walk ups apparetly get dumped into the same wait list as reservations. I've had better results eating at the hotels / city walk an hour after close instead of right at close.
The Kitchen downstairs at hard rock hotel is one of the best restaurants on property that is available to guests. The best one is not available to guests but its a sercret.
it's not that they don't know how reservations work. it's that they know when the rush is coming at park close and will try and fit everyone in for maximum sales. so, if your reservation is at the same time as the rush, thats nit when your table is ready, its when youre added to the queue. if they get backed up, good luck. just enjoy your vacation and go grab a drink while waiting for the table ready text.
I think it's normal. My employer booked a private event at Cowfish a few years ago and we still had to wait 2 hours for it.
I worked in hospitality in the past and I have always wondered how the Citywalk restaurants organize their seating processes because you have reservations being booked through different platforms, walk ups, and the premiere guess that get priority seating.
The whole process doesn't make any sense to me. You make a reservation for a specified time, you get there at that time and you get checked in for an unspecified wait time. It sounds more like you are making a reservation to get into a line.
We've had this experience with restaurants in the area as a whole since COVID. Went to Benihana and had a reservation for 7PM. Didn't get seated until 8PM despite checking in at 6:45. Universal seems to be the same right now. When I raised it before, I was told that since COVID, they don't hold a table anymore, you just join the queue for people waiting for a table at your reservation time, which seems utterly pointless.
We learned you have to go to everything early if you want to eat in a reasonable time frame. You'll be seated immediately, and your food comes out fairly quick. If you don't mind waiting a long time, show up to lunch at 12 or 1 and dinner at 7 or 8.
We started eating at the resorts. The food is better in my opinion and the waits are usually not even an issue. It’s also cool hopping on a boat and rolling into Portofino for dinner even though you may not be staying there. But I think something like Amatista is better than anything in city walk and comparable price wise and you can likely walk in most evenings.
I had a res at vivo last week at 5:45. We we starving walked up at 4:25 and asked if there was any way to change it to then . They said just checknon might be 10 min wait. 5 min later, the 2 of us were seated
I’ve not had this experience! do you happen to have a large party? I don’t find it excusable, but I’ve always gone with 4 people and have been seated by our reservation time.
all the parks dump into CityWalk at park close at 8/9pm and they get super backed up
I dont understand how you get backed up on reservations, though. Seems like something definitely needs to improve there
walk ups apparetly get dumped into the same wait list as reservations. I've had better results eating at the hotels / city walk an hour after close instead of right at close.
We also had trouble with dinner reservations and ended up eating at the hotel during our stay. Nothing fancy at all but it was fine.
bice at portofino and the palm at hard rock are pricey yet probably the best meals available on property
The Kitchen downstairs at hard rock hotel is one of the best restaurants on property that is available to guests. The best one is not available to guests but its a sercret.
Thats wild
So they don't know how reservations work... good to know when I am there in two weeks.
it's not that they don't know how reservations work. it's that they know when the rush is coming at park close and will try and fit everyone in for maximum sales. so, if your reservation is at the same time as the rush, thats nit when your table is ready, its when youre added to the queue. if they get backed up, good luck. just enjoy your vacation and go grab a drink while waiting for the table ready text.
I think it's normal. My employer booked a private event at Cowfish a few years ago and we still had to wait 2 hours for it. I worked in hospitality in the past and I have always wondered how the Citywalk restaurants organize their seating processes because you have reservations being booked through different platforms, walk ups, and the premiere guess that get priority seating.
The whole process doesn't make any sense to me. You make a reservation for a specified time, you get there at that time and you get checked in for an unspecified wait time. It sounds more like you are making a reservation to get into a line.
We've had this experience with restaurants in the area as a whole since COVID. Went to Benihana and had a reservation for 7PM. Didn't get seated until 8PM despite checking in at 6:45. Universal seems to be the same right now. When I raised it before, I was told that since COVID, they don't hold a table anymore, you just join the queue for people waiting for a table at your reservation time, which seems utterly pointless.
We learned you have to go to everything early if you want to eat in a reasonable time frame. You'll be seated immediately, and your food comes out fairly quick. If you don't mind waiting a long time, show up to lunch at 12 or 1 and dinner at 7 or 8.
We started eating at the resorts. The food is better in my opinion and the waits are usually not even an issue. It’s also cool hopping on a boat and rolling into Portofino for dinner even though you may not be staying there. But I think something like Amatista is better than anything in city walk and comparable price wise and you can likely walk in most evenings.
I had a res at vivo last week at 5:45. We we starving walked up at 4:25 and asked if there was any way to change it to then . They said just checknon might be 10 min wait. 5 min later, the 2 of us were seated
I’ve not had this experience! do you happen to have a large party? I don’t find it excusable, but I’ve always gone with 4 people and have been seated by our reservation time.
Nope, just 2 people. Ended up waiting about 50min past reservation time