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Merlin Food

L

Lordy

TS Member
Now I know a lot of enthusiasts can be very snobby a lot of the time, but I'm not like that at all.

When Merlin started dropping the brand name food outlets from Towers, I was worried, but the likes of the Burger Kitchen and Chicken Co were alright, nothing amazing, but it was nice, no worse than the likes of Maccies or the King.

But I have to say that it appears to have gone very much downhill in recent years, I now find the Burger Kitchen almost inedible, and whilst the Chicken Co smells lush when on the Smiler, it's really not. And the hot dogs.... used to be a tradition getting one of them as we left, but last time I had one I gave half of it to the birds....

I also tried the Mexican Cantina in Thorpe the other week.... wished we hadn't... I used to go to the Mexican Cantina in Chessington regularly, and that was really good, but what I had the week at Thorpe could only be described shit.

I'm really not a snob though, so please don't think that... Eastern Express on the other hand is absolutely lush, shame you can't get pass discount but it's not a bad price for how good it tastes really.

The choice at Towers has become shocking too. Yes it may have good sit down restaurants, but when the park is only open until 4pm we really don't have the time for that XD

Am I alone with this? I hope not XD
 
No you're not alone, all the "fast" food outlets on park are dire and the food just bad.
against my better judgement last month I had a sweet chilli chicken wrap from the chicken place, thinking I may be provided with something akin to the sweet chilli chick wrap from McDs (i quite like that one)
OH NO!
1 piece of lettuce a bit of chicken and mayo
took it back and complained, was met with a look of contempt and told it was sweet chilli mayo !
Really?!
OH well excuse me !

The only place I eat on resort are the Hotel restaurants, or Woodcutters, its the only place you can get anything half way decent

if Mcds can make half way edible food surely Towers outlets can
 
Woodcutters and Rollercoaster restaurant are fine, but you are paying extra at Rollercoaster restaurant for food that isn't too differnet to Woodcutters. Last time I had a Burger Kitchen burger it was just fine. Best snack we had last time was kebab baguette (or was it sausage?) from Eastern Express.
 
I remember the opening day of Burger Kitchen at Chessie. Took half an hour to get our food, and the cheese was greener than the brown lettuice. I've never touched that "brand" since.

Woodcutters is acceptable, but can still have bad days.

The only truely great on park food Merlin have ever come up with was Thorpe's Roast and Relish, but they scrapped that. :cry:
 
I've like the Nitrogenies but there an external fanchise, and RCR again is an external fanchise so there has to be a certain standard anyway, the BBQ Smokehouses seem promising and that's a internal fanchise within Merlin.

On another note, I there was a Ben & Jerry's outside The Flume which is the only thing that has been saved from The Flume site I'd expect it will be converted into a Nitrogenie in 2018 though. Which in my opinion is a good thing, Towers needs another Nitrogenie.
 
Pizza and pasta is my favourite outlet on park, can't go wrong with some pizza especially with the map discount :)

I'd rather avoid the burger kitchen and chicken places though :p
 
Towerslover said:
Pizza and pasta is my favourite outlet on park, can't go wrong with some pizza especially with the map discount :)

I'd rather avoid the burger kitchen and chicken places though :p
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Really. ? All the pizza taste the same and all of them disgusting Or that’s my thoughts about them anyway.
 
The food outlets on park are generally dire - in terms of choice, quality and price.

It's a huge shame because back in 2010 they were arguably the best they had ever been after several years of steady improvement.

The fast food outlets in particular are nothing more than cheap knock offs of high street brands.

As for Woodcutters....well I don't think a Poundland Wetherspoons would be an unfair description.

Then there's the Towers Street restaurant which is so bad even a jaded seaside funfair would be embarrassed of it.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but in the 90s the food offerings were generally poor but they made a good effort with theming so you could at least eat in half interesting surroundings.

Fast forward 15/20 years and it's still overpriced muck but with white washed walls and ghastly plastic vinyls everywhere.

My favourite outlets on park used to be Explorers and Fresh Fish & Chips but the former is now way overpriced and the latter replaced with a generic coffee shop.

The Rollercoaster Restaurant is the only park offering you could consider being even close to world class but most people haven't the time or money for it.

Thing is in the last decade or so the eating out sector has grown massively in the UK and people now have pretty high expectations when it comes to the quality of food and the surroundings. Merlin parks do not even come close to the mark.
 
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You guys do realise that the pizza buffet is exactly the same food as when it was Pizza Hut branded, just without the name, right? ;)
(My first job was in a Pizza Hut. I could identify their so-called food in my sleep.)
 
People saying RCR is good food ..
I give you this.
Never will I eat there again
0glD4Nq_d.jpg
 
The more expensive offerings across Towers are hit and miss; I've had some really great meals in RCR and Secret Garden (especially with the Emperor's menu in use), but at times I've also had underwhelming experiences in terms of food quality but also shockingly slow service. The lack of consistency means I can never book a table or dine in one of the restaurants with confidence.

Wirsthaus at Heide Park was unexpectedly good, however I have no intention of going back to Heide to see if consistency is an issue again here.

Don't get me started on the cardboard crap served from Burger Kitchen.
 
bluesonichd said:
Really. ? All the pizza taste the same and all of them disgusting Or that’s my thoughts about them anyway.
Click to expand...
It's my favourite on park just because it's not too expensive and I find the pizza quite nice :p If you think that's bad have you tried a Towers street hot dog recently!:confused:
 
bluesonichd said:
No you're not alone, all the "fast" food outlets on park are dire and the food just bad.
against my better judgement last month I had a sweet chilli chicken wrap from the chicken place, thinking I may be provided with something akin to the sweet chilli chick wrap from McDs (i quite like that one)
OH NO!
1 piece of lettuce a bit of chicken and mayo
took it back and complained, was met with a look of contempt and told it was sweet chilli mayo !
Really?!
OH well excuse me !

The only place I eat on resort are the Hotel restaurants, or Woodcutters, its the only place you can get anything half way decent

if Mcds can make half way edible food surely Towers outlets can
Click to expand...

I've got a great idea. To let Towers know how bad their offerings are, why not buy another VIP pass for next season :)
 
I actually think Burger Kitchen is OK. It may just be the overwhelming strength of the brand and comfort in familiarity but I think McDonald's when you actually think about it is incredibly poor quality food. Everything is greasy gunk that serves to only fill a carb craving really quickly. I'd have a burger kitchen Burger over any McDonald's sell any day of the week. Would prefer a Burger King over both though!

Fried Chicken Co is acceptable but not particularly great. Tastes fine and fills you up but is a bit like that frozen SFC stuff you can buy in Asda.

As for hotdogs, I've yet to come across a Theme park hotdog I would consider eating so Merlin are no worse. I've never had a chance to try pizza pasta in any park because I can't justify spending so much time in a restaurant when the park closes at 4PM and at Scarefest this year it had a massive queue. The Pizzas in Splash Landings however are lush!

Woodcutters food is hit and miss as has already been said. Only tried RCR once and loved the food.

Crooked spoon have a good menu and I highly recommend, as does Secret Garden. Flambos however is now shameful compared to how it used to be.
 
We buy our hotdogs from Tesco and take them in a flask with the rolls in a lunchbox, better than paying the £12 it costs for us at Towers for theirs, also funny when going through bag checks, you always get some weird looks.

The only food I ever felt was bearable at Towers was Rollercoaster Resturant, and that was at a push. We also ordered all kids meals, because the people opposite ordered both an adult and kids meal of the same thing and when it arrived nobody could tell the difference between the two.
 
I know this is a strange thing to say from someone who is a bit of a food snob, but I've always felt theme park hot dogs are supposed to be crap. :p
 
I think I've only eaten in the burger kitchen when I go towers I'm there to ride really can't be bothered to eat till I leave I did try the courtyard few years back but after a very rude member of staff incident I never returned
 
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