Keep Hearing Food Is So-So At Sci-Fi & Coral Reef....

[bellenbuzz]

I've never been to these 2 restaurants because lots of reviews say the food is average at best, just so-so, "their worst meal".........
I like the theme decor idea of these but hate to waste money on a not so good meal.......
Any GREAT Reviews on these restaurants, or mostly "yuk" reviews......
Thanks for honest opinions & replies !!!

 

[kkproulx]

I wanna know too.....

 

[ReneeA]

We are trying Coral Reef forthe first time in August...I've heard reviews all over the board for that one. Many people claim that they had the best steak of their trip there, so that should make my DH happy. I'm a fish lover, so I am hoping for the best. If nothing else, I figure that the atmosphere counts for alot there.


As for Sci-Fi, this is one of our must-dos every trip. It's the only restaurant my kids insist on. However, I'll give the same advice as most about the food. Stick with what they do best - burgers, onion rings, and milkshakes. Go with those, and you'll have a great, fun meal. I love their onion rings.

Have a great trip!!

 

[MickeyNicki]

I hear the same thing about Sci Fi but we are going to try lunch their anyways. How bad can you screw up a burger and shake?

 

[blondinkaya]

We were at WDW this past May and ate at both places. Let me dig out the receipts ...

Sci Fi: We (dh, myself, and two boys, ages 13 and 5) ate there for lunch and loved it!

Appies: Dh had the onion rings, ds1 had the chili (I have no idea why he wanted chili ), and I had the spinach artichoke dip. We all shared our appies with each other and with ds2, since he was on the kids' plan. I liked my dip and chips so much that I got the recipe and have made it at home three times now.

Main Dishes: Burger, rib plate, and chicken bruschetta with fries. No complaints from anyone.

Desserts: Chocolate tart, cheesecake, and water (ds1 was too full, so the lady brought out a bottle of water for him). OMG the cheesecake was too much! It had caramel popcorn, m&ms, whipped topping, AND caramel sauce with it! It was good, but I wasn't expecting something like that (and I didn't finish it).

Ds 2 had the pizza kids' meal. He ate some of it, but he was full from what we gave him from our meals.

Oh, yeah, and both got chocolate shakes as their drinks.

Coral Reef: We ate there for dinner and were happy with it.

Appies: Land and Sea, shrimp cocktail, and cod cake. I really liked the land and sea, but the portions were really tiny. The shrimp cocktail was good, albeit flimsy. The cod cake was good, too.

Main dishes: Dh had the king crab legs. They were HUGE, and he said they were really good. I read here that they've been discontinued. . I had a NY strip. It was all right, but I had a fillet at Le Cellier the day before and think that ruined any future steak experiences for me . Ds1 had the grilled chicken. He said it was the best chicken he's ever had.

Desserts: Ds1 and I had the chocolate wave (dh took ds' cherries for him), and dh had the mousse and loved it.

Ds2 had the salmon kids' meal with fruit salad and sundae and ate it ALL.

Conclusion: I personally enjoyed both restaurants. Dh says the CR was his all time favorite restaurant. I say Le Cellier was, lol. While the Sci Fi was excellent with the theming and food, I probably won't be a repeat visitor for a while. This trip was our very first, and we want to try out other places during our next visit.

Sorry this was so long, but you did ask ...

 

[starbox]

Sci Fi is the one restaurant we've done every trip since our honeymoon (16 years ago). The atmosphere is just so good. The food is not thrilling - but how thrilling are burgers and shakes? It's fine.

When we were on the DDP we always paid OOP for Sci Fi and did lunch. It's not that much more $$ than a nice CS.

We've had the best meal of our trip at Coral Reef - and we've had good meals at Coral Reef. I've never had a bad experience - and the atmosphere is really amazing.

 

[jillyb]

I haven't eaten at Sci-Fi so can't help ya there.

Coral Reef was our favorite restaurant. Our table was right at the aquarium and the girls loved being able to look at all the fish. DH and I both got the mahi mahi. This was the first time I'd ever eaten mahi mahi and it was fantastic!

 

[dburg30]

I enjoyed Sci-Fi a lot, loved the burger, fries and shake (as others have pointed out) oh, and our server. Forget her name, but she was FUN. Plus the hokey sci-fi 'movies'


Coral Reef, actually I was pretty disappointed in it. Now I ordered steak, and maybe you shouldnt do that at a place called 'Coral Reef'. I dunno, but I've had better steaks at Denny's. I was suprised how small Coral Reef was, and was actually disappointed in the tank view. I wasnt next to it, and maybe there is more to it then I saw, but what I could see wasnt impressive IMO.

 

[srdipert]

I liked Coral Reef the one time we ate there.

I didn't like SciFi but that was 10yrs ago. We are trying it again in Sept but DS wants too. We are going to stick with burgers and fries.

 

[whogirl'smom]

We ate at CR in October, 07 for my DH's birthday and everything was great!

DH and I both had the Caesar salad and it was very good. DD7 had the lobster bisque for her appy and really enjoyed it (she is a big fan of clam chowder, so this was still in her comfort zone.) For our entrees, DH and I both had the NY strip and it was better than Le Cellier's strip. The potatoes were to die for. Could have been more broccolini, but DH gave me some of his. DD got the kid's grilled chicken, broccoli and (?) pasta and loved it. DD and I both had strawberry smoothies for our drinks (see avatar pic)--they are like a virgin strawberry dacquiri instead of frozen yogurt based.

For dessert DD had make your own sundae (a hit!) and I had the chocolate wave. It was so yummy good, but I would advise against eating the alcohol laden cherries; they are so strong, they're almost bitter. DH got the Bailey's and Jack Daniel mousse for dessert. This was very good and a great combination of flavors, but you can definitely taste the Jack Daniels as you get toward the bottom chocolate layer.

We would definitely eat there again!

 

[SGMCO]

I say try a restaurant based upon what your interested in and
then you can get your on opintion if you like it or not.
If I would have listened to the reviews of our Favorite TS
we would have never tried it--so glad I didn't.
Plus we did listen to a review on a TS that everyone raves
about and hated it so I now don't listen to others people
advice because it doesn't work for me.

We will be eating at Sci-Fi for the 1st time this upcoming trip
and since I can't eat Beef or Chicken, I will be eating either
the Fish or Boca (Veggie Burger). Can't be any worst than
Garden Grill.

 

[jezebella]

Go to sci-fi and split a turkey sandwich and onion rings!!! Yum!!! It's one of the best sandwiches in the parks, IMO.

 

[WDisnut]

Both have nice looking insides. The food at sci fi is ok or soso, but Coral reef, just bad all around. after a 40 min wait....The apps are small and tasteless, I had the land and sea and my GF had the salad. The salad size I guess is ok but it came warm... and the land is sea is something to laugh at....I got the steak and she got the crab legs, mine tasted fine and it was a ok size . Hers was like tough, tasteless and definitely not fresh. I ask the waitress are they fresh or frozen, she said "freshly frozen" with a big smile. If I was paying out of pocket I would have been even more upset, I felt like the dining room was a three level romper room for kids and not a fine dining exp lol. I know its disney but come on....

 

[MrsJ Henry]

We really enjoy Sci Fi but for the burgers!!! We have never had anything else but those are really good and we have fun there.
So it you like burgers (the shakes are good too) I say go and try it there.

 

[Jubilee]

I haven't been to Sci-Fi yet but we were at Coral Reef last Sept 2007.

Personalized menu/diver: Well, when I checked in, the menu and diver were supposed to be a REALLY big surprise for my entire family. They couldn't find the menus though so my family was probably wondering why I was all frazzled and why we were waiting so long. Our wait ended up being like 20-30 mins. with PS because of this. In the end, they finally found it and we were seated by an incredibly nice gentleman host. The menu was good...one of the last names in our group was wrong, but I expected it to be based on that it always is lol....the divers were great!!!! My family was all teary eyed.

Atmosphere: OK, do you know the large booth front and center facing the tank....well, that's where we sat. Best seat in the house, amazing view, and so fun. I cannot complain about the atmosphere here at all.

Apps: Most of us got the shrimp or salads. It was pretty good. We were still very excited and hopeful that the meal would be amazing.

Entrees: Most everyone got the strip steak in our group. I did get the salmon. Mine was just "OK." I like salmon but I wasn't crazy about the particular preparation. Our steaks were all cooked wrong..they were all overdone. Maybe this is why we waited so long; our steaks would've been out sooner if they were the medium rare we ordered rather than well done. That said, they took them back and recooked them to perfection.

Desserts: Overall, this was the best part of the meal, but still not as good as other places from our trip. I got the Bailey's and Jack Daniel's mousse but I found it generally flavorless. Then again, Le Cellier mousse was one of my favorites on the whole trip, so I can't imagine anything comparing.

Service: It was very slow. The older lady server we had (in her 50s or 60s)....well, serving was just NOT for her. It took a long time to get my diet coke refills and I am one of those people that needs to drink while I eat...lol. I was a server myself so I am very sympathetic to when someone is in the weeds, but the service we got was just not acceptable for a restaurant of that caliber. She took our orders like an assembly line...just no frills or personality. Promised to return with A, B & C and would usually forget 1, 2 or all 3 of the items. It did turn me off to CR (I'll try it again one day but I'm not clamoring to get in during my next trip.)

Would give it a C+ but the atmosphere saved the day.

 

[TJA]

We really enjoyed Coral Reef last trip. We both loved these meals:

Pan-seared Tilapia - served with a roasted white and green bean salad tossed in a tomato vinaigrette $20.99

Grilled Pork Chop - served with caramelized shallots and sweet onion mashed potatoes topped with wild mushroom sauce $21.99

As far as Sci-Fi, we did NOT enjoy our food there a couple years ago. However, we are going to give it another try next month as our kids are older now and will love the experience of eating there.

 

[SuzieN]

I wouldn't say that Sci-Fi is so-so. We went in February and everyone in our party really enjoyed their meal! The adults all had reubens or ribs and they were great. My DS9 had a pizza which he devoured, and my DD5 had a hot dog which she didn't eat much of because she doesn't eat much of anything! Definitely go and try it out - the atmosphere can't be beat!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I've never been to these 2 restaurants because lots of reviews say the food is average at best, just so-so, "their worst meal".........
I like the theme decor idea of these but hate to waste money on a not so good meal.......
Any GREAT Reviews on these restaurants, or mostly "yuk" reviews......
Thanks for honest opinions & replies !!!

Si-Fi was a must do every time for us since they changed the menu YUK! Decor is cool but that's it. They need to go back to the menu from a couple of years ago.
Coral Reef is good decor is nice

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

I say try a restaurant based upon what your interested in and
then you can get your on opintion if you like it or not.
If I would have listened to the reviews of our Favorite TS
we would have never tried it--so glad I didn't.
Plus we did listen to a review on a TS that everyone raves
about and hated it so I now don't listen to others people
advice because it doesn't work for me.

That is exactly how I feel. I do ask other people for their "opinion" to get a feel for a restaurant. But everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Case in point, there are threads on favorite and worst food at WDW. Both lists have the exact same restaurants. We went to Sci-Fi for dinner during our last trip, even after reading all the horrible reviews. We had a great time. We stuck to the burgers on the tip of other DISers. TIP: Even though it's not on the menu, you CAN get burgers at dinner too.

We've never eaten at Coral Reef and want to try it for ourselves. I heard negative AND positive reviews about the food. I guess it depends on who's cooking that night. That can be the case in any restaurant.

Have a magical trip!

- Jennifer

 

[beroh2253]

Went to Coral Reef last Setp. 07 and this June 08 had the NY Strip and it was really good steak as good or better hen Le Cellier and the Baileys and Jack Daniel's Mousse best dessert at Disney. Have ADR's for this Sept.