Jump to content

Cafe Promenade, at the Mayflower Hotel Downtown - With a Friday Night All You Can Eat Seafood Buffet - Closed


Recommended Posts

I fasted the rest of the day to gird myself for the week's coda at the Mayflower Seafood Buffet. There, escoffier, grover, cucas87, scottjohnston and I helped ourselves to shrimp, oysters, smoked salmon, smoked trout, paella, gnocchi, asparagus, crab cakes, sea bass, seared tuna, anchovies, salsa, seaweed salad, clam chowder, and (!?) roast beef. For dessert, there were éclairs, napoleons, crème brulée, bread pudding, strawberries doused in chocolate, chocolate truffles, cream puffs and assorted fruits. The other at my table had mixed drinks. I had the $12 bottomless bottle of Mumms, though in the end I think I had only 3 or 4 glasses.

On the sixth day, which happened to coincide with Yom Kippur, I rested.

I am a walking plateau de fruits de mer. Glub. Glub.

Stephen

That was truly wretched excess. Now my question; for many years I pondered going to the Mayflower seafood buffet, but never did. Is it worth it? Did I make the wrong move by not moving on that one? Tell us how it was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stephen

That was truly wretched excess. Now my question; for many years I pondered going to the Mayflower seafood buffet, but never did. Is it worth it? Did I make the wrong move by not moving on that one? Tell us how it was.

Wretched excess? Moi? Well, yes. I've been there several times. At $42, it is the best bargain in Washington. The oysters are particularly good. And I have to put in a kudo for the fellow who runs the incongruous roast beef station. He gave me a chunk that was almost 3-inches thick. It was quite rare, just as I like it. I only regret that I have but one stomach to give for this delightful Friday night event.

Incidentally, my reference to Yom Kippur was misleading. The fasting part is Monday, not Saturday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wretched excess? Moi? Well, yes. I've been there several times. At $42, it is the best bargain in Washington. The oysters are particularly good. And I have to put in a kudo for the fellow who runs the incongruous roast beef station. He gave me a chunk that was almost 3-inches thick. It was quite rare, just as I like it. I only regret that I have but one stomach to give for this delightful Friday night event.

Incidentally, my reference to Yom Kippur was misleading. The fasting part is Monday, not Saturday.

I have to agree with most of this. The shrimp were large and quite tasty. The oysters that weren't dripped on by the ice sculpture that held them were briny, tasty and very nice. I made the mistake of taking some just before they were replenished and I found them watery and not very flavorful. After the oysters were restocked, I managed to beat Stephen there and got very nice ones. I had the bottom-less glass of Cabernet Sauvignon (BV) and it was Cab but not memorable. I don't think I drank even a glass-full. The vodka martini I had was very nice however. I think it's a good $42 investment. We were there for almost 3 hours and the service was attentive without being obtrusive, water glasses were always refilled promptly and our server was always there when we needed something. I do have one question, though. Where were the seafood forks? This is after all a seafood buffet. There should be seafood forks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They have 5 sections: warm food section (clam chowder, mini crab cakes, gnocchi with cream sauce, seafood stuffed tortellini with tomato sauce, sea bass and so on), cold food section (raw oysters, shrimps), pasta section (penne, orzo, linguini), meat section (roast beef, paella), dessert section as Stephen described. Somehow, there was no lobster.

I liked all the food I tried. Gnocchi, tortellini, crab cake, shrimp, oyster (very fresh), paella. Also bread pudding and apple crumb pie were awesome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to agree with most of this. The shrimp were large and quite tasty. The oysters that weren't dripped on by the ice sculpture that held them were briny, tasty and very nice. I made the mistake of taking some just before they were replenished and I found them watery and not very flavorful. After the oysters were restocked, I managed to beat Stephen there and got very nice ones. I had the bottom-less glass of Cabernet Sauvignon (BV) and it was Cab but not memorable. I don't think I drank even a glass-full. The vodka martini I had was very nice however. I think it's a good $42 investment. We were there for almost 3 hours and the service was attentive without being obtrusive, water glasses were always refilled promptly and our server was always there when we needed something. I do have one question, though. Where were the seafood forks? This is after all a seafood buffet. There should be seafood forks.

"bottom-less glass" of wine??? Is this included in the price?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread got mentioned in the Post Express today, so I'm bumping it back up to the top of the page for our new guests.

Welcome!

Rocks.

Would it be possible to provide a link for those who are no longer in range of Post Express? I looked but without success.

I got to the online edition, but alas it was not good enough. Turns out (thanks to Da Man DR himself) that you need to download the print edition pdf and search around for it. Turns out to be on page 57 of 68, in case anybody is that interested.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of people may not know this (and you won't see it on their website), but Cafe Promenade has been closed since August, leaving the legendary Mayflower Hotel without a real restaurant space for the time being.

Obviously, the hotel needs a place to serve meals to its guests, so for now, they're serving breakfast downstairs in one of the banquet rooms, and lunch and dinner on the Mezzanine level, in a temporary space set up on the western end of the hotel.

Taking the place of Cafe Promenade will be a restaurant called Edgar. I asked the concierge today, and Edgar is supposed to open sometime around December.

(I also note upthread that this represents yet another great Stephen Banker memory.)

I keep saying how important it is to capture these posts forever for posterity, and this is why.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...