Ohana, you're officially off my list!

[chewtoy]

BTW, I adore those macadamia nut pineapple pancakes at Kona. Great breakfast fare.

 

[nifferearly]

Okay, so now i'm second guessing 'Ohana too. I mean, the meal isn't exactly cheap!!! I was able to find a Kona reservation just 10 minutes after our 'Ohana one. What should I do...lol???? We had booked Kona originally and the cancelled for 'Ohana since DD's almost 4 and we felt 'Ohana would be better for her. BUT, she's been eating in restaurants since she was an infant so is pretty well behaved.

I think you should give Ohana a try. I don't think Kona would be much cheaper by the time you add in a drink and dessert, which is included at Ohana. And your daughter will love getting a lei and doing the limbo or coconut race.

 

[chewtoy]

I think you should give Ohana a try. I don't think Kona would be much cheaper by the time you add in a drink and dessert, which is included at Ohana. And your daughter will love getting a lei and doing the limbo or coconut race.

For what it's worth, I vote for Ohana, too (nice I can say that when it isn't my money, right?). Kona has good food, but the atmosphere really doesn't compare and isn't that part of what you're paying to get? To me it's more of a lite breakfast/lunch kind of thing - a cafe vs. a restaurant.

Whatever you choose let us know what happens.

 

[DW2010]

I think you should give Ohana a try. I don't think Kona would be much cheaper by the time you add in a drink and dessert, which is included at Ohana. And your daughter will love getting a lei and doing the limbo or coconut race.

For what it's worth, I vote for Ohana, too (nice I can say that when it isn't my money, right?). Kona has good food, but the atmosphere really doesn't compare and isn't that part of what you're paying to get? To me it's more of a lite breakfast/lunch kind of thing - a cafe vs. a restaurant.

Whatever you choose let us know what happens.

Thanks. Maybe since our reservation is at 5:15PM we'll have better luck. I'm hoping anyways .

 

[MHSweb79]

In any restaurant, not just at Disney, remember that there is more to availability than empty tables. You must have the wait staff to service the tables (or you get the "30 minutes before we saw a waiter" situation), you must have kitchen staff to get the food out efficiently and not get slammer (or you have the "cold food, coming at out different times" situation).

You can't say, "Why were we kept waiting when there were empty tables?" All restaurants, not just Disney, have cut back on staff.

EXACTLY. I have seen many people here complain about waiting to be seated, and saying, "but the restaurant was half empty!" This happened to us at Mama Melrose. The lobby was packed solid with people waiting, but they were only seating half the tables on the inside. To top it off, our service was the slowest of all our meals that week. It was terrible.

It's quite possible that during Free Dining, Disney cuts back on staff so they can make a certain profit margin (they make money on the full-price packages you need to purchase in order to qualify for "free" dining) on the tables they ARE serving.

 

[Gary M]

Our eighth trip to 'Ohana was in December, 2006. That was our last and final dinner there. Horrible service and we know little about the food, because we were barely waited on.

 

[4disneykids]

We have been to Ohana many times, the most recent 2 weeks ago. We had a ADR and was seated within 10 minutes. So fast I hadn't even received the glass of wine I had ordered from the bar. Our server was ok, personality issue, but the food was excellent. If anything I would say the food came out faster than I could eat and was very hot. Love Ohana, will keep going back.

 

[DW2010]

Question to those that have given up on 'Ohana. Did you have bad service/food multiple visits? The reason I ask is because some people say they've been there several times but only list one time as being horrible. I'm just wondering why not give 'Ohana a try again unless it was multiple bad experiences .

 

[whencanwegoback]

We love Ohana so much we'll be eating there twice next trip!! mmmmmm....MEAT!!!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I've eaten dinner at 'Ohana's 20+ times from 1993 until 2009. Some meals we have non-existent or mediocre service, sometimes we've waited 30-45 minutes past our ADR, sometimes our meal has taken 2 1/2 hours, sometimes it takes forever to get food or drinks, sometimes we have amazing servers, sometimes we have the best meal of our entire trip, sometimes we have the most wonderful food. If something really displeases me/us enough to ruin a meal we ask to politely speak to a manager (that rarely happens). I've learned to not plan something we have to be at an hour or two after our ADR and just slow down and enjoy the meal and my company and not look at it as a meal to rush in and eat to get back to the park. I also have learned not to show up so hungry I could eat my arm off . 'Ohana's is a meal I always look forward to (can't say that about a few other WDW restaurants I've given up on).

 

[princess aleya]

We've also been fans of Ohana, but the last two years we went with very bad results. Ohana is also off our list!

We had reservations and just like others found the food to be cold, dry, and the meats didn't come around very often. Our wait staff (both years) was TERRIBLE! What should have been a 90 minute meal turned into 2-1/2 hrs. Even had to wait 15 minutes from the time we were done with dessert to get the bill!!!! I was fuming.

This happened in 2008, but since we'd always enjoyed Ohana in the past decided it was an off-night. NOT. Almost identical BAD experience in 2009 as well.

So long Ohana.

I second that...we dined here in 2008 also, I was so dissappointed with this meal. My cousin went to Ohana before us and raved how we just had to go, so we were really looking forward to it. Well let me tell you, this was the worst meal of our trip. We didn't enjoy anything besides the wings and and the pot stickers. We never saw any shrimp and the beef was way too undercooked for my liking.

 

[goofyfordisney]

I have never been to 'Ohana...I was so excited when I 'scored' a reservation...
We are going to be paying OOP (no free dining)...I don't feel like spending good money on a bad meal. We are only doing a few TS meals and I want them to be worth the $$ spent!

 

[hoosiergirl7]

I like 'Ohana. We've done both breakfast and dinner. Every time we've eaten here our food has been hot and delicious and we will continue to go back.

The one thing I have to say is that you will find good and bad reviews about EVERY SINGLE restaurant on Disney property.

I think one of the BIG problems is that people continue to put up with their bad meals & bad service. Nothing can be done if you don't speak up. I hope the OP and anyone else that's had a bad meal at 'Ohana takes this with a grain of salt but you should've said something about your cold/bland food. And if a manager won't listen then write a letter. The more Disney or any other company we deal with hears from us they might actually start listening. I had a very undercooked steak at Narcoossee's on my last trip. I did notify management and they offered to replace my steak and comped my daughter's entire meal (drink, entree & dessert - we were on the DDP but she was under 3 and was not so we had to pay OOP for meals that we didn't share w/ her). I was pleased they took care of it and I will go back because they took responsibility for my nearly raw steak and were very apologetic. That's honestly all I wanted - an apology and an offer to fix it. Them comping my daughter's meal was icing on the cake.

 

[DW2010]

I have never been to 'Ohana...I was so excited when I 'scored' a reservation...
We are going to be paying OOP (no free dining)...I don't feel like spending good money on a bad meal. We are only doing a few TS meals and I want them to be worth the $$ spent!

We feel the same way since we're not on the DDP either. For $35 per person ($16 for children 3-9), I expect at least good food and good service. I am really thinking about this one. Part of me doesn't want to take the chance, but part of me might regret it if we don't give it a shot.

 

[VeganCupcake]

We must have had crazy Pixie Dust Our server Joe was awesome, my glass literally was never empty at any point, my hubby's meat was juicy, DS got Chicken nuggets & fries, it was awesome. We weren't planning on using our Weekday APs again this year(We went in december for 4 days and all of last week), but we are going to go up again just for a day or 2 and Ohana is definitely our #1 choice for an ADR. Also, if you want - An appetizer, an entree, a dessert, and anything to drink besides water at Kona it will maybe work out to be the same price if not more. People have such varied opinions on dining experiences, it's so interesting how much opinions can vary!

 

[Don Disney]

Wow-I did'nt know so many people have written Ohana off! We ate there last Sept. during free-dining and it was really good.As for those who say it was better when etc.... Better in YOUR opinion.I don't have any idea of "when it was better"except when we ate there it was pretty good to us. Restaurants are known to have off nights,and sometimes things are just not up to par.I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,but they sure tasted a lot "better" when I was a kid! Maybe if you keep expecting the same "taste" or experience,you are setting your own self up for a let down. In any case,we'll be visiting WDW in Nov.this year,and would LOVE for someone to give up 1 or 2 dinner ressies so we could go there!!!! We have not been able to snag a ressie yet!!! Still very popular for a place that isn't as good as it used to be-must be something wrong with us.

 

[yooperfan]

I'm not upset about the wait. I knew there would be one since I had no reservation but it was upsetting to see so many open tables that we could have sat at that were never filled & they were holding people who did have reservations & who could have easily been seated.

What the PP was saying is the tables may have been empty because not that many people may have made ressies that night. In that case the staffing would have been reduced. If they only had staff to cover a certain # of tables seating you would not have done any good since there wouldn't have been enough staff to cook or serve that many tables that night. It's kind of like when they don't book sections of rooms at the resorts when it's slow therefore less cm's are also on duty.

 

[MissionMouse]

...The steak came around one time... We won't be going back until they make some improvements to the menu especially the side dishes. I don't enjoy paying $77 for some meat & dessert.
Farewell O'hana!

Ohana dinner experience is on the decline for sometime now, but people still book out the ADRs, so there will only be take aways until it impacts the ADR bookings. Too many new TS diners combined with die hard fans so it will continue to decline and it if LeCellier is able to get 2TS there is no reason Ohana couldn't too. Also, the steak coming around one time is not uncommon and happened to us when we gave the dinner one more try. Poor/absent service, poorly prepared food (dry, tuff, cold), rationing of steak, sides prepared well in advance (dry/stale/tasteless), service helpers who literally drop and toss side dishes down on your table and hurrying off as fast as they can. Tipped according to the service and experience. We only recommend Ohana Breakfast.

 

[DONALD38]

We ate at Ohana for breakfast and dinner during our trip last week. We also read a lot of good reviews and decided to try it. We thought the breakfast was good. Really liked the juice. And Stitch was awsome with the kids. The dinner part was different. It didn't impress us. We felt the food was over cooked and dry. We really enjoyed the music and atmoshere. Ther server we had was really great. When the server seen that our boys wern't really eating much he brought out some other food that they loved. We would return for breakfast but not the dinner.

 

[Gary M]

I like 'Ohana. We've done both breakfast and dinner. Every time we've eaten here our food has been hot and delicious and we will continue to go back.

The one thing I have to say is that you will find good and bad reviews about EVERY SINGLE restaurant on Disney property.

I think one of the BIG problems is that people continue to put up with their bad meals & bad service. Nothing can be done if you don't speak up. I hope the OP and anyone else that's had a bad meal at 'Ohana takes this with a grain of salt but you should've said something about your cold/bland food. And if a manager won't listen then write a letter. The more Disney or any other company we deal with hears from us they might actually start listening. I had a very undercooked steak at Narcoossee's on my last trip. I did notify management and they offered to replace my steak and comped my daughter's entire meal (drink, entree & dessert - we were on the DDP but she was under 3 and was not so we had to pay OOP for meals that we didn't share w/ her). I was pleased they took care of it and I will go back because they took responsibility for my nearly raw steak and were very apologetic. That's honestly all I wanted - an apology and an offer to fix it. Them comping my daughter's meal was icing on the cake.

I asked to speak to the manager after our bad experience and was told the manager wasn't available. I wrote a letter to WDW and got a standard reply letter. We go to WDW 2 to 3 times per year and have other restaurants we enjoy, so why waste a meal on this place. We ate there 7 times before, with everything from average to good service and meals.