Today I took my customer service team to lunch as I do from time to time. Typically we eat a heavy lunch, like Tepanyaki or Tucanos, but this time I thought I would take them to a more girlie type place. After all, it was going to be one guy and seven women! The manager of the Harvest restaurant at Thanksgiving Pointe suggested we try the Trellis Cafe'. He promised the food would be fast and good. So, I decided on The Trellis Cafe at Thanksgiving Point. Here is how the Trellis Cafe's website describes itself:
"Located in the Thanksgiving Point Gardens Visitor Center, the Trellis Café offers tasty cuisine with a healthy helping of breezy ambiance. A popular destination spot for ladies who lunch, the Trellis Café is open throughout the Thanksgiving Point Gardens season. During that time, you'll find some of the most stunning patio dining available, accompanied by an artful array of sandwiches, soups, and gourmet salads. Altogether, it's a beautiful way to enjoy a meal."
Let's break this down.
"Tasty cuisine and artful array of ..." - The food at the Trellis Cafe' is okay if you don't mind waiting forever to get it. It took us exactly one hour from the time we sat down to get our meals. ONE HOUR on a lunch break?! Pathetic. When I expressed frustration, the waitress did not even apologize, but instead said, "The chef is overwhelmed." IT IS SANDWICHES AND SOUP FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! Speaking as someone with extensive restaurant experience and some formal culinary training, I don't know if you can call a sandwich maker a chef! It is true that Chefs make sandwiches, but sandwiches does not a chef make! The only cooked dish at our table had a 10 inch long hair in it! Again, no apology from the waitress or visit from the manager, though they did remake the dish.
"A healthy helping of breezy ambiance" - We had to hold our own umbrella so it would not topple our table. I know this is hardly the fault of Thanksgiving Point, but it definitely didn't add to the experience.
"A popular destination spot for ladies" - The decor is a Victorian Garden theme, obviously appealing to the ladies, but if the Trellis Cafe' is not careful, they will lose even their lady clients. Not only was our experience today totally awful, Sarah and the gals in the neighborhood went there earlier in the month and had an equally bad meal.
"Altogether a beautiful way to enjoy a meal" - I couldn't disagree more. This Trellis cafe' meal was an hour and a half long and was eventually cut short with half eaten meals and desserts to go due to the time. On top of the negative experience, no apologies and lack of caring, the Trellis Cafe' felt they needed to charge me a 20% service fee for our party because there were more than six in our group. Of course, this made no sense to me since our party had to sit at two different tables!
I was very hopeful that the Trellis Cafe' would live up to their own bragging, but that clearly is not the case. The surrounding Thanksgiving Pointe gardens are beautifully manicured, but not enough to compensate for the Trellis Cafe's lack of execution; their breads are good, their dishes are conceptually good, but executed in a mediocre manner, their service is poor (supposedly due to the overwhelmed sandwich "chef") and their prices are not in line with the overall dining experience...I paid $19 per person! We will not be back.
"Located in the Thanksgiving Point Gardens Visitor Center, the Trellis Café offers tasty cuisine with a healthy helping of breezy ambiance. A popular destination spot for ladies who lunch, the Trellis Café is open throughout the Thanksgiving Point Gardens season. During that time, you'll find some of the most stunning patio dining available, accompanied by an artful array of sandwiches, soups, and gourmet salads. Altogether, it's a beautiful way to enjoy a meal."
Let's break this down.
"Tasty cuisine and artful array of ..." - The food at the Trellis Cafe' is okay if you don't mind waiting forever to get it. It took us exactly one hour from the time we sat down to get our meals. ONE HOUR on a lunch break?! Pathetic. When I expressed frustration, the waitress did not even apologize, but instead said, "The chef is overwhelmed." IT IS SANDWICHES AND SOUP FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! Speaking as someone with extensive restaurant experience and some formal culinary training, I don't know if you can call a sandwich maker a chef! It is true that Chefs make sandwiches, but sandwiches does not a chef make! The only cooked dish at our table had a 10 inch long hair in it! Again, no apology from the waitress or visit from the manager, though they did remake the dish.
"A healthy helping of breezy ambiance" - We had to hold our own umbrella so it would not topple our table. I know this is hardly the fault of Thanksgiving Point, but it definitely didn't add to the experience.
"A popular destination spot for ladies" - The decor is a Victorian Garden theme, obviously appealing to the ladies, but if the Trellis Cafe' is not careful, they will lose even their lady clients. Not only was our experience today totally awful, Sarah and the gals in the neighborhood went there earlier in the month and had an equally bad meal.
"Altogether a beautiful way to enjoy a meal" - I couldn't disagree more. This Trellis cafe' meal was an hour and a half long and was eventually cut short with half eaten meals and desserts to go due to the time. On top of the negative experience, no apologies and lack of caring, the Trellis Cafe' felt they needed to charge me a 20% service fee for our party because there were more than six in our group. Of course, this made no sense to me since our party had to sit at two different tables!
I was very hopeful that the Trellis Cafe' would live up to their own bragging, but that clearly is not the case. The surrounding Thanksgiving Pointe gardens are beautifully manicured, but not enough to compensate for the Trellis Cafe's lack of execution; their breads are good, their dishes are conceptually good, but executed in a mediocre manner, their service is poor (supposedly due to the overwhelmed sandwich "chef") and their prices are not in line with the overall dining experience...I paid $19 per person! We will not be back.
3 comments:
You should have learned for the ladies in the neighborhood that its a place we will not frequent ever again due to the poor slow service I ended up taking my meal with me we also waited for over and hour for the sandwiches we ordered. A place I would recommend is flour girls and dough boys they let you order ahead not enough room to sit and eat, but you can order to go.
I like Flour Girls and Dough Boys. I blogged about it in February. Good choice. I am with you.
I got to eat at both places when I was up there in August. I liked Trellis Cafe nice enough when you, Sarah and I ate there that I returned the next day with my friend who lives in the area. We enjoyed the ambiance and food enough that she was anxious to return with her daughters. I had soup and a sandwich both times. It's frustrating when you are a time crunch to get sloooooow service though isn't it?
Sarah took me to Flour Girls and Dough Boys and we had an excellent meal there too. We sat out on the front porch and ate our sandwiches. Food was great but I think the ambiance wouldn't have been appropriate for a business luncheon.
I think you have so many wonderful choices for meals in your area....different things. Not just your garden variety chain restaurants. Good eating!
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