Ohana .. give me the good, the bad, and the ugly

[Realgrumpy]

We have a 9:45 reservation for dinner. Is that a bad idea?

 

[Pumbaa_]

If you want to try it you should, form your own opinion

People either love it here or hate it here. One of the most diverse experiences

(I hate it here, wouldn't go if it was free)

 

[Arielfan98]

I went in January 2017 with my sister and we are both adults. I have dietary concerns because I cannot consume foods high in oil/fat. I made our waitress aware of that and she brought out the chef.

Pro: The chef was awesome!!!! He seemed to genuinely care about my dietary needs and he made me a special menu. He steamed the dumplings and veggies for me instead of frying them. He also made sure my bread pudding was served without ice cream. Also, it is true, the Ohana bread pudding is as good as they say and I felt the salad dressing was out of this world too.

Con: Our waitress! She seemed like she didn't want to be there or work. I understand we all have bad days, but her lack of enthusiasm really dampened my meal. She was barely present and we had to rely on other waiters walking around. It was sad looking at the other tables with energetic and fun waiters. In terms of food, everything was just okay (beside the pudding/salad which rocked!). I felt the chicken/beef were very chewy and they kept serving us way too much food even when we only asked for a little. Overall, the service/food was greatly inconsistent.

Final thoughts: If the service had been better, I might consider returning because while the food was meh I enjoyed being there. However, I feel if I'm paying that much $$ I should at least have a waitress who doesn't look bored/absent. I know I'm not the only one who had a waiter like this and I wouldn't want to risk paying all that $$ going back for another bad service. Personally, I think your kids will like it, the food is suitable for picky eaters and they have chicken fingers/burgers for picky children. I encourage everyone to experience Ohana at least once and then make their own decision on it. And yes, I would go after a ay at MK but that's because I always stay at the All Stars and the back-and-forth wouldn't be time effective.

 

[DizneyMommy]

If your reservation is for 7 people between 6/16-20th, then it is horrible, just horrible, you’ll hate it and should cancel now ;-)

Otherwise it’s amazing, absolutely hands down favorite meal ever in a Disney Park/resort. I wish we could have gotten a reservation this year, my fingers are still crossed someone cancels but 7 is a large group.

 

[sjrec]

We have a 9:45 reservation for dinner. Is that a bad idea?

Do you have young children? It’s a lot of food-and I’m 60 (a fairly fit and active 60, but still...) so eating that much that late would probably kill me

 

[dosekies]

We had dinner there for the first time in November and both agreed it was the best meal of our trip. The food was fantastic, service was great, weren't rushed, it was just an overall wonderful experience. Ohana is now going to be a must for our next trip.

 

[Realgrumpy]

Do you have young children? It’s a lot of food-and I’m 60 (a fairly fit and active 60, but still...) so eating that much that late would probably kill me

No. Teens and adults.

 

[Summer2018]

We have a 9:45 reservation for dinner. Is that a bad idea?

How early are you up in the morning? Eating that late would be tough to digest and then try to lie down and go to sleep.

We are rope drop people, up early, so we try not to eat after 7:30 pm. If you sleep in late, it might not be bad.

 

[goofy kc]

Not a fan...just no. If I could eat just a few items I might go again. Decent salad, and great desert. Otherwise, to me it is just way too much greasy, salty food. They should pipe in the song 'be our guest' to go along with the steady parade of food - more than anyone can or should eat.

Nice view though!

 

[JerseyJanice]

We have a 9:45 reservation for dinner. Is that a bad idea?

If you have young kids, yes, but if you’re all adults and plan accordingly, it could be wonderful. If I were you, I would keep looking for something earlier right up until the morning. Meanwhile, I’d make a plan for how to hold off eating dinner until later. Like maybe a light breakfast and a big lunch late at like 2:00 or 3:00. A snack in between plus an early arrival at the restaurant (9:00), and it could work out fine.

I wish we could have gotten a reservation this year, my fingers are still crossed someone cancels but 7 is a large group.

Keep checking, Mama. Try looking for 8. I suspect MDE likes even numbers.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Keep checking, Mama. Try looking for 8. I suspect MDE likes even numbers.

Thanks! One of our 7 is actually a 2 year old, I’ve been trying 7 and 6. Not sure what happens when we show up with her and have only booked 6, but she needs a high chair, not a chair anyways. At least that was my logic!

 

[wdw4rfam]

Ohana is my family’s must do every trip. A few years ago, we almost did a last minute trip and my husband wouldn’t do it because he couldn’t get an ohana ADR....no kidding. We stay at the poly and do ohana and another night or 2 we get the twilight feast delivered to the room.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Thanks! One of our 7 is actually a 2 year old, I’ve been trying 7 and 6. Not sure what happens when we show up with her and have only booked 6, but she needs a high chair, not a chair anyways. At least that was my logic!

I strongly discourage trying for 6. Even though the 2 year old will not need a chair, they still require a spot at the table for the high chair, and restaurants also have occupancy limitations. If you show up with a toddler not included in the numbers, they can deny you a table if they are unable to accommodate. Given how crowded Ohana always is, I wouldn't bank on them being able to accommodate an extra person, even if it is a 2 year old. I've read accounts of parties being turned away for not including an under 3 year old on the ADR (even when it was a lap baby that didn't require a seat). It's possible they could accommodate, but again, I wouldn't bank on it, especially with Ohana.

 

[focusondisney]

Thanks! One of our 7 is actually a 2 year old, I’ve been trying 7 and 6. Not sure what happens when we show up with her and have only booked 6, but she needs a high chair, not a chair anyways. At least that was my logic!

You should be counting the 2 year old. Even tho she won't pay, she counts in the number. Try for 7 & 8. The restaurant is pretty crowded & there may not be somewhere to put a high chair at a table for 6. Plus, they apparently must count everyone in the restaurant for fire code reasons. So the 2 year old will count. Or have a plan for who in your group will go somewhere else to eat if they turn away the extra person.

 

[DizneyMommy]

I strongly discourage trying for 6. Even though the 2 year old will not need a chair, they still require a spot at the table for the high chair, and restaurants also have occupancy limitations. If you show up with a toddler not included in the numbers, they can deny you a table if they are unable to accommodate. Given how crowded Ohana always is, I wouldn't bank on them being able to accommodate an extra person, even if it is a 2 year old. I've read accounts of parties being turned away for not including an under 3 year old on the ADR (even when it was a lap baby that didn't require a seat). It's possible they could accommodate, but again, I wouldn't bank on it, especially with Ohana.

Turned away for having a lap child? That seems a little overboard, there has to be more to that story. We’ve never included her in any ADR at DL since she was born and we’ve never been told we couldn’t have her with us, she usually just sits in someone’s lap anyways. I could see not having room for the highchair and having to have her lap sit but why would they turn us away with a lap child under 3? Unless they are packing that place exactly to fire capacity which I find hard to believe with the bits of open space they use for the kids games and things.

 

[DisneyArkie]

Good - food
Bad - hard to get in
Ugly - wear stretchy pants

 

[Shellyb84]

We ate there last August and I don’t remember any sweet sauces on the meats? The chicken had been marinated but the beef and shrimp were simply grilled.
Anyway, it was our first time and we all enjoyed it very much-my 7 year old grandson ate the meats, vegetables, bread and wings-it isn’t spicy at all-maybe your picky eater would like it.
It’s one of those restaurants that gets mixed reviews but I think you should try it for yourself. We had a lovely evening-we weren’t rushed, service was very good. I would definitely go back.

The wings have sauce but the meat skewers don't, you just get those delicious dipping sauces.

 

[rdaky]

We have only been once and it was so hyped up, we were so excited that we scored a dinner reservation, even though it was at 8 or 8:30pm with two small children. We really didn't care for it. The atmosphere was fun and LOUD, so the kids liked that. Our timing lined up with the fireworks at MK, so that was neat. But other than that, the food was not that impressive for what we paid. It was so loud and so crowded. We waited about 30 minutes past our ADR before even getting a seat. We just haven't had the desire to go back when there are so many other options at Disney.

 

[acarsme123]

We just ate at Ohana last week for the first time. Overall a very positive experience. Some things were a hit, and some things were a miss.
Our reservations were for 5:30pm. We showed up early, but they informed us we wouldn't get seated until closer to our reservation time. No big deal.

Our waiter offered us a choice of kids menu items right away for our son. Our son chose to get the mac & cheese.
They then bring you a bowl full noodles, mixed vegetables, chicken wings, and potstickers. The potstickers were the best part. They were super yum. The chicken wings however were really dry. That was kind of a let-down, as otherwise they had a good flavor. The noodles were also extremely bland. There was no sauce on them whatsoever it seemed. You almost had to mix them with the vegetables and drizzle some of the sauce they gave you in the side cups to give it any sort of flavor. So those were kind of a miss for me.

Then came the skewers. First they brought around the beef. The flavor was really good from the oak wood, but the meat was overcooked and thus a little dry. Then came the chicken. This was absolutely delicious. It was perfectly moist, and had a great flavor with the wood smoke. Then came the shrimp. You did have to peel the shrimp yourself, but it was drenched in a delicious spicy sauce. It was a messy experience, but I devoured a ton of that shrimp. Our waiter would put a ton of meat down when he came around, to the point you wouldn't really be able to ask for seconds. I assume this was done on purpose. They give you so much food up front, I don't know how anyone could go for another round.

Then they bring out the famous bread pudding. It was good, but didn't blow me away. But I must confess I'm not a huge bread pudding fan. My wife is however, and she devoured this whole desert almost entirely by herself!

So like I said, some things were extremely good, and some things were eh.....but overall we really liked it and I would do it again! Hope this helped!

 

[DisneyHardin]

We've eaten there 4 or 5 times and really enjoy it. We've never had a bad experience. Last fall they were a little understaffed (must have been people that called in sick or something) because our waitress apologized over and over about being understaffed and how she was running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Because of this, the service was a little slower than usual, but she was so nice and apologetic about it that it didn't really affect our dinner.