Hibiscus

"Finding a brunch buffet for Thanksgiving was surprisingly difficult this year, but I would have preferred to eat anything else than the food at Hibiscus. For starters, making a reservation was unnecessarily difficult given the only option was to reserve via phone at first, but no one ever answered or returned our message. We called the hotel's front desk, and they said they'd have someone call us back to confirm. No one ever did, but we saw they opened up online reservations so we booked there just to make sure. We got a confirmation email and everything, but when we got there they had no record of us. Fortunately we were still able to get seated. I will admit I do not remember reading on the site that the buffet would not be served in the restaurant, but in a ballroom. A bland, drab ballroom with a random Christmas movie playing on a huge screen, but with random (and slightly inappropriate) pop music piped over the speakers instead besides some occasional pop-saxophonists. Far from the promised "great atmosphere" I expected, especially compared to the "13th floor restaurant with skyline views" the website boasts. The buffet was bad. Bland and mostly unseasoned luke warm food save for a few exceptions. They ran out of dressing a good 2 hours before the buffet was about to end. The salad selections were strange, and a lot of Thanksgiving staples (like mashed potatos) were missing from the menu. Chilled seafood, an omlette station, and a limited cocktail selection of mimosas or Bloody Marys were the only things that qualified it as brunch. This weird, disappointing, drab experience ran us a whopping total of $220 for two not in a posh restaurant, but in a 3rd floor ballroom overlooking a construction site. Service was attentive and the manager was nice, but including a 19% gratituity on a buffet just says to me you're recouping the cost of having to pay holiday rate wages. Blossom Hotel says this restaurant is new, so why wouldn't you want to serve a holiday brunch in it?? Overall, it felt like a haphazard buffet slapped together for a money grab. Next year I'll just spend the 10 hours preparing a proper Thanksgiving meal."

"Happy Thanksgiving! I had an amazing time with Dess,Jennifer, and Melinda! Management was awesome. The music was on point. My birthday is Christmas Eve, so I'm waiting to see what y'all are going to have for Christmas."