Houlihan’s Breakfast Buffet, US 192

April 13, 2011 at 16:57 | Posted in Food | Leave a comment

Today we decided to try a different breakfast buffet.  We have been decade long lovers of the Sizzler breakie a particular favourite of the travelling Brit’s in Florida, this morning we were tempted into Houlihan’s……oops!

I had been reliably informed by my Sister that Houlihan’s was a restaurant but the number of separate bars scattered about the building, the ceiling lights, dark curtains and walls certainly reminded me of a couple of nightclubs I used to frequent in Brighton, like this place they always looked better after several gallons of ale.

Now the easy way to write this review would be to compare the experience with the one we had a Sizzler 2 days beforehand so that’s what I am going to do!  Are you all sitting comfortably?

At Sizzler you go to the till, confirm you numbers, order your tea/coffee and pay there and then, the same person who takes you payment leads you to your table, 9 times out of 10 your waitress is waiting there already, she confirms the drinks from your receipt as you go straight to the food, when you arrive back at the table with your first serving of bacon and eggs your coffee is there waiting for you, lovely and so easy and hassle free.  The waitress is always close with refills and is always ready to clear your plates as you finish them.  As you get up to leave she always says goodbye with a smile, a toothpick and a little minty sweet, there is no waiting for the check but straight out to start your day, full, happy and content.

And now for Houlihan’s this morning, we are not a massive party with 5 adults and 2 children and I was surprised how long it took to get a table in a half empty restaurant, the sofa’s by the door were comfortable but I was surprised I had to sit in it long enough for my arse cheeks to make quite such a large dent in it.  When the table was finally ‘ready’ we were led to a booth, tight for us 3 adults on one side and intimately tight on the other side for 2 adults, a 6 year old and a 2 year old with a booster seat.  It took a ‘server’ several further minutes to arrive and take our drinks order and leave us some plates and cutlery.  The food was ok, not as wide a selection as Sizzler and every real British man will struggle to find that unlike the mighty Sizzler these people do not supply you with a bottle of tomato ketchup, just tiny little cups of the stuff, I am not proud, I like things to be done the right way, where ever in the world I am.  Houlihan’s does boast an omelete bar, bit of a gimmick with a long queue and a little too much use of butter for my liking, I was happy to stick with the scrabbled version.

Now we hit the major drawback of sitting in a booth for an all you can eat breakfast buffet, can you guess it yet?  Exactly, as each person wants to get up for some more all the others around you have to get up aswell, over and over again. You spent the whole meal trying to synchronize finishing your plate with the rest of the family.

This is where we encountered the next problem with the Houlihan’s experience, they don’t clear the plates very quickly, before we began to make our own pile of used crockery at the end of the table my Father remarked that the scene was like something out of he blitz, rubble and debris as far as you could see.  As the pile of used plates grew on the end of the table I began to fear the weight could collapse the whole thing flipping it over like a deadly game of Buckaroo.

At this point I feel I have to mention that we are of course British so everytime the hostess or server asks if everything was alright we all smiled back and said it was great!!!

The check when it arrived was correct but it seem to be almost impossible to get catch anyones eye to take the bloody thing and process the card so we could all leave.  Once again we were all so grateful that the 18% tip was already added to the bottom of the bill for our CONVENIENCE!!!!!

Sizzler, we love you, will you forgive us for 2 timing you this morning, never again will we go behind your back and eat a breakfast buffet anywhere else but with you, I am just so, so sorry.