Starbuc71 162 Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 Some of you may know from previous post, I am a big supporter of the trails end buffet in the past few years. I believe the food has gotten much better, the buffet is cleaner and the items are hotter. For the past 3 years we have been doing Thanksgiving dinner at TE and it has always exceeded our expectations. This year was totally different. We had invited some friends to join us for dinner but had to cancel this past week. Was I glad they did because I would have been embarrassed. I know the holidays are busy at restaurants and I think this year Disney pulled their famous over booking procedure at TE. We had a 6:00 reservation and did not get sat until after 7:15. This really did not bother me since I figured the dinner would be worth the wait.....fail. The place was busy, but the servers were pleasant as always. When we went to the buffet I noticed the two main meats were your typical turkey and ham. The turkey was not carved to order but pre-sliced and laid out on a cutting board all dried out and well picked through. The ham was the same and to my surprise the ham was a processed ham......yuk. Really, for Thanksgiving? The stuffing was straight out of the bag of stove top stuffing and was tasteless and undercooked. The gravy was horrid and basically brown water. The sweet potato/yams were less desirable and the only thing that was actually cooked right was the baked salmon. The salad selection was ok but how can you screw salad up. The only offerings for the little ones was Mac and cheese. They did throw the lobster bisque back out this year which was mediocre. The desserts were just as disappointing. A basic choc. Bundt cake, pumpkin pie and cookies. IMHO the meal was terrible. We even heard the manager yell at a waitress saying,"just get that damn table turned and get them the hell in and out. We need to start taking walk-ins". Nice Disney service huh. This was defiantly the worst meal we had at TE in a long time. Being in the restaurant business in the past, I always said if you can't do it right then don't do it at all Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 Wow, that's disappointing to hear. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 Shame on them. I know that they jack up the prices for the Thanksgiving Day buffet too. The unfortunate thing is that the greedy managers will be thrilled with the bottom line, and will serve up more of the same next year. Strike that- they'll probably put more water in the gravy and find some kind of turkey loaf to swap out for the real turkey. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Laura 17 Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 Wow! I am so sorry your meal was a bust! And I am surprised because I also feel TE was getting better. We had free dining on our trip (Wow was that cool!) and many times we just ate at TE because we were too lazy to go anywhere else. Even though the buffet never changed and got a tad boring the food was good and everyone was happy with their meal. And I saw the same lady I seem to see every year running around with a clipboard thing looking at everything and also asking us how we were doing, I was impressed with that. Maybe she had Thanksgiving off......?What is with no carving station? That is a big fail, almost as big a fail as the process spam. This is the one dinner they need to get right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alexwyattmommy 181 Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 That is seriously sad. We ate there the Monday before and the Friday after Thanksgiving and I am really really glad we were not able to get reservations for Thanksgiving now. Both meals had a person slicing the meat, ham and beef tenderloin one meal and ham and beef brisket the other. The cod dish was okay, but the salmon on Friday was pretty good. I do think I was the only one who liked the yams/squash and cranberry stuff though. We ended up having dinner at the club house of my parent's over 55 park in Winter Haven. Very good food and plenty of it. It was supposed to be $2.50 a person, but someone took care of everyone's fee. I think we got the better deal. Next year, would you like to tag along? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 It probably won't do anything, but I'd write a letter. That stinks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023 Posted December 4, 2013 Report Share Posted December 4, 2013 It probably won't do anything, but I'd write a letter. That stinks. Agreed. Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Starbuc71 162 Posted December 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2013 It is what it was. The price wad jacked up which really stunk. I can't believe they didn't have a carving station. If they were not going yo have one they should have at least got the pre cut right Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted December 4, 2013 Report Share Posted December 4, 2013 For what they charge, not having a carving station is inexcusable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wdwpoohbear...Jennifer 40 Posted December 7, 2013 Report Share Posted December 7, 2013 It probably won't do anything, but I'd write a letter. That stinks. I agree...I would write a letter at least. Sorry that you're meal was bad! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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