Whats gone wrong with thefood on VS?

There just seems to be more and more complaints about the food on VS. Has it always been average or has it simply got worse? BA charge the same price and you dont seem to have as many complaints about the food served on board - OK i know about the club house but come on VS get the experience good for in flight as thats what its all about.

[RichardMannion]

Have you been in a coma for the last 9 months?

[Decker]

Interestingly if you check out the ratings (http://www.v-flyer.com/charts.asp) the UC food is rated as having improved over the past three months over the life of the ratings. Some trend graphs might be nice here.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Have you been in a coma for the last 9 months?

[oo][oo][oo]

No coma but a simple question seeing if anybody has noticed some reason why the standards have dropped - very interesting though Decker to see an improvment.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Have you been in a coma for the last 9 months?

Its been longer than 9 months hasnt it???

I did a search and there are many references to the decline in food -including some responses from me about food forums etc!!

Good for you Mark - Just wanted to get an update to see if things had improved - bad result for us yesterday by the way

In my experience, the food has certainly taken a dramatic downward turn from 2-3 years ago. Then, there was more selection and the food was definitely of a better quality than now. The mediterranean menu was simply appalling.

'But look at our Clubhouse' [}:)]

Thanks,

David.

Have they changed suppliers of the prep food?

yes i agree the clubhouse is amazing - but its an airline not a private club house if you know what I mean -

[mitchja]

My J food was great on my outbound flight. The PE food was OK but the reason why I marked it down was because I went for the pasta option but unknown to me was the fact it had my 2 worst vegie enemies at either end of the dish, cauliflower and broccoli [:$]

Regards

Originally posted by mitchja
My J food was great on my outbound flight. The PE food was OK but the reason why I marked it down was because I went for the pasta option but unknown to me was the fact it had my 2 worst vegie enemies at either end of the dish, cauliflower and broccoli [:$]

Ah, that can be blamed on the lack of menu then, because the new PE menu cards do say what the complete meal is (i.e. everything in it).

I always used to ask "What comes with it?" when the crewmember asked "Do you want X, Y or Z?", because I'd grown used to stealth potato and other nasties.

Mike, confirmed rice and pasta fan... avid potato hater...

[HighFlyer]

One of my worst memories of Economy (bar the leg room) was the meal service. Being asked 'Chicken, Beef or Veggie?', my response was always "Chicken what? Beef what? and Veggie what?", 'Beef' can mean almost anything, is it Beef stew? Chinese style Beef? If so, what's in it? Can i have a descriptive please? The notion that an Economy passenger actually wanted to know what was in the meal, rather than just grab the tray in the whole 'ooh, free food' routine that so many typical B&S holiday makers do always seemed to come as a surprise from some of the crew. I'm not knocking the crew here, just stating that there needs to be more of an attempt to advise passengers what exactly is in their meal, something that the new Menu cards is clearly trying to do - if only they are given out on each flight!

Thanks,
Sarah

You may *detest* potatoes, broccoli, or cauliflower, but it's not as bad as someone with an allergy! I'm allergic to shellfish, and I have to watch what's in the sauces and even what's in the galley with the other meals being served.

I love Thai food, and most Chinese, and my kitchen is more Japanese than American, but due to the shrimp/shellfish issues, I don't dare eat in most ethnic restaurants. Or eat those dishes on board.

Most airlines can't print detailed ingredient lists of their items, because the caterers won't provide them. And when there's a crush going on, even the most diligent CC can poke a finger (even by total accident) into a shrimp tail and then have to plate a non-fish item.

If VS wants to get some big applause from pax, they need to get new menus which list detailed ingredients - and then have them on every flight. They don't have to be given out to everyone, but having them on board when asked for (at least one per cabin) would certainly make me a happier traveler! It could be added to any new catering contract - list all of your ingredients on a menu for our travelers, or we'll find someone who will, that sort of thing. If more carriers would do this, fewer pax would board with diphenhydramine and epinephrine injectors.

Or, at the very least, save me from cornering one of the crew and asking him/her to plate my food either first of all or make absolutely sure they don't come near any of the fish items before they get around to plating mine - which I'm sure messes up the service flow. But, then again, if I don't ask, it's going to cost a lot to divert the plane [n]

Or I can just dig into my carry-on for some nosh - yuck, jerky for dinner again? Makes me wish I'd been Miss Piggy and had a second CH burger...

The vegan special meals are always dire, so much so that I'm just going to take my own food in future.
To be fair to VS, I've never had a nice vegan meal on any airline.

[mitchja]

I remember getting menus for Y meals on VS several years ago (in fact I still some of the ones that fell into my bag [:I])

Regards

Thats funny, some fell into my bag in the late 90's aswell James [ii]

I'm never hugely dissapointed with VS food (be it in Y or J) as I guess I set my expectations quite low, and now generally eat more in those lovely clubhouses.
I would say though that the food in J has pretty much been of similar quality since my first flight in UC about 2.5 years ago. Only difference is there's probably a bit less choice of late.

Dean

Just to add further to HighFlyer's comments, with regard to the lack of menus in Economy, why not do as some airlines do and have a PA announcement before the commencement of the meal service describing what choices are on offer. Something along the lines of..."Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to inform you that dinner will be served shortly. For our passengers in the Economy cabin, we will serve you a delicious foie gras as a starter. For the main course there will be a choice of three mouth-watering entrees; the venison in a mushroom sauce with bacon and baby onions, accompanied by a cheese-topped potato gratin, or the fillet of cod in a butter and parsley sauce on a bed of spinach, accompanied with polenta, or we have a vegetarian option of pasta tossed in a tomato and basil sauce with rocket leaves. Finally, to end your meal we will be serving Haagen-Daz Strawberry Cheesecake ice-cream. We do hope you enjoy our award-winning cuisine."

Originally posted by Strawberry Muppet
Something along the lines of..."Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to inform you that dinner will be served shortly. For our passengers in the Economy cabin, we will serve you a delicious foie gras as a starter. For the main course there will be a choice of three mouth-watering entrees; the venison in a mushroom sauce with bacon and baby onions, accompanied by a cheese-topped potato gratin, or the fillet of cod in a butter and parsley sauce on a bed of spinach, accompanied with polenta, or we have a vegetarian option of pasta tossed in a tomato and basil sauce with rocket leaves. Finally, to end your meal we will be serving Haagen-Daz Strawberry Cheesecake ice-cream. We do hope you enjoy our award-winning cuisine."

ROTFLMAO![oo]
Please, leave us your version of J/W, why don't you???? This I gotta read, even if I never get to taste it...

What I detest most about VS' food offerings (in J) is the way we all have some themed menu shoved down our throats with very little deviation from that, leaving little choice for those not so inclined[n]

VS.

I felt the menu in Y was quite nice when I flew back in Feb last year. The chicken and potato on the way out seemed tasty enough, and even though I didn't eat much of it, the bbq chicken seemed edible enough on the way home (though, the other option "beef stew" looked much nicer)
Airline foods never going to be high class dining, but it should look and taste edible.
I look at the UC menu, even though i don;t fly UC and think to myself, how do people eat all that weird food. Guess i'm just a burger and chips person.

Hopefully, the menu will include nice food when I fly VS019 in April.

kev.

[Neil]

Excellent Post Sarah, I 100% agree.

I personally have found the food in Y/W to be not that bad on VS, compared to certain long haul meals I have had on other airlines, but like you said I would like to know what variety of Chicken/Beef etc, I am quite a fussy eater and the amount of times I have had to swap with t'other half after choosing is untrue (I always make him order different to me to ensure we can change [:I]). Surely its not difficult for either Menu Cards to be put in the seat back pockets or even if added somewhere in the IFE, they have lots of other useless info on their as it is!

Neil

Yes, PE/Y food is actually quite good for what it is - I've always liked the mushroom risotto[ii]
I think Neil's idea of having the menu on v:port is a good one, even if it's only possible ex-LHR/LGW.


VS.

Originally posted by VS045
I think Neil's idea of having the menu on v:port is a good one, even if it's only possible ex-LHR/LGW.

I was on a v:port equipped flight where the Y/W CSS sent a message to all Y/W seats with details of the main meal choices on the flight, so it can be done, if one of the crew know how to drive the appropriate knobs in v:port!

For some reason, the flowery marketing descriptions in the J menu remind me of the Monty Python "Crunchy Frog" sketch, "...garnished with Lark's Vomit", and some of the J food has seemed as though it had been.

That said, I thought the new W offering flying LHR-BOS last weekend was very good, and provided a sufficiently varied choice.

As far as allergies, I know exactly what you mean, as I have friends and family with various allergies, including shellfish and certain citrus fruits. The idea of an ingredients card which can be handed out to pax on request, is a great idea.

Cheers!
Mike

[mitchja]

Originally posted by mike-smashing

Originally posted by VS045
I think Neil's idea of having the menu on v:port is a good one, even if it's only possible ex-LHR/LGW.

I was on a v:port equipped flight where the Y/W CSS sent a message to all Y/W seats with details of the main meal choices on the flight, so it can be done, if one of the crew know how to drive the appropriate knobs in v:port!

Cheers!
Mike

I've also seen this on my VS201 flight back in June. All PA messages where put through the IFE system in order to avoid disturbing pax during the night flight. It was only the basic 3 meal choice for dinner though. Other messages included things like telling pax to put their window blind down.

Regards