Breakfast Buffet at The Element Seattle Remond

Another day, another hotel breakfast buffet, this time at the Element hotel in Redmond, WA.

 

The Element hotels always include breakfast for all guests.  They generally offer a basic continental lineup (cereal, yogurt, pastries, toast, bagels) and then some kind of hot item, usually breakfast sandwiches, or, if you are lucky, a made-to-order station that makes one dish a day (pancakes, waffles, eggs, omelets) on a rotation.  I've stayed at several Element properties, so I knew to expect this.  Generally, the offerings are sufficient, but not worth really mentioning.

The Element Redmond was slightly above average compared to many other Element properties.  It wasn't super premium, and certainly doesn't compare to a hotel breakfast buffet that charges $40/pp normally, but, in addition to the standard continental offerings, it had a small hot buffet AND a rotating daily made to order dish, and, the real shocker, the pastries were from a local bakery.

Most items in the buffet were un-changed from day to day, but a few (the type of breakfast hot protein, the style of baked goods, and the made-to-order dish) did change daily.  The buffet. was well stocked and replenished, even though busy.  I appreciated that they had both real plates/bowls/mugs/cutlery for those who wanted to dine in, and disposables for those of us who wanted to run back to our rooms with it (no takeout boxes, but, paper plates, bowls, cups, and plastic utensils).  The dining area was large.  Overall, a good offering for included breakfast.

Cereal.

The cereal lineup is pretty basic: Cheerios, corn fakes, raisin bran, and "rice mix" (off-brand Rice Krispies?).  No particularly kid-friendly options like your standard Fruit Loops or Cocoa Puffs.  I appreciated that the cereal was in jars rather than those twisty dispensers that are always jammed, and always dump far too much cereal once they finally do turn.  I had corn flakes with my breakfast one morning, simple but not stale or anything. ***.

The back side of this area had the juices, none of which I tried.

Scrambled Eggs / Frittata.

Every morning the hot buffet had the same scrambled eggs (your basic buffet eggs that somehow look both dried out and watery, at the same time) and little veggie frittata muffins that looked sunken and not great every morning.  Somehow though, folks seemed to take both of these items regularly, even though they looked pretty gross to me.

Herb Roasted Potatoes.

Next came the breakfast potatoes, usually these chunks of smaller potatoes, roasted with herbs.  They looked generally decent.  One morning they were a slightly different shape.

Veggie? Sausage.

The final hot buffet item was the breakfast meat of the day.  Some days it was sausage, and others it was bacon.  Sometimes it was pork, others it was turkey, and occasionally it was veggie.  Always just one choice, but, it changed out daily.

Amusingly, it was *always* incorrectly labelled.  Days it was bacon, it said sausage.  Days it was clearly turkey it said pork. Etc. Etc.  I was there four mornings, and it never once was correct.  It both amused me, and made me wonder what the actual problem was.  Someone was clearly changing the sign daily, as it was different every day.  The protein itself was changing daily.  Was this someone just having fun?  Or maybe a non-native English speaker that truly was confusing the words for bacon and sausage?  I was always in a rush so I didn't stop to mention the always-wrong label, but, certainly, it made for my morning amusement.

I tried the pork sausage one morning (not pictured), and it was very greasy but otherwise fine, lower end sausage. **+.

Turkey Bacon.

My last morning I randomly grabbed a piece of the turkey bacon (labelled "pork sausage" of course).  It smelt really funny. Maybe it was veggie bacon, not turkey?  I'm still not quite sure.  It was crispy though, and decent dunked in syrup, but ... the odor was definitely hard to look past. **+.

Milk, Hard BoiledEggs, Cream Cheese
Fruit Salad, Salsa, Cheese.

To go along with cereal, there was 3 kinds of milk: whole, 2%, and almond.  I'll give them credit for one alternative milk, but was surprised it wasn't soy, as that is generally more common.  Also credit for not just whole milk, but, again, 2% seemed an odd choice, why not fat free or at least 1%?  It didn't seem like they were reaching the masses here.  The milks were lukewarm, which wasn't all that pleasant with the cereal, and there was no ice around to chill it down.

This area also had salsa and shredded cheese to jazz up your eggs, cream cheese and butter for your bagel, and a fruit salad with just melons and grapes.

Spreads.

The lineup of spreads was decent, with 3 kinds of Bonne Maman preserves, Jif peanut butter, honey, and Nutella.

Croissants from Local Bakery.

The first morning, I was surprised to see local pastries, advertised as from Franz and Alki bakeries in Seattle, rather than standard Sysco frozen products.

Sadly the croissants really weren't very good.  They were fairly dry, not particularly flaky, and sorta seemed stale.  They looked good though.  **+.

This lineup changed daily, another surprise, as most of the buffet was the same every day.  That said, I quickly realized the interesting sweet carbs ran out by 8am most days, and by 9am there definitely would be nothing left at all.

White and Wheat Bread.

Franz Bakery seems to supply the sliced bread, bagels, and english muffins.   I had a slice of toast one morning, it was fine, seemed fresh enough.  ***.

Bagels and English Muffins.

Sadly the bagels were always just plain bagels.  Really a missed opportunity for some variety.

Banana Coffee Cake.

The breakfast breads were never labelled, but the next day, rather than those sad croissants, we had a banana bread coffee cake.  It was fairly moist, good banana flavor, good crumb structure.  A lighter, more-cake like bread than I'm accustomed with banana bread, which is why I'm calling it banana coffee cake, as it was more like a coffee cake (but not spiced like one, no streusel top). 

Overall, not bad.  ***.

Lemon Citrus Tea Loaf / Banana Tea Loaf / Petite Scone.

The next morning, entirely different sweet breakfast carbs, this time, tea loaves.  These were much denser than the previous day cake-bread.

The banana bread tea loaf I didn't try, but it looked far more traditional, dense, darker.

I did snag the last scone, which was fine.  Nice crumb, slight tang, light glaze.  Fresher than many you find in a hotel breakfast buffet, but fairly plain.  I wanted cream to go with it!  ***.

Tea Loves: Lemon Citrus Tea Loaf & Chocolate Cake.

The other tea loaves were lemon citrus and chocolate, both really quite sweet pound cakes, not really breakfast appropriate, but ... hey, I wasn't complaining.

Both were very moist, very rich (butter and sugar, check!).  The lemon citrus pound cake had a light citrus favor.  I suspect it would be nice as a dessert with berries and cream.  The chocolate one was decently chocolately, decently moist, and also very rich.  It was good, but would have been better with some chocolate chips in it.

Both nice sweet breads, but, more like dessert than breakfast.  ***.

Cranberry White Chocolate Coconut Streusel Muffins.

The final morning was muffins, their first appearance. 

These were actually quite good, large muffins, super moist, excellent streusel top.  There were pops of cranberry for tartness and chew, a few white chocolate chips for additional sweetness and creaminess, and shredded coconut throughout for lots of texture.  A very cake-like muffin base, quite sweet, again, more like dessert than breakfast.  But I quite enjoyed mine (although I'd prefer any other fruit than cranberries).  Far better than most hotel breakfast buffet muffins.  ***+.

Chobani Branded Yogurt Bar.

Like every Element hotel, the buffet also included the branded Chobani yogurt cart.

It had both nonfat plain or greek Chobani yogurt, neither of which I cared for, as I just kinda can't stand Chobani yogurt.

The toppings lineup was decent, your standard dried raisins and cranberries, walnuts, and granola, plus fresh fruit.  The fruit generally included small bits of pineapple and then either blueberries or strawberries.  Unlike other Element properties I've stayed at (ahem, Orlando!), the staff did a good job restocking this, and the berries rarely ran out.  I was particularly impressed with the berries, as they were flavorful and fresh.  The granola was more like crumbled crunchy granola bars, and I didn't hate it.  But it was sweet and not really like normal cluster based breakfast granola.

There was also syrup and agave in this area, and, one morning, also a can of whipped cream.  Sadly, that can of whipped cream vanished after my first morning, which is a shame, as it would have jazzed up those sweet pastries!

Overall, a decent offering, and **** for the berries.

Oatmeal / Hot Cocoa.

The toppings for the yogurt could also easily be used with oatmeal if you prefer.  There were packets of generic Sysco brand instant oatmeal, in several flavors, along with Swiss Miss hot cocoa mix that seemed to be a real hit with the kids.

Made to Order Station.

The final element of the lineup is the made to order station.  This little cart featured a different item every day - omelets my first day, pancakes another, and eggs your way another, and then back to omelets.  I'm not sure if anything else ever rotated in.

I was surprised that this station didn't get much action.  Granted, it was rarely staffed, and I kinda think the staff preferred to just refill the berries than deal with annoying omelet requests, but, I was still surprised to see such low usage, as these stations tend to be where the lines are at other properties.

Egg over Medium.

The morning of eggs your way, the staff member was actually around, so I asked for an egg over medium.  It was actually really nicely prepared - exactly over medium as I asked, no runny nor too firm whites, and amazingly, she even seasoned it well.  Considerably better than most hotel breakfast egg stations, and ready in just a few minutes.  A highlight for me.  ***+.

Coffee Station.

And of course, the essential coffee.  Pre-brewed regular and decaf were on offer, and they were fairly not great.  I tried both.  Harsh, acidic. But nice and hot.  All kinds of sweetener available.  Overall though, below average coffee. **+.

There was also a robot machine to make other drinks, but it was broken two of the four days I was there, and had a looooong line the others.