Is it my imagination or--

[smjj]

Is it just me or have there been a LOT of complaints the last few month about restaurant service at WDW. I have been on these boards a long time now and it seems that these complaints are becoming the norm. Not just complaints in general but complaints that have specific details about them. Is this Disney's cost cutting rearing its ugly head or us becoming less tolenent and more aggressive when service is not up to snuff. As one who has been going to WDW since 1974 on a regular basis I too have seen a marked decrease in service the last few trips. We(my wife and I) have gone to WDW several times and never gone into the parks but have made it to most of the signature restautants and this Feb. we will be trying California Grill for the first time and now I am reading complaints about it. What are others thoughts on this??..smjj

 

[kaytieeldr]

My thoughts are that people will go to a LOT more effort to complain about a not-as-expected/disappointing/bad experience (with anything) than to report a good one - since good/excellent is what's expected, most of us feel no need to post, for example, "Dinner at California Grill was good, as usual".

 

[pumba]

I am just assuming that not all restaurants every day of the week is fantastic or not everyday I really really like a certain food item........so that too I am taking into consideration.....I really love prime rib. I have always ordered that at some signature restaurants right in Maine.....and then I say....yuck....not really what I should of ordered ....or not as great as I would of liked it to had been....because I really didnt have that hankering for it.......
Service is the same way.......Do I want a server to be right at our elbows during the meal ....or do I want to be left alone.....depends on my mood when we arrive....we have had some great servers this past year...we went in April for 8 days and then again in September for a week......we had some of the best servers ever....but some one complained about the lady we had in Crystal Palace .....she was above the requirements to me for being a server.....but to each their own.........so I am assuming that we cant please all of us all of the time......myself included

 

[disnut8]

Several studies have found that if someone is not satisfied with something, they are likely to tell more than ten people about their experience. If they are satisfied with something, they will tell less than five people about their experience.

How many people does the California Grill serve each year? Thousands? Tens of thousands? And how many bad reviews have you heard? Less than hundred? Less than fifty? Less than twenty? And how many bad reviews just cite the bad? There had to be something good in there to get those people to finish their meal.

I've had many good meals at restaurants that have been panned on this board. And I've had some so-so meals at restaurants that have been praised on these boards. That's why I don't pay attention to reviews anymore. I know what I like and make my own decision.

 

[CarolMN]

IMHO, it's just a function of the busy Holiday season - bound to be more people unhappy when the restaurants are so crowded and employees are tired from working so many days without time off. YMMV.

 

[Mischief_Managed]

I don't know about anyone else but on my last visit to Disney - a week before Christmas - there were two negative encounters. If they had happened anywhere else (i.e., not at Disney), I would have brushed it off and said it's just not my day. But at Disney, I do have this expectation to have better than average service, which is not really saying much since average service today is pretty lacking at most businesses.

I didn't make a fuss about the encounters (and you won't read about them anywhere here). I did however speak to the manager at one restaurant after we ate, paid the bill, and left the table. It had nothing to do with the waitress or food, so I didn't want to bring that kind of negativity towards her. And I didn't have any expectations of being compensated for the bad experience, I just wanted to make sure the manager knew what was going on. He thanked me, and said he didn't know it, and kept saying how he wished more guests would tell him about negative experiences because he can now speak to those employees and correct it before it happens again. He also said that it has probably happened before, but no one brought it to his attention, so those affected guests probably went off angry and won't be back - and will tell others about the negative experience. Which he is right, as we see.

So unless the guests spoke to the manager and still didn't get the reasonable satisfaction they desired, I don't really give much credence to all the complaints here. Plus, I actually am pretty picky, so I guess everyone's standards are below mine. I just hope people understand that as well when they review some of these negative threads.