Kona or Ohana Dinner??

[kddlm]

So many mixed reviews on Ohana (inconsistent seems to be the consensus).....trying to decide Ohana with request for table near window to watch Wishes or.....Kona for dinner, finish early enough to go to beach to watch Wishes from there! Have never been to either restaurant. Will just be coming off of 7 night Fantasy cruise so will probably still be stuffed!!

Thoughts/comments please!! Good, bad or otherwise!

 

[Hopefully]

My family enjoyed 'OHana, me not so much.
If seeing Wishes is your goal I would definitely go with Kona. Only a few tables have a not so great view of Wishes

 

[Dr.Mickey]

We are big Kona fans. Ohana is more of an experience (carnivore skewers in a festive atmosphere). But to our family, Kona is a better restaurant. Much more relaxing, better food, absolutely DIVINE coffee and deserts.

Also, I would be disappointed with the view of Wishes from Ohana when the Poly beach is just a hundred yards away.

 

[ohiotodds12]

I have the other view. In all of our visits, Ohana has been great for our family. Have watched wishes from there also and really enjoyed it. Our visit to Kona, not so much. In fact, that is one of the few Disney restaurants we will not go back to! The others are Hollywood & Vine and Tony's. Opinions are so varied on here, I would go with what you have a taste for and try it out. Not every restaurant is for everyone!

 

[JennyDrake]

Kona. Hands down. Much better food and nicer atmosphere.

 

[JeninTexas]

I would not go back to Ohana. The food was average, and not very warm. All the beef was overcooked and the atmosphere is not relaxing at all. We were seated at a table next to the aisle where the kids do the coconut races, etc. and they were continually bumping our table. I had to hold on to a couple of plates to keep them from landing on the floor. And I was traveling with children, 9 and 11. They were not interested in participating in the kids activities and didn't like it that our table kept getting bumped. We are going to try Kona on our next trip.

 

[waattmore]

This is an interesting thread. I have a Kona reservation for our first evening at the Polynesian and was disappointed we couldn't get Ohana. Now maybe I should stick with what I have instead of obsessively checking for openings at Ohana?

 

[chicita713]

Stick with what you have. We've had great experiences at both. The only way to know what you like is to try them yourself. Next trip book 'ohana.

 

[nilla]

I LOVE 'Ohana! Kona used to be one my favorite restaurants in WDW, until they got rid of the Tuna Oscar.

 

[PracticallyPerfect2015]

I have only eaten at Kona for breakfast, but I know that 'Ohana is a huge hit with kiddos (think coconut races!). Since my hubby and I don't have kids, and neither did any of my past trip companions, 'Ohana hasn't made it to the "must do" list. Let us know where you do decide to go and how your experience is!

 

[AllyinWonderland]

I prefer the food at Kona but I enjoy the unique atmosphere at 'Ohana. During my visits I have always found 'Ohana to be busy and lively, but never bothersome. There are not many tables at 'Ohana that have a good view of Wishes, so if that is a priority, I would plan to finish dinner in plenty of time to watch from the beach.

 

[Micca]

'Ohana is a place everyone would like to love...the ambience, the food, etc. IMO it fails. Get some drinks at Trader Sam's, have dinner at Kona...or anywhere else.

 

[missnic]

We love Ohana. We always ask for a quiet table and always get seated at the windows overlooking the pool. Sometimes we wait a bit longer, but it's worth it. We actually ate there last night and were seated before our 7pm adr time, even with table/server requests. I know some people complain about feeling rushed through dinner, but we've never gotten that. Oh, and you can ask for rare beef.

 

[Happy_Haunt999]

I have never been to ohana, but I will tell you never Kona. You cannot be guaranteed anymore that you will even get out of there on time for Wishes depending on the time of day you go, how busy it is and whether your server is slow and horrible like ours was last Sept and the very last time we vowed to ever go there--chef was also rude and unaccomodating to our allergies and we ended up with food poisoning(and yes we'd eaten there in the past before that). Also, IDK if a PP was trying to say that you can see Wishes from Kona or was indirectly referring to Ohana, but you cannot see Wishes from Kona.

 

[B-Ride]

We like them both.

'Ohana is a nice family place with lots of food and an amazing dessert. The dessert is the main reason we look forward to it so much.

Kona has great bread (or it did last time we were there) with some excellent appetizers and meals.

 

[kddlm]

UPDATE: So today was my 180 for 4/3....I booked 8 pm ressie at Kona (hoping to finish up dinner then go to beach for Wishes fireworks, but I also booked a 6:40 for Ohana, just in case we change our mind and choose to eat earlier, then hop on monorail to go to MK to see wishes. Will decide as it gets closer. Thanks for all the input!

 

[maples189]

We really enjoy both, although they are different experiences.

For Kona, we tend to do an earlier reservation, and then go down and enjoy the fireworks from the beach and get a dole whip. The food at Kona is awesome, and comes out piping hot. We love the pot stickers and wings for the appetizer. The sushi is very good and we both enjoyed our entrees, i had the pan asian noodles with chicken and DH had the coffee rubbed pork chop. Both amazing and tasty. We didn't do dessert as we opted for a dole whip later after walking around and settling on the beach for the fireworks. Now, with the new addition of the bungalows beach space is more limited, and sometime we end up watching from the Grand Floridian upstairs on the balconies instead, but its up to you!

As for O'hana. Our last experience was last month. We had a 745 reservation and were sat right by the window. Fireworks were at 9pm that night. The Bread was okay, not as warm as we had expected. The salad, wings, and pot stickers were AMAZING. The meats were good. DH found that they were warm but not hot, but the meat still tasted delicious! The noodles and veggies were good as well. But nothing compares to that banana bread pudding with the caramel sauce and watching wishes. I could eat plates of it.

Overall the food was good at both. I would say food was better at Kona, depending on what your looking for, but the atmosphere of O'hana is awesome. DH loved the meats at O'hana, where i definitely don't eat enough to make the price worth it on the meats.

Both good options though!

 

[kddlm]

Forgot to mention it is the night of my DD 16th bday and Wishes is our absolute favorite!!!

 

[wdwrich]

We've been to 'Ohana on our last several visits and to be honest, we're over it. Menu changes have IMHO degraded the dining experience. On our upcoming December trip, we booked Kona instead.