The Pickering Casino Resort Buffet is located within Pickering Casino Resort at 88 Durham Live Ave., near Hwy 401 and Brock Rd., in Pickering, the municipality bordering Toronto to the east. It has a large brighter interior, newly constructed when we went, with several large stations all brightly lit, clean and much chrome.
Mishy loved the rotini salad and pepperoni pizza. Sausage was good; appears to be made on premises in a very long link, which a piece of the diner’s preference is cut off from. There is beef gravy nearby for extra flavor. Beef pot roast was probably my favorite dish, the beef being extraordinarily tender with a complex and interesting gravy and it was very fresh and flavorful. There was no roast beef carvery station, only ham.
There are a few sushi offerings, all rolls. Soy was not too salty but had a tinny flavor. Ginger is dyed pink, and had a floor cleaner flavor that I haven't experienced since the Happy Panda. Wasabi, if that is even what it was, had a violently unappetizing flavor that seemed to be a combination of excessive saltiness and far too much strength in the “horseradish”, if that’s even what it was. It certainly wasn't actually wasabi, and wasn't even the reasonable horseradish facsimile of it which most restaurants use. California roll was passable. Salmon and cucumber roll had a very fish-oily flavor which was mildly unappealing, and I then found another roll with salmon had it as well; these rolls, or more likely the salmon in them, appear to be not fresh and are being served the next day possibly. Vegetable roll was somewhat fresher.
Beef and pork lasagna was delicious and very fresh not burned around the edges or hard like other places. Mishy said that the rotisserie chicken tasted off, and although I think (OK... hope!) it was only the seasoning, it had a terrible flavour which did make it seem like it was going bad. Sauerkraut and sausages were tasty although pretty typical.
Southwestern chili was good although a little understated in the seasoning probably so that no one got overheated; seems to be a beef-pork blend. Pork and orzo rice soup was quite good and a nice flavour blend. Creamy cauliflower soup was good and almost excellent. Tater tots were excellent and possibly the best part of the meal, savoury and just crisp enough and well seasoned. The chip cut fries were similarly good. I also enjoyed the chicken fingers.
Finally onto desserts, Mishy said that the apple crumble was fantastically good, except unfortunately it had this tinny metallic flavor like the pan that it was baked in; I also tried the apple crumble and found exactly the same tinny flavor that Mishy had noticed; apples are acidic and will dissolve metal which is why apple crumble is typically cooked on glass. (I hope the pan wasn't aluminum!) Mishy also loved the pecan pie, saying it was like a giant butter tart. Sticky toffee was also delicious according to Mishy and had a wonderfully sickly-sweet odour that I found strangely appealing. Soft-serve vanilla and chocolate ice cream were the only available ones, and were pretty standard although the toppings such as shaved almonds and Reese's pieces crumble were nice. Shot glass NY-style cheesecake cups were fantastic and almost made the cost worthwhile. Lemon curds cake was tangy and delicious. Tiramisu mousse was another excellent offering; probably among the best tiramisu I've had. Golden raisin rice pudding wasn’t sweet enough, so it appeared past its prime. Raspberry shot glass cream was good but Mishy thought from the sourness was that it was off, and again it was not but just appeared that way as with a couple of other offerings here. Crème brûlée was quite good. The desserts were definitely preferable to the entrées.
Cost is $35 Wed., Thurs., and Sun. and $45 Fri. and Sat., closed Mon. Tues. We went on Sunday, but even then I find this about $10 too much (losing 2 points right away as our ratings system is a point per $5 over or undercharged) given the offerings (ie there was no prime rib/roast beef at the carvery) compared to other similar locations. Casino buffets typically have more reasonable pricing to encourage visitors to come for the buffet and then spend more gambling, but this principle seems to be ignored here. As well, there were a few highly unpalatable items including a couple (notably the wasabi and apple crumble) which belied amateurish errors and also demonstrated that the chefs are not sampling what they are serving to the public. Couple this with the very excessive price, even on the less expensive day, and we can’t recommend this place and will definitely not be returning.
Rating: 5 / 10
