Will you get the same quality at a restaurant if you have a late reservation?

[Captain Neo]

I have a reservation at Ohana for 9:45 pm this Sunday but i'm concerned the service and quality of food will be poor since it's 15 minutes before closing. Has anyone ate at any of the resort restaurants that late? and was there a noticeable drop in quality?

 

[redshoesrock]

I've had very late reservations at some Epcot restaurants, and I've not noticed a drop off in quality. Most decent restaurants, Disney or otherwise, are used to serving right up until close, so I wouldn't worry.

 

[laurasmith]

DO NOT go to Ohana on a late reservation- it is appalling. We refused to pay for our meal as it and the service was so bad. Don't waste your money or credits as you won't enjoy it. We had a reservation for 9.15pm a few months ago and weren't seated until 10pm. All the tables around us were empty and dirty and had no been cleared because it was the end of the night. There was no atmosphere and they just shoved all the food at us all at once (which was luke warm and which we didn't feel like eating anyway since we were seated 45 minutes late and were tired now). They would not let us take a portion of the dessert home since it was too late to eat it, and basically just rushed us out. We refused to pay and got the manager over and she just said 'ok' and it was clear this was not the first complaint about late night service.
It's put me off the restaurant alltogether but I will return on an early reservation at some point; but NEVER late at night again. The staff had just given up, didn;t care and wanted to go home. They weren't cooking new meat etc. It was awful!

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I almost always have late reservations at 'Ohana and have never had a problem. I actually prefer them because that annoying lady with the ukelele has stopped playing. Never had an issue with the food or service. In fact, we have a 9:35 reservation there tomorrow night.

 

[mickeymatt]

When my daughter was 3 we ate at Chef Mickey's 9:00 PM reservation. It was too late for a toddler first of all. Although she did fine I can tell when she gets to that tired and delirious stage. My wife and I both felt the quality of the food was sub-par. I don't remember the service being that bad but I don't remember it being stellar either. I would like to try it again on an earlier reservation at some point to see if there is a difference. Our experience was also during free dining so I felt that the quality of food gets "dumbed down" during that time but it may just be my perception.

 

[Timekeeper]

Disney restaurant CMs are human. And as we all know, there's been a general decline in customer service throughout the company. Regardless of what restaurant you go to, no employee is going to be immune to stress, fatigue, and the idea that the sooner the guests leave, the sooner they can go home. Some people keep this in mind when scheduling everything from dining reservations to doctor visits and medical procedures.

The benefit of dining late at some of the Disney restaurants is (1) they are likely to stay crowded late into the evening, so (2) the CMs are used to it and don't expect to leave any earlier. Service tends to get worse as the attendance diminishes; if your'e one of the last guests in the restaurant. But if it's 10:30 at all of the tables are full, there should be less to worry about.

 

[Master Yoda]

When it comes to service the late hour should have zero effect. The reality is it does at times but in my personal experience, those times have been very rare and not any more common than poor service at any other time of the day. Food quality on the other hand can and does suffer a bit especially in a place that serves smoked or slow cooked meats, Ohana and WCC being the 2 that immediately come to mind. I have found that food quality takes a bit of a downward turn the later that you go. In particular, the meats tend to dry out.

 

[bgraham34]

Yoda you said an important thing, the meats tend to dry out. That happened to friends of ours. While the service was great the food was subpar.

 

[wdwmagic]

I try to avoid any late reservations. I have never had a bad experience, but I just don't like to be there at a time when everything is starting to wind down, and you will feel pressure to leave.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

We always do dinner at O'hana during our trips, and only twice did we have small issues, about 7 years ago and 2 years ago. Our reservation was for 9:10pm. Our servers (or Cousins, at O'hana) were terrific, however, the sausage (they served sausage a few years back) wasn't cooked well. I just assumed the sausages were too tight together on the skewer, and when I pointed this out to our "Cousin", they were more than happy to replace them, with their apologies, and offered us cupcakes!! (the birthday cupcake sized cupcakes). Two years ago, our server forgot our bread, realized it half way through our meal and brought out two loaves. (The reservation was not late, approx 7:20pm) A previous poster was right, CMs are human too, but overall, if you encounter a problem, let your server or Management know. Disney is pretty good about customer relations :wave:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We've never eaten super late at any of the restaurants but we do have a 9:10pm ressie for Cali Grill on the 30th. I'm hoping even though it's late, we will still get quality service.

 

[DougK]

Why would anyone want to eat dinner at 9:45 pm anyway?

(guess I'm showing my age but that is just TOO LATE for me to eat a big meal!)

 

[wilkeliza]

Why would anyone want to eat dinner at 9:45 pm anyway?

(guess I'm showing my age but that is just TOO LATE for me to eat a big meal!)

Because some of us don't go to bed until 2 or 3am so 9:45 isn't that late.

I haven't experience O'Hana late at night but all other late night dinners I've had in the parks were fine. We typically eat late at Epcot since everything in World Showcase closes early we can get a later dinner then still go catch an hour or two more of Future World.