Michele's Restaurant - Winnipeg

My husband and I go to Michele's Restaurant inside McPhillips Station Casino to eat quite a lot. We have always had a good meal, the staff are friendly and accommodating, and even the managers help out. One time I only got a bit of coleslaw,...More

After a morning bingo session, my husband and I decided to grab a quick lunch at Michele's Restaurant within McPhillips Station Casino using points. Our waitress, took our order. I ordered the Chef's Special which was to be a half chicken wrap, cole slaw, fries and a pickle with water as my beverage. My husband ordered a pepperoni pizza with only a small amount of mozzarella cheese and a Pepsi. We waited 20 minutes. Angelli the Server brought my husband a mushroom, pepperoni and green pepper pizza with regular mozzarella. When we questioned this, Angelli told us that is what we ordered. If she had been actually listening to us when we ordered, she would have not been mistaken. I asked her for the menu to show her what we actually ordered and after she looked to see her error, she brought the menu and we pointed out what was ordered. She tried to convince us that we had not ordered it. We sent it back and waited another 20 minutes. The pepsi was flat. The pizza arrived after I had already finished my half sandwich platter. It did not me long since it included a half wrap filled with basically one chicken finger and various bits of vegetables. The fries were good as was the pickle. The cole slaw contained about a tablespoon of actual slaw soaked in watery dressing. I ate a piece of my husband's pizza. It had too much sauce, way too much salt and it was greasy. Our waitress brought us our bill. We used points. No tip was left. We tip for service and food quality. The service was awful. The food quality was also awful. This would have cost $23.00 if not for points. It was not at all worth the money. The waitress did not ask us our lunch was. She did not ask us if we wanted anything else. She did not clear the dishes. Generally a terrible experience. We asked for a container to take the three pieces of pizza home. We packaged it and THREW IT IN THE GARBAGE.

It's hard to quantify restaurants offering buffets. If the food is good, then the patrons are an issue; if the food is bad, it is still the patrons that are a problem. Rather than having huge numbers of persons handling the spoons and ladles thereby contaminating surfaces, might it not be better to have servers doling out the food? Recently it was observed that a customer tasted a dish with a ladle then put back the ladle into the food. I observed one man touch a bun, squeeze it, and then put it back. Numerous examples of these practices exist. It is no wonder that the flu and colds spread. The decor is tired, the tables and chairs are cafeteria style, there were far more beautiful chairs previously, that only needed recovering...but no, the powers that be replaced everything with low cost, ugly tables and chairs. If I wanted to dine in a high school cafeteria I would go to a high school cafeteria. It is obvious that the designers of casinos are failures in the designer of the year category and this is one such example. Overall I would give Michele's a miss.

I hadn't been to the buffet for several years so gave it a try for Chinese New Year. Even though it was awful, I tried again for Thanksgiving. All I can say is I am extremely thankful I've come to my senses and will never eat there again! When you first approach the restaurant entrance, you see servers and hosts gathered around in conversation. No one makes eye contact except by accident and no one smiles. None of the wait staff stop their conversations to acknowledge you. This happened on both visits and I witnessed it happening to several customers. They really need to train their staff in customer service. My sister and I wanted a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and for some unfathomable reason Michele's popped in my mind. The soft drinks and coffee/tea are included in the price, and when I asked the server if the coffee was fresh, she said yes, it is from the machine. Unfortunately, that comment didn't register fully. The coffee was hot, but so bitter I'm fairly certain my spoon would have dissolved if I had used it. The soft drink, which replaced it, had a very odd taste.Neither of us tried the soups and salads, which looked unappetizing. There were no trays to carry your dishes on - I guess a cost saving measure. There were also no forks in the food area. A fork, knife and paper napkin are at your table and that is it! I guess these are also cost saving measures - along with the quite awful foods. It must be because the huge sums of money gambled away at the casino do not make for a big enough profit. Several staff stood around behind the counters, where food stations used to be. As for the food, the stuffing was edible, though for me not traditional as it had (I think) apricots in it. It was mostly soggy. The mashed potatoes were okay. The perogies were also edible but the kielbasa or saugage was not good! The gravy may have been from a mix - again it was edible and helped with the overcooked dry turkey. We were surprised the turkey was so dry, and yet the skin was soggy - not sure how that is accomplished. I enjoyed the green beans. To me the gnocchi was an unusual dish for Thanksgiving and it was sort of edible. The turkey was in a pile on the cutting board - no actual bird, just a pile of meat. There were meatballs but they looked very odd and I couldn't bring myself to try them. The desserts included the usual dry stale cake slabs along with an apple cinnamon (I think) cheesecake, which was soggy and fell apart in lumps as you placed it on your plate. It's possible it wasn't fully cooked.Instead of spending millions of dollars on renovations to the casino they should seriously consider revamping their entire food service - at both casinos. Maybe go on a fact finding trip to a casino in the States where they know how to do a buffet. I do not recommend this restaurant. Even with a discount the cost before tip came to $52.82. I did not get an itemized receipt and sadly I did tip.

Michele's Restaurant is found inside the McPhillips Street Station Casino featuring both a buffet and a la carte menus. The buffet can be either a soup/salad/desert or full buffet, with the cost @ $13,95 or $16.95 respectively. Most of the choices are standard fare with some North End items such as perogies thrown in. I find the food rather bland, and either overcooked or undercooked or like the mashed potatoes, something like soup consistency.The service is passable but sloooow. The servers often think you are only there for the buffet and don't come with menus unless you ask. They usually bring you your alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, but appear to be quite harried especially in the busy times of the day. Prices aren't great but you can load up in the buffet if you are so inclined and make it value for money that way. Deserts are typically the best thing on the menu or buffet.My wife and I went away with sore stomaches mainly from the "heavy" food, but that's our fault as we picked up lots of meat and potato items. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but if you are stuck looking after someone at the casino, I guess it's better than the MacDonald's which is in the play area.