Has Coral Reef improved?

[kermit116]

Has anyone been to the Coral Reef recently? Has it improved at all? I've been listening to old DIS podcasts & heard the horrible review it got (sad little crab cakes). Just wanted to see if anyone has had a better experience there more recently.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Has anyone been to the Coral Reef recently? Has it improved at all? I've been listening to old DIS podcasts & heard the horrible review it got (sad little crab cakes). Just wanted to see if anyone has had a better experience there more recently.

I had lunch there two weeks ago today (as a walk-up). Sadly, although Coral Reef used to be one of my favorite resturaunts, on this trip it was less than impressive. The man next to me sent back his fish, and when it came back, he confessed to his dining companion that it was "barely" better. I had the chicken breast, which was overly salty to me. The catfish is off the menu. The MahiMahi looked to be a different recipe. Un fortunately, I don't think I'll return for a while.

 

[DisneyMomma2858]

We went in September and it was just ok. My steak was a little overdone. I was not a fan of the potatoes. The dessert was ok. nothing to brag about. My DH said his steak was pretty good. My friend said her mahi mahi was the worst she had ever had. My other friend said his scallops were good. My DD liked the fish tank. If not for the fish tank I would not go back. But the fish tank, and my DD loving fish, maybe I would try it again in a few years.

 

[danielephant]

wondered the same thing, this will be my first time there but DH was there when it was the living seas and said he wants to go back cause it was cool...and our DD is 2 1/2 and would LOVE the fish so we might just go for the fish experiance and cross our fingers on the food

 

[yeslek]

We recently ate there and we didn't have many major issues. I had the New York Strip and thought it was great, and I exchanged the horseradish mashed potatoes for regular ones and those were wonderful! Two got the mahi mahi and they loved it. The only problem really was one person didn't like the rice under the mahi mahi (she said it tasted like dishwater) but the other person loved it and ate it all so it was just a difference in opinion.

 

[plutosgirl]

Oh no...we ate here last December and it was very good.

I have an adr for our trip this Dec but have been on the fence about keeping it because of our other plans. We have an 12:30pm adr for Coral Reef and then a 7:30pm adr for dinner at Boma...I was thinking about maybe doing a lighter lunch in DTD...maybe I should change it and save a TS credit? hmmmm??

 

[TheAceOfAces]

(sad little crab cakes)

I don't know much else about Coral Reef, but I can attest to this. A lot of times I just get an appetizer at restaurants as my meal (the regular meal portions tend to be too big for me), so I thought it would be a good idea to order crab cakes, since that's tended to work out well for me at other places. Big mistake! I ended up with just two crab cakes the size of chicken nuggets. That was my dinner that night, after spending a full day walking around Epcot. The waiter offered to get me more food once he realized that I had intended for the crab cakes to be my dinner, but I didn't want to cause any hassle. (We were headed back to the hotel right afterward anyway, so I ended up eating a bit more there.) However, the crab cakes were very tasty and my sister really enjoyed the chicken she had, so it wasn't a bad experience.

 

[wcpamotm]

I dunno, but it seems to me the Coral Reef goes in cycles. Was there in August, and as usual I enjoyed the lobster bisque. The rest of the meal was just OK, nothing special. We will be going back, but not too soon.

 

[cfmarie79]

It's really quite sad. We have sworn off Coral Reef for life after our last visit a few months ago... we keep going and wanting to love it but it just gets worse and worse.

 

[wendypooh]

We were there in May and it was one of our worst meals!!!! In the past we'd always had good meals at CR - this time was BEYOND bad. Nothing was good from the service on down, the food was less than mediocre - DH got the Mahi Mahi and it was so overdone it was like trying to eat a boot........ ( I mean it's a seafood restaurant, how do you mess up the fish??) Anyway, just very very disappointing from what once was a favorite! We're headed back to the World in Dec. and CR is NOT on our list!

 

[laura428]

This makes me so sad. Our first experience was Sept 2009, and we LOVED it - believe it or not, it was a favorite for DH, me and both of our kids. Foodband service were both fabulous, and the view was a blast for the kids.

We ate our second meal there this last February, and were so disappointed. I couldn't believe how different everything was. Service was blah, food was blah...

Now we're headed back in five weeks, and I've made an ADR for lunch on our last day there. Really debating... kids also loved Teppan Edo, and I'm seriously considering trying to make a switch. We're paying cash this time, too... not that we weren't before, but stayed onsite and ate with the DxDP, so didn't hurt as much when a meal didn't stack up. But at $130 cash for lunch, I'm thinking blah just won't cut it.

 

[bytheblood]

We've gone twice and both times we were disappointed. The first time it was just okay, the 2nd time it was horrible.

My in-laws love it, but they also enjoy Denny's and IHOP.

 

[mickey mommy]

I hate to give it a thumbs down, although our experience three days ago was terrible. Last summer, we had a wonderful experience, great service, great food. This time. the service was terrible. We were seated almost immediately, although it took almost 10 minutes to get our drinks, it took about another 20 minutes to get rolls and from the time we ordered our meal until it was served was exactly one hour. The food was good, but by the time it came we were starving and frustrated.

 

[centurythree]

I dunno, but it seems to me the Coral Reef goes in cycles.

This is my impression too. I've had friends who have caught it during the downswings, and myself and others have happened to catch it during the upswings.

Historically I believe it has gotten away with a lot over the years because of its location and being less "exotic" than many other Epcot table service restaurants.

 

[aussietravellers]

We ate there twice a couple of weeks ago and both meals were fantastic.

We had eaten at Le Cellier the day before and our meal at Coral Reef was much much better than Le Cellier! We had steak and it was perfectly cooked, the wave dessert was absolutely divine! Ceaser salad with shrimp was great. Not a bad meal was had by anybody. I do have to say though, that I had the lobster soup and wasn't a fan, but that was more my tastes rather than a bad meal.

Here are some photos
Lobster soup

Steak

Salad

The Wave - YUMMMMMM

 

[n2mm]

We ate there twice this month when we were in WDW the beginning of October. Both times our meals were great. I had the mahi both times (lunch and dinner) and DH had the steak once and mahi the second time. We must be lucky because we eat here during every trip (which is alot -- every couple of months) and have always had great meals and great service. We leave next weekend for a 2 week trip and Coral Reef again is on my long list of ADRs. And it's on my January list of ADRs twice.

 

[Agri]

We went there this year and it was just barely above mediocre. The service was slow, my crabcakes were inedible, but my mom loved what she had. They brought out her dessert with a chocolate banner that said 'Happy Birthday' and she was thrilled!

It really bummed me out because when I was a kid, this was a restaurant my mom and I went to by ourselves and I'd feel grown up because we were eating on our own and I always got a Shirley Temple. (My dad hates seafood.) The experience we had was far less than special.

 

[mcd2745]

We ate there in early September. It was just okay - food wasn't bad, but nothing that made you want to go back and eat there again. Biggest issue for us was that everyone's portions were really small.

 

[TXHauntedMansionFan]

We ate there last Tuesday night and thought the food was great. My wife had the catch of the day with risotto and it was great! My steak was excellent as well.

Definitely one of the 2-3 best places we ate the entire trip!

TX

 

[BelleRocks]

We ate there last week. Hubby had mahi-mahi and it was delicious. I had salmon, it was ok. DD11 is considered an adult but still doesn't eat much, so she was going to get crab cake appetizer as a meal. Fortunately, our server told us it wasn't very much. She ended up getting the appetizer for two which included the crab cakes plus soup and shrimp. Those were ok, nothing outstanding.

Overall it was ok, nothing special. But - the tank was awesome! We probably would do it again just for the tank.

Disclaimer - we also ate at SciFi just for the atmosphere, so we are willing to compromise on the food as long as it isn't horrible.