Thumbs down on Coral Reef

[bicker]

Glad to read so many good reviews of Coral Reef. It had been a favorite of ours for years, but we were waivering with respect to another visit next February. However, with Chefs de France allegedy leaving the Dining Plan (anyone have more information on that) our choices have been pretty substantially limited. It's nice to know that Coral Reef still offers a great fine dining experience for us.

 

[Lewisc]

I haven't heard anything about Chefs De France leaving the Dining Plan. I'd be slightly surprised. Chefs De France is a pretty easy reservation to get. I think they'd have trouble filling the restaurant without the Dining Plan customers.

I'm surprised Le Cellier doesn't try to do something. It was a hard reservation to get before the dining plan and is now next to impossible. Restaurants like Le Cellier and Chefs De France really need something like a 1.5 credit charge or the ability to charge guests an extra $5-$10. Disney gets ancillary benefits from on site guests. Disney has managed to make most of their better restaurants 2 credits. I think a fair compromise would be to allow those restaurants to offer a reasonable price fixed menu to Dining Customers. Based on previous posts I think I'm one of the few DISBOARD members who think that.

Bicker--My memory is someone posted the 2007 Dining Price from a UK brochure and it looks about the same as 2006.

Glad to read so many good reviews of Coral Reef. It had been a favorite of ours for years, but we were waivering with respect to another visit next February. However, with Chefs de France allegedy leaving the Dining Plan (anyone have more information on that) our choices have been pretty substantially limited. It's nice to know that Coral Reef still offers a great fine dining experience for us.

 

[WithFaith50]

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.

This was my experience as well...We will definitely be going back!

 

[Lewisc]

I don't know what time of day the OP was at Coral Reef, is it possible the waiter thought they were trying to eat quick enough to catch Illuminations? Is it possible the kids were so restless the waiter thought they wanted to get out fast. I know it's a reach but if CR was running out of some dessert items the waiter may have wanted to get the dessert order in before the items were sold.

In the early days of the dining plan some restaurants were running out of some desserts and appetizers.

I agree with the previous posters. Under normal circumstances the waiter was wrong.

 

[DCDisney]

Perhaps it depends on if you have small kids with you? We went in January and we did have 2 places out of 6 suggest that if we pre-ordered dessert there would be less of a wait between entree and dessert. It wasn't a you have to thing-- more of a maybe you'd perfer this. My kids are 6 and 8 and frankly we were glad to be able to do that. Typically we waited about 10 minutes for dessert rather than 20 when we preordered which was a huge difference for the kids. My kids are quite good in restaurants but that time waiting for dessert was always when they got antsy to move on.

I think offering to let you pre-order is great but requiring it isn't good at all....

Yvonne

 

[UtahMama]

Wanted to go to CR for my birthday on Sept. 13th coming up!!! I freakin NEVER had anyone treat us poorly because we were on the DDP! I wouldnt put up with it.Period. We've never been ones to listen to the masses of bad reports but it's my b-day dinner so it just has to be spectacular. Don't wanna chance it!
Any suggestions for my switch? Big family...Like FUN!

 

[mytwotinks]

I didn't know there was a premium dining plan. The earlier poster said that it had many more restaraunts to choose from. How could that be? Most every restaraunt is available with the basic dining plan?

I am really torn about our Sept. ADR at coral reef. That is one of the meals we are supposed to eat with my sister's family. Is it a good place for a party of 8 (4 kids & 4 adults).

 

[Sammie]

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.)

Basically they are also trying to make sure the DDP get their dessert since it is already paid for. Many places are running out. A friend that works resorts said her pastry chef has never made so many desserts since the DDP in years prior to it. Probably same with appetizers.

 

[Sammie]

"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?"

When we ate there twice this April/May, that was not an option. The server came to our table both times and the first thing both servers said was a greeting and are you on any dining plan? And both times they asked to see our card to see what type of plan we were on. This was the only place we were asked to actually produce our room cards so the server could see what "markings" it had on it before ordering.

It is also linked to your ADRs. They know before you arrive you are on the plan.

 

[Aimeedyan]

It is also linked to your ADRs. They know before you arrive you are on the plan.

Not necessarily. We did not tell them we were on the dining plan when we booked our ADRs and they are not linked to our hotel reservations. Course, if you did tell them that and they linked it all together they would see it but if you don't tell them, they don't know if you are just a regular Orlando resident visiting, someone staying offsite, or a Disney guest on the DDP.

 

[First timer]

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

We ate there recently (July 1st) and they seemed very strict with the rules but the CM definitiely did not insist that we order dessert before we even had our entree. Personally other than the fact that we were seated right by the aquarium I was not impressed with the food at all. The food was dry and tasteless. Choices were limited. I would not recommend and would not eat there again.

 

[TruBlu]

Choices were limited.

Limited how? We were allowed to order anything on the menu.

 

[n2mm]

It is also linked to your ADRs. They know before you arrive you are on the plan.

That's not true because we are never sure we are going to do the DDP when making our ressies, so we always tell dining CM no when asking if we're on the DDP. Since we are DVC we choose if we want to add the dining package. We make our ressies months earlier. We added the DDP one week before arriving.

 

[Nancyg56]

I didn't know there was a premium dining plan. The earlier poster said that it had many more restaraunts to choose from. How could that be? Most every restaraunt is available with the basic dining plan?

I am really torn about our Sept. ADR at coral reef. That is one of the meals we are supposed to eat with my sister's family. Is it a good place for a party of 8 (4 kids & 4 adults).

There is a plan that allows you to eat without counting credits, three times a day. It is pricy because there are other benefits included such as shows nd golf, etc. I would love the plan if it did not encompass the rest because at this stage we simply cannot go on all of the tours, and use all of the facilities allowed.

We are going to the CR in January. I saw all of the negative reviews, but also saw that there were plenty of positive responses. Every experience is individual and if we don't like it, well it is just a meal. If you decide to go please post a review, I read them all.

 

[First timer]

Limited how? We were allowed to order anything on the menu.

We were asked when we arrived to our table whether or not we were on the DP. The waiter then brought us a special menu he said was for those on the dining plan.

 

[Lewisc]

We were asked when we arrived to our table whether or not we were on the DP. The waiter then brought us a special menu he said was for those on the dining plan.

What restaurant? Teppanyaki is the only restaurant that has significant restrictions.

 

[JoiseyMom]

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.

We were on the DDP last August, and never once we were asked to order everything up front. We also dined at Concourse, and loved it. Our server was wonderful, and let the kids order the glowing cube drinks. We were asked what we wanted for dessert, after we finished eating our entrees.
We are going back this August and if at any point I am asked to order dessert as I order my appetizers and entrees I will very politely decline. If need be I will speak to the manager, and I will definitely bring it up to a higher level if need be.