Coral Reef or Via Napoli?

[OKW Lover]

Via Napoli over Coral Reef any day. While the view into the tank at CR is interesting, after 10 minutes its just background. At that point you realize you're really not enjoying the food.

 

[MeghanG855]

Coral Reef is gross. And there's no guarantee you will get seated by the tank. Will that cause fussy kiddos for you? I love Via Napoli. And honestly, it's one of the more affordable out of pocket restaurants if you want to share a big pizza. Then you can use your credits for another Table Service during the week. Or even a 2 credit show or table service.

That is true...I didn't even think of paying OOP for a TS meal.

I'm surprised so many people are against Coral Reef because it seemed to book pretty fast! I haven't been to Epcot in 7.5 yrs (we usually just do MK & AK/HS with the kids) so I honestly don't remember the food!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We have never eaten at Via Napoli, but we have eaten at Coral Reef, and while the food wasn't terrible it wasn't fabulous either...also its only cool if you have a table by the actual fish tank...we were seated on the upper level and we could see it from where we were but not completely enough to make a conversation about how cool the fish were. With Via Napoli even though we haven't eaten there before I consistently hear good things about this place and their amazing pizza. I don't think the atmosphere is as cool as Coral Reef but I can almost guarantee the food it better. I know on our next trip (we have the deluxe dining plan) we are planning on going to both places, but I think my kids are more excited about Via Napoli bc they LOVE pizza, lol

 

[goofyintoronto]

Honestly...if I could just get a reservation at Akershus (my daughter loves princesses) this whole situation could be avoided! lol

Honestly, keep trying for that ADR! Dont give up. I check several times a day until i get the ADR i want....and I always end up getting an ADR. Good luck.

 

[Candycane83]

Honestly, keep trying for that ADR! Dont give up. I check several times a day until i get the ADR i want....and I always end up getting an ADR. Good luck.

@MeghanG855 You can try the touring plans reservation finder too! Honestly, I am trying to get a Coral Reef reservation, even with all the people opposed to it. I see a lot of other people enjoying it too. I think you should pick whichever menu you like better and take the reviews (both bad and good) with a grain of salt.

 

[MeghanG855]

I did sign up for touring plans. Akershus was the 1st adr I tried to get...right at 6am on my 180 day mark, but there wasn't anything available. We're going the week after Thanksgiving and I read that alot of people are having a hard time with getting reservations in Epcot for that week.

Does anyone know if Akershus is part of the Candlelight Processional?

 

[Candycane83]

I did sign up for touring plans. Akershus was the 1st adr I tried to get...right at 6am on my 180 day mark, but there wasn't anything available. We're going the week after Thanksgiving and I read that alot of people are having a hard time with getting reservations in Epcot for that week.

Does anyone know if Akershus is part of the Candlelight Processional?

Yeah, I did the same thing and didn't see anything either. I knew beforehand I would not probably get anything because I have seen complaints on the boards about it.

I'm interested to know if they would release more tables for Akershus once CP package is released too...

 

[MeghanG855]

Yeah, I did the same thing and didn't see anything either. I knew beforehand I would not probably get anything because I have seen complaints on the boards about it.

I'm interested to know if they would release more tables for Akershus once CP package is released too...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[shortnsassy730]

That is true...I didn't even think of paying OOP for a TS meal.

I'm surprised so many people are against Coral Reef because it seemed to book pretty fast! I haven't been to Epcot in 7.5 yrs (we usually just do MK & AK/HS with the kids) so I honestly don't remember the food!

I just think the seafood is poorly done. It's on par with a Red Lobster. So for me, if you grew up having fresh seafood from the gulf at hand, its really disappointing for the price.

 

[eastendlights]

I will throw another log on the fire...with kids your age, how about Garden Grill? The food is very good, the revolving restaurant is fun and the character interaction is some of the best in all of WDW. We have had nothing but truly nasty food at Coral Reef. Via Napoli is very good but nothing you can't get elsewhere if you live in an area with decent pizza and the atmosphere is nothing special (although my 20 year old daughter would very much disagree and tell you all about the adorable waiters with Italian accents-lol.)

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Not that you asked but...

We had a lunch ADR at Coral Reef at 3:05pm. A little early but I know they never seat us early so it wasn't that early.

Skyler had a thing this trip with taking pictures with all the Christmas Trees.

We were seated in the back row. I thought the kids would flip! The always want the table along the tank. The furthest away we've ever been seated was the first row along the tables. But no one has a problem. I used to be of the mind that there were bad seats in the house but after sitting where we were this time, I have decided this is the best place to sit. Yes, along the tank you may be close up but you can only see that one window but where we were, we could see all of them.

Our waitress was Yayoi. She was a little hard to understand but very nice and efficient. She brought our bread and butter.

And took our drink orders...the usual.

For appetizers Skyler has a garden Salad with ranch on the side...which is not on the menu but they had no problem bringing her one.

Cary got a Caesar Salad...with shredded parmesan and croutons...

And I got Heirloom Tomatoes - sherry vinegar, Tuscan olive oil, fresh mozzarella, and balsamic reduction...

All of our salads were to our liking but mine was the clear winner. Oh, and we decided on ordering three meals this time because we were not all super hungry. So Skyler had the appetizer of one meal and Tyler got the entrée.

For our entrees we had...

Cary...Grilled New York Strip Steak medium well - served with Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, seasonal vegetables and bercy butter

Tyler has the same but medium rare and subbed fries for his mashed potatoes and Skyler snagged the green beans!

And I ordered the Shrimp and Grits - jumbo shrimp, cheddar grits, local corn succotash, Andouille sausage, and Creole spice emulsion.

This was really good! The grits were probably better than the shrimp actually! But the whole thing together was great! I don't know how they did not get tired of steak all the time!

For desserts we had the Turtle Cheesecake - chantilly cream and hazelnut praline

The Chocolate Wave - served with Raspberry Gelato

Coconut-Mango Chiffon Cake - with raspberry sauce (to go)

The turtle cheesecake and the wave were great. All of us ate off of them! The "exotic dessert" as it says on the receipt, I am not sure we even tasted...it looked like a soft boiled egg sliced in half!

Food is always great here. The wait staff and waiting times to be seated have always been our downfalls. This time we have none! Yayoi was very nice and accommodating, we didn't wait long even arriving slightly early, our food was great and where else can you dine "under the sea"?!? We do not understand all the bad reviews. Coral Reef is always on our medium list to return to.

TOTAL = $159.13 ... TOTAL FOOD = $1302.83
USED 3 CREDITS ... USED 30 MEAL CREDITS

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Via Napoli

Lunch at Via Napoli! Via Napoli had just opened on our last trip and we already had our ADRs planned so we did not change to eat there. So for all this time we had been hearing about the wonderful pizzas at Via Napoli. Being on the dining plan, I pushed around the idea of doing it or not, paying out of pocket or dining plan, how many credits to use...and then there's that nasty thing about them not letting dining plan patrons share. So in the end we decided to go out of pocket here. While we would have loved to try appetizers and desserts, I figured we did not really need to so we'd go OOP!

Our ADR was for 2:30pm. We arrived at around 2pm and it was a bit confusing back there. They has a check in line under umbrellas that was not labeled. There were two girls there with menus. So we go in the line/ Turns out that line was for the Candlelight Processional Package ADRs and regular ADRs could just check in at the counter inside. But no one offered up this information until we asked. SO we went inside and checked in at 2:13pm. Two families were complaining that they had the CP package and had been waiting a long time while they watched others (like us) get seated who came in after them. I don't know what their procedure is but whatever it was, it wasn't working for these families. We sat in the lobby for a few minutes.

And we were seated at 2:20pm. We were seated along that wall opposite where we came in. They also had no problem that it was only the three of us still.

We each ordered a drink and one Pepperoni Signature Pie ... Mezzo Metro (serves 3 - 5) tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni

And Cary would later be sorry he missed lunch after we demolished it and sang it's praise! I think we even fought over the crust. All the hype was not lying! Now, pizza is one of Tyler's main food groups so I figured he'd like it but we all really loved it!

We DID NOT need a doggy bag!

We were done here about 3:20. Service was kind of hard to understand and not very patient. It was very loud in there. Lots of wait staff running around. Like I said our pizza was awesome! We will be back in the future!TOTAL = $ 55.00 ish (I can't find my receipt!)... TOTAL FOOD = $2047.70 (nothing new on DDDP cost)
USED 0 CREDITS ... USED 47 MEAL CREDITS

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So basically, we like them both...they are both very different.

Via Napoli is not a great use of dining credits if you are planning on pizza though. I know Coral Reef gets a bad rep around here but we have been there on most of our trips and still keep coming back!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

not to hijack this thread, but does anyone know if you can get pepperoni on the kids pizza? Also if you can't how big is the kids pizza compared to the individual pizza on the adult meal.

 

[DekrRini]

I've had good luck with the food I've chosen at Coral Reef and have enjoyed eating there. The aquarium makes an interesting backdrop, but to actually see fish swimming around, I've found watching them from the Living Seas pavilion to be better. I'm not a good judge of Via Napoli, because I had an adverse reaction to the pizza. My body doesn't tolerate garlic very well and I think there was too much for my poor tummy. It was very tasty though. My vote for kids would be Via Napoli for the ambiance.

 

[Andy72]

it seems silly because pizza is probably the most shareable entree out there but apparently via napoli is very strict (have read on the boards).

I would pick coral reef. I can get pizza at home... eating in a big aquarium, nope. If you can do that at home maybe. I have eaten there on and off over the years every so often and it has always gotten some bad reviews but I have always enjoyed it.

Lisa F is correct -- how often can you enjoy a meal with an awesome aquarium view? We went in 2014 and had a great time. The food was fine, my wife and daughter are not into seafood and they were perfectly happy.

Best part was the aquarium view! We saw sharks and some pretty amazing big fish. Plus, there were divers in there joking around - several times the whole restaurant burst out laughing at their antics. How often can you do that back home?

Have a great time!!

 

[MeghanG855]

We ended up deciding on Via Napoli! Thanks everyone!

 

[Lisa F]

Not that you asked but...

We had a lunch ADR at Coral Reef at 3:05pm. A little early but I know they never seat us early so it wasn't that early.

Skyler had a thing this trip with taking pictures with all the Christmas Trees.

We were seated in the back row. I thought the kids would flip! The always want the table along the tank. The furthest away we've ever been seated was the first row along the tables. But no one has a problem. I used to be of the mind that there were bad seats in the house but after sitting where we were this time, I have decided this is the best place to sit. Yes, along the tank you may be close up but you can only see that one window but where we were, we could see all of them.

Our waitress was Yayoi. She was a little hard to understand but very nice and efficient. She brought our bread and butter.

And took our drink orders...the usual.

For appetizers Skyler has a garden Salad with ranch on the side...which is not on the menu but they had no problem bringing her one.

Cary got a Caesar Salad...with shredded parmesan and croutons...

And I got Heirloom Tomatoes - sherry vinegar, Tuscan olive oil, fresh mozzarella, and balsamic reduction...

All of our salads were to our liking but mine was the clear winner. Oh, and we decided on ordering three meals this time because we were not all super hungry. So Skyler had the appetizer of one meal and Tyler got the entrée.

For our entrees we had...

Cary...Grilled New York Strip Steak medium well - served with Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, seasonal vegetables and bercy butter

Tyler has the same but medium rare and subbed fries for his mashed potatoes and Skyler snagged the green beans!

And I ordered the Shrimp and Grits - jumbo shrimp, cheddar grits, local corn succotash, Andouille sausage, and Creole spice emulsion.

This was really good! The grits were probably better than the shrimp actually! But the whole thing together was great! I don't know how they did not get tired of steak all the time!

For desserts we had the Turtle Cheesecake - chantilly cream and hazelnut praline

The Chocolate Wave - served with Raspberry Gelato

Coconut-Mango Chiffon Cake - with raspberry sauce (to go)

The turtle cheesecake and the wave were great. All of us ate off of them! The "exotic dessert" as it says on the receipt, I am not sure we even tasted...it looked like a soft boiled egg sliced in half!

Food is always great here. The wait staff and waiting times to be seated have always been our downfalls. This time we have none! Yayoi was very nice and accommodating, we didn't wait long even arriving slightly early, our food was great and where else can you dine "under the sea"?!? We do not understand all the bad reviews. Coral Reef is always on our medium list to return to.

TOTAL = $159.13 ... TOTAL FOOD = $1302.83
USED 3 CREDITS ... USED 30 MEAL CREDITS

i saw this in your review and now here again, you are making me crave coral reef lol

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've never been to CR but we LOVE VN. We went twice on our last trip. It is THAT good.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I think it personally depends on your kids. If they like the ocean and sea creatures, then they should like it. Growing up, I was fascinated by sharks and loved eating at Coral Reef. I still love going to aquariums. I also love seafood and last time I was there in 2014, I had the Mahi and thought it was great. I do love Via Napoli again. Very good pizza and I enjoy the Italian culture, so I usually have conversations with the servers with either my AC Milan shirts or Italy soccer jacket on. Either one is great, but depending where you are at the time is important since Italy is all the way across the lagoon from Future World.