Is Coral Reef really that bad????

[klinlin]

We have gone there on our last two trips, and its the one place my boys requested for the next one. The view is awesome, and while I wouldn't say the food is exceptional, we had 2 good meals there, and will go back.

 

[bytheblood]

My review:


Pros:
Ambiance


Cons:
Poor service
Hair in food
Unintelligible server
Long wait for drinks and food
Very noisy restaurant


Saturday, December 8
5:30 PM


We arrived at 5:15 and were finally sat at 6:15. The wait was okay with us, we were in no hurry. The only thing that made it bad was the couple in there with us that had 5 kids all under the age of 5 screaming and crying. I felt bad for the kids, but felt equally bad for the guests. Their kids were tired and miserable. My guess is that their nap was neglected.

After we were sat it took our waiter 15 minutes to come and take our drink order. After 10 minutes we received our tea and placed our appetizer order. He also asked for our entree and dessert order at the same time.

Our appetizers came out about 10 minutes later and then our entrees only 5 minutes after that. For an appetizer I ordered the sea and land. The meat was very tough and impossible to eat. The shrimp was good. My sister ordered the ceasar salad. She said that the ceasar dressing was very fishy and she was unable to eat it.

I ordered the pasta and shrimp, which was not too bad. There was a lot of shrimp and they were big. My sister ordered a steak which was cooked correctly and tasted pretty decent. My daughter ordered a kids pizza which came with a complimentary hair on it. Once she found that, her appetite was ruined, as was mine.

For dessert we all had the chocolate cake. It was decent, but a bit dry.

The ambiance was nice. I enjoyed the tanks and saw the divers a few times. I thought looking at fish while I was eating would gross me out, but it was actually relaxing. There was one huge fish with big bulging eyes that was gross, but the rest were okay.

Our server was not good. He was from Turkey, his accent was VERY VERY thick and he was impossible to understand. He was also very slow and it was impossible to get a refill of tea.

I would like to try Coral Reef again some time, but probably not any time too soon.


Overall, I score the Coral Reef as a C-.

Scores
Cleanliness: A
Food: C
Characters: NA
Service: C
Wait: C-

 

[SRICE100]

I didn't know the menu has changed. Thanks for the heads up.

We are going on Valentine's Day- DD and DS requested it. Better check the new meu out.

 

[waw1961]

We've eaten here our last two trips and both times it was very good. We had excellant servers both times and the food was hot and tasty. Only negative I had was the size of the appetizers, kind of small. One of our must do TS restaurants from now on.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

We ate there earlier this month for the first time. It was my second favorite dining experience the entire trip.

 

[PearlySwan]

I can't say anything negative about the Coral Reef. We enjoyed our meal and the service was great. We absolutely loved the fish tanks. The kids enjoyed the theming quite a bit too. We had read mixed reviews of the CF but decided to give it a try before making up our minds. We're very glad we did!

 

[eventamy]

From our only experience in February, yes it's that bad.
The food was bad, I mean BAD. I would put it along the same lines as the Cracker Barrel disgusting restaurant down the road that my mom insisted on going to.
The service was slow, we had a seat way in the back and couldn't see the tank at all, especially my kids. Don't let people say there isn't a bad seat in the house, it's not true.
Will not go back. It's very expensive and so not worth it.

 

[treehugnmama]

we went in feb and the food wasn't good at all however the kids loved the aquarium so we went back in september.....the food was great this time. We have found that with many wdw resuarants that they may be good one time and not the next. In my opionion the food wasn't good the first time but we went back for the fish and sharks and turtles oh my

 

[Golden Rose]

We go every time we go to WDW since it is DS's favorite restaurant. We went 3 times this year, and had three very different experiences.

Let me start by saying that we always go for lunch, and we always go early. We try to go as close to opening as possible to decrease wait times and increase the chances of getting close to the tank, or at least a good view of it. (DS really doesn't like to be more than one tier away from the fish.) We almost always get at least a decent table, and we never have much of a wait.

Out of three trips in 2009, in terms of food quality, we had a great meal once, we had a pretty dreadful meal once, and we had an average meal once. One of our servers was great; the other two were fine. We don't go for the food, we go for the tank. I do generally like the bisque, although some days it is definitely better than others. (I am sure they use the same recipe, but sometimes it seems a little richer than others, perhaps because it has been cooking longer.) I don't know why we've seen such variation in quality just over the course of the year. I would guess that some days the fish is a little fresher or the cooks have seasoned the food slightly differently.

We'll continue going regularly as long as DS stays in love with the aquarium, and as long as we keep occasionally getting pretty good meals.

 

[2 pirates for me]

We are leaving on Wed. for my DS's 7th birthday bash. He requested to eat his B-day dinner at CR. My DH likes the steak and I like the mahi-mahi. Our kids love the tank and we will wait for a seat by the tank so our kids are happy and we don't bother anyone else. I will let you know our experience when we return.

 

[karen l]

We're planning on going to Coral Reef again next year. My family always enjoys dining there & last year the food was very good & the server was outstanding. Everyone's tastes are different -give it a try & decide for yourself. We had dinner last year at Le Cellier & left very unimpressed. Steak was ok & service was horrendous. Glad we tried Le Cellier but we don't care if we ever return there.

 

[ShannonMB]

I have only been once, and that was Oct. 07. I don't know if that was "the good ol' days" of this restaurant or what, but we had an absolutely wonderful meal there. There were 7 of us, and the only one who didn't enjoy the food was my DD (6 at the time). She said her pizza tasted like "fish". I didn't think it did -- maybe seeing all those fish made her think it. She loved eating with the fishies, though. We had 2 tables on the first tier up, and it was SUCH a neat atmosphere -- really unique, I thought. I love some of the theming of Disney restaurants. Even if the food is only good, not great, a terrific theme/atmosphere puts it over the edge for me.

Try it for yourself, it's the only way to know!!

 

[babbalooey]

The CR was one of the best dining experiences we had on our trip in Aug. I had the Tuna and it was the best I've ever had and I'm not a real fish person. My teenage daughter and my older son are both still picky eaters. My daughter ended up eating half of my dinner and my son's steak was as good or better than the one he had at Le Cellier. The atmosphere is obviously great and we didn't wait more than 5 mins with our ADR. It's one of the restaurants that we will return to next summer.

 

[Lynn5700]

We love it. It's one of our favorite places. I say this all the time on here how good the steak is from there.

 

[Steph9072]

We have only been once (07') and loved, loved,loved it. The service was awesome. The food was very good. The steak was probably one of the best steaks I have ever had. Dh loved the fish. The kids ate every bite of their. meals. When planning our upcoming trip we all agreed that we had to return to Coral Reef.

 

[serrotak]

I've only eaten there once and thoroughly enjoyed it. No, it's not Signature quality, but the blackened catfish with cheese grits was really very good.

I saw that on the menu and being from Louisiana that sounds right up my alley!!

 

[serrotak]

We are leaving on Wed. for my DS's 7th birthday bash. He requested to eat his B-day dinner at CR. My DH likes the steak and I like the mahi-mahi. Our kids love the tank and we will wait for a seat by the tank so our kids are happy and we don't bother anyone else. I will let you know our experience when we return.

awesome, thanks

 

[JamesMom]

Chalk me up as saying Coral Reef is bad. I took my DS5 last December during free dinning and was glad I didn't pay for it.

but, I qualify that
- service was great, helpful and timely. Son wanted extra tomatos which the server brought and he had a smoothie as part of the dining plan.
- I ordered steak - maybe not a good idea in a seafood place. the meat was chewy and poorly seasoned, though I remember the potatos being yummy. Son wasn't impressed with his pasta dish.

We enjoyed the atmosphere but not the food. I am not taking my family on our May 2010 trip.

 

[Lovinallthingsdisney]

I agree with what OP are saying. If you go into it not expecting the "best", you may be pleasently suprized. We went for the first time in April. We were late for our ADR (about 10 minutes), but were seating in probably 30 minutes. Our table was not right next to tank, but on other side of first tier. Excellent view. Our server did not move very quickly, but it gave us time to relax and enjoy the surroundings. My DH had the Mahi Mahi, as did I. We had never tried before and thought this would be the perfect time. Both by DS (14) and DD (11) had steak. The Mahi Mahi portion was small, but I had expected that based on reviews that I had read. The steak portion was not huge, but my DS ate what my DD did not eat, so all was well. Desserts were VERY GOOD. We were on the dining plan so I was not too upset by portion size. If I had paid OOP for this meal, I may not have been so happy.
All in all, it was worth the trip....if not for the atmosphere alone.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I love their mushroom lasagna, or whatever they call it. We have never had a bad meal there.