Coral Reef??

[nwolak]

Thinking of going here in April. Comments? Suggestions? We have two 6 year old boys!
Thanks!

 

[Rhongepooh]

We went last Thanksgiving week and absolutely LOVED it!!! We are looking forward to going back for our trip in May!

 

[rznhal]

We had one great experience, one OK experience, but we we would try it again because the tank was absolutely amazing! My 5 yo loved it!!!

 

[belle07]

We love it! We try and sit next to the tank if possible.

 

[disneynut11]

Here was our review, although I know some will disagree.

The aquariums were amazing....we were even able to see some divers. However, the meal itself was our least favorite. Plus we were seated far from the aquarium so we didnt have the best view. The food was mediocre at best and some of our party of 11 didnt like the food at all. The children had the same old choices and barely ate a thing.
In my opinion you can get just as good a view of the the Seas" at the attraction.

 

[disneybliss2]

Here was our review, although I know some will disagree.

The aquariums were amazing....we were even able to see some divers. However, the meal itself was our least favorite. Plus we were seated far from the aquarium so we didnt have the best view. The food was mediocre at best and some of our party of 11 didnt like the food at all. The children had the same old choices and barely ate a thing.
In my opinion you can get just as good a view of the the Seas" at the attraction.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[Pakey]

We have dined here at least 6 times in the past few years. My main comment is that it's very inconsistent in food quality and service. The restaurant is gorgeous and the tank watching is always good unless you are with young children and get seated at the back of the upper tier.

 

[bumbershoot]

If anyone is sensitive to fishy smells, beware. DS and I were almost knocked over by the nasty salmon smell in there. I think it's odd that they serve fish in a place where you can watch fish, but then...i've been vegetarian for a long, long time, and DS has been vegetarian since birth, and we think things like this.

Their vegetarian meals were pretty bad IMO (hubby liked it more than me, but the salmon smell would have ruined just about any meal I was eating), and even DS barely ate his cheese pizza. He said it wasn't as good as the other cheese pizzas sold around the parks.

And, sadly, we found the aquarium to be pretty boring to look at. When we go to the local aquarium we certainly don't spend an hour standing in one spot to look at it...and that is what, in effect, we were doing.

 

[hailbug]

My family eats here every time we come. We love it! The food has always been good, and the atmosphere is great! Request a seat by the aquarium, it really makes it so much better.

 

[momof3poohlovers]

We have only eaten here once and I also found it to be mediocre. The food was just ok, but the wait was long and the service was poor. I find, however, that when I have bad service, it tends to make me not like the restaurant. We sat on the second tier but our view was pretty good. It's a beautiful restaurant but I actually found the T-Rex restaurant to have a better atmosphere. It's been a few years since we've been but we will probably try it again some time in the future.

 

[bcrook]

My family like Coral Reef. The atmosphere is worth the visit. I have enjoyed my steaks, the desserts, and the lobster bisque.

 

[jlk806]

I am a huge coral reef fan! It is one of my absolutely must do dining restaurants every single trip. (I visit 1-2 times a year). I have never had a bad experience. Ive always had great food (LOVE the mahi-mahi) and nice servers, though a couple of times the service a little slow. Love the view and its just one of those places I must visit every trip!

 

[MickeyMoguls]

We enjoyed everything about Coral Reef both times we ate there. In December we requested a table by the tank and got it. The food was good too.

 

[LovesTimone]

DH and I ate here in Dec. for the 1st time. I did have some doubts after reading reveiws here. But I was really happy that we chose to dine here.
We arrived a bit early, and there was inside space to sit and wait, which is nice, most TS resturant don't have much waiting space. We were seated on the 2nd tier and had a great view of the tank, there was a gaint sea turtle putting on a show for everyone. They give you a plastic reference sheet on what kind of sea animals are in the tank. We saw lots of kiddo's looking at it trying to see them in the tank. Our server was on his game, service was wonderful and flawless. From appetizer to dessert everything was very tasty, items were hot, and brought out in a timely fashion. We really enjoy this dinning experince. We will be adding this to our "list" for future visits.

One point if you are sitting on the tank, be aware that people will try to take pictures over you, which can be disruptive to your meal. We did see a few kids trying to wedge themselves in between chairs, to get to the tank. The point being is that the chairs had other guest in them. But this was not the restaurant fault it was the fault of the parent letting them run all over.

 

[Masonmj84]

It always seems to me (and this thread sort of confirms it) that most of the less than stellar reviews of this place come from someone who:

(1) Dined with either a very large (>6) or very small (<3) party;
(2) Had an ADR that was not early in the meal service;
(3) Came at a very busy time of the year;
(4) Has certain dietary restrictions, which limits their choices on the menu; and/or
(5) Paid OOP (and felt it was a rip off).

We've tried to eliminate as many of these as possible in our upcoming trip in early Feb. where we have a 11:30 ADR for a party of 5 on the DxDP (if we have a bad experience, I'll throw my hypothesis out the window).

 

[aubriee]

It always seems to me (and this thread sort of confirms it) that most of the less than stellar reviews of this place come from someone who:

(1) Dined with either a very large (>6) or very small (<3) party;
(2) Had an ADR that was not early in the meal service;
(3) Came at a very busy time of the year;
(4) Has certain dietary restrictions, which limits their choices on the menu; and/or
(5) Paid OOP (and felt it was a rip off).

We've tried to eliminate as many of these as possible in our upcoming trip in early Feb. where we have a 11:30 ADR for a party of 5 on the DxDP (if we have a bad experience, I'll throw my hypothesis out the window).

I've dined there as a party of one, two, and three and anywhere from 12N to 5:30pm, no dietary restrictions and have both paid OOP and used the DDP there. My reviews would be mixed. The first time as a party of two we were on the second level (those round booths just across from the tables right in front of the tank) so had a great view of the tanks. Food was good, but service was absolutely horrible. We had a waiter who insisted we needed to order alcoholic drinks (no, we don't--my mom is a diabetic and I just don't want any--his response was 'a little wouldn't hurt her and might even be good for her'). He just kept on and finally got really irritated when we wouldn't order any alcohol, then he proceeded to ignore us for the rest of the meal. The second time I was in a party of three and we got a table right next to the tank. Food and service was horrible (my husband couldn't even eat his and the waiter didn't even ask why he didn't, just took his full plate away and asked what he wanted for dessert), then we had kids climbing all over us trying to get right up next to the tank. We'd shoo them away and they'd come right back. The third time I ate there I was solo, seated at a table next to the tank, had no kids bothering me, and had excellent food and service. The fourth time it was my husband and I again. Service was OK, but kids were climbing all over us again. My steak was delicious, but my husband (who is not a picky eater) could not eat the almost raw fish they tried to serve him. At least the waiter asked what was wrong with it, apologized and took it back to be recooked.

 

[tchrrx]

We had ADRs for Coral Reef a couple of years ago, but it was the day that DH ended up breaking his foot, so we had to cancel.

We are planning on eating there in March. Hopefully we'll have a great experience. At least reading all of the negative ones keeps me from having my expectations set too high. And, if all else fails, there is plenty of yummy food in the WS to eat after dinner.

 

[Ginny Favers]

It always seems to me (and this thread sort of confirms it) that most of the less than stellar reviews of this place come from someone who:

(1) Dined with either a very large (>6) or very small (<3) party;
(2) Had an ADR that was not early in the meal service;
(3) Came at a very busy time of the year;
(4) Has certain dietary restrictions, which limits their choices on the menu; and/or
(5) Paid OOP (and felt it was a rip off).

We've tried to eliminate as many of these as possible in our upcoming trip in early Feb. where we have a 11:30 ADR for a party of 5 on the DxDP (if we have a bad experience, I'll throw my hypothesis out the window).

We did not meet any of the above criteria and did not like it. The fish was too fishy. Though I've only been there once... maybe we just got the wrong things off the menu. The reason we tried it in the first place was because of the rave reviews... and also because we wanted to see the tank. We were disappointed to be seated as far away from the tank as one could possibly be.

 

[DisneyNic]

It always seems to me (and this thread sort of confirms it) that most of the less than stellar reviews of this place come from someone who:

(1) Dined with either a very large (>6) or very small (<3) party;
(2) Had an ADR that was not early in the meal service;
(3) Came at a very busy time of the year;
(4) Has certain dietary restrictions, which limits their choices on the menu; and/or
(5) Paid OOP (and felt it was a rip off).

We've tried to eliminate as many of these as possible in our upcoming trip in early Feb. where we have a 11:30 ADR for a party of 5 on the DxDP (if we have a bad experience, I'll throw my hypothesis out the window).

We were a party of 6, with an ADR at 11:30 in Sept on Free Dining. If I had payed anymore than the tip, I would have been really upset. We were seated 45 minutes after our ADR time, the food options were limited (no dietary restrictions, just lack of choices IMO), our waiter disappeared for long lengths of time, and we were seated on the back row against the wall, center next to the door to the kitchen. My kids (6 & 4 at the time) couldn't really see the tank at all. I understand that not every table can be right up at the tank, but I chose this ADR for the atmosphere so I wouldn't do it again knowing that we could end up in the back again.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

copying this from the other thread asking about it.

I went to Coral Reef yesterday.
We were there for lunch. I really recommend lunch because the crowd level was low. Our reservation was lost it seemed, but they still took us right in and gave us a table next to the tank. (Although the seating is tiered so I think that most seats will still give you a lovely view).

Our server was a young man and was very courteous and good with service. We made a few requests and he was quick to meet them, took pics for us, checked on us...no complaints.

The food was ok but we didn't have a lot of it.
We had dinner plans later and just didn't want anything heavy at lunch.
We shared the appetizer for 2. (16.99)
It had two small cups of lobster bisque (i thought it was good but a lot like a cup of heavy cream, my friend loved it...it was good dipping the dinner rolls into it.)
2 large breaded shrimp each...fine, not much different than the counter service breaded shrimp.
a crab cake each. Our first ones were cold and raw in the middle so we had to send them back. They brought out fresh ones with a mango salsa (was decent) and they were ok but a lot of filler.
There was also a slaw with the shrimp. It was taken away when the platter was removed to replace the crab cakes and no slaw was given on the return plate. I got a teenie taste of it before it was taken away and it was warm from the shrimp on it and very oniony...so i don't feel i was missing anything.

We also got the bailey's and jack daniels mousse dessert (7.99).
It was good. Very rich pudding basically.
We shared it as well. Might have been a bit much for one person depending on how rich you can handle.

I thought the prices were pretty high, even for disney, but there is the atmosphere to consider.

There were a decent amount of young children and lots of discussions of nemo, bruce, and crush since there was a huge turtle and a shark who kept circling.

Overall, I think it's definitely a fun experience. For the price, i think it's best to go if you are on the dining plan. Paying cash, I would opt for lunch and eat something smaller like we did and check it out (we also have the tables in wonderland discount).
I would definitely go back again, I'm not expecting much for the food, but it's as good as a Red Lobster definitely...just with a lot more pizzazz. But i find that most Disney one credit restaurants are on par with popular chain restaurants for quality. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. Don't go expecting a fine dining experience though. It is not a signature dining location.