Was I wrong here?(long)

[stoudt6]

OK here's the story. Last year DW and I were RUSHED through a 35 minute meal at O'hana.I decided to give it another chance becuase DW has always liked it(even after last year); however I told her it would be on my terms which meant we have each cource brought out when we said we wanted it. Well we had a 540 ADR which we tried to change to later time all week-but it was totally booked. We arrived at 535 and were given pager. wanted to get a drink as we were waiting to get seat at bar pager goes off less then 2 minutes!??. We are seated at a window table. as we are waitng for server to come over I look at print-out from our name/adr and IT HAS SOMEONE ELSE"S NAME. We were given someone else's table-that was waiting before us. I feeling guilty and actually wanted to wait to eat tell the Cousin. her response was a big shrug and "I don't know." She says your hear now,so i go along with it. I then tell her about last years experience and that we will tell when to bring out each cource. She said she fully understood. I then old her That we wanted to have drinks (blue Hawaian?/island sunset) brought out before we had anything served(salad). after 10 minutes she brings the salad out--still no Drinks! Said bar is slow. I'm like ok but will tell you when we want next cource. Well wouldn't you know it a minute later another cousin brings out the won-tons. I tried to be polite and said we'll let you know when were ready for the wontons and sent them back. well the look on the Cousin was like WHO the He!! is he! A minute later our cousin fianally came with our drinks. told her what happened and she said that she'll slow thing s down. Thought things would get better but after we finished salad and ate won-tons. Then our cousin brought out wings/shrimp which was fine until 30 seconds later another cousin comes out and promply "puts "the green beans and potatoes on the table and tried to walk away without saying anything. By then I had enough. I told the cousin takes these away
and that we told our cousin we wanted each course seperate and when we said WE WERE READY FOR THEM. Got the same look from the cousin as the one before.Our Cousin came out and i told her that I'm not trying to be difficult its just we want to enjoy the meal.She said she understood and that some Cousins don't have specific tables -they just take certain food out when there told to from the back??(aparently the people who figure the tables/managers don't like tables being "tied up for hour and a half during the main dinner rush") It was at that point when I saw why the 3 tables (table of 2,6 and 4) had all been seated after us but were gone before we even had our Green beans and potatoes. They were "rushed " through there meal so tables opened up! After that we did have the beans, potaotes and all the meats. Desert was good. After the hour 45 minute meal(i didn't feel bloated like at breakfast and other buffets) we were ready to go . one problem it took over 10 minutes to get change after we got check(maybe they were sending me a messege LOL!) I thanked our Cousin for making this dining experience better then the last time there and gave her a $20 tip($80 bill).. my question is was I wrong to want to PAY FOR and eat a meal the way I want it!?

 

[schmitty]

No I would have been annoyed also.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

You were not wrong and good for you for slowing the pace down so that you could enjoy. Bravo!!!!!!!!!

 

[Luv'sTink]

I don't think you were wrong, especially since you told them what you were expecting this time.

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Hi
I hope that your meal was wonderful and isn't the view so beautiful sitting by the windows. You almost have to eat slowly to enjoy every part of that enormous meal. We love O'hanas and I think I am going to tell them to slow it down next time.

 

[JERSEYDISFAN]

Remember the adage, "the customer is always right"! As the customer you have every right to instruct the server how and when you want your food served. It's not up to the management to rush you just because they want to "turn" the table. Stand your ground and if the waitstaff ignores your request, ask for the manager to come to your table and explain the problem in a slightly raised voice (be calm, but firm) so those around you become aware of the problem. I guarantee you your wishes will be complied with. The last thing the "happiest place on earth" wants is an unhappy experience.

 

[johnvree]

Funny, last time we were trying to get them to speed things up because it took forever to get the meats to us.

I don't think you were wrong either. But remember 'Ohana is an all you can eat deal. You told them at the beginning of the meal the pace you wanted to eat. You could have just eaten at your own pace and asked for fresh plates if the food was cold by the time you were ready for it.

 

[MartDM]

No arguments here. You explained that you didn't care for the last experience and provided fair warning as to what you were expecting this time. You shouldn't feel bad about holding them to it as nobody indicated it would be a problem at the outset of your meal when it was discussed.

It sounds like they just had a very hard time accomodating your request in a gang service atmosphere (but your main server should have been able to coordinate that with some added effort to spread the word to everyone).

Good for you that you stuck to your guns!

 

[tinan]

In Feb, it was our first time to O'Hana's and I know exactly what you mean about the fast pace. I also asked our Cousin to slow down, but I guess I wasn't as adamant as you were. I got him to slow down on some things, but others were rush rush rush rush. Between this fast pace and how tough the meat was when we were there, we decided to skip O'Hana's on this trip. Such a shame, as it is a beautiful setting, with a window seat at the time of Wishes. My DH was kind of upset that I wanted to stretch out dinner to make sure we saw Wishes there. It's not that we were lingering long, unlike the table next to us. They had been finished eating loooooonnnnnngggg before we arrived and still continued to linger even though their drinks were long gone and they wanted nothing else. That wouldn't have bothered me, if it wasn't for the man talking so obnoxiously loud!

 

[Wafflestoo]

I honestly don't know how people can enjoy 'Ohana's meal due to the BIG rush. We had not even begun eating our shrimp/chicken/wontons when the veggies and meat started coming around. I asked if they could hold off on the meats... the cousin who brought over the spuds and salad and veggies was long gone. My husband was confused. He asked me, "don't they actually want us to eat this meal?"

No sooner did one cousin get sent away with one type of meat, when another was trying to unload their skewer onto our plates. We were being attacked by skewers of meat and I just wanted seconds on the shrimp, which no one was in a hurry to get me.

Oh well... I think that this meal is a hit or miss type of thing. My family is not picky and hardly ever a problem when we dine our, but we did have some issues with this place. We had wanted to like it soooo much. Oh well, on the bright side,it was the only meal that we disliked in the 8 days of dining at Disney. THATS NOT BAD.

Meg

 

[Devil_Dog99]

WOW. I had heard about servers at WDW rushing people through meals, and only had it happen to us once (but not nearly as bad as a 35 minute meal - yikes!!!)

I am with you - in fact you employed every trick the Unofficial Guide reccomends for combatting this very thing. While it is understandable for WDW to want to turn over tables as fast as possible (better for the bottom line), diners have the RIGHT to want to enjoy a meal at their pace. Unfortunately, it sounds like O'Hana employs the team approach to serving where if it's ready the next set of free hands carries it and it isn't always your server. And in an all you can eat place, rather difficult I suppose for a table to 'eat slow'.

Glad you enjoyed the meal, though.

 

[brendrek]

I don't think you were wrong since you made your intentions clear early on. Depending on how you said it though, you may have set a bad tone with your server from the beginning. I never suggest sending food back. I'd be afraid they would spit on it or do something gross to it (probably wouldn't happen at Disney but you hear stories from those in the industry). It's very possible they held up your change on purpose. In the end you slowed down the pace some and even left a nice tip. You shouldn't feel bad

 

[adrock1976]

I don't think you were wrong to want a slower paced service. At the same time, I think that many diners want to rush as they feel they are wasting time at a TS location...which is not the case for our family, as the dining is a big part of the whole experience.

I also think, more so, that Ohana is a bad location to get slower service due to the multiple servers and family style service.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I don't think you were wrong--you made your preference known in advance.

adrock is right tho--at WDW probably just as many diners who WANT to rush as there are wanting a slower pace.

 

[EEYOREMAMA]

Not wrong at all. Just had this happen to us for the first time at 9 Dragons. We had the entrees brought out before we were 1/2 way through the appetizers. We asked them to bring them back and keep them warm. They brought them back and served them cold.

We have gone many times but based on this service, it may be a long time before we return. If restaurants want your business, they need to act like they do. Too much competition and we deserve (at these prices), to have the best service and treatment -- IMO

 

[LindsayDunn228]

I don't think you were wrong since you made your intentions clear early on. Depending on how you said it though, you may have set a bad tone with your server from the beginning. I never suggest sending food back. I'd be afraid they would spit on it or do something gross to it (probably wouldn't happen at Disney but you hear stories from those in the industry). It's very possible they held up your change on purpose. In the end you slowed down the pace some and even left a nice tip. You shouldn't feel bad

This is exactly what I was thinking. How you address people can make all the difference in the world. If you are nice and friendly about it's one thing, but if you are rude about it I think that is uncalled for. Only you (the OP) know how your tone was.

I would never send food back either!

 

[TLinden16]

Wow.

I've never felt rushed at Ohana--even when I went there by myself. They keep bringing food out to you at a pretty quick pace, but I always felt the time was adequate in the five or six times I've gone.

Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[CheshireVal]

I think you had every right to be annoyed, but I think the point that different "cousins" (not necessarily your server) bring some foods out to you is valid. How is everyone in the restaurant supposed to know that you want each course out one at a time?

 

[Took]

I think you had every right to be annoyed, but I think the point that different "cousins" (not necessarily your server) bring some foods out to you is valid. How is everyone in the restaurant supposed to know that you want each course out one at a time?

Your server should make your table's wishes clear to others. That's what he or she is tipped (extra?) for. No one should be rushed through a meal if he or she does not want to be--no excuses.

Good for the OP for insisting on this. Of course, politeness is always preferred, but I can certainly understand if the OP wasn't perfectly polite after repeating the same request a number of times.

took

 

[stoudt6]

This is exactly what I was thinking. How you address people can make all the difference in the world. If you are nice and friendly about it's one thing, but if you are rude about it I think that is uncalled for. Only you (the OP) know how your tone was.

I would never send food back either!

I was very soft spoken when I told her about bad experience from last year and how we wanted our food served. I was also specific about saying we wanted our Adult beverages before anything was brought out. I tried to "roll with punches " when salad was brought out before drinks. However when the wonton's were brought out right after that. I gave polite "we're not ready ready for them; we'll let you know when" . It wasn't friendly nor nasty, it was more of a what's going on here tone. it was TWICE THAT they had not honored how I wished to be served. i still tried to roll with the punches, and like I said our cousin told us she would take care of slowing things down. Well in the end she didn't becuase IT HAPPENED ONE MORE TIME. Be it another cousin or our's the situation shouldn't have happened after the 1st time let alone a second time. I think I made a "mole-hill out of a mole-hill rather then a mountain".