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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

Only two days a year when my wife is allowed to start drinking at silly o clock.
Christmas Day, whatever time, and getting off the M6 on the way to the Towers...into a disguised receptacle.
Back on topic...current standard of Eastern Express kebabs then?
 
Aramark review from last weekend….

stayed at the weekend and knew it would be pricey but jesus. The inconsistency for prices, not just food, around the park. £10 for a coloured poncho, get in the congo queue and £3 for a blue one…£9.50 for one rollover hotdog (which usually cost £2) whereas you could get a whole meal for that elsewhere on the park. Similar for drinks etc.
. I don't mind if the prices are low or high but at least make it make sense.

Over the weekend we took a picnic for dinner, then rollercoaster restaurant for tea. It was £39 for a adult and child main, 1 side and 2 glass bottles of coke, which considering I got the smile.always. Burger wasn't that bad. Pricey. But can’t complain. (Especially as the ambience, rollercoaster service and table service is included.)

Compare this to around £5.75 (i think it was) for chips with cheese I paid for, opposite rita….this was literally just (good quality) chips with cold grated plain cheddar cheese liberally sprinkled over it…not even cooked or melted… meh….

or the TINY donuts in nemesices donuts which was something like £6 for 6 and a further £1 or £2 for 2 sauces. Did its just but way too small and crumbly.

We also bought a bottle of coke twice: £3.75 at one vendor and then at night £4.50 at the crooked spoon, despite being the same size glass bottle!
The next day we did coke refil which although £15 is expensive, is quite a bargain when you think me
And my son took turns and literally had about 10
Bottles each, so thats exceptional value to be fair. (Although towers would obviously want us to pay twice and not share if they got their own way lol).

Did a few choccy bars etc which again varied in price on shops and vending machines.
Loved the curse at alton manor treats. My son got the all black ice cream. And loved it. Not bad value i guess: bit pricey, but you know: novelty. Wanted to go back later to get a cake twice but both times the queue was crazy so left it, looked delicious though!

Overall the food is 50/50 depending
What you get and what you class as value for
Money. I kept £130 for food for the weekend and in the end spent £100 ish, so i came away happy in a sense.
 
Balddadgra said:
Aramark review from last weekend….

stayed at the weekend and knew it would be pricey but jesus. The inconsistency for prices, not just food, around the park. £10 for a coloured poncho, get in the congo queue and £3 for a blue one…£9.50 for one rollover hotdog (which usually cost £2) whereas you could get a whole meal for that elsewhere on the park. Similar for drinks etc.
. I don't mind if the prices are low or high but at least make it make sense.

Over the weekend we took a picnic for dinner, then rollercoaster restaurant for tea. It was £39 for a adult and child main, 1 side and 2 glass bottles of coke, which considering I got the smile.always. Burger wasn't that bad. Pricey. But can’t complain. (Especially as the ambience, rollercoaster service and table service is included.)

Compare this to around £5.75 (i think it was) for chips with cheese I paid for, opposite rita….this was literally just (good quality) chips with cold grated plain cheddar cheese liberally sprinkled over it…not even cooked or melted… meh….

or the TINY donuts in nemesices donuts which was something like £6 for 6 and a further £1 or £2 for 2 sauces. Did its just but way too small and crumbly.

We also bought a bottle of coke twice: £3.75 at one vendor and then at night £4.50 at the crooked spoon, despite being the same size glass bottle!
The next day we did coke refil which although £15 is expensive, is quite a bargain when you think me
And my son took turns and literally had about 10
Bottles each, so thats exceptional value to be fair. (Although towers would obviously want us to pay twice and not share if they got their own way lol).

Did a few choccy bars etc which again varied in price on shops and vending machines.
Loved the curse at alton manor treats. My son got the all black ice cream. And loved it. Not bad value i guess: bit pricey, but you know: novelty. Wanted to go back later to get a cake twice but both times the queue was crazy so left it, looked delicious though!

Overall the food is 50/50 depending
What you get and what you class as value for
Money. I kept £130 for food for the weekend and in the end spent £100 ish, so i came away happy in a sense.
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Good review - seems fair. Never in a million years though should all that cost £100. It’s daylight robbery.
 
That’s true, should have been a total of £60-£75 in reality but i guess thats why they push as far as they can in the hope that people buy map and get a 20% discount. I wish i had MAP at the weekend that’s for sure!
 
Oh dear!

I just had a quick look at the reviews on TA since January. Out of 26 reviews, 19 rated it one or two stars. That's 73% of people giving it a poor or very poor rating since January this year.
 
I heard plenty of horror stories about the Aramark fast food subcontractor and read many hysterical, badly spelt online reviews, but in Legoland Windsor the pirate burger bar food was alright actually (but still too expensive for what it was).

I could almost rave about the Aramark onion rings and chicken selects....
 
Was there for 2 days/nights recently. The Secret Garden was reliably consistent with poor-ish service and long wait times. I don't mind paying the "captive audience" surcharge, but the quality of the food and service still have to match it. Our least-terrible option in the park is the Woodcutter - again I don't have an issue paying a premium but not when it looks like it's come from a Sainsbury's meal deal.

Given the hotel is super-expensive, I really wonder why they can't offer a better restaurant/food. You don't have to go all "tomahawk steak" like last time - even just a good pizza/burger offering at the restaurant/park would be fine. I'll pay £20 for a Five Guys and fries (still a 33% mark-up on the high st). Isn't that enough gouging for Merlin?? 😂
 
Has anyone tried the food trucks in X Sector? My son really wants to eat at them when we go next week but worried about having to wait ages for food and it being poor quality. Anyone got any experience with them?
 
Smiley said:
I'll pay £20 for a Five Guys and fries (still a 33% mark-up on the high st). Isn't that enough gouging for Merlin?? 😂
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Unpopular opinion maybe, but I found the Aramark burgers I had at Legoland were a bit better than Burger King/McDonalds, but not as good as Five Guys/Wetherspoons, with a lot of fries (but I agree there's still the fundamental problem of the price being too high for what you get).
 
geo4chg said:
Has anyone tried the food trucks in X Sector? My son really wants to eat at them when we go next week but worried about having to wait ages for food and it being poor quality. Anyone got any experience with them?
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It's not clear in the post, unless you know what the food truck is called, but @Poisson's pizza was from one of the X Sector airstream outlets.
Poisson said:
Pizza from Freefall Pizza was nice but not rapid (25 mins) and I was surprised to find they took MAP discount. Miles better than Pizza and Pasta but not fast food.

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I saw the vans in operation last week, but have yet to try ordering from one. They didn't have long queues, were a little more expensive than the permanent Fast Service options in the park, but looked to be of a higher quality. A pizza is always going to take a little longer to cook than a burger and fries, for example, it requires 9-10 mins of cooking time alone, without assembly. I'd say it depends on the option you want. It's certainly worth a punt!
 
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