The Carvery

Was here a couple of weeks ago. I had the buffet, so I am writing a review based on the buffet.
They had a pretty good selection of foods, including salad, cheesy rice, chicken, kielbasa, etc. Everything seemed to be at least good in quality.
As in food prep, the chicken was really dry, which was understandable considering it is a buffet. Despite the plethora of food, I still had a hard time finding something I really liked and was content eating. Dessert included a choice of puddings, cookies, ice cream, and a couple of pastries I can not recall right off of the top of my head, which was included in the total cost of the meal.
For me, personally, $ 20 was not worth paying based on what I ate and enjoyed. As stated, all of the food seemed to be of a good quality, and I will go back to try a menu item, and will come back to adjust this accordingly.

I dined here today for Sunday brunch, my first visit. I am not planning to hurry back. The wrong tone was set by the hostess/​cashier, whose «greeting» was a curt «How many?» without looking at me. The same person handled the payment of my check and did not thank me for my business. The lack of hospitality continued with the young lady carving prime rib (tiny slices), chicken, and turkey, and doling out a small amount of fried potatoes. She was unsmiling and unpleasant, simply asking, «What can I get for you?» I suppose «I hope you enjoy it», «please», «thank you», «Sir», and Ma’am” are not in vogue here. In stark contrast, my server was welcoming, pleasant, and efficient. Perhaps the other employees would have been if they were dependent on tips to earn their compensation. Comparing the restaurant to Rivers Casino’s great Grand View Buffet, it does not stack up favorably. The dining room is small and the tables fairly close together. One nice facet is that the dining room overlooks the race track, nice for those who can snag a window table. There are only a few buffet stations and there is not much space, which makes this arrangement conducive to congestion and lengthy lines as diners slowly snake through. The lengthy wait to get through the buffet lines encourages the ill-​mannered to pick up food with their fingers and eat as they go: unappetizing. Although the selection was much less than Rivers Casino’s buffet, the items were tasty and there was a fair variety. I enjoyed the prime rib, roast chicken, marinated mushrooms, redskin potato salad, macaroni salad, real bacon bits, fresh, ready-​to-​eat pineapple pieces, and strawberries. There was an omelette station of which I did not avail myself, but the omelettes looked delicious. The dessert station is small and unimpressive. Cloth napkins should be provided at a premium-​priced buffet such as this, but The Carvery uses paper. One thing that was better here than at Rivers’ is that one does not pay the check until after the meal, enabling the line to get in to be minimized. Management is presumptuous in listing tip guidelines on the check, the lowest of which is 18%, which is generous for an expensive buffet meal. If I were the manager of this restaurant, the most important question for my employees would be, «Did you make the feel welcome, valued, and appreciated, and did you kill him or her with kindness?» The answer for my meal is a resounding, «No», and that is what sticks in my mind the most. It put a damper on the food. This buffet is $ 19.99, Rivers’ is $ 14.25 with Player’s Club discount. As a fellow esteemed reviewer indicated, Rivers beats The Carvery hands down. You have been warned!

not worth the money
$ 19.99! That’s the cost of this «buffet.» It was so not worth it.
A friend and I went there at noon on a Sunday (brunch). My friend mentioned she was looking forward to having some bacon. Well, it didn’t happen on this trip. They must have placed the bacon on a lukewarm griddle for 30 seconds. That’s how raw it looked. I can’t believe people didn’t get sick. They brought more and it was practically raw as well.
If you like omelets, there’s an omelet station. However, I prefer waffles and asked if there was a waffle station. The young man at the dessert station that was next to the omelet line, told me they didn’t have waffles. He said they used to but the «machine» broke. For goodness sake, buy another waffle iron! The other items were fair but in no way was this worth $ 19.99. Drive 30 minutes to Pittsburgh and go to the Rivers Casino where the buffet is fabulous and only $ 14.99

So for what it is, a casino buffet, the food quality was pretty good. The dinner buffet is overpriced for what you get. A glorified salad bar with 5 or 6 hot items and a carved item. And a small dessert table.
Service was slow.

As a rewards club member I come often and as far as buffets go The Carvery’s is small, usually only 5 – 6 hot items available. The service can be great and friendly or slow and inattentive. I usually order off the menu which has some great burgers and sandwiches at reasonable prices.

The Carvery is typical not-​Vegas-​restaurant quality food. I typically have food vouchers here from my Meadows card or slot host. Two meals most recently:
Strip steak and scampi. Steak TOTALLY overdone, but being that it took almost an hour to get it, I wasn’t sending back at that point. Friend’s crab cakes were hockey pucks as well. Kitchen fail on this one. What wasn’t a fail and is deserving of 5 stars was the service. Server (Daphne) was awesome. Brought the manager to us and they comped the meal. Fantastic. Too bad for the kitchen failing because I know the severs take the hit for it. We triple tipped for her inconvenience.
Lenten buffet. Not bad! Crab legs were really good. They didn’t have fried fish which was a surprise to me, but I didn’t mind because I prefer steamed or broiled. I just heard other customers looking for «some fried shrimp and cod.» Prime rib was tender (not catholic so I indulged.) I did not indulge I the dessert… sad! It looked delicious especially the donut bar. They serve Starbucks coffee. Bonus.
I want this place to get better, but all in all it does the trick.

The Carvery is one of several Meadows Casino and Racetrack owned restaurants located on premises of the Meadows Casino.
Formerly a menu only café has been replaced with a large buffet style eatery that also has menu items to order from. But the buffet is really where the value is. A large salad and antipasta selection buffet leads into a second buffet line with more standard vegtable /​main course selection.
A third buffet line area is a meat carving station with fish, prime rib, chicken and turkey cuts.
Finally a desert area buffet line has a selection of small deserts as well as one the spot made donuts and toppings for them.
On Sundays till 4pm they also have a omelet station where made to order omelets are prepared in front of you while you wait.
Food is good. Your service depends on who you get waiting on you. To tell the truth we’ve had excellent servers and extremely horrible ones as well.
Overall not a bad place to eat when your at the casino.