• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Food & Beverage 2019

Following on from what I thought was our troubled experience last week, the Rollercoaster Restaurant continues to be the gift that keeps on giving:

2b3d2cb831b33f75584fff204d652bf1.png
 
AGL said:
They’re pushing the dirty fries hard at Chessington. Not tried them, but look as though they’d be a decent addition to AT.
Click to expand...
They are adequate. However they're a bit overpriced for what they are, and you have to buy them with a drink.
 
Rollercoaster Restaurant is dire, really.

It's so inconsistent and that's what matters.

I am not going back until there's hard evidence of improvement and we won't be recommending our readers do, either.
 
AstroDan said:
Rollercoaster Restaurant is dire, really.

It's so inconsistent and that's what matters.

I am not going back until there's hard evidence of improvement and we won't be recommending our readers do, either.
Click to expand...

At least if you go to a spoons or McDonalds you know what your going to get. F&B at towers is so inconsistent one time your meal may be ok/good the next time it's inedible.

Me and my so both got food poisoning last time we went to RCR and swore never to go back after that
 
It's a shame as I've had a couple of good experiences there, but having seen the standards lately I won't be rushing back.
 
I've not been this season (well I've only been to Towers once this season anyway) but it is so disappointing to hear about Rollercoaster Restaurant. Am I surprised though? Not really, the standards and quality of F&B over the past 12-24 months seems to have taken a real hit and there have been some obvious budget cuts.

I remember the opening night of Rollercoaster Restauarant and just how good it was. A delicious fillet steak, a nice dessert, great atmosphere; it was arguably better than FoodLoop at Europa-Park. Since then the menu has got worse along with pretty much everything else. When you think that this is meant to be one of the Resort's premium offerings as well it makes it even worse.
 
Rob said:
I've not been this season (well I've only been to Towers once this season anyway) but it is so disappointing to hear about Rollercoaster Restaurant. Am I surprised though? Not really, the standards and quality of F&B over the past 12-24 months seems to have taken a real hit and there have been some obvious budget cuts.

I remember the opening night of Rollercoaster Restauarant and just how good it was. A delicious fillet steak, a nice dessert, great atmosphere; it was arguably better than FoodLoop at Europa-Park. Since then the menu has got worse along with pretty much everything else. When you think that this is meant to be one of the Resort's premium offerings as well it makes it even worse.
Click to expand...

Premium prices, lowest quality ingredients & hope a bit of Merlin Magic gets sprinkled on the "experience" so the guests enjoy it!

From the reviews I've read lately, it seems the Merlin Magic needs to be sprinkled on the Rollercoaster Restaurant dishwasher, drinks chiller, food supplier(s), kitchen team, front of house staff & the managers!
 
The breakfast in AT Hotel last time we visited was, without hyperbole, the worst hotel breakfast I have ever had. And I’ve stayed in Blackpool. Regularly.

The sausages were a weirdly squishy consistency one could only imagine comes from the very worst part of the animal, the beans were thin and flavourless, the eggs were tasteless with a troubling texture, there was not a single machine able to dispense me an orange juice which didn’t taste like yellow water and it would take a special effort to make coffee any worse than I received.

Mix that in with the fact I had to book a time for breakfast, only to have to queue for ages to get in anyway and then once we were seated, the restaurant was quite apparently half empty but tables and the floor were littered with rubbish.

A thoroughly unpleasant experience.

Make no mistake, this spiral into the abyss is not an inevitable product of running this sort of hotel. The breakfast used to be good, no booking was required, shorter queues, better quality ingredients, cooked well, with a much wider choice (remember the donuts?), good service, a clean restaurant and cafetière coffee delivered to your table.

The only reason you don’t get this any more is that Merlin insist on cutting everything to the bare bone, whilst charging you the same or more.
 
venny said:
The breakfast in AT Hotel last time we visited was, without hyperbole, the worst hotel breakfast I have ever had. And I’ve stayed in Blackpool. Regularly.

The sausages were a weirdly squishy consistency one could only imagine comes from the very worst part of the animal, the beans were thin and flavourless, the eggs were tasteless with a troubling texture, there was not a single machine able to dispense me an orange juice which didn’t taste like yellow water and it would take a special effort to make coffee any worse than I received.

Mix that in with the fact I had to book a time for breakfast, only to have to queue for ages to get in anyway and then once we were seated, the restaurant was quite apparently half empty but tables and the floor were littered with rubbish.

A thoroughly unpleasant experience.

Make no mistake, this spiral into the abyss is not an inevitable product of running this sort of hotel. The breakfast used to be good, no booking was required, shorter queues, better quality ingredients, cooked well, with a much wider choice (remember the donuts?), good service, a clean restaurant and cafetière coffee delivered to your table.

The only reason you don’t get this any more is that Merlin insist on cutting everything to the bare bone, whilst charging you the same or more.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. Premier Inn can do a very decent full breakfast buffet for under £10 per adult (which includes two under-16's eating free per paying adult). This includes, in my experience, very decent "the full works" with quality bacon, sausage & beans and all the usual extras. There is also a pretty good continental option too. The coffee is all Costa Coffee - hardly surprising as Whitbread used to own Costa. So a good breakfast can be done at a reasonable price (especially if it's 1 adult + 2 children free) without the constant use of a microwave to reheat pre-cooked food.

I think it's time to look on the Merlin Careers page and see exactly what qualifications they are seeking for any chef vacancies!
 
The sausages are of particular concern to me when having breakfast in the hotels. There is hardly any meat content in them,which in turn makes me wonder....what is in them!!!!!
 
I went to Rollercoaster Restaurant on opening year, thought it was ok.

I went there last week and it was abysmal. Fries didnt arrive with a chicken burger, and the burger that arrived was akin to a 99p burger from a particular fast food chain, except at the price of £15.00. It also without doubt just had the same sauce as you got on the burgers in what was Fried Chicken Co (don't know what the new place is like, never been).

I am never a 'I want to speak to the manager' person but I told them there was no way in hell I was paying full price for it, and I will not go back.

I only went there as Forbidden Valleys complete lack of food options forced us into it. I've become so cynical of the place that I am sure this is a strategic decision to get you to pay the overinflated premiums in the RCR. Seriously, other than a hot dog the closest place you can actually get any other kind of food is in Katanga Canyon. Ridiculous.

Unfortunately my one visit this year has just confirmed that at present, the park in general serves as nothing more than a cash vacuum and in general is a dump.
 
I thought I'd check out the legal requirements. In the UK a "pork sausage" must be at least 42% meat. If it's just described as a "sausage" it can be as low as 32%.
 
Alsty said:
I thought I'd check out the legal requirements. In the UK a "pork sausage" must be at least 42% meat. If it's just described as a "sausage" it can be as low as 32%.
Click to expand...

Think I have probably found the sausages Merlin use across their parks... 15p each cost price.
https://www.brake.co.uk/products/me...raditional-style/f5147-brakes-sausage-twelves

So the "free breakfast roll" you get staying in the Pig Sheds costs Merlin little more than 50p, based on 2 sausages & the bread roll itself. If you dare to ask for ketchup or brown sauce - it certainly wont be Heinz Ketchup or HP brown sauce. Again, looking at Brakes website, Heinz Ketchup sachets are available working out at 9p each, but generic Brakes ketchup sachets are only 4p each. Could only find the generic brown sauce sachets, again at 4p each.

I had better stop or I'll get a call from Merlin inviting me to join their food purchasing team!
 
The mark-up on food sales can be very high. I know for a fact that the ingredients in a McDonalds extra value meal (all varieties, but medium sized) cost under £1. Similarly a small fish & chips of the type you used to be able to get at Towers can be done for under £1 for the ingredients. Of course, you need to add on a little for staffing costs, electricity & other overheads, but the profit margin is high.
 
I’ve not got a problem paying the large mark up, it’s more or less expected at places like towers. I do however expect good quality for paying this mark up and this is where they fail abysmally
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top