Cast & Cut | Seafood Dining — Restaurant in Park City

Having been a longtime fan of the Seafood Buffett at Deer Valley, was excited when Cast & Cut was brought in as an “improvement”. Was quite disappointed by the value and quality, even if I wasn’t comparing it to what had been a great thing.

Deer Valley has a bad habit of aggressively over salting their food- and there were times that dishes (whole crusted salmon for example) were inedible due to the shocking amount of salt. Made a comment to the manager when he came by to ask how it was and his reply was “better to be too salty than not salty enough”- surely an example of the chef and staff not thinking things through… can always add more salt for personal preference but can’t take away too much salt. Everyone around us at some point made the same comment as we were able to overhear.

The shrimp/ crab cold bar was the highlight, with tasty and easy to pick Dungeness crab legs and claws. The shrimp was the star, and the scallop you can skip.

A “poke” station with salmon and tuna as well as a mixed ceviche. Tasty- circling back to the salt issue- but in weird plastic martini glasses which made it hard to eat, and oddly kept the fish elevated above/off the ice and so a bit strange regarding raw fish and storage temp requirements.

Tempura crab “wings” (breaded softshell crab) had good potential but was a bit stale from being made in too large of batches and then sitting- also again with the weird and hard to eat serving method, shoved into a jar. Calamari is usually a favorite of mine but the batch I had was over cooked, over seasoned, and unappetizing.

Some steamed clams and mussels which were average, would have been better if they were cleaned better so as to get rid of the grit, unfortunately the broth was weak and yet overly salty.

A carving station with turkey and roast beef- both average, but nothing special (dry turkey breast).

Deserts were disappointing- some overly sugared macarons which were brittle yet gummy, tiny snowballs that lacked any chocolate flavor, and a variety of other bland cubed mystery desserts which all tasted similarly bad.

Despite the lack luster food, service was mixed. Our waitress was nice, but I would have appreciated the damp finger towels to be refreshed once used and not smelling musty.

At the end we got an expensive bill about $120 per person if I recall correctly (this was without any wine or cocktails- wine list had about a 4x -5x markup). Plus middle of the road tip, meal came out above $300 for two and we were left thoroughly unimpressed. Mind you it was Christmas week so cost might have been marked up for the holiday, but again quality was nowhere near what that price tag suggests, and kind of a bummer for people who travel to have a luxury...

Nice to have the seafood buffet back after 4 years. Almost everything was outstanding. The biggest standouts were the station with tuna and salmon poke and ceviche. Absolutely outstanding! The raw bar is also fantastic. A new addition from the previous version of the seafood buffet (pre covid) was the giant pan of paella which was awesome- tons of flavor with the saffron rice, bacon and sausage, and clams and mussels.

Only disappointment was the carving station, where the brisket was a miss. It was slightly dry and did not match the quality of everything else. Would’ve preferred a more premium cut, both because Deer Valley seafood buffet is the definition of premium, and the $125 price tag should mean 10/10 across the board. The turkey was much better- moist and flavorful…but having read that some other diners on other nights had leg of elk, that would’ve been a more interesting option.

Service was warm and attentive, ambience is pleasant, and overall it was a great evening.

I will say the $3 fee to make a reservation was really disappointing, on principle. Obviously it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the $125 (+ tax/tip) to dine here, but it felt like an unnecessary and inappropriate fee. By all means, require a deposit for a reservation, but a straight up fee? Seemed unnecessary.

I’d still recommend coming for a special occasion if you can swing it, price wise....

The assortment of seafood options was impressive and the service was top-notch. Everything about our experience lived up to hype. However, the aftermath shortly following dinner may have ruined seafood for my wife and me forever.

We both suffered the worst 48 hours of food poisoning we’ve ever experienced. I won’t get into the gory details, but we both spent New Year’s Eve curled up on our bathroom floor trading turns with the toilet. It was so bad that we even had to call in sick from work on Jan 2 - by far the most painful road to recovery that neither of us want to experience again. 4 other members of our group also got food poisoning that night and experienced the same thing.

I know Deer Valley prides itself on being exceptional, but the quality and preparation of the food we ate at the Cast & Cut was everything but exceptional. Not to mention, after multiple outreaches to DV management, we received no response - so disappointing!

Avoid this place at all costs, especially if you want to eat...