Coral Reef?

[lync]

Has anyone eaten there recently and enjoyed it? Hated it? We have ADR's there, but are thinking about changing them to Biergarten. We've never tried Coral Reef before and hae eaten at Biergarten before.
Thanks in advance!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Coral Reef is really good. Good food & great atmosphere

 

[Pakey]

Coral Reef has the aquarium, decent but not great food, and has got to be one of the noisiest places to eat in all of WDW. We like this place so we try to book the earliest seating available for lunch in an attempt to eat at a quieter time. The noise is deafening here.

 

[ChrisAlli]

We just ate here last week. We had the diver and special menu. The food was OK, me and DH had NY strip, I've had better. My FIL had the roasted chicken I think, he said it was good. Kids had the pizza w/o chicken and my DS ate his, but DD wouldn't touch it. She had some of my steak.

The atmosphere is great as there were people scuba diving in there and it's neat to see the fish and sharks. The food was just OK, we won't go there again. Yatchsman had way better steak. I didn't think it was loud though.

 

[rkwells]

Coral Reef has the aquarium, decent but not great food, and has got to be one of the noisiest places to eat in all of WDW. We like this place so we try to book the earliest seating available for lunch in an attempt to eat at a quieter time. The noise is deafening here.

THANK YOU for this info! We are going to try CR for the first time and my family would definitely appreciate going when it is a bit quieter!

 

[belle&sebastiansmom]

We went to Coral Reef at the beginning of September. We loved it. We didn't have ressies, were told by the dining reservations that they were booked solid, but we walked up at 4:45 and were seated immediately.

Both DH and I had the filet, and it was great. The Chocolate Wave was wonderful. We enjoyed the atmosphere and found it not any noisier than a character meal. And the plus for us, we got the food delivered to our table! Yep, we did a lot of buffets! The waiter was very efficient, not overly friendly, he was all business, but I can't complain about the service.

So, for Coral Reef not being on my original plan, we're not seafood eaters, we were all pleasantly suprised and will definitely go back!

 

[Neesy228]

I would have to agree about the good atmosphere, but just okay food/service. We had really lousy service a couple of weeks ago. Our server was slow, rude and very worried about her tip. Our meals (we had the mahi-mahi and the seafood linguine) were tasty, but the portions were small. They brought bread with dipping oil and when we asked for butter for our kids to have on the bread, we were told that they had none! Our kids had pizza and mac n cheese (we were told that we were "lucky" because after that night they were no longer serving mac n cheese) and neither one cared for their food.

I think that once was enough for us. We won't be going back, but it's probably worth a try once....

 

[ChrisAlli]

We had the same thing with the butter. Not everyone likes oil and vinegar on their bread, especially kids.

We had a good server, but was definately doing the upsell of things. And we weren't on the dining plan.

The atmosphere is great for the kids, we had a diver who was doing tricks with blowing rings in the water and then swimming through them and the kids liked the chart of fish and then trying to find them in the tank. But like I said before the food was OK.

 

[HolliePoppins]

We have been 3 times and loved it each time. Here are some pics from our table.

I think this was his favorite spot. He stayed there almost our entire meal. There was another poster that said they had the same table and he stayed there for most of their meal also.

 

[secretpantssam]

I was there a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty noisy, though most disney restaurants seem to be. I found my food to be good, but not great. Though my mom said that was her worst meal of the trip. We weren't seated by the glass so we didn't get to enjoy the aquarium as much as I would have liked. I guess it's a nice experience, but it's not something I have to do again next trip.

 

[Nohal]

We ate lunch there 2 weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised after reading so many negative reviews. I had steak and hubby had mahi mahi. Food was good and so was the service. I didn't find it to be very noisy but we had an early lunch ressie. I really liked the aquarium.

 

[bluejasmine]

CR was the best meal on my honeymoon last wk! DH hd the steak and it was very tender and the roasted potatoes were perfect, I hd the lobster salad on baguette with field greens and lobster bisque it was excellent even the bread and oil they brought out was tasty we asked for seconds! Get the octupus juice its the yummiest drink Ive ever hd pina colada with chambord! I had arranged for a diver and sign and it was so romantic and the whole restaurant applauded and awed when DH saw his sign and we kissed Ill never forget it! Then after dinner server brought us a complementary champagne toast since we were on our honeymoon. DH said its a must do for next yrs trip, my 15 yr old son loves it too we went in 2006 and he got the mahi mahi and subs mash potatoes and loved it..I myself had the steak back then and loved it! Everyone should try it atleast once!

 

[Cupcake88]

We had a magical experience there in January 2008. Our server was Sally and she was amazing. The food was good and she went above and beyond to make my son who is autistic comfortable and made sure he had a happy birthday. I can't say enough about this restaurant!!! I hope she's still there and working when we go back in 2009 = I have a picture of Evan and her together to share with her!!!

 

[Anonomom]

We ate at Coral Reef on 9/11. Food-wise, it was the best meal we had all week. DH and I both loved our steaks, and my in-laws' Mahi-Mahi was excellent. And don't even get me started on the key lime tart. The portion was huge, and I devoured every bite! It's the only dessert I finished all week.

Unfortunately, when we were there, service was AWFUL! Our waiter would have made a snail look like an olympic runner. And the place is very, very loud. Probably, as one poster noted, no louder than a character meal. But the decor and food at CR make the noise seem quite incongruous.

Finally, I should note that it's very difficult to get a table near the aquarium. When we made our ADRs (for 5 people), I was told I could request a table near the aquarium when we arrived at the restaurant, and she made it sound likely that we'd get one (especially since it was my MIL's birthday). What they failed to mention is that there are only two tables large enough to accommodate five people near the aquarium. When we arrived, we were told that both tables had just been seated, but that we were welcome to wait an hour or more if we wanted to be near the fish. If I'd know ahead of time that my request was nearly impossible to have granted, I'd have been much less disappointed.

 

[i3utterfli82]

We just ate at Coral Reef last week and were really disappointed this year, so much so we will not be returning next year. Last year this was one of our favorite dinners.

Not only was the food not great, the service was the worst out of all of our meals.

The only thing besides the atmosphere that was good was the sorbet.

We had:

Seafood Linguine - DH meal and he said it was awful, no flavor and for some reason he had spaghetti noodles.

Blackened Catfish - While the catfish itself was good, the grits were inedible.

Added: I did enjoy my blue glowtini here though, but I guess it is the same everywhere

 

[GC&S]

The noise!! Oh my goodness was it ever noisy in there. I don't remember it being that noisy before. Chef Mickeys was quieter. But we still had good food (was there 2 weeks ago). We had a very nice waiter who liked to talk. A lot. The only problem was while that was nice chatting with him, he chatted with all his tables so we would sit and wait for bread, drinks, for what seemed liked an eternity. It is a beautiful place and there's really not a bad seat in the house. I prefer not to be right up against the glass. I like the second tier.

 

[Cdnprincess]

I found it very noisy in there as well.

 

[TinkAsh2001]

I am glad to read someone had a good experience on there honeymoon here. I was wanting to go here on ours & book the diver & menu as a suprise for my DFI! He has never been to disney!

 

[ElizabethB]

We ate there three weeks ago. Food was so-so. Noise was unbearable.

 

[lucigo]

We had a magical experience there in January 2008. Our server was Sally and she was amazing. The food was good and she went above and beyond to make my son who is autistic comfortable and made sure he had a happy birthday. I can't say enough about this restaurant!!! I hope she's still there and working when we go back in 2009 = I have a picture of Evan and her together to share with her!!!

Glad your son enjoyed it!!

I'm taking my son here for the first time in November (also has autism). Can you tell me if they have chicken nuggets and fries there? If not we may have to bring him in a counter service meal.