Oliver Wight Tavern

We were very disappointed with the buffet meal today, Thanksgiving Day at the Oliver Wight Tavern. It was NOT as advertised on their web site and NOT what we expected and PAID FOR. We are pescatarians and today’s menu did not match their advertised menu, leaving us very limited choices to eat. Besides the false advertised menu and actual food, the presentation of selections was disgusting, especially the dessert table. We did not even wait for dessert by the way. Dirty tablecloths, small pre-​cut pie pieces, no cookies, brownies, no nothing. Pre –cut pie pieces were so small– hardly appealing and we skipped the dirty dessert table. Being return patrons and members of the historical village attached to this restaurant, we were appalled by their presentation this year and doubt if we will return next year. Though told a newly hired food catering service provided this year’s Thanksgiving menu that was DIFFERENT from what the restaurant advertised makes no difference to the customer. This fact just makes this experience even worse. Where was communication between companies? Where was the concern for the customer? Where was the responsibility to maintain standards and expectations? Where was the desire to maintain tradition? Many disappointments this year. False advertising. Not a good business practice. OSV– what happened this Thanksgiving?

I am rating them based on our experience at this year’s Thanksgiving Buffet. This was our sixth year but we will not return for a seventh. The problem was that the price was the same ($ 50 per person), but there was less than half as much food as past years. What we ate was delicious, but they were running out of stuff quickly because there were so few choices. So at 11:30AM, one of the earliest seatings, we were already scraping bottom on some of the pans and it seemed like the staff could barely keep up on replenishing. The dessert table was a joke. It was almost empty, with some random slices of pecan pie and new York cheesecake strewn about. As we were leaving, we saw staff bring in trays looking apple strudel and pumpkin pie, but that was a half hour after we had gone up to the table. They had also run out of whipped cream for the meager pecan pie when my husband went up. In past years the table was full of desserts. Perhaps not all were traditional because there were little chocolate tarts, etc. But they were plentiful. Overall we felt like a bait and switch situation today because there was no mention of the meal dwindling down so much when we booked the reservation. They even eliminated classics like bread pudding and glazed carrots. The string beans were hard, and the slice of ham that I received at the carving station was so small that I actually asked for a second slice. In years past there was also roast beef but that was gone this year. Also, I don’t have small children, but I did notice that they entirely eliminated the «kids» table that had nuggets, fries, etc. Although those foods are not traditional by any means, at least small kids had some alternate foods to pick from. If you had never gone to their Buffet on Thanksgiving before, you would not know how much they had pared it down. You would probably think it was pretty good… but it used to be amazing. So disappointing, and no longer worth the money.

Terrible Resevation Service. Sturbridge Village sent an email announcing Mother’s Day Brunch with telephone number to call for reservations. Called the number… no answer. Finally a machine picked up and promised a call back. Left name and number. No call back. Called again. Machine again. This time machine asked for name, number, and number of people in party for Mother’s Day Brunch, as well as time of desired resevation. Left the info. Again promised a call back. No call back after a week and a half. Third call (during lunch hour). Reached someone who said only available time was 3:30 to 4:30. Explained I had called twice before and never heard. Reply was that they have over 800 reservations and that they have someone calling all day long from 9 to 5. He suggested that perhaps my requested time slot was not available so that is why I never heard. What kind of customer service is that??? In the meantime, I have likely been shut out of any other place I want to go, as well, because I was waiting for a call back from Oliver Wight Tavern.
This place needs to get its act together. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, CUSOMER SERVICE. There are so many ways this could have been better handled.

All you can eat brunch buffet and servers dressed like Pilgrims. What’s not to like?
YES — Homemade omelette, NO– scrambled eggs
YES– Turkey carving station; NO– Beef carving station
YES– Chicken Fingers: NO– Orange Chicken
YES– Waffles with whipped & sprinkles; NO– dessert table.
CONCLUSION — stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey for $ 19.95 AND had 10% off at the gift shop!

The worst reservation service ever!
I was so excited to join the traditional Thanksgiving dinner buffet, which usually filled up quickly.
I called them in early July to make reservation for my group because the some lady from the restaurant kindly told me they starts taking reservation from July 1^st.
But every time I called them, it goes to answering machine in the office of Brian Rock. And he NEVER called me back.
I left another message after a couple weeks from my first message but no answer. So irresponsible.
We got very upset so we decided to give up and make a different reservation at Plimoth Plantation, also known as traditional place, and their reception was so nice and smooth.

Surprisingly nice brunch. Good to see pot pie and yankee pot roast trays. Ok assortment of fruit for the winter. Pretzel and caramel dipping station is a cute idea. Here’s the problem. We prepaid $ 20 per person at our hotel with no complimentary cocktail which is a little high. Then, just before leaving, we noticed bloody marys being delivered. Would have been nice to be told that cocktails were available when we ordered. When finished, we presented our coupon, the very accommodating server said she believed we would not be charged for our 2 small glasses of juice but was waiting for her boss to process our bill. In the end, the banquet manager chose to charge us $ 4+. Sad.

Today we went to the Sunday Brunch, 12:30ish. The place was busy, but not a zoo. We were celebrating my Aunts 91^st birthday, and the amazing hostess got us a seat near the back door, so we could whisk my aunt right out once we were finished, thus avoiding the long walk around the front. They also seated us right next to the fireplace «where she can be warm». We did not even ask for that-​that is how considerate they were.
The buffet itself was great. Nice mix of breakfast & Dinner foods, excellently prepared. The carver was extremely friendly, despite what I imagine must be a tedious job.
Our server, Robin, was absolutely awesome. She was very attentive, despite having to take care of a HUGE table next to us. She kept our waters and beverages filled without us even having to flag her down. She even made sure that my Aunt received a birthday cupcake, and had several servers sing «Happy Birthday», which made her day.
Thanks so much to everyone at the Oliver Wight (especially Robin) for making such a nice experience for us!
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Thanksgiving Day Dinner at The Oliver Wight Tavern, Old Sturbridge Village, MA
This past Thanksgiving I had many things to be thankful for. I was thankful for the election results; I was thankful for the fact that for the first time since I was a child I can hear out of my right ear. There are so many things to be thankful for.
However, there is one thing that I cannot be thankful for, Thanksgiving dinner at the Oliver Wight Tavern in Old Sturbridge Village. Two years ago, I had a pleasant experience there. This year, I looked forward to a similar pleasant experience as well.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. After finally getting seated at 3:45, we ordered wine and I eagerly took a plate and explored the various offerings. To my horror, when I went to the carving station to get a plate of turkey, I saw the carver slicing not fresh turkey, but a processed turkey roll. Under the bright heat lamps, the processed roll glistened; sweat drops of what seemed to be sodium and a variety of nitrates and other chemicals oozed from the round breast.
The bird looked as if it had been sitting under heat lamps for quite a long time. I tentatively took a slice or two. The blandness of the pasty, processed food counterbalanced the acerbic taste of the chemicals.
The giblet gravy – what little there was of it – had enough flour in it to clog up the Erie Canal – the entire length. Scorched vegetables had to be pried away from the bottom of the serving bins with serving spoons that still had remains of previous servings stuck to them.
Come on folks! You people can do better than this! At a price of $ 48 dollars a person, I would at least expect fresh turkey. Processed turkey? Flour-​laden gravy that was so thick one had to use a steam shovel to pour it on one’s food?
I do not know who Oliver Wight was. Perhaps he was a tavern owner; I do not know. Perhaps he was a farmer; I do not know. But I do know this: that Oliver Wight iis tossing and turning in his grave. Torn and tormented by the travesty inflicted on his name he is resting in an uneasy slumber. Perhaps he is troubled by the sacrifice of a poor turkey whose sad end was to be processed into a bland pasty processed turkey roll.

Understaffed, few actual menu choices and out of a classic fish & chips option when we were there. Took us 15 minutes to flag a server. Food was cold. Not awesome, but at least it was accessible.

It’s schedule and hours are not terribly consistent so you need to call and find out if they’re open. When they are, the food is good American fare at fair prices. The Sunday buffet is well worth the price, but it’s pretty phrenetic and noisy.

This is located at The Old Sturbridge Village. The good news is you don’t have to pay an entrance fee to get to the restaurant! I haven’t been to the restaurant but my family has used their catering services and used the space. We’ve had a wedding shower there, a baby shower and I think we may be using it to host our thanksgiving… great menu choice for events and very good food. Everything was fresh when it came to fruits and veggies and hot dishes were hot.

Went here for a lovely Easter Brunch, it is a historical building right at the entrance to Old Sturbridge Village (but you do not need to purchase tickets to be able to eat there). I was halfway expecting an old, very dark wood paneled place, but it was remarkably light and airy inside, with nice historical details, yet in a fancier setting…
We were a party of 10, they were a bit backed up on the reservations for large parties, ours was supposed to be at 1:45, I think we were probably not seated until almost 2:30 (part of our party was late getting there anyway, so no real big deal… we were smart not to mention that part when we initially checked in at 1:30)…
They had all the usual breffie Items I sooo love… Bacon, Sausage, scrambled eggs, potatoes, omelet station, pancakes AND waffles (darn, I had neither, but I heard they were good!), as well as a huge table of pastries and bread and bagels for toasting (too many buffets forget about the need for toast! What is an egg if u have no toast? LOL). The one hing missing was my very favorite… Eggs Benedict, but with all the choices, I really didn’t even notice! I mist say, usually the ”scrambled eggs’ one gets at a big buffet are more of the powdered/​steamed eggs, but these were very tasty and were seasoned perfectly with black pepper… They had a nice flavor.
Then, for the more ‘lunch’ than breffie inclined, they had Leg of Lamb and Roast Turkey at carving stations, they also had mashed potatoes (the Turkey and potatoes and gravy were yummy!) and they also had Scrod, and a few other dinner things, as well as a huge salad area, a special table that had kids fare like mac n cheese, chicken patties (kind of like flattened nuggets) and a couple of other items…
oh yeah, and they had a dessert table that was double the size of everything else! And I saw some fruit on someones plate, but I did not see that in person…(lol fruit rarely finds it’s way on my plate at a buffet… altho I would rather finish with fruit than any dessert!). I actually did make it to the salad table… but alas, it was to grab a small piece of Broccoli quiche! LOL
The cost for their special holiday Brunch was $ 25 per adult, kids were only $ 5. Their usual Sunday Brunch is 18.95 I believe. I would DEFINITELY go back there for brunch, and I would be likely to try their regular menu also… Although they only seem to be open from 11:30 to 5pm during the week, and then I guess they have a special on some Friday nights where they serve a special Prime Rib Dinner, or during Lent they had special Friday night Fish n Chips Dinners (it varies and they do not do it every week). If u go to the website I provided, then open the tab that says «Activities and Events» for Old Sturbridge Village.
I see on their schedule they are doing a Mothers Day Brunch… I would definitely recommend taking your Mom or Grandmother there, they would like it for sure! Oh, and one special note, it doesn’t work on holidays, but if u go to their regular Sunday Brunch, you can get in for half price into the Village! :o)
*The only reason I did not give them 5 stars is due to 1) first time there, and 2) extra time waiting on our reservation. Will revise as needed when we go again.
** For those people in CT, it was only appx 40 miles from Hartford (depending on where u are), it was very close and a quick ride!
*** Worked out perfect for us, we had family in New Haven and Boston, and it was smack dab in the middle for both of them (an hour each) and we lucked out with the closest ride!