Comments on: Anthrocon Planning, Continued

By: johnnyskunk

johnnyskunk — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 02:57:44 +0000

philidelphia dining
about 5-6 blocks in the direction of the convention center is the farmer’s market good restaurants , bakery’s and cheep fresh fruits and vegtables just east of that is an indoor mall with a food cort in the lower level there are plenty of good places to eat just east of the hotel .The Last time i was in philidelphia i didnt get a ckance to explor west of the hotel but i’m sure there are good places to eat there to

By: typographer

typographer — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 23:11:42 +0000

In reply to woofwoofarf.

17.50 wasn’t a buffet. I don’t see the word “buffet” anywhere in my comment.???
That was the cost of the Nova-smoked Salmon Omellette breakfast, including 6 ounces of said salmon (go price that). Not a buffet, a big platter of food brought to me by the waitress. And normally I don’t spend that much on breakfast, but I know what the salmon costs, and it’s soooooooo good.

By: woofwoofarf

woofwoofarf — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 22:35:27 +0000

In reply to ovrclokd.

Re: free internet at wyndham
Heh. Oh yeah, I applied for the Wyndham By Request club the moment I found out it was going to be at a Wyndham. Now, it may be dicey because it sounds like sometimes they don’t honor the By Request perks if you’re with a group, but we’ll just have to see.

By: woofwoofarf

woofwoofarf — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 22:34:03 +0000

In reply to typographer. Well, it's a fair enough question. The problem is that conventions are held at hotels, and hotels are in tourism-rich places. The minute you say the word "tourism" you've just kicked up the prices several notches. So yeah, any hotel restaurant is going to be expensive by definition. I guess my personal problem is that I know what the food costs, and while I won't begrudge restaurants making money, I have problem when they're making a 400% profit on my purchase. A typical hotel-restaurant breakfast of two strips of bacon, two eggs any style, a slice of toast and a glass of orange juice is going to run you $8-10 (Appleby's at the Adam's Mark was like that, as is Tre Cena at the Hyatt at Midwest FurFest). Now, at a reasonable restaurant that might set you back $5-6. That's the kind of price increase that I'm talking about. The $17.50 buffet? I suppose it might be worth it for some. I'm a snob and tend to avoid buffets in general because I know that you just can't make good food in vats. You can make edible food in vats, but that's not what I'm interested in paying for.

By: ovrclokd

ovrclokd — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:54:35 +0000

free internet at wyndham
btw, if you don’t already know this – if you join their free byrequest program (frequent guest club), your internet access is free. if not, it’s $9.95/day like everywhere else. plus you can specify a welcome amenity in the online profile (fruit vs. candy, juice vs. pop) and they’ll have the right thing waiting in your room when you show up.
so, even if it’s an older wyndham, it does have a couple perks…

By: typographer

typographer — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:48:10 +0000

Not wanting to earn the Cranky Pants Award, but there’s a question I’ve long wondered about, related to this statement:
pretty much what you would expect of a hotel restaurant: breakfast and lunch only, OK food, prices about half again what you might pay elsewhere.
People say this all the time, but the only elsewhere they seem to mean is some mythical place even cheaper than Dennys. Seriously, the Tacoma Convention Center, where several NorWesCons were held, and several Conifurs, got that kind of review, and I would always think, “How many cheap restaurants do you eat at that even serve enormous omelettes containing nova smoked salmon and enough sour cream to float a boat in? The $17.50 price tags is pretty reasonable, I think.” And since they do have breakfasts for under 10 bucks, what’s the big deal?
I mean, yes, I’ve been to horribly over-price restaurants, and sometimes they’ve even been in hotels, but I see this evaluation applied to places that don’t seem to be over-priced. *shrug*

By: moiracoon

moiracoon — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:32:55 +0000

In reply to berin. Shula's of Troy was a client of mine when I lived in the Detroit area. I have really no memory of their exact prices, since whenever I ate there, it was on the company dime. I do recall the pricing to be quite high (steaks starting at about $30) and that everything is ala carte (salad, potato, etc). Their tomato and gorgonzola salad IS beyond wonderful, though.

By: berin

berin — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:16:38 +0000

Good advice, and if I was going this year, I’d certainly remember the steakhouse. The usual run on Sunday night with my friends to Outback was fun, but I’m semi-allergic to chain food. I like food with at least a hint of individuality and locality.
Anyhow, did you happen to get a price for a salad at Shula’s? I’ve found the markup for items such as salads and deserts is an interesting metric for the quality of the meal and service. After all, a salad at Yanko’s Little Zagreb here in Bloomington costs about 50 cents to serve, but is listed on the menu as $5, but the steaks are hand-cut to order. You request them by the inch. I recommend the place if you ever find yourself wandering in my area.

By: xydexx

xydexx — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 17:28:53 +0000

In reply to ursulav. There are more than 50 different places to eat within walking distance of the hotel, according to the conbook map. -=)

By: rigelkitty

rigelkitty — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:29:54 +0000

Yeah, it's only for one year, it was an emergency, we had no choice, sucks. But look at all the praise and rave reviews for the 2006 hotel...