My Ohana review

[DisneyMomx7]

Wow! I'm shocked at the bad review for Ohana. It is our family's absolute favorite, non-character, meal in all of WDW. We have been many times over the years and the food and service has always been so good when we have been there. And the kids are always so excited for the hula lessons and coconut races. Sorry to hear of the bad experiences, but it's a must do for us.

We've eaten dinner at Ohana at least 10 times and always have had a great experience too.

Sorry OP had a bad night. I would have asked the servers to please wait, and hold off on the next course if it was we were still eating.

Also the everything, including the dessert, is always family style. If that isn't what the OP was expecting she didn't do her "homework" on Ohana!

 

[soniag]

We ate there on may 3rd and the service was lousy, our waiter didn't cared!!! But once we order the beef medium rare it got better. In fact, since we have all the receipes of the meal (except for the pork dumpling) we are making our own ohana diner right at home. It cost almost nothing to make and our bread pudding is pretty much as good if not better then theirs!!

Aloha

 

[mdsouth]

We found Ohanas to be our best meal the entire trip. It was wonderful. Our waiter was excellent and he did not rush us at all. He brought out the food and gave us time to try it, then he came by numerous times to check our drinks and to give us more of the food we wanted.

I agree with the poster, if the OP expected separate individual dessers than he or she did not understand the concept of the restaurant. It is served family style.

We really enjoyed it and plan to go back.

We found Le Chefs in France to be very hectic and rushed. Plus the food was just okay - it didn't have much flavor. So, I guess it really depends on what you want and expect and sometimes the actual time you go. I totally understand how the service can be different for each group of people. A poor server can really ruin an experience.

 

[MissLiz]

We ate there on our May trip. We have always loved Ohana and when we couldn't get ADRs there on our previous trip, we missed it, so it was one of the first we tried to get for this trip.

I have to say that we were a little disappointed. The food was fine...of course, it did come out fast, not really in a course by course fashion, but it was good. Our problem was the service, or lack thereof.

Our server was already looking at the next place he was going while he was setting things on our table. I don't know how many times he set stuff on other things and almost knocked them over. Also, they used to come around more with the meats, but this time, the server came by once with the meat and we didn't see him with meat again.

We have a 13 month old so we weren't looking to spend hours there. But even we felt really rushed. We are thinking we may skip it again next trip.

The only other thing we didn't like (and I never noticed before because we were always a party of 3) was that there are very few 4 top tables in the main dining room. DD7 does all of the games and such and it was harder to do when we were stuck in the back where most of the 4 tops are. Not a deal breaker, but it was a little difficult.

 

[jwboucher]

I am so happy I found these reviews. I have been to Ohana's 3 times. The second visit was so so and I really didn't want to go back. But DH loved it so we did. It was good, I liked the new veggies and noodles. That was 2007. But this year we are torn between Ohana and Chef Mickeys.....Any thoughts? .....Please.

 

[dvcdek]

I remember a different place

 

[JerseyDisneyGirl]

Thank you for posting this. I was starting to think it was just me. I have never felt so rushed through a meal, I should have insisted that the server slow down. The food was terrbile and to top it off we didn't even get sat in the main room. It was our kids very first meal at Disney, and it was horrible. I still get angry thinking about it. I would NEVER eat there agian.

 

[DeeCeeSW]

We've eaten at 'Ohana so many times I've lost count. Most of the time, service is spot on, but there definitely were times when it lacked and things seemed rushed. Not being shy, I spoke up and asked for the pace to be slowed, that I could not possibly eat that much at once, and that our table was way too small for all that food. The onslaught stopped. On our last trip, the service was above and beyond--the waitstaff knew exactly what I wanted and needed without me having to ask (more shrimp, less meat, more dumplings!!). I'm sorry that the OP had a less than stellar experience. For the first time in years, 'Ohana will be our first night dinner spot (used to be Chef Mickey's but IMHO, the food is subpar).

 

[GusT]

I am so happy I found these reviews. I have been to Ohana's 3 times. The second visit was so so and I really didn't want to go back. But DH loved it so we did. It was good, I liked the new veggies and noodles. That was 2007. But this year we are torn between Ohana and Chef Mickeys.....Any thoughts? .....Please.

I have been to WDW the last 3 years and 'Ohana is a must do for us every year! We did Chef Mickey's the first 2 years and will NOT do it again. We have never felt rushed at 'Ohana, but that is because we look at it as all one meal. The salad, veggies, noodles, dumplins and wings we just see as sides to the meat they pass around. I have never had a bad meal there and we ate there twice in 2008. The dessert is a shared plate, it is a family style meal afterall. We never had to ask for refills on anything, they were always asking us before we ran out. I loved the salad and have made the dressing more than once since we have been home. I am hoping to go back in November and it will definately be on our list. It is our favorite!!!

Like I said I think people make the mistake of thinking of it as a appetizer, entree, dessert place. We just think of it as.... as soon as you sit down you have lots of food to choose from!!

Erica

 

[heartofdisney]

We've only been to Ohana's once,in September of 09,and while I wasn't too impressed with the food itself ,we had no problems with the service at all. My daughter is a vegetarian,and the chef even came out to talk to her about what she would like,and said how happy he was to make something different then the usual fare. He was extremely nice to us,and especially her,and then came out a second time to see how she liked the meal,which she liked alot. Ours was only so-so.It wasn't unedible or anything,but it just didn't meet my expectations due to the hype I was hearing on this board either.

 

[mfd25wife]

We ate there last week and loved it. If they offered us something we were not ready for, we just told them we didn't need it yet. I reminds me of Texas De Brazil without the little red/green discs. We had a great server who made sure we never ran out of drinks. DD loves noodles and they brought her an extra bowl of them. We also enjoyed watching the fireworks from our table. I'm sorry not everyone has had the experience we did. We plan on going every trip now.

 

[Vegcentric]

You know, it's weird but years ago when my family still did family vacations and my sister and I were still kids, we loved 'Ohana. My father didn't, but he didn't like anything (he's kind of grouchy, so we don't pay him much mind, lol!) about the vacation but my mother was pretty impressed as well. The food was amazing, and they brought out quite a variety of different stuff. I can't remember what we ate, but I do remember the service being really, really great. Our waiter came over, called us cousin very enthusiastically and gave us all leis and then explained what we were eating.

Flash forward to 2009, the last time I was there with my husband...and it was dreadful. Having lurked the disboards for quite some time I knew there were lots of mixed reviews, but oh man...it was bad. People are talking about the slow service...I remember just being ignored most of the night. We saw our service maybe twice - at the beginning of the meal and at the end. We did get leis, but she had absolutely no personality. We were stuck in a corner and barely saw anyone. Also, I don't know what was up that evening but the air conditioning was up SO high that I was shivering throughout the meal. We probably won't be back any time soon.

 

[HeidiGW]

I agree. The first time we went to 'Ohana in 2003, maybe, we had the greatest meal of any trip...a party of 10 no less! We keep going back to 'Ohana, hoping for a glimmer of the first experience to find none! Although, the bread pudding has always been wonderful!!! My worst beef, ha, is that after being rushed/ignored it takes 45 minutes to pay!!!!!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Had dinner only once at 'Ohana about 4 years ago. Starters were good, meats were almost inedible. Mostly cold and tough. Sat our group of 3 at a table for 8 in the back, by ourselves. Didn't enjoy it at all.

Been several times for breakfast and enjoyed it enough to go back.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Ohana is our MUST DO meal every trip! It is our favorite non-character meal on property. The food has always been delicious and we've also always had good service. Just thinking about it makes me hungry . . .

 

[raider97]

We love Ohana! We had a great meal here on Christmas Day 2009. We had a 5 p.m. reservation and the food and the service was spectacular! This is a must-do for us!

 

[CoffeeCup]

We ate at Ohana June 3, and I'll never go back. We checked in a few minutes early for our reservation and were given a pager to buzz us when our table was ready. After waiting over half an hour, DH asked the hostess when we would be seated. She claimed she had buzzed us much earlier, but since we were sitting there holding the pager, we knew she hadn't. She argued with DH until he asked her to buzz our pager, and he showed her that it wasn't working. Instead of apolgizing, she told him she had called our name several times without our showing up. That may have been true since there was no way we could have heard her because of a huge family group clustered around the hostess podium playing, screaming, running and pulling each other down on the floor, etc. The problem was that the pager didn't work, and she blamed us for not showing up when she buzzed us. When we finally were seated, the food came out far too fast, as others have said. That is annoying, but we've always enjoyed the food at Ohana and have learned to accept the fact that we will be rushed. However, the event that really caused me to decide never to return was when a waiter, dragging a table, through the aisle, knocked that table into our table and caused the bowl of chicken wings to fall on my leg. He stopped and asked if I were okay but never actually apologized. I asked him for extra napkins to clean the wings and sauce off my pants and the chair, and he just stood there. I asked again, and he said he'd go get something. Finally, several minutes later, he brought a wet, warm cloth like they always bring for you to wipe your hands. I didn't want anything, I know accidents happen, and, fortunately, I was wearing black, cotton capris that could be wiped off and later washed. I did expect an apology and more than one damp cloth to clean up the mess. It also would have been nice if the waiter had offered to clean the sauce off my chair instead of leaving it for me to do.

 

[Silverfox97]

OK, minority here. "Ohana is our FAVORITE WDW table service destination.We just ate our 4th dinner at 'Ohana Thursday. It was the best yet. Party of 7. ADR for 5:30pm, we arrived at 4:50pm and were seated at 5pm. We had a dining pair of servers - our drinks were CONTINUOUSLY full, and we were not at all rushed. In fact, after the bread, salad, potstickers/chicken wings, noodles/veggies, were we are asking them to bring on the meat skewers! They kept telling us to pace ourselves, and we knew the best was the dessert, so we planned on it. The only thing "disappointing" was the bread we were served was a little dry/not warm, but we were OK with that, as we knew what was to come and would rather fill up on bread pudding for dessert than welcome bread. Our serving pair was truly tremendous - we were cash paying (with Tables in Wonderland), and he didn't even look at my TIW card - just put the discount on there. I can guarantee we will be going back for a 5th and more times!!! Love "Ohana!! (Anyone have the recipe for the noodles???)

 

[EvilQueenT]

do you think the change in ohana's as well as many other of the disney table service restaurants is due to the cuts they've made in order to offer free dining? things i've noticed are rushed service...trying to keep turnover of tables going to seat more diners, less variety on menu's etc...

 

[PrincessTiffany]

do you think the change in ohana's as well as many other of the disney table service restaurants is due to the cuts they've made in order to offer free dining? things i've noticed are rushed service...trying to keep turnover of tables going to seat more diners, less variety on menu's etc...

What cuts have they made to offer free dining? I've eaten at Ohana's before there was a dining plan, after there was a dining plan and the last three times we've eater there, we've been on free dining. It was good every single time we ate there, pre and post dining plan.