Rainforest Cafe-worse service-EVER!

[LuluLovesDisney]

Sorry it wasn't good!

Personally, I love RFC! We're Safari Club members and I've been to locations in New Jersey, Florida and Mexico- they've all been great, although, the DTD location has been slow occasionally. I have to agree with that part.

Usually service is good- esp. at the one in NJ where some servers have come to recognize us. Our last FL visit, we had a funny, kind waiter who made us "off the books" drinks- he made me Jungle Mud with Stoli Vanilla, Amaretto and some other alcohol that was the best drink ever!
Since we are Safari Club we never have to wait for a table- we just show our card and get brought right in- the most I've had to wait was maybe 5-10 minutes.
As far as food, it's great! China Island Chicken Salad, Lettuce Wraps, Chimichacha, and the bacon wrapped shrimp with jalapenos and cheese are my favorites.
We always get a discount on food and merchandise and often servers even take the discount off alcohol, too!
I am planning 2 trips to RFC this vacation (one breakfast and one dinner)

 

[frndshpcptn]

I had really bad service there on Tuesday night. It was atrocious - the server was slow and acted inconvenienced everytime we asked for something.

My friend ordered a bbq sandwich with chips. She ate half and no chips. wanted to box the rest up. The waitress brought us this TINY box that didn't event fit the sandwhich (nevermind the chips) and as annoyed when we asked for a bigger box and lids for the dressings.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We've been to the one at AK and the one at DTD. I can only guess at which one was worse. DTD, probably because we had five of us for dinner. Slow is not the word. A glacier moved faster than our server at DTD. And the food was awful at both places. I've never had such a bad pot roast meal in my entire life. It was one big hunk of gristle and fat. Hardly any meat at all. At least it wasn't the big hunk of plastic that my husband had in his smoothie.

I will never eat at RFC again. Ever.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

It was one big hunk of gristle and fat.

I've had the potroast. I couldn't say it was a BIG hunk of anything. The flavor was good and it was trimmed well though. Mine was layered over a scoop of mashed potatoes. And I'm literally talking one icecream scoop of mashed potatoes with about 6 thin strips of pot roast layered over the top. The Portions were dinky.

 

[Mulan82]

wow. that really stinks that you had such a bad experience. my boyfriend and i love the rainforest cafe. we live close to the location in atlantic city, NJ and go there everytime we go to the casino ( which is a lot...). I will also probably get flamed for this too. i am a server. i am not a waitress. my job is to serve you. not to wait on you as if i owe you a favor. its a very stressful job. people come to eat, run you around like a chicken with your head cut off and you have to smile and hold your tongue. and your kids? do you let your kids make that much of a mess at home? no? then please do not do it at the table ( the biggest pet peeve i have about kids is when they pull out all the sugar.. and leave it all over the table. yes, i have to throw all that away and restock it.) have you ever seen the movie waiting? while parts of it are out there, most of it is true. i personally would never spit on someone food... now please keep in mind that i have also worked in a restaurant that is attached to the gift shop just like RFC. please also keep in mind that you are judging the restaurant by one server.. out of say 30 or so? restaurants have bad servers. trust me. i have some in mine. my suggestion, give it a second chance. but don't judge one restaurant by one server in one location.

 

[disneymom225]

I'm going to get flamed but I don't think you were exactly in the right either. How many times is she supposed to come back to the table? Couldn't you all have stayed and looked at the menu before you started walking around the rest.
Then you didn't know and she had to make another trip, then when the food came you weren't there again and if she had just left it are you telling me you wouldn't be complaining about that? They should have found a pen for you yes but why did you short her that much, she could have just put the food down and left. And if she had gotten busy with other tables that were ready to order would you have been willing to wait until she was done with them. She tried giving you speedy service but you kept sending her away. Maybe she shouldn't have given you a look but you sound like a very frustrating table to serve and she is human after all.

I'm not trying to flame you but we tipped 10%- definately below the "suggested" limits but also still something. At no point was the table empty-there was always 1 or 2 people sitting there so it wasn't as if we were just wandering around. I agree about being busy-absolutly BUT we were one of 3 tables in the entire restaurant! By the time we left, the place had filled up more but even when we got our food there were only a handful of tables seated. We also have a very active toddler and rather than forcing her to stay in her seat-we were keeping her occupied and entertained in a restaurant that is really designed for that. We eat out a lot (probably 3-4 nights a week) and I have never had a waitress give an attitude when we asked for some more time to look at the menu. No, we don't have to give the waitress a hard time (and we didn't!) but we are paying for a service and expect to have at least a mininum of courtesy. By sitting in that (empty) restaurant we should have the time to decide on a meal, eat that meal, and enjoy it-not feel as if we are being a burden to the waitress.
Again- I think this was a unique experience and we will probably try it again- It was just such an out of character experience for us that I had to post it. And, from the responses- It doesn't like our experience is that unusual for the chain.

 

[Tigger22]

I have been on the receiving end of both bad and good service - in Disney and elsewhere. I just want to share with you a little bit of the flip side of being a CM at RFC.

My SIL is a CM at RFC in DTD. Definitely not an easy way to make a living. She has worked her butt off for many a table - esp a big party with a big tab - only to get a $2 tip. Many, many go off and leave NO TIP. For someone trying to make some sort of living, it's very hard. Not just there, as before she got this job, she waitressed other places in the area - and it was worse. Before she moved to the area, DH & I got the feeling that this was the case at WDW & Orlando. We always try to leave a 20% tip, and had many a CM come back and seek us out to thank us for their tip. Even at CRT, the CM was sooooo appreciative for the tip, and it surprised us. There are many foreign tourists that don't realize how little the wage is for a waitress, and how much they rely on that tip.

So, I guess I understand how someone could get an attitude. I give my SIL a lot of credit, as I would probably last a minute in her job, before I spoke my mind and got fired! Many people would not only blame the CM for bad service, but also a slow kitchen, and bad food - which they have no control over. Now, I know I am NOT waitress material! And do I like to be on the receiving end of bad service - nope. And I'm sure DSIL does not want to be in this job for the rest of her life, but she's got to pay the rent somehow.

Guess it's just the Libra in me to try portray both sides of the picture. I'm not trying to offend - just offering an opinion. You are on vacation at the "happiest place in the world" , but a CM is just trying to make a living!

Thanks for reading & don't take offense. JMHO.

 

[hookedup]

Sorry to hear about your poor experience -
I am NOT a fan of RFC. Have been to 2 of them - one in Southern CA and the one in DTD Orlando. Both experiences made me never want to return again - and I won't!

 

[disneymom225]

I do understand how hard it is to waitress (be a server)-- my mother spent many years supporting us as a single mom by waitressing. I get that. What I don't get is why someone would act like we were being a burden b/c we wanted to look at the restaurant and take an extra 5 minutes to look at the restaurant. The food wasn't great-the eggs were undercooked but I know that is not the servers fault and I would never take that out on her/him. It is a tough way to make rent-sure but if you are not able to deal with the demands of the job-there are other ways to make money. I have never waitressed but I did work throughout high school and college in either retail or in hotels so I understand about the difficulties. I am not trying to blast waitresses or act like their job is so easy-I am just sharing my one experience.
We talked a lot on the vacation about how for CMs it is just a job and all things being equal-people would rather not have to work and how hard it must be. We live just outside of Atlantic City, NJ and deal with tourists constantly-especiallly in the usmmer months and BECAUSE of that, we try to be extra nice to the "locals" because it really is a pain in the neck to have these people come in, take over everything, and expect to be catered to.
My point of the story was to share my experience and what made it stand out was how bad the service was.

 

[disneymom225]

i am a server. i am not a waitress. my job is to serve you. not to wait on you as if i owe you a favor. its a very stressful job. people come to eat, run you around like a chicken with your head cut off and you have to smile and hold your tongue. and your kids? do you let your kids make that much of a mess at home? no? then please do not do it at the table ( the biggest pet peeve i have about kids is when they pull out all the sugar.. and leave it all over the table. yes, i have to throw all that away and restock it.) .

My duaghter does pull out all the sugar but then we put it away. We clean up the mess our child makes and if she does make a larger that normal mess-we leave a much, much bigger tip. I understand that this does not make up for it but obviously I can't take out the mop like I do at home when my toddler throws food on the floor-which she does because she is just learning how to eat with a spoon/fork. THat is part of the deal with small children and when you work at a kid-oriented restaurant-it comes with the territory. If you don't want to do that-work at a 5 star place.
I think the difference between "waitress" and "server" is semantics. I am a school librarian but my certification says "media specialist"-doesn't really change my job descriptation-it's just another way of saying the same thing. If you are here to "serve" me or "wait" on me-that's basically the same thing. In fact, I would argue that "serving" someone implies a much higher level of service.

 

[danalee]

I agree with disneymom225! I think "most: people (on this board anyway) understand waiting tables is a tough job, not always the best paying and can get down right ugly at times!

BUT that said, bad service is bad service peirod!

I was a waitress for many years I get all the..... "people before you were awful, your haveing a rotten day, tips have sucked..... ect ect" but every table is different and should be treaded that way, if you act like a horrible waitress at every table then your tips should suck! But one table/customer shouldnt set the standard for the day. Its your job...good and bad. Ok sorry about the ranting

All that aside, I have been at Rainforest in DTD twice, the first time we went it was wonderful! We had a blast loved the place, the food was ok and the service was great!
The last time we were there a different story from the get go.
Again we loved the look and feel of the place, kids were entertained. The food.....well still ok. The service was horrible, just as others have said, wait for ever to have our order taken, took forever to get drinks(no refils) and food was dropped off and our waiter, well went missing in action! Oh and all the while he had a major nasty attitude that just wouldnt stop!
When I went and tracked down the manager(cause we wanted a check and some boxes after being done eating for a good 30 minutes) he said he would find him, well he came back and gave us attitude like you wouldnt believe, it was down right nasty! Worse than eariler!

We had 10 in our group and with the total bill coming to almost $200 he would have got an easy $40-$50 in tips from our table.....well like I said he was nasty, when he came back to the table it was worse but he didnt start off so hot either, but anyway the final straw came when one of the kids at our table ask for a box (for 1/2 a burger) he said (in a nasty tone) "you have got to be kiddding me" huffed and went on his way!

Well we got ready to leave, my hubby went to pay the bill, and I went to find the waiter............found him laughing and chatting with co-workers..and I said "hey I just wanted to make sure you got your tip" and in a very pleasent tone he says "oh thank you" and I said "oh dont thank me yet, see I was a waitress for many years and I know that waiting tables is tough (of course he so sweetly agreed) but you need to find another line of work, because if treat all your customers the way you treated my family, you have to be broke!" (now looking dumbfounded and not saying a word) I showed him a $50 and said "this would have easily been your tip, BUT since you treated us like we were going to tip you a $1 here is your $1..... ENJOY! and I walked away.

 

[bnhasak]

We had an awful experience this past December at DTD RFC. we got seaty rather quickly, but then our waiter actually looked bothered to be waiting on us. we ordered our two iced teas and started to look over the menu. The waiter took forever to get back to us. In the meantime a child at the next table puked all over the place. It wasnt' pretty. instead of trying to quickly clean it up, they let it sit there for ten minutes. It really stunk, and I have quite a weak stomach. When our waiter FINALLY returned, my husband said that we would not be staying as the smell was making me ill. The waiter got really mad and then took an attitude and didn't return with our check (for the two untouched iced teas) for another ten minutes. The smell was atrocious!

We used to LOVE this place and made a point of going every trip. Never again after that!

 

[princess pooh]

I've eaten there a few times but I've never had good service. It always took forever for them to take the order, then they throw the food at you two minutes later, then it takes forever to get the bill. It's the exact same story every time I've been there. I guess the servers must burn out quickly because I've never had one that was remotely friendly or polite. The animals are cute and all, but they don't make up for the boring food and bad service. There are much better restaurants to spend my money in.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

I remember going to the one in downtown chicago and the one in woodfield mall in schaumburg after they opened. the wait was horrible, but the experiences weren't bad. they both started slipping quickly. then we moved down here and tried them both thinking maybe being on WDW property would make the quality better. we were dead wrong. we didn't like the planet hollywood in chicago at all, but have had great meals at the on in DTD. it's the crapshoot you get when you go out for dinner.

 

[Esmerelda]

I'm sorry that the original OP had such a bad experience. The manager should have done something to make the customer satisfied....like 20% or 50% off your bill and a very nice apology!

Having said that...we have eaten at the RFC at least the last 3 trips. We have had great service...food was to the table in a timely fashion (kind of too fast the last trip?) We all ordered something different the last time and tried each others meals. There was only one dish that was not a favorite to any of us (can't recall what it was). I remember a great BBQ sandwich that I very much enjoyed.

I guess I'm baffled as to all these bad experiences. I know my boys remember a server named "Mike" at the RFC in Animal Kingdom that didn't write down anything when the food was ordered. He did not mess up one dish nor one drink with the 4 of us....we were impressed. I have never gotten a dish there that I did not like.

scratching head here....
Esmerelda

 

[Tumbleweed]

Our one experience was at the RFC - DTD. It was early December. We didn't
have a reservation, but were told it would be 1/2 hour wait. We waited,
and waited. twice I went up to make sure they had our name. 1 1/2 hours
later (9:00 PM), the girls at the hostess booth were closing up. I went up
and asked about us. They said they were through. I told them we'd been
waiting so long. They didn't want to, but they finally seated us. The food
was mediocre and we were hustled. NEVER AGAIN! I refuse to ever give
them a penny of my hard-earned money again. Even my DH was mad, and
he NEVER gets mad.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

Sorry the OP didn't have good service. We've eaten there twice and service was good both times (not particularly fast, but they were very, very busy both times). The first time, the food was wonderful (DH's steak and my veggie burger) and the second time, my pizza was delish but DH's steak was lousy--hate to pay 25 bucks or so for a lousy steak, so we haven't been back.

 

[RobInBigKC]

I think any market only has room for one big restaurant with bad food and cool atmosphere, and in Denver, Casa Bonita has a lock on that niche

Oh man! I LOVED Casa Bonita on my trips to Tulsa (not GREAT food there but not bad either) and have often wished we had one here in Kansas City. Love their sopapillas and always got prompt attention when we raised our flag. Hate to hear that the Denver one has bad food.

(Sorry to digress. Back to the original topic...)

-- Rob

 

[CdeSade]

I work at the Columbia Restaurant (1905 original) in Ybor City, Tampa. I serve “guests”. I don’t wait on “customers”. Semantics? Who would you rather serve you? A proper server knows the difference, and so should the guests. Input is output.

I think it’s great that you left a 10% tip if your service was as bad as you’re explaining… but I suspect it wasn’t that bad, just not great. It is quite frustrating when a table likes to get up and walk around. It really disturbs the flow. BUT, this is WDW and of course most tables are gonna be like that. I’d imagine it’s a like a Sunday Rush every day, every shift. Gees, give it up for those guys!

Guessing you were one of the first to eat there that day? I bet things were still being set up in the back. The kitchen everywhere is awfully slow to start out, and super quick to close. She probably had to do ten times as much work as usual, thus her attitude? Servers don’t usually bring in outside problems to the job. Seems like she’s a good server, coming to let you know your food was at the table.

A lot of tables come in w/ the attitude that the server is there to wait on them… hand and foot. They don’t want to let us get refills when your WATER (WITH LEMON) is halfway down, when it’s the only time we’ll be able to come back for a bit. Or they don’t want to order when you have the time in your trying-to-be-efficient-for-every-table time, even if they’re ready.

I’m your very own Mr. Mom! So please treat me w/ respect… as an equal. All it takes is one person per table to smile, say please and thank you, and look me in the eye to get the best, friendliest service I can give. And always remember we have tip-out, which means I have to pay out 5% of your bill. Leave me a 20% tip and I get to keep 15%. Have a $200 table and I literally have to pay $10 to serve you! So… would you call that an inconvenience, the fact that I pay the hostesses, busboys, and bartenders?

And PLEASE people, PLEASE don’t short us even a dollar on the tip… it’s our bread and butter. And don’t kid yourself, your math isn’t THAT bad. My weekly 30 hour (I also go to an extremely expensive college) paycheck is a whopping $23, yup I get less than a dollar per hour! EUROPEANS PLEASE REMEMBER THIS!!!

Oh man! I LOVED Casa Bonita on my trips to Tulsa (not GREAT food there but not bad either) and have often wished we had one here in Kansas City. Love their sopapillas and always got prompt attention when we raised our flag. Hate to hear that the Denver one has bad food.

(Sorry to digress. Back to the original topic...)

-- Rob

I used to eat at the Tulsa one all the time, lots of childhood memories of bad food and great atmosphere. This past December it closed down, sad but true.

 

[RobInBigKC]

I used to eat at the Tulsa one all the time, lots of childhood memories of bad food and great atmosphere. This past December it closed down, sad but true.

Cripes! I hate to hear that. Oh, well, thanks for the info. Now I won't feel so bad that my DS's post-season baseball tournaments usually find us in Oklahoma City (Edmond, actually) instead of the Tulsa area. (I'm waiting for him to hit the "big time" and play at Disney's WWofS.)

-- Rob