad no matter the issue but last night overall was just an unsatisfactory day.

Considering the 30-odd minutes it took you to get your seat, the 10 minutes that passed with no attention to you, then the suggestion to wait another 20 minutes for a different table? I would have walked out while waiting to be seated, forget the rest.

Not to mention the less-than-stellar reviews of the food quality there recently, and I'd say you probably dodged a bullet.

 

[DoughR]

So here's an update: I left Seaworld fairly early and decided to email the manager about trying Ohana again that day. I stated in the email that I would understand the lack of availability due to the short notice. I was using my last FP+ on Toy Story when I received an email from the manager saying that I can come back at 8pm and that they would be expecting me (I had said in the email that any time after 8 would be fine). It was 7:20 when we got out of DHS so we headed straight to the Polynesian. At 7:55, I walked up to the podium and the cast member greets me and hands me the buzzer without me saying a word. We were seated at about 8:40. The table ticket showed arriving at 7:07 (about the time I received the email according to my inbox) and being buzzed in at 8:35 so I don't exactly know how long we waited. I decided it was only fair to be patient after getting a table without a reservation so I didn't bring it up.

The dinner was going fairly well at first. The table ticket had notes about a "guest recovery" on it. The manager came by to chat for a bit while we were eating which was nice. She told us to enjoy because the meal was just getting started. The funny thing is that it kind of petered out after she left. We were brought options maybe two or three times after that. After a while the waitress came by with plates for dessert and asked if we were ready for it. I asked "don't you have shrimp?" and she responded "you didn't get shrimp?". I told her no and she spoke though a list of items asking what I tried or didn't get the chance to. Apparently we didn't get the noodles and veggies either. So we got those afterwards, just in time before dessert. The food itself was delicious aside from the grilled chicken and pork. They were dry to the point of being difficult to swallow.

After dessert a check was brought to us. From what I can tell as someone who has never used a dining plan, DDP credits were applied to our ticket so the meal was paid for and the ticket was asking just for a tip. I asked the waitress to just apply my TiW discount to the bill and charge me as normal. I just want good service and it was... adequate.

 

[spodie]

Based on what I have heard from others, and my own experience, the service at O'hana is not great. Where I have personally never had an awful experience with the service, it has always been lackluster at best (drinks not getting refilled, plates not cleared off for an unreasonable amount of time, etc). Based on this information, I wouldn't be surprised if you did have a server assigned to your table who had not given you any attention. Of course, it could have always been a miscommunication between servers, but the server reputation at O'hana does not inspire much confidence in me to take that train of thought.

I know these guys work hard and are probably just following the "move-as-many-people-through-as-possible" orders from the higher-ups, but paying these prices and getting treated like that is simply unacceptable. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, and hopefully O'hana will start getting it together soon!

 

[BrokeMack]

You overreacted. It is never acceptable to walk out without speaking to management. How do you expect them to correct a problem they aren't aware of?

 

[davedmaine]

So last night I had a 8:20 reservation for 2 at Ohana. I try checking in 10 minutes early but there were at least two people who walked up--while people were in line waiting to check in--asking for availability. The line was maybe 7groups deep by the time it started moving again. I can't really fault the cast member for this one, she was just being nice and answering questions. According to our table print-out, we checked in at 8:23. We proceeded to wait until about 8:55 to be seated. I step away to use the restroom and tell my brother to ask for a coke if the waiter/waitress comes. I come back and sit down and my brother tells me no one has come by yet. About 10 minutes later a family of 3 is seated next to us to have their drink orders taken a couple of minutes later. So I express interest in leaving and my brother agrees. I tell a cast member I'm on my way out and she gets the manager. She offered me another table and says its probably another 20 minutes out because of the fireworks so I refuse. She gave me her card and told me to contact her if I have any interest in coming back during my trip. Tonight I'll be at Seaword so I'm not sure if I want to make the effort in finding transport from Pop where we're staying and Wednesday we have reservations at BoG. Thursday we leave early morning.

So did I overract? I don't like make cast members feeling bad no matter the issue but last night overall was just an unsatisfactory day.

That's rare. Give it another shot. It's one of the few Disney restaurants that hasn't been ruined (yet) by the dining plan

 

[Kpskyman]

Depending on your circumstance, it would be ok to leave. If your there with kids under 10 that have been doing parks all day, and are tired and hungry, I would have stayed, and requested a Mgr to come over. Rather then try to get my kids fed elsewhere I would have tried to get as much comp'd as I possibly could for getting overlooked. Especially if I had been there for an hour already.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Wow, I would not have waited 10 minutes for a drink order without asking for a manager.

 

[poison ivy]

We were at Kona that same night 12/9 for the first dinner seating at 5pm. We didn't get called until 5:20 and there was a huge line for O'hana.

For a party of 2 we were rushing to get out of there around 7pm. We could see O'hana and it continued to have nothing but large crowds of people waiting. It was hectic at both restaurants that night.