Boma - Disappointing Experience

[GinaBean]

Boma is one of my and ds' (7) favorite Disney restaurants, or it was until our trip last week. We were there on Thursday 9/10 for dinner; there were five of us. We were disappointed that it was not rib or lentil stew night, but we could live with that. Our service was terrible and that was completely unacceptable. My dh had to go to the desk and ask for refills of our drinks. Since this is a buffet, it doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to keep our drinks filled. I have been a waitress in the past and my dh was a restaurant manager for over 10 years, so we both have a realistic idea of what happens in a restaurant. If she had been super busy, we would have understand the wait.

The food was not as good as before which was really disappointing (I had been waiting a long time to eat here again), although the couscous Marrakesh was as delicious as always. We felt like the meat choices were very limited, and my dh thought that the food didn't seem as hot as it should have been (temperature wise, not spice wise).

When we were ready to leave, dh had to find our waitress again. He decided to speak to the manager about our concerns, but it was obvious that the manager did NOT care. That is the worst part of all of it. It makes me think that it is not going to get better as long as that manager is still there, and that makes me sad. I have always recommended Boma to everyone, but I will not be doing that now. My dh ended up speaking to the manager on duty at the Animal Kingdom Lodge; he ended up crediting three of our table services back. When my dh was waiting to speak to the manager at AKL, one of the employees said they have had a lots of commplaints about Boma lately. I hope it gets back to how it was before.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We ate at Boma 3 times last month - once for dinner and twice for breakfast.

I thought the variety was less at dinner than it has been in the past. Luckily we didn't have service issues on any of our visits.

We always stay at AKL, but other than breakfast I think we will take a break from Boma. Right before our trip a friend had posted that she and her family were disappointed in Boma, and I can see how that is true. Hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but it just isn't as high on our list as it was before.

 

[SnowWtch]

This isn't good news. DH and I haven't ever been to Boma before but we have a ressie on our anniversary Dec 4. Do you think I'll be disappointed since we've never experienced it before?

 

[smacky1]

I too have a ressie for our anniversary next week. Maybe now that my expectations will be low I wont be as disappointed.

 

[Micca]

Sorry to hear this GinaBean. It is discouraging when things don't go well and nobody seems to care.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience . We tried Boma in 2004 for dinner and had horrible service and the food was just ok. We won't be back but I know Boma is much loved here on the Dis. Hopefully they can get their act together but it is frustrating when no one seems to care.

SnowWtch-You should try it out. I've been to almost all of the TS reataurants in WDW (some several times) and have LOVED several that get horrible reviews here on the DIS. I have had horrible servers and great servers, great food, mediocre food, bad food, etc. You can't really predict your enjoyment from someone else's. Give it a shot and you might love it

 

[BebopBaloo]

That's so sad to hear. I too, recommend Boma to everyone. We ate there for my dad's birthday in July and had fair service and the food was great. Hopefully, things will get straightened out soon.

 

[williamson_ja]

It was one of our favorite meals when we went last Sept. Hopefully it will be good again this week as my parents will be going there after I suggested it to them!!

 

[Maybelle]

We went to Boma for dinner a few weeks ago. I was really ighly anticipating the meal, as I had always wanted to try it. Unfortunately, it ended up being only so-so. Luckily our service was ok, but I felt the food really was kind of sub-par. We won't go back.

 

[badblackpug]

We are absolutely not picky, and we are pretty low maintenance, but Boma is one of our least favorite meals at WDW. (the other is Coral Reef) We ate there once. The food was only fair at best.

 

[Kathy Z]

Boma was my favorite dinner in May so we've booked it again for Dec. on our AK day. And Coral Reef was good enough that we accepted it for CPP when we could not get into Le Cellier, Tutto Italia, Teppan Edo or Chefs de France for either of 2 dates trying 2 show times each. I hope we won't be too disappointed.

 

[floridascgirl]

Oh dear...we loved it so much this past February that we are taking my parents there on 12/3. I sure hope we aren't disappointed. I was a little bummed when I saw that the yummy butternut squash soup isn't on the menu for our night. Does anyone know if they have any in the back that they can serve since they make it for the Mara?

 

[fairestoneofall]

I'm so sorry that people are having bad experiences. We had great service at Boma. Our server was wonderful! And I screwed up and gave him the wrong cards for our DDP payment (we had a split-stay and I needed to give him our first resort's KTTK cards). He fixed it all up immediately. Great server!

The food wasn't my favorite, but I'm not too adventurous. The desserts were great! lol!

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Sorry to hear. Especially since we eat at home all the time so we can splurge at resturants while at WDW.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

thanks for letting us know. We had breakfast and dinner and we enjoyed breakfast but the dinner was so so. We are glad we tried but no need to try again.

 

[Winston1204]

We used to love Boma, until our Dinner there last year. We found that the menu was very limited as to what it used to be, the food was only luke warm, and just in general, not very good. It was disappointing since we go there on every trip. We won't be returning to Boma when we're back in a few weeks. Hopefully they can fix the problem, because it really did used to be delicious.

 

[Buzzsgramma]

Not good news....we are having TG dinner there with 14 family members in celebration of our 45 Ann....we go to Bomas every yr, i am concerned now...

 

[BebopBaloo]

mommycrawford- seriously the bowl of soup by itself cost $30? That's really funny because last September I had a bowl of coconut curry seafood soup at Boma that I loved so very much. I told everyone that I would've paid $30 just for the soup. I even nicknamed it $30 soup

Still, I am surprised that it cost that much just for the soup..I hope it was a giant bowl!

 

[BigEeyore]

I'm with you! Boma has always been one of our most favorite restaurants anywhere (in WDW or out!), and a highlight of every trip. However, this past visit (we ate there on 8/31) for the first time we were a bit let down. Now, even a not-so-amazing meal at Boma is better than most places, but still not as good as were were expecting. No butternut squash soup was a bummer!

Two words for fellow Boma lovers - TUSKER HOUSE!!!!!
We loved loved loved TH, and both thought is was better than Boma.

 

[ShannonMB]

Oh dear...we loved it so much this past February that we are taking my parents there on 12/3. I sure hope we aren't disappointed. I was a little bummed when I saw that the yummy butternut squash soup isn't on the menu for our night. Does anyone know if they have any in the back that they can serve since they make it for the Mara?

I posted a question a few weeks ago (was hoping to find out what day they have the soup my DD loves), and a poster told me you can request a bowl of the other kinds of soup even if they aren't serving them that night and most times they can get it for you. Worth a try!!