Coral Reef Restaurant, bad day or?

[HouCuseChickie]

I've always been told that for fire code reasons, any child under 3- including an infant - must still be listed in the #s on a reservation (I've actually seen parties turned away from Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace for failure to include the infant)...and they will always be included in the # when determining if auto-gratuity will be assessed (minus some of the non-Disney DTD restaurants and the off times you get a server who does the right thing- vs. what their rules supposedly stipulate).

The gratuity part drives me nuts, but I've seen it come up countless times at the majority of the WDW restaurants due to cakes for celebrations. It's particularly offensive when you've got $150 cake involved that has impacted your overall meal cost and drastically boosted that auto-gratuity total.

We were a party of 6 several times in 2010...my youngest was under 3...and every single restaurant said it was mandatory to include her in terms of auto gratuity. We did something like 10 or 11 TS meals that trip, so this is certainly no fluke nor is it something new.

As for Coral Reef itself...we ate there in 1998 and it was bad. Bad service, bad food, waited forever, and the kids were nuts in there. I realize that's quite some time ago, but it was bad enough that we have no desire to go back. Thankfully, we live in the Houston area and the Landry's corp. has been kind enough to bless our area with two Aquarium restaurants.

 

[SnarkyMonkey]

I've always been told that for fire code reasons, any child under 3- including an infant - must still be listed in the #s on a reservation (I've actually seen parties turned away from Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace for failure to include the infant)...and they will always be included in the # when determining if auto-gratuity will be assessed (minus some of the non-Disney DTD restaurants and the off times you get a server who does the right thing- vs. what their rules supposedly stipulate).

You may be right but it seems that the ADR got changed from 6 people to 5 since the infant never entered the restaurant, no?

 

[RSD Part Deux]

Just because the grat is added you don't have to pay it. Demand to have it removed or reduced. It's Florida state law.
Edit: sorry I was incorrect. It is legal for them to add this and make it mandatory.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

WOW... I would have had them remove my child off the bill and definitely wouldn't have put up with dirty dishes on my table.

We've been to Coral Reef twice and truthfully we go for the atmosphere because the food & service are always off.

On our first visit to Coral Reef, first visit to WDW in over 14 years at that... the female server kept saying that I was there the day before, even after I assured her she was mistaken, she kept asking me how my meal, service, & where I was sitting compared to the previous night. At first we thought it was funny but she would not let it go & it quickly became annoying.

I continued to tell her I had never been there before and she immediately got offended & began arguing with me that I was lying and I had been there before. It ruined the entire meal & it was just bizarre!

Idk, I figured, maybe I have a twin I don't know about that had visited the day before LOL. So we went back and the service was better but the food wasn't good. No more Coral Reef for us!

 

[DisneySurprisePA]

Our entrees all come at the same time, no extra work is required on anyone's part but OURS. Just to be clear. I skip dessert as he eats his entree but they all arrive at the same time. Nothing extra was required on the servers part. The reservation was always for five. Never for six. He wasn't included originally because he was going to be with family that was there for the day. When he fell asleep I kept him with me and had them go on with a fast pass they had for the kids. That is why I said...how can you mistake that as a server? He was never on the reservation. Never came in. And according to the checks she gave him water??? She knew he was there so she added him to our party size.

 

[Mista C]

I am annoyed just reading this! Please call and complain!

 

[SnarkyMonkey]

Ok. My apologies. I wasn't clear that one of you was eating your entree cold at dessert time. I had just assumed you ordered one a little later. In that case, it's no extra work for the server at all.

If the reservation was only for 5 the whole time, how did the server even know about the infant?

 

[DisneySurprisePA]

I told her when I ordered for my husband as he was with the baby.

 

[polynesiangirl]

Yeesh! What a crummy experience. Sorry that happened to you.

We ate there a couple years ago, and it was not worth the money in my opinion. Our service was OK -- nothing outstanding but nothing like what you experienced -- and the food was really, really fair for the price. It wasn't bad or in edible or anything, but it was absolutely not of the caliber I would expect for the price.

I generally tell people that if I, of all people, think something at WDW is not worth the money, then you KNOW it's a ripoff.

 

[DisneySurprisePA]

Really good way to look at it. My husband talked to our credit card company where the tip was charged and they are going to dispute it based on it being an inappropriate charge. I was going to call but decided to write guest services with a photocopy of the receipt. See what happens!

 

[olinecoach61]

It used to be a must do for us, but we are not dining there on our next trip in July. There are a lot of options, we decided to try flying fish cafe for our seafood this trip.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

You may be right but it seems that the ADR got changed from 6 people to 5 since the infant never entered the restaurant, no?

Sorry...maybe I misunderstood. I guess reading comprehension wasn't a strength for me yesterday.