Technology & MSG

A Review of The Trinity Pub and Carvery

Aug 20th, 2007 by Alex

I was in Atlantic City for a portion of the weekend, taking a much needed break from reality. Twelve of us ate out at The Trinity Pub and Carvery, located on The Pier at Caesars.

Don’t bother.

We had a reservation for twelve. They seated us at two tables pushed together in an L arrangement. This is probably the worst possible seating arrangement for dinner conversation. The people at the two ends of the L can’t see each other let alone hear what each other are saying.

Our server seemed rather animated and insisted that most of the food “was to die for.”

I wanted to order the Shepherd’s Pie ($12), but when I tried to order it sans mushrooms I was told that “they’re already mixed in.” The look I got from the waitress when I didn’t have a second choice immediately in mind wasn’t too friendly. So instead I ordered the Herb Roasted Free Range Chicken ($18), mostly because the dish came with two sides and was having trouble deciding what to get. I decided on French fries and scalloped chive potatoes (which don’t even appear on the online menu). But wait, they were out of scalloped potatoes. How can you be out of scalloped potatoes but have two other types of mashed potatoes (cheddar and horseradish)? The scalloping is a preparation method in this case, not an ingredient. I got the cheddar mashed potatoes instead.

Our food didn’t come out at the same time. It wasn’t just a matter of having three trays ready to be brought out but no one to carry them; there were plenty of servers standing around and there were several long gaps in between food arriving. Several people got the incorrect sides. If you can’t handle a party of twelve — either because your wait staff is inexperienced or because you can’t fit everyone at a single rectangular shaped table — say so. In order to preserve quality service, split the party in half. So long as the people at each half can’t talk to each other you may as well get your food brought out at the same time.

Good habits dictate that you wait until everyone has their food to begin. The others in our party were understanding and told us to go ahead and eat. It didn’t matter, the chicken was barely lukewarm when it arrived. The bits of chicken I did eat were bland; the thyme gravy made it more edible, but not worth finishing. Parts of it looked undercooked so it sat mostly untouched. A good waitress would have seen this and asked if everything was alright. Ours didn’t bother.

I should have sent everything back, but after this crappy service I decided to let the high cost of a disappointing meal remind me not to return.

About the only good things worth mentioning was their selection of Irish beer and that they provided several $5 parking vouchers for us. For a restaurant whose primary objective is provide food, that’s not much to scream about.

Oh yeah, and parties larger than 6 have a 20% gratuity added.