Jiko was a HUGE disappointment!

[deno2]

Jiko has been on my bucket list for years and finally desided to give it a try. 3 nights ago I dined at Jiko with my daughter and best friend. We were disappointed from the beginning of our experience until the end. We arrived early for our reservation and still waited 30 minutes past our reservation time. Our waiter, Benjamin, was incredibly inattentive. We waited for everything from water to bread to wine to getting our bill. I am not the kind of person that ever sends food back but this meal would certainly have been the exception, (if Benjamin had ever come to the table to check on the satisfaction of our meals). All 3 of us ordered the filet with the Mac & Cheese. We had to swap steaks because none of us got the steak we were supposed to. The Mac & cheese was barely warm and the steak was even cooler. We finally ate because no one came near our table after our meals were delivered. Our total bill was $237.00 and it is honestly the worst money I have ever spent at Disney!! Won’t be giving Jiko a second chance.
We went to Citricos last night where the service was impeccable and the filet was pure perfection!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Was it overly busy? Such an off night for them.

 

[Jestocost]

Just goes to show how different experiences can be. Jiko has always been one of our favorites and we've been many times. We dined at Citricos only once and while the food was OK, our server was rude and condescending so that definitely put a damper on the evening and we haven't given Citricos a second chance.

 

[Hopefully]

Jiko has been on my bucket list for years and finally desided to give it a try. 3 nights ago I dined at Jiko with my daughter and best friend. We were disappointed from the beginning of our experience until the end. We arrived early for our reservation and still waited 30 minutes past our reservation time. Our waiter, Benjamin, was incredibly inattentive. We waited for everything from water to bread to wine to getting our bill. I am not the kind of person that ever sends food back but this meal would certainly have been the exception, (if Benjamin had ever come to the table to check on the satisfaction of our meals). All 3 of us ordered the filet with the Mac & Cheese. We had to swap steaks because none of us got the steak we were supposed to. The Mac & cheese was barely warm and the steak was even cooler. We finally ate because no one came near our table after our meals were delivered. Our total bill was $237.00 and it is honestly the worst money I have ever spent at Disney!! Won’t be giving Jiko a second chance.
We went to Citricos last night where the service was impeccable and the filet was pure perfection!

Your ADR time is not a reservation in the traditional sense. It is a place in line for the next table available for your party size. 20-30 minutes is not unheard of.
I would NEVER. Give a CM name on the Internet. Seems risky to me.
Sorry your meal was such a disappointment for you

 

[Super 27]

Wow, what a disappointment, sorry to hear that. Unfortunately I can't say I'm terribly surprised by the service issues; that's the reason we grudgingly gave up on Jiko a few years ago. Our food was always excellent though. Wonder if it was an off night or things are actually going downhill there. Hopefully it's the former...

 

[KelNChrisKYDis]

Sorry you were disappointed! That doesn't sound like a great experience at all. My husband & I ate there in October and it was our second best meal and dining experience behind California Grill Brunch. I had the same meal that you had, and it was phenomenal. Our service was impeccable, and my husband's meal was also perfect. Hopefully it was just an off night.

 

[AngiTN]

Hate to hear. DH and I ate there earlier this month and it was stellar. One of the top 5 meals we've ever had on property, service, food, all of it. DH was so impressed he wrote to the manager about our food and our server. And he NEVER, EVER comments on anything, good or bad. It was that good and our server was that impressive.

 

[bcrook]

It sure is beautiful in there. We have inconsistent service all over Disney. Jiko has been in that category several times. But we continue to view it as our favorite and return often. We have always enjoyed the food.

I’ll go to Citricos some day. We will try Narcoossees in June, I’m sure that will be good.

 

[gharter]

Sorry to hear you had a terrible experience. To date, that has not happened there, but has at other restaurants that we will not go back to. Unfortunately, every place can have an off night, and it sounds like you caught them on one.

 

[gharter]

It sure is beautiful in there. We have inconsistent service all over Disney. Jiko has been in that category several times. But we continue to view it as our favorite and return often. We have always enjoyed the food.

I’ll go to Citricos some day. We will try Narcoossees in June, I’m sure that will be good.

We've been to Citricos twice and will not be going back again. The food was nothing special, the service was fair, but not what we expected. There are many better choices where we choose to go. Good luck with Narcoossees. We've had one good meal and one fair meal. Some time we will go back for the tie breaker.

 

[GAN]

That’s definitely an atypical night at Jiko. I’ve been four times and it’s been excellent each time -with the service exceptional. I think every time the server built a friendly rapport with us, going out of their way to take care of us. Sorry to hear it was so bad it’s not worthy of a second chance. Citrico’s is excellent as well, but not my favorite-more of a personal choice.

Narcoossee’s I found to be a bit of a disappointment honestly...

 

[smiths02]

Sorry you were disappointed! That doesn't sound like a great experience at all. My husband & I ate there in October and it was our second best meal and dining experience behind California Grill Brunch. I had the same meal that you had, and it was phenomenal. Our service was impeccable, and my husband's meal was also perfect. Hopefully it was just an off night.

Honestly, I don't think the signature restaurants should be allowed an off night or even an okay night. Generally, I'm not even that picky of a person. I understand OPs feelings. We won't be back to Narcoossee's...everything was fine and service was adequate, but when I'm paying that kind of money for a meal, I would expect a a good to exceptional experience, not just adequate.
I just won't let signatures off the hook...they should always be really good to exceptional. At a restaurant of that level, I also expect to be checked on by the manager to make sure everything is okay. (Not to have to flag down managers or servers)

 

[bcrook]

Honestly, I don't think the signature restaurants should be allowed an off night or even an okay night. Generally, I'm not even that picky of a person. I understand OPs feelings. We won't be back to Narcoossee's...everything was fine and service was adequate, but when I'm paying that kind of money for a meal, I would expect a a good to exceptional experience, not just adequate.
I just won't let signatures off the hook...they should always be really good to exceptional. At a restaurant of that level, I also expect to be checked on by the manager to make sure everything is okay. (Not to have to flag down managers or servers)

This is so true.

 

[Dumbo7]

Jiko has been on my bucket list for years and finally desided to give it a try. 3 nights ago I dined at Jiko with my daughter and best friend. We were disappointed from the beginning of our experience until the end. We arrived early for our reservation and still waited 30 minutes past our reservation time. Our waiter, Benjamin, was incredibly inattentive. We waited for everything from water to bread to wine to getting our bill. I am not the kind of person that ever sends food back but this meal would certainly have been the exception, (if Benjamin had ever come to the table to check on the satisfaction of our meals). All 3 of us ordered the filet with the Mac & Cheese. We had to swap steaks because none of us got the steak we were supposed to. The Mac & cheese was barely warm and the steak was even cooler. We finally ate because no one came near our table after our meals were delivered. Our total bill was $237.00 and it is honestly the worst money I have ever spent at Disney!! Won’t be giving Jiko a second chance.
We went to Citricos last night where the service was impeccable and the filet was pure perfection!

We had the same experience for my daughter’s 21st birthday. We loved it the first time we went just my husband and I. The second time a huge disappointment.

 

[rwdavis2]

If your spending that type of money you should complain. On the spot. And I agree with a previous post that signature restaurants should never have an off night. You are already paying a premium just by eating on property. So there's no excuse for an off night.

 

[mystery222184]

Sorry to hear about your experience. We have had some off-nights at the signatures and it’s always very disappointing due to the high price point.

We tried Citricos years ago and it was simply OK. When we visited as part of the Monorail Event it was excellent.

Artist Point has always been a must do for us but this past visit was very disappointing. Menu has deteriorated and dishes lacked flavor.

Even Cali Grill dinner one year was dampened by awful service- only to be excellent going forward.

Luckily, a few signatures have always been great for us (Cali Grill Brunch & Ohana Dinner come to mind). Hopefully Disney fixes some of this inconsistency. Whether due to the Dining Plan, accepting too many reservations, or whatever else- it seems to be going in the wrong direction.

 

[bwang123]

Sounds like an off night. We have been 3 times and the waiters have always chatted us up and given full attention. Food has always been delicious as well.

 

[rwdavis2]

On a recent The Dis podcast it was predicted that this would be the last year of free dining. Reasoning that all the new attractions will not make it necessary to offer those types of discounts. They attribute the downhill slide of restaurants to free dining as WDW tries to make up for the lost income with limited menus and lesser ingredients.

With the prices paid at signature restaurants and even some quick service, you should never have a bad meal. Average is OK at some places but signatures should always be exceptional.

Again, if your paying signature prices and something is not correct, make it known immediately. How else can they ever fix it or even just improve? The restaurant critic in the Washington Post says to always make a problem known immediately. Most places will try to fix it and appreciate the feedback.

 

[Moms]

It's too bad that your first time was such a disappointment ... we've been to Jiko twice and the first was wonderful but the second not so much ... the food and the service were fine but I remember feeling that the meal did not live up to the more than $200 it cost ... that was for two!

We have had disappointing first time experiences at both Narcoosee's and Be Our Guest (dinner) and will not waste our time trying them again ... I guess first impressions are important!

 

[Shellyb84]

Sorry you had such a bad experience there! We had a lovely experience there. From all the reviews I've read it sounds like an off night for them.

We had good food but bad service on our first visit to Cali Grill. That was a few years ago and we've decided to finally give it a second chance on our next trip.