Unbelievably Slow Service at Jiko

[inkkognito]

Jiko is one of my favorite restaurants at WDW, and since we're local we go there pretty frequently. It's always what I would call a casually paced meal, but on Christmas Eve it took literally two hours! I hate to say it, but it was the worst service we have ever received at a WDW restaurant. Our waiter had our table (two people), two other small parties, and a table of eight. I understand when someone is serving a larger group, but they were done halfway into our meal and apparently had issues with him too because the manager was called over to their table for a little "discussion." It was bizarre...he would disappear for literally 15 mins. at a time. Hubby was facing forward and noticed him going to the front of the restaurant a lot. Then he brought me the wrong dessert, but at that point we were almost too late to leave for a our church service so I just ate the wrong one. Then he forgot to put one of the items on our bill so we had to wait till he added it after supremely honest DH pointed it out.

Normally we happily give 20% or even more, but this time we gave 10% and I don't even think the service was worth that. Between the big group complaining and our tip (and I think the people next to us probably did the same because they were getting the same slow service), I hope the server gets a clue and improves things. It was particularly vexing to get that sort of service at Jiko, which I view as an upper-end option.

Thankfully, the food was just as delicious as always...even my incorrect dessert.

 

[CamColt]

Wow! I'm sorry to hear you had such bad service, especially at a place like JIko. We are considering dining there this summer...with our DSs, but a 2 hour meal with them is making me think twice.

 

[Colinsmom]

We ate there on 12/7/07. Party of six, an early dinner (so restaurant wasn't busy) and it was also a solid two hours to get through the whole meal, with the server disappearing for long periods of time. The service was definitely slow, and our kids had a hard time sitting that long! For that matter, I had a hard time sitting that long with the waiting between courses!

 

[Judique]

We ate there on 12/22/07. Party of two seated next to parties of two on either side. We were served soup to dessert in less then 30 minutes. I'm not complaining. I am not a fan of lingering dining. But...we had appetizers before we had our bread and beverages served. Our bread came and our dinner came a second later. We'd finished the flatbread or as much as we wanted of it. The remainder of my dinner was packed and dessert came immediately with the check. The couple to our left appeared to be having normal service. The couple to our right were there before us and their appetizers arrived after our dinner. We had team service and maybe this contributed to the speed of delivery. I noticed that the couple on our right had ordered the same appy and I wondered if we were served 'their' appetizer accidentally because of the team service. In any case, we had just arrived, were tired, and wanted to get to our room and rest, so it worked for us. The other tables did not have long waits, and the restaurant was packed. Food was delicious as usual.

 

[shellybaxter]

I've never eaten at Jiko when it took less than 2 hours - and that's one of the things we like about it, the nice slow paced dinner. OP - I'm sorry your server wasn't very good. We've had excellent servers and the meal has taken that long. Jiko isn't a place to take children who can't sit for two hours, especially if you are ordering apps, entree, and dessert. We always order all three and wine. We love Jiko because its a fine dinning - slower paced - experience. I'd be unhappy with bad service - but not with a slower meal.

 

[crisi]

We had a bad server at Jiko a few years ago - the only time I've gone (my husband has gone since). Brought out the wrong dish TWICE. Never refilled drinks, never asked if we'd like another glass of wine (actually, I think I was drinking martinis). And wasn't making any attempt to be pleasant (not that he was being rude, but normally you get at least a little chit chat from the waitstaff - or at least a better than single grunt from your attempts at chit chat.). I don't remember how long the meal took (our kids were with us, so it couldn't have been too long or we'd have skipped dessert).

Plus I think I ordered every course wrong - it wasn't prepared badly, it was just nothing tasted good to me. Sometimes you get a chef who can make something you aren't fond of taste good - this wasn't one of those occations.

My husband loved his steak and has gone back - I'm in no hurry, its at the bottom of my list of signature "to return tos."

 

[Harambe]

Wow - let's just hope this server was new, or needed some additional training - that's all! I'd be so disappointed if Jiko started to go down hill.

We also loved eating here, and I couldn't tell you how long it took, since we were there for the experience and the food - both of which were superb! We had our kids with us and even they enjoyed the food and ambiance.

 

[elastigirl]

I was there on 12/21/07 (party of 2) and everything was fabulous. The service was great, leisurely paced. Wonderful meal, no complaints.

 

[inkkognito]

We always do all the courses too (I LOVE the cheese selections at Jiko as my appetizer, and hubby is a big fan of their wonderful South African wines) and the meal is usually leisurely. This time it was just plain weird with the 15 min. server disappearances between courses. Usually there is some time in between courses, but the server checks in and refills our drinks. We never figured out why he kept disappearing to the front of the restaurant. The only time we've ever had anything close to that was one evening at Artist Point when it was the same thing, i.e. the incredible disappearing server. The meals tend to take a long time there too, but that was also one of those times when it crossed over into insanely long.

I'm hoping it was just a fluke, as we've always had a great experience at Jiko before this and I definitely don't want to cross it off my WDW dining list. It is in my top three of Disney dining.

 

[idxman01]

(replied earlier, but I think the site was having db problems)

We dined at Jiko this past Saturday [12/29] for the first time and I thought the service was very good. Our waiter wasn't very chatty, but he was prompt, fast and patient with the wine recommendations. (as we don't have experience with SA selections)

I believe we were there about 1h35m-1h45min, but we were taking our time. (took plenty of time to savor the cheese! ) The waiter certainly didn't disappear for 15 minutes at a time. He was always around hitting one of the other tables nearby.

So I certainly hope your last experience was a fluke as Jiko might be a new option in our WDW dining rotation.

This isn't exactly related, but my only gripes were the 5-10min wait even though I had reservations and the pager/buzzer thing. Perhaps it's an unfair view, but I start thinking chain restaurant (chili's) when I'm handed a buzzer and my second thought is to the quality of the food. Jiko certainly dispelled any of those thoughts within the first few minutes of being seated, but that's my peeve. We also ran into the same thing at Narcoossee's, but the food also made up for the buzzer and poor atmosphere at the entrance. Jiko and Narc are still on our list, but I would say are edged out a bit by places like Citrico's, Don Shula's, etc..

 

[inkkognito]

Glad to hear someone else orders the cheeses too! That is one of my highlights at any of the higher end WDW restaurants, like Jiko, California Grill, Artist Point, and Flying Fish. Jiko is my favorite because they usually are heavy on the goat cheese and/or sheep cheese.

I don't think we've ever gone there and not gotten the pager. Actually, the only place where we don't routinely get it is at Artist Point. For some reason, that's always been immediate seating.

Speaking of chatty (or not) servers, one of the best was at Flying Fish last year. Very talkative and a foodie like my DH so they were totally bonding. That is a long dining experience too, but I don't mind the wait as long as the server checks in occasionally (or in a case like that, nearly because a part of our party).

It will be interesting to see how bad service situations play out with the 18 percent auto gratuity on the DDE card. We always give 20% (and sometimes even a little more) unless the service is the pits, and that is so rare at WDW that I can only think of two times. But with the Jiko experience, I would have spoken with the manager because it truly didn't warrant more than 10%.

 

[kaytieeldr]

This isn't exactly related, but my only gripes were the 5-10min wait even though I had reservations and the pager/buzzer thing. Perhaps it's an unfair view, but I start thinking chain restaurant (chili's) when I'm handed a buzzer and my second thought is to the quality of the food. Jiko certainly dispelled any of those thoughts within the first few minutes of being seated, but that's my peeve.

Disney has changed the name several times, but in effect, what we all actually have is the equivalent of 'call-ahead seating'. Now, granted, we've called two weeks or three months or six months ahead - vs. the typical version of calling on one's way to the restaurant - but the policy should have been explained when the Guest made the reservation. "Arrive and check in ten minutes in advance; you will be seated at the next available table for your party size at or after your assigned time".
I can see your point about the buzzer, but what would you suggest instead? Handing out the buzzers allows Guests to wait somewhat away from the podium, and prevents overcrowding of that area. Now, that said - at Narcoossee's, when I told the Hostess I would be outside smoking, somebody came and got me when my table was ready (even though I did have a buzzer).

 

[DreaminDisney]

We were there for 1st time 12/20. We liked it a lot. I hope to go back next visit. My kids didn't care for it but DH and I enjoyed it. Service was a little slow (DH commented on that) but it was so busy as it probably is all the time there.