Ohana was my favorite restaurant...until last night!!

[AlohaPolynesian]

I plan on writing Disney about this, but I wanted to share here first.

I love Ohana - their dinner was my favorite meal in all of WDW and I would sooner cancel my trip than go to WDW without eating there! Anyways, this time was terrible.

Our reservation was for 8:50 PM last night but we thought we'd head over early to check in and then look around the Polynesian. There were two of us and we checked in at around 8:00 PM. There were 2 parties in front of us waiting to check in and only one hostess working the podium. She was taking her grand old time and there were a few more parties behind us waiting as well.

When the people in front of us were checking in we heard the hostess asking them lots of questions about where they were staying and if they liked it and what they had done so far, etc. She had already given them a buzzer and everything.

Now I understand the Disney customer service and normally I love it. But this is a busy place and people are waiting!! We probably waited 15 minutes with just two groups ahead of us. That shouldn't happen.

When we were finally paged a little after 9 PM, we walked back to the podium and the hostess told my mom and I that we had to wait a few more moments before we could be seated. She then grabbed a group of three women and told us that she was walking us all into the dining room together but that we had our own tables. That was fine until she made my mom and I wait with the other party while they paid their bill at the Tambu Lounge.

Then, she made us carry our own bread the the table. This was weird - I've never done that before. I didn't mind it, but it was just so random. Then we were seated near Cousin Gary. I've had him as a server a couple times and he is AWESOME. He came over and started chatting with us and gave us lei's - but he wasn't even our server!

FINALLY our server, Gabe, comes to our table. He was slow and unfriendly and looked like he did not want to be at work. We ordered Pina Colava's and when they came they were mostly raspberry puree and hardly any pina colada! I told him I had had them before and asked if they changed the recipe. He said that is what the bartender made and that's all he knew.

My mom did not like the drink - I didn't either but drank it anyways. Then when Gabe came back my mom told him she didn't like the drink and asked why it tasted so odd. He just stared at us, paused for a moment, then asked if we were ready for dessert!!

I said, "EXCUSE ME - is there any way my mom could order another drink? It doesn't taste right" And he looked annoyed and got her something else.

Besides the service, the food was disgusting. It tasted like it had been cooked this morning and left under a heat lamp all day. It was terrible.

Maybe it is just because it is this time of the year and it is busy, but I was SO disappointed with this. I probably wont return on my next trip because it is not worth the time and money that goes into eating there.

 

[disneylove69]

I love the food but don't go for the service. The few times I have been there the service was terrible.

On another note the time I had the Pinacolava at one of the resort hotels it tasted like a liquid berry pie. Very suite and more of a dessert then a drink. I did like it.

 

[Justsyd2]

Sorry to hear that. Did you happen to ask for a manager while you were there? It's really difficult for them to fix anything after you've left. If you ask for a manager, they can fix things right away.

 

[jemgumby]

Ohana dinner used to be good to me about 8 years ago or so but in the past couple of years I have definitely noticed a decline. I will stick with the Ohana breakfast! Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience.

 

[2chinooks]

Sorry to hear about your experience. We were there 2 weeks ago and everything was fabulous! The food was the best we've had there and I made sure to tell the manager how wonderful everything was. It's too bad that they can't be consistant...

 

[Melrosgirl]

We stopped going after the menu change a few years ago. (2005?) Right around the time of free dining too. Everything went downhill (restaurants) after free dining started. :sigh:

 

[Nadjalu]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience too.
We loved Ohana, up until last week as well.

We had 8:10pm ressie and was seated actually 10 mins early, but that is where the service ended.
Once we were sat it took the waitress 15 mins to come and get our drink orders. Then it was another 10 mins before they were delievered. Some of the food had started coming out already.
This slow service continued thru the whole meal.
And it was so loud in there we couldn't talk at the table. My best friend lives in FL and always meets us for dinner there and we couldn't hear each other. It was terrible. And it wasn't the people around us, it was the entertainer! It sounded like he was screaming in the mike.
We were sat at the window behind the grill/wall in the corner, the farthest away from all the action and yet couldn't carry on a conversation.
I actually felt the rhythem in my chest from the music it was so loud.

Needless to say we won't be going back. The food tasted good, but wasn't worth the hassle we had to deal with.
We were celebrating our honeymoon and nothing was ever said or done to acknowledge it until my husband spoke to the manager afterwards. He gave us leis and apologized but that was it.
It is a shame that this wonderful place is going down hill.

 

[rebster]

My policy is to go to Ohana early in the day...5:00pm or earlier. I have always had a great meal there because if you notice the stacks of skewers on the grill...if you go late, you may get some dried out piece of meat that has been sitting there a while. So, I love the food, but wouldn't be surprised if some of the food sits on the grill for a bit too long when it gets crazy and people start forgetting stuff. We always go at 5pmish and our steaks pieces are a fabulous juicy medium-rare. Its just an idea...also the servers arn't exhausted from hours of work already (not that its an excuse for bad service, but you have a better chance of getting a server who hasn't been yelled at by some guest yet, and has raised the white flag).

I do have some experience as a server, and the one table that complained about me in my history as a server was seated in area I was avoiding because a guest at the adjoining table had said some adult inappropriate things to me when I seated them, and I was generally horrified for the rest of the night. I'm just saying you never know what happened to your server earlier in the day, and we all make mistakes (at least I do!). All I can say is, thank goodness I'm not a server anymore.

 

[southern_belle21]

We are just back from our trip, and I am so very sorry to hear about your bad time there! We ate there this past Wednesday night, just DH and myself, and had a great meal and service. This was our 3rd time eating here and we both say this is always our favorite meal of all. I will be doing a dining review on this meal as well as a few others. We had ADRs for 8:30 and got there a few minutes early to check in. We did have to wait for a few minutes, but it was not very long at all before our table was ready. I will post a full report on my dining review, but in short, our food was cooked fresh, and tasted great! Everything was brought out in good time as well. Steak was cooked medium, shrimp was wonderful. DH loved the turkey best I think. Our server was wonderful as well. He was from Honolulu himself and we talked to him a bit about what it was like. He was attentive and brought out everything, including drinks as needed. Once again I am very sorry that you had a bad time eating here. I hope that this one experience will not keep you from eating here in the future. I know that people on here say a lot has changed from how it was a few years ago, and I hate that it has, but so far, we still like eating here. I hope that that will not change for us.

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

I guess it is just a hit or miss type thing. I've spoken to them in the past about the exceptional service that I have there and how much I love the food! So I think I was just very disappointed with this time. We did not ask for the manager because it was just too busy and crowded and it was nothing that I needed to be fixed immediately. I just hope things change in time for my next visit. I also think the suggestion about going early is a good one - and that is usually when we go, so maybe timing does have something to do with it. Also this was the first and only time I have gone during free dining so that could be a reason why as well!

 

[DisneyFamily123]

We had a wonderful Ohana dinner but we went early when they first opened. Maybe that makes a difference. The food later should be just as fresh and good, but maybe not. I always eat early anyway because of young children.

 

[purpliequeen]

Ohana is one of those hit or miss places on the Boards. I've read wonderful reviews over the years and then I've read not so good ones as well. We ate at Ohana during our last trip and it did not meet our expectations. Maybe it was the location of our table, but nothing "wowed" us. The food was plentiful, but not great. Our server didn't rush us, but I can see how some servers would be able to. I didn't like how close the tables were (yet I don't mind how close the tables are at Le Cellier).... It must've been the time that we were there. However, we won't be going back. It wasn't worth the money (even on the dining plan).

 

[skater]

We stopped going to Ohana for dinner a few years ago after a bad experience with service. We still like it for breakfast, but won't attempt dinner there again unless I start reading LOTS of positive reviews.

 

[SnowWtch]

This was the first year we didn't do O'Hana for our anniversary. We did it last year and the service was so awful it wasn't even funny. We waited for food while the big group next to us was being waited on hand and foot. The food was good though. This year we opted for Boma which we won't be doing again. The service was great but the food was just okay. Both places are so noisy. Too bad you can't find a good buffet or family style with minimal noise.

 

[Thumper729]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience there. We went to Ohana on 12/4- our reservation was for 8:30, but we went about 7 to check in. We waited about 1/2 hour and then was seated. We had exceptional service- there were constantly people coming to us with food, food and more food. I was hesitant about going there because of the mixed reviews, but it was my favorite meal of the week. And the bread pudding- oh the bread pudding.

 

[Marquis de Disney]

My family ate there two weeks ago and it was FANTASTIC as always....definitely booking it again for our Dec 2010 trip.

 

[jerlove]

We ate at Ohana on Friday and it was one of the best meals of our trip. I tried to get in there last year and was not able to get an ADR so I eagerly looked forward to it this year.

Service (once seated) was fast, attentive, and very friendly. Food was great and there was a lot of it.

My only complaint was that we had a 5pm reservation we get there at 4:30pm to check in and there is already a line from the Podium to well past Kona and no one at the podium checking anyone in. Most of the people in line where folks hoping to get a walk up reservation. Those of us who had ADR's had to wait in this long line just to check in. Perhaps they should consider a line for those with and with out ADR's. Or better yet have someone working at the podium from 4:30pm onwards. I was not able to even check in until nearly 5:15pm so in line for over 30 minutes just to check in.

Overall I love this place and will be back again.

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

I'm happy to see some positive reviews still...that means maybe I will give it another try an it will be a better experience. I don't want to give up on it yet, I just loved it so much...

 

[Micca]

Ohana moved from our "must do" list to "forget it" list some years ago. I would love to get the great service and fresh quality of food that some here seem to get, but it wasn't happening for us. We are talking about a place open 365 days a year with a constant turnover in servers and cooks, I guess it really is the luck of the draw. I've felt the odds were against us the past few visits.

 

[jemgumby]

I've eaten at Ohanas dinner 4 times and never have received the leis (lays).....is that normal?