Old Country Buffet

Reviews 4

JI

Jim B

I was for several decades a customer at the Boulevard Mall area Country Buffet. In recent times since moving closer to the Clarence unit, this is where my partner and I have been going for close to four years. Today my partner said she would not go back there. I had to agree with her. Here are the problems: We go after the lunch crowd since we are retired and can skip the rush. But by 1:30 or 2:00 when we arrive, the trays are frequently depleted and for the duration of our stay are often unlikely to be restocked. The soup pots sit forlorn, bottomed out or scoured of solids. Somewhere in the past year, the salad bar took a nosedive. The coleslaw is near the consistency of soup; the potato salad is similar being gunked up with too much mayonnaise. I realize this verges on taste and opinion but that is what this report is. The onion tray is abysmal. Onions are cut with only the skin removed and the often course outer layer left on. The onions are cut stem to stern with the binding ends intact, not horizontally as in rings. Sign of absolute laziness. The salad bar trays being close to depleted, the spoons simply slide into the tray, handle into the food. Try to set the spoon and it slides regardless. The restrooms are nearby. Food for thought. At the main course tables, the veggies appear to be #10 quickies. Corn, sodden green beans and carrots. There can be breaded okra and tasteless Brussel sprouts and I do mean tasteless as in water boiled. I won’t catalog the remainder. My observation is a decided lack of food imagination. Tired, careless items. Consistently so. Enough to drive this customer into a final resolution to stay away. The cleanup girls are a saving grace. Friendly and deserving of a better realm. If this place is being managed, h/she is out back on a cell phone seeking better employment. I have no clue about the kitchen staff beyond the abysmal output. Maybe there is only one guy back there as a cost saving venture. Where corporate is in this game is probably the best clue to performance. Tanking all the way to the bank, likely, and as long as the receipts cover the invoices, it’s all gravy. The rot starts at the head, doesn’t it? This isn’t the upper class in here. Closer to the average Joe/Jane. Or retirees like us looking for something decent short of a steakhouse with the baked potato and the julienned zucchini as decoration and the check largely for just being there. There is a small Heaven that can be made anywhere, anytime on the face of this planet by the considered application of simple love and care; a concern and a compassion. You can squander the time to put out kaka or you can take the time to put out decent fare and attend to it as in keeping your GD spoon handles out of your trays. If the hoi-polloi don’t deserve better, you can demonstrate that easily enough which is what I/we observe so we won’t be back. Maybe it’s all a lack of talent, top to bottom (but for the floor girls). Maybe in the next reincarnation that can be rectified. Good luck with all that. This go-around sucks.

XA

Xanxus Drol

A number of issues with our expierence here earlier today. First the positives were that when asked about the pork chops which were out one of the meat carvers found out how long for more and more did come timely upon my request. Those pork chops and the cornbread stuffing were very good.... Its sadly all down hill from there and not worth 12 dollars on the dinner plus soda fountain for 2.50... 12 by itself is pushing it hard. So their cornbread stuffing is great, but not their cornbread itself which is confusing to say the least. The fried shrimp, had they not had crispy breading I would have imagined microwaved but definetly tasted like they were. More likely then not they are cooked in an oven, possible freezer burn. When I asked my hostess about this she didnt really seem to care much nor did a manager ever come. I did see what appeared to be a manager giving orders left and right to her kitchen staff checking what needed made fresh on the buffet so probably very busy but the server disregarded my complaint which really bothers me and left the reported nasty shrimp on the bar. French onion soup was black as tar and tasted like tar, that issue being the primary it was additionaly ridiculous to see a place offer French onion and not have provolone or mozzarella to put with it. Salad bar was half a mess also, from cross contamination of ingredients to dressings that obviously had French dressing spilled into them, to oddities like half cut radishes who the hell wants to eat half a radish at a time in a salad? We didnt even get desert because kids were scooping the toppings for the ice creams with their hands and made a mess of the place.... id say you get what you pay for but for 16 dollars a person after tax and a soda... sorry they are lucky I paid cash or I would have backcharged it off my card. If you need to eat ANYTHING and have no standards you get a better meal at McDonalds then you will here and thats really... pathetic... Its no wonder this brand is so hard to find now

KE

Kelly Little

If I could rate this place less that 1 star I definitely would this restaurant was filthy, the food is disgusting old greasy the cranberry sauce tasted like metal, the potatoes had a taste kinda like soured milk, and there was definitely something wrong with the ranch (we brought all of the complaints up to our server, and all she had to say was,"O.K. what would you like me to do abt these problems Im not a cook," and from there on out we didnt see her but 1 other time, and when she finally did come back that 1 time she said I told my manager and I was told the same thing that I told u, I paid $115.00 for myself, my husband, 5 of our 7 children my granddaughter, my daughters fiancee, and my ex-husband and we all had a very bad experience it is a place that we will never go to again, and if my family or myself end up sick from rotten food, and a dirty filthy environment, I mean my 3 daughters wanted to get desert and went for a bowl and they were all dirty, when my 12yr old went to the person who was working in the desert station to inform her, and she had the nerve to tell my daughter y dont u just put the dirty ones to the side and search for a clean one to use...... Im sure youll come to one eventually..... And then my 5year old wanted some ice cream in a come and there was none so I asked the worker (while she was sweeping the toppings that had fallen on the counter top into the containers with her bare hands) if she could please see if they had any cones when she had the chance, she didnt have to go right then and there and she (out loud said) "O my "God" spoiled little brats" then huffed and puffed and stomped off, then came back with the cones and stopped at another patron sat with them gossiping for abt 15min finally got back to putting the cones into the holder with no gloves.......

BI

Bill Smith

This is the most mismanaged location I have ever experienced. The manager needs to be fired and staff need to be trained in everything. I went there Saturday evening and it was almost empty, I know why, it sucks!. You have to wait for the cashier before you even walk in. Then most of the items on the menu arent out at the same time. The food is horrible, mashed potatos are in liquid form. Dont think about the carving station unless you have a few hours to kill, there is nobody there. Carve it yourself, possibly but its back in the kitchen. So how about some chicken, where is the chicken, isnt this a buffet? So I paid extra to be able to drink fluid with my meal, hope you can wrap your lips around that fountain because the cups are back in the kitchen. The silverware was dirty, the taco station didnt have shells, or meat. This was the third time and last time I will dine at this location. The last time I was there they had thunderstorms and the power went out multiple times, guess what, the emergency lights dont work either!