Is Coral Reef really that bad????

[sydneysmom]

I know some people have written bad reviews about Coral Reef, but it's one of my favorite restaurants and must -do !! Personally, I think the food is great. I think like anywhere, it depends on your taste and that restaurant on that night. I'm sure you've gone to restaurants at home where sometimes they're good and sometimes they could have been better.
The menu is wonderful and the desserts are fabulous. But really, you cannot beat the atmosphere. I've never found it to be noisy or overly loud. But here's the thing, we always go into every restaurant remembering we're at DISNEY !!! there's going to be kids and there's going to be noise. If you don't want that, eat outside the parks. But alot of it is kids and families just having fun. Which is really pretty nice.
It's totally worth waiting for a table right next to the glass.....especially with kids because watching them look at everything in the aquarium is worth the price of admission. It's a fun place and a wonderful place to eat !!
Have fun !!! I hope you find it as wonderful as we did !!! Jill

 

[WillieBearsMom]

My husband and I loved the food there.

 

[MissionMouse]

The official review on DIS was bad for Coral Reef. I have not really heard anything good about it yet. ... I really may want to cancel my ADR and choose somewhere else.Does anyone have any good reviews of Coral Reef? ...

We have dined at Coral Reef on numerous occassions. The clear thing about Coral Reef is their consistently inconsistent in service, food preparation or freshness of the seafood. Sometimes you have a good experience other times you do not.

This is common at most of the TS restaurants and even more so in recent years...especially when people started talking tickets rather than cost ($$$). Reviews do not have any point of reference and many reputations are hyped from reputations of the past...

I say you should try Coral Reef at least once...

 

[2 pirates for me]

We are gping to the CR on Thursday for our DS's 7th birthday. We went there for dinner last year and it was great. It wasn't noisy and my husband liked the strip steal as much as le cellier. After reading the reviews I am nervous about our choice for his special day. I'll let you know how it goes. I can't post pictures yet as I don't have enough posts to do it. We are so excited to leave on Wed.

 

[wendylovesdisney]

The atmosphere is great. The food is okay. We have had a terrible server both times we have gone. The last time we had an asian lady named Mikayla just like my daughter and even THAT little bit of uniqueness did not get us any service. (My daughter is Asian)

Just sayin'....

 

[SewSweetMama]

We went at the end of September and Coral Reef was the restaurant we chose to celebrate DD's 2nd bday at on our last night in WDW. We were beyond disappointed... All week we had stellar service at every single other TS meal and we were very much looking forward to celebrating at Coral Reef. All week we debated whether to special order a cake but DD received a cupcake at every other meal and only picked at it so we decided to save the $$. Our server didn't even acknowledge DD's bday It was on our receipt AND we specifically let him know. When we realized he wasn't planning on bringing out a cupcake for her, we asked if they had any special desserts for kids. He said they had sundaes and we said that would be great (didn't mind paying for it) and he never brought it, just the check . DH got the grouper with a mushroom risotto and it was sooooo salty that he (who loves his salt) couldn't eat it. We felt the food was overpriced and not as gourmet as we were lead to believe and the service was the worst we had in 10 days worth of meals (CS included). The kids did love the aquarium and their food was good. All that said, I guess I would still say you need to go just to see the aquarium...that was really neat. But maybe just for dessert and drinks. Use your $$ elsewhere for a good meal.

 

[kiwicassie]

I think reviews of Disney restaurants are too critical in general. The Coral Reef doesn't knock my socks off but it's so fun to watch the fish swim by. Check it out for yourself

 

[Ron from Michigan]

We have eaten here twice in the past two years and loved it both times.

 

[cmggg9801]

We ate there for the first time last Dec. and LOVED it!! Of course I am a little partial because my then boyfriend proposed to me there having a diver hold up the sign!! It was wonderful and what a surprise! Besides that the food was great and it wasn't too noisy. There was a lot of people there, but not to loud at all. Our server was great, she was on top of everything. We are going there next Oct. for our Disneymoon and can't wait. I don't know if they still do it, but you can email the restaurant and they will have personalized menus at your table for you for no extra price. I give the Coral Reef two .

 

[Cupcake88]

We went on our first trip in Jan 2008 after my son's bar mitzvah...our first restaurant on our first night. The server, Sally, made it magical for my son who has Asperger's. We sat right by the tank and he was totally occupied which allowed us to enjoy dinner too! Sally gave him trading pins for his celebration (birthday and bar mitzvah) and really treated him like royalty.

It has become our first night tradition - we went back last year too. The service was a little different. We had a gentleman from Brasil. The food was about the same.

I have to admit, I don't expect gourmet anything from Disneys 1TS credit restaurants. Its the theming and experience. Both times we had a great time. Yeah, by the window little kids would clamor around and yeah, after a while that grates on the nerves (and upset my son). Parents do need to realize that late dining reservations don't mean bring an overtired kid and let them run amok while you get loaded!!!

For this reason I usually try to get early dinner reservations, especially at Coral Reef.

Sharon

 

[Keri]

We went for lunch in December '08 & had an overall good experience.

I had the shrimp cocktail (when apps were included in the DDP), lobster salad and creme brule. DH had the lobster bisque app and steak and some chocolate dessert I think. Our food was good -- not the best ever, but definitely good and I walked away REALLY full (of course, I was pregnant ...)

The downsides for us were the wait and the view. Our kids were just 3 and 4.5 that year, and we were up on the top level right next to the edge, so they had a partition next to them & had to basically stand in their chairs to see the fish, which was a bummer -- we were hoping they would help occupy them so we could enjoy our meal a little more!! We waited a while, too, which was kind of a pain with the kids.

I'd try it again though... but for now there's so much more I want to try at Epcot ...

 

[geokeim]

In our opinion, yes it's really that bad. Bad service, fair food, louder than any other restaurant on property. We're never going back after several bad experiences.

There are any number of better palces in Epcot IMHO:

Le Cellier
Chef DeFrance
Tutto Italia
Nine Dragons
& the hot dogs @ American Experience,

The atomosphere is cool but that's the best thing here by far.

 

[DEBBYIAC]

I ate there many years ago and was thinking about going back but now i don't know.

 

[bigtony777]

We were just there last week and thought the food was great! On top of that we had the best service that I have ever had at any restaurant. I believe the food is going to be more of a factor than service. Yes, the food could change a bit, but it is going to be much more consistent than the service. The service really depends on who you get.

 

[mama23babies]

I think that no matter what restaurant someone asks about, there are always going to be people who like or dislike them. We have gone to CR twice. The first time was for dinner and we loved it. The kids wanted to go back a second time, so last year we went for lunch. They still loved it, I thought dinner was better but it was still okay. I will agree, however that both times the wait was really, really long. Probably the longest time we had to wait at any restaurant in WDW.

That said, if they wanted to go back I wouldn't say no.

But I have friends who didn't like it. So who's to say? They also love Ohana and go every year, but last year they went and were really disappointed. We went three weeks later and had a fantastic meal. The only way to find out is to try it out. I definitely don't think it is horrible, but if you go in with wild expectations you may be disappointed. You could say the same about many restaurants in WDW. Just have an open mind, enjoy yourself. You're in DISNEYWORLD!!!!

My kids think everything tastes better there.

deb

 

[TK Brown]

We have been there twice (2008 and 2009) and thought it was great both times. The food was agood and the service was good also. The last time were seated right next to the window, so that made it better!!

As far as waiting, we never waited more than 10 minutes past our ADR time.

We plan on going back again!!

 

[lidec]

We had my daughters birthday party there. The food was great. It was one of the best meals we had at Disney. I have read that their steak was terrible but mine was excellent. It is a definate for us next time.

 

[tony67]

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

FYI - This is no longer on the menu (Blackened Catfish) . It was the one item that would have got me to go back. So make sure you check the latest menu before you go in.

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

My family loves the Coral Reef, and we eat there at least once every trip. Only once did we have a long wait, but we were a table of 6 at that time. Otherwise, I have never waited anymore than 10 minutes after our scheduled reservation time.

I am the only fish eater in the group, and had the best grouper back in February. I rank that as one of my favorite meals ever and was disappointed when they didn't have it the last time we were there. My DH and DS always order the steak, and they always say it is good.

 

[jwfla422]

The official review on DIS was bad for Coral Reef. I have not really heard anything good about it yet. We have ADR's for dinner there in Feb.

I thought it would be neat with the big aquarium and theme, but if the food is not that great, I really may want to cancel my ADR and choose somewhere else.

Does anyone have any good reviews of Coral Reef? 3 adults and 3 children ages 12, 7 and 3 will be with us.

We just ate there this past Saturday (Halloween) for lunch for the first time and we're frequent DIS visitors too but I always had a tough time getting an ADR. It was pretty good actually.

It was just my 11 yr old dd and I so we split the crab cake appetizer. Now I must say although they were good they were tiny! Maybe 2" diameter. They give you 2, they can spare 3 at that size.

I had the trout for my entree and that was actually very good. It was a nice size portion and plenty of food for me. The service was good, the restaurant is very clean and appealing.

The fish tank is very cool to watch, you can see it from all over the restaurant although the tables right by the tank windows are cool because some interesting marine life sometimes park themselves by the windows, like a huge sea turtle was sitting by one snoozing while we were there. It was pretty cool.

I know I've read mixed reviews but it's definitely worth a try. Maybe you'd want to try lunch instead of dinner. Lunch is a bit pricey but if you're on the DDP it's a good option. I have the TOW card so that helped discount the meal a bit. I would go back again for lunch.