California Grill in two weeks! Should I cancel?

mickeyhereicome

Mouseketeer
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
We have California Grill booked in two weeks and I am not sure if I should keep it. I have read some reviews about poor service and the food being just ok. We have another reservation booked for January. I was thinking of waiting so staff and chefs can figure it out. Thoughts? Recent visits that have been impressive?
 
CG has been open now for a month or so. They should have figured things out by now. I'd keep it.
 
I too struggled with this question. We have eaten there every trip since 2008 and have never ever regretted the cost or had a bad meal or service. So I kept my reservation for last week. Unfortunately, I wish I had not. Let me start by saying that it is absolutely beautiful and the views were breathtaking. That's the good.

The food was mediocre and not up to the the old standard. I have always gotten the pork which has never disappointed. This time it was dry and flavorless and the polenta was cold and had that heat lamp film on the top - if you know what i am trying to say. WHile very tasty, the pork belly that accompanied it was literally a 1x1 inch cube. Very tiny portions.

I had my DD21 and her BFF21 with us. They both ordered the steak as she has loved it in the past. They subbed mashed potatoes for the risotto and the waitress was less than kind about it. WHile the one steak was very nicely done, my DD's was so chargrilled on the one side as to leave black flakes on her plate. I would have gladly sent it back but the waitress was MIA most of the time. we were seated in the wine room which has 2 wait staff that take care of the room together. Both were very hard to find.

We did not find anything on the dessert menu to try and we have never had that problem before.
All in all, what is usually my favorite meal of the trip was probably my least favorite. The value and the food were subpar and the service was non existent. Wish I had that $200 back.
 
We have California Grill booked in two weeks and I am not sure if I should keep it. I have read some reviews about poor service and the food being just ok. We have another reservation booked for January. I was thinking of waiting so staff and chefs can figure it out. Thoughts? Recent visits that have been impressive?

NOOOO GOOO trust me it is fantastic!!! The Sushi is as good as ever and the Filet is out of this world! I had arguably the best meal I have ever had at California Grill on my trip in September I cannot recommend it enough :cool1:
 


We have California Grill booked in two weeks and I am not sure if I should keep it. I have read some reviews about poor service and the food being just ok. We have another reservation booked for January. I was thinking of waiting so staff and chefs can figure it out. Thoughts? Recent visits that have been impressive?

If you've been there before and enjoyed it, I think you'll probably still enjoy it. I don't think the problems people have reported recently are new; my experiences at the previous incarnation had a noticeably higher proportion of kitchen/service faults than at other places at WDW.
 
Oh keep it!!! We were there for the first time two weeks ago. Plan was to stop in for a drink around 6:00 and then head out. well....

I was stunned by the number of wonderful wines available by the glass and the view from the lounge! So pretty. The sun started setting so we ordered apps and more wine.

The meatball app was so wonderful we decided to try dinner. We split the short rib - portion was actually quite big. We had a few apps already and wanted desert so it was enough. The short ribs were amazing - can't wait to go back and have one all to my self.

We got more wine, desert coffees, desert and regularcoffee. What a wonderful meal, excellent service, and beautiful atmosphere. I do not know what was more amazing: The view of the sunset or the fireworks.

We were three for three hours eating and drinking the whole time in the lounge. It never got really crowded....at almost all times there were seats at the bar and a few tables available. Did not get crazy at fireworks time either. Very enjoyable experience. I would go back in a heartbeat.
 
We ate there twice in mid October. The view is still lovely and the new decor is well done. We felt that the food temps were way off and the quality of the food is not quite what it used to be. Still good but not great. We put it down to the increase in size and number of tables in the renovated restaurant. We didn't feel there were enough runners to bring our food out in a timely manner.

We'll be back for the great view but there is better food elsewhere in our opinion.
 


DH and I were in town and ate there Saturday night. This used to be my favorite. There was a 7 day trip a couple years ago we went 2x it was so good.
We were very disappointed this trip.

Service- was horrible... I am a patient person but this was awful. It took 15 minutes after being seated to see our waiter. He took our drink orders and came back with the drinks and took our food orders. About 20 minutes later our appetizers came . We told our waiter we intended to order wine for dinner and asked him for a wine list to be brought out again. We ate our appetizers and then sat there with no wine list, empty plates and empty water glasses for 30 minutes. We tried to flag him down several times. He had three other tables ( a 6 top, a 3 top and another 2 top) each of those tables he was at several times. Finally I asked the waitress at a nearby table if I could see a manager. She asked what was wrong and I said I would like a manager as we had been sitting there for 30 minutes with empty plates, drinks and water glasses. Our food came at that moment( not our waiter) and the guy delivering the food asked the waitress why our dirty app plates were still there. The manager never did come even though we asked a total of 4 times for one

Food- the reason we stayed and did not walk out is usually the food is amazing.
App-
Tomato Flatbread- was missing the balsamic glaze on top- tried to wait and tell waiter but as I mentioned he never checked on us and we were hungry.

Farm Fresh salad- was suppose to have a poached egg on it but it was definitely not poached, it was a solid yellow lump in the middle.

Tuna 4 ways
I asked for there to be no wasabi on the the plate and there was wasabi everywhere. I could not eat it. Waiter did nothing, even though I told him I did not want wasabi. He told me after I received it that it had to have wasabi :confused3:confused3 really they had to put wasabi on top:confused3

Pork 2 ways- DH used to love the pork here. He liked the polenta and pork belly but the pork tenderloin was very overdone

I finally got a manager and explained to him everything. He brought the bill and had comped 1 glass of wine, that's it. I did not eat my tuna, DH only ate half his entree. No service for 30 minutes. Manager did not come after 4 requests and comps us a glass of wine. We spent $160 on a subpar meal with horrible service.

I normally do not complain at restaurants. I have done lots of live reviews and you will see I am not a complainer, but we will not be back
 
i am thinking of cancelling this ADR for Dec....all these bad reviews ...i was so happy to snag a reservation too...
Makes me think i will just go to Flying Fish or Yachtsman....or what the heck...Boardwalk Bakery!!
 
Interestingly we ate at Flying Fish 2x. My Dh was not really a fan but we ate there one night at the bar on a whim and it was absolutely fantastic.... so good we went back the next night
 
GO!!! My sister and I ate there on 11/1 and it was FANTASTIC!!! We had the combination sushi to start and it was out of this world. For our entrees we had the Pork Two Ways and the Bell and Evan's Chicken--both outstanding. Our server, Dale was very attentive and explained everything perfectly.
This was our first visit to CG and it is now on our must do list for all future trips.
ENJOY!!!
 
We ate there on 11/10 and it was also fantastic!!!!! Jason was an awesome server, the food was great!!! Watching wishes was wonderful :)
 

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