Very disappointed in Kona Cafe

[mill4023]

This was the one place on our must-do list because it was our favorite meal on each of our trips in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
We loved the plate lunches when we were there before, but since our last trip in 2007, they changed them from phenomenal and delicious to boring and entirely forgettable.
They used to have a peanut chicken that had fresh whole pea pods, all kinds of other fresh vegetables, and an amazing peanut/teriyaki sauce.
Now, they have a pan-fried chicken with coconut and mango sauce that was nothing special at all. It tasted fine, but was visually unappetizing and had no fresh veggies at all.
Here is the old dish:
http://images.travelpod.com/users/babieemelly/orlando706.1155480540.03_-_kona_cafe13.jpg
And here is the new one:
http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Chicken-Plate-Lunch.jpg

 

[POOHsie]

We had a meal there a couple years back. I had a dish with meat, veg and noodles and an Asian sauce. The sauce tasted exactly like a jar of Asian sauce that I could buy at the grocery store. The effect was, the meal wasn't cuisine, it was pre-made components (heated up canned veg, heated up pre-cooked protein, boxed noodles, jarred sauce) that were assembled by low-skilled staff. Just Awful!

 

[Kay1]

There's a quite a big difference in the two pictures. The new dish looks a little blah.

 

[mill4023]

There's a quite a big difference in the two pictures. The new dish looks a little blah.

Yep. And actually, the one I received was even more blah than the one in that picture because there was very little sauce.

The old one is a blurry picture I found, but that dish had all kinds of yummy stuff. It was stir-fried pieces of chicken with peanuts, fresh veggies, etc. Such a nice fresh delicious dish. I really don't know why they would get rid of it.

 

[PryncessChrysty]

We've been there a few times since 2009 and have been consistently disappointed. So many people rave about it so we gave it a few chances, but it just never lived up to the hype. The service has always been poor and the food mediocre.

I'm sorry you were disappointed. It sucks to really be looking forward to something and then to be let down. But now for your next trip, instead of going back there you'll have the opportunity to try something new and hopefully it'll be great!

 

[Remmy]

This is so sad to hear. I wish your experience could have been better.

We have never been as we have been dining everywhere else and I had put it on our to do list. My DH loves the Poly and have now dined at 'Ohana twice for breakfast and once for supper and wanted to try something new.

I had read reviews from other blogs that have hyped it up so much, I thought on our next vacation it was a must try. I will now greatly reconsider this choice. I think this may be one of the restaurants that have consistently mixed reviews and try at your own risk.

Thank you so much for the heads up on this restaurant.

Remmy

 

[BriarRosie]

This is so sad to hear. I wish your experience could have been better.

We have never been as we have been dining everywhere else and I had put it on our to do list. My DH loves the Poly and have now dined at 'Ohana twice for breakfast and once for supper and wanted to try something new.

I had read reviews from other blogs that have hyped it up so much, I thought on our next vacation it was a must try. I will now greatly reconsider this choice. I think this may be one of the restaurants that have consistently mixed reviews and try at your own risk.

Thank you so much for the heads up on this restaurant.

Remmy

It also could be that the OP made a bad choice of dish. It happened to my mom on a trip, and she sent it back and ordered something else that was fantastic. I thought her first dish was bland and the second was flavorful.

So it very well could be a difference in what you order. I would not write off a restaurant unless I had a couple bad meals there.

 

[Remmy]

It also could be that the OP made a bad choice of dish. It happened to my mom on a trip, and she sent it back and ordered something else that was fantastic. I thought her first dish was bland and the second was flavorful.

So it very well could be a difference in what you order. I would not write off a restaurant unless I had a couple bad meals there.

Great point. With our family we have our tried and loved restaurants. We are finding it harder and harder to fit in the extra restaurants we still wish to try.

Thanks for pointing out the other way to make an experience more positive.

Remmy

 

[k&a&c'smom]

We have been very disappointed in the changes as well. Kona used to be a must do for us, both for breakfast and lunch, and in the last couple years we've been so let down we rarely go. The peanut chicken plate lunch you describe was my favorite, and prior to that we had several others that disappeared.

They used to serve a fabulous grilled mahi sandwich - gone. The seafood chowder is different and not as delicious, the chicken wings were changed, the Kona salad dressing is tasteless. The Koko puffs dessert is long gone - except as a special treat on your birthday, when you get ONE (which is slightly dried out, due to lower numbers served).~sigh~

On the other hand, they do have the sushi bar, which we keep meaning to try. Not sure how good it is, but maybe we'll give it a shot next trip.

 

[bluejasmine]

We went to Kona in 2009 b/c I couldnt get Ohana that yr but we were also dissapointed. My tuna oscar tasted very bland and DD shrimp and scallops portion seemed quite small. We arent big ppl but we were completely squished together in a round booth that for some reason seemed smaller than normal and our service was very slow. Desserts were wonderful and Id love to go to Kona for breakfast but dont normally take the time to do TS for breakfast, I get my Tonga toast from room service or Capt Cooks.. I also hear lunch at Kona is good..

 

[pigletto]

I only tried Kona for breakfast. I think I was expecting too much from all the fantastic reviews or something. It wasn't bad .. but it was nothing I would say I loved and I don't need to do it again. It was just breakfast. Some fruit, some eggs, some toast. Meh.

 

[Beauty & the Best]

I never went to Kona before the changes, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I had that chicken dish for lunch & I actually liked it! I think they could put more sauce on there, but next time I will just ask for extra sauce. Also, I didn't get the pasta salad but did the slaw instead & it was a nice lunch.

For the most part, I think lots of the raves about Disney dining are a bit undeserved - Kona didn't knock my socks off, but I thought the chicken was good, so different strokes I guess...

 

[mill4023]

It also could be that the OP made a bad choice of dish. It happened to my mom on a trip, and she sent it back and ordered something else that was fantastic. I thought her first dish was bland and the second was flavorful.

So it very well could be a difference in what you order. I would not write off a restaurant unless I had a couple bad meals there.

Absolutely. Everyone in our party who had other dishes thought they were pretty good. They just weren't anything special.

I wasn't trying to say Kona is a terrible place to eat. We were just very disappointed that they took away a fabulous dish that was our favorite meal in the world and replaced it with something that was just average at best.

 

[mill4023]

I never went to Kona before the changes, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I had that chicken dish for lunch & I actually liked it! I think they could put more sauce on there, but next time I will just ask for extra sauce. Also, I didn't get the pasta salad but did the slaw instead & it was a nice lunch.

For the most part, I think lots of the raves about Disney dining are a bit undeserved - Kona didn't knock my socks off, but I thought the chicken was good, so different strokes I guess...

It wasn't terrible. It was just disappointing compared to the peanut chicken plate lunch that they used to have. It's all a matter of expectations.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

Bummer for op that Kona has gone down in quality since you 1st started eating there! We've never been, and were planning to do at least breakfast there since we're actually staying at the Poly this time. However, we've never really experienced a "fantastic" meal anywhere at Disney and never really expect to. We just take Disney as a place to go for fun and don't really go expecting a great dining experience. The food has always been good everywhere we went (well, expect for this one place in China in Epcot a few years ago!), but nothing special. And since we don't expect anything great, we find that we're never disappointed!