MaldivesFreak

Comparing Peacock Alley and Rangali Bar is like comparing apples and oranges. One is for Hhonors Afternoon Tea and the other is a beach bar! Rangali Bar should be compared to Nava. However, it (Peacock Alley) does still beat Vilu.....but maybe not Mandhoo for obvious reasons. Personal opinions will vary I guess. Personally I'd prefer an older, not necessarily newly-built, outdoor and over-water location with unobstructed killer views to a newly-decorated, albeit 'classier' interior in which I was basically stuck indoors. After all, when we fly halfway across the world to a remote tropical island and attend afternoon tea we don't want to, if we have a choice, shut ourselves indoors for any longer than necessary or have anything less than a view to die for. That's just my (and my OH's) 2c worth, @james0499.

Here is what I mean in detail (previous post re-written as it was deleted), @james0499
If you want variety and over-water experiences for your F&B, choose Rangali. The Waldorf has its fair share of 'interesting' dining options but none fully over water (Rangali has 2 + under water as well), some tacky, a ripoff and a bit silly unless you happen to be a bird (Terra, see the wiki for conversations about this venue). Jasmeen has mixed reviews, some say great, some say cheap imitation. Obviously there's no point in talking much about beach bars and buffet restaurants (Waldorf wins hands down here for buffet restaurant) but everything that Rangali has to offer as far as over-water and beach dinners has more substance; tried and tested menus that have been there for a decade or more, classy locations like Vilu and Mandhoo (which have won multiple awards for ambience, romantic atmosphere, luxury / scenic setting etc), both expansive and private beach areas for the beach dinners and naturally fantastic locations for the Private Beach Dining option. Actually I made a mistake in my initial summary - it's not really fair to compare these because one property has these offerings and the other pretty much does not - currently the Waldorf has only a few semi-overwater tables at Li Long and no beach dinners (except maybe in front of the main pool as @flyerchatter reported, ugh) or even anything like Koko Grill which is set into the beach, rather than just on it - there just isn't enough space for a decent one - private or semi-private - that's separated from the rest of the resort because the resort's packed so tightly and beachfront is so very narrow over most of the property. I also have the feeling that by design the Waldorf didn't try to encroach too much on Rangali's territory here (you have to remember that they are both in the same chain and perhaps wanted to differentiate F&B-wise). In a nutshell, Rangali's F&B operation has been consistently winning awards in the top categories for god knows how many years (here are some from 2017 as an example) so if you want to stick with something that's got class, and extra class in the fact that management hasn't set them up to fleece you (admittedly Ithaa being borderline in this area) and has a reputation to boot, then I definitely recommend Rangali.