Honest opinion of ohana

[Christine]

I've been a few times over many years. It was really good 20 years ago. Went back a few times after that and the food was a huge disappointment, although a lot of that depends on your expectations of food (some people are more easy to please than others). I thought that once it got wildly popular, it was just too overrun with people and it wasn't that great.

A lot of what I would advise you depends on what your other ADRs are and what your "foodie" level is.

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

We have been to 'Ohana a number of times since we started going to WDW and for that entire time the reviews from other people have covered the gament "horrible" to "FANTASTIC!". It is almost an every trip must do for us, so obviously we like it. Most times the food has been good, but there have been isolated issues (under cooked pork once) and I truly miss the Maui potatoes that they replaced with the noodles. It's true, getting seated on time is rare, but just walk around the main building, the area is beautiful. We have had a bad table or 2, next to a main traffic area or where they gather all the kids for coconut races. We have had a few servers who were either new or just not on par with the better ones. We had one server (I didn't see or notice, but Luanne has never stopped talking about it) whose pants were very tight and he was going commando, so according to Luanne all his junk was perfectly outlined for all the world to see (don't worry, this was 9 or 10 years ago).
Overall, the good experiences have far out numbered that bad. 'Ohana may not be everyone's first choice, but if we all liked the same thing then every restaurant would be exactly the same.

 

[goofyintoronto]

During our last 4 trips we have eaten there 7 times and I have 2 ADR's for our June trip. We love the place but have to take these reviews with a grain of salt. There are some posters here who reviews I just love to read but their opinion is completely different from mine. For whatever reason they deplore Ohana and love for example Le Cellier which I refer to as the restaurant that is a legend in its own mind. Are both correct? Yep, for many of these places you are going to have to try them and make up your own mind. On reviews I read more closely about service than anything else.

I agree with this. If your curious about a restaurant, try it out yourself and form your own opinion. Its best to try it out rather than to not go at all and wonder if you wouldve liked it or not. Cause you never know, you might end up loving a restaurant that i absolutely hate. Different strokes right?

And I agree with another poster that said not to stress out about your plans. Just know that you can never have the absolute perfect trip. You have to be flexible because stuff happens.

 

[JerseyJanice]

We have been going since 1999 and it continues to be a family favorite.

It’s more than the food. We like the drinks, the atmosphere and the entertainment. We always have a fun time there.

 

[soniam]

We have only done it once, back in November. We wouldn't go back. The pot stickers were good, but a little greasy. The salad was good but had a lot of really sweet dressing. I don't even remember the bread, so it must not have been memorable The noodles and veggies were good. I mostly ate the shrimp, which was way over cooked. I am not a big beef person, but DH said it was fatty and gristly. I tried the chicken, but it was fatty and greasy. It seemed more like dark meat than white. The bread pudding was just ok. It wasn't the worst I have had but was barely middle of the road. It wasn't worth the price for us. Glad I tried it once though.

 

[kniquy]

I'm looking for some honest input.

We just went a couple weeks ago. From the start we had a 20-25 minute wait for our reservation (our reservation was at 6:50p), not the end of the world but Ohana tends to get behind, this did put us being stuck in the restaurant during the fireworks with no view of them from our table. I say this because you need to plan accordingly if the fireworks are important to you.

We started off our meal with the bread- it was dry and nothing outstanding. As for the rest of the meal - we all enjoyed the pot stickers, noodles, and broccoli. Moving on to the meats - the chicken was the best -- tender and very good flavor. We all tried the beef and most of us had tough, chewing pieces. A few in our party had the shrimp and those that did felt it was a bit over cooked. The bread pudding was good but not as amazing as we had always heard about.

Our trip consisted of Ohana, Brown Derby, Liberty tree, Kona (B), Sanna and Boma- of all those ADR's the one we were most excited about was Ohana, but the one we were let down the most by was Ohana. For as expensive as it is and for as hard as it is to get a reservation I do not think it was worth it. If it were me and i was trying to plan a special meal I would consider California Grill (at a time when you can view the fireworks). Of the restaurants we ate at we loved Brown Derby and Liberty Tree -- both far exceeded our expectations.

 

[rg35]

We went last year. It was our least favorite meal out of all of our yearly trips since 2013.

The appetizers are anything you can find in the Costco frozen section or your local Asian takeout. The meat was under seasoned, overcooked and extremely tough (no matter what skewer we got it from).

My wife had a good drink that was served in a hollowed out pineapple. That was probably the best thing about the meal.

I don't remember the dessert at all. The kids weren't particularly excited by it either.

I don't think it's worth the price. There are many better options at WDW for that you'll pay at 'Ohana.

We were really excited to try it given that a lot of people seem to like it, but it was a major letdown. It was our first time visiting Poly though, and we did enjoy the opportunity to explore the resort itself.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

Honestly, it's a breakfast must do for us.

I've never been at dinner.

I would not let negative opinions stop me from trying it.

We tried Kona last December, had always heard raves about it, and it is the 2nd worst meal I've ever had on property behind Hollywood & Vine.

 

[North of Mouse]

I will be taking my wife and daughter on their first trip to disney world in May. I feel really confident about all of our ADRs except ohana. I felt really good about it in the beginning but have recently been reading a lot of negative reviews. I'm looking for some honest input. I want this trip to be as perfect as I can get it and this is honestly one of the bigger struggles I've been having. It seems like a really cool experience, but it's expensive, especially if the food is subpar. What do you guys think? Help me make up my mind and thanks in advance.

I expect you can find negative feed back from every one of your ADR's if you look for them. Some of these negative reviews really crack me up - it seems as if one tries to outdo another on how bad things can get!

Just go and try 'Ohana, or any other restaurant for yourself.
We were at 'Ohana two weeks ago and it was as great as ever for us. We've been going for years and have never had a bad night of food or service there. It's a must do every trip.

Every restaurant there is expensive at Disney, so that doesn't really enter into it IMO.

 

[hereforthechurros]

In the same boat, wondering if it’s worth it. Seems people love to hate it... or maybe hate to love it... because you’ll see people that have been 5, 10, 15 times and book it every trip sometimes multiple times a trip! It’s a notoriously hard to get reservation. That tells me it can’t be as bad as it’s made out to be. I think we are skipping the restaurant this go around and doing the Twilight feast in room dining. If it’s excellent then next trip we’ll go for the whole experience.

 

[Thomas R]

What are your other ADRs? What does your family really enjoy? By that I mean, is your family really into quality, delicious food? If yes, I would absolutely skip O'hana, as there are many other restaurants that can deliver at a fraction, or at least less than the cost of O'hana. If your family is really into the theme or the atmosphere, O'hana might fit the bill, depending on what you like, BUT in my opinion, other places execute much better. You just have to decide what factors really drive your family to have a good meal, and go from there. We visited O'hana last August, primarily because I felt that a lot of people were saying how much they loved it, the reservation was hard to get, and I love the Poly. It did not live up to our expectations in the least. Our reservations were for 440 pm and we waited at least 20 minutes beyond that. It was really chaotic and loud. Our server was meh and the food was meh. I think someone mentioned a local Asian restaurant may be better, and I can concur with this statement. There were coconut races and a ukulele player. Someone was on a microphone. My kids were not interested in the coconut races and their heads were live swivels on sticks, watching all of the action....and not eating. It was one and done for us as well.

BUT, I would never ever tell someone not to go to a restaurant based on our experience, as your expectations may be different. We had much better meals at the Wave, California Grill, and from kiosks throughout Epcot. That is also how we roll though...quieter, understated eating atmosphere.

I also want to touch on one more thing because I can almost feel it in your post. Please do not put too much pressure on yourself to make everything perfect. That will undoubtedly stress you out and the perfect moments often come in the imperfect circumstances. I can relate to wanting to ensure that everyone has an amazing time, especially at the Disney price tag. Just make sure to enjoy just being together and if the food stinks somewhere, lament together, try to joke about it, and carry on. One of our absolute worst meals was at BOG and even today we have to laugh over the wilting lettuce, my kids playing with their droopy fries, and my daughter legit freaking out at the thunder in the rose room....oh and some guy refilling his water bottle at the guest water jug...you know, putting the lip of where he drinks on the tap of where the water comes out for everyone else. Memories...good times. Have an absolutely wonderful trip!

We do have some character dining booked, including chef mickey's for dinner and tusker house for breakfast. I also have a CRT reservation. I know my wife and daughter will love the character interaction there so if the food ends up being an issue, they wont notice as much. However, my daughter loves Asian cuisine. She eats a whole order of dumplings whenever we order and that's a big reason we had a reservation here.

 

[DisBuckMan]

It’s a notoriously hard to get reservation. That tells me it can’t be as bad as it’s made out to be.

Ever heard of Chef Mickey's?

There are several well-known restaurants on property that stay booked simply on past reputation, deserved or not...and some who remain nearly impossible to book for no known reason...

*I'm looking at you, 'Ohana, Chef Mickey's, BoG...etc*

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

We've only had the character breakfast there and we love it, it's been good food with consistently excellent service. I've read a good number of bad experiences there however, until we experience otherwise, we will continue to go. I like that it's served family style and we don't have to get up and wait for a buffet and we like the Poly location. The sweet bread and stitch juice are our favorite. I can't speak for lunch or dinner as that meal just doesn't appeal to our flavor palette. The breakfast is pricey but the cost is in line with other character meals.

 

[Pdollar88]

We had a wonderful experience at dinner in March. We were there for an early seating (4:30), I believe. Food was excellent, cast members were attentive, entertainment was fun.

I gambled by making it the very first experience my bf would have at Disney World. It paid off, and it was one of his favorite things from the trip.

Be Our Guest was also up there. My bf, who isn’t a Disney fan in the slightest, almost cried. So overrated/underrated/just right is subjective.

 

[Jennasis]

I currently rank it as the worst restaurant at WDW.

1. We waited about 45 minutes past our ADR time to be seated. The waiting area was a chaotic, loud, zoo.

2. It was just DH and I and they sat us right on the racetrack where we were bumped into, pushed and jostled by the parade of kids and their parents. Everyone jockeying to get their kid a good spot in the parade or to get a good pic were stepping on us and banging into us.

3. There was someone playing a ukulele and shrieking the whole time. It was awful.

4. The food was not good at all. Gummy, cold noodles. Potstickers that were crunchy and over cooked. Broccoli was just a bowl of steamed broccoli. Meats were tough and dry. All of it had a distinctly sweet taste to...I assume a marinade of some kid and it was very off putting. The pork was inedible.

5. On the plus side our server was fantastic.

Unless it undergoes a massive overhaul, we won't be going back.

 

[Roxyfire]

The one thing I've noticed just purely looking at the multitude of threads about 'Ohana on this forum, is as the time gets further along in the evening, that's when the problems start. Food being cold, cooked poorly, servers being rushed. That being said, I'm lucky to only have good experiences because we go before 5:30 pm. Another thing is every time this same topic comes up, people who were unsatisfied years ago chime in. The one thing is, I do think the kids' games are kinda overrated. I don't mind it, the kids are cute and look to be having fun. I just don't think it's necessary at all.

 

[Raimiette]

My sister and I have been to both breakfast (wouldn't recommend) and dinner (would recommend).

For dinner we both thought the meat selections were good and cooked well. We didn't love the potstickers but we are meat and potato sort of girls. We LOVED the bread pudding. I didn't love the atmosphere as it was pretty loud with the kids' activities and such but that is to be expected I suppose (it IS Disney after all lol).

I did enjoy the gentleman walking about singing, playing his ukelele and telling various stories when the kids' activities weren't going.

I did think it was sort of silly that even though we had the first reservation time for dinner and were about 15 families back in line we had to wait about a 1/2 hour to be seated.

 

[Arazia]

As a newcomer to the forums and to Disney in general, I just want to say thanks for all the feedback in this thread. It's really helpful for first-timers. We're looking to try out Ohana if we can manage to get an ADR for it, but we'll see if we manage to snag one.

 

[Thomas R]

The one thing I've noticed just purely looking at the multitude of threads about 'Ohana on this forum, is as the time gets further along in the evening, that's when the problems start. Food being cold, cooked poorly, servers being rushed. That being said, I'm lucky to only have good experiences because we go before 5:30 pm. Another thing is every time this same topic comes up, people who were unsatisfied years ago chime in. The one thing is, I do think the kids' games are kinda overrated. I don't mind it, the kids are cute and look to be having fun. I just don't think it's necessary at all.

It's interesting to see you say that because I was thinking the exact same thing.

 

[soccermom54]

We love 'Ohana for dinner and we will be there in July for my husband's birthday dinner. I have learned over the years, that we have the best experience by booking our reservation when the restaurant is opening. Being a party of 2, we always get a table by the window with a lovely view, the servers are friendly and efficient, and the food is fresh. After dining, we always go to The Magic Kingdom to walk off our feast and enjoy the evening.