Park food is always going to be expensive, so look for quality over price. Get the best bang for your buck.

Quality for price definitely goes to the Reds HOF Grille. I've eaten a lot of Skyline at the park this year and it's hit or miss, but has been pretty good for the most part. LaRosa's in Rivertown has been mediocre. I used to eat at Hank's all the time, but I wasn't happy with an experience there a few weeks ago, so I think I'm done there. I say just buy a bunch of candy in one of the shops and keep your sugar up all day. It's all the same.

Had the turkey leg for the first time the other day. It was pretty good, definently warm (they just pulled it off the grill), about $7.50 IIRC, more than I could eat. I had never choosen this option before, but it was after 9:00 before we decided to do dinner, and options were getting slim as many places were closing up shop for the evening. On top of that, the lady serving me was quite possibly the nicest, happiest park employee I've ever come across.

This. The lady grilling and serving the turkey legs, like you said, is probably one of the nicest people I have ever met. Plus the Turkey legs were amazing! Hot, tender, delicious, and I could keep going on and on. Be sure to get one!

I've never had a turkey leg in a park that wasn't old, dried out and not worth the money.

Does Kings Island even have them this year?

They used to be with the cheese steak stand... Which is apparently now a hot dog stand... Which in the 20 visits I've had to Kings Island this season, I've not seen open (although I rarely go when it's at peak crowds)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have not seen them yet. However, I have been working a lot including weekends so I might have missed the times they have been open.

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

Honestly I don't know if anyone has tried the chicken shack (the old stunt crew grill) but I think it's very good. They opened it my last year working in that division and that chicken was my favorite thing to quality test. I even stopped over there a couple of times when I was at my home stand (ice scream zone) I had to make sure if you guys bought it that it was up to par lol

Honestly I don't know if anyone has tried the chicken shack (the old stunt crew grill) but I think it's very good. They opened it my last year working in that division and that chicken was my favorite thing to quality test. I even stopped over there a couple of times when I was at my home stand (ice scream zone) I had to make sure if you guys bought it that it was up to par lol

When its fresh, its good. When its not, its greasy, soggy and cold.

And, it gets served either way.

Sigh.

I've been there at least a dozen times this season. Sometimes I've gotten cold fries... But the chicken has always been great. As you can probably tell by that number, it's my favorite option this year. And the salad with chicken on top it's great too... And the buttery Texas toast is amazing. #5pieceTexasToastMeal

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As of Wednesday, the cooking oil at Chicken Shack badly needed replacement. Both the chicken & the fries had the distinctive taste of rancid oil.

More and more I am reminded of the Kinzelism:

'People gotta eat.'

Yep.

But not necessarily at the park.

I feel bad for the full-fare guests who paid $15+tax for a plate of rancid-tasting food.

Since I have already redeemed enough edible meals to pay for my dining plan, at least I'm not really paying when I toss a plate of slop.

As of Wednesday, the cooking oil at Chicken Shack badly needed replacement. Both the chicken & the fries had the distinctive taste of rancid oil.

I hate seeing these post it upsets me that the food division is failing bad this year. And I understand not just this year but for the past multiple years. I feel like Kings Island gets a group of people together that they think can make it work for 5 to 6 years until they leave for good. In my group we all started as 16 year old and by the end of season one we had all of our supervisors for the next five years, once we hit our sixth year everything started to go downhill and we watched them promote our replacements unfortunately they aren't producing like they thought they would. And that's not too mention that almost all of the full timers that were there for 10 plus years all quit I think only one of their full timers now has more experience than the other 4 combined. It's sad to see something you loved for multiple years end up like this hopefully they get all of their marbles together and all get on the same page

Rant over

That particular problem would be very easy to fix by sticking to a testing & replacement schedule for the oil.

I get that implementing new practices takes time, but some consistency would be expected by June. I'm not the first to complain about the oil used at Chicken Shack.

Personally, I'd like to see more dogfooding. (i.e. sometimes have management eat what's being served to guests)

And have them stand at the back of the line, wait their turn and get randomly served what's next. Deduct the price, at full retail, from their pay.

Maybe even bring in managers from other parks as mystery shoppers.

That particular problem would be very easy to fix by sticking to a testing & replacement schedule for the oil.

I get that implementing new practices takes time, but some consistency would be expected by June. I'm not the first to complain about the oil used at Chicken Shack.

Personally, I'd like to see more dogfooding. (i.e. sometimes have management eat what's being served to guests)

 

Which is sort of gross (the oil).  When I worked fast food, the oil had to be replaced at most every other day (but for the most part it was emptied at night).  But we also had to scrub the machine every time we emptied it, and by scrub I meal literally clean out the entire machine.  I would guess that the oil is probably either changed every other day or if it is its not being cleaned appropriately...

 

http://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/advice-guy/knowing-when-change-your-frying-oil