Disney Dining: 'Ohana at Disney's Polynesian

My mom and brother first arrived on Wednesday 8/21. I still had work that day so while they were landing, I was clocking out. I quickly ran back to my apartment to change and made my journey not to the hotel but first, the Polynesian! What better way to start our vacation than stuffing our faces at an all you can eat restaurant? We used up our first table service credit at 'Ohana for dinner at about 6:45. While I wanted to show them Epcot and all the things I have been doing on this program, I still wanted to show them my home from last year since they didn't get to see it. I couldn't have pictured a greater start to the trip!

'Ohana is an all you can eat family style table service restaurant on the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House of the Polynesian. All you can eat means they will bring you out a serving to start and you can keep asking for more throughout your meal. Breakfast features character dining with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. Dinner focuses on the flavors of Hawaii while featuring coconut races and hula dances for the kids. The center of attention is of course, the fire pit right in the middle of the restaurant where Cast Members cook the skewers for dinner.

I worked for the Polynesian Resort last Spring as a baker and absolutely loved it. I did bread and plated desserts for Kona Cafe mostly but also did some work for 'Ohana. One of the things I remember from last year was when I was working the graveyard shift (3:30PM-12:00AM) and after the restaurant had closed, they let us eat some of the leftover food. I had never sat down to eat in 'Ohana so this was my chance! I loaded my plate with their noodles and shrimp and of course the bread pudding and I knew that I had to come back and eat here at some point.

Grab your grass skirt and ukulele because I'm taking you on a South Pacific tour of our first meal!

 Welcome Bread-Pineapple & Coconut Bread

 Mixed Green Salad

 You want a seal of approval? Not only my brother eating salad but asking for a refill means it is VERY good

 Appetizers include Pork Dumplings and Honey Glazed Wings. I didn't mind the wings too much, the glaze was delicious but I'm not a fan of bones. We ended up asking for a refill of just the dumplings which we nearly filled up on before the meal even started!

 Teriyaki Noodles and Vegetables.In the bakery we worked next to the hot apps line for 'Ohana so I smelled these and the dumplings and wings all day, such a tease!

 I tried taking a picture of the Spicy Grilled Peel-And-Eat Shrimp but they kept disappearing! Other entree options? Grilled Chicken, Char-Sui Pork Loin, and Marinated Sirloin Steak

 What's Hawaii without a bit of music?

 Sean and Mom enjoying our first meal back together!

 The fire pit where all of the main entree skewers are grilled. I actually knew the CMs behind the grill that night and they still remembered me!

 Be prepared for a pile of shrimp skins!

 Saving the best for last, Bread Pudding A La Mode with Banana Fosters Sauce. Just as delicious as I remembered!

Instead of clocking out of the Polynesian, I was nearly rolling out of the Polynesian instead. We were SO stuffed! We all thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm glad I got to experience it in the restaurant rather than the cast cafeteria. We were pretty tired that night with a long vacation ahead of us so I gave a quick tour before they headed to the resort and I headed to my apartment to grab my things.

Mahalo to all of our cousins at the Polynesian for such a great meal!