Bad Service at Alfredos!!

[tinkerrn]

We ate dinner at Alfredos last night, which was pretty good. The service we recieved was horrible. The restaurant was very busy. Our waitress would walk right by as we tried to get her attention; she had other parties with more people. This was just the 2 of us, our honeymoon. We aren't n the dinning plan. We had to ask twice for bread and drinks, however, everyone else in her section were being waited on. We attempted to get the other waitress's attention, but no luck. We did see the manager pointing to his watch and then our table and others, We diffently got the feeling of being rushed. We did order drinks, appet., entress and were going to order essert but was not given the opportunity. My DH, who is sounderstanding wa pretty ticked when he saw our waitress bring the desert tray to other tables and not ours. Desert wasn't even offered.We were just frustrated with the service and wanted to vent.

 

[bicker]

Thanks for the report. We've actually never been to Alfredos, having heard similar reports, about both service and food quality, over the years. We were about to plan our first trip, since we're going with my brother and his wife, and she doesn't like most of the choices around the World Showcase, but I think I'll steer them clear of it... we'll take a short walk to Spoodles instead.

 

[lyncruiser]

We ate there during the free dining and, like you, were not on the free dining plan. All I can say is that the World Showcase restaurants were so crowded because of the free dining that the staffs were completely stressed to the max. The Maitre d' at Chefs de France looked like he was about to collapse. And, when we were there free dining had only been going on for a couple of days. The kitchen and wait staffs are not set up for the crowds they've had. And, I suspect by now they are exhausted and would just like free dining to be over. There is also the point that you can count on people on the free dining plan to order all three courses (thereby increasing the bill and the tip). Whereas, it's a crap shoot as to whether the table not on free dining will order dessert. Therefore, if you're pressed, as a waitress you're going to make sure the big table on free dining sees the dessert tray, even if it's at the expense of the two-top-table non-free dining plan folks.

I don't want to excuse the service you got, but free dining has changed the entire experience at World Showcase restaurants -- and not for the better. When we ate at Alfredo's the food was good, but two entrees came out way before the other two. At 9:00 p.m. the place was jam-packed. No one even cared that Illuminations was going on. By contrast, last year we dropped into Chefs de France at 8:30 p.m. and were practically the only ones in there. Our waitress taught the kids some French words, set them up at their own table to view Illuminations and was completely charming.

We were so disappointed with the crowds at restaurants in WS that we will simply never go to WDW again when free dining is offered. We'll cancel our trip if it is.

Happily, there has been so much clearly unanticipated fallout from free dining that I don't think we'll ever see it offered again. As proof, I point to the fact that Disney offered fall room discounts recently, rather than free dining.

Sorry your experience was bad. One thing we found is that during free dining, lunch at one-TS-credit restaurants is much, much better than dinner. Everyone is saving their credits for dinner, so restaurants at lunch were nearly empty and quite delightful.

 

[bicker]

I'm not sure that the fall-out was unequivocally bad. While a lot of us who have always done lots of full-service meals may have been disappointed with the impact of free dining, it isn't clear to me that the vast majority of patrons found it to be a positive experience for them -- and that's just from what you said: "By contrast, last year we dropped into Chefs de France at 8:30 p.m. and were practically the only ones in there." As few as we were, perhaps we don't count as much as the many who partook of this promotion this year.

 

[DISLOVE]

I'm confused. I have been to WDW 10 times (busy planning my 11th trip!) and we did take advantage of the free dining plan on this last trip. I made our ADRs before leaving home and got each of the restaurants I wanted to visit. I didn't have a single problem with an over stressed group of cm's at any of our restaurants. The service wasn't always perfect but it was at least good.

I don't understand how it can be blamed on the dining plan that the restaruants didnt keep up with the crowds. I've never been in June but I would guess that the crowd level was at least 2x what we saw in September... What do the restaurants do in June? People still need to eat even if it is not free...

Hmmm.. I'll take free dining and low crowds any day!

 

[Tinkbell]

I had the exact same treatment at Alfredo's a few years ago---this was before the "dining plan" craze. The place wasn't even crowded, but our table for 2 was completely ignored by staff. The larger groups got all of the service. We also felt very rushed. The waiter just took our order and brought out the food WITH the check.....no offers for refills, dessert, appetizers, etc. I have not been back since.

 

[Dizzyworld]

Last year in early DEC., my DD and I experienced the same bad service. We hardly ever saw our waitress. Another waitress saw we were sitting for very long periods of time, tried to fill in.

My DD, who lives on pasta, wants to steer clear of this place this DEC. I can't blame her. In addition to an evening of bad service and just okay food, a busboy came by our table with a tray of dirty dishes, and a glass of liquid spilled on her head and down her back. Luckily it appeared to be only water. The busboy looked at us and quickly walked away. Other tables just looked at her and thought someone would come with something to dry her off. Nobody came. Guest at the other tables started handing over clean, dry napkins to help her. We had to even find a dry chair on our own, no staff person helped at all. I was going to talk to the manager but I got tired of waiting. He was busy with all the people from the CP show/dinner package. We just will never go back there. Better pasta at places at home anyway.

 

[Tiffany]

We ate dinner at Alfredos last night, which was pretty good. The service we recieved was horrible. The restaurant was very busy. Our waitress would walk right by as we tried to get her attention; she had other parties with more people. This was just the 2 of us, our honeymoon. We aren't n the dinning plan. We had to ask twice for bread and drinks, however, everyone else in her section were being waited on. We attempted to get the other waitress's attention, but no luck. We did see the manager pointing to his watch and then our table and others, We diffently got the feeling of being rushed. We did order drinks, appet., entress and were going to order essert but was not given the opportunity. My DH, who is sounderstanding wa pretty ticked when he saw our waitress bring the desert tray to other tables and not ours. Desert wasn't even offered.We were just frustrated with the service and wanted to vent.

Wow. I am so sorry you had this experiance as it is just my husband and I and we love having dinner here. We had dinner there in Jan and June so far this year and are booked to be there again during our Nov trip. I wonder if the free dinning is having a negative impact on the service being delievered at the table service places? Oh well I am going to still keep my ADR for Nov and see what happens.

 

[Disney_1derland]

I'm confused. I have been to WDW 10 times (busy planning my 11th trip!) and we did take advantage of the free dining plan on this last trip. I made our ADRs before leaving home and got each of the restaurants I wanted to visit. I didn't have a single problem with an over stressed group of cm's at any of our restaurants. The service wasn't always perfect but it was at least good.

I don't understand how it can be blamed on the dining plan that the restaruants didnt keep up with the crowds. I've never been in June but I would guess that the crowd level was at least 2x what we saw in September... What do the restaurants do in June? People still need to eat even if it is not free...

Hmmm.. I'll take free dining and low crowds any day!

I have to agree here. We were there at the end of august into the beginning of september and we NEVER had any problems. The restaurants were no more full than they have been in June or November and the experiences were all about the same. We did eat at Alfredo's and the service was not outstanding, it was a slow pace in there but I don't feel it affected our experience negatively. There were only two of us as well. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner in a wonderful atmosphere and the food was better than I expected based on the reviews given here.

To the OP, I"m sorry you had a negative experience, we had similar service at Marrakesh and will not return there because of it.

 

[Kim In NC]

I don't think the free dining had anything to do with it. We ate there in September (during Labor Day week) - walked in no ADRs. The service was HORRIBLE!!!! Our waiter took our order promptly, brought out our salads and DS's pasta and then disappeared - no drinks no nothing. Finally an assistant server saw that we didn't have drinks and had finished our salads and went to find out what was going on and brought our drinks. Bread showed up by Waiter after we finished our salads. Assistant comes over and cleans the entire table off - silverware and everything. We've not seen our dinner or anything. Finally after we sat there with empty glasses and no silverware - she asks us if we were ready to leave - why are we sitting there (in a nice way). We explain that we've not had our entrees and DS would like dessert and so would we after we eat our entrees. She disappears and 10 minutes later our entrees show up cold. We need silverware - it takes another 5 minutes - food is really cold. They bring the dessert tray for DS but never tell us our choices - just focus on him. He picks out the mousse - they bring it back out with our check. Nope - we're ordering dessert - it's part of our plan - tell us our choices. Assistant had told us we could order one sampler and share it as part of the dining plan. Waiter tells us now - it's the mousse or nothing. We tell him we want claification from the head server - it's changed again - we could have mousse or cannoli - nothing else. We question this from what we were told by the assistant - she's wrong. After we get our mousse and cannoli to go - and handle the bill - we go to find the Ma'tre D. He apologizes for the rudeness and the slow/bad service and offers us free dessert. DH tells him we have our limited dessert and that they need to educate the different levels of staff as to what folks can have on the dining plan. Ma'tre D tell DH that we could have the sampler and split it between the two of us. DH is boiling mad at this point and politely walks out. We've written a letter of complaint to Disney - doubt it will do any good - but they need to know how bad this restuarant is!

 

[SnoweyWhite]

. . . . We did order drinks, appet., entress and were going to order essert but was not given the opportunity. My DH, who is sounderstanding wa pretty ticked when he saw our waitress bring the desert tray to other tables and not ours. Desert wasn't even offered.We were just frustrated with the service and wanted to vent.

I understand having bad service and wanting to get out of restaurant if the service is horrible, but they are there to serve you. If you want dessert and they don't offer it, say you want dessert. They can't tell you no. I'm not at all saying be rude to the waitstaff, but if you would like to continue your meal just say you want dessert. You went to have a meal, and you should have the opportunity to have as many courses as you would like.

 

[*Flower*]

We tried this restaurant twice.

The first time we just thought that it was bad luck on our part. The food wasn't bad- I'd ordered the fettuccini Alfredo, and although it didn't taste like Alfredo's, it was okay.

We were squished into a tiny table on the edge of the room, and could barely get served. Ignored was more like it. No drinks for the longest time, no bread until after we finished our entrees, no dessert offered- and we had to fight to get the bill. If I'd have thought more about it, we'd have left; because it seemed like they really didn't want to take our money.

The next time DH wants Italian and doesn't want to leave the resort, we'll give Palio at the Swan a try. I'm sure that they'll want our business!

 

[*Flower*]

I should have said that the second try was worse, but it couldn't have been.

It was the same as the first visit. We were a party of two, and are good tippers when warranted. We didn't leave one the first time, and as we got 1 refill on drinks on the second trip- we left a small tip. The assistant got a personal tip, because we could see that he was trying to serve us.

 

[Pooh1219]

Some people love Alfredo's and some people don't. I'm one of those who don't. I had no problem with the food both times I've eaten there, but the rest of my experience stunk. The first time was with a party of six, and we were seated in a side room that was positively crammed full. Once the waiter finally accepted that we didn't want to order wine, we were treated like yesterday's news. The service from then on was just passable, bringing the food, putting it on the table, and making as quick a getaway as possible. I only tried it a second time because my friend had never been there and really wanted to see what it was like. I could have told her what it would be like, but instead I sucked it up and went again. Practically the same scenario repeated itself, only this time the food wasn't as good. I wish they would get over themselves with this pushing of the wine bit - it gets annoying and irritating. I'm happy for those who have had great experiences there, but I would never in a million years recommend it to someone.

 

[eclectics]

Sorry you had such a bad experience. We had a wonderful meal and service. It's funny how people can have such different experiences in the same place . All I know is if I were recieving bad service, and being ignored, I would get up and talk to the manager or anyone else I could find and expect them to rectify it right then and there! I'm not the "silent" sufferer type. Maybe when I was younger, but at this stage of my life, I want what I paid for. If I have to complain to get it, so be it!!

 

[bicker]

The next time DH wants Italian and doesn't want to leave the resort, we'll give Palio at the Swan a try.

You won't be disappointed. Palio is one of the best restaurants at WDW, and one of the best Italian restaurants I've ever enjoyed.

 

[Laurajean1014]

We had similar service and experience there and decided to not ever return to Alfredo's.

 

[philaround]

Tinkernn

This is nothing new at Alfredo's. It was the same teh one and only time we went there back in the 80's. I have ben to many restaurants that I was unsatisfied with but I have always given them a second chance [usually with good results] but Alfredo's was so bad that we have never been back there in nearly 20 years.