Tradewinds Buffet — Restaurant in Red Wing

We visited Treasure Islands Buffet yesterday for Seafood night. 3 Critics went. I have been to the buffet before for seafood night. Last night a few things disappointed me. No oysters, only clams were fried and chewy, mussels were still way to cold like it was removed from a freezer and I love love mussels and seafood. Now for the rest.

Treasure island buffet

Shrimp- fresh and deveined Salmon- smoked very fresh Salmon with lemon and pesto- very good and fresh Clams- very chewy Corn with pepper- could use butter Prime rib- depending on how you like it. Mine was like medium couldve been alittle more done but it was good. Mash potatoes- tasted like any mash potatos Beef gravy-pretty good not a thin gravy

Mussels with ranch- cold like was frozen for a long time, wasnt bad with ranch. You can also see in the picture 2different colors that show old and new mussels.

Crab-3 leg sections- very fresh, I deshelled and added butter… very delicious

Fruit crisp-pears, cherry’s were in it, not hard and warm delicious Chocolate cheesecake-very fresh, was in desert case

When you go to the buffet if you have a reservation you go to the ladys with ipads. If you dont have reservations you get put on waiting list and stand in line.

The decor looks awesome when you first go in to pay, I did snap a couple of pictures but wasnt allowed to take more.

Lady who was trying to find us a table was trying to put us way to far away. We have a critic who is in a wheelchair and no way she could go that far. A waiter cleaned a table and we asked to have the front table closer lady wasnt happy but agreed.

Waitress was nice and friendly and was good at getting refills and emptying...

0 Stars.

Second time visiting Tradewinds. ONLY visited because I've been craving crab legs & I'm one of those people that believe (if you're gonna pay *e.g. $12-15 for ONE roll of sushi, might as well go to an AYCE sushi place) if you're gonna pay $32+ for "1LB" of crab legs at RL, might as well pay $55 for AYCE crab legs at a buffet.

Like last time, we were disappointed. The quality of food, of crab legs, at Tradewinds is absolutely terrible. Compared to the former ML buffet in Prior Lake, wow, what a difference. I felt like I was at OCB.

The quality of the legs today was so sad. Cold, hard to crack open from being so cold. A complete waste.

The buffet itself is tiny. The floors & restrooms, dirty & out of date. The whole buffet, the whole establishment is out of date. The quality & quantity of food is dreadful & depressing. Walking around looking at the food, I could feel the OSHA law suit around the corner.

The "fresh" oysters looked days old sitting on melting ice. The prime rib was dry & somber under the heat lamp. The folks behind the buffet line looked sad like those who worked at that Willy Wonka warehouse fiasco. The ice cream station was sticky & messy with melted chocolate & vanilla. Just a food poisoning hazard. I thought to visit a second time to give the buffet another chance, but, after reliving it in HD, I'm gonna say, save your money & go elsewhere. Even Chinese buffets are more sanitary than Tradewinds.

Plus side, our...

$78 for two people. Okay, we said, maybe there would be some good food to make it worth it.

Hostess seats us, and then we wait for our server. 10 minutes later, a server finally comes by to fake our drink order.

We go to the buffet. Half the buffet was closed down, with the remaining portion having basic baked fish, mashed potatoes, chine tenders and Mac and cheese. Prime rib was gone, and the lady from the carving station was off somewhere else so you didn't even know how long until there was more.

We get back to our table with hardly any food from this depressing excuse of a buffet. We eat and drink our drinks, and our server was nowhere to be found for drink refill. After an extended period of waiting, I finally went up and refilled my wife's drink for her.

Eventually the server comes by and takes our plates without a word. No "how's everything tasting" or "can I get you something?". Nothing. To think I left a $10 tip for someone to take my plates away.

After having a salad and the worlds smallest slice of cheesecake, we left disappointed and unsatisfied. For $78.

Never in my life have I laid $78 for two people to leave unsatisfied.

Next time we'll go to a fast food or fast casual restaurant, the food will be better, service will be better, and it will cost 1/4 as much.

We will never be back to this sorry excuse of a restaurant, and will openly tell others to abuse it...