Having spent many years working both front- and back-of-house at banquet events, I was very surprised at the level of service this facility provided. I might have hit an off day. They might have been out of their element. Who knows? Whatever the reason was, I was disappointed by the event.
I attended a breakfast awards meeting for my service organization. For a catering hall to put on a morning meal event for a large group known for running pancake breakfasts, they better be prepared to pull out all the stops. Our event used to be held at the other facility in Winsted, but it had recently closed. The organizers picked this venue as it was the closest to the center of the area we serve.
First off, let me say the venue is nice. Very bright and clean. White tablecloths and chair covers. Napkins matching our organizations colors. The tables seemed cramped though--long tables with rounded ends instead of round tables. The same number of people around the tables, but less space for each. However, since I only rate on service and food, let's start with service.
I counted nine servers--actually, eight and a room captain. Coffee was already on tables in carafes. One per table for eight-ten people. At least the servers were good about trying to get more coffee to people. We kicked off the meeting at eight-thirty am. The buffet opened about 8:45, and tables were called up one by one. It was nearly 9:10 before my table was called, and it was about in the middle of a room of about twenty-two tables. The last table went up about 9:30. Just before that, the captain happened to be passing past my table and I overheard him tell a server that our contact was complaining about how slow things were running. He didn't appear to care at all.
So, up to the buffet line I went. For 200 people I would have had two separate buffets set, one on each side. They only had one. Additionally, they had staff dishing out from the chafers, which slowed the proceedings quite a bit, as there was only one line past the food, guests on one side, servers on the other--most places would have had done away with the servers and had guests help themselves from both sides. This also took half the servers off the floor, which placed an added burden on the others trying to make sure everyone got coffee when they wanted it.
So, the food: a tablespoon of scrambled eggs and cheese (I don't eat eggs, so I passed on this). Two small sausage links. One-half of a piece of French Toast (which I also passed on, since I avoid bread), a soup-spoon of home-fries, and a few pieces of fruit, carefully counted out. I carried my "breakfast" back to my table and dug in. Everything was cold, except for the fruit, which was lukewarm. Out of curiosity, I went back to the buffet and none of the chafers appeared to have Sterno under them. Or, they went out. Whichever.
My entire table finished our food, and I noticed that some servers had started to bring trays of orange juice to tables.This was about 30 minutes after service started. Personally, I'd like my juice with my breakfast, instead of as a digestif, but maybe they do things different in Winsted. I guess they ran out quickly because I only noticed a few tables receiving it, and none was offered at my table.
So, it's past 9:30. We resumed our meeting, and the staff started clearing tables. So, according to my watch, the first tables had empty, dirty plates sitting on them for more than half-an-hour before anyone picked them up. To me, this is an unacceptable level of service. On top of that, the captain had a return station set up in the room, so servers brought plates and silver to him, and he scraped and separated there. Not only aesthetically unappealing, but distracting to those around. This is honestly the first time I've seen this, and I was appalled!
I heard later on that this venue was primarily for evening events, and some staff was grumbling about having to be there so early. It was apparent that not everyone brought their A-game to this event.
Based on this experience, I probably wouldn't book an event here in the future. I saw a room captain who liked to bark orders instead of assisting his staff in getting things done. I saw some staff work their tails off, while some seemed to be coasting. I received meager amounts of cold food.
This was probably one of the worst banquet events I had ever attended. read more