Mr.K
11-28-2009, 10:31 PM
I have seen many mixed reviews of Ohana, and having eaten there recently, (Thanksgiving 2009) decided to chime in.
First let me say that we ate at Ohana in 2007 and thought it was fab. Great food, great service, great atmosphere.
This past trip however, was not even close.
I specifically wanted my family and friends (16 of us) to enjoy an exotic and fun place for Thanksgiving. I bragged about the diverse food options, peel-n-eat shrimp, the grilled meats, etc.
Maybe this was my fault for not doing enough research, but when we showed up, we discovered they had a "special" menu on Thanksgiving day, of traditional Thanksgiving food. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and green beans, along with the Ohana tossed green salad and Ohana bread pudding.
I was shocked and disappointed. The food quality was good. Nothing to write home about, but nothing even remotely a wow. I know when I made my reservation by phone months ago there was no mention of a special menu.
Worse however, was the utterly disappointing service. The table which we were given was sized for 12 at the most - we were a group of 16. Every chair touched another, knees knocked and elbows clanged against one another. A complaint got us nowhere.
No wait staff greeted us, took drink orders, etc, for over 20 minutes. During this time, salad was dropped off (not by our waiter) and we didn't even all have plates or silverware. Before we got any drinks or we all had plates, two small trays (not enough for 16 people) of hot food were dropped off, with no serving utensils. So those of us who had plates and forks have been using them on the salad and now we were expected to serve the hot foods with our hands? Eventually, we took a spare set of forks/knives from an empty table next to us to serve food - the same small empty table they had refused to pull up and add to our large table so we could all fit in comfortably.
We complained over and over and eventually got a manager, who promised he would address it, but the service got no better. More food eventually came, but this time with plastic forks to serve the green beans. Not plastic serving forks...regular small plastic picnic forks. wierd.
We were almost completely finished with dinner before any drinks arrived, in paper to-go cups. We were routinely ignored for long periods of time after this as we finished the bread pudding, which was good, but again, nothing special.
We asked the manager if they were short staffed and he said no, everyone showed up for work that night.
We talked to people at nearby tables and they had similar experiences that night. We got to know them as we wanted salt and pepper and had to borrow some from them, as we had none on our table despite asking for them from our waiter.
The manager did eventually agree to take off the mandatory 18% gratuity after several rounds of complaining.
I am unsure what is going on at Ohana, but something is seriously wrong. For an expensive table service meal to have such poor service, plastic forks and paper cups - it just seems like a crazy person is running the show.
Food - good but forgettable.
Service - definitely the worst we have ever had in our lives.
First let me say that we ate at Ohana in 2007 and thought it was fab. Great food, great service, great atmosphere.
This past trip however, was not even close.
I specifically wanted my family and friends (16 of us) to enjoy an exotic and fun place for Thanksgiving. I bragged about the diverse food options, peel-n-eat shrimp, the grilled meats, etc.
Maybe this was my fault for not doing enough research, but when we showed up, we discovered they had a "special" menu on Thanksgiving day, of traditional Thanksgiving food. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and green beans, along with the Ohana tossed green salad and Ohana bread pudding.
I was shocked and disappointed. The food quality was good. Nothing to write home about, but nothing even remotely a wow. I know when I made my reservation by phone months ago there was no mention of a special menu.
Worse however, was the utterly disappointing service. The table which we were given was sized for 12 at the most - we were a group of 16. Every chair touched another, knees knocked and elbows clanged against one another. A complaint got us nowhere.
No wait staff greeted us, took drink orders, etc, for over 20 minutes. During this time, salad was dropped off (not by our waiter) and we didn't even all have plates or silverware. Before we got any drinks or we all had plates, two small trays (not enough for 16 people) of hot food were dropped off, with no serving utensils. So those of us who had plates and forks have been using them on the salad and now we were expected to serve the hot foods with our hands? Eventually, we took a spare set of forks/knives from an empty table next to us to serve food - the same small empty table they had refused to pull up and add to our large table so we could all fit in comfortably.
We complained over and over and eventually got a manager, who promised he would address it, but the service got no better. More food eventually came, but this time with plastic forks to serve the green beans. Not plastic serving forks...regular small plastic picnic forks. wierd.
We were almost completely finished with dinner before any drinks arrived, in paper to-go cups. We were routinely ignored for long periods of time after this as we finished the bread pudding, which was good, but again, nothing special.
We asked the manager if they were short staffed and he said no, everyone showed up for work that night.
We talked to people at nearby tables and they had similar experiences that night. We got to know them as we wanted salt and pepper and had to borrow some from them, as we had none on our table despite asking for them from our waiter.
The manager did eventually agree to take off the mandatory 18% gratuity after several rounds of complaining.
I am unsure what is going on at Ohana, but something is seriously wrong. For an expensive table service meal to have such poor service, plastic forks and paper cups - it just seems like a crazy person is running the show.
Food - good but forgettable.
Service - definitely the worst we have ever had in our lives.