Kona Cafe: What happened to you?!

[poohbear2]

Maybe they ran out of the large rounds and subbed in the loafs? I agree you really can't blame the Dining Plan for this one, not when the plan has been around for years and years.

I should have said something about the bread. As far as blaming the Dining Program: We did the dining program the first time it was Free. we had multiple choices of high end meals such as filet mignon. Every restaurant had a varied menu and now it seems like each restaurant has the same type of selection. It just seem like there was more pride in presentation ten years ago.

 

[poohbear2]

I've never eaten at Kona before and have an adr for October. What is good on the dinner menu? How is the sushi? You guys have me worried now....

The sushi was good.

Had a DELIC meal in December at Kona! The server even said we could get the bread pudding from Ohana for dessert since I asked the server. We decided instead on the creme brulee which was delic! Hope it is good for our October ADR!

Oh bother!!! I had read about this before but totally forgot. I definitely was not making a connectio with our server that night.

 

[sleepymouse]

Has anyone had the stir fry lately? We plan to dine at Kona for the first time next week and are vegetarian. Plan to order stir fry with tofu.

 

[mick1229]

Konas was a must do for me for many years,but like so many other things in WDW the quality lessened as the price increased...sadly we haven't dined here in a while

 

[Mazz519]

We do Kona for Breakfast once a trip, hopefully their Breakfast Menu hasn't changed

 

[MsMagical]

We went to Kona in June and it was, by far, the worst of our trip. The service was slow, the food was mediocre and my dessert had a bug in it (blech! But probably was just an of thing). Our server knew nothing about the speciality beer there and I had to send back the kids meals. He also seemed to really struggle with my request to leave off the bun from my burger. Then, when my dessert arrived (and before I found the bug), I asked him if the sauce had banana in it because the menu didn't even mention a sause and I thought I smelled banana. (I am allergic to bananas with a severe reaction). He didn't know, said he was going to check and then didn't come back. I had to ask when I stopped someone walking by to tell them about the bug. And, even they had to go check but at least they came back. That was the service. The food was mediocre to bad. Overall a bad experience and nothing like the amazing experience we had several years ago.

I am not sure this has anything to do with the dining plan. I think this is far more indicative of poor management within the restuarant.

 

[yaksack]

Short response DDP.

Long Response Disney Dining Plan. Seriously, I think that in order to make money on the reimbursement the restaurants just keep cutting extras and quality. Of course those of us actually handing them cash, who are more profitable, also get the same junke since they need to make more off of us to make up for the poor DDP reimbursement.

I agree. When something is given for free (DDP), it must be paid for somehow.

 

[Lisann]

My two sisters went last month and they said the same thing. It used to be one of our favorites, but my sisters said it was not as good this time. And it used to always be!

 

[inkedupmomma]

Ill have to agree, but I have always thought Kona was a terrible let down. The breakfast is still the best though!

 

[senadler]

I really don't understand the answer that DDP is to blame. The windows for free dining are very limited, and all the feedback on the boards is that you end up paying more if you buy the DDP out of pocket. I think the bottom line is that there is pressure on all the restaurants to make more money whether guest are using the DDP or paying OOP. What doesn't make sense is that restaurants outside of Disney can produce a much better product and still charge lower prices.

 

[Happy_Haunt999]

I'm glad to see it wasn't just our luck. We loved Kona after dining there for lunch in 2012, the steak teriyaki meal was the best. So we decided to make a dinner ressie for there last Sept. The server was horrible (she acted like she didn't want to be there and that we were a huge burden), service was extremely slow, there was an allergy alert on our ressie for me and we waited for the chef to come out and when he did he had a major attitude and didn't want to accomodate me whatsoever. We ended up getting the new steak meal (both my dbf and i did that is) and well, let's just say that we were headed to the MK after dinner and my DBF barely got as far as a ride on the monorail from Poly to GF before getting ill. He was ill the rest of the night and I got ill as well. It had to have been some kind of food borne illness as we were both feeling better by the next afternoon. I called and spoke to the restaurant manager when we got home a few days later and he was supposed to fix things and get back to me and never did, and when I called back I never got anywhere with anyone. Very very disappointing. Will NEVER eat there again. We wished we would've just booked a second dinner at the Plaza FWIW.

 

[Kelly loves Food]

This is so disappointing! I was really looking forward to trying Kona on my upcoming trip. Thinking now we should skip it

 

[Dislover1991]

This is so disappointing! I was really looking forward to trying Kona on my upcoming trip. Thinking now we should skip it

Same here! We cancelled our Plaza ADR so we could take a break before Night of Joy and hang out at the Poly and get an early dinner at Kona- now I'm rethinking that based on these reviews. But my mom is excited to try it.

 

[king kamehameha]

I have to say that this thread should not be just about KONA CAFE (One of our favorites in the past), but all of Walt Disney World in general. There has been a demise in quality across the board there. It is nothing like it used to be, yet the prices seem to keep skyrocketing out of control. There will always be a "new" generation of visitors to Disney but they are losing a LOT of Disney veterans with all the negative changes. Don't get me wrong, we have been there many times and have many GREAT memories, but it seems that all the good times are just that...memories. Such a shame. This is just one posters opinion and others may vary. As for KONA CAFE' alone, it is becoming generic like most other restaurants at Disney.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I really don't understand the answer that DDP is to blame. The windows for free dining are very limited, and all the feedback on the boards is that you end up paying more if you buy the DDP out of pocket. I think the bottom line is that there is pressure on all the restaurants to make more money whether guest are using the DDP or paying OOP. What doesn't make sense is that restaurants outside of Disney can produce a much better product and still charge lower prices.

One. There is no such thing as "FREE" Dining It's a discount on the package. Just because they use the word "Free" it's not "FREE"

Two. It has nothing to do with "FREE" Dining and EVERYTHING to do with the overall reimbursement. Disney pays each restaurant a "per person" fee when they use the DDP. The reimbursement does not vary when you think it's free vs when you think you paid for it.

The problem is that the reimbursement has gone DOWN while costs have gone UP! So for all the diners using the DDP the restaurants are not making much money. However, Disney still measures each food outlet on "profits" and if the managers want to get ahead they need to maximize those profits. They need to hit budgets that are not really realistic. (I have a friend who used to do projecting for Disney. She claims that she always did the "realistic" and "what they want" and the goals were always set on the fantasy of "what they want" but actual came in on the 'realistic' LOL!) So in order to make profits and budget something has to give.....

The problem is not FREE Dining but the overall popularity of the DDP. The more people use it vs paying out of pocket the more pressure is on the budget

 

[ksromack]

We went to Kona in June and it was, by far, the worst of our trip. The service was slow, the food was mediocre and my dessert had a bug in it (blech! But probably was just an of thing). Our server knew nothing about the speciality beer there and I had to send back the kids meals. He also seemed to really struggle with my request to leave off the bun from my burger. Then, when my dessert arrived (and before I found the bug), I asked him if the sauce had banana in it because the menu didn't even mention a sause and I thought I smelled banana. (I am allergic to bananas with a severe reaction). He didn't know, said he was going to check and then didn't come back. I had to ask when I stopped someone walking by to tell them about the bug. And, even they had to go check but at least they came back. That was the service. The food was mediocre to bad. Overall a bad experience and nothing like the amazing experience we had several years ago.

I am not sure this has anything to do with the dining plan. I think this is far more indicative of poor management within the restuarant.

Did you fill out the allergy section on your ADR? I am in the same boat with shellfish and I've always been very impressed with the way the chefs/servers in every WDW restaurant take heed in my allergy. I always bring an Epi-pen but still, I prefer not to use it

PLEASE, tell me the Tonga Toast is still good......we have a breakfast ADR in early Oct and I'm dreaming about this dish!

 

[MsMagical]

Did you fill out the allergy section on your ADR? I am in the same boat with shellfish and I've always been very impressed with the way the chefs/servers in every WDW restaurant take heed in my allergy. I always bring an Epi-pen but still, I prefer not to use it

PLEASE, tell me the Tonga Toast is still good......we have a breakfast ADR in early Oct and I'm dreaming about this dish!

Yes, I always fill out the allergy section and because of the type of restuarant and location, I filled it out and specifically mentioned it once at the podium and to the server at the beginning of the meal. Usually, they send a chef or manager out to speak with me about my allergy but this time, no one came out. All alone, it wouldn't have been a big deal but in addition to the other service and food issues, it was annoying.

That said, we went for lunch/dinner (around 2pm) so I can't comment on the breakfast which I'm sure is delicious but definitely not a good choice for a person with banana allergies.

 

[mapmakerj]

We ate there on Sunday night. Had mini bread and mac butter which was excellent as usual. The whole table had sushi and it was very good. Service was a bit slow but otherwise enjoyed our meal.

 

[eva]

YIKES! I just canceled a dinner reservation at Chef de France for one at Kona Café. We really want to try Trader Sam's and I have been trying daily to get Ohana since 180 day mark. We decided to go with Kona because I had read some good reviews here and on another site. Now I see this. We are only 30 days out. So getting an ADR at Ohana is looking less likely. Boo!

 

[Happy_Haunt999]

Did you fill out the allergy section on your ADR? I am in the same boat with shellfish and I've always been very impressed with the way the chefs/servers in every WDW restaurant take heed in my allergy. I always bring an Epi-pen but still, I prefer not to use it

PLEASE, tell me the Tonga Toast is still good......we have a breakfast ADR in early Oct and I'm dreaming about this dish!

Even in filling out the allergy section of the ADR (look at my experience above) the current Kona chef still ignores you or acts like you are a burden. I miss the old chef from 2012-ish so much. He was amazing and went out of his way to make things so I could eat them with allergies. The current one is just very un-Disney-like