Guests have complained about Mar-a-Lago Club’s sad presentation of caviar, which came served with plastic spoons Saturday night at President Donald Trump’s ritzy private club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Despite rumors to the contrary, the dismal-looking caviar was not from the president’s $100,000-a-head fundraiser in the ballroom on Saturday, but rather from the club’s restaurant.
‘The presentation of the caviar blew me away, with the tiny plastic spoons and the sad looking crackers,’ one of the diners present told DailyMail.com, asking not to be named in fear of getting her host for the meal kicked out of the exclusive members-only club, which costs $200,000 in initiation fees alone.
‘We asked, “Where’s the rest of it?”‘ she said. The disconcerted diner said the Ossetra caviar cost $125 and the foursome’s entire meal ran about $1,200.
Though Trump had planned to be in Mar-a-Lago all weekend, the government shutdown crisis forced him to remain in Washington DC.
‘The presentation of the caviar blew me away, with the tiny plastic spoons,’ one of the diners present told DailyMail.com of the Saturday dinner at Mar-a-Lago club
The crackers and sides served with the caviar left something to be desired, a disgruntled diner said. The entire meal for four ran about $1,200
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, was hit with several violations and cited for poor maintenance in November. Pictured: Trump at his office at Mar-a-Lago on Thanksgiving
Other than the caviar, the diner who took the photos had no complaints about the meal.
‘The main entree was really, really good, the service was ok… it was just the presentation,’ said the diner.
Club General Manager Bernd Lembcke did not immediately return a call for comment left on his answering machine at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday.
The delicacy disappointment comes just days after DailMail.com revealed that Mar-a-Lago was cited by inspectors for poor maintenance.
State records show the bed-and-breakfast wing of Trump’s ‘Winter White House’ needed emergency repairs in order to pass the latest inspection a few months ago and had several violations in the club’s kitchens.
A November inspections of the club’s two main kitchens yielded a total 15 violations.
Trump used to be involved in the day-to-day operations at Mar-a-Lago, but as he jumped into presidential politics he was forced to scale back. Pictured: Trump with kitchen staff in 2006
The club’s two main kitchens had 15 violations in November, including that staff failed to track the freshness of potentially hazardous foods. Pictured: Chefs at the club in 2005
Among the no-nos were the staff’s failure to track the freshness of potentially hazardous foods, including curry sauce with a use by date of October 21 pulled from freezer and improperly marked, milk stored at 49 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the safe temperature of 41 degrees, and cases of hot dogs that were stored on the ground of the walk-in freezer.
However, the kitchens passed the inspections on the first try.
That wasn’t the case when Trump’s club was cited on November 8 for two safety violations deemed high-priority: the lack of smoke detectors capable of alerting the hearing impaired through flashing bright lights; and slabs of concrete missing from a staircase, exposing steel a reinforcing bar that could cause a fall.
‘High priority lodging violations are those which could pose a direct or significant threat to the public health, safety, or welfare,’ the inspection code reads.
The club was re-checked on November 17, a week before Trump’s return for his Thanksgiving vacation, and this time ‘met inspection standards,’ according to the state inspection report.