Disappointed at Kouzzina

[leebee]

In August 2010, DD17 and I had an amazing meal at Kouzzina! We loved the lamb and the chicken, and there was a great variety of desserts from which to choose. We were so excited to be taking DH there this past weekend, but we were so disappointed. Our ADR was for 9:45, so we might have been a tad too tired to enjoy the experience, but the food wasn't properly prepared. DD had the stewed cinnamon chicken, one of their signature dishes. The chicken was dried out and overcooked. DH had the tasting platter, and the food was OK but the lamburger was overly salty and cool. I had the lamb shank and almost cried. Last time it was perfect, and served with a special marrow spoon. This time, there was no marrow at all, and the meat was tough and stringy, almost as if it had been pressure cooked and soaked in sauce instead of braised until the connective tissue turns gelatinous and gives the shank its tender smoothness. And the desserts... very common mediterranean fare, like walnut cake and bakalava, nothing particularly interesting. We were so disappointed and sad...

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

Sorry you had a bad experience. We were there a week ago tonight and they had some major glitch in their system so check in took forever! A party in front of us ended up leaving because the hostess couldn't find them on the paper printout and they were tired of waiting. Once inside though things improved for us. The only thing I didn't like at all was our dessert - baklava. It was horrible - hard like a rock.

 

[AmyBeth68]

What ashame . I wish I could say our last experience with Kouzzina was great but it was FAR from that in terms of service. We ate there a year ago and the food and service were both outstanding. A few weeks ago we decided to make ADRs for breakfast at 10:45 am. We showed up at 10:40 and checked in. We noticed several "agitated" parties who had appeared to be waiting for their table for a LONG time. One such couple finally went to the hostess and politely told her they were leaving because they had been there an HOUR!!!

We continued to wait since it seemed the party who left had not made advanced dining reservations, we were willing to give them a chance since the menu looked really yummy. 20 minutes later we were seated at a half empty restaurant for breakfast. We weren't overly concerned about the wait, but it was definitely noted. After being seated we, along with several other tables in our vicinity, simply sat there....and waited. We weren't offered water, a glass of OJ, we had a menu and little else. After 20 minutes of sitting there, and feeling completely stupid for doing so at this point, without even a single server, hostess or manager stopping by for a moment and saying a word, we got up and walked out. We stopped at the hostess stand and rather loudly told her that we were leaving for the above reasons as several groups who were STILL sitting out there (now way past breakfast service) looked on horrified.

I would love to give them another shot for dinner, but after reading the other comments here I'm doubtful I'll waste an ADR for our upcoming trip on the potential for a poor meal. What a shame....it was such a great menu!

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Our experience in August was disappointing, too. The food was fine, but the server mixed up the order and one person at the table never got an entrée. She said she'd rush it through and get it for him, but he decided he didn't want it because everyone else was already most of the way through theirs by the time we got the server's attention again to ask where the last plate was.

I felt so bad, because we had raved so much about the place to our friends, and had selected it as one of the few restaurants we did on the trip with them.

 

[tebookie]

We tried Kouzzina for the first time last week.

We had fabulous service and great food! The pork tenderloin was so delicious! Truly one of the best meals we had last week.

We have no problem going back there again.

 

[canopynut66]

In August 2010, DD17 and I had an amazing meal at Kouzzina! We loved the lamb and the chicken, and there was a great variety of desserts from which to choose. We were so excited to be taking DH there this past weekend, but we were so disappointed. Our ADR was for 9:45, so we might have been a tad too tired to enjoy the experience, but the food wasn't properly prepared. DD had the stewed cinnamon chicken, one of their signature dishes. The chicken was dried out and overcooked. DH had the tasting platter, and the food was OK but the lamburger was overly salty and cool. I had the lamb shank and almost cried. Last time it was perfect, and served with a special marrow spoon. This time, there was no marrow at all, and the meat was tough and stringy, almost as if it had been pressure cooked and soaked in sauce instead of braised until the connective tissue turns gelatinous and gives the shank its tender smoothness. And the desserts... very common mediterranean fare, like walnut cake and bakalava, nothing particularly interesting. We were so disappointed and sad...

was there week ago and food was horribe Cat Cora needs to get down there and get things straightened up---soon

 

[AmyBeth68]

We tried Kouzzina for the first time last week.

We had fabulous service and great food! The pork tenderloin was so delicious! Truly one of the best meals we had last week.

We have no problem going back there again.

I'm glad to hear that not all reports are poor. We truly LOVED our meal there a year ago and raved to many people about it. It even made our top 10 restaurants at disney thread with perennial favorites Le Bistro and Artist Point. Unfortunately the abysmal service we received a few weeks ago makes us extremely hesitant to return now . Your report gives us some hope. The menu is truly unique and the food was top notch. I'm just hearing more bad than good lately though .

 

[librarygeek]

We were there about a month ago and had an amazing dinner! It's the only place we went to that we are considering going to again on our next trip - we like to switch it up and try new things but this one was just so good! My DH had the baklava and couldn't stop eating it even though he was so full from dinner. Hopefully they've just had a few bad days recently and will get back on track soon.

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, what happened when you brought all of this to the attention of your server?

 

[vicki_c]

We were there in April for breakfast and it was so great - service and food. I am going back with my husband in about a month for breakfast again.

I can't believe (but I do) the thing about waiting so long at breakfast-- the day we were there (a Friday morning around 10:15 or 10:30), we walked in and were seated in under 5 minutes and there was no one else waiting for a table and the restaurant was pretty empty too. And we had great service.

Hopefully we will repeat our prior experience and not the OP's.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Sounds like this could be hit or miss? We are planning a walk up for breakfast one day...probably very early since we are staying at the BWI and its quick to get there. Have reservations for dinner too...since the new menu change for both breakfast and dinner we are very excited to give it a try!

 

[ScoJo15]

Sounds like this could be hit or miss? We are planning a walk up for breakfast one day...probably very early since we are staying at the BWI and its quick to get there. Have reservations for dinner too...since the new menu change for both breakfast and dinner we are very excited to give it a try!

You might want to book an ADR for breakfast. We attempted walking up two weeks ago for breakfast and were turned away..that was around 10am. So we made the ADR's for the following morning and they again were not accepting any walk ups that day either. It was during the first weekend of Food and Wine, but still surprised that they were booked each morning.

Of course then we had the experience that AmyBeth68 posted. I've never experienced anything like it...no servers doing anything (one dude did bring orange juice and coffee to a table), manager walking back and forth not helping out and no one...no one...serving any of the tables around us. We literally sat there for just over 20 minutes before walking out.

Anyway...I certainly hope that was an exception and not the norm! And I hope you guys have better luck and a great meal!

 

[Sweet Melissa]

Sounds like this could be hit or miss? We are planning a walk up for breakfast one day...probably very early since we are staying at the BWI and its quick to get there. Have reservations for dinner too...since the new menu change for both breakfast and dinner we are very excited to give it a try!

Yeah, it does seem like it's pretty hit or miss. I say keep your plans, though. We love both their breakfast and dinner. Make sure to have a bloody Mary with your breakfast. They're delicious.

 

[leebee]

OP here. The waitress was pretty disinterested in us. She had one other table, with 8 diners, that she was just fawning over. We sat for over 10 minutes after the hostess seated us, waiting for someone or something to appear at our table, but nobody stopped by or said anything. I understand that big parties take a lot of attention, but it wouldn't have killed her to take 10 seconds to say, "I'll be with you in just a couple of minutes." I told DH how funny it was that she was paying so much attention to the big party, because their tip was "built in" to the bill and ours was totally up to us. It was all a big wait... wait for her attention, wait for the menus, wait for her to take our order, wait for the food to come. OOOPS... bread/olive oil was delivered to the table AFTER the entrees, with a "sorry" giggle and the comment that the bread would be best with the meal, anyhow. THEN the drinks arrived... we asked for them when she brought the bread, even though they were ordered WAY ahead of that. We also asked about the drinks when the kitchen person brought our dinners. THEN there was the disappointment with the food. DD and I were SO DISAPPOINTED!!! This was our #2 favorite restaurant from our August 2010 trip, right behind California Grill, and we were so looking forward to another great meal, as well as DH's first visit. When it came time to clear the table, the waitress noticed we'd not finished and asked if we wanted boxes. I said no, that actually we thought the meals were over-cooked and poorly prepared. She said, "Oh, I'll tell the kitchen. Do you want some dessert?" We never heard anything from anyone, and of course were charged the 3 ts credits on our bill. I didn't expect to NOT "pay" for the meal, but an apology or at least an acknowledgement would have been nice- and appropriate- given the situation.

It was a poor display overall on the restaurant's part. If the servers are too tired to do their jobs or the kitchen can't prepare fresh food, they shouldn't be taking ADRs for 9:45pm. While I am glad to hear that some folks are having decent experiences at Kouzzina, there are enough who had similar experiences to ours (GREAT a year ago, dismal this year) that makes me think that Cat Cora DOES need to get down there and do some supervising if she is going to have her name on the restaurant. Service, attitude, food quality... if all are suffering, I think it's a management issue more than anything else.

And yes, I tipped the waitress... 6%. I normally tip 15%, but figured we got less than half her attention (she only had the two tables) so she'd get less than half her tip. The food wasn't her responsibility; the lack of attention and poor attitude WAS under her control.

 

[DianeV]

We have been to Kouzzina twice, once before they remodeled and changed the menu and once after (this past December) and had a great meal and service both times.

I dont know why some dont have the same experience though but we would highly recommend based on our experiences

 

[MickeyNicki]

You might want to book an ADR for breakfast. We attempted walking up two weeks ago for breakfast and were turned away..that was around 10am. So we made the ADR's for the following morning and they again were not accepting any walk ups that day either. It was during the first weekend of Food and Wine, but still surprised that they were booked each morning.

Of course then we had the experience that AmyBeth68 posted. I've never experienced anything like it...no servers doing anything (one dude did bring orange juice and coffee to a table), manager walking back and forth not helping out and no one...no one...serving any of the tables around us. We literally sat there for just over 20 minutes before walking out.

Anyway...I certainly hope that was an exception and not the norm! And I hope you guys have better luck and a great meal!

We would not go that late..if we do a walk up it would be 7:30 - 8am ish

I have been checking the breakfast reservations for the entire 10 days we are there and I can get a table for 2 any day until to 9am so I think we will be ok.

To be honest, the service was absolutely horrid when it was Spoodles too..the breakfast and dinner we had there we loved the food, hated the service.

 

[leebee]

You know, you're right. We LOVED Spoodles food but the service was pretty hit-or-miss... strange, huh?

 

[iluvpluto27]

OP here. The waitress was pretty disinterested in us. She had one other table, with 8 diners, that she was just fawning over. We sat for over 10 minutes after the hostess seated us, waiting for someone or something to appear at our table, but nobody stopped by or said anything. I understand that big parties take a lot of attention, but it wouldn't have killed her to take 10 seconds to say, "I'll be with you in just a couple of minutes." I told DH how funny it was that she was paying so much attention to the big party, because their tip was "built in" to the bill and ours was totally up to us. It was all a big wait... wait for her attention, wait for the menus, wait for her to take our order, wait for the food to come. OOOPS... bread/olive oil was delivered to the table AFTER the entrees, with a "sorry" giggle and the comment that the bread would be best with the meal, anyhow. THEN the drinks arrived... we asked for them when she brought the bread, even though they were ordered WAY ahead of that. We also asked about the drinks when the kitchen person brought our dinners. THEN there was the disappointment with the food. DD and I were SO DISAPPOINTED!!! This was our #2 favorite restaurant from our August 2010 trip, right behind California Grill, and we were so looking forward to another great meal, as well as DH's first visit. When it came time to clear the table, the waitress noticed we'd not finished and asked if we wanted boxes. I said no, that actually we thought the meals were over-cooked and poorly prepared. She said, "Oh, I'll tell the kitchen. Do you want some dessert?" We never heard anything from anyone, and of course were charged the 3 ts credits on our bill. I didn't expect to NOT "pay" for the meal, but an apology or at least an acknowledgement would have been nice- and appropriate- given the situation.

It was a poor display overall on the restaurant's part. If the servers are too tired to do their jobs or the kitchen can't prepare fresh food, they shouldn't be taking ADRs for 9:45pm. While I am glad to hear that some folks are having decent experiences at Kouzzina, there are enough who had similar experiences to ours (GREAT a year ago, dismal this year) that makes me think that Cat Cora DOES need to get down there and do some supervising if she is going to have her name on the restaurant. Service, attitude, food quality... if all are suffering, I think it's a management issue more than anything else.

And yes, I tipped the waitress... 6%. I normally tip 15%, but figured we got less than half her attention (she only had the two tables) so she'd get less than half her tip. The food wasn't her responsibility; the lack of attention and poor attitude WAS under her control.

We ate there about 4 weeks ago and had a very similar experience. Our server took ages to greet us, didn't bring bread until the entree, DH's app came out 10 mins before mine, when I asked whether mine was coming I was told a few more minutes (no apology or explanation provided). By the time I got my dish DH had finished his. The table next to us had a different server and she was even worse, they sat for well over 20 minutes waiting to order drinks and were just about to leave when she arrived.
We had a view into the open kitchen and the whole place just seemed disorganised, orders weren't being delivered at the same time, wrong dishes being prepared then thrown away etc. The food was only ok as well, aside from the loukamades for dessert nothing was very good. We ate at over 30 disney restaurants on our trip, and Kouzzina is the only one we said we wouldn't return for dinner (breakfast was a bit better, and we would give it another try for breakfast).

 

[GAN]

I guess in one word ...Inconsistent. It was on our list for next year, but I think we'll pass.

 

[tony67]

Sad to hear this - but not a big surprise.

I'm not a fan of Cat Cora at all - but I really liked this place.
This was one of the few bright spots for me when it comes to Disney run TS in the last several years.
It did not seem as standardized as the other Disney menus.
At least they still have the whole fish, hopefully it is as good as it was in the past.
I'll try it again this time,I had it booked for two nights, but my expectations are now low.