I've heard they're the best in the Lancaster area, but for 2 straight years I messed up and forgot to order a turkey ahead of time, and they were sold out. So imagine my thrill when I remembered this year and finally got a turkey!
The day before Thanksgiving, we pick up the turkey with a ton of other people doing the same. I get it home, take it out of the box, and stick it in the fridge. That night, I take it out because I had a sinking feeling. It felt frozen. It was bagged, and I didn't want to take the bag off. But it felt frozen. So I put it in some ice water for a few hours and double checked my receipt. Sure enough, it said "Fresh". The box said "Fresh". There were a ton of people picking up turkeys the day before, no way they're all getting frozen turkeys. So I thought, "well, I got to be crazy and it's probably just packed tight, and put it back in the fridge."
The next day, Thanksgiving day, I open the bag. I go to remove the giblets and they're frozen with a ton of ice in the cavity of the bird. Uh oh. The outside of the bird was not frozen, but clearly the cavity was. Nothing else in my fridge is frozen. So this bird....was frozen.
Listen, I just paid over $5.50 a lb when the most premium, supermarket fresh turkey costs less than half of that. And my turkey has been frozen, not "fresh". On Thanksgiving day. Keep in mind, it had been sitting for a day in the fridge, and had sat for 2 hours in ice water, so it wasn't completely frozen at this point. But it clearly HAD been frozen. A frozen bird....for $5.50/lb. And now...it's half frozen. You can cook a frozen bird (hopefully you don't pay $5.50/lb for one!). You can cook a thawed bird. But you can't cook a half frozen bird without risking food poisoning.
I had family coming from over 1000 miles away. Driven 2 days to get here. And here I am with a half frozen freaking turkey 4 hours from eating. I'm embarrassed, I'm upset, and I've been ripped off.
So, I think something must have changed there. This year was the first year I've seen them advertise that they have turkeys still available, despite it already being Thanksgiving. So maybe this is the new way they're doing things. Overcharging for frozen turkeys and upsetting customers who no longer buy turkeys from them.
I think you can appreciate how and why I arrived at 1-star. They ruined my Thanksgiving and embarrassed me in front of my family, and charged me over twice what the very best store bought fresh turkey would cost. read more