"Three Strikes You're Out" Jiko Dining Review

[Euphoria027]

Please don't let a handful of negative reviews deter you from Jiko if it's something you're interested in! My meal there was the best I've ever had in my life.

 

[vettegirl]

We we went there in May it was the worst food and service of the trip.

 

[Sleepydee]

This is the first ADR my fiance and I make when we book our trips. We've always had great service and the food has always been wonderful! Sorry you didnt have the same experience as we usually do.

 

[vettegirl]

We too had a terrible meal at Jiko with both the service and food that was poor. My DH will never go back, and didn't want to stay at AKL because of it. That changed his mind when went to Boma, which IMO is the best place on Disney property.

 

[proudestmunkie]

Love Jiko. I've had nothing but consistently fabulous food and service. I actually dreamt about it last night (yup, true story.) I think the service has ALOT to do with the overall meal and experience. 3 weeks ago I was at Cali Grill with a prime window seat and we left 5 mins before Wishes because the service was that terrible, we couldn't get away from our server soon enough and it was sad because our food was phenomenal but I had such a hard time enjoying it because we were so aggravated. But we'll go back because everyone has their off night and its one of our fav places. We actually started keeping a list of servers to request/avoid because of last trip. Anyway, back to Jiko. Go back, ask for Dawn to be your server, have a nice glass of Springfield Estate cabernet and eat the corvina.

 

[Princesca]

Well pooh! I have an ADR here in April for our one nice dinner out. Now I'm worried it's gonna stink, and my DH is already grousing about going to WDW in the first place.

Would love to hear from more people who've been here recently...

 

[briandunne]

Our party of 7 enjoyed our meal at Jiko's during Christmas week 2011.

I had the things the original poster complained about and liked them all [flatbreads, boar appetizer and the short rib entree].
Our server was on the slow side, but it didn't ruin my meal.
She let my wife try three different wines before she ordered a bottle.

I'd go back without hesitation.

It's fascinating how one's WDW experience varies with the almost random confluence of events -- a cast member's mood, the chef's heavy hand with the spice shaker and the annoying family two tables over...

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I wish I'd read these negative reviews, before we ate there in February. I wouldn't have gone in with such high expectations. So many people on here declare it the best restaurant at WDW that I expected so much more. We thought the boar appetizer was great. The other appetizer, entrees, & desserts we ordered were okay at best. There wasn't anything exceptional about them. We thought the sweet bread with the butter was one of the strangest combination of flavors we've ever tried. I just don't get where the love for this restaurant comes from. :dontknow: We'll probably give it another try someday, but we're not in a rush to return. IMO, it's one saving grace is the atmosphere. It's so nice to have a quiet meal at WDW. It's too bad more places don't offer excellent food w/a quiet, romantic atmosphere. Our service at Jiko was fine. The meal was slow paced, but we like it that way.

ETA: Our bill for 2 was $225. IMO, you're not allowed get off nights, when you're charging those prices.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I wish I'd read these negative reviews, before we ate there in February. I wouldn't have gone in with such high expectations. So many people on here declare it the best restaurant at WDW that I expected so much more. We thought the boar appetizer was great. The other appetizer, entrees, & desserts we ordered were okay at best. There wasn't anything exceptional about them. We thought the sweet bread with the butter was one of the strangest combination of flavors we've ever tried. I just don't get where the love for this restaurant comes from. :dontknow: We'll probably give it another try someday, but we're not in a rush to return. IMO, it's one saving grace is the atmosphere. It's so nice to have a quiet meal at WDW. It's too bad more places don't offer excellent food w/a quiet, romantic atmosphere. Our service at Jiko was fine. The meal was slow paced, but we like it that way.

ETA: Our bill for 2 was $225. IMO, you're not allowed get off nights, when you're charging those prices.

One thing you have to factor in is that everyone has different taste. A lot of the spice blends at Jiko are sweet, spicy and savory combined - like the tandoori butter with the honey wheat bread. That is one of my favorite flavour combinations at WDW, but to you it was bizarre. That is a matter of taste.

Was there anything wrong with your meals? Overcooked steak etc? Because in my opinion, an off night constitutes technical errors by the kitchen or service staff.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I'm sorry. I didn't care for Jiko much the first couple times I ate there, but now it's one of my favorites.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

One thing you have to factor in is that everyone has different taste. A lot of the spice blends at Jiko are sweet, spicy and savory combined - like the tandoori butter with the honey wheat bread. That is one of my favorite flavour combinations at WDW, but to you it was bizarre. That is a matter of taste.

Was there anything wrong with your meals? Overcooked steak etc? Because in my opinion, an off night constitutes technical errors by the kitchen or service staff.

I agree. If you didn't enjoy the food just because it wasn't to your taste, I don't think that's the fault of the restaurant. I love the bread too.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

One thing you have to factor in is that everyone has different taste. A lot of the spice blends at Jiko are sweet, spicy and savory combined - like the tandoori butter with the honey wheat bread. That is one of my favorite flavour combinations at WDW, but to you it was bizarre. That is a matter of taste.

Was there anything wrong with your meals? Overcooked steak etc? Because in my opinion, an off night constitutes technical errors by the kitchen or service staff.

We found the bread odd, but I didn't say it was bad. It was just not my preferable combination. As for the other food, it was just unremarkable in every way. The boar appetizer was the only exception. It was wonderful. It wasn't that we don't like the spices. We have very adventurous palettes. We just felt the food wasn't of the caliber of most of the signature restaurants. To be honest, I would have to look at a menu to remember what we ordered. It was that unremarkable. I can remember what we ate at every other signature restaurant we've eaten in recent memory. If it were a case of us not liking the spices, I'd at least remember what the spices were. To me, that speaks volumes about a restaurant. We felt the food was more on caliber with non-signature restaurants, & we've eaten at a few of those that we thought were better as a whole. I'm glad you enjoy it. It's great that you've found a restaurant you always enjoy. I just happen to think all the other signature restaurants we've eaten at offer a better meal.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

We found the bread odd, but I didn't say it was bad. It was just not my preferable combination. As for the other food, it was just unremarkable in every way. The boar appetizer was the only exception. It was wonderful. It wasn't that we don't like the spices. We have very adventurous palettes. We just felt the food wasn't of the caliber of most of the signature restaurants. To be honest, I would have to look at a menu to remember what we ordered. It was that unremarkable. I can remember what we ate at every other signature restaurant we've eaten in recent memory. If it were a case of us not liking the spices, I'd at least remember what the spices were. To me, that speaks volumes about a restaurant. We felt the food was more on caliber with non-signature restaurants, & we've eaten at a few of those that we thought were better as a whole. I'm glad you enjoy it. It's great that you've found a restaurant you always enjoy. I just happen to think all the other signature restaurants we've eaten at offer a better meal.

I bolded your quote in a few sections.

First, I never said you called the bread "bad" I mentioned that you felt the combination was odd.

Second, food that is unremarkable (to you) doesn't constitute an "off night" at a restaurant. It is a matter of taste. The dishes at Jiko simply don't appeal to you. However, that doesn't mean they aren't "signature" caliber.

Example: the short rib dish has a multitude of ingredients that are carefully blended to provide contrast. There is tender beef, rich tamarind cabernet reduction, sweet carrots, savory pearl onions and sweet & tart apple. The chefs are ensuring that they highlight every taste section of the palette. That is what a signature restaurant does. A casual restaurant does not have that level of complexity in it's dishes.

I'm not refuting that you didn't enjoy your experience at Jiko. I am refuting your statement that "an off night is unacceptable for a signature restaurant". Unless there were service failures or cooking errors, it wasn't an off night, it is just that Jiko is a signature that doesn't appeal to you.

I too am glad that you have found other restaurants you enjoy.

 

[tigger536]

We ate at Jiko in September 2010. We too are adventurous eaters. I love all sorts of "different" meat - rabbit, venison, buffalo, etc etc. I LOVE spicy foods of all varities - in fact I often request extra hot when dining at thai or indian or mexican places. I love boma.

That said, we were very disappointed in Jiko. We had the wild boar and the beet salad for appetizers. The beet salad was fantastic. loved the blend of the flavors.

The boar was extremely disappointing. Its flavor had been watered down by the bland marinade to the point that it tasted like everymeat. It was meh. There was nothing stand out about it.

I had the filet with the macaroni - not on the menu but I had heard so much about this dish that I requested it. Again meh. Nothing special.

So for me, my problem with Jiko is that I expected bold interesting flavors and just got bland meh. So its not the blend of flavors, but the fact that things were not flavorful ENOUGH. Nothing for us made Jiko stand out as being worthy of its signature title.

That said, I haven't been 3 times, so I suppose I'll give it another shot to see if there has been improvement.

My sense though, was that sadly the interesting flavors that once made jko special have been toned down to accomodate the masses. Sad, because there are already plenty of places on property to get a great basidc steak. But there was only one Jiko.

 

[tigger536]

Example: the short rib dish has a multitude of ingredients that are carefully blended to provide contrast. There is tender beef, rich tamarind cabernet reduction, sweet carrots, savory pearl onions and sweet & tart apple. The chefs are ensuring that they highlight every taste section of the palette. That is what a signature restaurant does. A casual restaurant does not have that level of complexity in it's dishes.

I'm not refuting that you didn't enjoy your experience at Jiko. I am refuting your statement that "an off night is unacceptable for a signature restaurant". Unless there were service failures or cooking errors, it wasn't an off night, it is just that Jiko is a signature that doesn't appeal to you.

I too am glad that you have found other restaurants you enjoy.

See this is exactly why I need to try it onew more time. Nothing we ordered, save for the beet salad, tasted like it had very much complexity AT ALL. I would be willing to try again to see if it was indeed an off night, or if there are better dishes on the menu.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I bolded your quote in a few sections.

First, I never said you called the bread "bad" I mentioned that you felt the combination was odd.

Second, food that is unremarkable (to you) doesn't constitute an "off night" at a restaurant. It is a matter of taste. The dishes at Jiko simply don't appeal to you. However, that doesn't mean they aren't "signature" caliber.

Example: the short rib dish has a multitude of ingredients that are carefully blended to provide contrast. There is tender beef, rich tamarind cabernet reduction, sweet carrots, savory pearl onions and sweet & tart apple. The chefs are ensuring that they highlight every taste section of the palette. That is what a signature restaurant does. A casual restaurant does not have that level of complexity in it's dishes.

I'm not refuting that you didn't enjoy your experience at Jiko. I am refuting your statement that "an off night is unacceptable for a signature restaurant". Unless there were service failures or cooking errors, it wasn't an off night, it is just that Jiko is a signature that doesn't appeal to you.

I too am glad that you have found other restaurants you enjoy.

Well, it certainly sounds like you're trying to refute my opinion by saying I just don't understand how the food should taste. Apparently, it's a flaw in my palate rather than the food being average. Believe it or not, I've eaten out a time or two. Food should have enough flavor to be noticeable. I mentioned the bread, because I found it odd. The rest, other than the boar appetizer, was about as ordinary as it gets. Odd is better than bland & ordinary.

We didn't try the short ribs, so I don't have an opinion on that dish. The dishes we tried weren't complex with a perfect mix of spices. They were average & lacked in flavor. I would have loved to experience the wonderful spices I had read about.

Yes, IMO, a restaurant charging those prices should not be serving bland, ordinary food. I'm not willing to give them a pass for an off night. They shouldn't have off nights.

I'm not sure why I've needed to continue to defend an opinion on a restaurant. It isn't personal it's just our opinion on the meal we had. I'm not going to get emotionally involved in a discussion of a restaurant I love or one I don't care for. To me, it's ridiculous to get upset over food I didn't even cook.

We ate at Jiko in September 2010. We too are adventurous eaters. I love all sorts of "different" meat - rabbit, venison, buffalo, etc etc. I LOVE spicy foods of all varities - in fact I often request extra hot when dining at thai or indian or mexican places. I love boma.

That said, we were very disappointed in Jiko. We had the wild boar and the beet salad for appetizers. The beet salad was fantastic. loved the blend of the flavors.

The boar was extremely disappointing. Its flavor had been watered down by the bland marinade to the point that it tasted like everymeat. It was meh. There was nothing stand out about it.

I had the filet with the macaroni - not on the menu but I had heard so much about this dish that I requested it. Again meh. Nothing special.

So for me, my problem with Jiko is that I expected bold interesting flavors and just got bland meh. So its not the blend of flavors, but the fact that things were not flavorful ENOUGH. Nothing for us made Jiko stand out as being worthy of its signature title.

That said, I haven't been 3 times, so I suppose I'll give it another shot to see if there has been improvement.

My sense though, was that sadly the interesting flavors that once made jko special have been toned down to accomodate the masses. Sad, because there are already plenty of places on property to get a great basidc steak. But there was only one Jiko.

We did enjoy the boar, but I agree with everything else. We didn't find the spices weren't to our liking. We found them lacking. I was expecting a perfect blend of unusual spices. We're adventurous too & enjoy challenging our palates with different types of cuisine. We received ordinary food. It wasn't special at all.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Well, it certainly sounds like you're trying to refute my opinion by saying I just don't understand how the food should taste. Apparently, it's a flaw in my palate rather than the food being average. Believe it or not, I've eaten out a time or two. Food should have enough flavor to be noticeable. I mentioned the bread, because I found it odd. The rest, other than the boar appetizer, was about as ordinary as it gets. Odd is better than bland & ordinary.

We didn't try the short ribs, so I don't have an opinion on that dish. The dishes we tried weren't complex with a perfect mix of spices. They were average & lacked in flavor. I would have loved to experience the wonderful spices I had read about.

Yes, IMO, a restaurant charging those prices should not be serving bland, ordinary food. I'm not willing to give them a pass for an off night. They shouldn't have off nights.

I'm not sure why I've needed to continue to defend an opinion on a restaurant. It isn't personal it's just our opinion on the meal we had. I'm not going to get emotionally involved in a discussion of a restaurant I love or one I don't care for. To me, it's ridiculous to get upset over food I didn't even cook.

I'm not upset but me stating my opinion is no different that you stating yours. You feel the food is ordinary, I feel that it is extraordinary. Therefore we have different palettes. Again, it's not an off night if the food is ordinary to you.

There seem to be a lot of people that agree that Jiko is far from ordinary.

Just saying...(from trip advisor)

 

[tigger536]

I think the ideal of what Jiko is supposed to be is indeed extraordinary. I think the Jiko of the past probably was.

I think what some of the recent critics are saying it that it has gone a little astray of late. Watered down flavors, inconsistent food preparation (steaks not cooked to order, cold food, etc to name a few from this thread alone), poor service.

Calfornia Grill hit a low point for me a few years back and now it seems to be regaining its former glory (at least in my opinion). An aside, maybe its because the chef moved on to Jiko, lol.

Anyway, a good restaurant like Jiko should never rest on its laurels and when reports of it slipping start coming in, they need to take notice. I hope they do and that these issues are addressed.

I'm not ready to write it off completely, since I love the concept. If only the execution could live up to it once again. I hope one day, it can.

Another tangent, Tripadvisor stopped being a good arbiter of where to go on vacation for me when I was researching hotels in paris a few years back. I read a review where a woman chose (and raved about) her hotel because it was near McDonalds. So those things need to be taken with a grain of salt, haha.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I'm not upset but me stating my opinion is no different that you stating yours. You feel the food is ordinary, I feel that it is extraordinary. Therefore we have different palettes. Again, it's not an off night if the food is ordinary to you.

There seem to be a lot of people that agree that Jiko is far from ordinary.

Just saying...(from trip advisor)

The difference here is I didn't question your opinion of Jiko at all. Not once did I copy a post & disagree with the person who posted it. I agree you have every right to state your opinion. I did too, but you seemed to have a problem with my opinion & felt I wasn't qualified to offer that opinion, because you didn't agree with it. If you aren't upset, why are we still having this silly discussion? Respect my opinion & move on. I've respected yours & everyone else's on here from the beginning.

I didn't say they had an off night. I said I wouldn't give them a free pass by saying maybe it was. I've only been once there is no way I could know if it was an off night.

This back & forth is ridiculous. Just as I could never change your opinion on a restaurant nor would I try, there's no review that will ever convince me that the meal we had was anything more than ordinary food that was lacking in flavor.

 

[2012DisneyWorldBride]

Awww we loved Jikos... We went for our engagement dinner and LOVED it... I got the steak and although I eat my steak well done I could still cut it with a butter knife. I also got the lobster corn chowder andwanted to lick the bowl clean haha...I didn't care for the bread and butter though. But we liked it sooo much that when we get married in December in Disney and stay for our honeymoon we are def going back!