We love Coral Reef, and go every visit. I've never seen it loud and full of running children like others are mentioning. The food was great, and watching the fish and turtles swim is really, really enjoyable. They had one of the best Caesar salads I've ever had!
It's a tad bit noisy (but honestly, most restaurants in WDW are), but the food is great IMO. Not sure why it gets a bad rep. The Blackened Catfish w/ Pepperjack Cheese Grits is unbelievable.
The BBQ Salmon sandwich at lunch was nice. I actually had a pretty good meal overall there, but not good enough to make me go back instead of trying all of the other Epcot places first.
We had a wonderful experience on our trip. Our food was very good, the atmosphere was really fantastic (no unruly kids at all when we were there), service was fine. I would definitely go back, but we're just starting to plan our 3rd trip and so far like to try all new places.
I agree that part of the reason it gets such a bad rap is because it is at Epcot, where there are so many choices.
I have not read all the replies yet, but we really liked Coral Reef! We were there in September. The service was great, the atmosphere was killer, and we really enjoyed the food! Check out my September Tr link, in my siggy! I have pics on there!
We love Coral Reef, and go every visit. I've never seen it loud and full of running children like others are mentioning. The food was great, and watching the fish and turtles swim is really, really enjoyable. They had one of the best Caesar salads I've ever had!
Same here. I order the caesar with shrimp or I like their chicken breast dish, too. We always have an ADR for 11:30 and request to sit right at the tank. Sometimes we get it, sometimes not. Every seat in the restaurant is actually pretty good for watching the fish though.
We went on last year's trip and really liked it. But then again, we had arranged for the diver so we had seats right next to the aquarium. My DH loved what he ordered. Mine was good, but not great. When we were planning where we wanted to eat for this year's trip, it was on the list, but might not make the final cut.
We went for our first time in 2007 (our last family trip) and we were so sad we never tried it before. We are going back again this year. The soup is excellent and the catfish with grits was outstanding! DH and I both raved about the catfish dish. Also, the restaurant is absolutely beautiful! We enjoyed everything about it. It was an awesome restaurant to duck out of the heat.
The last time we went (sept) it was good. It was right after free dining(think week after) and we enjoy ourselves. THe waiter wasnt that great but other than that it was good.