Claudia B.
Yelp
We descended upon Culina Ristorante at the Four Seasons Hotel- Beverly Hills for its Thanksgiving Day buffet. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by bursts of gold and silver Christmas decor, and lots of Thanksgiving decor, too. Very, very fancy and beautiful.
Even though we had a reservation, we had to wait a bit to be seated as it was VERY crowded, SURPRISINGLY crowded. Every table was filled to capacity... in many different rooms. I honestly figured it might be somewhat filled, but I never figured on it being packed at the price they were charging. Then again, we were in Beverly Hills. Apparently, more and more people don't like to cook anymore cuz they were with us at Culina.
We sat in a beautiful dining room, and while we were inside, the ceilings were very high, and it was open air as the entire back side of that room was open. We didn't feel shut in or cramped. However, I will say that our individual table allegedly for a party of 4, was BARELY large enough to accommodate 2, and yet, we were a party of 3. There's no way we could've pulled off a party of 4. It was a very small table, but we made it work somehow, and our waiter was fabulous and made sure things were cleared off within seconds of finishing.
As for the buffet, we had to wade through lots of people standing around to get their seat, which was somewhat annoying, in order to make our way into 3 different rooms of food. I can't even begin to give the laundry list of what they provided, but I was SUPER IMPRESSED. The appetizers alone...shrimp, crab, smoked salmon, poached salmon, oysters, sushi. I filled up on an entire plate of those, and I really was full after that. They had all breakfast foods still available, which I was surprised by because the website stated that it was only being offered until 3pm, but here it was still at 6pm. I didn't partake of that, so I don't really know what was there. They also had a beautiful selection of cheeses, breads and muffins, which I also didn't take. They had many different carved meats, of which I only took turkey that was absolutely delicious, tender, moist and so flavorful. They also had prime rib, ham, chicken, and a few other meats that I didn't try. So many side dishes, way too many to remember, as well as another room devoted to desserts only. There was allegedly mac and cheese, and I saw it on some plates, but I have no idea where it was located, or I would've taken some. I did take mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing and green beans. This is where I had issues. The sweet potatoes weren't seasoned, and I'm wondering if there was ANY brown sugar or butter added. If not, it's a deal breaker at Thanksgiving. They added a token few marshmallows, but again, it needed that extra "oomph" of sugar and butter. The mashed potatoes weren't all that seasoned, and the green bean casserole, while it had cream of mushroom soup/sauce, it was very watered down, and at least the spoonful I took, it was altogether missing any french fried onions, which may have not been part of it... but I missed it. The stuffing had cranberries IN it, but I just didn't like it. I'm a traditionalist with all my Thanksgiving foods, and none of these sides rated well with me. There were many more sides to try, but I only took the few I mentioned above.
The desserts were quite good, I have to say. There was something with "smoky" chocolate, and I didn't like that at all, but everything else was delicious. I tried their fancier version of pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and something else that I can't remember now. They offered donuts, cookies, and lots more than I tried. Unfortunately, I was too full.
Aside from my side dish issues, I had questioned the management ahead of time as to how they would handle a buffet setting during these (STILL) covid times, and I was told that ALL stations would be manned with a restaurant employee serving ALL food and that we would hold our plates out to be served. In reality, WE helped ourselves to almost all food, and the employees only served at carving stations. It turned out fine, but it was something that upset me while there because I was obviously not given accurate info, and it could've been problematic.
Obviously, none of us came close to eating the cost of what we were charged. Never happens at a buffet, but honestly, I thought I would've at least eaten a little more than I did. The question I was left with... would I do this again, knowing what I now know? The answer is probably not HERE. The buffet setting is just way too much food. Plus, my favorite part of a typical Thanksgiving meal - the side dishes - pretty much failed for me at Culina. I'm glad we had the experience, though. It really was very nice.