Reviews of Kona Cafe Lunch/Dinner

Reviews

75

Rating

7.28 / 10

Recommended By

77%



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Kona Cafe

Services: Table Service

Menus at Kona Cafe

Reviewed by ribby Review Date: 08/20/2017

Rating: (3)
Not Recommended

Kona has been a mainstay during our visits for years but this year (August 2017) was disappointing. The menu listed for Kona on AllEars is for December 2016 but that has changed and not, in my family's opinion, for the better. Sushi selections have been cut by more than half, entrée selections have been reduced as well and the steamed pork buns - a favorite appetizer - have exited the menu. Among some items we ordered were the California roll (ate half; not tasty), Asian Pasta Shrimp (half eaten; again, not tasty and a bit overcooked) and the steak (reduced portion for the amount paid). Additionally, the restaurant was fairly empty at 6:00 which we have never experienced in prior visits. We liked dining at Kona rather than Ohana because of the more selective menu. I'm afraid future visits are probably in jeopardy. Do not know what happened there but my family was very disappointed.

Pros:

Ambiance; friendliness

Cons:

Dramatic menu change and not positive
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Reviewed by Disney_Dreamz Review Date: 01/01/2015

Rating: (1)
Not Recommended

We have eaten dinner at the Kona Cafe twice between 2005-2014 so we decided to try lunch here on the 17th of November. Oh My Gosh, we really regretted it. We will NOT be returning to the Kona Cafe EVER again.

For lunch they don't serve the bread with hazelnut butter...at least we didn't get one. Then when our lunch (eventually) came they brought the wrong item. I ordered the hamburger w/ bacon instead of shrimp, but they brought the hamburger w/ shrimp which did taste good.

Then, there was dessert... :shudders:. We both had the apple tart. It looked soo good and had my mom order it too. It tasted like it was 2-3 months old. It was hard as a rock...okay we were able to break it but it was so horrible. Even the ice cream tasted bad. ICE CREAM!!!

So we just paid and left. The waiter took forever w/ our food. So we are NEVER EVER EVER returning there.

Pros:

NOTHING

Cons:

EVERYTHING: Food, Waiter, Service... ICK
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Reviewed by Disney_Dreamz Review Date: 11/26/2014

Rating: (1)
Not Recommended

I really regret going to Kona Cafe for lunch. We only went because nothing was open for Dinner. Lunch pretty much was bad.

My mom had the steak which was good but my hamburger was bad. I ordered the bacon hamburger instead of the shrimp but they messed up my order and brought the shrimp, which was 'ok.'

We were surprised there was no bread served. Not sure if they just forgot about it for us. But the service was bad.

The dessert was HORRIBLE. We both had the apple cobbler which was hard as a rock. We will not be returning to Kona for lunch OR dinner.

I would rate this a 0 or none at all if there was a choice so I gave it a one.

Pros:

None

Cons:

Food... Service
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Reviewed by EpcotMom Review Date: 07/23/2014

Rating: (4)
Not Recommended

It saddens me to write this review of a favorite restaurant. We went on July 20 for dinner. There were ten in our party. We chose this restaurant from past experience, having always enjoyed it. The server, a young man, was inattentive and actually acted like he thought he was something special. Had to ask for the bread and macadamia butter! My sister's tuna was over cooked and the scallops were tasteless. The chocolate fondue was good, but the macaroon cookies were so hard that I couldn't get a spoon into them. This restaurant will no longer be a "must do" or even anywhere near the top of the list.

Pros:

Cons:

Service
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Reviewed by disneymom77 Review Date: 08/21/2013

Rating: (1)
Not Recommended

The food was terrible & the waitress was totally unconcerned. The salad was floating in dressing. The steaks were raw & mostly fat & gristle. The beans were mushy. The broccolini could not be cut with a steak knife. Where did the good chef & servers goi?

Pros:

Easy to get to

Cons:

Used to be our favorite....Never again!
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Reviewed by Daniellep93 Review Date: 06/15/2013

Rating: (3)
Not Recommended

My party of 4 ate here and were disappointed. When the server was told we were on the dining plan, she really lacked on the service. We were left to wait as we watched other tables get their food and she spoke to us as if we were beneath the other guests not on the meal plan. The food was good but with the portion size, we all left hungry. However, everyone LOVED their desserts including my sister who is not a huge sweets fan. The chocolate fondue dessert was to die for. I loved the homemade cookies and the fresh fruit.

Pros:

Chocolate fondue dessert

Cons:

rude waitress, small portions
0 Users found this helpful.

Reviewed by peytonshea02 Review Date: 06/05/2013

Rating: (1)
Not Recommended

I am so sad to write this review. 🙁
We have enjoyed many meals here and have always loved them. I was very excited to see a new menu for KONA! - I was so looking forward to our dinner here...but....read on if you dare.
DD11 had the Teriyaki Style New York Strip - it was the best dish of the night and it was not that good. Very tough piece of meat and the broccolini was one step from raw. DH had the Togarashi Spiced Ahi Tuna. The Tuna was fine - cooked well, but had very little flavor/seasoning. The deep fried veggie roll was nasty. VERY greasy and odd. A veggie roll with sushi rice and seaweed isn't something that should be deep fried. Absolutely nothing appealing about this. The winner for worst dish - was mine - Sesame Seared Sea Scallops - with rice, wakami salad and tarragon-champagne beurre blanc. Translation: 3 scallops, over cooked with no taste other than a bit of large black peppercorns cooked into them. The wakami salad was inedible. I am not sure what sort of flavor profile they were going for here..but it was a fail.
The one saving grace of this meal was the desserts. The Banana-Chocolate Creme Brulee and the Chocolate Fondue were excellent...thankfully. Had it not been for the yummy bread and desserts, I would have left hungry. It will be a very long time before we find the strength to try Kona again.

Pros:

desserts

Cons:

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Reviewed by DoleWhipDude Review Date: 04/30/2023

Rating: (8)
Recommended

I'm surprised by the generally low rating for Kona Cafe, since my family really enjoyed it when we were there for dinner in October of 2021. Sure, the theming isn't all that immersive, and our service was less than stellar. But...the food! I ordered the deconstructed Mahi BLT - it was fantastic. I'm not sure what they used to season the bacon, but it was the best I've ever had, and my son agreed. My daughter ordered the sushi and loved it. Kona Cafe also has some good non-alcoholic drink options, which we enjoyed. Fortunately, we had heard through the grapevine that we could order the same pineapple-coconut bread pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce that was served at 'Ohana (it appears now to have been formally added to the menu, although it wasn't at the time). WOW. It was amazing! It was the best dessert we had during our entire time at Disney World (and we ate a lot of desserts!) It's worth eating here just for the dessert alone!

Pros:

At the Polynesian, affordable, great food, the best dessert ever!

Cons:

Service wasn't great, lacks a bit in atmosphere
1 User found this helpful.

Reviewed by DisneyandUniversal4Ever Review Date: 02/08/2023

Rating: (10)
Recommended

Amazing food and drinks for adults and kids! Amazing service and servers!

Pros:

Amazing food and drinks for adults and kids! Amazing service and servers!

Cons:

Not really any
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Reviewed by Mommacolorado Review Date: 02/07/2022

Rating: (9)
Recommended

I'm sorry but is the bread pudding what dreams are made of? ok so we only went here because I couldn't sit through another preset menu... I can't eat that much food and not being able to take left overs really felt wasteful. I was dying to try the Bread Pudding from Ohana that everyone talks about and even though it wasn't on the Kona menu.. we rolled the dice and made Kona reservations. Okay.. it was really good. We got basically all the Ohana sides and they did not disappoint.. plus our waiter noticed my son's Star Wars gear and showed off his star wars tatoos! It was awesome and instantly made him my kiddos favorite server of the week. We hadn't had the best service throughout the week and having that moment was such a great relief. We really had a great night here and a great dinner. It wasn't cheap but everything was great!

Pros:

Ohana food without having to book Ohana

Cons:

none
1 User found this helpful.

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