Owensboro Convention Center

Extraordinarily beautiful facility with food service befitting a cut rate hotel.
We pointed out to the banquet staff that our table had not been served salads. Rather than go the kitchen to prepare fresh plates, they wandered the room to find uneaten salads from the tables of other diners.
The entrees were prime rib which was available well-​done or burned and dry to a leather like state and a grilled chicken dish which was clearly a pre-​cooked food service item. The vegetables were green beans and au gratin potatoes. Each were overcooked and bland. The bright spots were the bread and deserts all of which I’m guessing were brought in rather than prepared in-​house.
It’s amateur hour in the kitchen and on the floor which is a shame given the quality of the venue.

I want to preface this review that I’m rating the building & an event that I attended while I was in town.
The building is very modern. Sharp lines & trapezoid shapes. It looks good. Will it look good in 20 years? I’m not sure. The lobby is huge, with wide open spaces (now I’ve got that Dixie Chicks song stuck in my head) and high ceilings. Some modern glass work hangs from the walls & ceilings. It’s interesting. You can tell that Owensboro wants the convention center to have a big city feel. This isn’t like the convention center that was at the Big E. (PS I miss the big E).
I was in town for our family tradition of going to Reid’s Apple Festival in October. We were done with that & decided to meet some friends for an «Octoberfest» event that was being held at the convection center. From the flyer & website it seemed like some kind of multicultural event, with different beers & food that was brought in for the event. The event was free admission so we decided to go.
Upon entering the event, we noticed large screens with basketball games on & a band that was playing traditional German music. Well, some of it was traditional & other was just 90s songs with some German words in it. The music was really loud for the amount of senior citizens at this event. You had to buy tickets to then buy items at the concession stand. Yes, a concession stand. The feed was representational of that name as well. They had (frozen then microwaved) pretzels for like 6 – 7 bucks with beer cheese. The beer they had was Miller Lite and the other suspects. I thought this was going to have different German beers you could try & that wasn’t the case. The lines for the food & drink we so long that we decided against it.
We didn’t stay but about 20 minutes before we decided to go. I wished it was an authentic Octoberfest event & not a little event that was put on by the convention center to bring in a buck or two.
Overall I would’ve rated the event at a 2 star, but I’m giving the convention center a 4 because it’s very nice (if you like modern) inside & it’ll hopefully bring an actual Octoberfest event to Owensboro one day.