Coral Reef

[goNsoon2WDW]

I am looking for thoughts about Coral Reef. My BIL & his family went there and indicated that it really wasn't very good at all and the service was sub-par.

They overcooked his steak and messed up his DD's meal, the waiter disappeared, and that when they finally got their food corrected everyone else was done and had to wait for them to eat. He said the food wasn't very flavorful and they would definitely skip it next trip.

He said that he had read somewhere that it was going down hill, but still wanted to try it for the atmosphere. He recommends that we eat at Via Napoli instead.

Anyone else have experiences that they can share?
TIA

 

[MartinaC]

I don't think I will be much help. But, we have had both a horrible experience and a wonderful experience there. We eat there every time we go to WDW and hope for another great experience. If you have never been, it's great to see the fish while your eating.

 

[MariDisney]

Coral Reef is one of our "never again" restaurants. We've tried several times, and it just isn't for us. We've had terrible service and downright rude waitstaff. The last time we were there the server tried to talk me out of ordering a dish because it "smells funny". We've also had to wait an extreme amount of time to settle the check. We felt this was in retaliation for not ordering all our food at once (we preferred to order dessert after we enjoy our entrees). Lastly, it's so very loud in there that there's no way for us to relax. We understand that it's WDW and there will be noise, but the noise level in the CR is just silly.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

We liked that meal. I had some sort of fish. I wished we could sit closer to the aqaurium though.

 

[stcav2000]

Unfortunatly, I agree with him. We were just there 2 weeks ago and previous to that it had been 5 years. I saw the reviews on here and remebered the food was not stand out good, but it was acceptable and we liked the atmosphere. I thought the reviews were mainly people just being picky or expecting too much from theme park food. I was wrong. It was terrible. Here is a copy of another post I made regarding it:

Coral Reef. My son picked this out for his birthday lunch and not only was it the worst meal of the trip, I think it was probably the worst meal of my life. The appetizers were each bad in their own way. Lobster bisque tasted like plastic had melted in it, shrimp were cold, tough and chewy, crab was cold and bland. The soft drinks were ok, but my pina colva arrived in layers. The bottom was a pool of raspberry syrup, the middle was the tasteless pina colada mix and the top was rum. I ordered several of these throughout the trip and the rest were all prepared correctly and were delicious. When I said something to the waiter about it, he told me thats how they are supoosed to be and he was sorry I didn't like it and walked off. The entrees were all horrible. The lobster ravioli and mahi mahi were inedible. I actually gagged when I tried it. I wasn't brave enough to try the Mahi Mahi but I took the boys word that it was terrible. My middle son will eat anything and he hated this. I also noticed the tables around us that had ordered it were not eating it. DH's steak was probably the best of the meal and it was cold, fatty and bland. We figured desserts would be good. No such luck. The wave was over cooked with a burnt top and dry. My son said the cheesecake tasted like mold and my daughters sundae arrived melted. We left hungry and went straight to world showcase for some good snacks.

 

[Belle83]

Never been, but talked to people in line about it recently (while waiting for Soarin') and they thought it was pretty mediocre.

 

[danceintherain]

I've only been once, and I'm not anxious to go back. It wasn't terrible. The food was edible, but not outstanding. I think I got a steak and my husband got the catch of the day. I thought our waitress was good. We were on the dining plan and she explained the entitlements really well. While the aquarium was fun, we were seated pretty far away from it, so it wasn't as much fun as it could have been.

Overall, I probably won't go back until I have kids old enough to enjoy watching the fish while they eat. There are far too many interesting places to eat in Epcot to return to Coral Reef.

Actually, it's more likely that I'll get Scuba Certified and set it up so my husband and kids are eating there while I'm in the tank. (If I could even get over there...)

 

[anorman]

We ate there last year. I had no problem at all with the service. The atmosphere was beautiful and we didn't notice any extreme amount of noise. Loved the fish tank! BUT, and this is a big but, the food was horrible! I expected good seafood from a restaurant that specializes in seafood so I stuck with that but it was not fit to eat and I will not likely ever return there because of it. It's too bad really since it is a beautiful restaurant with a unique atmosphere. If they could improve what they serve, I think they would be as hard to get into as, say, Le Cellier.

 

[FireDancer]

I like seafood but have never heard of anyone having a good experience at Coral Reef. I would still try it for yourself because dining is subjective but if you are interested in seafood I would recommend Fulton's at DTD personally. It is the best seafood I've had on property.

 

[pluto#1]

Our first visit was in May. The service was great! Our server was very good at refilling drinks etc and checked up on us too. Food was good too! we ordered the app for 2 only the lobster bisque that we found to be a bit too salty. I ordered the grilled mahi mahi which my wife, daughter (18months at the time) and I all enjoyed. My wife ordered the catch of the day which was also good but I prefered my mahi mahi. I think our ADR's that night were at 7pm and the place was still packed.

 

[DisneyEater]

I have been there a few times. Service is usually a little slow, but food has generally been good, and you can't beat the view.

My daughter did get the steak once and neither she or I were a fan. I usually stick with the fish.

 

[angierae]

The food was fine, but the service was ridiculously slow. We were done eating for an HOUR before the waiter could get all of our KTTW cards charged (six people in three rooms, not all that complicated) and the service DURING the meal was impossibly slow, as well. This was after we'd had a manager come out to talk to us because we were so frustrated at how long it was taking.

I won't eat there again.

 

[rznhal]

We liked Coral Reef! It was one of my DD's (3yo at the time) best memories! The tank is amazing. They give you a coloring book with all the fish in the tank in it....the food was good, we both had steak, DD had pizza i believe....good service.....we are going back this year!!!

also, if you are on the DDP, it was one of the only places we went that offered a frozen drink as part of the plan instead of the standard sodas and teas!!!

If you had kids, i highly recommend!!!

 

[NOLAdisneymom]

Last November Coral Reef was our absolute fave TS meal... the food was EXCELLENT, the server was so sweet (nicest of the trip), and you can't beat the atmosphere.. We were in the middle tier where we could see the tank perfectly. The food: my DH and DS both got the steak, DS said it was perfectly cooked, and the horseradish mash was the best he'd ever had. I had the roasted pork with root veggies and polenta cake, and I've been thinking of it ever since..
This place gets bad reviews. BUT we loved it and are going back in Dec! We liked it more than Chefs de France AND Ohana! Hope this helps!

 

[Rekenna]

We too, CR, we go there every trip. The only negative we have encountered is service that is a little slow. We typically go during early lunch time and it works really well for us. Also, for us the round tables/booths are nice b/c we can keep all 3 boys together and they are so busy watching the fish in the tank it keeps them from picking at each other.

On our last trip DH, DS12 and I all had the steak-it was very good. DS5 had the chicken nuggets and DS3 had the grilled chicken and mashed potatoes (one of the best kids meals on property-at least for him). The little boys also really liked the "do-it-yourself" sundaes and the rest of us had the Chocolate Wave which is really yummy.

My fave pic of DS3 on our last trip was at CR. DS3 has autism, so this was a really lucky/great pic of him b/c he looked right at the camera!

 

[goNsoon2WDW]

I am surprised at how many people have had a disappointing experience here. If you have bad food or poor service, what does Disney do?

Our experiences at Disney have always been pretty good and the times when there has been a glitch or issue Disney not only would fix the situation, but add a bit of extra to make up for it. It sounds like they are just blowing this all off as if it were ok.

If you have a bad experience and let someone there know, do the do something to make it better?

I think I would be willing to give it a try if I know that if we had a problem that it would be addressed quickly and taken care of.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I've been there three times. The last time, last year, was by far the best. The other two times were good but not remarkable.

 

[Pakey]

I have eaten at Coral Reef many times. A decade ago, this was a pretty nice place to eat. Service has always been slow but the food back then was unique with a heavy emphasis on fish/seafood dishes. It was a bit pricey compared to all of the World Showcase restaurants.

Then the dining plan came into popularity and Coral Reef became one of its darlings, such a great deal on the plan for the price, etc. In the past 5 years, the menu has been stripped and stripped again. The dishes are no longer inventive and most of them don't even taste very good anymore. But the slow to nonexistent service has remained.

We have taken it out of our rotation after 3 sub par meals back to back here.

 

[ITmickey]

In our case, the service was good, and were seated in a table just next to the aquarium, and we loved that.

However, we thought it was overpriced and the food, while good, was nothing to write home about. Nice mojito, though.

While the experience was nice and enjoyed dinning by the fish, we dont have plans to come back any time soon. If I were you, i'd give it a try due to the uniqueness of the aquarium.