I cant see why the design has been slated.. well, at least from an aesthetic point of view.
I think the site is extremely well themed and is a classic example of how to give a client what they want!
I have to highly commend this design and it's designers for pulling off such a stunning example of a site more geared to it's target market than the vast majority of other sites are.
The only area in which I can fault this site is in the area of
SEO. However I assume that like most professional web design companies,
SEO isn't their area of expertise - after all, you wouldn't go to the butchers for a load of bread would you.