Turtle Dude
03-22-2009, 05:31 AM
Hi all. I wanted to pass along an incident from last week. Our family just returned from a great week at WDW and it was an awesome first experience for all of us. We stayed at All Star Movies and enjoyed the atmosphere, especially our six year old. The parks were typically a 9-to-10 day making for a brief stay in our rooms (fell asleep almost instantly). Finally convinced the little one to ride the "big, fast and scary" rides the last day so we all got our ride thrills at Magic Kingdom. Disney employees were sincere, nice and helpful in all these endeavors. Our stay was top-rate and I recommend it to everyone.
We had the "regular" dining plan. On Monday we had great time at Chef Mickey's, Tuesday at the Coral Reef Restaurant and Wednesday we had another character meal at Donald's Safari Breakfast. We had nothing but excellent food and pretty good service. Our son could not have been happier at the character meals and that made Mom and Dad's day. Then came the meal set aside mostly for my wife. Since I planned the trip I thought it was only fair that she be treated like a princess for one meal. We had dinner reservations at the Flying Fish restaurant at The Boardwalk.
We arrived early for our 6:00 reservation, but I decided to check in with the Matride'. The first thing he asked was if we, "planned to stay at The Boardwalk"? I politely stated, "No". He asked if this was our first visit to Flying Fish (yes)? His next question was if we were on the meal plan? When I told him we were he asked if we had the, "deluxe" plan (no)? Then he asked if we knew this was a, "2 table service meal"? I said yes and thought nothing of this line of questioning.
We were the fifth table seated in the entire restaurant and it was not busy at the time. I know I am stating the obvious, but most of the tables were empty. The hostess asked us if we knew this was a "2 table service meal". ...Our table was in a back corner 1.)beside the kitchen entrance 2.)next to the drink station/register spot 3.)with a barrier between us and all windows 4.)the bar was between us and any view of the windowed kitchen 5.)with extreme traffic from all servers and hosts/hostesses and 6.)all parties being seated went by in droves. We had been seated and a drink order taken before we realized what had happened. There was very little traffic when we sat down, then as the place filled up it became a major highway within 2 feet of all our seats. Jay was our server and I must say he did a great job for his part and he was tipped appropriately for a job well done. He did take the time to ask if we knew this was a, "2 table service meal".
As we ate bread three servers were leaned up against the drink station watching us eat. I stated loudly to my wife that it was nice to have an audience and they scattered like cockroaches. We were waiting for an appetizer as the place filled and traffic started to become unbearable. My wife who usually sees the glass 3/4 full started to agree with me that we needed to say something. I asked a member of management (strawberry blond/ red hair, sorry don't have a name) to be moved to another table that Jay served and she told us that he only had two other very small tables next to ours in the same row. She offered to move us, but you could see the pain in her face and it was obvious that it would have put them out to do so. We liked Jay and quite honestly we felt kind of sorry for him (having to serve these tables).
The food was so-so. The calamari appetizer wasn't even in the same league as Ruth's Chris'. The New York Strip I ordered had some bland mustard sauce draped across it that ruined the flavor and my son's chicken skewers were dry. Thankfully my wife enjoyed her scallops. Maybe if we had an ounce of atmosphere it might have been a great meal. As it stands, it was not very special. And to think...this was a, "2 table service meal".
We had made a concerted effort to show up well dressed even after a full day in the parks. I even made my son dress nicely and stay neat throughout the day, causing much angst. After all, this was the one meal for my wife and quite honestly it could not have been worse. If not for Jay I would of had our family walk out by the time our meal had arrived. The longer we sat there, the more humiliated we became. Nobody else was seated in this area until the restaurant was full and we had completed our meal. I have tried to step back from this and look at it from different angles, but the more I think about it the more I realize how condescending we were treated (what difference does it make if I planned to stay at The Boardwalk?). Nobody at any time said they were sorry. Twice we were told, "I can understand your concern". Once again, nobody ever apologized or offered to set things right. I can only give you my word that we were never rude or confrontational.
The best part of the whole event was stepping onto the ferry boat to go back to Magic Kingdom. It is my personal recommendation that all other fine dining establishments be considered first and only go to Flying Fish as an absolute last resort.
We had the "regular" dining plan. On Monday we had great time at Chef Mickey's, Tuesday at the Coral Reef Restaurant and Wednesday we had another character meal at Donald's Safari Breakfast. We had nothing but excellent food and pretty good service. Our son could not have been happier at the character meals and that made Mom and Dad's day. Then came the meal set aside mostly for my wife. Since I planned the trip I thought it was only fair that she be treated like a princess for one meal. We had dinner reservations at the Flying Fish restaurant at The Boardwalk.
We arrived early for our 6:00 reservation, but I decided to check in with the Matride'. The first thing he asked was if we, "planned to stay at The Boardwalk"? I politely stated, "No". He asked if this was our first visit to Flying Fish (yes)? His next question was if we were on the meal plan? When I told him we were he asked if we had the, "deluxe" plan (no)? Then he asked if we knew this was a, "2 table service meal"? I said yes and thought nothing of this line of questioning.
We were the fifth table seated in the entire restaurant and it was not busy at the time. I know I am stating the obvious, but most of the tables were empty. The hostess asked us if we knew this was a "2 table service meal". ...Our table was in a back corner 1.)beside the kitchen entrance 2.)next to the drink station/register spot 3.)with a barrier between us and all windows 4.)the bar was between us and any view of the windowed kitchen 5.)with extreme traffic from all servers and hosts/hostesses and 6.)all parties being seated went by in droves. We had been seated and a drink order taken before we realized what had happened. There was very little traffic when we sat down, then as the place filled up it became a major highway within 2 feet of all our seats. Jay was our server and I must say he did a great job for his part and he was tipped appropriately for a job well done. He did take the time to ask if we knew this was a, "2 table service meal".
As we ate bread three servers were leaned up against the drink station watching us eat. I stated loudly to my wife that it was nice to have an audience and they scattered like cockroaches. We were waiting for an appetizer as the place filled and traffic started to become unbearable. My wife who usually sees the glass 3/4 full started to agree with me that we needed to say something. I asked a member of management (strawberry blond/ red hair, sorry don't have a name) to be moved to another table that Jay served and she told us that he only had two other very small tables next to ours in the same row. She offered to move us, but you could see the pain in her face and it was obvious that it would have put them out to do so. We liked Jay and quite honestly we felt kind of sorry for him (having to serve these tables).
The food was so-so. The calamari appetizer wasn't even in the same league as Ruth's Chris'. The New York Strip I ordered had some bland mustard sauce draped across it that ruined the flavor and my son's chicken skewers were dry. Thankfully my wife enjoyed her scallops. Maybe if we had an ounce of atmosphere it might have been a great meal. As it stands, it was not very special. And to think...this was a, "2 table service meal".
We had made a concerted effort to show up well dressed even after a full day in the parks. I even made my son dress nicely and stay neat throughout the day, causing much angst. After all, this was the one meal for my wife and quite honestly it could not have been worse. If not for Jay I would of had our family walk out by the time our meal had arrived. The longer we sat there, the more humiliated we became. Nobody else was seated in this area until the restaurant was full and we had completed our meal. I have tried to step back from this and look at it from different angles, but the more I think about it the more I realize how condescending we were treated (what difference does it make if I planned to stay at The Boardwalk?). Nobody at any time said they were sorry. Twice we were told, "I can understand your concern". Once again, nobody ever apologized or offered to set things right. I can only give you my word that we were never rude or confrontational.
The best part of the whole event was stepping onto the ferry boat to go back to Magic Kingdom. It is my personal recommendation that all other fine dining establishments be considered first and only go to Flying Fish as an absolute last resort.