Margaritaville Orlando Restaurant

Reviews 4

CA

Carrie Easley

My family has visited this restaurant multiple times over the years and we always loved the food and the atmosphere. This time, however, when we arrived at dinnertime on a Monday, we asked about priority seating, which we had enjoyed in the past. The hostesses said that it was not available for guests of the hotel we were staying at. Thats fine, we told them that a customer service representative for Universal had told us differently and we would take it up with them. In the following minutes, they gave us a pager, said that they would seat us in about forty-five minutes, and sent us off to wait. We waited. An hour later, we decided to check on our position on the list as they had cleared out the queue both inside and outside. We werent on the list. They gave us a pager, an estimated wait time, and we sat in their field of vision for an hour and we werent on the list. Never did they check on us. Never did they acknowledge us in any way. They told us that they would put us on the list at that point but we would have to wait fifteen to twenty minutes. At this point, had I been there alone, I would have walked out and never looked back. We had to argue with them to get them to acknowledge that just putting us on the list now (What list? They had seated everyone else!) was not sufficient and then magically they had a table available for a party our size (four, not an uncommon size). And others who came in right after us were seated immediately. I work in a customer service-oriented position myself and I got the impression that they purposefully left us off of the list. When we requested to speak to a manager, she was very dismissive of the situation ("Oh, that happens sometimes! Sometimes they just forget!") and though she gave us a free appetizer, that wasnt what we wanted. If that happens that often, the hostesses should check on people who have been waiting for a long time in the waiting area instead of chatting amongst themselves. The entire experience was shadowed by this and, though the food was good as always and our waitress did a very good job, I dont think Ill be going back.

IA

ian kornmeyer

To begin with, I need to be clear that we never managed to eat here - I will explain. We made our way out of a long day at Universal Studios and spotted Margaritaville just outside the gate. My wife has always wanted to eat at one of the Margaritaville locations. We had to ask at the open bar if they had any wheel chair access. They said yes, but we had to go back out onto the main path and then make our way around the gift store to the restaurant front desk. Once we figured out which doors not to go into, by entering each of them, we found the hostess station. We were quoted a 25-35 minute wait, because we were a party of 6 and had a stroller. After 40 minutes we asked if we were still on the list or if our beeper was off. They confirmed we had been assigned one of their limited large-top tables and that the family there hadnt left yet. I returned behind my stroller parked DIRECTLY in front of the hostess station. About 5-6 minutes later our beeper went off for 20 seconds - which it turns out is just long enough to get up a family of 6 and get them ready to move. What happened after the 20 seconds? We approached the hostess station and the young woman who had helped us had disappeared! After a couple minutes of confusion, we located her and were informed that our table was ready. Around the corner and down the stairs... This is truly where the wheels fell off our experience. She informed us that there was NO way to get to our table without taking stairs and, even with a sleeping child in our stroller, we could not have the stroller pulled up to our table. The best they could do was "in the vicinity" once wed packed the stroller down the stairs. After making sure we heard everything correctly and had an accurate picture, we walked down the main path and into The Cowfish. They were able to get us in within 4-5 minutes AND made room for our stroller.

TR

Tracy Johnson

Gone way downhill. A priority reservation, checked in 20 minutes early, doesnt mean much if the hostess ("Summer", really?) checks you in. She simply has to "forget to push the button" and you will be left to wait, wait, wait. Then, she tried to seat us at an awful table in the bar after 45 minutes even though there were at least a dozen booths and better tables. When I told her the problems, she only said, "You can talk to the manager if you want. Maybe youll get a discount." I overheard other people earlier having bad experiences and should have followed my instincts and left. If you go here, dont expect fresh food, but do expect upscale prices. The chips were stale, the fish tacos (upgraded to mahi mahi for an extra $3 for something like $20) were inedible...really...had the consistency of old pork and after chewing for a while had to spit it out like a bad steak. I did feel sorry for the waiter. They offered to make me something else but the rest of our group was done by that time. Maybe they can hire more wait staff? Since their menu is so limited, I passed and just told them to take it off our bill. After ruining our otherwise great day, and talking to several different employees about the problems, the very young manager, Aaron, did comp our meals. I went back to the condo three hours later and made a turkey sandwich. We went here out of tradition, but are sorry to say that we will never be back. If you go here, only go for a drink. Btw, dont expect a margarita in a traditional margarita glass. Youll only get a tall glass with overflowing ice for $10. On a positive note, the bartender was fantastic. I wonder if they try to delay you to get you to buy more drinks while youre waiting in an effort to improve their profit margin? The cart food in the parks are of better quality, better prices, and it wont ruin your day.

LI

Lisa S

Let me start this review with the fact that Ive never once left a review, neither good nor bad, about a restaurant. Then I would like to add that I wouldnt even afford this restaurant one star if there were an option for zero stars. We, a party of eight, arrived at 11:15 PM. The restaurant closes at 12:00 AM. The host for the outside seating told us that they were closing the kitchen early since they had not had any parties arrive in the last 45 minutes. But he said he would check for us. We mentioned wed prefer to dine inside and then he left for a couple of minutes when he returned he told us to walk around to the inside and she would seat us. HA!!! While hes telling us theyre closing. She told us there would be a 35-40 minute wait! I promise you that half the place was empty!!! And, interestingly enough, there were tables that still had menus waiting to order and others that were still receiving their drinks. Now were tired of playing the host/hostess game. We asked to speak with a manager. When she showed herself she asked us to give her a couple MORE minutes while she finds a place for us to sit. Meanwhile the hostess (that never returned to speak to us) sat several other parties. One of at least SIX people. The dining area in front of the stage is almost full but she manages to pull two tables together right in front of the stage and then proceeded to argue with THREE of her servers to take our table. Now! All that said, the server that came to our table was super sweet, polite and friendly. But we decided, after a roughly 30 minute run around, that eating here was a very bad idea. We did order a couple sodas and a tea, so we placed a 20.00 on the table and left. The entire visit from start to non-finish was an embarrassing fiasco and humiliating in a way that should never happen from a resort or corporate business.