I just got back from a quick trip to the World late last night, and while I didn't report the absolutely horrible service I received at one of our dinners then, I am feeling more and more like I need to. I took DD1 (10) down for a quick weekend trip and she wanted to eat at Coral Reef, so I reluctantly booked it after hearing not great reviews about the food. I had heard they had good service despite this so I figured it would make up for the food, along with the atmosphere. I wish I had gone to Guest Services after the meal to report this, but we were tired and had a Soarin' FP to get to so I decided against it (plus I was with DD1 and didn't want to ruin her trip by going and complaining about service).
A little background about what happened, and maybe you guys could help me decide if it's reportable or not (Warning, it's long lol): After being sat it took close to 15 minutes for our waiter to come to our table, and then he disappeared taking forever with our drinks. After coming back he pressured us to order quickly, and then when I asked for suggestions he started talking to me like an adult to a picky eater kid, he took a flashlight with a pointer out and proceeded to point at everything on the menu saying "You COULD eat any one of these, but most people eat anyone of these and seem fine, you should just pick one." I was expecting something along the lines of "I really love the mahi..." or something like that *sigh*. We ordered and I saw other tables receiving bread...and we never did. Our food was brought out about half an hour later by someone who was not our waiter, we hadn't seen him since he brought our drinks and took our orders. I look over and he's at a table with several really cute college aged girls, not taking orders, just talking....for most of our meal. He disappeared after a while and came to our table with.....bread. I was already done with my meal at that point, and so was my daughter, so I didn't want the bread anymore. I informed him that it would have been nice to have BEFORE our meal, not as a dessert. I also informed him that I had indeed seen him socializing at the table with the cute young girls, and I wasn't pleased. He apologized but you could tell he didn't mean it. I also pointed out that we both had nothing to drink since he had never refilled them, and thankfully he brought us water (which was not what I wanted, I wanted a second cocktail).
The table next to us was a young couple celebrating their one year wedding anniversary and they suffered the same fate as us. They had ordered champagne to go with dessert and the champagne never arrived, the wife got up to use the restroom and told the husband that if he hadn't come back by the time she did she was going to deal with the waiter herself (this was after my "dealing" with him). Champagne finally came but the wife never came back, and when the waiter finally brought the husband the bill he just dropped it and started walking off. The husband knew at that point the guy wasn't coming back for a long time and got agitated asking him if he could pay now. The waiter told the husband that he would be back....and he was gone for a good long time after. The husband was angry and just walked out, and they never came back to pay. All the while the waiter is taking his sweet time at the table with the cute girls and making sure their bills were paid immediately, giving them lots of attention. When he realized the people had walked out his hands started shaking and he was really attentive to us, finally bringing our check and I paid on the spot, but only left him a $2 tip (which was extremely generous, I only left it because he didn't drop the bill and run never to be seen again). Meanwhile there was an Asian family who still hadn't been helped after nearly 15-20 minutes, and surprise surprise he was their waiter.
So after all of that I will never go to Coral Reef again especially with that service, but also the food isn't worth the cost IMO. But does this warrant a report? It was like run down Applebees service, not what I've come to expect from Disney. Thankfully the girls working in Sunshine Seasons, where we went for dessert since we wanted to just get out of Coral Reef, restored my faith in CMs because they were so sweet and helpful. (if you made it this far, thanks!)
