About three weeks before Mother's Day, I made 2:00 p.m. reservations for five people for a Mother’s Day buffet at Cullen’s. The place was packed while we were there. At $49.95 per person, plus a gratuity added to our bill, I am sure Cullen's had a very good day financially. Cost of the meal and tip would not have been an issue if the food had been the quality I have come to expect from Cullen's. But it wasn't. My issues with this meal are stated below:
The crab legs were salty and most of the meat could not be removed from the shell.
The shrimp was previously frozen and very soggy. Why would an upscale restaurant not serve fresh shrimp?
There were two wilted salads to pick from, both on small platters. The second time I went to the main food table, there was a different (small) platter of tomato slices with mozzarella cheese. Why weren't several different salads offered all at the same time?
There were very few dishes to choose from. Of those few, the dishes were either empty or crusted with food (tortellini) that nobody wanted. I got up from my table twice and both times found both the garlic (where was the garlic?) mashed potatoes and the chicken w/grits dishes empty, with none of the servers around to replace with more food.
There was only one vegetable offered, a squash mixture.
The cuts of roast beef that were offered were small. The same for the salmon. The first piece of salmon offered by the server was the size of one of my fingers. I asked for more and it was still a small amount. I just gave up. The ham was so bad, it was not edible. It wasn't even a spiral ham. You can get better ham at IHOPs for breakfast!
There were no rolls or butter. A few pieces of hard sliced french bread was near the salads.
The line was long for desserts. The fruit tart was the only one worth eating. As I went through the line, I noticed about ten tarts left on the tray, with room for many more. A young lady brought out more to replace those already taken and was told by a worker to take them bake to the kitchen instead of putting them out. What was that about?! More for the staff???
All of this made me feel like the staff was told to be very frugal with the food if they wanted leftovers to indulge in later after the buffet was over. It was unbelievable! One lady was behind me on my second visit to the buffet and was also disappointed that there was no chicken and grits. She said she had been trying to get some but never was able to.
I want to know what was going on. You should be ashamed of yourselves for charging $49.95 per person and not delivering what was promised. According to the person who took my reservations it would be a very ""memorable"" day. Well, it was definitely memorable. It will stay in my memory for a long, long time.
This wasn't our first time at Cullen's. We have had lunch and dinner there many times. My husband has taken his office staff there for Christmas parties on a couple of occasions. We have always enjoyed the food and service and had no reason to think Mother's Day would be any different. I didn't say a lot about these issues on Sunday, but did mention to our waiter that they needed to have more of a variety of foods. He said that Cullen's was still a young restaurant and still working things out. If this restaurant had just opened a few months ago, I would agree. But Cullen's has been around many years. How can a restaurant get rave reviews for recreating a Titantic meal, but can't get it together for a Mother's Day buffet? Hopefully, someone will be able to figure it out.
A Former Cullen's Diner
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