Yachtsman Steakhouse, our opinions, and Long....

[Mackey Mouse]

I know people love this restaurant, but I have to share our comments on our recent visit there.

At first impression, we thought it was decorated quite nicely. It was my husband and myself having dinner and we had an ADR. We were greeted sort of lukewarmly, I thought, and the hostess bringing us to our table seemed like she was uncomfortable in her role... As she brought us to our table, both my husband I looked down at the table and noticed it was dirty. I am talking stained tablecloth and what looked like pepper maybe sprinkled in different areas of the table. This is where it was strange, we commented that we thought the table was dirty. The hostess looked at the table, put the menus down and said sorry. We both looked at each other with the thought, did that just happen????

We had a nice waiter and we ordered food, but the table issue and the handling of it was in the back of our mind. Truly, I think I was so disappointed I have blocked out what I had to eat. My husband, however, remembers clearly what he had. It was the USDA Prime New York Strip Steak, requested it medium rare, it was quite rare, and not great. He feels that if they tout themselves as a high end steak house, then the meat should have been cooked to perfection and had more taste. He was disappointed.

Back to the table issue, I noticed there was a woman changing tablecloths and cleaning other tables. I mentioned to her what happened when we came in and that we felt we were sitting at a table that had not had the tablecloth changed and one that was dirty. She did the right thing, apologized profusely, and got the manager involved especially when I told her that the hostess plunked us down and just said sorry... The Manager came over to our table and was quite apologetic. He explained that sometimes the tablecloths are stained etc....and offered us dessert on Disney. My husband and I both said we are not looking for anything for free, we thought maybe he would want to know that this happened in his restaurant on his watch. He was wonderful to us, however, we did not want dessert as the meal was not so wonderful....we thought dessert elsewhere if we want it. We thanked him and just said we would take the check and pay. He did tell us that he took the hostess aside and that she related exactly what we had said. He said that he would retrain her but when the restaurant was slower and thanked us for pointing out how she handled herself. He reduced our check by 20% which we did not want him to do......we both said that was unnecessary and not our intention when we told what happened.

Well that is our opinion on the Yachtsman, long I know, but wanted to put it out there. I know people love it, maybe an offnight, but we were disappointed.

 

[Hopefully]

We too, were extremely disappointed in theYachtsman on our October trip. I was very excited to eat here, and the food just was not good. We (3 adults) were all disappointed and we have decided that we will not return. I know many here think it is wonderful, and I usually keep my opinion to myself. But I agree, they tout themselves as a high end steakhouse, and our beef was not good.
Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[bicker]

Mackey; I'm a little confused. From what you've described, it sounds like you had excellent service at Yachtsman Steakhouse. Clearly, there was CM who wasn't up to standards. Nothing is ever perfect 100% of the time, and it sounds to me that they did do everything right in light of this imperfection. You raised the issue while management still had an opportunity to make things right, which is essential (though, you perhaps could have mentioned it even earlier to management right at the start, instead of waiting and mentioning it to the other employee who was changing the tablecloths, and it could have been resolved even earlier, thereby disrupting the enjoyment of your meal even less), and then the manager proceeded to make up for the imperfection. It sounds like they were more than generous in that regard.

With regard to the steaks... I wouldn't worry much about done-ness, especially since it doesn't sound like there was much difference between what you ordered and what you got. Different people have different perceptions of what is "medium rare". I find what I get when I order "medium rare" is typically way too medium for my tastes and not rare enough; I probably would have felt that that steak you got was perfect.

The taste is another issue. That suprises me, because my last steak there was really very good tasting. Different cow, I suppose.

Thanks for the review!

 

[Peter Pirate]

I have found Yachtsmans service much like 'Ohana over the years, quite spotty. Good for a year or two (or a visit or two) and then something really lousy happens. We put up with 'Ohana's spotty service for much longer as we loved their offerings so much more than the mediocre steaks we ALWAYS seemed to have at Yachtsmans (of course the new menu at 'Ohana has now left them off our 'to do' lists permanently).

Regarding the service, I don't find this up and down at other WDW restaurants though. Seldom to never do we get bad service at FF, CG, AP, Boma, Jiko or even Le Cellier or Brown Derby in the Parks, for that matter.

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for the review. I cant believe that hostess. I would have been a little ticked for sure.

 

[debbiepump]

We were also disappointed in the Yachtsman when we went last October. This was after eating at the Flying Fish.

 

[Gabrielle]

My husband is the steak expert in our house and he was really disappointed in Yachtsman Steakhouse a couple of years ago. Not up to the standards we first encountered about 14 years ago. Le Cellier is a much better deal.

 

[wovenwonder]

I was at the Yachtsman last September with a group of 9 Girlfriends. The waitress treated us like Trash. All of us assume it was due to the free dining plan but there simply was NO EXCUSE for the manner in which we were treated.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I thought I would answer a few thoughts here...

I guess maybe I should have said something like blood rare, no taste and almost inedible when describing my husband's steak. He was very, very, very disappointed.

I did not really get into the service as I did not want to bash the waiter. You see it was his responsiblity to make sure his table was clean and he did hear that from the Manager. Once the Manager was involved, I think things turned around and I did appreciate his attentiveness.....up to that point, the service was ok... not excellent.

And as far as the timeliness of my complaint, I guess we were both rather in shock......surprised at the hostess' comment, "sorry." I was watching to see how the tables were prepared, once I saw, I then spoke up.

The manager could not have done more and I appreciated his kindesses to us.

 

[jezebella]

It somewhat bothers me when people want to not return to a restaurant on Disney property based solely on the service (not that this is the case at hand, but I've read it so many times). How can one judge an entire restaurant and write it off based on ONE server that sucks!? Just an FYI---you don't typically get to pick the restaurant you work at when you apply at Disney--not until you've been there for a while. They just assign you to one based on availability. Plus, good service is hard to find in most places. It's one of those jobs that either you're good at or you're not. If you had horrible service, most likely---they are in the not category and won't be there if and when you return because based on the tips, they won't make it long.

 

[Peter Pirate]

jez, the OP also stated that the steak was undercooked and tastless...This isn't just a service issue.

 

[jezebella]

Apparently, you didn't read my statement in parenthesis.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

Darn, I was responding here and lost power.....it was a good response too..

Anyhow, suffice it to say, that I know we all have favorites at WDW. I actually labored over the decision to post my opinion of this restaurant and the only reason we went were all the rave reviews we have read..

I certainly do not want to see this thread turn into a debate......I understand that others may have never experienced what happened to us. It might have been an off-night... at any rate, I hope you will accept the thread in the vain I wrote it..

I also do hope that Disney's employees learned a valuable lesson from our experience and it seems to me that this manager has it together and will use it as a teaching tool for new trainees.

First and foremost, we are customers and Disney needs to make sure they keep the customer satisified especially when it is a high priced restaurant.. Let's face it there are many restaurants to choose from and we can certainly go elsewhere with our business.

 

[jezebella]

I think your post was great! I think you did the right thing by letting them know about the issue with the hostess.

 

[Peter Pirate]

jez, apparantly you are correct...sorry 'bout that and oh yeah, I agree.

Mackey, there will always be differences on all restaurants, as I know you know, but the Yachstman, while still having a lot of followers here on the DIS, is getting an underlying reputation that keeps cropping up, it seems.

As for Disney learning from this I'm worried. Based on the restaurant changes they've been making lately I don't think the future is very rosy for the guest with high expectations (or at least what we've come to expect from the past). I think their eye is squarly on the bottom line right now and while this always has to be an overiding factor I hate to see customer service and quality sacrificed, which I do think is happening.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I am sorry your meal wasn't what it should have been - when paying those kind of prices, it almost stings to fork the dough over after a disappointing meal in regards to food quality and service.

We enjoyed our visit at Yachtsman but I found the steak similar to steaks I've had at local steakhouses for a fraction of the price. I only eat filet, and theirs was good but not stellar. However, we dined at Citricos 6 months later and they had what a filet was supposed to be like. It fell apart in my mouth and I didn't want it to to end. It was nothing short of AMAZING quality. It was then that we realized that Yachtsman did not have the quality of beef that a steakhouse should have.

It's funny how service can affect your exp so much. For years we've never eaten at LeCellier because 5 years ago my mom was treated poorly by a waiter there. She was with a group of girlfriends and he treated them like second class citizens. So, she never went back and we usually dine with her so we never went. Thankfully, she had to dine there recently for a company event and LOVED her exp so guess where we're dining in Sept? Yep, finally get to try LeCellier. But 1 bad waiter put a bad taste in her mouth for the entire restaurant. She said she didn't even find the food that good that night because the bad service overshadowed it. So I understand completely...

 

[magicmouse2]

I crossed the Yachtsmen off our list when they removed the Lobster from the dining plan I will try it in a future trip when we are staying at BCV but for now I am not going out of our way to eat there.

 

[bicker]

You want lobster? Come to Boston!

 

[estnh]

We have been to the Yachtsman twice, separated by a three year interval. The first time we went the service was not very good, and the meal was worse. After reinforcing ourselves with the rave reviews that this place seems to get on these boards, we tried it again three years later, assuming that we had just hit a bad night, and had virtually the same experience as the first time.

On both occaisions we had to send food back because of improper preparation, and both times it took an inordinate amount of time to get it back. On both occaisions, our waiter would disappear for long periods of time--to get a drink or water refill was virtually impossible. (Last time, it took fifteen minutes just to flag him down and tell him the steak was overcooked!)

I should add that we are NOT fussy, and this is the ONLY restaurant in Disney where we have ever sent food back!

 

[littleladykaty]

ACK!! Now I'm worried! My fiance is a huge "steak" person and rarely gets to eat it b/c I don't eat red meat and he always aims to please in regards to what he cooks...(yeah, I don't cook much either...) But on our honeymoon I want him to have several great steak experiences! I have ADR's for Le Cellier and Artist Point and was told that if I want steak, go to the Yachtsman. I realize that lots of people on this board are deeply devoted to the Yachtsman and have had fabulous service and food there. I guess I just worry b/c before my sweetie was big ol' business man, he waited tables to get through school. He has very little tolerance for poor service and makes a point to speak to management when service is even a little bit bad. I don't want him to be upset or upset anyone else which may happen b/c the Yachtsman is such a pricey place to eat which makes it less acceptable for people to be rude, or to have a dirty table cloth or to have to send food back.

I'm being silly worrying over this. I realize that. Just b/c some have had bad experiences just as many have enjoyed the food and service...SO I'm answering my own question and basically just rambling!