O' Taters Irish Restaurant

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Nicole said:
Maybe they ran out of shredded cheese? When we were there, all of the potatoes had shredded cheddar, not sauce.
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Eh. On the picture and disctription of the Loaded Potato they show and say cheese sauce and I got shredded. I was too unaware to say anything but it sounds like the issues with them were the same and they just need to pay a little more attention.

Seemed a little ill prepared with handing the potato to the salad line or meat cutting station based on what it needed. Hope they work on speeding up the process.

BTW - I just say all the tweets and messages of where you guys were all day. Wish I saw them! I was at the table right next to you and didn’t even know it!
 
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We visited O’Tater’s on Sunday (4-22). We ordered the Grogan Stew Potato and the Irish Potato. We were extremely disappointed with both dishes. The Grogan stew was this gray mushy gruel that had way too much pepper. The one strip of beef was all fat and gristle. I counted five carrot pieces, however they overcompensated with pearl onions. The Irish Potato contained one fatty piece of cold corned beef completely smothered under over-peppered braised cabbage. It may seem as though we are against pepper, but usually most dishes don’t have enough. We were even joking about how we had unnecessarily gathered extra pepper packets. On the positive side, the potatoes themselves were well prepared, but then again how hard it is to bake a potato? I think we’ll be skipping this restaurant for a while, or at least until better reviews come forth.
 
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I guess we need to hurry up and publish our review...

Of the things I've sampled at O' Tators, those are, by far, the worst. The versions we were sold were bordering on completely inedible—I honestly questioned whether or not our corned beef was raw—it was bad.
 
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I had the chili pot potato this weekend, and I loved it. I thought the way the chili and the potato mixed when they settled together made for a great flavor. The chili itself was a bit better than I was expecting for theme park chili, too; it tasted like it was cooked with some Guinness. I wish they had an option like in the old days of Grogan's where they filled it up with ham and cheese that you could add some bacon bits to, but I was pleased with it.
 
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Is the corned beef sandwich the same as the one at the Festhaus? I love that one, so just wondering how it compares. Also, what are the options for the custom salads. Will they put meet on them or is it just veggies, cheese, etc?
 
I had the chili pot potato when I went to the park last time and it was actually good. :)
 
I was at the park on a Thursday a couple of weeks ago, and O'Tators was closed. Seemed odd, since there were big crowds for the Light Balance show just across the way.
 
O'Taters has been closed the vast majority of the season. It sounds like aside from the absolute peak mealtimes on hugely-crowded days, the place just isn't all that profitable. Grogan's Grill always had a similar problem. ?

It's actually one of the big reasons why we still haven't published our full O'Taters review on BGWFans. It seems like an absolutely worthless endeavor when essentially no one can eat there.
 
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I was so craving Annie Grogan's stew until the park disappointed me twice this season with it. The broth was fine, though slightly too mild, and the beef was very chewy. I also think the potatoes are just a money gimmick. Maybe I would like it better if there weren't two restaurants named after potatoes.

Honestly, I hope they do a full revamp next year, along with a more serious name. I still want to be shown that the park can make an Irish restaurant work.
 
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Yea, in my experience from here I gotta say that the park is best served with a “back to the drawing board” mentality.

FWIW:
I know this sounds very “campy” but what’s wrong with a good fish and chips option, curry chips, and a minced meat pie?
 
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Thinking long-term I'd love to see the restaurant get a stronger path presence and some indoor seating.

BGW continues to have a severe lack of climate controlled dining options—especially given the length of their operating season. Many guests would pick Grogan's/O'Taters JUST because it would offer an escape from the hot VA summer and cold winters.

As for path presence, while subtle, pleasant, out-of-the-way dining options were a nice way to relax back in the BEC days, SEAS simply doesn't have the luxury of not turning a healthy profit on each of their restaurants. Just as Marco Polo did in San Marco, shoving "this building is a restaurant!" directly in the faces of passersbys would likely make a huge difference in the traffic the restaurant sees.
 
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Zachary said:
BGW continues to have a severe lack of climate controlled dining options—especially given the length of their operating season. Many guests would pick Grogan's/O'Taters JUST because it would offer an escape from the hot VA summer and cold winters.
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I agree with this 100%. I will often, especially on hot days in the summer, choose Festhaus over everything else just to get out of the heat, even though I don't like the food in the Festhaus nearly as much as some other places around the park.
 
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Now excuse me if this is too simplistic:
Why isn’t there a second level for this area, facing the retention pond, behind the food service, that’s in the trees, is covered, has big fans from the ceiling to keeps some air movement, that would be shaded a majority of the day? Then in the winter hang electric space heaters and have awning walls that can come down to enclose the area.

Even better give is a name: Addie’s Grove. Ollie’s Fire Pit. Pull in your new BFE IP into that part of the hamlet, theme it a bit. Heck even make the seating area look like you are using stuff someone the size of a fairy would use.
 
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