Restaurant Review: Coasters

Who'da thought we'd be able to review an exclusive restaurant? One so exclusive that none of you will be able to eat there.

Yes, it's true.

Coasters is the Carowinds employee cafeteria. That's right. Employees only. No spouses or kids unless they have a job at Carowinds.

All of the people who have been here for a year or more have raved about the improvements due to a new chef, so we arrived at a good time.

We've been there twice. Atmosphere isn't great. Pretty basic cafeteria decor and you know how I feel about eating off of trays. But, we still think it's one of the best perks of working here.

There's a daily special as well as a few standard menu items: cheeseburger and fries, chicken strips and fries, wraps and a salad bar. Remember the vast majority of employees are teenagers.

On our first trip Chris had the daily special which was chicken Quesadillas and I had chicken strips and fries (because I'm like a teenager). The servings were plentiful and everything was tasty. Dirnks are free, so our entire dinner was about $7.50.

Saturday night we both had the special---meat lasagna, green beans and garlic bread. We also made a giant salad at the salad bar. The lasagna was excellent and again, the servings were plentiful. Tab for Saturday date night at Coasters: $10.79.

We didn't even touch the salad, so we put it in a to go container and headed home.

Turns out you can't take a salad (or any food from Coasters) out of the park without a receipt. We didn't know that, so we had to wait at security with our contraband greens and tomatoes while the security guard called Coasters to verify our purchase before we got clearance to leave the park with our Styrofoam container of salad.

But, what's a Saturday night without running afoul of security?