Jordan P.
Yelp
Tom Ham's Lighthouse came very highly recommended by multiple friends and family so we were excited when grandpa watched (most) of the kids so I could treat Mom to Mother's Day brunch that was supposed to be a cut above the rest (at over $80 a person you'd think it would be right?)
I will start this review by explaining I am by no means rich, so this was a huge treat for us to go out as we only eat "fancy" maybe three times a year at best and this definitely counted as one of those times.
I'll start with the good, which unfortunately isn't going to be a very long portion of this review. The service: David, our server, was extremely attentive to our needs but you could tell he was stretched very thing as his "drive bys" by our table were always a blur and he hit 4 or 5 other tables after ours. How he kept track of all the requests is nothing short of exemplary and he should be commended for his ability to multi-task and his attention to detail. My water and juice was never empty for long and he even brought me a pair of seafood crackers for my crab without me even requesting them.
Now on to the not so good: Management, you can tell they failed to provide adequate staffing and coverage for the Mother's Day rush today. The omelet station cooks had to constantly abandon their stations or work on directing traffic for the back of house food runners who were bringing out refreshes for the buffet and they were -always- behind. I wouldn't mind if there was one or two things that needed a refresh when I went up to get food but there was quite literally four or five empty or basically empty buffet offerings each of the three time I attempted to go to the buffet.
The eggs Benedict was empty two of the three times I went to the buffet, I don't necessarily blame Tom Ham's for this next part but there was no one enforcing the rules at the raw seafood bar of don't leave your shells, so patrons were constantly coming up and using the tongs to grab 5,6,7,8 plus scallops out of the half shell and leave the shells in the tray which then led to the scallops not getting refilled as often because it still by a glance looked full (even though no actual scallops remained).
The Mac and cheese was out all three times I went through the buffet line, as was smaller things like the melted butter, containers for butter and cocktail sauce etc.
A small gripe was that the menu listed the French toast as having honey butter which it most definitely did not, it had regular butter and there was no honey in the buffet area that I could see.
Now on to the most egregious of offenses in my opinion for a place with the reputation of Tom Ham's, the food quality:
Firstly the big hitters: Prime Rib, was nowhere near medium rare, had almost the same temperature and color all the way through, which for a prime rib should be criminal. There was little to no flavoring on the rub and it was tough from being cooked too long.
Maine Lobster Claws: again steamed/cooked way too long or left under a heat lamp way too long before being brought out under plastic so continuing to cook. The Lobster meat was tough, chewie, gamey, and just....gross. The melted butter also had the lightest taste of real butter I've ever experienced, it tasted like it was butter made by La Croix.
Eggs Benedict: Hollandaise sauce was very weak in flavor and the buttermilk biscuit to egg/pork ratio was way off, leaving my mouth dry and sapped of moisture after taking a bite, all I could taste was dry biscuit even with the egg yolk and Hollandaise sauce.
Mac and cheese: Again very light in cheese flavor, tasted like Mac and cheese flavored by La Croix (my new favorite sayings with Tom Ham's) My wife was able to get some for the baby during one of her buffet trips although I never saw it in stock myself.
The potatoes in all the potato dishes were outstanding, very well seasoned and cooked, the problem with that is either there was very little of the beer braised short ribs or smoked BBQ pork shoulder in either of the dishes, or it was all on top and everyone just picked out all the meat and left the potatoes (wouldn't surprise me honestly given the raw bar situation listed above) and the braised short ribs were way overcooked in the pieces I did find in my hash and had almost no flavor which greatly dissapointed me as short ribs are one of my favorite dishes outside eggs benedict so I was 0 for 2 on reasons why I chose to go to Tom Ham's.
Then at the end of our meal it took over twenty minutes to get the check after asking for it which we had to wait for while dealing with a fussy toddler who very much wanted to be anywhere but in her high chair.
I've uploaded the pictures I did take but I didn't want to be the creeper walking around taking photos of the buffet line so I kept my exposure brief enough to prove my points with evidence.
