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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

Ash said:
There are 4 star all inclusive hotels in Turkey that offer better food and hospitality than Alton Towers, and I’m not joking. That’s what they’re up against, and they’re fighting an inferno with a garden hose.
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Turkey 4 star? You don't need to go that far! Ive been mocked before for saying it but it's absolutely true, Butlins is far superior. I've just been for a half term break for £254; incliding breakfast and dinner every day from a huge buffet including live cooking stations for bbq, omlettes, stir fry etc. A huge pool, rides shows, etc etc.

The food is genuinely incredible compared to wat AT would try amd get away with serving you.
 
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pluk said:
Turkey 4 star? You don't need to go that far! Ive been mocked before for saying it but it's absolutely true, Butlins is far superior. I've just been for a half term break for £254; incliding breakfast and dinner every day from a huge buffet including live cooling stations for bbq, omlettes, stir fry etc. A huge pool, rides shows, etc etc.

The food is genuinely incredible compared to wat AT would try amd get away with serving you.
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You’re right, I’ve stopped in places a 3rd of the cost, independent and had and 3/4 times better experience.

The fact a company that size can’t be bothered to run a kitchen and a bar to a reasonable standard says how badly ran it is.
 
The difference in food quality and value for money between Flambos and SGR is now insane. I've not been to Flambos for a couple of years, but ate there last night following a meal at SGR last weekend - and to say it was disappointing would be an understatement.

1) Buffet options have been vastly reduced since my last visit - there used to be an entire extra counter full of roast dinner options - now replaced with a single measly cottage pie and some dry roast potatoes.
2) Drinks are not included with the meal - I think this may have been the case for some time, however when the "meal" is £27.50pp, I think this is stingy.
4) The atmosphere is horrendous. Wailing Taylor Swift cover intruding from Ma's above clashing hideously with the Caribbean fare they typically play in the restaurant area. Ear splitting.
3) Almost without exception, all food options are absolutely appalling in terms of flavour. The chicken curry had absolutely no spice and just tasted like chicken in cheap chopped tomatoes. The chilli "non" carne was as bland as anything and had a very odd texture. The Chinese curry was marginally better but the pork within was grisly and clearly very cheaply sourced. The desserts were OK but weren't stored in a position which kept them cool, meaning the cheesecake-type affairs were lukewarm and unappetising.

Frankly even with the annual pass discount, Flambos is an utter ripoff. I don't think I've eaten as bad food as that anywhere, at any other location ever - and certainly at not such an eye watering total.

Absolutely avoid it for the time being at least, and instead book at SGR which has very nice, well presented and tasty food at not necessarily even much more of an overall cost. In any case, I'm much more inclined to pay more for proper table service and food cooked to order, as opposed to assembled in an enormous pot to which a total of approximately 1g of seasoning has been added. Rant over!
 
Alastair said:
The difference in food quality and value for money between Flambos and SGR is now insane. I've not been to Flambos for a couple of years, but ate there last night following a meal at SGR last weekend - and to say it was disappointing would be an understatement.

1) Buffet options have been vastly reduced since my last visit - there used to be an entire extra counter full of roast dinner options - now replaced with a single measly cottage pie and some dry roast potatoes.
2) Drinks are not included with the meal - I think this may have been the case for some time, however when the "meal" is £27.50pp, I think this is stingy.
4) The atmosphere is horrendous. Wailing Taylor Swift cover intruding from Ma's above clashing hideously with the Caribbean fare they typically play in the restaurant area. Ear splitting.
3) Almost without exception, all food options are absolutely appalling in terms of flavour. The chicken curry had absolutely no spice and just tasted like chicken in cheap chopped tomatoes. The chilli "non" carne was as bland as anything and had a very odd texture. The Chinese curry was marginally better but the pork within was grisly and clearly very cheaply sourced. The desserts were OK but weren't stored in a position which kept them cool, meaning the cheesecake-type affairs were lukewarm and unappetising.

Frankly even with the annual pass discount, Flambos is an utter ripoff. I don't think I've eaten as bad food as that anywhere, at any other location ever - and certainly at not such an eye watering total.

Absolutely avoid it for the time being at least, and instead book at SGR which has very nice, well presented and tasty food at not necessarily even much more of an overall cost. In any case, I'm much more inclined to pay more for proper table service and food cooked to order, as opposed to assembled in an enormous pot to which a total of approximately 1g of seasoning has been added. Rant over!
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Genuine question, but what time of the night did you go to Flambos?

I only ask as we often go early in the evening (kids in tow, usually!) and found the food to be really good with a wider selection than you've described. However, we've had friends go later in the evening who didn't find the choice so varied, almost like once they run out of something, that's it, which would be incredibly wrong in a buffet restaurant.

Agree with you on the drinks, stingy indeed for that price.

Admittedly, I haven't been to Flambos since this time last year, so it might have changed since then (i do hope not, we love it there).
 
PhalanaxOperativeA1127 said:
Genuine question, but what time of the night did you go to Flambos?

I only ask as we often go early in the evening (kids in tow, usually!) and found the food to be really good with a wider selection than you've described. However, we've had friends go later in the evening who didn't find the choice so varied, almost like once they run out of something, that's it, which would be incredibly wrong in a buffet restaurant.

Agree with you on the drinks, stingy indeed for that price.

Admittedly, I haven't been to Flambos since this time last year, so it might have changed since then (i do hope not, we love it there).
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We went at 4:45 just after they opened - it wasn't busy and everything that was on offer was on offer!
 
chilli2 said:
Why dont people send the food back if its bad , or complain/ask for a refund if its a bufet?
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People do complain either on the day or as feedback to the resort at a later date. But that's down to the individual and irrelevant to the issues raised in the topic. Alton Towers are not oblivious to the longstanding issues across food and beverage - look at the ratings for the hotel restaurants on Google/TripAdvisor for example.

As enthusiasts we all want the park to do well and progress - be that through new rides or an overall better guest experience. To do that they need to increase guest spend to fund those improvements. Doing that simply through increasing prices and lowering standards has a very limited lifespan as people start to not bother buying or purchase less. That's why a lot of people are so annoyed in this topic.

As others have pointed out, I don't mind a level of higher prices if the product is unique and/or high quality. We're seeing very very small snippets of that, but other places across resort are either stagnant or getting worse despite prices increasing substantially.
 
Relife said:
I think Merlin are in for a rude awakening when Universal rocks up. Theme park food has alway been expensive but it's never been as expensive and low quality as it is now. I really miss the days of KFC or McDonald's as you knew what you were getting even if it had a theme park premium on the price.
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Universal is years away, it won’t even be on Merlins mind from a food and beverage perspective. It doesn’t take long to react to market forces with F&B if Universal does happen.
 
Complaining after the event might not get us anywhere… 9 days and counting for a response (any response!) to an email I sent to the F&B email address. Not great, will chase tomorrow but it’s not on really and suggests Aramark email address is just a black hole.
 
At SGR last night, this was £23 (£18.40 MAP).

Expensive.

But excellent.

Do I mind paying for quality? No.

But £14 (£11.20) for a disgusting Burger Kitchen or £9.50 (£7.60) for a rubbery Rollover hotdog is awful and a complete ripoff.20240323_210715.jpg
 
AstroDan said:
At SGR last night, this was £23 (£18.40 MAP).

Expensive.

But excellent.

Do I mind paying for quality? No.

But £14 (£11.20) for a disgusting Burger Kitchen or £9.50 (£7.60) for a rubbery Rollover hotdog is awful and a complete ripoff.20240323_210715.jpg
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That looks excellent! Perfectly cooked duck as well.

The stark contrast in price vs quality needs addressing urgently.

I think I’ve already posted this picture before, but I paid £13 for this abomination at fireworks last year from BK in Mutiny Bay. Probably £1.50 worth of ingredients at best, no doubt much less.
IMG_1198.jpeg
 
Mentioned in the ride availability topic but after dreading eating on park yesterday, I actually thought the chicken place in forbidden valley was really nice.

I opted for the 5 chicken strips meal tossed in Sriracha sauce. The fries were in a box with the strips on top and were garnished with jalapeños and spring onions. No culinary masterpiece but it was better presented than what I was expecting after this thread!

The service on the other hand…. Three people taking orders, numerous people preparing the food but only one person expediting meaning a 25 minute wait for the food.

The girl expediting couldn’t be less interested in her role and she gave out one order three times. I could see the guy looking at his group like “I’ve had mine” but each time a different member of the group went up and collected it as well as their own individual orders 🙈
 
It sounds like so far the places that Aramark have opened new from scratch have been decent, like the Gloomy Wood treats, FV chicken, turkey legs in World of Jumanji etc, but the places they’ve inherited are just garbage like Burger Kitchen, Just Chicken etc… would it be fair to say maybe they’re just working their way round incredibly slowly?

Not heard reviews for the new food places at Thorpe and Chessington for this year yet - the curry and bubble tea outlets, Fish and Chips etc but if they’re decent then maybe there’s some hope.
 
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