I did quite a bit of research into the best Disney restaurants to make the most of our dining plan. Without question, Ohana was one of the most popular options. In fact, when I talked to one of the Disney representatives on the phone, he told me, "You have to go to Ohana. People come from around their world for Ohana's bread pudding with bananas foster sauce."
That is a pretty high recommendation coming from a man who has visited Disney dozens and dozens of times! So, I immediately looked into it on the Disney Dining Reservation web-site, but of course, there were no openings AT ALL. I decided not to give up hope and to keep watching the dining reservations to see if anything came up!
Eventually, a 7:00 PM reservation came up and I immediately grabbed it! But after a couple of days of thinking about it off and on, I became a little concerned about how enjoyable the meal would be our family at that time of night. From reading reviews, I discovered it is not uncommon to have to wait 45 minutes to an hour for a table at Ohana. Bad news! Our three little girls, on most nights, like to climb into bed no later than 8:00 PM.
Anyway, a couple of days later, I was incredibly surprised that a reservation opened up for 5:00 PM for another evening. I found out later that 5:00 PM is actually the opening time for the restaurant's dinner-time service! I was excited to not only have minimum waiting time, but also a much more reasonable hour for dinner. Hooray!!!
Upon our arrival, we were almost immediately greeted by our Hawaiian hostess with song and dance. By the way, "Ohana" means family, so we were all called "cousins"!
We began our dinner with coconut-pineapple bread and a salad with passion fruit vinaigrette with chunks of fruit in it! I ordered a pomegranate lemonade for my drink and the girls drank milk with their dinner. Then we were served delicious potstickers and chicken wings.
Soon after our arrival, all the kids were invited to participate in a parade around the restaurant.
For dinner, we were served grilled meats from long skewers, "churrascaria style"! Our skewers included: Asian Barbequed Pork Loin Skewers, Chicken Skewers, Marinated Sirloin Steak Skewer, and unpeeled, Marinated Shrimp, along with stir-fried vegetables and lo mein noodles.
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Brad had a hard time being torn away from the table....the food was THAT good! :-)
But after the parade, it was time for the coconut races with brooms:
Jillian was the only one of our girls who decided to do the race. She did a great job and was extremely patient with the hard-to-control coconut!
Then, it was time for more dancing!!!
Jillian and Anna participated in the hula dancing lessons.
I love how little Anna looked at her big sister for instruction!
The girls were given an extra lei to give to someone they love. I was blessed to be crowned with a lei of love on my head! :-)
Hands-down, this was Brad's favorite meal (perhaps to be expected from a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy). He loved the pot-stickers, and really liked how the waiters kept coming around with skewers of meat. He had about 5 pieces each, of steak, chicken and pork, and a half-dozen shrimp. (I agree that the shrimp was super fabulous, but my favorite restaurant was yet to come.)
Brad was almost too full to try their famous bread pudding, but he managed a little bit more - and loved it. I did too, it was incredible!! I am thankful I only live a few hundred miles away from Disney World, rather than around the world, so I can go back someday!
For those of our "cousins" ;-) who will not be able to visit Disney anytime soon, I found this recipe for you: Recipe for Ohana Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster Sauce.
The food was extremely good and our family really enjoyed the Hawaiian hospitality!
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