Hey Coral Reef Haters... Can I ask you a Question:

[jdisnut]

Along with 'Ohana, Coral Reef seems to be among the most polarizing restaurants on these boards. I adore both. Your thread made me wonder what these two restaurants have in common. In my experience, and I suspect I'm not alone, these two places often require an unusually long wait for a table, even with a reservation. After checking in, I expect to wait at least 15-to-20 minutes. Almost everywhere else, I have been seated within five minutes of approaching the podium.

I think this experience can automatically cloud a lot of people's opinion of the restaurant. At least, the diner's first recollection of the meal is negative. I'm not sure why Coral Reef struggles to honor reservations, but it is definitely is an issue.

Fortunately, I have always enjoyed the food and atmosphere. too much to leave disappointed.

 

[I Run Long]

Well the first time we went we waited over 45 minutes for a 4:30pm ADR and it was extremely busy. I just wish they had a bigger waiting area or at least more seats. My 73 year old mother had to stand the whole time. We could have gone outside I suppose to sit but we were afraid we wouldn't hear them call our names. Do they have pagers? If so, we never got one. My mom kept saying this had better be good for the wait. Well we finally got seated in a booth (we were a party of 6) and from them on it was truly wonderful. Our server was excellent, the food was incredible. Even my mom said she would definitely go back. So this year it is just myself, DH, DS14, DD12 and we are going again. However, we are going to be prepared for a long wait (kids with their iPods etc) and breath and relax. We'll put up with the wait for the food. Oh well, it is Disney so I'm not complaining.

 

[jlder72]

Loved Coral Reef, for the 3rd time. We had ADR's for 3:15 told them at check-in we would wait for a aquarium table and were seated right next to the aquarium before our scheduled time. Because of our time they let us choose between lunch and dinner menu.

I am not a big seafood person, I book this restuarant for the surroundings, I had the steak and it was perfect!!!! The kids had the cesear salad with chicken and cream brulee (spelling) for dessert. It was all wonderful.

There was one issue, though not ours. A cast member dropped a final bill folder/credit card at our table stating "jose asked me to leave this with you". It was the wrong table and I now had the credit card of another person. As soon as I saw our waiter I waved at him to tell him the issue and he took care of it.

 

[katieandemismom]

We were there last week for a dinner reservation at 6:45. We checked in early at 6:30 and got seated about 6:50 (we were pretty happy about that). The food was good. It was cooked exactly as requested. It was the SERVICE that was awful! We sat at our table for 20 min before placing a drink order. Our meals came out 30 minutes later. Our waitress asked for our dessert order when we ordered entrees. It was 45 minutes after she cleared our dinner plates before dessert came out (a creme brulee, a chocolate wave, a cheesecake, and 2 kid ice creams). It got to the point that we asked her how much longer b/c my kids were about to lose it, and they are well behaved in restaurants. The table across from us got entrees and desserts and paid while we were waiting for the dessert. We also had an extremely difficult time getting refills. In all, dinner was 2 hrs and 45 mins from the time we sat down.

DH enjoyed the food enough to go back, but I'm insisting on trying a lunch reservation. I will not miss Illuminations again when we have an adr before 7:00. They get one more chance, and we will not have the same server (dh put her name in his phone after talking with the manager - lol!).

 

[tink1953]

well our experinece at Coral Reef was much like everyone elses...

long wait
bad service
bland food

so I would say it must be the norm for this resturant...you would think they would do something about it...I know we complained and it sounds like many others have also...why don't they take the advice of the people that count...fix it instead of offering free this or apoligizing all the time??
Its a fun place to bad the food and service is not as good.

BArb

 

[drenalin'junkie]

Never waited,never a bad server,never a wrong item.Food is good,cost is appropriate.Going to CR since it opened.Not that I don't doubt others have had issues or were dissatisfied.Food and particularly DisFood is very subjective.I look at pix and posters preferences.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

For my last three visits, Coral Reef has been our best dining experience in all of Epcot. The food quality and service, all three times, has been outstanding.

I have thought I would be upset with Coral Reef, if I were not on the Disney Dining Plan. The portions seem small to me, and the cost is not. So in that one area, I may feel taken. I wonder if that is part of why people do not enjoy this restaurant.

However, we recently did Deluxe Dining and the Coral Reef was exactly what we wanted. The food is TOP quality and the serving sizes are not so big that we had to forgo appetizers or dessert. It is the perfect restaurant for those on DxDP! Our family had the grilled mahi mahi and the New York strip steak, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was so incredibly good.

We have requested a table next to the aquarium and received it all three times. The last two times, we have had the big sea turtle dine with us! The atmosphere inside the restaurant is cool and relaxing. And our servers have been friendly and professional.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

We had ADR's for 7:30pm and were not seated until almost 9pm last trip. I finally reminded somebody there that we were still waiting on the couch when everybody else went in

Here is my DF pretending to sleep there !

That bench won't be able to accommodate 11 of us sleeping if we have to wait THAT long!

Thats CRAZY!

 

[luvthemouse71]

I think part is bad luck, and part of it is people go to a seafood place, and then get the chicken. In other words, all restaurants have meals they excel at, your server can usually tell you what those are. I've been OK 98% of the time doing this.

Not a Coral Reef hater, BTW..always have had good experiences and have been 3 times.

 

[luvthatdisney]

We ate there on June 19th (week ago) and loved it. We thought it was the best meal of our trip. Our ADR was at 7:30pm and I think we waited about 10 minutes to be seated. Our server took a little bit to get to us at first, but from then on she was fine and we never went without drinks. We all had the steak and it was great. The only thing that we did not like was the cheesecake, the girls (teens) did not realize it was sugarfree and they hated it. Our table was on the second level and about midway through the restaurant. Great view of the tank.

 

[mom2val]

We have been 3 times - late Oct, mid Nov & mid Dec - always early lunch @ 11:30. Service has been great. Maybe 5 mins until we were seated. We have sat beside Aquarium 2 times - not my fave location bc other kids crowd around you and our dd will not eat bc she wants to "play".

 

[MissStitch626]

Another Coral Reef lover here!

In fairness we have only been once, but this was by a mile the best dining experience DH and I had last year (didn't have any bad experiences). We had an ADR for around 12.30pm, if I remember correctly we were seated around 12.45pm. We weren't too fussed about the wait as we could see it was very busy, only issue I had was that there was nowhere to sit and my feet were sore We had no illusions about getting a seat near the aquarium as we'd heard how difficult this is, but when we were taken inside we were taken to a table right in front of the tank.

Our server was FANTASTIC. I was a little nervous about ordering as I am not a huge seafood fan and I thought I would get some odd looks here but our server put us totally at ease, talking us through each item and telling us his personal favourites. Our drinks were refilled without having to ask, and our server was friendly but not intrusive.

The food. . .this was AMAZING. Neither DH or I had seafood, I had the NY strip steak and DH had caesar salad with chicken breast, and both were fabulous.

Like previous posters said, opinions vary wildly on this place, and the best advice I can give to anyone who hasn't been is to not be put off by negative reviews. Everyone is different, and you might just go and love it!

 

[goofy4prez]

I've been to Coral Reef 3 times and have had good food, good service, and waits no longer than 20 minutes for all three. I enjoy this place much better than some of the other over hyped restaurants in WDW( no names on this forum).

 

[DisneyLover83]

We have been to Coral Reef twice, the first time (5/08) was good so we booked a return the next year (12/09) and that was terrible! We had a long wait to be seated (12:30 pm ADR), we were seated by the tank and had other peoples children running, shouting and pushing right at our table to see the tank, the food was cold when it got to our table, our waitress was sooooo slow, and to top it off she gave herself a double tip on our KTTW card. We had to call the manager at Coral Reef after we got home to have it removed!!!

 

[StephC1217]

For my last three visits, Coral Reef has been our best dining experience in all of Epcot. The food quality and service, all three times, has been outstanding.

I have thought I would be upset with Coral Reef, if I were not on the Disney Dining Plan. The portions seem small to me, and the cost is not. So in that one area, I may feel taken. I wonder if that is part of why people do not enjoy this restaurant.

However, we recently did Deluxe Dining and the Coral Reef was exactly what we wanted. The food is TOP quality and the serving sizes are not so big that we had to forgo appetizers or dessert. It is the perfect restaurant for those on DxDP! Our family had the grilled mahi mahi and the New York strip steak, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was so incredibly good.

We have requested a table next to the aquarium and received it all three times. The last two times, we have had the big sea turtle dine with us! The atmosphere inside the restaurant is cool and relaxing. And our servers have been friendly and professional.

What time do you usually make your ADRs for? I am trying to pick a time when we will have the best shot at aquarium seats...and not a long wait...