Ohana in five days

[It'sOffToDisneyWeGo]

I am so excited. I have waited to try this restaurant for a while. I want to hear from everyone who has had any good experiences recently! This is the only sit down we get to do this trip. Any advice? Should we arrive early for our ADR? Will this get me in any quicker? Where do we want to ask to sit? We really want to see the fireworks from the beach. Any place special? If we are lucky it will be exactly 2 hours after our ADR that the fireworks go off. I hope they are on time.

 

[amcnj]

Enjoy! On our last trip this was the favorite restaurant. We arrived a little early, and then sat and waited for 10 minutes or so. The food was cooked well and was very tasty. Our server was great, and when she noticed we were low on something asked if we wanted more or in the case of the skewered food, went and got them herself and brought them around to her tables. We had a realy great expderience there overall. Hope that happens for you too. Let us know how it went.

 

[WhispyPixie]

Congrats! I know you are excited....in 20 trips..this place NEVER fails to be my familys FAVORITE place!! We are even having our special Christmas Eve dinner there!

I would arrive about 15 mins before your ADR, check in and grab a drink and enjoy the lounge area until they call your name. When you check in let them know you have heard all the great things and you would REALLY like to be by the windows so you can see the fireworks well! I am sure there is no guarantee, but they might ask if you are willling to wait a tad longer for a primo table! You should be fine with your viewing as long as you are not on the front side of the rest. Everything else is good viewing. They dim the lights in the rest when the fireworks begin and it is quite magical! Enjoy the bananas foster! It is the best!!

Disney wishes for a great meal!

 

[AlohaAnnie]

Love Ohana! It is a must do for every trip!

We could make a meal just out of the sides they give you. So good! We always have a wonderful experience here.

Love the lady from Hawaii that is there, she has a wonderful speaking voice. Our kids have so much fun with the parade. It is great!

We love to explore the Polynesian Resort while there.

Have fun and enjoy!

 

[TDC Nala]

You can arrive early if you want but I'm not sure you should count on being seated early. If they allow you to request a table with a view of the castle you may have to wait longer. Since you intend to watch the fireworks from the beach you will likely not be requesting a special table.

 

[OhThePain]

I won't get into our opinion of the place since you only wanted positive experiences. As Nala said, just because you show up early does not mean you will be seated any earlier. Also, an ADR 2 hours before Wishes could cut it real close to making it to the beach in time. The meal is a solid 75-90 minutes. This gives you roughly 30 minutes to wait to be seated and then get down to the beach in time. There are some who have waited close to an hour after their ADR time before they are seated. If seeing Wishes from the Poly beach is important to you, I would keep trying to get either an earlier ADR or an ADR for after Wishes. Don't let yourselves feel rushed or get into a tizzy if things don't run as smooth as you hope they will.

 

[Quin]

Why watch Wishes from the beach if you can watch it from the restaurant instead? They darken the lights and pipe in the music. And if by that point in the meal you happen to have a bowl of bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and warm gooey bananas foster sauce in front of your face as the fireworks are going off, so much the better!

I would not plan on checking in more than about 5 minutes early, and would express a cheerful willingness to wait for a table with a Castle view. Assuming it may be a few (yeah, 15-20) minutes before you are actually seated, that's the time to get a Lapu Lapu from the bar if you want one. Then when you are seated, take your time. If you have kids, let them participate in the periodic games. Food servers are constantly circulating; don't let them rush you. You may be offered a skewer of meat right after you sit down. And it will look and smell wonderful. But smile and ask them to come back after you've had your salad and apps. They will. Sit and enjoy the castle softly turning colors in the background. Oh, and you may also be able to see the Electric Light Pageant out on the lake, although you won't get the music for that one.

Then just about the time you get your dessert, the real show begins. Sit and enjoy!

 

[It'sOffToDisneyWeGo]

Op here. Thank you for all of your responses. I never even thought about getting a seat with a castle view. This could keep me from feeling rushed to make it to the beach. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

[valvalis]

Op here. Thank you for all of your responses. I never even thought about getting a seat with a castle view. This could keep me from feeling rushed to make it to the beach. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We love eating late at Ohana to watch Wishes. It's a really fun experience to watch it from Ohana. We'll be there in two weeks -- can't wait!

 

[mastermind307]

My DH and I just ate here last Friday for the first time. We loved it! We had a 5:00 ADR, so we were one of the first seated. We started out with bread which was very good and then they brought some salad. It was ok, I eat salds sometimes and DH never eats salad. Then the came the pork dumplings and drumsticks, yummy! The noodles were next and they were so good, but I had eaten so much of the dumplings and drumsticks I was getting too full. Finally the meat came around. I tried the pork, and didn't care for it, but I'm not a big pork fan. I had one piece of chicken and it was good, especially liked dipping it in the peanut sauce. I only had a couple bites of steak because I was just full to eat anymore. The pieces I had were good. Didn't try to shrimp, don't like it. After eating, we were brought hot towels. Then came dessert, it was excellent. Overall we had a wonderful experience, we were seated at a table by the window so we had a very nice view during dinner. We would eat here again, but next time I"ll know not to eat so much early in the dinner and wait for the other stuff. Hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[4butlers]

We ate here for the first time last Wednesday. We loved it!! The food was sooo good! But we made the mistake of having a big lunch (at CRT won't do that again, but that's another post), so we weren't terribly hungry. So, my advice is to arrive HUNGRY!! It was probably one of our favorite meals, but we couldn't eat as much as we wanted to. Have fun!!

 

[SPOERLX3]

Love Ohana! It is a must do for every trip!

We could make a meal just out of the sides they give you. So good! We always have a wonderful experience here.

I agree!!

I am not a big meat eater (unlike my DH) but the noodles, potstickers, wings, bread and bread pudding are the BEST!!!

It is our very favorite palce to eat at Disney. YUM!!! Can't wait for our ressie on December 18th!

 

[icc2515]

I love this place, the food has always been great whenever we have been there. My on piece of advise touched on by others is do not fill up on the the appetizers and not have room for the main course. Pace yourself.

 

[It'sOffToDisneyWeGo]

OP here. Thanks to everyone with all of the wonderful advice. We asked for a castle view table and received it 5 minutes later. We enjoyed all of the food. I told the people at my table to pace themselves. The food is so yummy it is actually hard to do. The food came out very quickly and we did not have any problem getting whatever we wanted to eat. We had barely eaten anything that day so we were really hungry. The only time we got a little freaked out was after we had eaten lots of meat and the server said something about "Now I will get the main course" Of course he was joking but we didn't know that until he said "your dessert will be right out." We had a great experience. We finished up with about a 1/2 hour to spare until fireworks so we viewed the fireworks from the beach. Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way!

 

[PJ]

We were there last night, and it was wonderful!!! Had a 7:50 ADR not even realizing when I made the ressie 180 days ago there would be Wishes at 8:00.

Got there early so checked in at 7:15 so we could get on the list for a table by the windows. We were seated 5 minutes later! The comment about 75-90 minutes for the meal was interesting - we were seated at 7:20 and were served dessert just 40 minutes later, and that was with asking them to slow down because we really wanted to pace ourselves. They were very accomodating, and waited till we said were ready for more. Maybe its because there were only 2 of us, so less conversation, and we didn't take time out to participate in the hula lessons.

Food was even better than I remembered. I thought the pork was just OK and didn't try the skewered chicken (but loved the 1st course wings) but DH thought the pork was very good. Everything else was great. Last time we did Ohana (it had been awhile) the dessert was just pineapple with caramel dipping sauce. This time it was the wonderful bread pudding (which happens to be DH's favorite.)

Best part - perfect view of wishes! This was our first meal out this trip, and it will be hard to top. Sorry this got long - got carried away.....

 

[k^2]

I went on 9/3 and it was our second favorite dinner of the trip the steak was AMAZING and the shrimp was great too. Plus we loved the salad dressing! The pot stickers, wings, veggies and noodles were more "eh" but we enjoyed them. (The wing sauce is great - if the wings were crispy, they would have been amazing too.) And then the bread pudding to finish it off!! you'll love it.

 

[Ro Z]

Just ate at Ohana for the 1st time last week. After 20 years and more than 40 trips I can't believe we waited so long for this great meal! The one complaint I have is that the sides were cold. BUT who is there to eat noodles or veggies DS loved the pork. My fav was the wings and DDIL liked it all! I didn't expect to like the dessert as I am not a big sweets girl but it was fantastic. We got a table with a good view without even asking.
One tip. If you like your steak med well like I do. Just ask and they will cook it more for you. We got home a few days ago and I booked Ohana again in March!

 

[Bonniec]

OP here. Thanks to everyone with all of the wonderful advice. We asked for a castle view table and received it 5 minutes later. We enjoyed all of the food. I told the people at my table to pace themselves. The food is so yummy it is actually hard to do. The food came out very quickly and we did not have any problem getting whatever we wanted to eat. We had barely eaten anything that day so we were really hungry. The only time we got a little freaked out was after we had eaten lots of meat and the server said something about "Now I will get the main course" Of course he was joking but we didn't know that until he said "your dessert will be right out." We had a great experience. We finished up with about a 1/2 hour to spare until fireworks so we viewed the fireworks from the beach. Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way!

Pics???

 

[Quin]

OP - so glad you had a great experience! Before I'd eaten at Ohana I don't think it ever would have occurred to me to think Bread Pudding would be my favorite dessert, but OMGIH it's wonderful.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

I am so excited. I have waited to try this restaurant for a while. I want to hear from everyone who has had any good experiences recently! This is the only sit down we get to do this trip. Any advice? Should we arrive early for our ADR? Will this get me in any quicker? Where do we want to ask to sit? We really want to see the fireworks from the beach. Any place special? If we are lucky it will be exactly 2 hours after our ADR that the fireworks go off. I hope they are on time.

Two trips ago, we arrived at 7:45 pm because I was 100% positive that our ADR was for 8:00 pm. Upon check-in, I was told that our ADR was actually for 9:00 pm. We enjoyed some cocktails at the bar while we waited & they didn't actually seat us until closer to 9:15 pm.