It’s apparently been noted that I’m a bit mum when it comes to Winterlicious and Summerlicious. Well, the fact is I’m actually a fan of both. I was in China during Summerlicious last year but this year I did in fact participate in Winterlicious at a wonderful restaurant.
I think it’s a great idea that people who can’t afford to pay $150+ a head for a meal in a 4 star restaurant can get a similar experience for a fraction of the price. The problem is, the day the Winterlicious reservations are made available for booking, all the big named restaurants are full within 1 hour of opening their phone line. Consider yourself lucky if you got through and weren’t hit with the busy signal. Oh and this is on top of having to be an American Express card holder to qualify for the early reservation option.
When I ask people about their thoughts around Winterlicious, they usually sigh and say “small portions… smaller than what you would usually get at the same restaurant”, though in my experience portions are smaller at gourmet restaurants, but they’re usually not any smaller if you’re ordering off of the Winterlicious menu. Actually, my party was stuffed after our Winterlicious experience, but stay tuned for that which I should have out in a day or two.
So my take is it’s a great idea, but the execution could use some work.