How long does dinner at Ohana take?

[cheryterese]

I'm trying to figure how much time to allow for dinner at Ohana so I'll have an idea of when we'll be back in the park. Thanks!

 

[DisneySweetheart]

It's all you can eat....So they last until you are full

Service is usually very quick. Note: If you have little ones who will want to run around and do all the games and activities during dinner, it might take a little longer.

 

[cheryterese]

It's all you can eat....So they last until you are full

Service is usually very quick. Note: If you have little ones who will want to run around and do all the games and activities during dinner, it might take a little longer.

Does the food come out all at once or in courses?

 

[maznorm]

I would also love to know the answer to this. I am planning on booking a 6pm ADR and then catching the Electric Water Parade and fireworks from the Poly beach on July 4th. Will this give me too little or too much time?

 

[DisneySweetheart]

I recall a salad and bread coming out first (but who wants that? lol) Everything else followed suit very quickly. If you tell them that you're in a hurry, perhaps they'll accommodate you. They seemed very efficient at bringing food to the table...whether we were ready or not. And. It. Just. Keeps. Coming. Don't worry, they'll ask before they sit it down. The pork dumplings were good and so were the noodles. The sauces are also great!

You just can't go wrong with this choice. At a restaurant, you'd be waiting to order, waiting on your entree....waiting waiting waiting!

What time is your ressie? Sometimes I've had to wait a while before they seated us. (a while being 15-20 min)

 

[WalkingintheFog]

You could prob do it in an hour, but we were there for over 2 hrs. We intended to watch the fireworks from the beach, but did not rush our meal (sat down at about 5:45pm).
The fireworks were starting as we were eating our dessert!

We had a great table by the window with a view of the fireworks! (not a completed unobstructed view, but good enough!).
I think I'll still make a point to watch the fireworks from the beach at some point tho!

We really enjoyed 'Ohana, but man, except for Christmas time, that's more meat than I eat in months! All the sides served were excellent, and the dessert a great finish.
It was a heckuva lotta food!!

 

[cheryterese]

You could prob do it in an hour, but we were there for over 2 hrs. We intended to watch the fireworks from the beach, but did not rush our meal (sat down at about 5:45pm).
The fireworks were starting as we were eating our dessert!

We had a great table by the window with a view of the fireworks! (not a completed unobstructed view, but good enough!).
I think I'll still make a point to watch the fireworks from the beach at some point tho!

We really enjoyed 'Ohana, but man, except for Christmas time, that's more meat than I eat in months! All the sides served were excellent, and the dessert a great finish.
It was a heckuva lotta food!!

What time of year were you there that it took this long without rushing? We'll be there in 3 weeks, so off-season. We will also have three young children with us, so while we won't rush we won't exactly be leisurely either. We want to see the Fireworks from the beach as well, and then the Electric Water Parade. I was thinking a 6:30 ADR to be at the beach for the 8pm Fireworks, but maybe I should go earlier?

 

[B-Ride]

There are just too many variables to predict:
1. How long will it take to be seated? Usually very quick but if they are busy could be 20 - 30 minutes.
2. How quick is your server? Usually they are quick, but we once had a server who kept forgetting about us and was slow to bring each course.
3. How much do your kids want to participate in the activities?
4. How much do you want to eat? Once I get going I find it hard to stop.

IMHO, there is nothing worse than feeling rushed because of a deadline you have imposed on yourself to catch a show. Ruined our meal at the Wave last year.

 

[Nadjalu]

I have to agree and disagree with PPs.

On our last trip of Ohana we were seated 10 mins BEFORE our adr, however that is where quick ends. Our server was so slow, we actually were given food before our drinks arrived!
The meal took almost 2 hours as well. We are quick eaters but not this meal, everytime a dish was served we were done with it at least 15 mins before the next course was served.

We loved Ohana but we won't be going back anytime soon. Food was great, but service and the noise level (the entertainment) was to overwhelming this time.

 

[cheryterese]

I have to agree and disagree with PPs.

On our last trip of Ohana we were seated 10 mins BEFORE our adr, however that is where quick ends. Our server was so slow, we actually were given food before our drinks arrived!
The meal took almost 2 hours as well. We are quick eaters but not this meal, everytime a dish was served we were done with it at least 15 mins before the next course was served.

We loved Ohana but we won't be going back anytime soon. Food was great, but service and the noise level (the entertainment) was to overwhelming this time.

I'm wondering if I even want to take 2 hours out of the parks to have dinner here. At first I was really excited about it, thinking we'd have a great dinner, kids would have fun with the games, and then we'd have fun on the beach and watch the fireworks. Now I'm wondering if the kids would rather just return to the Magic Kingdom in the evening for 2 more hours of rides?

 

[vettechick99]

You really need to allow 30 mins to get to dinner, at least 90 mins to be seated and eat, and 30 mins to get somewhere afterwards. I think an ADR at 6:30 is pushing it, especially because Ohana always seems packed. We had a 9:55 am ADR for breakfast there one day and it still took us 20+ mins to be seated. We didn't get out of there til almost noon.

Can you do 6?

 

[daisygirl902]

Funny enough this is what ruined Ohana for us....we got seated right away (which is a good thing)...and then they seemed to bring out all of our food withing minutes....we had salad and bread right away, and within 5 more minutes they brought us the wings, dumplings, brocolli, and noodles all at the same time....and then the meat started to arrive...it was the most rushed I have ever felt. We asked for more dumplings, had to ask 4 different people, and then they brought it them out right before dessert....which came AS SOON as they cleaned out dinner dishes.

The food was pretty decent, the dessert was phenomenal....we were in and out in 45 minutes from the time we sat down - it felt like they were just trying to turn the place over as fast as they could....due to the service I will likely not go back.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I always give myself an hour & 20 min. Give or take.

 

[Nicks2001]

Usually we're there for about 90 minutes minimum for dinner, but more likely closer to 2 hours.

 

[fbb]

I'm trying to figure how much time to allow for dinner at Ohana so I'll have an idea of when we'll be back in the park. Thanks!

Hitting the parks after dinner at Ohana would be a miracle for me. It's all I can do to crawl back to the room.

 

[mom0299]

Make your ADRs to give you a comfortable and reasonable amount of time to eat and be considerate of those waiting to eat after you. I love Ohana, but the last time I was there we were seated 2 hours after our ADRs because people were not leaving their tables. It was the first week of January, we had ADRs at 5:45 and had very young children with us who were not happy about the wait.

 

[anthonut]

From my various readings on the board it seems that many of service issues at Ohana happen during Free Dining. Does the Free Dining period have this effect on restaurants? Or is it more people on the boards take advantage of free dining so there is just a a larger pool of people going to Ohana to report on it?

 

[fbb]

From my various readings on the board it seems that many of service issues at Ohana happen during Free Dining. Does the Free Dining period have this effect on restaurants? Or is it more people on the boards take advantage of free dining so there is just a a larger pool of people going to Ohana to report on it?

In my opinion, the board magnifies all service issues.

Although Ohana is one of my favorite experiences at WDW, I perceive a tendency for the servers to rush the guests through the meal. Whether this has to do with free dining, or Wishes, or management driving table turns, or servers mining tips, I don't know.