Thumbs down on Coral Reef

[pharmom5]

We thought Coral Reef definitely treated us differently because we had DDP. First of all, we had an extra kid's meal credit because my son had slept through OHana's, so for Coral Reef we wanted to let my 11 year old daughter get a kid's meal, which she wanted anyway, a kid's meal for our 4 year old, and let my daughter's boyfriend have the adult meal. In other words, our card said 6 adults, 1 child, we wanted to do 6 adults, 2 children - not cheating the system, just using our meals at a different time. Waitress insisted we had to do just as our card said - 6 adults, 1 child. She did let us pay for 1 kid's meal, but I didn't think this was how it was done - what if we had split up for dinner?
Other issue I thought was terrible here was that because we were on the DDP, she made us order appetizer, entree and DESSERT all at the same time at the beginning of the meal. She had it on some special order form, and when we asked if we could wait to order dessert until after dinner, she said no!! Hard to know what dessert you'll want before you've had a bite to eat. I doubt they make you order dessert ahead if you're paying. So we'll never go to Coral Reef again - all the food was just okay. Go to Le Cellier twice instead - that was the best!
Laurie, DH David, DD 19, DD 16, DS 14, DD 11, DS 4

 

[cmwade77]

We thought Coral Reef definitely treated us differently because we had DDP. First of all, we had an extra kid's meal credit because my son had slept through OHana's, so for Coral Reef we wanted to let my 11 year old daughter get a kid's meal, which she wanted anyway, a kid's meal for our 4 year old, and let my daughter's boyfriend have the adult meal. In other words, our card said 6 adults, 1 child, we wanted to do 6 adults, 2 children - not cheating the system, just using our meals at a different time. Waitress insisted we had to do just as our card said - 6 adults, 1 child. She did let us pay for 1 kid's meal, but I didn't think this was how it was done - what if we had split up for dinner?
Other issue I thought was terrible here was that because we were on the DDP, she made us order appetizer, entree and DESSERT all at the same time at the beginning of the meal. She had it on some special order form, and when we asked if we could wait to order dessert until after dinner, she said no!! Hard to know what dessert you'll want before you've had a bite to eat. I doubt they make you order dessert ahead if you're paying. So we'll never go to Coral Reef again - all the food was just okay. Go to Le Cellier twice instead - that was the best!
Laurie, DH David, DD 19, DD 16, DS 14, DD 11, DS 4

I would ahve asked to speak with the manager at that point, not allowing two kids I could kind of understand, but requiring that you order you desert at once is wrong, bottom line is I want to decide while eating my meal and I would tell the waitress so as well. We are planning on eating at Coral Reef, I hope we get a better experience than that.

 

[HayGan]

I agree that I would defiantly have asked to speak to the manager. Sounds like you had a new and/or uninformed CM.

We are planning on eating at Coral Reef in December (the kids will love the aquarium wall) and I hope that we have a better experience.

 

[OKWMom]

Deleted

 

[jultomzach]

I had the same experience at the Concourse two weeks ago, the waitress "made" us order our dessert when we ordered our entrees. I did not enjoy it either. I used to wait tables and found this to be awkward. I think it is not necessarily manager policy but a reflection that their tip is not influenced by the quality of the service (servers automatically receive an 18% tip with DDP). In hindsight, I would probably comment to the manager about the policy, not necessarily a complaint but more of an inquiry if it is actually manager's policy. The DDP should have comment cards available after each meal for patrons to give feedback.

 

[PA DISNEYLOVER]

We ate the Whispering Canyon Cafe last week and had to order everything at once also. That was the only place that had us do it like that

 

[n2mm]

Yes, same thing at Coral Reef too! We ate there twice in late April and both servers made us order all of our food at one time. We thought it strange that we were ordering desert while ordering appetizers, but went with the flow. The server actually told us that it takes a long time to get the deserts "made" so it helps to have your order in early....whatever.

We were also made to order this way at Concourse steakhouse last September 2005....however, we ate there this past April and did not have to do it this way.

BTW: To the OP....we too had a situation with our adult TS credits and using up some extra adult TS credits for other adults and it caused us some hassle too. We too have crossed Coral Reef off our list. While the food was good (not great), we found the whole experience not relaxing nor pleasant, and somewhat chaotic.

 

[bicker]

pharmom5; I'm sorry you had such a tough time. I'd blame all the other guests, who have been, as you said, "cheating the system." It is really sad that we all have to suffer with more stringent enforcement of things because a few other guests choose to go beyond what regular folks would consider appropriate.

Again, sorry for your difficulty. I'm confident that the rest of your visit more than made up for that unpleasantness.

 

[bicker]

but a reflection that their tip is not influenced by the quality of the service (servers automatically receive an 18% tip with DDP).

That's a good point. I think it is as good of a reason, of any, to keep the current system in this country, whereby gratuities are the primary means of compensating restaurant servers.

 

[bicker]

The server actually told us that it takes a long time to get the deserts "made"

To be fair, the desserts at Coral Reef are works of art, and do take a good amount of time to prepare. Given how busy the restaurants are, that could be a very key reason why they're having folks order desserts in advance. I'm sure many folks prefer being able to eat at the restaurants they'd like to, rather than facing a greater risk of them being "full" for the evening because they need to allocate a substantial amount of additional time with guests sitting at the table, just for dessert preparation. (I suspect a good number of guests also appreciate being saved from having to wait that long for their dessert to be served.)

 

[sleepydog25]

We thought Coral Reef definitely treated us differently because we had DDP. . .Other issue I thought was terrible here was that because we were on the DDP, she made us order appetizer, entree and DESSERT all at the same time at the beginning of the meal.

Precisely why we'll never use DDP.

 

[beth_cam]

To be fair, the desserts at Coral Reef are works of art, and do take a good amount of time to prepare. Given how busy the restaurants are, that could be a very key reason why they're having folks order desserts in advance. I'm sure many folks prefer being able to eat at the restaurants they'd like to, rather than facing a greater risk of them being "full" for the evening because they need to allocate a substantial amount of additional time with guests sitting at the table, just for dessert preparation. (I suspect a good number of guests also appreciate being saved from having to wait that long for their dessert to be served.)

Yes but....
I believe something like this was brought up about shula's and very negatively. I'm sure I probably was asked to order desert at the beginning of the meal almost everytime at Disney I never had a second thought about it, it just didnt occur to me that it was a big deal. We usually can pick out what we will want since we are pretty picky and sharing means we have to get something we can agree on. I almost never order desert at restaurants but if I know I will want something I usually order it at the beginning so I dont have to wait for it esp with 2 kids waiting. Anyway My point was that the waitress could ask for the order in a better way...something like "we suggest ordering your desert now since they can take a while to prepare" and hope that the peson goes ahead and does it.

I can tell you that I have almost never ordered a desert when I thought I'd like one but waited til the end of the meal. I am too full then. I could be a ploy to make sure you order everything so that they get their tip. Honestly when we ate at one of the restaurants we ordered only one desert last year because we were asked after dinner what we wanted and we were too full and they didnt have anything portable through the evening at the park.

 

[DisneyGerry]

We also have reservations under DDP for Coral Reef in August.

Is this a Disney restaurant or run by a sub-contractor? I think Mexico and China are run by sub-contractors as well.

I know Coral Reef had been a 2 Table Service meal and they just reduced it to 1 TS.

Gerry

 

[tinkamom]

Yes but....


I can tell you that I have almost never ordered a desert when I thought I'd like one but waited til the end of the meal. I am too full then. I could be a ploy to make sure you order everything so that they get their tip.

That is exactly what I was thinking. I bet a lot of people decline desserts because they are too full and then the tip will be smaller! BYW, it really wasn't a big deal to order all at once since we all pretty much knew what we wanted already after studing the menus at allears!

 

[bluejasmine]

I would have defanitely asked for the manager! I believe ordering your whole meal at once is ridiculous and this woman would have heard a earful from me and then I would have asked for her manager! I get the feeling that making you order your dessert like that is a ploy to get a bigger tip and by having you order everything at once they dont have to come around to the table as much which IMHO means your getting less service from the waitress/waiter. My family will not put up with this kind of treatment so if I may borrow some of Mr Ts famous words I pity the fool who tries this with my family because my family is never afraid to speak their mind and follow thru wit it..lol

 

[mlwear]

I never thought about ensuring the bill would be large. Less service is what I considered and experienced August 2005 at Concourse. And a major rush to get us out of there so they could get more in. I want to enjoy my dinner.
I won't order at beginning of meal. How about a "I'm not sure that I'll have dessert this evening" and then after dinner or near the end you decide that you do. I don't think the server can tell you that you can't.

On the other end of the spectrum, last year at Kona cafe we weren't asked to order until after and didn't want anything. We were way too full. The server was very nice and suggested that we get cheesecake that could be easily boxed up and taken back to our room for our later. Yes, she still got a larger tip. Smart lady. If we had ordered at the beginning maybe we wouldn't have ordered cheesecake. It was a great compromise.

The ONLY place I have been that has asked for a dessert order at the beginning of the meal wasn't at Disney but at Morton's steakhouse and I think that is because it needed to thaw.

 

[carone0318]

I probably would have said that I understand that you want us to order our desserts at the beginning of the meal because it is reflective in your tip, but I don't know it I will want a dessert and if you are insistent on me placing my dessert order now, then there will be no dessert ordered at all and that will definitely affect your 18% tip. I would proceed to say that if we want a dessert after our meal I'm sure you will accomodate me because your tip will increase.

Talk their language and they seem to understand - that's my plan come August!

 

[spookyuki]

We are going there next week.
I already know that I want Chocolate wave. But.. Did you feel rushed in any ways?
Did they bring out the dessert before finishing the entre?

 

[welovedis]

We just returned from WDW, dined at Coral Reef on Friday (6/30) and it was one of the best meals of the trip. We were asked if we were on the DDP but that was the end of the discussion, except to ask if we needed any clarification of what we could order. We weren't told that we needed to order dessert at the beginning of the meal, neither were the tables around us as we talked with a few people about the DDP in between courses.

We were more than pleased with the DDP and will be using it again for our Dec trip.

OP--sorry you didn't have a great experience.

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

Assuming you didn't have questions about how you could use the DDP, what would happen if you didn't tell them you were on it until it was time to pay?