Coral Reef Restaurant??

[jmcdougall]

I don't post often but have to reply to this one. We are from Louisiana (husband and son big fishermen) and have access to excellent seafood. Based on Hollybelle's rave reviews we tried Coral Reef in August 2010. My husband and I had never eaten Mahi Mahi or Swordfish (neither native to LA) and we ordered both to share between us. Yummy yummy. One of the best meals I've had. My mom ordered the salmon and loved it. My sister who is not a fan of fish (how was she born in Louisiana????) ordered the strip steak and loved it. Thank you Hollybelle for recommending Coral Reef. We are leaving Sat for a long weekend and have reservations for a dinner here. PS: we rarely eat seafood away from Louisiana so this is a big recommendation (from me anyway). haha

 

[cslafferty]

The Coral Reef restaurant is something we've made a ressie for every trip, and ended up cancelling at the last minute because my kids aren't big seafood fans, and the reviews have always been on the negative side. We went in Aug. 2010 and I was determined NOT to cancel this time. We were lucky to get a table right up by the aquarium, and had a great waiter. I had the grilled Mahi Mahi and it was delicious. Can't remember what DH had but he loved it. And, since my DD doesn't like fish, she had the NY strip and said it was the best steak she had ever had. The best part was the Bailey's and Jack Daniel's Mousse - my DH doesn't like sweets, especially chocolate, but he loved the mousse!!! This turned out to be one of our favorite Disney meals, so I say try it. We will be there again on Dec. 3 for the Candlelight processional Dinner package. Can't wait!!:slurp:

 

[britdaw]

Brinneydee....let us know what you think when you get back.

I will definitely make sure to include a review of Coral Reef in my Trip Report.

the wife and i ate there this past august. felt like the food was pretty good. what sold the meal for me was the baileys and jack daniels moose for dessert. a-ma-zing.

view of the aquarium is nice, as others have said. if you're really, really into seafood, try bluezoo at the dolphin resort. incredible.

Well you just convinced me to keep my ressie just for that dessert alone. :ROFLOL: And now that I've made myself sound like some sort of lush, I will say that your comment about bluezoo made me grin; that's the place I picked for mine and my hubby's "date night" while we're there.

 

[baymenxpac]

Well you just convinced me to keep my ressie just for that dessert alone. :ROFLOL: And now that I've made myself sound like some sort of lush, I will say that your comment about bluezoo made me grin; that's the place I picked for mine and my hubby's "date night" while we're there.

totally worth it! and just realized i spelled mousse wrong late last night, so let me redeem myself for that now.

re: bluezoo, i hadn't tried it until this past trip and i was so impressed. i had always heard rave reviews, but decided to work my way up to it with coral reef and flying fish. my wife loooooves seafood, so she was in heaven. definitely one of our new favorites!

 

[Big Cheese]

what sold the meal for me was the baileys and jack daniels moose for dessert. a-ma-zing.

This ^ !! Worth the trip alone. Easily the best meal we had out of 10 days of reservations at various top notch restaurants at Disney.
Quiet when we were there the last time but can be loud depending on the crowd, but hey, you're at Disney - Who Cares!!:sohappy:

 

[Lexi]

We went here last October, loved the food and obviously loved the atmosphere even more..so of course when we started to plan our next trip for this December it was one of the first restaurants on the list..however the more and more I read these reviews and see pictures of the food, the exact dish I ordered (the chicken with applewood bacon) Coral Reef is now on the chopping block.

 

[santo38035]

Last December, my wife and I went and ended up talking to one of the servers, who was originally from where I lived. He ended up getting my wife and I a seat right up on the tank. The view was incredible and the food was very good as well.

I took my family back there this past October and the food was good. However, the view of the tank was horrible, as we sat in the back row, so the view of the tank was limited at best. The different seating arrangements made a big difference in the overall experience.

 

[ob1thx1138]

Last December, my wife and I went and ended up talking to one of the servers, who was originally from where I lived. He ended up getting my wife and I a seat right up on the tank. The view was incredible and the food was very good as well.

I took my family back there this past October and the food was good. However, the view of the tank was horrible, as we sat in the back row, so the view of the tank was limited at best. The different seating arrangements made a big difference in the overall experience.

I think this explains our lack of enjoyment as well. Forgot to mention on my last post that we were on the Deluxe plan, so we had a lot of different places (including signature) for Coral Reef to live up to.

 

[surfsupdon]

Mahi was delicious, steak too.

Such a better experience if you sit in the front tier. Not worth it if elsewhere. Part of the inflated prices is because of the view.

 

[Korfar]

We have been 3 times total. The first time was ok. No complaints but no raving reviews either. We tried it again the next year and it was outstanding. So I was excited to go back this year. Dissapointed. The waiter was good although I asked the hostess for a table near the aquarium and that fell on deaf ears and we ended up all the way in the back. The food was very bland and the portion was small. Not impressed with the food this time at all. The deserts weren't very good either. I don't think anyone at our table finished them. I was still hungry when I left.

 

[DisneyDadof5]

My family and I ate there in September, and it was decent. Not 5 star like a previous poster said, but still good. View of the aquarium was great.

Here's a tip I'll share: If you go during lunch, you can still get stuff off of the dinner menu. (IE: Fried shrimp.) Just ask your server. They did it for my MIL with no issue. :wave:

 

[YoungNY]

We ate there for lunch last november and it was very quite and slow, but even with very few people there we still didn't get a table near the tank. We had a view from afar. The bread was so powdery and hard we couldn't eat it and the food wasn't great. It was ok, but I wouldn't go again unless I could get a table by the tank for sure. Not to mention, the table across from us sat uncleared and dirty for our whole meal while the waiters and busboys talked about baseball very loudly.

 

[TxNewsies]

DH and I had dinner there back in Dec and loved it! My steak was cooked perfectly and DH loved his scallops. It was his favorite meal during our trip. We were seated by the tank. We loved the view. We hope to go back again!

 

[worldfanatic]

While I can't argue the Coral Reef isn't overpriced, I'm still a fan.
We've been to a few other aquarium restaurants, but this is the most unique.
We'll be having lunch there this December.

 

[pop lover]

We have eaten there the past two years on our trips and have enjoyed it. The service can be at times a little slow but that is fine for us cause we usually eat and then stick around and do around the world and watch the freworks. The food is good we always have steak which we found was better then the Yachtsmen restaurant and the atmosphere is amazing. I would give it a go.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

I went in last july and it was AMAZING good food and atmosphere

I have been here twice and both times it was good, but not great. My standards are not super high, but with that said, I am amazed to hear the overwhelming negative opinions.

 

[VDisneyFan18]

thanks to all who replied and for those of you who went and liked it what meal sould i get. my favorite sea food is salmon. is it any good there???
THANK YOU<3

 

[71dsp]

Food is fairly good (although seafood is not really my cup of tea - I'm allergic to shellfish), and the atmosphere is great. My wife is a seafood eater, but she wasn't enthralled with the food. Surprisingly, my son liked the atmosphere, but could take it or leave it, same for us.

We went on the past two trips, but didn't book it for the upcoming trip.