The Wave

Matrinka

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
7
Last night, I was able to eat at Disney's new restaurant, The Wave. Disappointing is the best way to sum up the entire experience.

The atmosphere was pleasant. Apparently, Disney swapped some wavy ceiling tiles from the Soarin' attraction to compliment the decor. The inside was pretty, but felt like a vast amount of decorations were lost in shipping. There were not many people in The Wave last night... but the acoustics are poor. I had to strain to hear people at my own table - but screaming children sitting on the other side of the room sounded like they were right next door.

The food was a mixed bag. Disney wanted an organic menu. While this sounds like a good idea, it leave the menu with only about 8 different entrees for you to select from. You can order a chicken pot pie (which comes in a cute crock pot complete with bones sticking out from the top). Two different steaks - both were extremely tasty. Lamb, which I won't eat. Selected "sustainable" fish of the day, that a family walking out let us know was terrible. The citrus and avacado salad was disgusting. They managed to make a concoction of soggy oranges, hard avacado, and bitter dressing.

All the servers have come from different restaurants. Ours came from the closed Concourse Steak House. She was horrible. Although she only had 3 tables, we were left to ourselves often. When asked about getting a steak knife for my meat, I was told that I "had one." As if I was a moron - who doesn't expect your butter knife to double as a meat-cutting machine? We had to ask, repeatedly, for water.

The experience was made MUCH better by our neighboring table. Once that started mocking the restaurant, the food, and service outloud to us, we realized that The Wave has a lot of potential that wasn't lived up to. Hopefully, they'll work things out. Maybe they'll get more menu choices or drop the organic twist.

It was sad to see Disney TURNING PEOPLE AWAY last night from coming in to eat - but there were only about 6 tables being occupied at a 7pm dining time. Sad, sad, sad.
 
Thanks for posting your experience. Hopefully, things will improve. I will keep a watchful eye on the reviews. We do have an upcoming ADR there.
 
Most restaurants get off to a rocky start, hopefully it will get better
 
Bones sticking out of the pot pie??? :eek:

Thanks for the review. It will be interesting to see how the restaurant either improves ... or doesn't!
 

All the servers have come from different restaurants. Ours came from the closed Concourse Steak House. She was horrible. Although she only had 3 tables, we were left to ourselves often. When asked about getting a steak knife for my meat, I was told that I "had one." As if I was a moron - who doesn't expect your butter knife to double as a meat-cutting machine? We had to ask, repeatedly, for water.

QUOTE]

She came from the former steak house and didn't grasp the concept of steak knife!!! Sounds like a painful expierance.
 
You mentioned that there were "only" eight entree choices - but that seems to be a typical number of options for Disney restaurants (as well as for many of the non-Disney restaurants I've been to). I don't think that has anything to do with it being organic foods.

The review on allearsnet is much more positive, so maybe you hit a bad night?

Teresa
 
i'm laughing here, imagining those "bones" sticking out of the chicken pot pie....
 
Wow, sounds like they need to work out a lot of kinks. I do hope to read of better service and food in a few weeks. Thanks for the review.
 
The review on allearsnet is much more positive, so maybe you hit a bad night?

Teresa

Could you post a link to the allearsnet.com review? I have looked all over that site and can't find it. I can only find where they talk about what the Wave is supposed to be like. I haven't found where someone actually dined there yesterday. Thanks!
 
The food was a mixed bag. Disney wanted an organic menu. While this sounds like a good idea, it leave the menu with only about 8 different entrees for you to select from. You can order a chicken pot pie (which comes in a cute crock pot complete with bones sticking out from the top). Two different steaks - both were extremely tasty. Lamb, which I won't eat. Selected "sustainable" fish of the day, that a family walking out let us know was terrible.

Eek! Sorry you had a bad experience. Chicken bones coming out of the pot pie??

We have an ADR on July 4th and I was thinking of ordering one of the steaks or the chicken pot pie. I was also wondering what the deal is with the term sustainable fish. Seems like an odd choice of words. Anyway, hopefully it will get better.
 
i am stuck on the bone thing too. All i can picture is chicken leg bones sticking out, lol :rotfl2:
 
Would note that the ALLEARS review was just salads and not any of the main entrees. And tho I'm not a major fan of flank stak and pot pie, the place looks pretty nice and the organic beers do hold an interest. Reminding myself this isn't a Signature restaurant, I'll wait on more reviews before we decide if we ever want to dine there.
 
I read the Allears review & it doesn't exactly look like a glowing review to me. :confused3 They did seem to love the decor, except for the wood-grain laminate. One person didn't like their appy at all & switched with the other. The other appy salad was good. The Spice-crusted Chicken Salad was deemed excellent. The other salad entree wasn't what they expected or what was described on the menu. Other than that, they enjoyed it. They were happy with the desserts.

It sounded to me like the reviewer was trying very hard to be positive. They definitely didn't blast the place, but they only used one word "excellent" that you would hope to see in a truly good review. A really positive review doesn't usually contain words like "good", "except for", "not as described" (more than once). Yes, "good" can be very positive, but in this case it came off as more like mediocre. Sounds to me like the Wave needs work. It did just open, so I'll give it the benefit of doubt. I do wonder how well the concept will take off. We're very disappointed in the "dumbing down" of WDW menus to satisfy the masses. I can't help but wonder how many people who won't eat authentic or gourmet actually care about organic.
 
We had lunch on 6/8. I read the review on AllEars and was suprised. Not the same experience as ours.

The positives - the service is wonderful. the desserts are great.

Negatives - The entrees are overpriced even by Disney standards. And the food is just ok.

I don't mind paying for a great meal, Brown Derby comes to mind, but this is not one of those meals.

My son had the Fish dish, $20.99. He said it was good, again not great, but was still hungry.

My husband had the burger. The burger itself was small and he said it was alright. Kona makes a better buger.

The desserts are great. A little sample of 3 items.

We may try again after it works out some of the bugs. But I wouldn't recommend it to any of my friends right now, sorry!
 
Sounds to me like the Wave needs work. It did just open, so I'll give it the benefit of doubt. I do wonder how well the concept will take off. We're very disappointed in the "dumbing down" of WDW menus to satisfy the masses.

I too, have become very disappointed with the menus many changes. "Dumbing down" is a nice way to put it! I know many will disagree with me, but I truly believe the "free" dining has a lot to do with it. Even when it is not "free" the DDP was NEVER as popular as it is now.
 














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