Bummed about Jiko experience

wendydarling33

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
I want to preface this by the fact that my husband and I only get to dress up and dine at nice restaurants 2-3 times a year. We only visit Disney World every 3-4 years (we're Disneyland locals). I saved up my Disney Visa Reward dollars in order to be able to dine at Jiko on our recent trip and our parents agreed to babysit for us. So this was a big deal!

We decided on Jiko after reading the rave reviews and based on the fact that my husband likes more unusual cuisine. We got dolled up and headed over there for our reservation time of 7:10 PM.

From the get go our server was less than friendly. She was polite but not very warm. She also took a long time to get to us, which I realize is not necessarily her fault. Although I'm used to better service with Disney (especially at a Signature restaurant), that wouldn't have ruined our experience alone, just was odd.

The next issue was that I ordered the Braii Pie which was good but the cabbage salad side was a disaster. I took one bite and it tasted like someone had dumped a jar of salt on it. It had no taste but salt. My husband took a bite and agreed something was definitely wrong! We NEVER send things back but I decided to ask for something different. Our waitress asked if I wanted a rice dish (which was delicious )but the odd thing was she never apologized and made us feel like we were inconveniencing her by being picky.

Other than that incident we had an enjoyable meal and walked around the resort after dinner for a half an hour until my husband got really sick all of a sudden and had to spend the next half hour in the restroom. He had eaten the scallops and maybe they were undercooked?

Anyway I have never ever written a bad review of a restaurant and I am not a picky/complainy type of person. I'm just disappointed that our big splurge turned out to be such a bust. I know we just had bad luck because I'm sure normally it is a great place to dine. I guess it goes to show that even the best places can have an "off" day.
 
I've never tried Jiko, but I also save our Disney reward points so that we can have one special meal during our trips. I'm sorry yours wasn't very good.
 


I am so sorry that a special night turned out so bad for you. We have dined there several times and the food was great along with the service. A bad server can ruin a night along with a bad dish. I hope you get to try it again! Get the wild boar-YUM!
 
I hate that it didn't live up to your expectations. I agree, a bad server can sometimes be worse than bad food! I hope you and hubby can get out soon and try again.
 
I also recently had a terrible experience at Jiko. Service was passable but the food was prepared extremely poorly. I will not be going back.
 


We decided on Jiko after reading the rave reviews and based on the fact that my husband likes more unusual cuisine. We got dolled up and headed over there for our reservation time of 7:10 PM.

From the get go our server was less than friendly. She was polite but not very warm. She also took a long time to get to us, which I realize is not necessarily her fault. Although I'm used to better service with Disney (especially at a Signature restaurant), that wouldn't have ruined our experience alone, just was odd.

The next issue was that I ordered the Braii Pie which was good but the cabbage salad side was a disaster. I took one bite and it tasted like someone had dumped a jar of salt on it. It had no taste but salt. My husband took a bite and agreed something was definitely wrong! We NEVER send things back but I decided to ask for something different. Our waitress asked if I wanted a rice dish (which was delicious )but the odd thing was she never apologized and made us feel like we were inconveniencing her by being picky.

Other than that incident we had an enjoyable meal and walked around the resort after dinner for a half an hour until my husband got really sick all of a sudden and had to spend the next half hour in the restroom. He had eaten the scallops and maybe they were undercooked?

Anyway I have never ever written a bad review of a restaurant and I am not a picky/complainy type of person. I'm just disappointed that our big splurge turned out to be such a bust. I know we just had bad luck because I'm sure normally it is a great place to dine. I guess it goes to show that even the best places can have an "off" day.

You shouldn't apologize for how you feel.......if it didn't meet your expectations then you have every right to say so.

In fact I would say you should let the resuarant now about it (especially given its Disney). There's no way for them to improve if they don't get "all" the honest feedback.

We pay alot of money to visit WDW and our expectations are high (and from my perspective usually met) but if they doesn't happen on a particular occassion you have a right to be bummed and to let Disney and the resturant know......especially with a place like Jiko which is considered a Signature restuarant. Sorry you had a bad experience.

Last May we visited 'The Wave" in the Contemporary. We'd read some less than glowing reviews on it but decided to go anyway........ Wow what a great time. Atmosphere, Server, Food.......all met our expectations (which were lower at that time). Our take was someone complained and they fixed the issues!!

Doug
:cool1:
 
He had eaten the scallops and maybe they were undercooked?

I to am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience at Jiko. Hopefully that doesn't put you off from trying it again some day or trying any other Disney Signature. A bad server can make a meal a sub-par experience, as can problems with the food.

However, as PP said, it's unlikely that the scallops (or anything you ate at Jiko) caused your DH's stomach problems. Food poisoning takes a while to kick in. Fresh scallops can be eaten raw, so undercooked scallops shouldn't have been a problem (unless he has an allergy to undercooked seafood/shellfish).
 
Im glad I stumbled on this thread. I need new restaurant ideas....sadly the menu at Jiko never appealed to me, but the resort looks gorgeous! Maybe i'll just hit Boma instead of Jiko. Decisions, decisions.
 
OP: I have tried Jiko a few times, and it has just never worked out for us. I've given up.

I do think some of it is luck (in our case, perhaps yours, bad luck) just hitting it on off days. Our servers have not been stellar. Food was okay, but not fantastic. I've come to accept it -- just not our thing.

Also, while food poisoning usually (not always) takes longer to set in, food intolerance does not and can happen fairly quickly, specifically any time after the food hits your stomach. A different oil than you are used to, or a new spice, can cause GI track to speed up. Might never happen again. Feels awful. Hopefully it resolves once the food is cleared. And you might never know what it was. My money is on that.

I hope you have a chance to try somewhere else soon, and it's great!!
 
I want to preface this by the fact that my husband and I only get to dress up and dine at nice restaurants 2-3 times a year. We only visit Disney World every 3-4 years (we're Disneyland locals). I saved up my Disney Visa Reward dollars in order to be able to dine at Jiko on our recent trip and our parents agreed to babysit for us. So this was a big deal!

We decided on Jiko after reading the rave reviews and based on the fact that my husband likes more unusual cuisine. We got dolled up and headed over there for our reservation time of 7:10 PM.

From the get go our server was less than friendly. She was polite but not very warm. She also took a long time to get to us, which I realize is not necessarily her fault. Although I'm used to better service with Disney (especially at a Signature restaurant), that wouldn't have ruined our experience alone, just was odd.

The next issue was that I ordered the Braii Pie which was good but the cabbage salad side was a disaster. I took one bite and it tasted like someone had dumped a jar of salt on it. It had no taste but salt. My husband took a bite and agreed something was definitely wrong! We NEVER send things back but I decided to ask for something different. Our waitress asked if I wanted a rice dish (which was delicious )but the odd thing was she never apologized and made us feel like we were inconveniencing her by being picky.

Other than that incident we had an enjoyable meal and walked around the resort after dinner for a half an hour until my husband got really sick all of a sudden and had to spend the next half hour in the restroom. He had eaten the scallops and maybe they were undercooked?

Anyway I have never ever written a bad review of a restaurant and I am not a picky/complainy type of person. I'm just disappointed that our big splurge turned out to be such a bust. I know we just had bad luck because I'm sure normally it is a great place to dine. I guess it goes to show that even the best places can have an "off" day.

It sounds like you ate there on an off night. That must have been such a frustration experience.
One other thing, don't feel bad about sending things back if they need to go back. I don't do it often, but if something is really off, the kitchen needs to know.
I hope sometime in the future you give it a try again. :goodvibes
 
I also recently had a terrible experience at Jiko. Service was passable but the food was prepared extremely poorly. I will not be going back.

Agree - my wife and I love ethnic food and on the DXDP Jiko was the only meal we had that was subpar - both of us have no interest in going back.
 
It appears Jiko has a lot of "off nights". DH & I thought the appetizers were very good, but thought our entrees & desserts were below signature quality. We dine at signatures nightly at WDW & this has been our most disappointing restaurant to date. We definitely didn't feel like it was money well spent. IMHO, it's the most overrated restaurant on the DIS. The one positive is the atmosphere. It was quieter than most at WDW. We may return for appetizers some day & take a chance on different desserts. It's definitely not high on our list of returns though.

As far as the stomach issue goes, I agree a food intolerance could have happened that quickly. Food poisoning wouldn't have, but this doesn't sound anything like food poisoning. When I had food poisoning, my lips swelled to meet my upper lip & chin, my head & body were filled with welts, & I shook so hard that they had to tie me to the hospital bed. If you have actual food poisoning, it will be much worse than an upset stomach & will require a trip to the ER.
 
Never had a really good meal at Jiko. Appetizers have been good, entrees not so much. It's a beautiful place, but the food always manages to disappoint.

For signatures, our favorites are Flying Fish and California Grill.
 
:sad1: I'm sorry to hear the OP and others didn't enjoy it. Jiko is my favorite restaurant on property so I'm always disappointed to hear from others who didn't have good experiences.

I've definitely dealt with the salt issue before at a number of the Signature Restaurants, most notably Victoria & Alberts. (And I'm the kind of person to put salt on salt, so it's not like I'm sensitive to it. Seriously, I used to chew on salt packets as a kid.) My brother-in-law is the culinary type who has worked in kitchens and he has a "salt theory": The longer a person is a chef, the more immune they become to the taste of salt because they are tasting seasonings all day, every day. BIL said every chef he worked with would taste something and then declare, "Needs more salt!". All the while he was thinking, "Are you kidding? It's already over-salted". Is there any truth to that? I have no idea. But it did help me be a little more forgiving about my V&A meal.

I agree with others, that wasn't food poisoning. Been there, done that -- it doesn't come on that quickly and it would last much longer and be much more severe. It does sound like generalized GI upset though, probably brought on by eating something his body wasn't used to.

This became much more long-winded than I intended, so here's the last thing I'll say: My one and only Narcoossee's experience was so awful I swore I'd never waste my time with that place again. Yet lots of people rave about it and say it's their favorite Signature. Most likely my experience was the exception to the rule and I find myself thinking I should give it another shot someday. (I will, but it's gonna be a while. ;)) When you're up for it, give Jiko another chance. It might surprise you.
 
I'm not sure what was so terrible here. The server was polite but not"warm"? The OP didn't like a side and it was replaced with a different one? Really don't see anything here even worth talking about.
 
Sorry to hear it wasn't a great experience. Two years ago I finally got my DW and DD (VERY picky eaters) to agree to give it a try. We all loved it, and are planning a return there very soon.:earsboy:
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top