What's up with O'hana?

[TiggerTrigger]

Agreed with others that consistecy is a big issue ... and it's not just 'Ohana. We're talking about writing off all table service meals in general for future trips because of it. I know restaurants can have a bad day, but I'm less likely to forgive when it's my vacation. We've done all of the character meals, most multiple times, and Crystal Palace breakfast is the only one that's never totally let us down...but how long will that last?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You may want to consider Cape May Cafe for a character breakfast. It is our tradition to always go there (Beach Club) for breakfast every time we visit.

I think this is a good point. Other than drink refills and the timing of the characters visiting your table, at least you can get your own food and aren't at the mercy of a harried wait staff!

 

[glencoe]

I think this is a good point. Other than drink refills and the timing of the characters visiting your table, at least you can get your own food and aren't at the mercy of a harried wait staff!

I do have to point out the morning we went was casual, not crazy and there seemed to be plenty of staff. Our server did not seem overly busy and was not rushing from table to table...Normally if I see a server struggling I cut some slack and understand it is over their head...this situation...and the last one...not the problem. Oh well! I will take a break and try something new. It will be hard, we love lilo and stitch. I will probably buckle and go back again this August!!!

 

[ToffPrincess]

Last time we went we were having a good run with Ohana as a character meal until our 3rd or 4th visit where EVERYTHING went wrong. Huge queue to enter, huge queue for Stitch. Stitch made DS cry by pulling his hood over his head over and over again so you couldnt even see his face in almost all the photos. Rude server. Late characters. Mickey was so agressive he grabbed DS like a doll, spun him around and gestured for me to take a photo and then pushed him back at me. He then pratically threw DSs chair out of his path. If it wasnt Disney and if there weren’t children around I would have punched him. It was THAT BAD. DS never says a word but he actully said to me that his arm hurt.

Because of that experience I have so far booked it ONCE for our up and coming 17 day trip and im willing to let it go for a better reservation.

 

[mlayman7]

We went for the first time this past December and some issues but thought the positives outweighed the negatives. The biggest negative was waiting at least 30 minutes past our reservation time. We had an 830 reservation an hour after they opened and they were already that far behind. The meal and character interactions were great, our 3 kids had a good time, they kept making the waiter bring more mickey waffles they enjoyed them so much. You could tell though they didn't have enough servers helping the tables because they were running around ragged.
We won't go back because of the added wait to get in and will head back to our favorite character breakfast location, the Crystal Palace next December. This May we will be at the Beach Club villas and are going to give Cape May are go.

 

[DisBuckMan]

There is ZERO excuse for inconsistency at 'Ohana. Their menu is sooooo limited, how do you screw that up? They somehow manage to, though.

We've been done with them for a couple of years.

 

[Cinderella94]

Last time we went we were having a good run with Ohana as a character meal until our 3rd or 4th visit where EVERYTHING went wrong. Huge queue to enter, huge queue for Stitch. Stitch made DS cry by pulling his hood over his head over and over again so you couldnt even see his face in almost all the photos. Rude server. Late characters. Mickey was so agressive he grabbed DS like a doll, spun him around and gestured for me to take a photo and then pushed him back at me. He then pratically threw DSs chair out of his path. If it wasnt Disney and if there weren’t children around I would have punched him. It was THAT BAD. DS never says a word but he actully said to me that his arm hurt.

Because of that experience I have so far booked it ONCE for our up and coming 17 day trip and im willing to let it go for a better reservation.

Did you say something to their handlers or a manager? It sounds like those people need more training or reprimanding.

 

[Vicki E.]

For us it was the worst meal and service. Waited around forever for food and most of the food was overcooked. We managed to convince our very picky friend to try shrimp...it was rubbery and she has yet to try shrimp ever again. The waitress was never easy to find and it seemed like a slow night so I have no idea what the problem was.

However, I do understand that most people I talk to have the best meal and top service so I'm going to chalk it up to inconsistency. Same with BOG. I love it, others hate it. Anyway, it was bad enough we won't go back. A CM did tell us we may be better off at Kona Cafe.

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

The next time we saw our server (again, imaginary friend was not there and was obviously not showing up), she plopped about 3 lbs. of meat on each of our plates without asking what we wanted or how much. She then came around again and even when I said no to the meat, she put more on my plate. It was gross.

This would put me over the edge. We have someone in our party that is severely allergic to shellfish and if they just dropped that on her plate I would have thrown a fit in the middle of the restaurant. I've eaten there once before a few years ago and we had a good experience. I was going to book it again but now I'm not so sure after reading this thread.

 

[KenHutch]

While Ohana's is my families favorite restaurant for service like that I would have no issue whatsoever is calling another server over asking for the manager and asking for you servers name and tell him you need it since he hasn't bothered to talk to you yet about anything. Another poster here reminded me of an important lesson while we were debating Artist Point. Many times it is not inconsistent food but inconsistent servers that colors our opinions of some of these places.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

We just ate at Ohana two weeks ago (once for breakfast and once for dinner). I thought both meals were very good and I would go back for either. Breakfast server was very quick and food came out right away and the characters were timed out well. I got mimosas and they came out very quickly as well. Dinner we waited a little bit longer for the salad and noodles to come out but once it started coming the meats were right behind it. They are just so busy and I didn’t feel like we waited an extraordinary amount of time so I didn’t even tbink about it really. Margaritas came right away.
There was one gentleman working in our seating area who was very attentive - he wasn’t a server but was making sure we were good the whole time.
For how crowded they are and how they serve I think they did a good job.
I’ve been to Fogo de Chao and it was a very long meal. Plus with a place like that you’re up getting your own salad bar- at Ohana they bring you even the starters. I wouldn’t expect it to be a fast dinner.

 

[glencoe]

This would put me over the edge. We have someone in our party that is severely allergic to shellfish and if they just dropped that on her plate I would have thrown a fit in the middle of the restaurant. I've eaten there once before a few years ago and we had a good experience. I was going to book it again but now I'm not so sure after reading this thread.

I have to say when my Celiac son is with us the chef always comes out and discusses the food options and what they can make. Then that food comes out seperately. If you chose to try it again I think your friend would be safe. They take allergies/autoimmune food diseases very seriously!! This is why we have always put O'hana at the top of our list at WDW in the past. Better than almost all of the other places we have eaten-ever, even here in metropolitan NYC. So the last two times being there with such poor service has been disappointing.

 

[Skippyboo]

We just ate at Ohana two weeks ago (once for breakfast and once for dinner). I thought both meals were very good and I would go back for either. Breakfast server was very quick and food came out right away and the characters were timed out well. I got mimosas and they came out very quickly as well. Dinner we waited a little bit longer for the salad and noodles to come out but once it started coming the meats were right behind it. They are just so busy and I didn’t feel like we waited an extraordinary amount of time so I didn’t even tbink about it really. Margaritas came right away.
There was one gentleman working in our seating area who was very attentive - he wasn’t a server but was making sure we were good the whole time.
For how crowded they are and how they serve I think they did a good job.
I’ve been to Fogo de Chao and it was a very long meal. Plus with a place like that you’re up getting your own salad bar- at Ohana they bring you even the starters. I wouldn’t expect it to be a fast dinner.

I have been to Fogo multiple times. I have my first time booked for Ohana in April. At Fogo, the person filling your drinks, swapping your plates isn’t the same person bring the various meats around the restaurant. However, it seems that is the situation at Ohana?

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I'm wondering if it's they Poly restaurants in general. Has management changed?

'Ohana last March was fabulous but Kona in December was nuts.

An hour past our ADR to be seated and there were, no joke, 3 places that could have seated our party of six but no one bused those tables for that hour.

I was in shock standing outside by the podium seeing those tables sit there piled high with dirty dishes for an hour.

I will say Captain Cooke's that night was awesome. Yes, basic food but it was delivered to our table outside within 5 minutes of ordering.

 

[Summer2018]

We have only been for breakfast, and every single time was awesome. We had plenty of food, attentive waitstaff, and friendly and efficient character interactions. DD even got an unexpected celebration cupcake.

We had a bad experience many years ago at the Luau. Our waiter was incredibly inattentive and rude. There was a problem with DD's meal, and he never corrected it nor did he return to our table. Luckily DD was young at the time and ate off of my plate. After our experience there, we never returned.

We've never been able to secure a dinner reservation, and have eaten at Kona instead in the past. Fortunately we got a dinner reservation to 'Ohana this time around which makes us very happy since we will be staying at the Polynesian this time. I hope it will be a good night for the restaurant and us. We shall see.

 

[MiracleCream]

can I ask if the timing of the ADR makes a difference with the good or bad experiences? I like to do an early ADR, expecting the waiting staff to be “fresh” and not run down so they are less likely to be exhausted.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

can I ask if the timing of the ADR makes a difference with the good or bad experiences? I like to do an early ADR, expecting the waiting staff to be “fresh” and not run down so they are less likely to be exhausted.

My March ADR was for 1045AM and great service.

Our December at Kona was 150PM and just awful.

 

[glencoe]

Nov. ADR was 10:45am (Sunday), Feb ADR was 9:15am (Friday) both recent experiences service was poor.

 

[Momof2Singers]

Our last visit was August 2016, my family was so excited to go for the first time. I think my husband was ready to get up before it started. We waited and waited, while others tables were being served. Finally got the skewers of meat first, thought that was odd, but never been there so was not sure of how it worked. They were totally crispy. It took 10 minutes to see our server. The whole meal went this way, my then 16 year old gave up, said she was starving, we went to a manager and he brought her a large plate of chicken nuggets and fries and she was relatively happy. He did get our server on the ball, and bring fresh food, but he never acted like he enjoyed his job. So, I had built this up for months, this was our last night, my girls were dressed in their lilo and stitch dresses (16 and 20) and it was hard paying that large bill for what we had experienced. We still left a tip, but it was not what we normally leave. The bright spot was after dinner, touring the resort, gift shops, taking lots of photos and trying not to think about how disappointing it was. There was another bright spot if you call it that (my husband was not happy), the ukulele lady came and sat on his lap through a complete song and gave him a lei. It was really funny actually. He was in such distress, we all got a good laugh at least. That being said, I had cancelled the ADR I had on our trip in 2014 in favor of another restaurant on our list, and although it was not what we had hoped, we at least experienced the place, but will never go back. Too many other choices.

NOTE: We were there for Breakfast when my daughter was 3, it was Mickey and Friends at that time and it was wonderful.

 

[bluejasmine]

In all our trips to Ohana we only had an issue once but our waitress was on something it was horrible, they actually ended up comping our meal, other than that we never had any issues with service, once the meats were really dry so it must have been an off night