Coral Reef

[magpie889]

I have heard some mixed things about Coral Reef. Anyone have any input? I would really like to go there but want some input first!!

 

[maslex]

We went for the first time last summer and I had THE best steak I think I've ever had. It was so tasty. I also loved the atmosphere. Smaller than I thought it would be but still pretty cool in there.

 

[WDWDecember]

The food is good but the customer service is awful. We had an overall negative experience. We had an ADR (DDP), waited 45 minutes, and the seater gave 2 different parties of 4 (the same size as ours) with ADR times AFTER ours tables before us because those people gave them some $$. When I complained to the manager about this, he basically told me to either sit down and wait until we were called and stop bothering him or cancel our ADR. I wrote a letter to WDW after this, and they did offer a profuse apology and said this was definitely not typical behavior. Still, it left a bad impression on us. We won't go back. BTW: This was in December 2008.

 

[JoePa4Ever]

Coral Reef is my favorite WDW restaurant - I love the atmosphere with the aquarium view. I always get the steak and it is excellent!

 

[Shmily1]

CR is our favorite dinner restaurant. Even my picky DS20 and DD18 love it! The blackened catfish and grits is awesome and DS said the creme brule was wonderful! The entire experience there is just wonderful!

 

[JUS915]

We went for the first time last summer and I had THE best steak I think I've ever had. It was so tasty. I also loved the atmosphere. Smaller than I thought it would be but still pretty cool in there.

Same here. And the Crème brûlée was better than the one we got in France the previous night.

 

[angdbinkc]

We really enjoy Coral Reef. We went on our trip in 05 and had a great meal...going back again next month and looking forward to it!

 

[jacksmom]

Coral Reef is one of our favorite restaurants! We also love the steaks and the lobster ravioli is also great as is the chocolate molten cake and the smoothies! We love the atmosphere, it is so relaxing to watch the fish while we dine! We are very much looking forward to eating there very soon!

 

[ICF]

We ate there in the fall of '08 and my wife and I loved it. The only downside is that we were not very close to the tank to see the fish up close.

We went during free dinging and had ADRs and were seated after at most a 5 min wait and the steaks were good and we had an attentive waiter who offered to take our picture together and stuff.

I would highly recommend it.

 

[bitohoney]

DD and I love it and must eat there every trip. The food is great and the atmosphere is too! It is one of my top 2, along with 50s.

 

[jdisnut]

I love Coral Reef, despite the consistently mixed reviews the restaurant receives on Internet sites like this one. The food is tasty, and there are plenty of options besides seafood. Strangely, the Chocolate Wave, the lone menu item that everybody seems to love, disappointed me. I skip dessert and find a pastry at one of the World Showcase bakeries instead.

Otherwise, I have not had a disappointing experience at Coral Reef for either lunch or dinner.

 

[kaybird]

We also count Coral Reef amoung our very favorites. Have always had good food and the restaurant itself is beautiful. While I enjoy sitting next to the tank, I have to say that I think some of the higher tiers offer a better view of the tank over all.

 

[jjsdad]

2 words: chocolate wave

 

[Pakey]

While it is far from being a favorite of mine, I definitely think it's good enough to try at least once. I've eaten here enough times to have tried everyone on the menu at least once and some things I've had twice, so obviously I like it well enough. Love the restaurant theming, most of the food is pretty good. The service can be hit or miss and the noise level can be painful. We prefer to go for the first ADR time available for lunch because it's usually not as packed, slow or noisy.

 

[maggiew]

If you go, don't get the "lasagna".

My Chicken Caesar salad was good.

The kids didn't like their pizzas.

Maggie

 

[Yarna]

I did not enjoy the Coral Reef, and most likely will not return. I decided to get salmon (I was at a seafood restaurant afterall) but I wasn't informed that the fish would be served medium. I sent it back to be cooked more, but by then my stomach was turning sommersaults. I couldn't finish the fish, and I left disappointed.

 

[beroh2253]

Along with Le Cellier this is our other must do restaurant. Me and DW always get the NY Strip Steak and this has always been really good.

 

[hammie59]

We ate there once in 2008. We had read the good, bad, and the ugly beforehand and had checked out the menu on allears to even see if it was worth it.
Anyhow, we made a resv 180 days in advance, and once we arrived, we had about a 15-20 min wait for our table. The atmosphere was very nice. We were seated at a large rounded booth in the back, which is the highest tier, and it gave a good view of the tank and restaurant. We were hoping to be closer to the fish, but didn't want to wait any longer with the kids.

All of us (6 adults, 2 kids) really enjoyed our food. I think most of our dinners consisted of mahi mahi, snow crab legs, a seafood pasta, and chicken fingers. I'd go back again, but not until I try out a few new places. I definitely recommend it for the atmosphere. I thought it was really cool.

PS- This is NOT a quiet restaurant. There is a sort of low roar/echo that never goes away, but you get used to it.

 

[bedogged]

Our family was there last May. (Two adults and two teenagers.) The best I can say about it is it was okay. It was very loud, the portions were on the small side and the food was so-so. We won't be dining there this May.

 

[Yarna]

PS- This is NOT a quiet restaurant. There is a sort of low roar/echo that never goes away, but you get used to it.

Quoted for truth.

For some odd reason, I couldn't get used to the screaming kid at the table behind us.