Dinner at ‘Ohana | Our Review

Should you have dinner at 'Ohana? Read our review!

This year, I was lucky enough to spend my birthday at Disney World with Josh and my parents. Since we would be staying at the Polynesian, Josh suggested ‘Ohana as the restaurant for my birthday dinner. I was really excited to eat there, since I had never been before and had heard really good things about it!

How to Get a Reservation for Dinner at ‘Ohana

Since our trip was planned less than 180 days in advance, dining reservations were already down to a bit of slim pickings by the time we were making our selections, and the only reservation available for dinner was the night before my birthday at 9:25 PM. Despite the late hour, we decided to go for it (we were coming from a one-hour time zone difference and ¾ of us are typically late eaters anyway. Plus, that was our Magic Kingdom day so the day before my birthday actually ended up working out better).

It actually ended up working well – we watched the Happily Ever After fireworks from the beach of the Polynesian, then walked over just in time to check in for dinner. Though we were famished by the time we were finally sitting down to eat, the food came quickly and everything was so delicious that we definitely made sure our empty bellies were completely full by the time we left!

Tip: To get your preferred dining reservation time at popular restaurants like ‘Ohana, plan in advance and make your reservation when it opens up 180 days before your trip. If that’s not possible, try dining at obscure times and you may just find an opening! Finally, even if you don’t get that reservation you wanted, try checking the day before and the day of, and you may be lucky enough to snag a reservation that someone else has canceled at the last minute!

Click here to learn more about dining at Walt Disney World!

Keep reading for my review of our ‘Ohana experience:

Dinner at ‘Ohana: Location

A meal at ‘Ohana is the perfect addition to your Magic Kingdom day! A quick hop on the resort monorail, and three stops later you are stepping off the monorail at the Polynesian Village Resort and are just steps away the restaurant. If your reservation is early enough, after your meal you can hop back on the monorail and easily get back to Magic Kingdom to enjoy the rest of your evening there!

Thinking about staying at the Polynesian Village Resort? Click here to read more about staying on the monorail loop!

Dinner at ‘Ohana: Atmosphere

The comfortable, Polynesian-style atmosphere at ‘Ohana is laid-back and fun at the same time. While breakfast/brunch is a character meal, dinner at ‘Ohana has fun family games and storytelling. Normally during dinner you’ll see kids running around participating in games, however due to the later hour of our reservation, we had a much calmer and more peaceful environment to dine in. The peaceful serenades of live Hawaiian music played on the ukulele made for a much more relaxing atmosphere to dine in at 10:00 at night. Despite it not being the lively, energetic setting I was expecting, I did really enjoy the late night atmosphere we got to experience!

Dinner at ‘Ohana: Food

The food at ‘Ohana was amazing! It was one of my favorite meals we’ve ever had at Disney World. The appetizers were a highlight for me, and the dessert was absolutely to-die-for! I’m not much of a salad person, and even I thought the salad was great. With how outstanding the appetizers and dessert were, it seems crazy to say that the main course was actually my least favorite part, but somehow it was. Not that it wasn’t good, but I did think it was a bit outshined by the rest of the meal.

Starters:

Our server greeted us and served us bread shortly after we sat down. Normally I try not to fill up on bread to save room for the rest of the meal, but since we were starving due to our late reservation time, we really devoured that bread! The subtle flavors of pineapple and coconut in the bread are the perfect start to your Polynesian feast. After that came the salad. The mixed greens salad with a Lilikoi dressing followed, which as a non-salad eater I have to say I really enjoyed!

Appetizers:

Next came the appetizers: pork dumplings, chicken wings, lo mein noodles and stir-fried vegetables. The pork dumplings and noodles were so delicious, we actually ended up ordering more of these after the main course because they were so good! The chicken wings are coated in a honey-coriander sauce, so if you don’t like the taste of coriander than you may want to skip these ones. The stir-fried vegetables were standard, nothing too special, but good to add more greens into the meat-heavy menu. Overall the dumplings and the noodles were really what made this course stand out to me, and if I could only order these at ‘Ohana I would make a whole meal of it!

Skewers:

The main course of the meal is the Polynesian-style meat skewers, which are brought around by your server and transferred directly from the giant skewer onto your plate. Our server brought around a skewer of chicken, followed by steak, and finally shrimp. With each skewer, he would visit each person at the table and ask how many pieces we would like. As we were eating, he came around with each skewer 2-3 times to make sure we were getting all that we wanted of each.

I personally found that the steak and chicken skewers were both a bit undercooked for my preference. My dad, an avid steak eat who prefers his steak rarer than I do, enjoyed the steak. My mom, the only seafood lover in our family, enjoyed the shrimp. Overall, I loved how they brought the skewers around and served them onto your plate, but the actual meat was not my personal favorite. Not bad, but not a highlight of the meal for me.

Dessert:

I could write a novel about the bread pudding we had for dessert – it may have been the best dessert I’ve ever had. Everyone has a different type of dessert that appeals to them, and this was exactly my type! Warm, delicious bread pudding with a sweet, bananas foster caramel sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream. If you’re a chocolate dessert type of person, this may not be your favorite, but if you are like me and love a fruity, caramel-filled dessert than you will absolutely love this one! After being so full from the rest of the all-you-can-eat dinner, it took all we had to finish off our family-sized serving. Next time, I’ll definitely make sure to save up as much room as possible for the meal’s finale!

Overall:

Overall, dinner at ‘Ohana is definitely a dinner I’d recommend to any guest! Whether you have the lively and fun-filled family atmosphere the dinner is known for, or the relaxing and peaceful late night dining we experienced, this restaurant will be a hit. With easy access from the Magic Kingdom, delicious all-you-can-eat food and a friendly atmosphere, this has definitely earned its position as one of the most popular Disney World restaurants!

What’s your favorite Disney World restaurant? Let us know in the comments!

Fairytale Wonders