"Three Strikes You're Out" Jiko Dining Review

[HGLightlyj]

Jiko gets rave reviews. I took my son there on Sat. 10/23 to have a nice dinner. We ordered three appetizers and one entree to share: flank steak flatbread, boar (?) appetizer, Jiko salad, and the short rib entree.

The only thing we enjoyed was the salad. Everything else was too salty. The flatbread seasonings were not evenly distributed. This combination did not work for us at all. The boar meat in the appetizer was miniscule. The salad was a big portion - great to share - very good! The short ribs were very tender but the salt seasoning ruined the taste.

Our server Eduardo kept the drinks refilled but did not stop to ask if we liked the food until he gave us the bill - he had no comment when we told him it was not good.

This is my third time to eat at Jiko. I thought perhaps I had ordered the wrong things before. To all you Jiko lovers, I'm sorry - I give up! I don't like Jiko. I love highly seasoned food, african, indian, etc. but Jiko doesn't work for me! Boma is my favorite restaurant on site but no reservations were available that night. I wanted to have an impressive meal with my son. First time in 9 years I have been able to get him to Disney. He's not a Disney lover but he likes good food. I was so disappointed. He lives in Chicago and has access to excellent ethnic restaurants of all types there. My son talked with the manager about it. The manager was very nice and apologetic of course.

Sorry Jiko lovers. I sincerely wanted to love Jiko.

 

[BriarRosie]

That's a bummer. I had the wild boar appetizer and the corn soup as my dinner on October 15th, and I thought it was prepared well. Maybe they just had an "off" night. I thought the boar was more spicy than anything else, but not so spicy to blow out my taste buds.

I don't think the boar is a good choice for sharing, but the flatbreads are.

 

[lucyem]

We ate there about a week before you were there. We were not impressed and will not be back. My filet was so tough I was sawing it repeatedly with my knife to get it cut. The side dish was cold in the middle. It was disappointing after reading so many good reviews.

 

[figment814]

I'm sorry to hear that! Jiko is my favorite place to eat...I thoroughly enjoyed the pork, though now that you mention it was on the salty side, though not overly so when I had it.

The good thing about everyone having different tastes in food, if everyone liked or disliked the same thing, there would be very few interesting places to eat!

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

"3 strikes and your out" is my philosophy too. Giving up on a place after 1 visit is just ridiculous in my mind, so I commend you for that.

I, too, want to like Jiko. But since the early years there has always been something amiss. Either the entree, the appy, the service, always something. As a group we've never been thrilled. Too bad.

As for someone's comment on the filet. I don't doubt what you say but at one time my wife had a filet and we weren't even given a steak knife! The butter knife was more than enough and that was a big wow! Note: The filet at Jiko comes from the same vendor as the filet at CG, FF, Citrico's or any other Disney restaurant. (I'm thinking our experience occurred back in the day when each restaurant had a say in their provision purchase).

 

[MickeyNicki]

The first time we ate here we fell in love with Jiko..last year it was a completely different experience. Terrible service and awful food put Jiko on our "skip it" list from now on.

 

[HGLightlyj]

I'm sorry to hear that! Jiko is my favorite place to eat...I thoroughly enjoyed the pork, though now that you mention it was on the salty side, though not overly so when I had it.

The good thing about everyone having different tastes in food, if everyone liked or disliked the same thing, there would be very few interesting places to eat!

I agree - I am in the minority - there are lots of Jiko lovers. Again, we may have picked the wrong dishes - maybe the chef was off this night - but I wont try again. We both enjoy all types of ethnic foods, hot and spicy et al - not many foods we don't like - as long as the food is prepared well. I wanted to be "blown away" with the taste experience like the positive reviews I've read but it was a complete fizzle.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

So I need to know your secret.....

What did you have to do to get Eduarto to fill your drinks?? Magic? Waving Dollars? He decided he was done with us when I didn't order wine and DF only had one beer. He was very attentive to all the tables around us drinking, but he didn't seem to care about my coke

I get punished because I don't like alcohol

He pulled several disappearing acts with us

Sorry you didn't like it... but we didn't either.

 

[Kdog]

I had a wonderful night at Jiko in 2008. And then...July 2010...not so much. I brought my mom (60th b-day) for a mother/daughter celebration, and while the trip was fabulous, Jiko was rather a disappointing meal. My steak came out over done ( I ordered it medium rare and it was well done--no pink and very dry.) I didn't want to say anything because I knew they would have to refire a whole new filet and my mom was ready to dig into hers. But the gentleman who brought it out (not my server) thought it looked overcooked and wanted me to cut into it. He quickly whisked it away and I waited over 45 minutes for a new filet. My mom was way passed finished, thinking about dessert, and still no steak. The manager came to me and explained that the chef was new and he was having problems. Okay, that happens. But, you know one small gesture would have turned around the wait for me. 42.00 is too much to pay for an improperly cooked steak and a very long wait. I never want anything free, and I never would have asked and I love WDW, but if that manager had brought a complimentary glass of wine to me while I waited, I would have felt so much better about it. I expected to pay for the steak and it was good (still overcooked--still no pink but much juicier) when it finally came out, but the dinner for two was awkward and uncomfortable with only one of us eating at a time. Rest of the trip--fabulous (especially Flying Fish!)

 

[LowesChevy]

Too bad! We have had Eduardo before at Jiko, so I feel your pain on the service end.

My mother also ordered the filet medium and it came out raw! Our server was very nice about it, but it still wasn't cooked well the second time. Someone working the grill needs to learn how to cook meat better.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

We had several lackluster meals there after Anette Gray left as chef several years ago. I think the chef from Le Cellier was moved in and now the chef from Coral Reef is now in.

They're both out of their elements, IMO. Gray created amazing culinary masterpieces. The food has gone seriously downhill since she left. I can't in good conscience recommend Jiko to friends.

I guess these things are cyclical. Ten years ago, you couldn't have paid me to eat at San Angel Inn. We've eaten there several times in the past 12 - 14 months, and the dishes are consistently outstanding and the service is stellar.

 

[sweetsusannah]

We had the worst service of our twelve day trip at Jiko last week. The food was good but the service ruined the experience for us. I am pretty sure Eduardo was our servers name. Why would they continue to keep a terrible server in a Disney restuarant more or less a signature?

 

[Tink813]

Thanks for the post...we always thought about eating there....now I know to skip it!

 

[bgdiznee]

Actually I have always had, with the exception of our very first visit, a wonderful experience while dining at Jiko.

The chef from Cali Grill has taken over the reins at Jiko, put several new items on the menu and has parted the filet from the mac and cheese. That dish was always a horror and the reason it took us many years to return to Jiko after experiencing it our first visit.

Lately my DH and I have been dining at the "cooking place" and chatting with the staff. They confirmed the Cali Grill chef takeover. We usually have Tiffany as our server and she is great.

But I do feel "your pain". There are places where we won't return to either after the "three strikes you're out". Any place can have an off night. But if you've had a bad experience several times in a row, one "good" night is not going to restore your faith.

 

[Inkmahm]

We had several lackluster meals there after Anette Gray left as chef several years ago. I think the chef from Le Cellier was moved in and now the chef from Coral Reef is now in.

They're both out of their elements, IMO. Gray created amazing culinary masterpieces. The food has gone seriously downhill since she left. I can't in good conscience recommend Jiko to friends.

I guess these things are cyclical. Ten years ago, you couldn't have paid me to eat at San Angel Inn. We've eaten there several times in the past 12 - 14 months, and the dishes are consistently outstanding and the service is stellar.

There was a thread here a couple days ago about a new chef being at Jiko and a posting of the new menu there. I can't find the thread now but it talked about Eduardo the server, too.

Anyone know who the new chef is at Jiko and where he/she came from?

 

[thehighprincess44]

Three hours ago, I posted if Jiko was worth it. Thanks for the answer!!

 

[DisneyMom1983]

Awww, that disappoints me about all the negative reviews about Jiko. We were thinking about eating there our next trip, but I think we might just skip it. We are traveling with really picky eaters anyway, so it wouldn't probably be their cup of tea.

 

[jude&jonah]

I just returned from Disney and Jiko was AMAZING! We did 7 signatures and it was our second favorite. It will be my last review in my review thread (Snow White & The Seven Signatures) a few posts down.

Can you imagine if I had listened to reviews and missed out on an amazing dining experience? Thank goodness different strokes for different folks- don't let a few reviews get you down!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I just returned from Disney and Jiko was AMAZING! We did 7 signatures and it was our second favorite. It will be my last review in my review thread (Snow White & The Seven Signatures) a few posts down.

Can you imagine if I had listened to reviews and missed out on an amazing dining experience? Thank goodness different strokes for different folks- don't let a few reviews get you down!

I fully agree! We have had nothing but amazing experiences at Jiko. It is one of our top 5 WDW restaurants (falling behind Victoria & Albert's and the California Grill). I wouldn't let bad reviews discourage you from trying it. Everyone has different tastes.

 

[Belle5]

It is important to realize that the reviews here are nearly a year old. We had a pretty tasty meal (our third or fourth time dining there) this past February. Our service was "ok". It was a meal celebrating our wedding anniversary. The year before we enjoyed it more, but there were just some service issues that made it uncomfortable.