Who is the allergy chef at Kona?

[walkdmc]

We have BF at Kona each trip. We love it. Our son has allergies and we've had chef Brad and really like him. He's friendly and does his job. On our last visit, Brad was off and a woman was filling in. She was terrible. She took my son's order after we were served our breakfast. Then, in a haste she sent out uncooked allergy waffles. Ugh. She was also nasty, asking "what's the problem ?" when she approached the table, sensing my frustration. In retrospect, I should have talked to the manager on spot but we were already late for RD at DHS, so we left, paying the entire bill, no contest.

When I returned home, I called CS and reported our experience. A CM called me and we discussed our experience, she was apologetic. I'm wondering if anyone has had a bad experience with the allergy chef at Kona, lately? Her name started with a K.

 

[squirrel]

Oh no, that sounds like my niece's favorite Chef.

I know her schedule, what day will you be there? She of course could be filling in for another chef who is on vacation.

 

[walkdmc]

Squirrel-that would be too funny if you know her schedule! Does your niece work there, or was she a guest? Were you being sarcastic, or is "K" really your niece's favorite? She was just awful when we were there. No sense of concern that we were all eating and she hadn't even taken his order yet. No apology, nothing. Matter of fact, as I indicated, she was rude, like we were bothering her. To me, there was no excuse for her behavior. If her day was that bad, she shouldn't have been there. I've had surly allergy chefs before and who cares? "K" was not only surly, she was bad.

We're not going until November 13, staying 1 week. We'll go any day that she's not there. Of course, I'm sure the schedule isn't out this early.

 

[LilyWDW]

I'm just gonna jump in here and say while there is no excuse for rudeness, you don't know what kept her from taking your son's order. There could have been an issue in the kitchen that she was having to deal with. Unless you saw her doing nothing while your son was waiting, then you just don't know. As kitchen emergency would have to taken care of before anything else.

 

[Missytara]

I'm just gonna jump in here and say while there is no excuse for rudeness, you don't know what kept her from taking your son's order. There could have been an issue in the kitchen that she was having to deal with. Unless you saw her doing nothing while your son was waiting, then you just don't know. As kitchen emergency would have to taken care of before anything else.

Agreed; and it should be noted on the OP's posting, she asked who the allergy chef was - there is no one particular chef that is assigned to allergies and then waits for someone to need them.

She was most likely the head chef or the sous chef for that shift and may have been dealing with some other crisis at that moment in the kitchen as well.

With the economy, several employers have cut back in order to keep some sense of profit and I am sure Disney is no stranger to that move either. They are most likely short staffed, trying to break even, and a lot of their employees are pushed to the limits sometimes, especially in these times.

I hope that people realize that just because it means it is Disney, that they aren't experiencing what the rest of the world is experiencing in this type of economy and someone is bound to have a busy/frazzled/hectic day.

 

[squirrel]

No, really if she is the same (kind of think she is) chef then she is my niece's favorite chef. They have the same name.

I do know her schedule as we have met her the past two years. I'm eating at Kona on a night she is working in just over a month. We have followed her from Pop to another resort and now she is at the Poly. Her schedule could change, but it's more likely she would get called in for extra shifts if it's busy.

We didn't get a chance to have her at a TS meal, if I had known last year she was doing TS and CS at the other resort, then I would have booked us an ADR at the TS.

She only works for Disney part-time. I hope she was called in on her day off and was tired, and that's why she wasn't her regular self.

 

[cheesekate2005]

I just had breakfast at Kona on Tuesday. I don't remember the chef's name, but he was a young guy, really nice and very helpful! He made me GF waffles and potatoes and he made DD GF steak and eggs and toast. Good luck, hope you have a great vacation!

 

[walkdmc]

I love Disney too, and Kona is our favorite breakfast spot. That doesn't stop me from recognizing bad service. If there was a kitchen emergency, or something from preventing them from taking one person's order, our waitress should have held our orders, or given us a heads up.

I wouldn't tolerate that lack of service from a non-WDW restaurant, why would I do it at WDW?

And we've probably had 3 dozen meals at WDW, all them with my son who has allergies. Each and every time, the chef discussed his meal options in enough time so that we all received our meals basically together. I really don't care if they have a designated allergy chef, not relevant to the poor service we received.

 

[camlace]

We have BF at Kona each trip. We love it. Our son has allergies and we've had chef Brad and really like him. He's friendly and does his job. On our last visit, Brad was off and a woman was filling in. She was terrible. She took my son's order after we were served our breakfast. Then, in a haste she sent out uncooked allergy waffles. Ugh. She was also nasty, asking "what's the problem ?" when she approached the table, sensing my frustration. In retrospect, I should have talked to the manager on spot but we were already late for RD at DHS, so we left, paying the entire bill, no contest.

When I returned home, I called CS and reported our experience. A CM called me and we discussed our experience, she was apologetic. I'm wondering if anyone has had a bad experience with the allergy chef at Kona, lately? Her name started with a K.

In my opinion...and obviously just guessing since I wasn't there, I would say the server was most likely at fault in this situation for not telling the chef. And personally I would have been frazzled/annoyed/frustrated if a server told me after I had prepared the rest of a meal that one of the patrons req'd a conversation with me. Not saying you should have experienced anything you did though. I hope you get better service next time.

 

[squirrel]

After talking with OP, I think the chef is not the same one my niece loves.

I know at Coral Reef when we sat down at the table the server wouldn't get the chef. I don't know if the chef told him he wasn't coming to the tables or if the server decided he just wasn't going to get him. I had to figure out what was safe for my niece to eat from the child's menu.