We were ignored at Ohana :(

[chefkellyb]

fyi- We went to Ohana Monday, Jan 14th. Got seated right away. Was ignored pretty much the whole night. Never were asked for seconds on anything. At first I was being polite and would drop hints like - "keep the food coming, we are really hungry!" Also- we had to ask for food for the kids - they never asked us what to order for them!!!!! It gets better.... Then after only getting salad, potatoes, shrimp, and turkey - our server asked if we were ready for dessert. I said - "You've got to be kidding!!!! We are still hungry and haven't received any pork or beef yet!" Her reply was - "oh, I'm sorry - I lost track of your table." Needless to say - we won't be returning for a while. We based our decision to return from our experience in May 2007. We couldn't keep up with the amount of food back then that they brought out to us. I feel foolish too because DH and I bragged to BIL & SIL about how good this restaurant was. So sad!

BTW: I am a very shy and patient person when it comes to things like this. So it had to be bad if I had to say something about it.

 

[Tony-NJ]

Sorry about your experience. We've experienced horrible service at Ohana the last 2 times. It's officially off our list.

 

[stellablue]

She lost track of your table? Ouch! Were they extra busy or something?

 

[Tink415]

Sorry your meal wasn't enjoyable. When Ohana is busy it can get crazy and really be hit or miss. Last time we went everything was brought to our table with in 5 minutes then dessert and the bill within 15 minutes I said to the waiter "already? " and he said "yes". So, since I haven't felt like being rushed like again, I haven't made getting an ADR there a priority the last few trips even tho my kids beg to go.

 

[Imagination]

That is sad.

Best thing to do is provide immediate feedback to the management afterwards. Without feedback, it is harder for them to realize the problem(Course management itself could be part of the problem...but as a customer there is only so much you can do to help them improve the business).

It is not good for the establishment to provide that poor of service. It could be worse if people don't provide feedback if they are a DDE member since, as of 2008, the tab automatically includes a 18% tip. [Which if I had that bad of service I would be fighting to have that changed to 0%..btw my usual tips are >20%, but bad service get 0%, excellent service food and atmosphere gets up to 30%.]

If they continue to provide that type of service, it reflects badly on the restaurant, the deluxe resort that they are hosted in, the WDW resort, and Disney. So there are incentives for them to provide good(but within 'reason') service. But remember they hire humans, they have a certain amount of time to determine before hiring if the person will do the job right, and then depend on their observances and customer feedback to know if they have a problem server.(Especially if it is one that doesn't improve).


Rushing someone through a table buffet service without offering all of the courses is antipathy to the experience one should get at Ohana.

Oh, everytime I been to Ohana, over the years (Only about 4 times I must admit), the service was excellent. SO I personally have never had a bad experience there.

 

[3for Me]

What a bummer!

We had a similar experience when we went for the Lilo and Stitch Character Breakfast. We weren't really "ignored", but service was lacking to say the least. The wait for the characters was AGONIZING - huge breaks between them and we had already llloonnggg finished our meal and were still waiting for Stitch!

We're trying Kona for breakfast this time instead.

Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[bits-n-pieces]

Sorry to hear about your meal but, I am also glad to see your post. We were there on Thursday January 17th and had a similar experience. they did keep the meat coming but, I had to ask for mac and cheese for the girls and had to ask for more potatoes and salad. (I am not a meat person this meal is for DH and my Dad). We just felt very rushed and felt like we had to keep asking for more of anyhting we wanted. It seemed obvious they were trained not to bring more unless we asked for it. We are not huge eaters but, they bring the same size portions for a table for 2 that they bring for a table of 6. We loved Ohana in the past and it overall was a good meal. But, it's not on our must do list anymore.

 

[slo]

I'm so sorry to hear about your negative experience

We've eatin at 'Ohanas several times, and we've never had a bad experience.
Maybe it was just an off night for your server.
Did you complain to the management?
If so, did they do anything for you?

 

[chefkellyb]

In my opinion they weren't "that busy" - there were some (not many) but some empty tables around us. I just find it funny that 2 people couldn't take care of our very low maintenance table. My gut told me that with the reviews on this thread being so mixed that we should have gone with my favorite restaurant - Boma and not DH's.

 

[JoanneNC]

On the new DDP plus side - you had complete control over what tip if any that waitress earned

Sorry about your experience...

 

[chefkellyb]

Also... no, we didn't complain to management only because we wanted to get out of there. We had been seated at our table at 7:10 (for a 7:20 ressie) and didn't leave there until about 9:00pmish. The kids (4,5,6) were DONE if you know what I mean and we were just anxious to get home and get them to bed. Otherwise I think I would have taken the time to talk to management. Perhaps if enough of us DIS folks that had a bad experience (or similar one) would let them know then we wouldn't have to say a prayer that we get a good server for the night there. I believe the restaurant as a whole has wonderful potential to be tops in its class. Any suggestions of where to let them know where they need to improve themselves in that restaurant?

Oh, and YES we are DDE so we were forced to pay the 18%.

On a positive note. We did get to see the fireworks and the kids learned to hula dance. But I personally left there feeling like I was shorted on my meal.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

We had VERY bad service the last time we were there too. Our waiter was miffed that we already had drinks from the bar when we were seated. He kept asking if we were ready for more, and when we ordered cokes, he was really miffed! Oh well, we already have way too many favorite places to eat in "the world".

 

[marivaid]

These reviews are making me go

We had a bad experience at 'Ohana last summer (were rushed through our meal) and of course, THAT'S the place that my sister picked first for our April trip. Worse, we'll be celebrating a birthday there.

 

[eventsdj]

I am a server, and I totally understand what its like to have a crazy night. That being said, I also want someone to work as hard for MY tip as I do for theirs.
I would give my server half the meal. If I felt I couldn't get "reasonably" good service, I'd ask for a manager, and ask if we could have a server that had more time for us, as ours seemed overwhelmed, and it was affecting our dinner.

 

[Gary M]

fyi- We went to Ohana Monday, Jan 14th. Got seated right away. Was ignored pretty much the whole night. Never were asked for seconds on anything. At first I was being polite and would drop hints like - "keep the food coming, we are really hungry!" Also- we had to ask for food for the kids - they never asked us what to order for them!!!!! It gets better.... Then after only getting salad, potatoes, shrimp, and turkey - our server asked if we were ready for dessert. I said - "You've got to be kidding!!!! We are still hungry and haven't received any pork or beef yet!" Her reply was - "oh, I'm sorry - I lost track of your table." Needless to say - we won't be returning for a while. We based our decision to return from our experience in May 2007. We couldn't keep up with the amount of food back then that they brought out to us. I feel foolish too because DH and I bragged to BIL & SIL about how good this restaurant was. So sad!

BTW: I am a very shy and patient person when it comes to things like this. So it had to be bad if I had to say something about it.

We had the same type of experience on Dec. 27, 2005 at 'OHana. We have not been back and will not go back in the near future. We were at table 7. I was looking forward to the bread pudding, but barely got into the meats(two pieces of pork each and that's it). I asked to talk to the manager and was told he/she was not available. I wrote a letter after we returned and got a form type reply.

 

[KathleenlovesMickey]

I am not sure I am in the right spot but, all these comments are making me nervous. We are planning to go to the Spirit of Aloha dinner is this the same thing?? we are paying top $$ I understand that when a show is included that not everything may be great but the total lack of service that has been discussed makes me want to cancel our plans. Can someone give me thoughts on this meal is it the same?different? Help
Thanks
Kathleen

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I have to say here when you start reading bad reviews of a restaurant and it becomes consistent rather than sporadic as I have been seeing with Ohana, that is not a good sign. It makes me think of what happened to the restaurant in Italy.......they would get sporadic good reviews mixed with bad, then it became mostly bad and then they were gone..

I hope Disney is reading these boards as I would hate to see that happen to Ohana... if they are understaffed and cannot keep track of their tables then that is a staffing issue and management needs to be involved.

If the food is cooked, get it to the tables and feed the customers...you just don't say oh I lost track of your table...

 

[eeyoreiscool]

We ate there last week and didn't have any problems with the service or the food. It was probably one of the best meals we had that week. Sorry to hear about your problems.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

We've had hit or miss experiences at 'Ohana, too, for breakfast. First time was amazing. Service was excellent, attentive, really on top of everything. We were seated at a time when the characters were just arriving to our section. We were in and out in an hour and stuffed with seconds and even thirds.

It was my new "must do."

Second time, not anything like the first. Our server came, as well as someone else to fill us up on juice/coffee, and then we didn't see our server again until she tried to quickly shoo us out with our check. Someone else had brought out one platter of breakfast, but she never came by to see if we needed anything or wanted seconds. There were about four tables that the characters never came to, including ours at that point. We also had wanted some of that pineapple bread that hadn't been brought out to us, as well as more eggs. She seemed aggravated that we weren't ready to just leave. About 20 minutes later, she finally brought us over a couple pieces of the pineapple bread and some more eggs. The characters did come to our section during the second hour. We were there nearly two hours, most of it just "waiting" for either characters, food or our server.

And I did ask to speak to a manager. Two hours for a character breakfast for three adults is crazy. But you should have seen the line of people waiting to see the manager. It was about eight, ten people thick. We were ready to just get out of there and get to the parks. Management is fully aware there are problems if the line to complain the manager is as long as the podium to check in.

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

Seems like a lot of complaints on the message board, but not enough complaints where it matters. If the majority doesn't mention their problem to the management - how do you expect them to know anything is wrong?