A short three day trip, dining reviews.

[lookingforward]

Went to WDW for three nights and had a great time as usual. The first night we went to the holiday party at WDW and had dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern. It was wonderful and the service was great. The food here is basic but sometimes simplicity is the key to success. We liked the turkey and mashed potatoes the best. Comfort food!

On our second night we went to the California Grill and once again it was a mixed experience. The staff that seats you there are just plain rude in my opinion. They did not smile and actually did not even say hello now that I think about it. She said "NAME" and then proceeded to look in a book she took great effort to keep hidden from me. I asked for a window table (I KNOW, every one does!) and she said (and I quote) "Nope, all gone" and handed our card to another rude women who proceeded to take us to the worst table by the service station with a plant next to it which blocked any view of ANYTHING other than the service station. It was only about 6:20 and the restaurant was not crowded and we asked for another table in the middle so we could have more room and not be next to the waiters work station. The women who seated us whispered covertly into her microphone and then the original rude women appeared and stood over us shaking her head NO! and pointing to the original table. If my parents were not with me I would have simply left but they were hungry and they don't let things like that bother them. (wish I could say the same). We had a good server but the kitchen was really slow and people were complaining about the long waits for food. The filet mignon was amazing. Simply great. The pork (which is one of their well known dishes) was a big dissapointment. It will be a long time before I go back there. I did speak with a manager who just happened to ask us how everything was going (I did not search him out) and he apologized.

We had our candlelight dinner at Germany and this year it was amazing. The food was much better than last year and the program was great. I love this place, it is relatively low priced and so much fun. Our servers were awesome.

Finally we had breakfast at the Grand Floridian Park Fare buffet. Very good food and the characters were great. This is a nice alternative to doing the park buffet with Winnie the Pooh. Tigger was amazing and very entertaining.

 

[MHopkins2]

I'll agree with you that the host staff at the CG are snotheads - I've had bad experiences with them as well. Everything else, thankfully, has always been outstanding; the kitchen must have been having a REALLY off night, because I've gotten the pork all three times I've eaten there, and loved it every time.

I will say that the table you received may not have been as clear an issue as it appeared. Servers are often assigned a given set of tables - their "station" - and the "bad" table you got may have been the only station with availability at that point. A large group of empty tables probably had no server assigned at all. Other empty tables may have been in a station where another party was just seated (called "double seating," and it's miserable for both you and the server).

[Sorry that was such a ramble. I had a lot of college friends who were waitresses.]

 

[jann1033]

glad we decided again CG...the attitudes would have ruined the experience for me, good to know cause food isn't everything
thanks for your honest review

 

[solotraveler]

Wow, I'm so sorry you had this kind of experience at CG. Myabe I'm lucky or something becuase I have always had fantastic service when we've been there. "Firm" hosts/hostesses are not necessarily uncommon anywhere--- It's definately not a job I would envy doing.

YMMV, I suppose-
Solotraveler

 

[MHopkins2]

Originally posted by jann1033
glad we decided again CG...the attitudes would have ruined the experience for me, good to know cause food isn't everything
thanks for your honest review

I have always received EXCELLENT service from my waiters there, it's only the host/ess that has an attitude problem. Not that that makes it acceptable, of course, but for me at least, it's not enough to keep me away from such a fabulous restaurant.

Solotraveler,

"Firm" hosts/hostesses are not necessarily uncommon anywhere--- It's definately not a job I would envy doing.

I agree with that, but in my experience, it hasn't been a "firm"ness problem, but truly an attitude problem. There's a difference between being firm about giving someone a "bad" table because it's all you can offer and just being a snothead.

 

[lookingforward]

I definately agree that the host/hostess must be firm when dealing with a large amount of tables of which only 20% are considered "prime". It must be hard to say no to 80% of your customers who want to sit at those window tables. But it is important to be kind while being firm. Its not that hard to be nice. This particular women was very rude to the point that she just pointed to a table with her other hand on her hip while glaring at us. It would have been so easy for her to move us one table over since the restaurant was only 25% full at that time. If not she could have explained briefly her position and offered a kind word or a smile. We were not insisting on a window, just wanted to be one table over from the work station. She continued to glare at us each time she walked by. My dad, who is a very wordly man, simply smiled at her each time she made eye contact. He thought it was hilarious. I was mad! She stopped after we spoke to the manager, though.

I agree that this restaurant is very good and the it must have been an off night because my husband has had the pork before and it was very good.

They just need to do a "sensitivity" training with certain very angry, self important, hostesses. lol

 

[solotraveler]

Yes, there is definately a difference between "firm" and "rude" and it definately sounds like she was more "rude" from what you describe.

I'm one of those people who always feels bad for restaurant hosts... when I waited tables I would see that even the most outstanding ones would lose their cool every once in a while. I'm glad you spoke to the manager, though. I totally agree she should been a little more flexible with the restaurant being so empty.

I hope you give it another shot sometime... it can truly be a magical experience!

Solotraveler