I wasn't going to give this review because it's no...

I wasn't going to give this review because it's not the review I'd really like to be able to give them. We've been Mission Inn MANY times for Easter, Thanksgiving and Mother's Day - not usually all 3 in one year but one or two every year. Every other time, we've had the dinner at La Hacienda. It is a lovely venue with breathtaking views. The 'grand buffet' there is beautiful and tasty. This year, for family reasons, we ended up making last minute reservations and had to go to Nickers.

Every other time we were there (at La Hacienda) dinner guests wait in a separate room and are given Mimosas while you wait and there's usually some type of entertainment. At Nickers, you wait outside in the heat. If you know to ask for it, you're shown where the 'make-your-own-Mimosa' table is (behind the greeter) and you make your own while people wait in line behind you to make their own - outside. That's not bad but it just didn't seem appropriate for any meal that costs more than $50 pp.

Because we had reservations, we were seated very quickly. I was impressed when we first walked in but not so much after we were seated. We walked through some nice areas but, once we were seated, I noticed little things like there didn't seem to be enough wait staff to take care of the guests. At La Hacienda, nearly as soon as you're seated, your impeccably dressed server comes by and takes your drinks order and gives you a brief rundown of where everything is. At Nickers, no such thing happened.

It was little things like no server greeting us at all (for several minutes) after we were seated (we finally just got up and served ourselves), absolutely no view of the beautiful resort, no salad bar AT ALL, and no crackers with the smoked salmon (I had to go searching for them and found some crackers completely across the room where I had to wait in line again) that left me thinking, "I don't want to pay more than $60 a plate with a gratuity of more than 20% already added on) for this experience. And I definitely don't want to pay that to not be able to eat salad." Like all my girl friends and quite a few men I know, I love a good salad. Sometimes I skip dessert but I always eat salad first. And I prefer a good salad bar to dessert. Not having a salad bar at a buffet is a bad idea. This is not the first year that they didn't have a salad bar and I didn't miss it as much last year but this year the atmosphere, experience and the other food did not make up for the loss of it.

Like I said before, I wasn't going to leave this review because I LIKE this place. I really do. But if they want to keep my business, they must do better. We prefer not going to go someplace that charges less for holiday meals because they're TOO packed. We'd rather pay a bit more and get a spectacular meal in a beautiful relaxed atmosphere. The meal was not spectacular this time, the atmosphere was not beautiful and we were anything but relaxed.

Sorry, Mission Inn. This time, you did not do well.

We love Mission Inn and if you've never been, disregard my review, make a reservation for yourself the next holiday (make it early so you can get into La Hacienda!) and try it out. The Mother's Day Brunch should be awesome. (Better make the reservation now!) My review could be total junk for you. I hope it is because I really like this place, just not this time.