Sunset - Santa Cruz

We went for the Thanksgiving buffet. We booked our reservation early. The food was good. The server was very nice. However, the table was terrible. It was not in the restaurant, but a small middle room obviously used for some other purpose and repurposed to setting up tables in it for Thanksgiving. When I asked the dining facility manager to move us to another table he was anything but customer oriented. It was a nice day so I asked if we could be moved outside. There were numerous/many tables were available outside. It was early in the day, noon. The response we got back was: I hear you, but we are seating 1200 people today and you have your table. You have been assigned to it and that is the one you have. No one can be moved. When we left at 2:00pm there were still numerous tables available outside. I do not plan on going back to this place. The manager is totally inflexible and shows no concern for his customers. Watch out for the table you get at this place!

The view is amazing. The food was completely lacking seasoning and underwhelming. The service was incredibly slow. So, so slow. The cocktails were made well, but took 30 to 40 minutes to get after ordering one.

We had reservations for 6pm on Thanksgiving. We were seated in the sunset restaurant and noticed they were shutting down the buffet in that room so were told the buffet would be 3 rooms over in another area. We were seated at a table in the far corner and the person seating us noticed we did not have a white table cloth as all the other tables did. She said she would get a table cloth but never came back, not a big deal. We walked to the buffet area and.....turkey, ham and prime rib stations were all empty. The restaurant was serving dinner until 8pm and at 6pm were out of the main courses? We were told they were preparing more so we got some salads etc and went back to our table. Second time walking back to the other side of the building to get turkey and once again, out of turkey, ham and prime rib! We ended up standing in the middle of the room with our plates in our hands waiting for turkey, ham or prime rib!!!! Finally ham arrived and then a small tray of turkey arrived. Never saw prime rib. This meal costs $300 including drinks and tip to stand in the middle of the room with our plates in hand waiting for entrees? The 2 pieces of turkey I did get were very thick, maybe slicing thinner would have stretched the turkey out and allowed more people to enjoy it. We stayed at the resort for the weekend but due to this experience did not return to the restaurant in fear of having another bad experience.

Our reservation was for 545pm. As usual was difficult to find parking. Our wait time was about 10 min. not too bad. Hostess was very nice, smiling, and our table was in front of one window. Biggest complaint: dogs in the room. One at the persons table, the other one on the floor on its' bed but barking when anyone walked by. I don't pay the high price for dinner to listen to barking. It's ridiculous diners had to be subjected to that on top of little kids screaming. Wine is always good, ordered the La Crema pinot noir. BUFFET: Had the pleasure of listening to one mother scream and embarrass her child and another woman complaining that she had to wait for 30 min for prime rib. A few hangry people thats for sure. FOOD was cool even though on the burners, mashed potatoes were like glue, sweet potatoes were good, stuffing was not that great. Salmon was dry. Sea food risotto was really good, never had it before. Oysters are always good. Prime rib was slice thin and tough...just my slice. The woman complaining grabbed two thinker slices. Please cook the vegetables a bit longer, the carrots were difficult to cut and chew same with the brussel sprouts and green beans. Desserts were limited but I did enjoy the apple pie and the chocolate cake?. We have been coming for this dinner for about 8 years. The dinners are normally very good, but these past two years, not so much. I don't feel that I got a great dining experience this year. Between the barking dog, children screaming and the 18% added gratuity tip, we will think twice about returning next year. In fact, that 18% service charge wasn't necessary. We would have left a larger tip and I will bet many people didn't notice that addition to the tab or even asked about it and left more tip on the table.

The Thanksgiving buffet was an absolute disaster! My daughter and I never had any meat. We gave up! No turkey, ham or prime rib. The team was completely off the mark! They should have refunded everyone! For $85 pp I expected so much more. Everyone was waiting for food. Even the meat carver was waiting for something to carve. There was never a chance to be satisfied as the kitchen never had a chance. How could they be so unprepared with that many reservations? i paid for one which still feels like I got ripped off! They should refund every credit card charged last night! I think I will contest the charge now after stewing on this all night! So disappointed for my daughter! Then when we left the valet lost our keys only to find the car in the lot with keys turned on and windiws down. It was completely unattended.