Kat B.
Yelp
After seeing reviews improve since re-opening, I was so excited about treating my mom to Mother's Day brunch at the PI, but unfortunately, we both left disappointed.
The very good: I found out day-of that we would need to eat earlier than expected to head to post-meal plans, and the person I spoke to over the phone & LaShaye were stellar in understanding and allowing us to shift our reservation up by half an hour. They went above and beyond to accommodate our request on what was surely a hectic day.
The okay: Parts of the buffet were good, and there was a decent variety of food. We enjoyed the beverages.
The bad: When we arrived, we were sat by a hostess at an outdoor table with no water, silverware, or menus. No one from the service team came to speak to us until almost 7 minutes had elapsed, by which point we had moved our table about a foot away from the Georgia flag that had been hitting my mom in the face because of the wind. The server remarked that the previous table did the same, which made us wonder why they reset the table next to the flag instead of leaving it shifted.
I looked on social media, Yelp, and the Partridge Inn, Hilton, and 8595 pages, but there was no menu listed for the day. We were not told it was buffet-style until having been there for almost 20 minutes, at which point we had to ask for silverware (she only brought us one set, and we ended up grabbing a second ourselves at minute 30 from behind the hostess stand) and water (this request was made 3 times over 25 minutes and involved me going to the bar to request the water before we both finally got a glass).
The buffet menu was vast, and therein lay the issue. There were tables, carving stations, and open-air trays set throughout the main dining area & bar space with no continuity (southern supper fare, seafood, a station that had a custom pasta sign but was actually for omelettes, potato salad & deviled eggs set next to charcuterie & fruit, breakfast foods to the side, several sections of dessert on makeshift stands with poorly-ruffled tablecloths underneath as decor, a make-your-own-cake station with Kroger variety containers of sprinkles). Most items were bland, the prime rib was served to my mom well-done, and one of her mussels had what appeared to be a baby mussel growing underneath it inside of the shell. We were able to find items that satisfied our hunger, but none of them reminded us of the signature southern flavors and elevated fare that we were used to from before the renovation.
We ordered mimosas (again, no menus) when we finally had a server come to our table. Future requests for drinks came slowly and with a feeling that we were inconveniencing the server- she even stopped me at the bar when I was first (and finally) getting food to have me carry my own drink to the table along with my plate (we paid individually for each drink; no bottomless service was offered). Tables around us also commented on how long they waited and how bad they felt asking for basic items (water, cutlery, drinks, buffet information).
Service staff seemed consistently confused and stressed. They regularly yelled over tables to ask questions of one another or figure out who was taking care of whom, and while our outdoor area only had 4 tables with 9 people total during our meal, we were left with 10-15 minute stretches with no service staff outdoors. In fact, a gust of wind blew the tablecloth, glassware, and plates off of a table, and patrons tried to save the items from falling; ultimately, another 5 minutes passed by the time a service staff member came out and questioned what had happened to the table.
When we received the check, I expected elevated Mother's Day pricing, but $60 per person for the buffet, before beverages and tip, seemed excessive for what we were able to enjoy. I would highly recommend consolidating the buffet offerings to ensure better quality and efficiency for that price point, as we were happy to pay it for the sheer amount of food offered but felt like the meals we each ate were not worth that amount.
It seems like the plated meals are getting back to the known PI standard, but I hope to see future buffet-style meals offered at a higher caliber of service and thoughtfulness of menu. This space is so remarkable and always holds so much potential, and I look forward to returning once they are able to hone in on their specialties and processes!