the mission inn

We had our office holiday lunch at the historic Mission Inn Hotel in downtown Riverside. I was really excited because I had heard so many good things about it, from people who were not from Riverside. Last year we couldn't get a reservation because they were booked months in advance. Today we had the lunch buffet, which consisted of salads, cream of asparagus soup, mahi mahi, chicken, pasta in alfredo sauce, grilled eggplant and zucchini, and various desserts. I was disappointed. The food was okay, but nothing outstanding. My friends must have been talking about the Sunday brunch. I tried some of the desserts and it was so not worth it! They had this thing that was made of the same ingredients as a cream puff, but it was hard and flat, the cream was too dense, and it was topped with a hard white chocolate (of which I'm usually a fan). The eclair wasn't much better. Too hard and not much taste. The mini cheesecake was the best thing I tried. The same diameter of a silver dollar, but only tasted as good as something store-bought. I didn't try any of the cakes. I hope I spared myself from something more disappointing. Maybe I've been spoiled by homemade desserts.