Seating policy at the Galley Restaurant, bad experience

[Mackey Mouse]

I thought I would post about what happened to us last weekend. We were staying at the Beach Club Resort and around 7:00pm, we walked up to the Galley Podium to see if we could get seated for some dinner. The restaurant had approximately 12 empty tables in it as we looked from the outside area before walking up. The manager very quickly told us it would be an 1 1/2 hour wait to eat. I looked at her and asked her why she had so many empty tables......she claimed she was holding them for reservations. I thought in my head, the poor waitstaff all those empty tables and what if people do not show up, you have just turned people away who would have tipped.

Anyhow, I went to the Concierge desk for some suggestions. I talked to a young person who told me and my tired husband why didn't we check out the Boardwalk. I said to her we are really tired and do not want to walk all the way over there on the chance we could eat. Now that I think about it, why didn't she just check her computer....Anyway, we were walking away rather disgusted....Another on-the-ball concierge person came from behind the counter, and asked if she could speak to us. She said she had checked the dining at the Galley restaurant and could get us a reservation for 5 minutes from then. We were like what????? They turned us away but have room for reservations....anyway, we were hungry, took the reservation, thanked her profusely and headed back to the Galley podium with our reservation..

A very sweet little hostess said to us as we handed her our reservation "you learned fast" and seated us within 5 minutes... So I guess what I am saying here is not sure of every restaurant's policy, but the Galley turns you away if you do not have a reservation even with open space and open reservations. At least that was our experience that night, I am probably going to write a letter to guest relations about this experience....I do not think they should be turning away guests staying at their hotel if they have room to feed them or any guest for that matter..

 

[CamColt]

That is crazy! I was thinking maybe they didnt have the waitstaff to work those tables, but apparently that wasnt the case. Makes you wonder what they are thinking some times.

I'm wondering though...did you see that first manager you spoke to once you were seated? Was there any comment from her?

I'm glad you got to eat, even though it was so difficult.

 

[vicb]

Something similar happened to us once at Cape May breakfast. We were staying at BWI, were very tired in the a.m. so I let DH and kids sleep in. I quietly used the phone to call dining and ask for a ressie at Cape May that morning. I got the exact time I wanted. When we got there it was a zoo. We were seated within 5 min at a lovely table. But in the lobby we heard people talk about having to wait 1 hour as walk ups. Very strange but we learned our lesson and have always called for a ressie (PS or ADR) even if we are in the park and with in an hour of when we want to eat. It seems to work.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

When we can back with our reservations in hand, that person was not at the desk. She was walking around the restaurant, and then she would come back to the desk, shuffle her reservations in her hand like it was a deck of cards, looking, looking, but was not seating many people. Then she would pull out one magical reservations and one party would be seated. I am still scratching my head here. I think she was overwhelmed.....something was definitely wrong there. This is not the first time this has happened to us at that restaurant, but it was the first time we questioned it at concierge.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I am bumping this up because I want to make sure others do not go through what my husband and I did on our last trip. It is just an FYI.

 

[AllyBri]

Same exact thing happen to us at the Galley about 2 weeks ago. I thought it was just an oddity, but now I know better.
Thanks for posting.

 

[TLinden16]

That is the silliest thing I've ever heard! But then again, I've experienced similar things when I've been at Disney, when I've waited for 20 minutes or so while tables are sitting there empty.