Critique: Marie Callender's Braised Beef Pot Roast!

This Braised Beef Pot Roast offering for $3.19 from Marie Callender's will likely be somewhat of a challenge as the reviews posted on their web site were often less than glowing! Here are a couple.
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YUCK
The description is way off. First off, the smell. My entire office now smells like bad vinegar or something a bit off. And I took this uneaten meal out to the trash over an hour ago! The gravy was NOT "savory" it tasted bitter and unlike gravy. The carrots & potatoes were rubbery. As for the beef being tender, well, I had to spit out the only bite I tried. I question if it's even meat, sorry, it was THAT bad. Glad I only purchased one of these! Absolutely disgusting!
December 05, 2013 Signed Frank

An even more disturbing review followed....

poor quality
Usually I like Marie Callender's food; but, this was terrible! This product had 3 little pieces of meat which were dry. There were only a few carrots and I found a hair and a piece of lint (this was thinner than a thread).
November 21, 2013 Signed Unhappy
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So, after reading this and other similar reviews, I will admit that I approached eating this TV meal deal with some trepidation. But, I did want to see if the folks at MC where any competition to the excellent 'Baked' offerings from Healthy Choice.

The box boldly advertises, 'Tender pieces of braised beef with roasted red skin potatoes, pearl onions and carrots in a savory gravy.' Sounded good to me. And, only 210 calories for 312 grams of food. Wow, I thought! So, it was off to the microwave as I mentally practiced some Zen thinking, so as not to pre-anticipate any bad results... 

Just like the 'Baked' series from Healthy Choice, the directions instruct one to merely slit the plastic cover and then to nuke it for about 6 minutes. Easy greasy! I followed those instructions and then let the product cool for about a minute before digging in. First, I inspected the food closely for any hints of foreign material... none seen.

How was it? In a word, it was 'just-OK'. Another word that came to mind was 'uninspired' and finally a thought briefly crossed my mind that I just might have been poisoned! I'm only kidding! But, while it was cooking, I thought I could detect the smell of burning rubber! Maybe that was just me. Also evident was the really high levels of sodium (900 mg)! I think I could taste the ocean in there somewhere...bleech...

On a more positive note, the veggies were cooked pretty well and I actually did find some meat in

I'm not positive what animal this came from..

there. So, I think the problem may be with the gravy itself. They need to seriously rework it.

The bottom line is that while it was edible, I say to take a pass on eating it. Or, at the very least buy it and then serve it anytime you have unwanted guests as an example of your own cooking while promising them more of the same the next day! Was that the sound of a slamming door?? Scored this one a 5 on a scale of 10.