We headed over to Epcot and played around for a few hours. Around 11:20am we checked in for our 11:40am ADR at Coral Reef. We like one of the first seatings becasue you are more likely to get a tank side seat and you are less likely to have to wait for a table. Let me just say, we love this restaurant..we love the atmospere, the food, and have never had a bad waiter. We also are in the believe that contrary to popular belief, there are bad seats here, especially for kids! So, with that being said...we were checked in with only one other family waiting...they were just opening for the day. As we sat down, a few other families started to file in...pretty steady. So we are sitting on the soaf at the end closest to the dining room assuming we will be taken in shortly and not too affected by the fact that they were seating other families before us becasue we were early and maybe those families actually had ADRs before ours. Not a problem, I understand that. So we are waiting and waiting and a mom and her son who came in just after us and sat near us asked us what time our ADR was for because they had an 11:45am and were not seated yet even though people who came in after us were. We sat there a while longer and while we were there for around 30 minutes waiting, Skye and Ty were starting to complain about people getting seated before us...not becasue they are starving but because the more people seated, the less chance of us getting a tank side seat! And while they are being passed up a manager who had been there the whole time we were waiting and saw us sitting there went over to another family and started giving out Tink pins and then allowed one of the kids to trade one pin for three...one for him and wach of his sisters! Now, this is none of our business...and we had been given Tink pins before...the problem was that they were already not happy...and now, someone else was being rewarded for walking in and no one had noticed us sitting and waiting. Uuugghhh! So anyway, the lady with the son finally went up to see what was taking so long and the told her there must have been a mix up and they woudl get seated in a few seconds...so I went up assuming I was part of that mishap. Nope...the pager we were given was not working. They buzzed, we did not answer, and they did not bother to call out our name just to make sure. She even had the nerve to test the pager in front of me like she couldn't believe I did not hear it go off. Believe me, my kids do not let that thing out of their site...in fact it is an honor to be the holder of the pager in our family...they will actually fight over it...well, it did not work when she tested it. So we get told we will be taken in shortly. Before we are taken in the mom and son are taken in. Then shortly after, we are taken to be seated. No appologies. We are walked down towards the tank lower and lower past the first empty, cleaned table and Tyler starts witht he face. You know the face...the "WHAT??? WHY AREN'T WE GETTING THAT TABLE???" face. We are walked to the next table and tuned into the booth on the bottom row....not against the tank...here...
See that? that was forced...he was fuming! This was not good enough and he was offended that we did what we were supposed to (showed up on time....early even) and due to their error we were skipped over and not compensated for their error. He was mad! I had to keep reminding him that we have sat next to the tank many times and this seat was almost as good. But the empty table we walked by was haunting him...and then he saw the mom and son from the lobby that was involved inthe mishap and had an ADR after we did...they were against the tank...and that just made him madder! But I suppose all of that was mine to deal with and has nothing to do with our dining and what you are here for...so let's get on with it, hu?
Our waitress was Patty. She called Tyler a "she". He gets that a lot because of his hair...I guess if you don't have a buzz cut, you are a girl. That did not help his mood any...he hates it! Patti was short and not very helpful or responsive when asked questions. She tool our usual drink orders and brought out bread and dipping oil and butter when she brought them back. We all had dolphins on our cups...
For appetizers I had the land and sea again. It was as good as I remembered it. It is a skewer of a couple of cooked shrimp on cucuber salad and a skewer of BBQ beef on polenta...mmmmmm! I practically licked the plate. I do not have appetizer pictures for some reason??? Maybe I can find one in my last review....if I can, I will copy it over here.
Found it...
Ty ordered carrots and celery with ranch dressing to dip. He doesn't dip. He does not do celery. They shared the carrots and SKye ate one of the celerys. Skye had the lobster soup. No silly, not for her...she would not eat that! It was for me. She was not that hungry and none of the kid's appetizers appealed to her so I got something that appealed to me....hey hey hey now, I always ask if she want some of it before I eat it! Her answer is just usually "No". If I find that picture, I'll post it too. As usual, it was very good. There is not usually a ton of meat in it but it is creamy and flavorful and I like it!
Found it...
Both the kids had mac 'n cheese with no cheese...that was one of the questions we had asked Patti that she was not very willing to help on. the kids did not want a big meal...they were not super hungry and were saving themselves for tonight...wait for it! Don't have a pcture of that either...but it was plain noodles...not even butter on it...the kids did not want any...we are noodle purists here.
I had the Mahi Mahi with spiced pineapple chutney over cashew-jasmine rice.
The last time I had the Mahi Mahi it was over mashed potatoes. This was much lighter. I liked it. It was good. I don't know if i would say it was my favorite but I don't know that I could pick a favorite here. Everything we have had here has been good. That is why I don't get the bad reviews. Before we were foodies in the world, this is one of the places we did venture into...pre-
DDP. We have always had good food...problems getting seated, yes, but not with the food. Neither of the kids would try it. I was good with that!
For dessert, the kids had the make-your-own sundae.
I had the Creme Brulee...after last time, there was not even a thought about it!
It was really good. Now, I am not a creme brulee expert...in fact the first time I had it was at Coral Reef on our last trip but it tasted good to me!
Our waitress was not very happy while we were there and was not around much. I had to ask for refills as she was running by. I had to ask for our desserts to be brought. I had to ask for the check. All in all we were there for anout an hour and a half...after being seated. Not good. We have never been here that long before even when we hung out to enjoy the tank. Our bill was $62.15 but cost us three meal credits.
For us, the check-in and service was bad and a fluke. We have been enough to know it is not a normal experience for us. The food was great. The kid's appetizers could be a little more...well...appetizing. We will be back for sure, we love the place!
That Coral Reef experience would've made me so mad! You're a lot nicer than me because I would have had some not so nice words (while the boys were covering up their ears of course 
) i'm sorry your experience was so bad and then to top it off a distant server that just makes it worse! I laughed when you said people think your Tyler is a girl because people think the same about mine, he could be wearing a shirt saying i'm a little boy and people would still ask me how old she is 
