Food for Thought/Peak Time ADRs

[Alsobrook]

So, I was reading through an Ohana thread somewhere on here, and one of the big beefs is that many people had to wait seemingly forever to be seated even though they had an ADR. Typically, I also read, in these instances, "service was poor" "food was yuck" "Experience was horrible" etc etc.

Taking it all at face value, it seems that in many of the "high demand" places (and I know they all seem to have high demand) if you're eating in the peak time window, it's more likely that you'll have these issues.....

I'm certain there can be other factors too....large parties, slower eaters, weather (people stick around longer when it rains)....

So, have any of you purposefully selected ADR times that are just outside of peak times.... i.e. you make the dinner reservation at 5 or later than usual, in an effort to minimize these issues? Do you think it matters? And if you employ such a strategy, do you then structure your day so that you are actually hungry at 5 when you might be used to eating at, say, 6:30?

Asking out of curiosity more than anything else.

 

[gonemousin']

We typically make ADRs for the earliest possible time the restaurant serves. Usually 11:30am for lunch and 5pm for dinner. We have rarely had to wait to be seated at restaurants and we've never experienced the bad food challenges at oHana that others have. We have, unfortunately, had bad food and slow seating and service at Mama Melrose years ago, despite having an early ADR - definitely won't go back, it was that bad.

Our park touring style goes well with early meal times, so it works well for our family.

 

[catne]

we often make ADRs for early lunch times (11:30) and early dinner times (around 5ish, or when the restaurant opens.) We rarely wait to be seated...maybe 15-20 minutes tops, but usually seated within 10 minutes of checking in.

At 'Ohana, we had a 5:10 ADR, waited in the check-in line for 15 minutes so checked in right at 5:10 ADR time...but they didn't start seating people until 5:15 anyway that night. So we got seated in a 1/2 empty restaurant at 5:30...20 minutes after our ADR time. Due to what I'd read in previous reviews, we actually expected to be waiting 30+ minutes so we were pleased to be getting seated in 20 minutes .

Our experience has been that "prime" meal times....noon-12:30 for lunch, and 7-8:30 PM for dinner...those times you will usually wait longer to get seated even if you check in on time.

 

[knlasv]

We have a 750 ADR at ohana in July and I'm hoping we don't have to wait too long! This will be our first night at disney and I want it to be special!

 

[Alsobrook]

I've got a 6:45 at Ohana, which is getting close to, and maybe even in, peak time.... so I was glad to read about the wait times....which helps me plan better.