tony's 5/18

[Gomez Gang]

I have been to wdw over 10 times and never tried Tony's in the MK so I thought it was about time we dined there.

I made PS resies for our party of 6 (4 adults/2 kids)at 6:00 on Sunday, May 18. I checked in at the podium at 5:50 and was told it would only be a few minutes........
FIFTY, yes, I said FIFTY minutes later (after asking about our table at 6:15 and again at 6:30) we FINALLY got sat! I sooo wanted to leave but thought, we have been here this long.......

Anyway, we got our table and waited ANOTHER 10 MINUTES before even being greeted by our server Patricia....nice but super slow and not efficient!
We ordered the chicken parmesan which was good, 2 seafood diablo pastas that were very good, a chicken ceasar salad that was just okay and 2 kids spaghettis.....average (what can they do to noodles and red sauce!?)

I did ask to speak to the manager during the meal and told him about our horrendous wait time and our nice but-not-meant-to-be-a-server waitress and he said "oh, thats too bad"! She took 10 minutes to greet us, another 10 to get our iced tea and milk, never pre-bussed our dirty bread plates, never asked if we wanted re-fills! The pasta diablo dishes were spicy and we finally got some water after I flagged down another server. I also said that the 18% gratuity was not deserved and Patricia would be lucky to get 15% from us and he said there was nothing he could do, parties of 6 automatically get 18% gratuity slapped on the bill!

I am a server in IL and the gratuity is always a suggested 18% but is is not mandatory that the guest pays it. Well, I guess in FL it is mandatory.....the manager would not take it off and I did not want to be accused of underpaying my bill!

I would NEVER go to Tony's again and I will be contacting Disney on this.....

We had numerous great encounters everywhere else we went which I will post but I just wanted to share my experience. I was just really disappointed that the manager did absolutely NOTHING!

 

[DisOrBust]

I hope you do follow up. What good is it to go thru the work of getting the manager and nothing changes. Keep us posted...

 

[UAB master]

I have been to wdw over 10 times and never tried Tony's in the MK so I thought it was about time we dined there.

I made PS resies for our party of 6 (4 adults/2 kids)at 6:00 on Sunday, May 18. I checked in at the podium at 5:50 and was told it would only be a few minutes........
FIFTY, yes, I said FIFTY minutes later (after asking about our table at 6:15 and again at 6:30) we FINALLY got sat! I sooo wanted to leave but thought, we have been here this long.......

Anyway, we got our table and waited ANOTHER 10 MINUTES before even being greeted by our server Patricia....nice but super slow and not efficient!
We ordered the chicken parmesan which was good, 2 seafood diablo pastas that were very good, a chicken ceasar salad that was just okay and 2 kids spaghettis.....average (what can they do to noodles and red sauce!?)



I did ask to speak to the manager during the meal and told him about our horrendous wait time and our nice but-not-meant-to-be-a-server waitress and he said "oh, thats too bad"! She took 10 minutes to greet us, another 10 to get our iced tea and milk, never pre-bussed our dirty bread plates, never asked if we wanted re-fills! The pasta diablo dishes were spicy and we finally got some water after I flagged down another server. I also said that the 18% gratuity was not deserved and Patricia would be lucky to get 15% from us and he said there was nothing he could do, parties of 6 automatically get 18% gratuity slapped on the bill!

I am a server in IL and the gratuity is always a suggested 18% but is is not mandatory that the guest pays it. Well, I guess in FL it is mandatory.....the manager would not take it off and I did not want to be accused of underpaying my bill!

I would NEVER go to Tony's again and I will be contacting Disney on this.....

We had numerous great encounters everywhere else we went which I will post but I just wanted to share my experience. I was just really disappointed that the manager did absolutely NOTHING!

I have 1 more ADR to book and was considering Tony's. I think you helped me make my decision. Thanks for sharing and I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.

 

[tinkbyday]

we had some wait time too. ours wasnt as bad. we had reservations. it wasnt too long good food too

 

[PEANUT1]

I agree this restaurant leaves a lot to be desired. We ate here for the first time earlier this month and the service and atmosphere were terrible. Our server was miserable. His name was Joe and I heard him say the "f" word as he was walking by our table. The food was ok, but it was such a chaotic atmosphere.

I have yet to find a decent sit down restaurant in the MK. I think it is a shame because Tony's has such a nice location that it could strive to be better but I guess as long as it makes money, disney will leave it alone.

 

[JMD]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience at Tony's, but I appreciate you taking the time to post a review.

It just reminds why I haven't eaten there in 50+ trips to WDW. With so many good restaurants just a short monorail ride away, it doesn't make sense to bother with the ones in MK.

 

[auntfrannie]

Wow! Having a bad server is bad enough but having a manager that does nothing to satisfy your issue is intolerable! I hope you get resolution by contacting Disney directly! Good luck!

 

[ExtinctDino]

I think managers are authorized to waive the 18% automatic tip and that most of them would have in that situation. Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

 

[Disney owl]

What a bad experience thanks for posting

 

[Gomez Gang]

just to let you know, it will be a week monday since I e-mailed guest services. I wrote them a polite yet truthful and firm message....I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING BACK YET!
I called my resort and made sure that I sent it to the right place and they assured me that the email address that I sent it to would be the one to accept dining complaints.
If I ever hear a response, I will let you know!

I agree.....there are soooo many other wonderful restaurants outside of MK that I enjoy completely....like you said, too bad there are none IN the MK.

 

[hou3jxb]

Thanks for the review. I made ADR for Sept 17-Now I am going to cancel it-I can put up with so so food, but I cant put up with bad service.

 

[Tinkfan10]

My family ate there 2 days ago and didn't really enjoy it either. We have been Tony's fans since it opened, but my sister commented that it left alot to be desired and she won't be going back anytime soon. They went for lunch btw. With all the reviews and now my family's experience I am eating at LTT for lunch and Plaza for dinner when I go for my honeymoon.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

Yikes, that doesn't sound pleasant at all, and I'm sorry you had to deal with all of that!

We were actually at Tony's the same day you were there, except we had a 2:45pm ADR for lunch. We had maybe a 5 minute wait for a table. Our server was excellent, as was the food. Amazing (and somewhat disturbing) the difference 3+ hours makes! I can't believe the manager said there was nothing he could do about the 18% tip; almost makes me wonder if he was really the manager. Unfortunately some area restaurants here pull that stunt; ask to speak to a manager, someone claiming they are a manager comes to talk to you, but you get nowhere. Call when you get home and, whaddya know, that wasn't the manager. Either that or the manager you dealt with was totally clueless.

If you ever go back, try it for lunch; the pizzas were excellent. Don't give up all hope on Tony's!

 

[SnwflkCts]

Wow -- the wait time just made the inefficient waitress even more of a liability. DH and I had a good experience at Tony's but that has been almost two years ago.

Sometimes I wonder if it is just so easy for waiters and waitresses to find other positions, especially in the Orlando area, that the best ones move onto different restaurants. Not that I want alcoholic beverages in MK but wait staff that work in restaurants that serve such are said to get better tips ... just a thought on why they might move on ... I'm sure there are others!

Thanks for the review.

 

[Time Traveler]

We've been there once and probably wont go back again as well. We had the same service issues you had and it was only 2 of us and we still had to wait ages for a table even with an ADR. The pizza was pretty good but the spaghetti was just average. The main thing is how the server asked if we wanted soup. Thinking it was included in the meal (he didn't mention a price) we went ahead and ordered some. The soup was decent (but you didn't get much of it) but when the bill came out and we saw it was over $5 we were pretty upset (weren't on the DDP), it really wasn't worth it.

 

[Checkers]

We had a similar experience at Tony's a few years ago. We had an ADR and arrived 15 min. prior. There were 4 adults, 1 child. Well, we waited and waited and waited while watching others come in and seated immediately. Finally, I went over to the desk and ask if there was a problem with our ADR and they looked at me like I was a fruitcake but they finally seated us. The service was horrendous and the food almost as bad. I asked to speak to the manager and explained what had happened. They did comp us for our daughter's specialty drink (with glass to take home) but that was all. We haven't been back since and doubt that we will go back. At that time the menu selection was very limited as well.

 

[Gomez Gang]

UPDATE.....
Well, after sending guest relations TWO e-mails 2 weeks apart (silly me, I thought 5 business days would be adequate time to return an unhappy guest's e-mail!) I finally called DVC ! !

DVC put me in touch with someone who actually cared....all is not lost!
I sent another e-mail to an address that the DVC cast member gave me and attatched the 2 e-mails that I had previously sent to to guest services on Friday, 6/13.
I got a REAL LIVE PERSON give me a phone call on SUNDAY 6/15 !

She told me how sorry she was for the wait, how the bad service and manager were inexcusable and was extremely apologetic about the amount of time I waited for a response that I NEVER got from guest services!

She offered me a $25 Disney Gift Card to cover my bad experience or, if I chose, I could wait for them to requisition the bill, go through accounting and take a look at my check and have her supervisor determine what they would do.
I was just so happy to be acknowledged and that woman was so wonderful, I agreed to the $25. ( we ate the food so I really did not want that taken off my check, just the 18%tip that we received no service for).

Yesterday, the FedEx man dropped off my $25 gift card!

Thank god for DVC but what about all of those people who are not members?
It seems that they would be at the mercy of guest services.....

Lesson learned:
I will not return to Tony's and it pays to belong to DVC !


thank you all for listening....it has been very eye opening and therapeutic!
Hope that I helped someone else!

 

[TangaroaTiki]

I guess we've been very lucky, because we go to Tony's at least once per trip (4 trips this year) and we've only had great service

 

[Crystal824]

Glad you got some recourse.

We ate at Tony's in 2006. The service was not great, but the food was terrific. We got steak with a blue cheese crust...it was fantastic.

We decided to go back to Tony's this year during our trip in March. This time the service was bad. We got the steak again but not blue cheese (a change in the menu). It wasn't nearly as good. With so-so food and bad service, we won't be returning anytime soon.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

UPDATE.....
Well, after sending guest relations TWO e-mails 2 weeks apart (silly me, I thought 5 business days would be adequate time to return an unhappy guest's e-mail!) I finally called DVC ! !

It generally takes two weeks to get a personal response from Disney. They get massive volumes of letters and emails so it takes about that amount of time to get back to people. Some people get a quicker response but in general a two week wait time for a response is about average.

Glad to hear that your concerns were addressed and that you felt heard and validated. We have ADR for Tony's in July so here's hoping we don;t have a similar experience to yours!!