Coral Reef?

I don’t eat seafood so I’ve never sought an ADR there. However, during our February 2018 trip our flight home was canceled, we were in Epcot, starving, and wanted TS to sit and relax. We booked a ADR at Coral Reef since it was available at the time. Both my sister and I had a slow cooked beef over polenta dish that was AMAZING! Probably my favorite meal the whole trip! Plus the waiter told us they have a full bar, so we got martinis (not in the menu), and sat next to the tank.

I’d absolutely recommend it.
 
We just did a 14 day trip with 14 table service meals, unfortunately Coral Reef was the only bad meal we had. I had the chicken, my daughter had the steak and my partner had the shrimp, none of them were particularly good, and dessert was pretty bland. We wouldn’t go back in all honesty.
 
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Its been a few years since we ate there. Never had a bad meal there, but never an amazing one either.
Love the aquarium view from the restaurant.
We just haven't gone back as there are so many other restaurants we enjoy more.
 


A friend and I ate there last year and enjoyed everything from the food to the scenery sitting next to a big tank!
 
I don’t eat seafood so I’ve never sought an ADR there. However, during our February 2018 trip our flight home was canceled, we were in Epcot, starving, and wanted TS to sit and relax. We booked a ADR at Coral Reef since it was available at the time. Both my sister and I had a slow cooked beef over polenta dish that was AMAZING! Probably my favorite meal the whole trip! Plus the waiter told us they have a full bar, so we got martinis (not in the menu), and sat next to the tank.

I’d absolutely recommend it.

Yum! All of that sounds great!
 


"Ballroom banquet food from an upscale-ish business-class hotel, served with an aquarium view."

Food quality reminds me of my niece's bat mitzvah dinner at Loews or a conference dinner at a Marriott. This is NOT meant as a put down--every meal I've had at Coral Reef was decent, but lacking a wow factor other than the view. They do seem to have more problems during peak hours, especially when it comes to wait times.

It's not somewhere I'd choose to pay OOP, but is an OK use for one TS credit meal. I do enjoy having lunch there on a hot, busy day. There are only a couple WDW restaurants that I find truly terrible--and even those get raves from some people. I say go for it.
 
I would love to sit right next to the tank!! Maybe we can ask if that is available when we get there
From my observation, the tables at the tank are for 4 or less. If your party isn't larger than that, you have a chance. We love it and it is a must do for us. More so than almost every restaurant.

ETA, I agree with it being quiet and having a great atmosphere. We ate there with out then 21 month old grandchild, who was fast asleep on the cresent shaped booth seat, with us flanking her on either side. It was a pretty funny reaction from a lady seated at the table in front of us when we got ready to leave and she saw a child. She not only did a double take, she looked shocked as well. I would have loved to know what she was thinking.
 
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I think if you are interested in checking it out you should. Everyone has such differing opinions of all of the restaurants it’s best to just go and judge for yourself. I think the aquarium in Coral Reef is amazing and I thought my kids would love it and go figure they were unimpressed, but we were also a large party and had to sit far up in the large U shaped booths making it hard to see. Our service was amazing the best I had the whole week I was there last time. But even in my family no one agreed on the food, my father in law had the shrimp and grits and said it was one of the best meals he’s had ever had and my father had the lobster Mac and cheese and said he felt like his was made before the rest of ours and sat under the warmer and the lobster was practically inedible...so there you go :confused3
I think as long as you and your family look and the menu and see a few things you would be interested in eating every restaurant at Disney is worth at least one try but that’s just me.
 
We've eaten there on a few occasions. My thoughts are that it was better a few years back. The last two times we were there our food was average and the service was terrible. We won't be going back. The noise level is pretty high too!.
If you've never been it's worth it to see the fish.
 
The Coral Reef might be my favorite place to eat at at the World. It doesn't have my favorite food by a long-shot but the food is always good to great, generally. It's on the same level of chain eateries, like Fridays or Ruby Tuesday or Chiles - maybe a bit better, maybe a bit worse, but I think it's a really good chain restaurant. While, for instance, Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex, also chain-level eateries, I would place considerably below Coral Reef, and say the food at those two can be anywhere from not good to pretty good - so they can be more mediocre. The atmosohere at Coral Reef always makes me feel good and the service is always impeccable and fast, too.

But these restaurants are desired spots to eat it nonetheless because of their great atmosphere and that's always a consideration for me, the fun level and immersive level they provide.

And yes, I ALWAYS wait more than 10 minutes, easily, despite my advance reservations, and sometime even a half hour. It is what it is. People tend to linger and take awhile looking at the fish, it's to be expected and unlike, Rainforest or T-Rex, there aren't that many tables, so that factors in as well, and it's in a much busier and popular spot than they are, as well.
 
Interesting on the wait times, I think the only time we ever waited was on our Honeymoon, but that was because they ended up making some custom printed menus with our names and such that took them a couple minutes longer than expected to make.
 
We were just there for lunch yesterday! Had a reservation for 11:40 and were seated right on time. Three of us had one of those curved booths on the first level with a great view of the aquarium. For the record, we've never had a bad meal here. We started with the shrimp cocktail which were excellent! DS and I had the shrimp and grits which were really really good, and my DH got the whole lobster which was quite a treat and also really good! Our server was very good, but admittedly there was a young man serving the tables near us that was fantastic, simply because he seemed to know EVERYTHING about the fish in the aquarium! Every time he talked to another table we all just sat quietly and listened in! :) It was a perfect lunch before having to head out to the airport soon after! We'll definitely be back.
 
We will be a party of 8 with 3 young kids. My last time here was 15 years ago. Are the only tables for large parties on the top row away from the tanks? I would skip it this time but my mom really wants to go; just don't know how interested my kids will be if we're far from the tanks.
 
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We've eaten there twice and thought it was great. Some of the reviews I've seen say the decor is really outdated, but I think it is just gorgeous in there. The lighting and such is designed to make you feel like you are underwater. We had a seat in the top row once and a seat right by the tanks once.

The entrees we had both times were great. The only somewhat negative we have had there were the deserts we ordered last time, they came out looking fantastic - they were very artistic, but just tasted okay.
 

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