Ragland Road Never Again

[mustangp51]

Well just got back from 11 days of Disney. The food and wine fest was great, I managed to sample every food item in each booth over the course of the week and also attended about 15 food and wine events.

However for the first time I decided to try Ragland Road. I was meeting a bunch of friends and thought it would be a great place to celebrate our annual event.

Anyhow it's hard to even describe the lousy food and service at RR. For starters they are the most ignorant staff on the property. Ordering was not simple since we were 10 people and the waitress was getting rather nasty with us. When I asked her why she was acting so rude to us, she simply said that Ragland Road is not a Disney restaurant, so they don't act like them i.e. castmembers.

Then one of my friends went to the bathroom there is this little path about 5 feet long that leads from our table to the bathroom. It's on the side of the bar they say is the wait staff section. Well my friend walked through it and was literally chewed out for walking through it. Then of course we were getting drunk and loud like your typical Irish Pub and the security acted like a cheap college bar. Everyone was so unprofessional.

All the food was bland. Especially this one Guinness beer chicken appetizer thing. It was the lousiest piece of chicken with 0 flavor I've ever had and of course asked for a replacement and got a very quick no. The rest of the food was just crappy Irish food you can get at any half decent Irish Pub anywhere else. Entertainment ... sucked.

All in all I must say that all my years at WDW I've never had a dining experience like this. In fact this was probably the worst I ever had in my life. I will never step foot in that place and hope and wish to god that the Jazz Club will come back and replace that dump. In fact just about all of Pleasure Island has gone to crap now. I can't believe what has happened to that place since it opened. It went from the best of the best to the worst of the worst.

 

[Hobbes]

That is the second "Never again" review for RR I have read in a week-and whether Disney-owned or not, there is no excuse for bad attitude or service. The previous review I read said they had tried to palm somone elses returned meal on the reviewer! Definitely one to avoid.

 

[BillSears]

I've been to RR 4 times so far. The first 3 times were WONDERFUL. Great service, fantastic show, wonderful table and the food was pretty good. The fourth time I had an ADR for 7:45 because the band on the previous 3 times started up at 8:00. But this night they didn't start until 9:00. Anyway because of this I didn't ask for a table in the main room and they shuffled me off to a side room. The table was terrible, no atmosphere at all in this area, the waiter was slow and almost always disappeared, the food was still good. I'll have to seriously consider whether I'll be eating there again if the band isn't on stage.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Wait - did you say you were getting drunk and loud and you thought the service was unprofessional. Maybe YOUR getting drunk and loud was part of the problem!

 

[luckytobeme88]

We ate at RR this past August for the first time and probably the last time too. We were seated at the small bar stool table (the tables to your left as soon as enter the restaurant) There were 4 of us and the table was too small and too high to be comfortable. Meanwhile there were a lot of open tables in the main dinner area??? Why seat us there, I don't have a clue (we weren't drunk, lol) As our food arrived, our waiter kind of expected us to manuever the small table space we had, so he could have a space to put down the plates. HELLOO, shouldn't have given us this table to begin with!! Food matched the atmosphere so well. Wouldn't give RR a second chance, sorry.

 

[gtalum]

Wait - did you say you were getting drunk and loud and you thought the service was unprofessional. Maybe YOUR getting drunk and loud was part of the problem!

It's an Irish pub. That's what people do at Irish pubs.

 

[Abby's Dad]

Well just got back from 11 days of Disney. The food and wine fest was great, I managed to sample every food item in each booth over the course of the week and also attended about 15 food and wine events.

However for the first time I decided to try Ragland Road.

I have had wonderful service and food at RAGLAN ROAD - and I tend to discard any review that cannot even get the name of the restaurant correct. Also, throughout Disney, I have eaten at many places that people have complained about the service and I received wonderful service - how can that be? Could it be that it is the attitude that you start with and how you treat the service people. Just a thought.

 

[mustangp51]

Wait - did you say you were getting drunk and loud and you thought the service was unprofessional. Maybe YOUR getting drunk and loud was part of the problem!

As you can see I've spent a lot of time on WDW propoerty, so I'm no noob on how both Disney and non-Disney castmembers treat their guests. And as for the the food, well don't really care if you like my brief review or not, there are plenty of reviews out there to back up my report that the food is as lousy as their service and attitude. I'll never go back to that place again, don't really care if anyone else ever does, it's not my money.

 

[GEM]

We had an absolutely amazing meal there on our trip in February. Everything was good, but the scallop appetizer and the bread pudding dessert were outstanding. I'm still drooling over them all these months later!

Sorry you didn't have a good experience there. We can't wait to go back in December.

Honestly, it doesn't seem like some place I would expect people to get "drunk and loud". Have a few beers? Sure. Get wasted and obnoxious? No. I could be wrong, but it just doesn't seem like that kind of place to me. If I'd been enjoying dinner and drinks there and the people at the next table were getting "drunk and loud", I would have wanted security to step in.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

It's an Irish pub. That's what people do at Irish pubs.

So I guess all the other people who went to Raglan Road just didn't know how to act? I haven't eaten there yet so I have no way of knowing how good/bad the food and service were. I do think when people are "loud and drunk" their perceptions of how they were treated may not be accurate.

Maybe being loud and drunk to the waitstaff contributed to their perception that the waitstaff treated them badly.

I guess I don't know anyone who goes to Disney and then brags about being "loud and drunk" at a restaurant.

 

[taylorl25]

We were just there last week and really enjoyed our meal. I know it bills itself as an Irish pub but to me it felt more like a restaurant rather than a typical irish pub and not somewhere i would go to get drunk.

Anyway the food was good and service was fine, not the best I've ever had but certainly not the worst.

 

[zackspal]

have eaten there on last 4 trips. also planning on this Nov trip. My Dw & Kids all love the place

 

[Iluvthemouse]

We went there for the first time last month. We will not be going back again. Our waitress was very snotty and arrogant. The food was bland as well. The restaurant was almost empty. We were very disappointed since I had read so many good reviews.

edited to add they used instant mashed potatoes. Umm, an Irish joint using instant mashed potatoes? Blech

 

[Destination Disney]

 

[mustangp51]

We went there for the first time last month. We will not be going back again. Our waitress was very snotty and arrogant. The food was bland as well. The restaurant was almost empty. We were very disappointed since I had read so many good reviews.

edited to add they used instant mashed potatoes. Umm, an Irish joint using instant mashed potatoes? Blech

Exactly, there is no excuse at WDW for having some wait staff good and some bad, especially if they boast being unlike Disney castmembers. I've had countless meals on the property and never once heard that since they are not part of the Disney company they do not have to act like the Disney employees. I've eaten in Bongos, House of Blues and Rain Forest many times over each and all of them treat you like your at a vacation resort. The staff at RR treat you like they don't even want to be there in the first place, so why are they?

 

[crisi]

I ate there in June, had a pleasant waitress and one of the best burgers I've had on Disney property. I was very pleasantly surprised (I don't like British Isles food and only went in because it was there and I was hungry).

 

[hildarumpole]

We had dinner there in June. It was one of the best meals of the trip. Our waiter Colin was terrific. We never even had to ask for drink refills. He always appeared with a fresh drink as soon as one was finished. Everything we ate was yummy and the kids loved the balloon man. Maybe the waitress made the remark about not being a CM, because of an attitude by the dining party. Our poorest Disney dining experience was at a Disney owned restaurant (Ohana). In fact, she was probably one of the worst waitresses we've ever had anywhere, so it's not a Disney vs. non-Disney thing. Wait staff should try to remain professional and courteous, even when faced with drunk and loud patrons, but I'm sure it gets to them sometimes. The situation probably could have been handled better, but the OP's bad experience would not stop us from going there again.

 

[mustangp51]

Maybe the waitress made the remark about not being a CM, because of an attitude by the dining party.

Have you ever asked a wait staff why they are acting so rude before? And for them to have them answer the question with actual reasoning? She didn't make a comment, she answered a question with an answer. She knew she was being rude and our group isn't a bunch of college punks, we are all 35 year old + business professionals. Sounds like you might of went earlier in the day, because I didn't see any balloon guys or kids for that matter. This was last Sat nite, first Sat nite of food and wine fest and the place was packed with partyers.

But this is just my impression so take it with a grain of salt. Myself and my group of annual food and wine friends will not be meeting up for first Sat nite, like we've done for 10 years or any other nite at that place ever again. It wasn't just the wait staff, it was everyone in there. They may place nice during the day, but at nite they are all a bunch of jerks.

Bring back the Jazz Club!

 

[GEM]

It wasn't just the wait staff, it was everyone in there. They may place nice during the day, but at nite they are all a bunch of jerks.

When you make sweeping, general statments like that it really discredits your opinion, at least for me.

It certainly makes me wonder how "drunk and loud" you were and how much that impacted the way you were treated, or, even more, the way you perceived you were treated.

I'm not saying you didn't have a rude server. It's certainly possible you did. However, I'm not inclined to invest much in the opinion of someone who was, by their own words, loud and drunk during dinner.

 

[mustangp51]

I'm not looking for credibility, I'm posting my opinion. If I was running for some kind of office then my use of words would be more widely chosen. We were acting like any other group in the crowd i.e. trying to have a good time, like we do every year on that particular nite. The waitress was rude to us from the moment we sat down and a few other of the staff were absolutely despicable in their attitudes and service for the remainder of the nite. Then the lousy food they served was just icing on the cake.

Seems to me, from what I've read, you should go to RR during the time of day when they know how to act like humans and not wait for times when the crowd is a little too tense for them. Luckily they are at WDW and not located near Giants Stadium otherwise their guests would teach them a thing or two about a real rough crowd. Personally I just think the whole WDW and Irish Pub thing just clashes with them.