What's up with O'hana?

[glencoe]

It has been a family tradition to eat our first breakfast at O'hana....maybe not anymore.

I am big into second chances, and this was the second chance meal before I made a switch.

Back in November we went to our usual breakfast. Our server was slow and non existant. With family style meals that need attention/replenishment this really can be a problem. The characters were fine even with the removal of Stitch to the outside greet, the others came to our table through the meal and were fine. Plus my family was not happy with the removal of bacon and adding of ham.

So back 4 days ago (Feb trip). We were sat promptly, and then waited, waited, waited. We had bread on the table but no drink/coffee order or fruit to be had for awhile. Finally the CM server came and took drink order, no fruit or POG juice. Waited, waited...finally pog juice and coffee and my soda, no straw he said he would come back (not that I cared about the straw really).

The fruit showed up on a small plate (we were three adults) the table next to us with an adult and kid got the usual sized fruit plate? Then we waited again. Meanwhile with all of this waiting no characters.

The food came, three people three waffles? Plus only one mickey head waffle which are better than the flat disc ones. So we requested a couple more mickey head waffles and bacon before he left considering his speed in service. The table with parent/child got a full platter....same server so I guess he besides being slow didn't really pay attention to his table guests.

All eggs gone, waffles gone, coffee gone, juice gone....no CM. I guess you get the idea how this meal went!

We gave up and asked for our bill, paid our bill - still no characters. Normally by now the CM asks if you got to see all of the characters, but our clueless fellow didn't seem to care. Then Lilo and Stitch came, quick visit on top of each other...and that was it. Pluto was outside which I do character breakfasts to avoid waiting in character lines, no go for that.

So there you have it...O'hana needs to step up. Two times 3 months apart, similar experiences. We will find a new tradition for a bit and hope they get back to their usual. We were there in June and it was fine!

 

[Nancyg56]

'Ohana is suffering from it's own success, IMO. I must say that my family has alwasy enjoyed breakfast and have had no issues, regarding service or quality of food. Our last dinner there was nto the case, and in fact was so horrific that we have not gone back. This was a family favorite and one tha we always made sure to enjoy every trip, but the last trip ended that.

I believe that the overall experience has alwyas been a little inconsistant, but given that it is the most difficult ADR to secure, with teh exception if BOG, with guests in line from open to close, I think the staff sometimes has difficulty navigating. DIsney restaurants on the monorail line are usually used for more than dining, They are respites for weary guests, places to kill time fo those who do nto want to traverse back to the resort before heading to a park, and gathering spots for families at teh end of the day. Pretty hard for management to truly time turnover for a percentage of the guests.

 

[Lorelai]

If you are considering a non-character switch, and still want to eat in the Polynesian, I highly recommend the Kona Cafe. I dream of the Tonga Toast between visits!! They really have a fantastic breakfast menu, and you can still enjoy the Polynesian theming.

 

[Micca]

Let's cut to the chase: Some people here have never had a bad meal at 'Ohana and go there every trip, sometimes more than once. Others here are appalled at the service and quality of food served. This leads me to conclude the following: 'Ohana is either the most inconsistent restaurant on earth, or someone here is makin' stuff up!

 

[North of Mouse]

Let's cut to the chase: Some people here have never had a bad meal at 'Ohana and go there every trip, sometimes more than once. Others here are appalled at the service and quality of food served. This leads me to conclude the following: 'Ohana is either the most inconsistent restaurant on earth, or someone here is makin' stuff up!

Sometimes I wonder!! We are in the camp of never having any food or service issues. We have gone every trip (sometimes twice) for many years - love that place!! Will go again in April - maybe twice - have 2 (dinner) ressies.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Instead of suffering through such poor service, I'd have spoken to a manager - either by requesting said presence from another server, or going back to the host station.

 

[Aela]

We have had AYCTE restaurants deliver our requested food to another table, it happens a lot. If your guy was just handing the first table basically whatever was in his left hand, he likely made mistakes.

Last time we were at Akershus, a table asked for extra bacon, the server asked if they wanted any eggs too, and they said just the bacon. He went to hand out the food and gave them the standard plate. They gave the plate of bacon to the next table, and they looked super confused.

 

[Elizabeth Burnett]

Let's cut to the chase: Some people here have never had a bad meal at 'Ohana and go there every trip, sometimes more than once. Others here are appalled at the service and quality of food served. This leads me to conclude the following: 'Ohana is either the most inconsistent restaurant on earth, or someone here is makin' stuff up!

I think that a lot of it probably boils down to different expectations and preferences for each guest. One person's worst meal ever is someone else's okayest meal ever.

 

[pickers1982]

i ve had some awful meals at places others rave (worst experience and food i ve ever had at narcoosee)about and vice versa. i think there is unfortunately always pot luck

 

[Minniesgal]

Let's cut to the chase: Some people here have never had a bad meal at 'Ohana and go there every trip, sometimes more than once. Others here are appalled at the service and quality of food served. This leads me to conclude the following: 'Ohana is either the most inconsistent restaurant on earth, or someone here is makin' stuff up!

Our experience is we went once and had a fantastic meal and the second time it was awful so in my opinion it is very very inconsistent.

 

[oceanmarina]

We had the same problem with being seated 30 minutes past our ressie time (despite checking in 15 min. early) and very slow service on our last 2 visits. I spoke to a manager about it when we left. Also after the parade Pluto skipped our table, I told to the CM who was handling him and she didn't seem to care. That's why we haven't been back there in a while.

 

[jrmasm]

Sometimes I wonder!! We are in the camp of never having any food or service issues. We have gone every trip (sometimes twice) for many years - love that place!! Will go again in April - maybe twice - have 2 (dinner) ressies.

I've been twice. Both were terrible.

 

[glencoe]

Let's cut to the chase: Some people here have never had a bad meal at 'Ohana and go there every trip, sometimes more than once. Others here are appalled at the service and quality of food served. This leads me to conclude the following: 'Ohana is either the most inconsistent restaurant on earth, or someone here is makin' stuff up!

I would go with inconsistent, however we never had a problem in the last 12 years of going there until the last two times. We have a GF/Celiac son and this has always been the best meal in the past for him and for us, both food quality and service and most of all safety for him. Our food was fine, just the service and this was consistent the last two times (Nov. 17 and Feb 18). This leads me to believe possible management change or something along those lines? We did speak with a manager on the way out, they noted our concerns.
A popular restaurant like this I am sure has its ups and downs which is why I always go back to places and not cut them off on the first miss-step. However, two in a row, different crowd times, different ressie times can be concerning when similar experiences occur.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Sounds almost exactly like the O'hana dinner we had back in December. Small app portion when tables with the same amount of people were getting bigger portions, non-existent service, absent server, etc. We've eaten here many times throughout the years and we had never experienced this before. Not planning on going back any time soon!

 

[North of Mouse]

Sounds almost exactly like the O'hana dinner we had back in December. Small app portion when tables with the same amount of people were getting bigger portions, non-existent service, absent server, etc. We've eaten here many times throughout the years and we had never experienced this before. Not planning on going back any time soon!

Not sure what you are referring to as the small app portion as this is served family style and most of the dishes arrive about the same time. The bread and salad usually come first (not actually an app) with other dishes following very closely.

Also, you can ask/receive more of anything they serve. If you like anything there, there's never a reason to leave hungry, or feel like your servings weren't large enough.

 

[Eastern]

Let's cut to the chase: Some people here have never had a bad meal at 'Ohana and go there every trip, sometimes more than once. Others here are appalled at the service and quality of food served. This leads me to conclude the following: 'Ohana is either the most inconsistent restaurant on earth, or someone here is makin' stuff up!

I think it's inconsistent. I didn't go there for the longest time because of bad reviews. Then we went a year or so ago and now it is our must-do. But I know I've been lucky.

 

[Micca]

" Ohana...When you're feeling hungry AND lucky"

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Not sure what you are referring to as the small app portion as this is served family style and most of the dishes arrive about the same time. The bread and salad usually come first (not actually an app) with other dishes following very closely.

Also, you can ask/receive more of anything they serve. If you like anything there, there's never a reason to leave hungry, or feel like your servings weren't large enough.

If this had been the case the night we went, I wouldn't be complaining. Unlike others, we were actually seated at around our ADR time, so I was fairly optimistic when our evening started. We were then greeted by our server who took our drink order and she let us know her colleague (some gentleman she mentioned) would be helping her serve that evening. She then left. And pretty much disappeared. We did have some lovely bread at that time. About 15 minutes later, she dropped the salad on our table. This gentleman she mentioned had not appeared as of yet. We then waited and waited and waited. About 20 minutes. When we saw her fly by at one point with food for another table, we asked her for our apps. She said her imaginary friend should be by any minute. About 5 minutes later, she came back with the smallest plate of apps I've ever seen. We were a table of three and the table of two sitting next to us had a plate twice the size. And, no, there was no asking for more as there was no one to ask. 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. We then had bread pudding and a check plopped on our table. And no drink refills. It was very obvious by the time the meat came around, this server had zero help in her section. After 90 minutes of being there, we also had had no coconut races and no limbo. As I mentioned, we've been there a few times and this was not what we had experienced before. We never experienced such bad service (and so little entertainment) and I'm not blaming it on the server. It seemed like they were severely understaffed and our server was running around like a mad woman. I felt bad for her. Either they were short-handed THAT evening or this is a complete change in the staffing levels and serving protocol at the restaurant. Whatever it is, it made for an unappetizing experience and we won't be back anytime soon. We went to Artist Point a few nights later and, for about $40 more than what our O'hana bill had been, we had an amazing dining experience. O'hana just didn't deliver for us and I'm not surprised we are getting similar reports on the DIS.

 

[TellTheHubbyLater]

We had a horrible Ohana experience recently as well. Service was extremely poor. If it weren't for Lilo, we wouldn't be back. She, of course, trumps everything in the eyes of my DD.

 

[stevedeb]

It has been a family tradition to eat our first breakfast at O'hana....maybe not anymore.

I am big into second chances, and this was the second chance meal before I made a switch.

Back in November we went to our usual breakfast. Our server was slow and non existant. With family style meals that need attention/replenishment this really can be a problem. The characters were fine even with the removal of Stitch to the outside greet, the others came to our table through the meal and were fine. Plus my family was not happy with the removal of bacon and adding of ham.

So back 4 days ago (Feb trip). We were sat promptly, and then waited, waited, waited. We had bread on the table but no drink/coffee order or fruit to be had for awhile. Finally the CM server came and took drink order, no fruit or POG juice. Waited, waited...finally pog juice and coffee and my soda, no straw he said he would come back (not that I cared about the straw really).

The fruit showed up on a small plate (we were three adults) the table next to us with an adult and kid got the usual sized fruit plate? Then we waited again. Meanwhile with all of this waiting no characters.

The food came, three people three waffles? Plus only one mickey head waffle which are better than the flat disc ones. So we requested a couple more mickey head waffles and bacon before he left considering his speed in service. The table with parent/child got a full platter....same server so I guess he besides being slow didn't really pay attention to his table guests.

All eggs gone, waffles gone, coffee gone, juice gone....no CM. I guess you get the idea how this meal went!

We gave up and asked for our bill, paid our bill - still no characters. Normally by now the CM asks if you got to see all of the characters, but our clueless fellow didn't seem to care. Then Lilo and Stitch came, quick visit on top of each other...and that was it. Pluto was outside which I do character breakfasts to avoid waiting in character lines, no go for that.

So there you have it...O'hana needs to step up. Two times 3 months apart, similar experiences. We will find a new tradition for a bit and hope they get back to their usual. We were there in June and it was fine!

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.