To be missed character meals: Garden Grill & O'Hana

Tiger926

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 21, 2000
Messages
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We've eaten at almost all restaurants on property, multiple times, and I come from an Italian restaurant family, so we are very patient and considerate in regards to servers, ordering, etc. That being said, we just ate at O'Hana and Garden Grill both yesterday and today, and all we have to say is: What a disaster!

O'Hana - Now gets our award for the most unorganized and behind character meal on property. It previously belonged to Chef Mickey's. Yesterday morn we had an ADR at O'Hana for 8:20, but it took over 35 mins. to be seated. By the time we ate and left the restaurant it was almost 2 hours! As I said to my hubby: When a family buffet that serves runny eggs in a pan takes as long as a Signature restaurant like Cali Grill that excels in all areas, we have big problems! They are organized by sections, so our entire section was done breakfast & had paid, yet we were all waiting for the characters to come around for the 1st time. The server gave us some nonsense about them expecting an hour for each family, and I reminded her that we were well past that. We were going on 70 mins and still waiting on 2 characters, so we let her know that their system was in need of some tweaking. We always see so many people waiting at this restaurant and reminded her that families are always waiting at this restaurant and they need to improve upon that, but she didn't seem to care. They also forgot to give us our leis and take our photos, butter came out 15 mins. after bread was consumed, people who were seated 10 mins. after us got their skillet first, drinks were very delayed and syrup was very late as well. We have eaten here before, so we will never eat here again as food, service and character organization are horrible.

Garden Grill - We have just returned from GG for lunch and yucko! Rotation of restaurant was down for awhile, so that wasn't a good start. This used to be one of our fav character meals before they changed it to the new menu. We have since eaten here 2x since new menu, and won't be eating again as it's just not good, and we've given it enough chances now. The food itself was dry and yucky, and presentation is horrible. The old pans were great! Not including salad is ridiculous since the restaurant is situated above the greenhouse that grows the veggies. WTH? Service was ok, and characters were fun as usual, although Chip messed up and forgot our whole section, so we had to get the handler as it already been one hour and we had seen the other characters multiple times, but Chip got dizzy and took a wrong turn, I guess! LOL! All in all, the food and presentation of it is not good at all. They really need to return it to the old menu with wholegrain bread, salad and flank steak.

Just wanted to give a short update of these two character meals as they really are in need of some serious tweaking, in our humble opinions.

Happy eating to all, Tiger :)
 
i think it's funny (sad?!) that the GG doesn't have salad, of all things!

(you've got a boat ride below taking you thru those free-falling veggie rooms! come on people, bring back the salad!)
 
We did not have that experience with O'Hana at all. The food was just ok, but the service and characters were great.

I must agree with you on GG. We used to love it. The food and service was great. When we were there a few months ago, the service was terrible and the food is nothing compared to what is was say 5-7 years ago.
 
We did not have that experience with O'Hana at all. The food was just ok, but the service and characters were great.

I must agree with you on GG. We used to love it. The food and service was great. When we were there a few months ago, the service was terrible and the food is nothing compared to what is was say 5-7 years ago.

The character interaction at O' Hana when you get it is great and that's part of the problem, IMHO. Characters spend way too much at tables goofing around for that type of breakfast food - eggs, bacon & juice doesn't take long to consume at all, so I'm sure that's why they have the parade. It's not only a diversion, but it keeps the kids busy as you wait forever for the characters to come to your table. We have experienced this each time we've eaten there and the millions of people constantly waiting to get in tells you that their system is not efficient at all. Like I said, 2 hours for that kind of food is ridiculous!

Tiger
 

Salad hasn't been served at GG LUNCH for at least 3.5 years, the first time we ate there. It's the difference between lunch and dinner.

At least you got food at 'Ohana! ;) We waited an hour for breakfast last Sept and, when they wouldn't give us an estimate of how much longer, we left. It was our last meal at Disney and it was a bummer that they didn't have their act together.
 
I would agree GG was not the greatest of fare but we ate there several weeks ago and all really enjoyed the experience. I was not expecting much from what I read hear but it turned out to be one of our favorite meals. Maybe we just lucked out but the kids loved the characters and with the ADR we sat right away.

Our waitress was real nice and made my daughters Birthday special by bringing a candle with her cupcake and singing Happy Birthday to her. Again the food was just OK but plenty of it and we were real hungry so anything would have tasted good at that point.

Just my 2 cents. :goodvibes
 
Oh no! :headache: We have ressies at both places coming up in September. We missed our ressies at O'hana last time and now we were looking forward to eating there. I hope they get their act together soon!

As for Garden Grill, I just made the ressie there this afternoon and canceled Tutto Italia. DH has diverticulitis and the menu at Tutto Italia didn't sound like something he could eat without major discomfort. Garden Grill sounds much easier on the stomach. Again, I hope we don't have the same experience as you.
 
We found the food at GG to be just average, but my kiddos loved the character interaction. They also thought it was fun that the restaurant turned while we ate.

We've had good experiences at Ohana (Never been to O'Hana's though!!:) )
 
Oh no! :headache: We have ressies at both places coming up in September. We missed our ressies at O'hana last time and now we were looking forward to eating there. I hope they get their act together soon!

As for Garden Grill, I just made the ressie there this afternoon and canceled Tutto Italia. DH has diverticulitis and the menu at Tutto Italia didn't sound like something he could eat without major discomfort. Garden Grill sounds much easier on the stomach. Again, I hope we don't have the same experience as you.

I wouldn't change your plans because of one review. I'm sure you can find several people that think both of these restaurants are great. We love Ohana. I will admit that Stitch took a long time to get to us during the character meal, but we enjoyed the food. Their dinner is great too.
 
'Ohana breakfast is a must do each trip. We can't wait to do it again in September. The characters can get behind sometimes but that happens to us at the CP and LTT too. It just shows the great interaction going on. At 'Ohana last time Stitch stole a water bottle from our table then proceeded to goof off with DD for 10 minutes til his handler made him move on to the next table. 'Ohana has the best character breakfast in WDW IMO.
 
I have lunch reservations at Garden Grille in September that I have thought about cancelling many times since I made them. That's mainly because our lunch reservation is at noon and then we have dinner reservations at LTT that night at 6pm. My two boys are not huge eaters and I just think it will be too much in one day.

Based on the posts, I think I'll keep them because of the atmosphere and the character interaction - I just hope it turns out to be a good experience and not one like the original poster described!!

September 21-26
Wilderness Lodge
First Timers!!!
 
What meats are now served at GG for lunch?
 
At Ohanna we found the food ok, the fruit & juice were the best. We also liked the potatoes. I just think the room is not set up well for Charaters the tables are too close together. and it always a wait. But ask for a table on the outer edge. The last time we ate there the Char. Handlers were great so that helped.

Kae
 


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