Fruit Loops served at Best Western...
Our recent overnighter at a Best Western in Morgantown, West Virginia near the University came with a light breakfast buffet that offered colorful fruit loops, already shelled hard boiled eggs and a do-it-yourself waffle maker with fixins...I went for some toast.
Anyone else encounter this kind of menu? Do you think it was just the culinary sensibility of the area?
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18 Comments:
Hampton Inns offer the ultimate in early morning vomitous food - "Biscuits and gravy." After sitting in a steam table, the biscuits are full of moisture and the gravy is basically sliceable.
Hampton does offer an array of cereals. It's usually Raisin Bran, a Kiddie cereal and one other. Usually oatmeal is offered but God knows what's in it. There are usually a couple of types of toastable breads - cinnamon, whole wheat, white and sometimes bagels.
I snag an apple or a banana to stick in the room in case I want something later.
I'll say this - the Hampton Inn has the best lobby coffee I've experienced so far. When BF used to manage a rock band, we stayed at our share of hotels and some of that stuff in the lobby is vile swill.
therealchiffonade at 10:00AM on 10/14/09
I was at a Holiday Inn Express night before last - hold the expert jokes, please - and there were Froot Loops, 3 other cereals, sausage, bacon, gravy, biscuits, HB eggs, omelets, yogurt, their signature cinnamon rolls, and a few other carb-type things like bagels and bread. This was Oxford, MS.
We travel a fair amount and I don't find that the sweetened cereals are region-specific and neither are the waffles (which are not bad, BTW) or HB eggs or anything else. It's corporate-think, believing that travelers want a consistent experience. I'm not crazy about the whole idea, preferring some little local spot, but Mr. Meatloaf points out we've paid for this, so we sometimes succumb.
Yes, I've indeed had vile swill put before me in such spots, but that means it's time for some milk and a piece of toast unless it's margarine instead of bread. (I can do ten minutes on those awful mini-muffins....)
lemons at 10:15AM on 10/14/09
I think the menu is more indicative of the hotel--you said Best Western not Four Seasons. Usually, when I am traveling I am happy to eat that crappy breakfast--oatmeal or awful bagels, in my run of the mill hotel so that I can get on with my day at least with something in my stomach. But believe me I always look forward to a great lunch and dinner when I am on the road.
PoorOldMama at 10:16AM on 10/14/09
When we moved from Nashville to Raleigh last year we stopped at a Best Western in VA (don't ask why we went that way) and they had the same thing for their breakfast spread. It was surprising to me! Better than the usual crap.
arm1970 at 10:21AM on 10/14/09
I agree that it's a corporate thing, not a regional thing, because it's the same all over the US.
The worst was when I stayed at a Best Western in Maine with my parents. We came downstairs and asked where the continental breakfast was being served. The woman behind the desk said, "Well, coffee's ovah the-ah," pointing to an an urn in the lobby, "and breakfast is right he-ah." And she took out three individually wrapped factory danishes. The kind you'd find in a sad vending machine in a fluorescent lit government building.
Knowing that it's always going to be sugar cereals and factory muffins, I'm not drawn in by the promise of "Free Continental Breakfast" anymore. I'd much rather stay at an independent place and find a diner offering regional foods for breakfast.
I will say though, the Sheraton in Burlington, Vermont used to offer a bangin' buffet brunch with omelet and waffle stations, etc. They still might.
yayfood at 11:25AM on 10/14/09
I have travelled (hence the moniker) *a lot*, but one motel experience that I alsways remember is the old motel that my family would stay at every time that we travelled up north (and by north, I mean literally a mile south of Manitoba) to visit my grandparents when I was a child (we stayed at that farm up until they started having trouble when it was just the two of them, so staying at the motel made it easier all around).
Anyway, we are talking ho-dunk, middle-of-nowhere, don't-have-to-impress-becasue-it;s-the-only-option motels (two - they are in a town at crosses the Canadian truck route), so they never even offered breakfast. We had a lousy (never did work) coffee maker (not that i used it as a child) in the room, but every morning I remember going to the Mileage Cafe that would serve up HUGE pancakes, one at a time (I remember that my mother was confused when the waitress first asked her how many that my brother and I wanted - since she order three each, and the waitress had to explain the size). They were literally the size of a large platet, which for a small child is a *big* pancake. With that fake maple syrup that you get at roadside cafes. I am sure that the flavor was horrible (they stopped serving them years ago, unfortunately, even though I still go up there to visit my relatives), but the memory makes them still smell and taste so good in my mind!!
Traveller at 11:41AM on 10/14/09
Those DIY waffle makers are great -- when I used to do a lot of traveling for my job, I saw plenty of the type of breakfast spread you describe above (both in south and up north -- didn't travel out west, so I couldn't comment on that area). I would "treat" myself to the waffles if they were there (knowing that I was about to be outside working all day and would easily burn the calories), but it was nice to have cereal/apples/bananas to pick from as well.
I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express one time that was right across the highway from a 50's-style diner and decided to try that -- the grits were cold and the eggs came out cooked wrong, but at least the coffee was good. I stick to "continental" breakfasts when I have to eat at 5:30 am now.
leighana at 11:42AM on 10/14/09
That sounds pretty standard to me except for the eggs. I'm always happy when they have the waffle maker. Coffee + OJ + waffle = continental breakfast success (at least for me).
sloppy at 12:23PM on 10/14/09
We stayed at a Microtel in West VA this summer and it was the same, a variety of cereals (apple jacks, cheerios, cinnamon toast crunch, oatmeat packets you add hot water to), muffins, pastries, bagels, waffle maker, no eggs no fruit. We were happy to have something but it was pretty dismal nutritionally and taste wise. On the other hand, I just got back from Paris and the hotel breakfast (13 euros not included) was perfect. I was surprised b/c the guidebooks say the hotel breakfasts are generally bad. It was expensive but we had fresh sqeezed juice (orange or grapefruit), yogurt, camembert and muenster cheese, hot croissants chocolate and plain, muffins (blueberry and banana), 4 cereals (a granola/mueslix mix, bran flakes, kix, cocoa puffs, bananas, apples, and pears dried figs, prunes, and apricots, apples bananas, pears and hot baguettes. A waiter brought you your choice of hot beverage in china cups and you could order eggs (additional $$$). The table was beautifully set with 4 mini jars of jams and preserves to choose from. I think the choinces weren't all that different from the Microtel but the quality and presentation of everything was wonderful. Perhaps if the quality of cereals brads and fruits offered was improved we all would be a lot happier.
KtMc24 at 3:38PM on 10/14/09
I drove from California to Florida and back a couple of years ago, and had my fill of bad hotel breakfasts to choose from, but the one that I remember is the Best Western (I think) somewhere in Texas that had the do-your-own-waffle setup, but the waffle iron was in the shape of the state of Texas. I have a picture of that waffle somewhere.
cyberroo at 3:44PM on 10/14/09
I'm not a fan of the continental breakfast, possibly this is because I don't ever travel for business so if I'm in a hotel I'm somewhere on vacation, so I'll wake up and head out wandering, looking for a spot that sounds, smells, or looks good.
I have stayed at plenty of hotels with the breakfast but I never really eat it, or if I do its a cup of OJ and some kinda crap pastry they have sitting on the counter just to tide me over until I go find somewhere to really eat.
AyeEat at 5:28PM on 10/14/09
I stayed at an awesome hotel in Atlanta (can't remember the name) that had a DIY waffle bar and eggs to order (sort of, there were limits). It was a few blocks away from the conference we were attending, but all our friends that were at closer hotels had crappy cold cereal in the morning while we were making waffles and getting omelettes.
gingercookiewithlime at 8:32PM on 10/14/09
in ottawa canada we got a similar spread. fruity pebbles, make-your own waffles, muffins, english muffins, fruit. went for the fruit for a 11am snack and ate cereal one day and the next i went for the waffles.
blizcheetah at 9:20PM on 10/14/09
a nice breakfast in paris compared to the corporate crap we get here....
what's happened to us? can't they hire a couple of people to make a fresh breakfast these days? i'm so tired of this mentality. it's like flying on jet blue .... okay, i understand it's just snacks and that's fine.... but why can't they just offer me a simple piece of fruit -- or a hunk of cheese and bread?
i'm so disappointed most times with the crap they pass off as food in these places. no imagination - no creativity. our souls are perishing.
pooch at 9:59PM on 10/14/09
I travel quite a bit, and all the complimentary continental breakfasts are a blur. You guys are really observant! (Or maybe I should turn in my food-enthusiast credentials.) Most hotel breakfasts I've encountered have been dreary processions of mass-produced, sugary white-flour confections. I don't recall Fruit Loops, however, even at places likely to be frequented by families, school groups, or other gangs of unruly children.
My complimentary breakfast holy grail is scrambled eggs, even if they've been languishing on the steam table. Usually, fruit, yogurt, raisin bran, and coffee will suffice.
piglet at 10:37PM on 10/14/09
Yayfood nailed it, with "individually wrapped factory danishes. The kind you'd find in a sad vending machine in a fluorescent lit government building."
How about a platter of institutional-pack mini Drake's coffee cakes that smell like wood shavings?
salpico at 12:20AM on 10/15/09
Traveled a lot (I mean a lot) last 5 years for business. Found the best breakfast deals were at the Staybridge Suites and Hilton Garden Inns.
Most of the time, though I travel with my own high fiber cereals and bars. Just to get the morning started.
All of the comments above are so accurate and spot on. I've stared at preformed omelets that look and taste like cardboard. Utlra sweet selections of cereals with bruised fruit set out. Coffee thats been sitting all night, tepid and horrible. Rubbery boiled eggs, selections of pastries still stuck in their wrappers.
Most of these places, you could go to a locals Sam's or Costco and see what they're selling in bulk and assume that's what you'll be eating for breakfast.
I could go on, but will get off my soapbox. Last thing I'll say is that 'free hotel breakfasts at most of the major chain hotel / motels, is barely a step above what little food they serve on airplanes now!'
Ribster at 7:28AM on 10/18/09
@ gutreactions- are you sure you weren't in Minnesota? I swear those are the same options we had this summer...only we had to shell our hard boiled eggs. You're place was obviously swankier than ours. :)
The best "free" hotel breakfast I remember was in Skokie, IL at a Signature Inn or something in that chain. Of course we had to wait for the mom who made all 5 of her kids their own waffle (seriously? THEY'RE UNDER 10. I can guarantee not one of those kids ate an entire waffle) and hold our breath while one of the darlings piled her plate full of bacon (we weren't sure we were going to get any, that's how much she took) but it was worth it. The hotel itself sucked rocks but the food was surprisingly good.
AuntJone at 12:16PM on 10/20/09