Saturday Lunch, Terrace @ Huntington Ritz Carlton, Pasadena

[Slow Foodie]

There aren’t too many options for a fancyish Saturday lunch in the Pasadena area, so for my mom’s birthday, we found ourselves at the Terrace at the Huntington Ritz Carleton. The room was about half full when we arrived at one. Saturday lunch is never prime time for a restaurant but if the quality of the food and service are even the slightest indication of the nighttime fare, it would be a swindle of epic proportion. The hotel is blandly elegant and would certainly be a pleasant enough place to dine at were it not for amateurish, albeit amiable, service and food inferior to Trader Joe’s frozen entrees. The most egregious offender was a TWENTY FIVE DOLLAR chicken pot pie ordered by my son--sour canned-tasting peas and specks of shrivelled chicken threads suspended in a thin briny slop and topped with a soggy rag of puff paste. My salmon sandwich was sent back by me because it came with the surprise abomination of overripe alfalfa sprouts, which are one of the very few foods I revile. It was returned to me about twenty minutes later, sans sprouts but on noticeably stale low-end commercial grade bread. Other entrees were less offensive but nothing more special than you could find at a decent coffee shop. The banana dessert ordered by the same son who suffered through the chicken pie was some sort of unctous concoction stuffed into a day (or two...) old cream puff. There were nine of us and I am embarrassed to reveal the total damage which certainly incite one of my worst ever restaurant grudges.
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[The Oracle]

Thanks for the review. This makes me sad -- it would be such an excellent lunch spot. I had dinner at The Terrace some years back and had an equally horrific experience (super high prices for less than diner quality food).

They do have their act together for their afternoon tea... and for dining, while I still have not had the pleasure, The Dining Room (only open for dinner, I believe) is apparently the only way to go.