Kona Cafe Gripe

[profdsny]

Okay, the Tonga Toast is still real good, even if they don't give you a slice of strawberry with it anymore. HOWEVER, I've really had it with the wait times. Sunday we arrived on time for our 10:10 reservations, (BTW have you noticed that they don't seem to use the redundent ADR term anymore?) only to stand outside a room with over 20 empty but clean tables, (counted them) plus a half dozen more not bussed for a long time, to wait almost 25 minutes to be seated. From the time we checked in at the desk to my first sip of coffee was 30 mins. With a room half full. If that wasn't bad enough, I saw them actually bus our table then wait another 10 minutes before we were seated. This is not the first time this has happened, and I am sure that it has happened to every one. This is a shame.
As it was, our waitress who was fairly new there was very good. Obviously had experience in what she was doing. Can't blame it on new help. I don't know what the problem is, but am real serious about writing a letter to the GM at the Poly about this.

 

[Hugpug]

I have dined at Kona's every time I go to Disney and never had a problem. Service was excellent,food good, Never had to wait long for anything. Only thing I can see the empty tables where reserved and the time of your ADR. I waited longer at Ohana's for poor service and not real good food just OK.

 

[PamNC]

I have loved Kona cafe for years - before it was even Kona Cafe. It was Coral Isle Cafe. Anyway, we too love Tonga Toast and the coffee and the whole atmosphere. 95% of the time, the service is good. However, we've had a couple of incidents like you describe, maybe not as bad. But similar.

I think it can happen anywhere. The worst service I've ever received is at Citrico's. Which people seem to love.

Give it another shot - I think the next time you go it'll be better.

PamNC

 

[LindsayDunn228]

I've only been to Kona once. We had PS for 8:00. There was practically no one in the place and we were seated right away. Sorry you had such a bad time.

 

[lovmy2girls]

yep me too. I love Kona, I think it is our #1 favorite place to eat. We have had ADR for Breakfast and dinner, and most times we wait anywhere from 10-25 min. with empty tables. I don't know their reason, but I can see where it upsets people. We had our girls in the Neverland Club, so our wait was costing us big bucks

 

[Dolce27]

yep me too. I love Kona, I think it is our #1 favorite place to eat. We have had ADR for Breakfast and dinner, and most times we wait anywhere from 10-25 min. with empty tables. I don't know their reason, but I can see where it upsets people. We had our girls in the Neverland Club, so our wait was costing us big bucks

Curious, are those empty tables assigned to a server? If they are short on staff for that shift, noone may be working those tables and that is why they remain unseated. Also, if the servers are a little behind - or 'in the weeds' as it's called - the host/hostess may not sit you as soon as the table clears, giving the server a moment to catch up so that when you are sat the server can provide you service in a timely manner insted of it taking 5 - 10 mins for the server to even take your drink order.

 

[lovmy2girls]

Curious, are those empty tables assigned to a server? If they are short on staff for that shift, noone may be working those tables and that is why they remain unseated. Also, if the servers are a little behind - or 'in the weeds' as it's called - the host/hostess may not sit you as soon as the table clears, giving the server a moment to catch up so that when you are sat the server can provide you service in a timely manner insted of it taking 5 - 10 mins for the server to even take your drink order.

I don't really know. We survived, not that much of a big deal to wait, we're just curious when ever we are waiting. I can understand at Breakfast, early, why their would be empty tables or maybe not that many servers on duty, but dinner? They must have some reason. Our favorite table is the table against the wall, right next to the railing. One night with an adr, we asked for that table, since it was empty, she said we would have to wait, i said OK, i don't mind waiting when making a request. So we went over the lounge got drinks, and stood and waited, waited, our buzzer went off, and she sat us down, at that table, that had been empty for 20-25 min.

 

[LoveMyBoys]

I don't know about Disney restaurants, but in regular restaurants sometimes they wait to have you seated, if the kitchen is backed up or chef is running behind. They would rather you wait for your table, then be seated, place your order and then wait 30-40 minutes for your food. We are trying Kona for the first time in December and I can't wait. It mostly gets good reviews, so we are really excited.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I've eaten at Kona probably 8 times or so, and I've never had a wait longer than 5-10 minutes with or without an ADR. I have never gone around mid morning though. I've done dinners (7 or later) lunches (12:30 or later) and breakfast (usually around 7 or 8, always before 8:30.)

Sorry for the wait, esp. if there were open tables. Not quite sure why that would be. Did you ask a CM there why there was a wait if there were open tables?

 

[gatour]

Also why they may have not sat at a particular table, is because they just have sat someone at another in the same servers section. Double seating a server is not too bad, but triple seating can cause problems.

For the night emtpy table issue, they may have one or two servers call in sick at the last minute, and either couldn't find a fill-in or the fill-in hadn't arrived yet.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

we're trying it this October!!! i hope everything is ok and sorry about your bad experience!

 

[vascubaguy]

Servers are assigned a certain grouping of tables and they schedule the number of servers based on the expected number of guests (and ADRS made). So, although there might be lots of empty tables, there might not be enough servers there to cover them all without sacrificing the quality of service.

I've been places where they will fill all available tables and the servers run around like crazy, it takes forever for them to wait on you, bring drinks, etc... then folks take it out on the server by not tipping as well (or at all). By having folks wait to be seated, it allows the servers to take care of dining guests adequately.

 

[granmaz]

We actually noticed this at a few restaurants when we were there last. We both commented on it. Kona was one, Boma at breakfast, and Hollywood and Vine where there was a huge backlog of people waiting! They must have their readons, but we couldn't understand it.

Kona is well worth waiting for though!

 

[DaisyD]

My son is a cook at a restaurant. He said that if the kitchen gets backed up they have the hostess put seatings on hold. That means people that are waiting for tables aren't seated even if there are empty tables. He said that if you seat people they get very angry if their food takes too long to come out. They do this at his place if they are low on help and can't get the food out fast enough. That is probably what they do at a lot of restaurants.

 

[maggiew]

We had ADRs here on the 4th of July. We had a long wait too (maybe 25 minutes) but there were plenty of empty tables. I thought it was just because it was the holiday.

Maggie

 

[NeverlandClub23]

My son is a cook at a restaurant. He said that if the kitchen gets backed up they have the hostess put seatings on hold. That means people that are waiting for tables aren't seated even if there are empty tables. He said that if you seat people they get very angry if their food takes too long to come out. They do this at his place if they are low on help and can't get the food out fast enough. That is probably what they do at a lot of restaurants.

I've worked as a hostess and a server at many restaurants and this is exactly why, even when there are empty tables, people have to wait to be sat. When the restaurant is short staffed, backed up in the kitchen, or a server has been double sat they usually try to ease the burden with having people wait for a table. People tend to get angrier about having to wait for their server after they're sat or food than waiting for a table. I've been asked this by customers many times when I was a hostess/server and when I explained why there would be open tables or why they had to wait they just shook their heads, as if it wasn't a good reason. Honestly, I would rather wait before I got to my table than just sitting there with slow service the whole time because my server or the kitchen was trying to catch up.

 

[abeyst]

We had this problem a few years ago at Cape May. We came back from Epcot around 8:30 and wanted to eat dinner (no ADRs). The whole back half of the restaurant was empty, so we figured we could get right in. I walk up to the hostess and she tells me she can't seat me without ADRs!! I was furious! I was like, "it's not like the restaurant is packed. You mean you can't squeeze us in?" she made us go call Dining at the conc desk for a time 15 mins later, then go back to be seated. Then she still made us wait. It was a buffet, there was no reason why they couldn't seat us. Like I said, half the place was empty.

 

[shellybaxter]

I never worry about waiting for a table at Kona. I just pop over to the Tambu Lounge and order a drink. I would much rather be setting in the lounge having a drink than at a table in the restaurant waiting for a server to have time to bring me a drink.

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

I think it can happen anywhere. The worst service I've ever received is at Citrico's. Which people seem to love.

PamNC

This just proves how hit and miss experiences can be, the best service we ever received was Citrico's. I guess it depends on the server, we all have those days when we don't want to be at work.

 

[Aimeedyan]

They must have been short on staff. I have had that happen at various restaurants and it is frustrating, though I understand their reasons...

BTW - Disney CMs were told to use the term Advanced Dining Reservation for just a few weeks, if I remember right. Then they changed their mind and said to just call them reservations. We all got used to the ADR thing and no one really changed to just reservation. That's why a CM will just say reservation and new CMs probably wouldn't have a clue what an ADR was!