Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Hotel Restaraunts, why do they suck (for the most part)
This last weekend we took a road trip and spent a couple days at a nice hotel in Williamsburg, VA. The first night we were tired and didn't want to go out, so we ate at the hotel restaurant. What was so surprising was that the food was actually good and imaginative. We had two soups, a seafood stew and a corn chowder and sweet potato ravioli for her and lamb shank and quail for me. The quality of the meat was good, great spices, and some very creative combinations.
What made this meal so surprising is, quite frankly, most US hotel restaurants suck; bad. In the rest of the world, some of the best restaurants are hotel restaurants, and even in major cities you will sometimes see this (New York, DC, etc...) but in your average 3-4-star hotel, the food stinks. To make it worse, for the most part, they are pretty expensive (and don't even get me started on room service). So how can this be; crappy food and high prices?
Hotels are in a pretty unique situation. They have a relatively captive audience, many who are not paying for themselves. When you get to a hotel late at night, especially after a flight, are you really wanting to go out looking for a restaurant. Especially if it's on the companies dime, it's just easier to walk down to the hotel restaurant and eat whatever they have.
In addition, they have an audience who is transient, not a lot of repeat business. It's not like they have to build up a reputation to attract customers. This is why some of those world-class hotel restaurants are in big cities where the people eating at the hotel are not just the guests.
Because of this, they have carte blanche to charge obscene amounts for mediocre food. Look at whats on the menu at your local 3-star hotel restaurant, $25 steak that's a poor cut, $17 pasta that could be out of a box, and a desert as creative as chocolate cake, cheesecake, and ice cream.
There are exceptions, but I have become so jaded by all the bad hotel restaurants that I rarely give them a chance. The one we ate at the Williamsburg Lodge I thought was quite good. It was actually a restaurant I might eat at completely separate from a hotel.
What made this meal so surprising is, quite frankly, most US hotel restaurants suck; bad. In the rest of the world, some of the best restaurants are hotel restaurants, and even in major cities you will sometimes see this (New York, DC, etc...) but in your average 3-4-star hotel, the food stinks. To make it worse, for the most part, they are pretty expensive (and don't even get me started on room service). So how can this be; crappy food and high prices?
Hotels are in a pretty unique situation. They have a relatively captive audience, many who are not paying for themselves. When you get to a hotel late at night, especially after a flight, are you really wanting to go out looking for a restaurant. Especially if it's on the companies dime, it's just easier to walk down to the hotel restaurant and eat whatever they have.
In addition, they have an audience who is transient, not a lot of repeat business. It's not like they have to build up a reputation to attract customers. This is why some of those world-class hotel restaurants are in big cities where the people eating at the hotel are not just the guests.
Because of this, they have carte blanche to charge obscene amounts for mediocre food. Look at whats on the menu at your local 3-star hotel restaurant, $25 steak that's a poor cut, $17 pasta that could be out of a box, and a desert as creative as chocolate cake, cheesecake, and ice cream.
There are exceptions, but I have become so jaded by all the bad hotel restaurants that I rarely give them a chance. The one we ate at the Williamsburg Lodge I thought was quite good. It was actually a restaurant I might eat at completely separate from a hotel.
Friday, March 09, 2007
When it comes to menus, size does matter
Have you ever wondered why that 5-star temple of good-food you love has a one page menu while the menu at Fridays is longer then War and Peace? I've concluded you can often tell the quality of the restaraunt by the length of the menu. Now this is not always the case, I've been to places with huge menus that were pretty damn good, and others with tiny menus that sucked; though they definatly were going for the upscale crowd.
I guess when you only do a few dishes, you do them really well. How many chefs out there can make a good steak, Thai noodles, Tacos, and Fish & Chips at the same time. Assuming Fridays doesn't have a world-class Chef in the back of every restaraunt, one can conclude they are all going to be pretty mediocre.
Now, go to a nice sit down restaraunt with a good chef and you will usually see a very limited menu focusing on their specilties. Some will almost have no set menu other than steak; the rest of the menu being dishes of the day.
I guess when you only do a few dishes, you do them really well. How many chefs out there can make a good steak, Thai noodles, Tacos, and Fish & Chips at the same time. Assuming Fridays doesn't have a world-class Chef in the back of every restaraunt, one can conclude they are all going to be pretty mediocre.
Now, go to a nice sit down restaraunt with a good chef and you will usually see a very limited menu focusing on their specilties. Some will almost have no set menu other than steak; the rest of the menu being dishes of the day.
