Kohola Reef Restaurant & Social Club

Shocked to see the reviews so low? Is this fine dining? No… you’re in a freaking water park! Is it much better than your standard theme park counter service? Yes. Is it the best food I’ve had in a water park? Absolutely! I did some research ahead, and was told that the curry bowl with chicken was hands down the way to go, and I was not disappointed. We also had the Huli Huli chicken sandwich, and it was quite good as well. Good portions, good flavor, hot and satisfying. Pro tip - get your food here and then walk down the path to the Dragon Bar to get a cocktail, eat there, and enjoy the beautiful view.

The food was a good sized portion for the price, and taste good, but the only thing is when you did receive your food, it was cold, unfortunately. The lines to get the food were insane and we did Mobile order to boot. The Freestyle machines were out of Ice, and the lines for them were line I4 traffic. It was really noisy in that area. There was plenty of seating, as long as you went to the back area, which was nice, because it was a bit more quite in that area. The ambiance is nice, because you obviously feel like you're in Hawaii under a HUGE hut, which is cool, because you can eat, outside, even if it's raining. The tables and floors need to be cleaned up more often. I didn't see anyone taking care of those things.

We're not finished with our Universal visit but I had to get on here and leave a review for the ribs at Kohola Reef. Horrible! Don't waste your money. My son got them and hated them and said he couldn't eat them. Figured I would switch my pizza for his ribs as we already spent $62 for the 3 of us, but I'm not eating whatever this is. It doesn't taste like ribs and the texture is weird. Very dry. Don't waste your money. Only thing we're eating from that meal is the fries and coleslaw. The pepperoni pizza is what you'd expect for theme park food, but surprisingly good. Husband said Hawaiian pizza is edible but wouldn't order it again. $62 for the 3 food items in pictures and 2 fountain drinks.

We definitely do not recommend eating here. At $16.99, the Ropa Vieja Bowl is poor value; the plantain chips were hard and tasteless, and the bowl was bland. While the burger was okay, the service was slow and NOT friendly. It is simply not worth the high price tag and slow/unfriendly service. Next time, we will pack our own sandwiches or leave the park for a meal!

I actually think the Kohola burger is good, but don't expect something spectacular because it's a water park.

Over 100usd for a family of 4 for food and drinks. Of all the theme parks visited in the last few days: USO, Islands of Adventure, Epic. This restaurant at volcano bay is the most disgusting food I have ever attempted to eat, not only at a theme park but anywhere on earth. All of it went in the bin with a few bites taken out. Feel like I have been robbed. If your going to serve food it should at least be edible. We get ripped off for entry, express pass, towels, cabanas or a shaded seat, Nickel and dimed at every turn. Would it be too much to ask to have some decent hot food options that people can eat. Do better Universal, stop serving people cold trash. Also, the staff particularly here were rude, and unhelpful.

I thought the options sounded fantastic especially for a water park and they looked pretty great. Generous servings. Refill bar for self service. But the actual taste of the food was not that great sadly. I have to really praise the staff though. They kept the place clean and were helpful and accommodating, thank you so much for that. Our stay was wonderful even though the taste could be tweaked a little bit we were still very happy. We pre-ordered Mobil and it made it all very fast.

very solid burger for a theme park… the queues are extremely long

Pork is tender and flavorful goes good with volcano beer. Come with a decent serving of fries. We

Went to Volcano bay and this was the spot we choose to eat at after seeing people come out with massive burgers. It wasn't too busy round 11ish and we got our food quick. This place was clean and had nice seating areas. I purchased the Kohola Burger and Bacon Cheeseburger Both came with fries and were great. It did cost but what theme park food doesn't. Both were good and we enjoyed it.

TIP #1. Eat here from 11am-12pm. If you come any later you will wait over 45 before you get your food. TIP #2. If it looks likes it's going to rain... get here fast! It will get super crowded because they close down the rides and everyone goes to eat. This place is expensive but the food is above average for theme park food. We ordered bacon burgers, pizza, and ribs. The burgers was slightly dry but still good. My daughter said the pizza tastes like Pizza Hut (idk)...about $16 and it feeds two easily. My wife said the ribs were soft but she's used to a different type of ribs... she likes hers a little crispier on the side.

If I can give 0 star, I will. We went to vocable bay water park last month, I tried to place mobile order for this restaurant. Their mobile keep shows app error so I can't get confirmation code. So I went to different restaurant for lunch. Later that day at 730pm, I received email said oh here is ur confirmation code for lunch. At that time water park is closed and we are already back in hotel. We left Orlando the next day, and they charged me for the food I never could even get. I tried to call but none of phone number I found online can reach them. I can't dispute through credit card company because they need you tried to fix it with merchant first. So there you go, get free money. I will never go there again.

The place was filthy, not one employee checked tables. Garbage everywhere. Ordered on mobile, arrived and got two eye rolls from employees. One told me they didn't do mobile orders (despite it being on the app, signage for pickup and an accepted order). Mahi sandwich was soggy. Flatbread pizza salty and overdone on one side. Pulled pork sandwich was nicely sized and done ok. Better places nearby or wait for your hotel.

Wow! Most incredible food at a theme park. One big con to get out of the way, is the obvious, the pricing! But you are able to bring your own food into the park, so you are not obligated to get food here. You may also bring in your own water, this is a bonus compared to other water parks. Due to either COVID, Spring break, or the park was filled to capacity, the lines here are very long, so be aware. But the food was top notch for a water park. We tried to coconut curry and rice chicken bowl. Best meal ever at a water park. It came with sweet plantains. So worth ordering. We also had the pulled pork sandwich and fries. Very, very tasty. The caramelized pineapple was amazing. We took the food back and ate on the beach in front of the volcano, really fun. For dessert, go a little ways past this food court and get the Watari five flavored soft serve ice cream! Sooo amazing. Smooth, creamy, best treat in the park. They also have smaller stands near by with corn dogs and churros. So everyone was happy! I love that this place has a unique variety on their menu. Check menus and locations of restaurants first before choosing. There was a kind man outside the restaurant with menus and directing customers to correct lines. Mobile ordering is available. You can also pay with the tapu tapu if you set up a credit card in advanced. I highly recommend it. It makes it easier and less time consuming.

My son and I split a pepperoni longboard pizza and I felt like it tasted like frozen pizza. The crust was not crispy. I wasn't a fan of it. My older son got a burger and loved it. He said it was his favorite thing in our 5 day trip, and he loves burgers. My husband got the green coconut curry rice bowl and said it was his favorite meal from the trip also. I also got a fruit bowl from the grab and go area, which was really cold and fresh tasting. The bowl had a couple of lychee pieces, blueberries, watermelon, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and the standard honeydew/cantaloupe combo. Overall probably the best food of all 3 parks. Would definitely recommend.

After riding rides all morning at Volcano Bay we were so hungry. We decided to give Kohola Reef a try. After scanning over the menu we entered the long queue. Once we got to the foodcourt thats where any form of organization ended. It was absolute chaos at the food stations and the employees didnt seems to either help or care. Honestly they seemed to make things worse. It took a significant time for our group of 5 to get their food and drinks. By the time we got seated much of our food was cold. The Hawaiian BBQ ribs? Nothing Hawaiian about them. Honestly I have been to Hawaii and my cousin lives there on Maui. I found the ribs tender but the flavor confusing. The sides were good. The pineapple upside down cake? Just plain awful and tasteless. Dont waste your money here. Poor food quality, zero organization, Pricey, and limited seating for number of guests looking to eat. If you want to eat try one of the hotels nearby.

Went to volcano bay and this was the only quick serve food location open out of 3. It is definitely a pretty nice location right next to a pond and it is kept very clean. There was a pretty long line when I arrived and I waited about 15 minutes. I ordered the Kohola Tandoori chicken sandwich. It was a decent flavor, but the chicken portion was very thin and dry. The pizza looked delicious and I think maybe that is what I would go for next time. I just wish they had more food locations open to help with the crowds and offer more variety. This particular location does offer a pizza window, chicken and seafood window, and a burger and bbq window so you should be able to find something for everyone in the family. I wouldn't go out of my way for the food here, but given it's the only option at VB right now there isn't much of a choice.

If I could give it one star I would. Knowing that being at an amusement park you are not going to find fine dining- but this meal was 70$ and less than edible. Let me start with, I eat gluten free and have found it bizarre that Universal has not put gluten free options on their boards in the parks. Here we had two 1/2 chicken platters, one was so dry it was next to impossible to eat, the other was a tad more tolerable. The BBQ pork sandwich was decent, other than the bun was stale. I ordered from the "gluten free binder" that the chef brought out to show me. This was a chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato, gluten free bun & fries. This was awful. Dry, tiny and my daughter actually said it looked like dry fish as it was the same color as salmon. I was hungry, so I ate a chunk of it. It was not worth the money.. Not to forget to mention that when my son went back to fill his drink cup with water, they made him go back outside, get in line+ (outside the place) and wait to come back in to ask for tap water in his soda (as the almost $4 soda was 75% ice with no refills)- this took him over 10 minutes to accomplish . Unacceptable.

Amazing food horrible service. We did the order ahead. Received the notification that the food was ready, arrived at the mobile pickup window and there was nobody there. Asked for help from an attendant who grabbed someone, who came and provided the people in front of us sugar for their coffee and then walked away. Never to be seen again. Waved down another team member, who looked concerned and then also disappeared. Waved down another team member who said my food wasn't ready and was going to take a few more minutes. 10 more minutes on top of the 20 I waited for assistance went by. And not a single soul has addressed me. Very upset.

Kahola Reef Social Club Restaurant is located at Universals Volcano Bay Waterpark in Orlando. At first we were amazed by the beautiful exotic Polynesian Island style tiki hut style architecture of the restaurant including the cool tropical fish hanging from the ceiling. We got the Réka Burger which comes with pepper jack cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, mango bbq, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce on a Hawaiian style bun with fries for $16 and the mango bbq pork sandwich topped with caramelized pineapple, cabbage, mango slaw, on a toasted Hawaiian bun with fries for $13. Both dishes were pretty tasty although way over priced, but it is to be expected at a theme park. I just wish they had healthier dining options available. At first I wanted to get the Coconut chicken rice bowl with braised chicken, green coconut curry sauce, coconut rice cilantro and sweet plantains but upon seeing how small the bowls were opted for a more filling burger. Perhaps on my next visit I'll try the coconut chicken rice bowl or the mahi mahi burger. Patrons of this restaurant have to wait in a line to order and get rung up at a register. There is no table Service or alcoholic beverages available at this restaurant. The ship style buildings have alcoholic beverages. Look forward to my next visit or perhaps seeing if there's any other more healthy dining options next time.

Worst service, one drink fill is $5. We waited in line to order for 45 mins and now are still waiting for our food. We got in line at 1:22, it's now 2:42 and we still don't have our food. Very disappointed. Do not recommend AT ALL. I will say there's a sweetheart name kristin (I think) and she was very helpful and sweet.