My Ohana Story......

jerlove

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Jan 13, 2009
Messages
332
I would like to start off by saying that Ohana is one of my must do's for every trip. I just love the atmosphere and the fact that they bring me meat grilled over an open fire on a big stick. Something about that is just so awesome :rotfl2:

I was very disappointed with my service experience on my December 1st trip and I wanted to share it with the Dis community as I am hearing similar issues from others. I would love to have others contact Disney regarding their concerns so that perhaps something will be done to improve the service of this location.

My ordeal began when I showed up at 6:45pm for my 7:20pm ADR. After waiting in a ridiculously long line just to check in I was told by an obviously very frustrated CM that I did not have a reservation. She claimed to have looked every possible way to locate my name on her list and according to her I did not have one. First off yes I know I should have had my confirmation number with me to be able to pull it out and say BooYa here it is but I did not!! Never have I had a problem with my reservations so never felt it necessary. Anyways she than proceeds to tell me that she can put me on a walk up list and if any thing becomes available I could have the table but she expected it to be about 2 hours. I was furious but not with her because heck it is my fault I did not bring the confirmation number.

I went downstairs to the Concierge and asked them to look at my reservations as I clearly knew that I had seen them online the day before I left for my trip. The concierge with in minutes was able to locate my reservation, print my confirmation number and had me on my way back up to the check in desk upstairs.

Back up to the check in desk I go to speak to the same CM that was adamant that I did not have a reservation and almost seemed like she felt like she was "on to me" pretending to have a reservation to get into a sold out restaurant that I did not actually have. I hand her my reservation print out and mentioned that the Concierge was able to find it within a minute. She smugly looks at it and says "oh you do have one". She then proceeds to hand me a pager and sends me over to the lounge. No apology! It is now 7:15pm.

My family and I are seated in the lounge awaiting our pager to go off. At 8:00pm Wishes starts and we are able to watch from the lounge area. We get talking to a group of ladies who have been waiting for about 45mins and were hoping to get a walk up table as they did not have an ADR. A few minutes later their pager goes off for them to come get their table!!!??? Sorry forgot to add that they were the exact same party size as us and had been there less time than us. I get up to go and speak to the check in CM and am advised to have a seat and they will page us when our table is ready. Another half an hour must have gone by before we finally got our table. It was too the point where my youngest son fell a sleep in his stroller never waking up to even eat. My oldest was so tired that he hardly ate anything.

When we did finally get to eat, the food was very good and the servers were friendly and there when we needed them. Unfortunately the experience before the meal made this meal no where near as enjoyable as I would have liked it to be.

I will be sending a letter to Disney to inform them of my experience not in the hope of receiving something "free" from Disney but in the hopes that others will also let them know about their experience and Disney decides that something needs to change at Ohana. Personally I believe it is a management issue but I will let Disney decide that on their own.
 
Wow, I'd be livid. I have a reservation at Ohana for March and after seeing several similar accounts, I'm thinking of switching it to something else. I'm not sure it's worth the hassle...
 
I have an ADR on Jan1st and I guess I'll definately make sure I have my confirmation number. I can't believe she didn't even apoligize :mad:
 
Oh it is looking like it's going to be harder and harder not to say "I told you so..." to my dad. We've had reservations (sorry, ADRs since someone on another thread insists that in spite of "Reservations" being the R they are NOT in fact reservations) here for Christmas night since August. I made an alternative for Via Napoli and suggested that based on all the negative reports, but got overruled by my father and sister and had to cancel those.

Merry Christmas I guess...
 

These threads are seriously causing me to rethink my ADR for 'Ohana in June. We have a 5:00 ADR and I plan to be there by 4:30ish, but I wonder if I still shouldn't rethink this one..To be honest, I wasn't super thrilled the last time we were there with a 5:00 ADR...they didn't even open the front desk until a few minutes before 5:00.
 
The next time, we will do the Spirit of Aloha show. People have mixed opinions... but I thought it was well worth paying out of pocket for Category 1.

We were right up front in Oct. 2009... the show story is a little tacky... but the dancers and music were good and the fire juggler at the end of the show was worth it! There was audience participation.. at one point, all the children were invited on stage to hula dance. I thought the food was BETTER than Ohana's... The ribs and chicken were great! And wine and beer included (even if it is Bud/Bud Light). Service was very good... I couldn't finish a beer before 1 (or two) more was put in front of me. I actually like beer like Bud with food... stronger, more flavorful beer -- I prefer by itself.

Been to Ohana twice for dinner now (2009 and 2010)... checkin was a nightmare in 2010.. both times the shrimp were not deveined... other food was just ok, and the entertainment wasn't really that exciting for DS4/5.

But, I do have to say.... in 2009, we also went to Hoop Dee Doo... and DS4 laughed non-stop the whole time we were there! Our waitress was a hoot and they did a great job with the theming throughout the whole meal -- our server had lots of fun surprises for us! Food was darn tootin good too..... Oh... and the never ending beer and wine...
 
We ate at Ohana on Wednesday, December 15. I usually expect at least a 20 to 30 minute wait at Ohana, even with ADRs we have waited 45 minutes, but I was pleasantly surprised, because on the 15th, we checked in for our 7:20 p.m. reservation at 7:10 and literally waited only about 10 minutes and our beeper went off.

The food and service were also excellent that night.

OP, sorry you hit them on a bad night.
 
I would like to start off by saying that Ohana is one of my must do's for every trip. I just love the atmosphere and the fact that they bring me meat grilled over an open fire on a big stick. Something about that is just so awesome :rotfl2:
I was very disappointed with my service experience on my December 1st trip and I wanted to share it with the Dis community as I am hearing similar issues from others. I would love to have others contact Disney regarding their concerns so that perhaps something will be done to improve the service of this location.QUOTE]

Shortened the quote but I feel the same:

Went there in April this year- just DH and I- for our usual BDAY/ANNIV/BDAY celebration. Made ADR's well in advance for the time to see the fireworks (ADR was at 9:30PM). Checked in over 1 hour before my ADR so I could graciously and politely ask for a window seat for the fireworks. The CM rudely told me that the fireworks started at 9 PM, not 10PM and I should go to the beach to watch them. OOOOOOOOOO kay.

Went to the beach- 9 PM rolls around-no fireworks. Go back upstairs- wait at the bar for over 30 minutes for a drink- didn't even get a look from the bartender (he was really busy waiting on a rowdy bunch of 20 somethings, never realizing I am a bar/wait/customer service staff for over 20 year and that I would have tipped him very well for less than 5 minutes of his time, while I can nearly guarantee they weren't)

Again, I politely ask for a window seat at the podium. Was told by a new CM that there are none available as the fireworks are about to start :confused3(it is now 9:45) and that they can seat me- I asked if I could go outside to watch the fireworks and come back inside- they said the kitchen will quit cooking at 10 so I needed to go ahead and be seated. :headache:

Fine- I have a party of 10 lining the window in front of the table we are sitting at, who have already had their table cleaned off and it was obvious they had been there for some time. Right before the fireworks start- with the 3 empty tables that were next to the window mind you- they seat another couple because they are celebrating their engagement.

Okay- I wasn't angry at the seating- whatever. I was very happy to be at Disney regardless, especially with my DH and being child-free for a week with beautiful weather. But, it was legitimately his 40th bday the day before, our 5th wedding anniversary, and my 38th bday the day after, so we were celebrating. The rudeness was what really put a damper on it for me. I made up my mind, right then and there, to never stay at the POLY, which was so hard because that is where I have always wanted to stay.

I understand that my $$ is no more important than anyone else's but we don't do DP's, we don't ask for anything special-other than seating- and ALL the CM's we encountered at the POLY were outrageously rude and we were just cool as cucumbers to them.

BUT...the best ending to the story was that we went in Nov/Dec for our little man's bday to the CR and got upgraded to a suite (I am going to posst pics on my other post soon) so I got a super amount of PIXIE DUST in return. Still love DW though
 
We ate at Ohana on Wednesday, December 15. I usually expect at least a 20 to 30 minute wait at Ohana, even with ADRs we have waited 45 minutes, but I was pleasantly surprised, because on the 15th, we checked in for our 7:20 p.m. reservation at 7:10 and literally waited only about 10 minutes and our beeper went off.

The food and service were also excellent that night.

OP, sorry you hit them on a bad night.
Oh, almost forgot, we were seated by the window and could see the MK fireworks. I think it's just luck of the draw because we did not request a window seat.
 
I would like to start off by saying that Ohana is one of my must do's for every trip. I just love the atmosphere and the fact that they bring me meat grilled over an open fire on a big stick. Something about that is just so awesome :rotfl2:

I was very disappointed with my service experience on my December 1st trip and I wanted to share it with the Dis community as I am hearing similar issues from others. I would love to have others contact Disney regarding their concerns so that perhaps something will be done to improve the service of this location.

My ordeal began when I showed up at 6:45pm for my 7:20pm ADR. After waiting in a ridiculously long line just to check in I was told by an obviously very frustrated CM that I did not have a reservation. She claimed to have looked every possible way to locate my name on her list and according to her I did not have one. First off yes I know I should have had my confirmation number with me to be able to pull it out and say BooYa here it is but I did not!! Never have I had a problem with my reservations so never felt it necessary. Anyways she than proceeds to tell me that she can put me on a walk up list and if any thing becomes available I could have the table but she expected it to be about 2 hours. I was furious but not with her because heck it is my fault I did not bring the confirmation number.

I went downstairs to the Concierge and asked them to look at my reservations as I clearly knew that I had seen them online the day before I left for my trip. The concierge with in minutes was able to locate my reservation, print my confirmation number and had me on my way back up to the check in desk upstairs.

Back up to the check in desk I go to speak to the same CM that was adamant that I did not have a reservation and almost seemed like she felt like she was "on to me" pretending to have a reservation to get into a sold out restaurant that I did not actually have. I hand her my reservation print out and mentioned that the Concierge was able to find it within a minute. She smugly looks at it and says "oh you do have one". She then proceeds to hand me a pager and sends me over to the lounge. No apology! It is now 7:15pm.

My family and I are seated in the lounge awaiting our pager to go off. At 8:00pm Wishes starts and we are able to watch from the lounge area. We get talking to a group of ladies who have been waiting for about 45mins and were hoping to get a walk up table as they did not have an ADR. A few minutes later their pager goes off for them to come get their table!!!??? Sorry forgot to add that they were the exact same party size as us and had been there less time than us. I get up to go and speak to the check in CM and am advised to have a seat and they will page us when our table is ready. Another half an hour must have gone by before we finally got our table. It was too the point where my youngest son fell a sleep in his stroller never waking up to even eat. My oldest was so tired that he hardly ate anything.

When we did finally get to eat, the food was very good and the servers where friendly and there when we needed them. Unfortunately the experience before the meal made this meal no where near as enjoyable as I would have liked it to be.

I will be sending a letter to Disney to inform them of my experience not in the hope of receiving something "free" from Disney but in the hopes that others will also let them know about their experience and Disney decides that something needs to change at Ohana. Personally I believe it is a management issue but I will let Disney decide that on their own.



We were at O Hana's in November and the check in is HORRIBLE:scared1: the CM's were just plain rude. They ask our name and then could not find then ask phone number it reserved under and could not find. all along I kept telling them had the confirmation number and "oh no she did not need that" WELL she did finally seriously after ten minutes take it and Found us?????:yay: we ten were "told" we were late? and I said NO we been standing here for over 45 minutes in line waiting on YOU since apparently you cannot find others ADR's as well ...and she proceeded to tell me "well if all you people would give us the right information we could pull it up":rotfl: I was not going to argue with her as all we wanted was to eat and had wasted hour or more already. It was obvious the CM was going to be right and all of us in line wrong so we went to wait again as we had to get our pictures taken I told her NO we do not want them taken as we are not going to buy them. I was informed they ned to at least take the picture and "then" we are considered in line for a table. I informed this CM I needed to see a manager and one (or someone) was called and he proceeded to tell us it is policy to take our picture then go into the waiting line (even though we had ADR"S) again told him we did not want pictures taken and we then were seated. finally. Food was good and servers were excellent. the only thing is the fake flowers they put around our necks flaked or shred off all over our shirts and was very hard to get off. :worship:
 
We ate at Ohana on Wednesday, December 15. I usually expect at least a 20 to 30 minute wait at Ohana, even with ADRs we have waited 45 minutes, but I was pleasantly surprised, because on the 15th, we checked in for our 7:20 p.m. reservation at 7:10 and literally waited only about 10 minutes and our beeper went off.

The food and service were also excellent that night.

OP, sorry you hit them on a bad night.

I worked in the food service industry for years (my family owned a few restaurants) and I understand a bad night. It happens. I am more upset by the unapologetic attitude and lack of empathy or the willingness to appear even remotely helpful on the part of the cast members working at the check in desk at Ohana.

Disney to me exemplifies and leads North America in its culture of customer service. I did not see that there that night and from my experience that typically means the management of the particular location is not living that culture. I know all restaurants have their off nights and on these boards you can find a negative review of every one of them but the difference here is that a large majority of the complaints at Ohana all seem to revolve around this same concern, the check in process and the unfriendly and even at times condescending attitude of the CM's working the check in area.

I think I would reverse your comment and congratulate you for catching them on a good night. It sounds like there are far fewer good nights at Ohana over the past 12 months than there are bad ones.

But to each their own. I can only hope they take my constructive feedback and use it to get better. I will continue to go to Ohana as I do enjoy the food and atmosphere. I would just like to have a better experience than my last 2 visits.
 
I worked in the food service industry for years (my family owned a few restaurants) and I understand a bad night. It happens. I am more upset by the unapologetic attitude and lack of empathy or the willingness to appear even remotely helpful on the part of the cast members working at the check in desk at Ohana.

Disney to me exemplifies and leads North America in its culture of customer service. I did not see that there that night and from my experience that typically means the management of the particular location is not living that culture. I know all restaurants have their off nights and on these boards you can find a negative review of every one of them but the difference here is that a large majority of the complaints at Ohana all seem to revolve around this same concern, the check in process and the unfriendly and even at times condescending attitude of the CM's working the check in area.

I think I would reverse your comment and congratulate you for catching them on a good night. It sounds like there are far fewer good nights at Ohana over the past 12 months than there are bad ones.

But to each their own. I can only hope they take my constructive feedback and use it to get better. I will continue to go to Ohana as I do enjoy the food and atmosphere. I would just like to have a better experience than my last 2 visits.
Well, you ate there on December 1 and we ate there on December 15, maybe they have changed some things? I don't know. I do know that in the 7 or 8 times we have eaten there over the years we have never had a bad food or service experience. And it would seem it was one employee in particular that caused you to have a bad experience. Did you get the employee's name or report that employee before you left the restaurant, because I agree their treatment of you was unacceptable.
 
We were there on Dec 10th. Showed up 10 minutes early for a 6:30 and was seated by 6:35.
 
Well, you ate there on December 1 and we ate there on December 15, maybe they have changed some things? I don't know. I do know that in the 7 or 8 times we have eaten there over the years we have never had a bad food or service experience. And it would seem it was one employee in particular that caused you to have a bad experience. Did you get the employee's name or report that employee before you left the restaurant, because I agree their treatment of you was unacceptable.

That is a fair comment as most of my frustration was with one CM.

I did not speak to the manager at the time as at one point the manager was right beside her during her conversation with me and at no point attempted to step in and help the situation. In fact it appeared once he realized their was a problem he made himself disappear. I understand that it may be just my perception but seriously once I used the phrase "this is unacceptable" he seemed to look up and quickly leave. :rotfl2:

I felt that he had no interest in solving this issue at the counter what good would it do to talk to him one on one. I have also learned that when I am hungry and agitated it is not a good time for me to get into a "discussion" with a manager as often I am to frustrated to come off as articulate as I would like. So I will often wait to reflect on the situation and evaluate whether I perhaps could have done things differently and maybe it was I who was in the wrong. Perhaps it was just my agitated state that amplified my perceptions. I was motivated to tell my story not just for the sake of complaining but by the number of similar stories I have read on here over the last couple of weeks all relating to similar concerns.

I am not offering my feedback to Ohana in the attempt of getting something comped nor could offering my feedback to them at that exact moment have fixed the problem. I am doing this with the sincere hope that others who have voiced similar concerns on these boards take the time to give Disney the feedback so that they can see there is a problem and look at ways to solve it.

I am happy that you have had great experiences with your meals there. After all that is my goal, to have them improve the service experience for all of us.

Sorry I will get off my soap box now...:hippie:
 
Wow, what a horrible experience. I have noticed Ohana has declined over the years. We still go for breakfast occasionally, but not very often. :sad1:
 
I would like to start off by saying that Ohana is one of my must do's for every trip. I just love the atmosphere and the fact that they bring me meat grilled over an open fire on a big stick. Something about that is just so awesome :rotfl2:

I was very disappointed with my service experience on my December 1st trip and I wanted to share it with the Dis community as I am hearing similar issues from others. I would love to have others contact Disney regarding their concerns so that perhaps something will be done to improve the service of this location.

My ordeal began when I showed up at 6:45pm for my 7:20pm ADR. After waiting in a ridiculously long line just to check in I was told by an obviously very frustrated CM that I did not have a reservation. She claimed to have looked every possible way to locate my name on her list and according to her I did not have one. First off yes I know I should have had my confirmation number with me to be able to pull it out and say BooYa here it is but I did not!! Never have I had a problem with my reservations so never felt it necessary. Anyways she than proceeds to tell me that she can put me on a walk up list and if any thing becomes available I could have the table but she expected it to be about 2 hours. I was furious but not with her because heck it is my fault I did not bring the confirmation number.

I went downstairs to the Concierge and asked them to look at my reservations as I clearly knew that I had seen them online the day before I left for my trip. The concierge with in minutes was able to locate my reservation, print my confirmation number and had me on my way back up to the check in desk upstairs.

Back up to the check in desk I go to speak to the same CM that was adamant that I did not have a reservation and almost seemed like she felt like she was "on to me" pretending to have a reservation to get into a sold out restaurant that I did not actually have. I hand her my reservation print out and mentioned that the Concierge was able to find it within a minute. She smugly looks at it and says "oh you do have one". She then proceeds to hand me a pager and sends me over to the lounge. No apology! It is now 7:15pm.

My family and I are seated in the lounge awaiting our pager to go off. At 8:00pm Wishes starts and we are able to watch from the lounge area. We get talking to a group of ladies who have been waiting for about 45mins and were hoping to get a walk up table as they did not have an ADR. A few minutes later their pager goes off for them to come get their table!!!??? Sorry forgot to add that they were the exact same party size as us and had been there less time than us. I get up to go and speak to the check in CM and am advised to have a seat and they will page us when our table is ready. Another half an hour must have gone by before we finally got our table. It was too the point where my youngest son fell a sleep in his stroller never waking up to even eat. My oldest was so tired that he hardly ate anything.

When we did finally get to eat, the food was very good and the servers where friendly and there when we needed them. Unfortunately the experience before the meal made this meal no where near as enjoyable as I would have liked it to be.

I will be sending a letter to Disney to inform them of my experience not in the hope of receiving something "free" from Disney but in the hopes that others will also let them know about their experience and Disney decides that something needs to change at Ohana. Personally I believe it is a management issue but I will let Disney decide that on their own.



To me it sounds like the management do this because they overbook and also because there are some no shows for ADR's. I bet if it was investigated by an outside source the attitude that you saw with the snotty CM is fostered by some superior. It seems like from your story that the CM had a "personal" response to you and your very rightness in the situation. It is the CM's job to handle finding your reservation. Now I know you forgot your confirmation number and I applaud you for taking responsibilty for this but from a customer service perspective this is total service failure. Considering that the average family spend $2-$5k on a single visit to DWD why would this CM think it ok to allow a walk in go before you. It is a restaurants responsiblity to make sure that their patrons get water and food in a timely manner. What if someone in your party had taken medication and needed to eat. The CM should have at least offered drinks of water and welcome bread to your party. OMG! :headache:

I have had this happen to me and what I have found is the squeaky wheel really does get the oil. I have learned this technique.

When a hostess or host begins to seat another "incorrect" party before my party I become pleasantly and firmly verbal.

I step right up to the hostess that is sitting the party who came in after me without ADR's and I say,"

I DO BELIEVE THERE HAS BEEN A MISTAKE. I DO BELIEVE THAT MY PARTY WAS HERE FIRST. PLEASE DO ADDRESS THIS PROPERLY WITH THE MANAGER.

The hostess/host always apologizes and my party gets the table first. I only do this when it is true. I constantly go to the podium, ask the hostess the order of seating and check every 2-4 minutes on my place on the "list". I make them show me who is before me. I question if I see that someone is before me who got there after me. I ask alot of questions in a pleasant voice and with a smile. I have learned to be assertive because this happens to often because a CM or at other restaurants that are non Disney they get on power trips. This CM who did this unprofessional appalling thing should be fired. Your kids should have never had to experience this. She knew how long you had been there. She could have brought them some fries or something.What a nasty ijit! Even at Denny's they bring you water and free appies. I have been at a Denny's where the wait was 2.5 hours but I was told by management that the restaurant has a responsibilty to provide something while people wait so no one passes out. Moral obligation so to speak.

I am enraged for you! I hope you write a good nasty gram to corporate!


:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
These threads are seriously causing me to rethink my ADR for 'Ohana in June. We have a 5:00 ADR and I plan to be there by 4:30ish, but I wonder if I still shouldn't rethink this one..To be honest, I wasn't super thrilled the last time we were there with a 5:00 ADR...they didn't even open the front desk until a few minutes before 5:00.

We have an ADR dinner on June 1 @ 5:25 & breaksfast June 3 @ 10:55. I am thinking about changing dinner for Tusker House & just keep breaksfast because my ds wants to see Stitch. I hate to wait hours to eat while my lil ones are whining cause they are hungry & bad attitude from CMs.
 
Over the years DW and I have eaten at Ohana and had a wonderful Dining experience every time (maybe just lucky):confused3. I will agree that the check in line can be extremely long and the CM working that section usually isn't as pleasant as the rest of the staff. Overall I enjoy Ohana and will continue to dine there. :thumbsup2
 








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