Hilton Horror Holiday Event (A Dumpster Fire of an Event)

This event started off horribly (12/10/22). The hotel had blocked off huge sections of their parking lot blocking people from getting a close spot if they were handicap. Even with our placard on full display they would not allow us to park. This was a form of open discrimination against people with disabilities and a violation of ADA. We were forced to park way out and my mother nearly had an asthma attack just trying to get into the building because we had to park at the far north end by the employee only entrance. By the time we got in to the event our night was already ruined and we were not in a good mood.

They had very little seating in the area that our event was scheduled and the area was not designed to handle a group of our size.

They had too few high top tables for people to stand at. They needed 10 to 15 more for the size of our group.

They only had one appetizer table set up when they should have had at least two to help with congestion in the small area.

The appetizers were boring, but at least helped curb the hunger until we could get to the buffet.

To help with the seating issues, the hotel should have opened the dining area. More then likely they didn't do this because they were still setting up. This showed very bad time management on the hotel and could also show that they didn't have the staff they needed to run the amount of events they were trying to do in one night.

Basic table set up. The places were too tightly spaced. Each of these tables should have had 2-3 less settings per table for people to be comfortable.

The wait staff set all of the lights to the same color. I had fun changing the colors since I had seen these lights on TikTok and knew how to change them without the remote. I was slightly amazed at how persistent the staff was to keep switching it back to the blue. They should have spent their time on things that mattered like the food and base customer service. This was actually a test I did and the wait staff failed.

When they finally opened the buffet at least they tried to do some crowd control by releasing a certain amount of tables at a time. This would have worked if their staff had been on tip of keeping the buffet filled. At one point the line I was in got backed up due to the carving station running out of meat. I waited in line for 15 minutes before I jumped into another line. Even then, those that didn't do what I did were still waiting for food after I had got all my food and had time to go back and grab dessert. More poor planning on the hotel. All the food should have been in hot boxes close by the event so that it would not take an employee more then 5 minutes to grab the food to refill. For a formal catered event this is one of the worst ones I have ever seen and you think you should have high expectations of a Hilton.

Aged Red Wine Vinaigrette Farro, Tomato, Cucumber, Fresh Herbs, White Balsamic & Olive Oil

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta & Caramelized Onions with Roasted Cauliflower

Buttermilk Whipped Yukon Gold Potatoes

Shrimp, Chicken, and Andouille Sausage Paella

Coriander Dusted Seared Salmon with Fennel Apple Slaw

Here is a picture of everyone waiting around for the carving station to get refilled.

This was the second line I got into. The meat was Smoked Brisket of Beef.

The soup was Celery Root & Apple Soup with Smoked Bacon.

It's sad when the best part of a meal is a relatively bland soup.

The salmon was super dried out. It's sad that just the previous day I had better salmon at a furniture store then at a high end hotel.

The Brussel sprouts were not cooked correctly. The outside were super soft (overcooked) while the inside was still raw). 

The brisket was so hard that the butter knives they gave us couldn't cut it. They should have given us real knives for a meat this tough.

Spiced Bundt Cake. Bland and dried out.

Peppermint Chocolate Torte. Slightly monster then the above bunt cake.  most I can say is that they did bring the peppermint to the table. The chocolate was just so overpowering and had a very bitter taste. It did not blend well with the peppermint. The dessert actually needed something to help cut the dense taste and texture of it. Tried it once and would not get again.

I made sure to try each one. The best one was the pink one. Several were lemon based and none of them had any holiday flavoring.

When I went to use my one drink ticket I had wanted to get a Crown and Coke since they didn't have any themed drinks. They didn't have Coke so I had to sub in Pepsi. It was ok. At least the bar tender had a heavy hand making the drink.

Overall this was all around one of the worst food experiences I have had at a formal event if not the worst. Hilton should be ashamed if this is the best they can do. I had two events back to back. One low end at the furniture store Ikea and this 'high end' one. My experience at Ikea was way better then this shamble. It shows that the cost of something does not always represent the quality.

Top photo built in Canva with picture from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/keep-holiday-decorations-from-becoming-fire-hazards/