Savor Litchfield

This is a difficult review for me for a couple of reasons. First my back was bothering me this day and as such I did not wander as much as I am sure the creators of the event intended people to do. This caused me to miss an important part of the event. Second I posted some of my problems about the event on Facebook and got some interesting feedback from someones opinion that I respect. I rewrote this review three times, which is something I never do. But eventually it came down to me deciding to report my feelings about the event. You are welcome to consider them fair, or unfair or not worth reading. That is entirely up to you. But if I am going to do this I have to be honest to myself, even when myself is a grumpy old man.

If The Taste of Simsbury is the Major Leagues, than Savor Litchfield is AA ball. Unfortunately, unlike the minor leagues, which recognizes its place and offers bargain priced entertainment, Savor Litchfield offers no price difference from its superior dining option. And that is my major problem with Savor.  AA parks recognize they are at a competitive disadvantage, so many of them go out of their way to provide superior services where they can. The parking is often easier, the navigation of the venue is often more enjoyable and easier for visitors and they bend over backwards to let you know that they value you being there. This results in AA ball parks often being like the old Avis car commercials promised recognizing their lower place in the market, “we try harder.” Savor Litchfield, seems to think, ok we have a lot less restaurants, but we are Litchfield, we have this nice farm, and well, did I mention we are Litchfield. Because unlike its AA example, it’s self delusion results in it not trying harder.

Although their playing field, South Farm in Morris, was a fine venue, what was missing was the planning, organization and framework workers to guide the guests through, the ushers, if you will, to guide the patrons to their seats, I mean food. This should have been more important at Savor Litchfield than its counterparts as most places have a large area that is open where all the food and activities occur. But here it was spread out without a real rhyme or reason and not so much as a handout, with a map showing that food was not in one place. That in fact you would have to go here and here to get that and go there for something else. It was spread out and that was the rub. Even little signs saying food trail with arrows showing where to go, or food barn, or something to indicate that there was more to the event that was hidden in a building, not mentioned. Someone mentioned that maps aren’t done anymore, I guess the cost is too much. Its funny, The Taste of Simsbury had a three-fold page that listed all the restaurants and bars participating. They were all in one big room and yet you were still guided where to go and even what you were getting. But I guess the minor leagues can’t spring for those extras, even if they are charging major league prices.

I know I am spending a lot of time on this and I haven’t even got into the terrible waiters in the VIP room where they decided who they would offer food to and who they would completely ignore. This got to the point that they would stop short of some people, including me or maybe only me (I really need to stop wearing that ogre outfit I guess), turn around and drop the tray on the bar for them and other servers to enjoy rather than offer it to the paying guests. If it wasn’t for things like that, I would excuse their bad service as there was only two waiters the full time for the event, while there were 4 bartenders, rotating two at a time at the bar, showing where priorities were. The bartenders were the highlight of the VIP room, as a result. Unlike the waiters they were attentive, pleasant and went out of their way to provide good service. They also made a great Blueberry Lemonade, which I substituted for the lack of food choices and service, 

On to the food. As one might guess from my prior observations, finding the food, if you weren’t in the VIP room, and even, then if you weren’t favored by the waiters was a challenge. I missed a section of food that was in the barn, as I was not aware that this was a hunt and seek food event. Here is where the brochure or a sign would have helped. They did manage to have a sign pointing down the hill to the vendor tents, which were already visible from the hill. Oh yes the food, sorry I guess I was finally searching for it, now that I know. that is necessary Half of my samplings came from the waiters that I chased down in the VIP barn, so I could not tell you the items or where they were from. This is another place that a little printed brochure might have helped. The selection was more limited than other events I have been to. The Barn (the restaurant, not the hidden place with more food) provided two nice selections of pulled pork and clam chowder. The White Horse had a very good Indian influenced dish served in an ice cream cone. The Market Place had little cup of a salad variation, that my description is not doing justice to. The desserts that must have been centered in the barn, because I tried several, but never saw which restaurant provided them, were all excellent. This isn’t all the items, and I don’t mean to make it seem that way. But once again unlike the presentation at other venues, this event did not lend itself to featuring the food. If you don’t believe me take a look at all the photos from all the media. See how many feature the food. What you did get from the food, was that we do have some good restaurants in the area, and they seemed to uniformly do their best to highlight that. I just don’t think the event did a good job of showcasing them and rewarding them for their hard work.

Now for something a little different a review of the review. I did miss the barn, and that is on me. I still contend that it should be a priority for the organizers to make sure that the  visitors do not have to search out the food and that it should be made transparent. The ticket price paid entitles the guests to that, not to mention the efforts of the restaurants themselves, deserving to have as much traffic as possible. I feel I did get a good sampling of the food based upon the waiters and the photos from all the media coverage. But still I am sure I would have had a better time if I had played where’s Waldo, only replacing Waldo with the food. You do need to keep in mind that my review. although I believe included most .if not all the food from the room, does not consider the impact the room had and how it might have changed my view. Secondly, although the advertising and marketing seemed to ignore that, this really was not a Taste of Simsbury type of event, focusing on restaurants and food. Instead it, was a glorified, upscale food truck or strawberry festival, just substituting food trucks or strawberries with restaurants add a lot of alcohol, and a $50 price tag in lieu of ponying up the fee to individual trucks or booths. There were other things there like a mixology demonstration (you can see those on my Youtube page), some children’s activities and the vendor area. So, if you went there with the idea that $50 isn’t a bad price to pay to spend time on a farm, listen to some music, sample a fair amount of restaurants and drink to your hearts content, then this event is for you. If you came in with the expectation of this being a foodie event to compete with the Taste of Simsbury or even some of the farm to table events around, be prepared to be disappointed. I guess like all things it comes down to expectations. I thought I was going to Fenway and it turned out to be Beehive.,