[GatbTester]

Tonight my wife and I had the misfortune to have food catered by the Havana Country Club brought to Colony Cottage. The trucked the food over and by the time our some two hundred guests were served every meal was ice cold and tasteless. The menu offered two choices: chicken or fish. Both were ice cold and lousy. Personally, my wife and I will never eat at Havana or have anything good to say about their food. The best I can conger up is this advice, if you are hungry stay away from Havana it is at best second or third class.

[sunday]

Ouch!

[golf2140]

We had a group of twenty at Havana on Saturday evening, everything was just fine. Maybe stay with a firm that specializes in catering off site.

[roadwarrior]

If a restaurant holds itself out as being able to cater an affair then it should do so with class, hot food and the appropriate wait staff. Otherwise, it should not accept the the contract or the undertaking.

[KathieI]

Originally Posted by GatbTester

Tonight my wife and I had the misfortune to have food catered by the Havana Country Club brought to Colony Cottage. The trucked the food over and by the time our some two hundred guests were served every meal was ice cold and tasteless. The menu offered two choices: chicken or fish. Both were ice cold and lousy. Personally, my wife and I will never eat at Havana or have anything good to say about their food. The best I can conger up is this advice, if you are hungry stay away from Havana it is at best second or third class.

I have a few questions for Gatb, being as I'm a pretty good party planner...

1. 200 people??? OMG, how many times have you been to a banquet or wedding with that many people and you weren't happy with the service or the food quality by the time it got to you. For me, many, many times too many to count.
2. Did you hire waiters also, or was it buffet?
3. If buffet, what method were you planning to keep the food heated until all 200 people were served? Were they in hot trays with the burner underneath? Did you nuke them to warm them up upon their arrival from Havana CC to Colony? How many times did someone replace the hot trays with warm food while people were serving themselves?
4. If you hired waiters, did they have the facilities to heat up the food while 200 guests were being served. Food doesn't stay hot by itself, it usually takes only 15 min for it to get cool enough to be not appetizing.
5. I'm not sure I would serve fish to 200 guests in either manner, did you give them a choice or was it select at the table when the waiter arrived (as I have seen in other benefit lunches). That takes each waiter that much more time to bring the appropriate food to the table.

Folks giving huge parties like that is not like snapping your fingers and it gets done. In all fairness to the catering service, you need to help out also.... This is hard work and requires a great deal of planning and fore-thought. I've seen too many villagers love to sit back, do nothing and bad mouth the servers or restaurants.

Yes, I eat at Havana at least 3 times a week and never have had a bad meal. My party sometimes consist of from 5 to 10 people and the service has been excellent.

I'd personally like to hear more details from Gat before I pass judgment.

[chuckster]

Didn't know that Havana Country Club Restaurant catered events like the one you mentioned. Could it possibly have been La Hacienda catering??? Just curious..........

[golfnut]

Did you call the Manager at Havana when you first discovered the problem?? My guess is he would have been as upset (if not more) as you with the situation....GN

[KathieI]

Originally Posted by chuckster

Didn't know that Havana Country Club Restaurant catered events like the one you mentioned. Could it possibly have been La Hacienda catering??? Just curious..........

That sort of was my thinking, Chuck. Havana CC is about 2 minutes from Colony so how did the food get so cold, its not like its 65 outside. It was very strange, and I wish we could get some answers from Gatb...

[GatbTester]

Kathie1, in reply to your question. This was an affair to honor a person from our Congregation who serves as our Service Director. It also was a fund raiser. Havana should never have signed the contract if they could not have provided HOT food. The dinner was held at Colony Cottage and they trucked over the food from Havana. They knew that Colony did not have the kitchen facilties to heat food there kitchen is not able to do that. It is not our job to tell the caterer what he can or cannot do. The food was absolutely inedible due to temp, they also ran out of food, as well as having to keep running back for other items that held things up. In so far as contacting the General Manager, that was done. End result three people were terminated the next day, and plans have been set forth to ensure that this NEVER happens again. Havana also returned part of the fee to our organization as well. I thought they handled the situation as best as posssible, and are also giving gift certificates to all that attended the affair.

This was a dinner not a lunch, it was not our organization's responsiblity to do anything but plan the dinner and find a caterer. The two choices given us were Mai Hi Mai Hi, or Chicken, both of which were terrible. Put the shoe on the proper foot.......they planned the dinner and provided the wait staff as well, all food came out of the kitchen plated and served. If one requested their meal to be heated, there was only one small microwave available.

I hate to burst your bubble Kathie1, but there IS a great difference between being in the restaurant and eating as you do, and waiting over fifty minutes to get one's meal served ice cold.

However, I commend the General Manager Donald, and his owner for taking the action they did following this debaucle.

Gatbtester.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by GatbTester

Kathie1, in reply to your question. This was an affair to honor a person from our Congregation who serves as our Service Director. It also was a fund raiser. Havana should never have signed the contract if they could not have provided HOT food. The dinner was held at Colony Cottage and they trucked over the food from Havana. They knew that Colony did not have the kitchen facilties to heat food there kitchen is not able to do that. It is not our job to tell the caterer what he can or cannot do. The food was absolutely inedible due to temp, they also ran out of food, as well as having to keep running back for other items that held things up. In so far as contacting the General Manager, that was done. End result three people were terminated the next day, and plans have been set forth to ensure that this NEVER happens again. Havana also returned part of the fee to our organization as well. I thought they handled the situation as best as posssible, and are also giving gift certificates to all that attended the affair.

This was a dinner not a lunch, it was not our organization's responsiblity to do anything but plan the dinner and find a caterer. The two choices given us were Mai Hi Mai Hi, or Chicken, both of which were terrible. Put the shoe on the proper foot.......they planned the dinner and provided the wait staff as well, all food came out of the kitchen plated and served. If one requested their meal to be heated, there was only one small microwave available.

I hate to burst your bubble Kathie1, but there IS a great difference between being in the restaurant and eating as you do, and waiting over fifty minutes to get one's meal served ice cold.

However, I commend the General Manager Donald, and his owner for taking the action they did following this debaucle.

Gatbtester.

This explanation was far better than your first post!

[KathieI]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

This explanation was far better than your first post!

Agree, Bogie. At least we know now that the GM took appropriate action to try to make up for the problems. Perhaps they are not quite so bad as they were made out to be. Banquets are a huge problem, I always eat first before I go to one.. Thanks for the clarification.

[Shirleevee]

Originally Posted by KathieI

That sort of was my thinking, Chuck. Havana CC is about 2 minutes from Colony so how did the food get so cold, its not like its 65 outside. It was very strange, and I wish we could get some answers from Gatb...

I am sure the food was prepared beforehand and keep cold until service...........there are afterall health codes to go by......

[Goldiefivestar]

I have worked for Havana as their Saturday entertainment since April. I would like to say that this is an organization that is loyal, hard working and dedicated to the community and their staff. I am so sorry that this happened, but I know the owner and the general manager, and it sounds like they did everything in their power to make it right. You have to commend them for that and realise that they bring joy and happiness to hundreds of people in The Villages that enjoy going out to a nice Country Club that is close to home where they can bring their friends and family. We have to do our part and do whatever we can to see Havana succeed, as they are an asset to The Villages and I have been treated like gold working there. No establishment has ever gone to the means they have and I have been in the restaurant business for 40 years. They deserve a chance to make it up to you. I hope you will let them, for the sake of others that appreciate Havana being there for The Villages. Loyalty, honestly, dedication and caring far out-way all things. Thank you for listening.

[KathieI]

Originally Posted by Goldiefivestar

I have worked for Havana as their Saturday entertainment since April. I would like to say that this is an organization that is loyal, hard working and dedicated to the community and their staff. I am so sorry that this happened, but I know the owner and the general manager, and it sounds like they did everything in their power to make it right. You have to commend them for that and realise that they bring joy and happiness to hundreds of people in The Villages that enjoy going out to a nice Country Club that is close to home where they can bring their friends and family. We have to do our part and do whatever we can to see Havana succeed, as they are an asset to The Villages and I have been treated like gold working there. No establishment has ever gone to the means they have and I have been in the restaurant business for 40 years. They deserve a chance to make it up to you. I hope you will let them, for the sake of others that appreciate Havana being there for The Villages. Loyalty, honestly, dedication and caring far out-way all things. Thank you for listening.

Nicely put, Goldie. I agree with all your comments. They are one CC that has listened to the villagers and have provided us with outstanding music and entertainment all summer and will do everything they can to accommodate us and make us happy.
My experience with the staff and management has been outstanding, if there is a problem, Don will go to extreme measures to make sure it is righted. Thankfully all of the staff is that way as well. We need to support them and make sure they succeed because then it is a win-win situation.
Thanks Goldie, see ya Saturday night......

[Shirleevee]

Originally Posted by KathieI

Nicely put, Goldie. I agree with all your comments. They are one CC that has listened to the villagers and have provided us with outstanding music and entertainment all summer and will do everything they can to accommodate us and make us happy.
My experience with the staff and management has been outstanding, if there is a problem, Don will go to extreme measures to make sure it is righted. Thankfully all of the staff is that way as well. We need to support them and make sure they succeed because then it is a win-win situation.
Thanks Goldie, see ya Saturday night......

I agree! The Entertainment is great and the staff is too!