No, this is not another of our annual awards, but I have to share with all of you the two best buffet chains that offer regular coupons for free meals. I get coupons from all of the big chains. It is easy to do - just register your email address at their website and you will start receiving offers. Old Country Buffet even sends out a free meal coupon when you register - just for registering, but the OCB coupons are few and far between.
The two best deals are the two large salad buffets - Soup Plantations/Sweet Tomatoes and Souper Salad. These chains have buffet locations across the country but not further north on the East Coast than North Carolina. Each regularly sends out Buy One Meal, Get One Meal Free coupons regularly - at least once, if not more a month.
Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantations is the larger of the two chains and the larger restaurant setup. I had the pleasure of dining at one of their two locations in North Carolina a few years ago and you can read my review of that restaurant here. The feature of this buffet is soup and salad and they have an amazing variety of soups and a vast assortment of mixed salads. The offerings vary each month and there are themes that are changed month to month. One of the things that you will learn being on their email list are the features for the month - and always a coupon to go with it. The price is already reasonable but with the coupon two can eat dinner for less than ten dollars US. There are not many places where that is possible any longer. There is also more on the buffet besides soup and salad. There is pizza, a baked potato bar, pasta, and a great assortment of baked goods and desserts. I was very pleased when I visited this buffet on that very hot afternoon in North Carolina - and my picky eater wife after a little convincing from me that it was OK to ask for plain pasta was happy too. This was an experience and one that I wish was close enough to enjoy again some time soon. The only complaint that I have about this chain is that they do not move further north on the East Coast. If you are lucky to have one near you - if you live on the West Coast there are plenty of locations as it started in California (where salads are well known) - get on their email list and start getting coupons. If you are on Facebook, they also have a page and they run contests there with even better deals!
Souper Salad is another chain that I was able to go to on that same trip in 2007. This buffet was in South Carolina - the furthest north location in the chain. A reader had told me about the chain just before my trip and when we planned our itinerary I made sure to be close enough to try it. You can read about my visit here. This is a smaller chain and, at least, the location that I dined at is a smaller restaurant set up than Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantation. But though the offerings were less it was very enjoyable and if anything good could be less expensive, this was it with a price a few dollars less than the other chain. Here again, the order of the day is soup and salad. Like the other chain, there is a potato bar, a pasta bar, pizza (read my original review about the pizza), a variety of really good baked goods, and desserts. Despite its size there were somethings that I actually enjoyed more at this buffet than the other (and I dined here first before the other). Again, if they were only further north. This chain is in the western part of the US and in the south east, but no further north than North Carolina - I think. The website, while cutely animated, has one of the worst restaurant locators that I have ever encountered. It is slow and after waiting for what seems like forever no results ever come up. After a long wait I did manage to get the Spartanburg location to come up so it is still there and the only one in South Carolina. If you have one near you, and you are a buffet goer, you probably know about it. Go to the website and sign up for the "club" and you will start getting coupons- Buy One Get One at this price - two can't eat lunch for that little and here the same price is for dinner or lunch, weekend or weekday!
As I say, these are the best and most regular offers. Occasionally for some special date, OCB will send out a coupon with a reduced price meal if you buy one and they send a similar coupon for your birthday. They are odd with their coupons - they mail coupons in some areas. They mail coupons to my sister-in-law who lives about twenty miles from me and not near an OCB, but here where there is a location there never is a coupon in the mail. I have a nice sister-in-law who sends me hers.
It is always nice to get something for nothing.
Showing posts with label North Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Carolina. Show all posts
Friday, February 12, 2010
Friday, August 28, 2009
Gatti's Pizza - A Pizza Buffet
When I think Pizza Buffet, I think Cici's but that is only because that is the chain most local to me - if local is 200 miles. There are other pizza buffet chain restaurants as well. We wrote about a new, small, two location chain in Pennsylvania a year ago. I recently found another chain that is much more wide-spread across the country. That chain is Gatti's Pizza.
Now, as always, I tell you right up front when I am writing about a restaurant or chain that I have not been to and this is another of those. I have not eaten at Gatti's Pizza, but I will share with you all that I have learned.
Gatti's presentation is very much like Cici's - a buffet comprised of pizza, salad bar, pasta, and dessert. There are also chicken wings - though it appears that these are not included on the buffet, . There is a take out option and there is also the ability to internet order from some of the locations, particularly those in Texas.
Locations are across the US as far west as Texas. There are Gatti's Pizza locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Most states listed have several locations with the most in Texas. This is not surprising as this is the state where the chain was founded in 1964 with a pizza restaurant called The Pizza Place. In 1969 the founder moved to Austin, Texas and renamed the restaurant using his wife's maiden name, it the restaurant became Mr. Gatti's. The restaurant prided itself on using all natural ingredients to make the best tasting pizza possible. In the 1980's the restaurant expanded to a chain of game rooms that included a pizza buffet. Interestingly, Cici's also began its pizza buffet restaurants in Texas in 1985. (So, who came first?) There are now 140 + locations of Gatti's Pizza. Locations are franchises.
So what types of pizza will you find on the buffet? This is another of the every combination you can think of assortment of pizzas. There is a Sampler pizza, a Bacon Double Cheeseburger pizza, BBQ Chicken pizza, Meat Market pizza, Vegetarian Sampler pizza, Superoni (pepperoni) pizza, Gatti's Deluxe pizza, Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Veggi Sicilian, and Meat Sicilian. There is a separate list of toppings so we can presume that other combinations are possible. Personally, I like to try the exotic when I go to pizza buffets but I am usually happier when I find basic cheese pizza also available.
The salad bar is what you would expect. Salad greens, tomatoes, and toppings with a variety of dressings. The pasta is spagetti with tomato sauce. There is a mention of macaroni and cheese as well. Most locations have a website and these tend to get a little more specific as to what you might find at that location.
The dessert choices are apple pizza and cinnamon bread sticks (what appears to be pizza dough baked with cinnamon). Of course there are soft drinks and it is stated that these vary by location.
To find prices you need to look at the websites of the individual restaurants which are linked on the locations page. For an example over 12 at the West Virginia location the buffet is $7.99. Not bad, but two to three dollars higher than Cici's. Kids over 6 pay $6.49. Only children under 2 are free and there is a senior discounted price of $6.49.
Each restaurant features a game room and large screen TV's in the dining room. There are larger locations call GattiTown which have party rooms and are listed as "destination" locations. Generally, destination means "shoppertainment" - an attraction location offering entertainment, food, etc. These are stand-alone restaurants meaning that they are not inset into other stores, etc. but a larger facility all on its own.
The food looks good. That is no recommendation. If I am in Virginia, West Virginia, or one of the Carolinas I will try it. The corporate website is linked at the side of this page. It is light on buffet information but if you go to the locations page and click on a location's website you will see much more about the buffet, prices, hours, etc.
If you have been to a Gatti's Pizza please leave a comment and tell us all about it!
Now, as always, I tell you right up front when I am writing about a restaurant or chain that I have not been to and this is another of those. I have not eaten at Gatti's Pizza, but I will share with you all that I have learned.
Gatti's presentation is very much like Cici's - a buffet comprised of pizza, salad bar, pasta, and dessert. There are also chicken wings - though it appears that these are not included on the buffet, . There is a take out option and there is also the ability to internet order from some of the locations, particularly those in Texas.
Locations are across the US as far west as Texas. There are Gatti's Pizza locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Most states listed have several locations with the most in Texas. This is not surprising as this is the state where the chain was founded in 1964 with a pizza restaurant called The Pizza Place. In 1969 the founder moved to Austin, Texas and renamed the restaurant using his wife's maiden name, it the restaurant became Mr. Gatti's. The restaurant prided itself on using all natural ingredients to make the best tasting pizza possible. In the 1980's the restaurant expanded to a chain of game rooms that included a pizza buffet. Interestingly, Cici's also began its pizza buffet restaurants in Texas in 1985. (So, who came first?) There are now 140 + locations of Gatti's Pizza. Locations are franchises.
So what types of pizza will you find on the buffet? This is another of the every combination you can think of assortment of pizzas. There is a Sampler pizza, a Bacon Double Cheeseburger pizza, BBQ Chicken pizza, Meat Market pizza, Vegetarian Sampler pizza, Superoni (pepperoni) pizza, Gatti's Deluxe pizza, Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Veggi Sicilian, and Meat Sicilian. There is a separate list of toppings so we can presume that other combinations are possible. Personally, I like to try the exotic when I go to pizza buffets but I am usually happier when I find basic cheese pizza also available.
The salad bar is what you would expect. Salad greens, tomatoes, and toppings with a variety of dressings. The pasta is spagetti with tomato sauce. There is a mention of macaroni and cheese as well. Most locations have a website and these tend to get a little more specific as to what you might find at that location.
The dessert choices are apple pizza and cinnamon bread sticks (what appears to be pizza dough baked with cinnamon). Of course there are soft drinks and it is stated that these vary by location.
To find prices you need to look at the websites of the individual restaurants which are linked on the locations page. For an example over 12 at the West Virginia location the buffet is $7.99. Not bad, but two to three dollars higher than Cici's. Kids over 6 pay $6.49. Only children under 2 are free and there is a senior discounted price of $6.49.
Each restaurant features a game room and large screen TV's in the dining room. There are larger locations call GattiTown which have party rooms and are listed as "destination" locations. Generally, destination means "shoppertainment" - an attraction location offering entertainment, food, etc. These are stand-alone restaurants meaning that they are not inset into other stores, etc. but a larger facility all on its own.
The food looks good. That is no recommendation. If I am in Virginia, West Virginia, or one of the Carolinas I will try it. The corporate website is linked at the side of this page. It is light on buffet information but if you go to the locations page and click on a location's website you will see much more about the buffet, prices, hours, etc.
If you have been to a Gatti's Pizza please leave a comment and tell us all about it!
Friday, May 01, 2009
Happy Birthday to You!
Celebrating your birthday at a buffet is a treat in itself, but to have your birthday buffet for free is a party and a present. Recently, it was my birthday - I will not say which one. I am on the email lists (in one of my identities) of several of the buffet chains and buffet restaurants. A couple of weeks before the big day, emails started to arrive with birthday offers of free meals.
I was able to use three of these offers. There were several to choose from. Some are offered just on the date of your birthday, but others are offered for your birthday month or a couple of weeks around your birthday. Here are the offers that I received:
Old Country Buffet - Free Meal with one meal purchased, good for two weeks.
Ponderosa - $5 off adult meal and beverage, good for two weeks
Shady Maple Smorgasbord (Lancaster, PA) - Free Meal with the purchase of another meal, good only on your birthday
Yoders Restaurant (Lancaster, PA) - Free Meal with the purchase of another meal, good only on your birthday
Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes - Free neal with one meal and beverages purchased, good for two weeks
The Family Cupboard (Lancaster, PA) - Free Meal - no other purchase required, good once during your birthday month
I had the opportunity to be in Pennsylvania during my birthday so I had a nice selection of any of these but Souplantation which is only located as far north on the East Coast as North Carolina. I actually started my birthday buffets before I left New York. On the evening before our trip we went to OCB to use my birthday offer. This was the least of all of the meals that I enjoyed celebrating my birthday. It was a Wednesday night - TexMex Night - which would have been fine had there actually been anything that was supposed to be on the menu out. As is typical of my local OCB, most of the entrees were out and never came out the entire time that we were there. We asked for the chicken fajitas. We were told they were coming out - an hour later the tray was still empty, the serving spoon in the same position it had been when we first entered. I suppose many wonder why we bother with this restaurant. Simply, the answer is that it is the only buffet game in town for a hundred or more miles. Well, I knew that there were more birthday buffets to come over the next several days.
My next free birthday buffet was at Family Cupboard in Lancaster, PA. I have written about Family Cupboard several times and have noted the homey feel and attitude of this restaurant and buffet which features country and Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. They send a postcard that is good for one free meal during your birthday month. The nicest part of this offer is that for a single there is no need to bring someone with you to receive your free meal. The food was as good as always. The rotisserie chicken is exceptionally tasty and good. The fried chicken is equally good. There was meatloaf, ham balls, broiled cod, ham, and beef in gravy as well. This was so much better than the birthday buffet that I had at OCB. And I had another birthday meal to come - on my actual birthday!
So with the year's best buffet on the list of birthday meal choices, is it any wonder that I spent my actual birthday having a free birthday buffet meal at Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earle, PA. It was a Saturday and the restaurant was crowded. It is really too early for the tourist trade, but this restaurant gets a crowd all year. There were long lines at the cashiers and once paid, there were long lines to wait for a table. The lines moved along fairly well and soon it was our turn to be seated. I most enjoy the main dining room here and I like sitting at a table rather than a booth - this is all just my preference as it really makes no difference. Things just seemed to be going well for me this evening as it was difficult to find a vacant table (as opposed to a booth) and several hostesses were searching for them for several guests. I never said a word that I really, really wanted to be at a table in the main dining room. The young lady who was searching for a table was obviously new, but she persevered even asking two other hostesses for help in the course of the search. It was not too long before she found one, cleaned it herself, and signaled to us across the room to come. This was just the beginning of good things to come.
I should tell you what you get at Shady Maple with your free birthday meal. When your guest pays at the cashier and you identify that it is your birthday you are handed a stack of coupons. These coupons include free cakes at the Farm Market, a 25% discount at the buffet gift shop, a 20% discount at Family Farm Quilts - a separate section located in the buffet gift shop featuring locally made gifts and quilts from the Amish, and a 20% discount at Good's Store - a small department store located adjacent to Shady Maple. All of that is the most that any buffet gives as part of its birthday offer.
So back to my free birthday meal. If I had called ahead and said have my favorites on the buffet, its my birthday, I could not have done any better at this meal. The first thing that caught my eye were the Philly Cheesesteaks. These show up every so often and are a must try if they are there when you go to Shady Maple. Here they are called Smorgy Cheese teaks. Shady Maple is about 60 miles from Philadelphia so people know cheesesteaks here. Now, I am sure that these are not exactly what one might get at one of the big two masters of cheesesteak - Pat's or Ginos, the rival cheesesteak stands in the heart of Philadelphia, but people line up at Shady Maple for their cheesesteaks. For the uninitiated, a cheesesteak is thinly sliced steak cooked on a fry grill with or without onions, covered in cheese, and served on a soft, long roll. At Shady Maple that is how they are served as well with the addition of tomato sauce on request. When the experienced order a cheesesteak they order it "WIT" or "WITOWT" - with onions or without onions - and you can hear this as you stand in line for your cheesesteak at Shady Maple. I had never had tomato sauce on a cheesesteak until Shady Maple and it makes an interesting taste addition to the sandwich. Needless to say I had a cheesesteak - and would have had a second later on in the meal if I was not already stuffed.
Grilled steak is another of my Shady Maple favorites, but these are served on Monday nights so I had no expectation of finding them at this Saturday birthday buffet meal. I never would have anticipated fillet mignon, but that is exactly what I found. Thin fillets grilling to order at one of the grill stations. Ordered and served to me just as I requested. Perfect!
It was all great and truly a birthday celebration meal! And it was free.
At Shady Maple as well as at Yoders you do not need a special coupon or email to redeem to get your free birthday buffet. All you need is to show proof that it is your birthday - and must do this on your actual birthday. Since Shady Maple is closed on Sundays, if your birthday is on a Sunday or any day that they are closed they will honor your birthday on the very next day that they are open.
To make sure that you can get a free buffet meal for your birthday, you need to sign up on the buffet restaurants' email lists. It is worth the few emails that you will get that do not contain offers - but most do. Not only will you get buffet meals for your birthday but you will get buffet coupons throughout the year.
Go celebrate your buffet at a buffet, too - for free!
I was able to use three of these offers. There were several to choose from. Some are offered just on the date of your birthday, but others are offered for your birthday month or a couple of weeks around your birthday. Here are the offers that I received:
Old Country Buffet - Free Meal with one meal purchased, good for two weeks.
Ponderosa - $5 off adult meal and beverage, good for two weeks
Shady Maple Smorgasbord (Lancaster, PA) - Free Meal with the purchase of another meal, good only on your birthday
Yoders Restaurant (Lancaster, PA) - Free Meal with the purchase of another meal, good only on your birthday
Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes - Free neal with one meal and beverages purchased, good for two weeks
The Family Cupboard (Lancaster, PA) - Free Meal - no other purchase required, good once during your birthday month
I had the opportunity to be in Pennsylvania during my birthday so I had a nice selection of any of these but Souplantation which is only located as far north on the East Coast as North Carolina. I actually started my birthday buffets before I left New York. On the evening before our trip we went to OCB to use my birthday offer. This was the least of all of the meals that I enjoyed celebrating my birthday. It was a Wednesday night - TexMex Night - which would have been fine had there actually been anything that was supposed to be on the menu out. As is typical of my local OCB, most of the entrees were out and never came out the entire time that we were there. We asked for the chicken fajitas. We were told they were coming out - an hour later the tray was still empty, the serving spoon in the same position it had been when we first entered. I suppose many wonder why we bother with this restaurant. Simply, the answer is that it is the only buffet game in town for a hundred or more miles. Well, I knew that there were more birthday buffets to come over the next several days.
My next free birthday buffet was at Family Cupboard in Lancaster, PA. I have written about Family Cupboard several times and have noted the homey feel and attitude of this restaurant and buffet which features country and Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. They send a postcard that is good for one free meal during your birthday month. The nicest part of this offer is that for a single there is no need to bring someone with you to receive your free meal. The food was as good as always. The rotisserie chicken is exceptionally tasty and good. The fried chicken is equally good. There was meatloaf, ham balls, broiled cod, ham, and beef in gravy as well. This was so much better than the birthday buffet that I had at OCB. And I had another birthday meal to come - on my actual birthday!
So with the year's best buffet on the list of birthday meal choices, is it any wonder that I spent my actual birthday having a free birthday buffet meal at Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earle, PA. It was a Saturday and the restaurant was crowded. It is really too early for the tourist trade, but this restaurant gets a crowd all year. There were long lines at the cashiers and once paid, there were long lines to wait for a table. The lines moved along fairly well and soon it was our turn to be seated. I most enjoy the main dining room here and I like sitting at a table rather than a booth - this is all just my preference as it really makes no difference. Things just seemed to be going well for me this evening as it was difficult to find a vacant table (as opposed to a booth) and several hostesses were searching for them for several guests. I never said a word that I really, really wanted to be at a table in the main dining room. The young lady who was searching for a table was obviously new, but she persevered even asking two other hostesses for help in the course of the search. It was not too long before she found one, cleaned it herself, and signaled to us across the room to come. This was just the beginning of good things to come.
I should tell you what you get at Shady Maple with your free birthday meal. When your guest pays at the cashier and you identify that it is your birthday you are handed a stack of coupons. These coupons include free cakes at the Farm Market, a 25% discount at the buffet gift shop, a 20% discount at Family Farm Quilts - a separate section located in the buffet gift shop featuring locally made gifts and quilts from the Amish, and a 20% discount at Good's Store - a small department store located adjacent to Shady Maple. All of that is the most that any buffet gives as part of its birthday offer.
So back to my free birthday meal. If I had called ahead and said have my favorites on the buffet, its my birthday, I could not have done any better at this meal. The first thing that caught my eye were the Philly Cheesesteaks. These show up every so often and are a must try if they are there when you go to Shady Maple. Here they are called Smorgy Cheese teaks. Shady Maple is about 60 miles from Philadelphia so people know cheesesteaks here. Now, I am sure that these are not exactly what one might get at one of the big two masters of cheesesteak - Pat's or Ginos, the rival cheesesteak stands in the heart of Philadelphia, but people line up at Shady Maple for their cheesesteaks. For the uninitiated, a cheesesteak is thinly sliced steak cooked on a fry grill with or without onions, covered in cheese, and served on a soft, long roll. At Shady Maple that is how they are served as well with the addition of tomato sauce on request. When the experienced order a cheesesteak they order it "WIT" or "WITOWT" - with onions or without onions - and you can hear this as you stand in line for your cheesesteak at Shady Maple. I had never had tomato sauce on a cheesesteak until Shady Maple and it makes an interesting taste addition to the sandwich. Needless to say I had a cheesesteak - and would have had a second later on in the meal if I was not already stuffed.
Grilled steak is another of my Shady Maple favorites, but these are served on Monday nights so I had no expectation of finding them at this Saturday birthday buffet meal. I never would have anticipated fillet mignon, but that is exactly what I found. Thin fillets grilling to order at one of the grill stations. Ordered and served to me just as I requested. Perfect!
It was all great and truly a birthday celebration meal! And it was free.
At Shady Maple as well as at Yoders you do not need a special coupon or email to redeem to get your free birthday buffet. All you need is to show proof that it is your birthday - and must do this on your actual birthday. Since Shady Maple is closed on Sundays, if your birthday is on a Sunday or any day that they are closed they will honor your birthday on the very next day that they are open.
To make sure that you can get a free buffet meal for your birthday, you need to sign up on the buffet restaurants' email lists. It is worth the few emails that you will get that do not contain offers - but most do. Not only will you get buffet meals for your birthday but you will get buffet coupons throughout the year.
Go celebrate your buffet at a buffet, too - for free!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Smackies Smokehouse Bar-B-Que - Columbus, Ohio
One of our readers recommends this barbecue restaurant in Columbus, Ohio for their Sunday Buffet. I have been on the lookout for a long time for a barbecue buffet restaurant. On a trip through North Carolina while riding though several towns I saw a few restaurants that we passed with signs that said barbecue buffet. Unfortunately, we could not stop and on some roads you go past so quickly that you don't have time to even note where you are - or even what the name of the restaurant was. I have made internet searches with no success to find those restaurants - wondering sometimes if I did not just dream them. Well, now a kind reader has pointed out Smackies. It is not in North Carolina - not even close. Smackies is in Columbus, Ohio, the same city that Schmidts sausage buffet is located in. I just told my wife that we are going to have to figure out a trip that would include Columbus!
I looked up Smackies and found out a lot about it to share with you all. I need to say this, as I always do, that I have not eaten there, but as I say, one of our readers has and recommends it.
Smackies Smokehouse is a restaurant that specializes in open-pit, southern-style, barbecue. They smoke their meats in a wood smoker over hickory and apple wood. Everything that is served at this restaruant is made from scratch in their kitchen. Six days a week this is just a good barbecue restaurant but on Sundays from Noon to Five, Smackies is a Southern Buffet featuring barbecue and southern dishes.
The buffet menu is extensive and it includes smoked beef brisket, pulled pork, and fried chicken and waffles. What you are not going to find on the buffet are their Memphis dry rub ribs that is the restaurant's signature dish. But the pulled pork is the best selling item on the menu and in this resaurant you will be more than satisfied (from what I can see) with the barbecue offerings on the buffet. The restaurant has several featured barbecue sauces including regular, spicy, Carolina red, Jack Daniels, and whiskey dip. These are certainly offered to make the barbecue selections perfect. As the restaurant points out, this is real barbecue - meat that has been properly smoked in "the pit". This is not what other buffets are serving and saying is barbecue coming out of an oven or off a grill - and that is what this is all about, the pursuit of all you care to eat REAL barbecue where the meat cooks for sixteen hours under the care of one pit-boss and has that smoke ring!
Along with the meats mentioned above, the buffet includes battered fish, fried green tomatoes, mac and cheese, collard greens, fried okra, fried corn nuggets, scalloped potatoes, black-eyed peas, bisquits and sausage gravy, green beans, cornbread, habanero bacon cornbread, and several breakfast entrees that could make this a "brunch" though Noon to Five is late to consider the extent of thie meal "brunch". Those include an omlete station from Noon to Three, Freneh Toast, waffles, and pancakes. There are Southern desserts to complete your meal including banana pudding, sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, and sticky buns.
The website puts the price of the buffet at $11.99. Pretty good! There is menu and take out service. They will also cater events - I am assumming off premises - for up to 2000 people. This is a family owned and operated restauant. There are two videos on the website that show you the people working and eating there and they tell you about how good the food is and what makes it special. This is the enthusiasm that you want to see when you go to any restauant.
Smackies is located at 5730 Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. They are open seven days a week. Their hours are Monday to Thursday, 11 am to 9 pm, Friday 11 am to 10 pm, Saturday from 11 to 11, and Sunday from 11 am to 8 pm - BUT REMEMBER the buffet is only on SUNDAYS from NOON TO FIVE. The telephone number is 614-794-1600. There is a website and the link is at the side of this page.
If you have ever been to Smackies for the Buffet please leave a comment and let us know how you liked it.
I looked up Smackies and found out a lot about it to share with you all. I need to say this, as I always do, that I have not eaten there, but as I say, one of our readers has and recommends it.
Smackies Smokehouse is a restaurant that specializes in open-pit, southern-style, barbecue. They smoke their meats in a wood smoker over hickory and apple wood. Everything that is served at this restaruant is made from scratch in their kitchen. Six days a week this is just a good barbecue restaurant but on Sundays from Noon to Five, Smackies is a Southern Buffet featuring barbecue and southern dishes.
The buffet menu is extensive and it includes smoked beef brisket, pulled pork, and fried chicken and waffles. What you are not going to find on the buffet are their Memphis dry rub ribs that is the restaurant's signature dish. But the pulled pork is the best selling item on the menu and in this resaurant you will be more than satisfied (from what I can see) with the barbecue offerings on the buffet. The restaurant has several featured barbecue sauces including regular, spicy, Carolina red, Jack Daniels, and whiskey dip. These are certainly offered to make the barbecue selections perfect. As the restaurant points out, this is real barbecue - meat that has been properly smoked in "the pit". This is not what other buffets are serving and saying is barbecue coming out of an oven or off a grill - and that is what this is all about, the pursuit of all you care to eat REAL barbecue where the meat cooks for sixteen hours under the care of one pit-boss and has that smoke ring!
Along with the meats mentioned above, the buffet includes battered fish, fried green tomatoes, mac and cheese, collard greens, fried okra, fried corn nuggets, scalloped potatoes, black-eyed peas, bisquits and sausage gravy, green beans, cornbread, habanero bacon cornbread, and several breakfast entrees that could make this a "brunch" though Noon to Five is late to consider the extent of thie meal "brunch". Those include an omlete station from Noon to Three, Freneh Toast, waffles, and pancakes. There are Southern desserts to complete your meal including banana pudding, sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, and sticky buns.
The website puts the price of the buffet at $11.99. Pretty good! There is menu and take out service. They will also cater events - I am assumming off premises - for up to 2000 people. This is a family owned and operated restauant. There are two videos on the website that show you the people working and eating there and they tell you about how good the food is and what makes it special. This is the enthusiasm that you want to see when you go to any restauant.
Smackies is located at 5730 Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. They are open seven days a week. Their hours are Monday to Thursday, 11 am to 9 pm, Friday 11 am to 10 pm, Saturday from 11 to 11, and Sunday from 11 am to 8 pm - BUT REMEMBER the buffet is only on SUNDAYS from NOON TO FIVE. The telephone number is 614-794-1600. There is a website and the link is at the side of this page.
If you have ever been to Smackies for the Buffet please leave a comment and let us know how you liked it.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Prime Sirloin and Other Tidbits
One of my readers told me about a buffet chain in the Southern US. It is called Prime Sirloin in most of its locations. I almost had an encounter with Prime Sirloin twice when I was in North Carolina this past summer. I didn't dine there because this chain, for some reason, seems to play down that they have a buffet in their local listings. I had been aware of a buffet chain with this name - but when I saw a listing for it, I could not be sure that I had actually found one. Looking at the Prime Sirloin website, this should not be a surprise because the website plays down the buffet just as much. The logo for this chain says "Steaks, Buffet, Bakery". Sounds like Ryans . But other than a few lines about the buffet on an extensive menu page, the focus of Prime Sirloin is to sell you a steak or chicken dinner from the menu. The focus of the website is to sell you a franchise.
My reader told me that he has been to the the Prime Sirloin location near Altoona, PA. This is the furthest location north of the chain, with the majority of locations in North Carolina. He describes the restaurant as "very Golden Corral-esque in both decor and menu". He said that though there is a menu to order from he has never seen anyone use the menu. He also said that you will find some non-traditional bufet offerings such as freshly grilled Panini sandwiches. Sounds good! He says that it is good and the food has "never been less than perfect". Well, that is a great recommendation - and is good enough for me to seek one of these out the next time that I am in North Carolina. (Keep an eye out for a review around August or September.)
The Prime Sirloin Family Steakhouse has ten locations in North Carolina, two locations in Virginia, and one location in Pennsylvania. The chain also goes under the name, Western Steer, and with that name there is a location in Georgia and one in Florida.
As I say, there is a website, but it is sparse and wants to tell you about how to open a franchise location more than it wants to get you to come in and dine. The website does have customer appreciation coupons. The one I saw was for a free beverage (they serve Pepsi products - which seems to be a North Carolina thing, because Pepsi was invented there).
If you have ever been at the Prime Sirloin, please leave a comment or contact me. I would love to get more opinions. Right now, I am taking the recommendation and will try it. I think that it is safe to say that you should try it too!
_______________________
I have called this article "Prime Sirloin and Other Tidbits" because there did not seem to be enough to write about the Prime Sirloin buffet alone, especially since I cannot give you the usual detail that I try to give whenever I write about a buffet. I have been collecting a few buffet "tidbits" recently and I will use this opportunity to share them with you!
Tidbit -
Old Country Buffet has instituted a weekend price which is now higher than the weekday prices. The new price is for Friday, Saturday and Sunday diner and is $12.29. The reason for this price increase when I asked at the local OCB is because there are special features added to the buffet on those nights. What are they? Well, it is called Surf and Turf Special - which is different from the Surf and Turf Feature that OCB is listing as coming soon on its website. This weekend Surf and Turf is roast beef and fried butterfly shrimp. But, you might say, they always had roast beef on Sunday nights and fried shrimps shows up daily in one form or other on the buffet. You are right! This was just an excuse to raise the weekend price. This makes OCB the most expensive of any of the buffet chains on the weekends.
Tidbit -
Old Country Buffet ran an ad campaign just before Christmas to get more people to dine there. They blanketed local newspapers and bulk mailed discount coupons - buy one get one free. Are they seeing a decline in business? (I wonder why?, I ask facetiously.) From my observations people were using the coupons, but they did not look like there were any more diners than usual.
They also have instituted an "E-Club" which can be joined for free on their website or at the cashier of the restaurants. The e-club will email you coupons for money off and for free meals, as well as advertisements. By joining you get a free meal. Not bad! Take advantage - especially with the recent price increase.
Tidbit -
This story has been documented in the newspaper - two patrons dining together at a Chinese buffet in Louisiana were charged double and banned from the restaurant because they took and ate TOO much. Both diners were over 260 pounds. (Interesting how the newspaper had to list each person's exact weight - this goes along with the bad rep that buffets get.) One was a regular at the restaurant. The spokesman for the restaurant said the reason was that they were only eating the seafood. Evidently the police were called and the meal was made complimentary. There is no mention, though, if they are still banned from returning.
_______________
There are the tidbits! Check out Prime Sirloin. I have placed their web link at the side of this page.
My reader told me that he has been to the the Prime Sirloin location near Altoona, PA. This is the furthest location north of the chain, with the majority of locations in North Carolina. He describes the restaurant as "very Golden Corral-esque in both decor and menu". He said that though there is a menu to order from he has never seen anyone use the menu. He also said that you will find some non-traditional bufet offerings such as freshly grilled Panini sandwiches. Sounds good! He says that it is good and the food has "never been less than perfect". Well, that is a great recommendation - and is good enough for me to seek one of these out the next time that I am in North Carolina. (Keep an eye out for a review around August or September.)
The Prime Sirloin Family Steakhouse has ten locations in North Carolina, two locations in Virginia, and one location in Pennsylvania. The chain also goes under the name, Western Steer, and with that name there is a location in Georgia and one in Florida.
As I say, there is a website, but it is sparse and wants to tell you about how to open a franchise location more than it wants to get you to come in and dine. The website does have customer appreciation coupons. The one I saw was for a free beverage (they serve Pepsi products - which seems to be a North Carolina thing, because Pepsi was invented there).
If you have ever been at the Prime Sirloin, please leave a comment or contact me. I would love to get more opinions. Right now, I am taking the recommendation and will try it. I think that it is safe to say that you should try it too!
_______________________
I have called this article "Prime Sirloin and Other Tidbits" because there did not seem to be enough to write about the Prime Sirloin buffet alone, especially since I cannot give you the usual detail that I try to give whenever I write about a buffet. I have been collecting a few buffet "tidbits" recently and I will use this opportunity to share them with you!
Tidbit -
Old Country Buffet has instituted a weekend price which is now higher than the weekday prices. The new price is for Friday, Saturday and Sunday diner and is $12.29. The reason for this price increase when I asked at the local OCB is because there are special features added to the buffet on those nights. What are they? Well, it is called Surf and Turf Special - which is different from the Surf and Turf Feature that OCB is listing as coming soon on its website. This weekend Surf and Turf is roast beef and fried butterfly shrimp. But, you might say, they always had roast beef on Sunday nights and fried shrimps shows up daily in one form or other on the buffet. You are right! This was just an excuse to raise the weekend price. This makes OCB the most expensive of any of the buffet chains on the weekends.
Tidbit -
Old Country Buffet ran an ad campaign just before Christmas to get more people to dine there. They blanketed local newspapers and bulk mailed discount coupons - buy one get one free. Are they seeing a decline in business? (I wonder why?, I ask facetiously.) From my observations people were using the coupons, but they did not look like there were any more diners than usual.
They also have instituted an "E-Club" which can be joined for free on their website or at the cashier of the restaurants. The e-club will email you coupons for money off and for free meals, as well as advertisements. By joining you get a free meal. Not bad! Take advantage - especially with the recent price increase.
Tidbit -
This story has been documented in the newspaper - two patrons dining together at a Chinese buffet in Louisiana were charged double and banned from the restaurant because they took and ate TOO much. Both diners were over 260 pounds. (Interesting how the newspaper had to list each person's exact weight - this goes along with the bad rep that buffets get.) One was a regular at the restaurant. The spokesman for the restaurant said the reason was that they were only eating the seafood. Evidently the police were called and the meal was made complimentary. There is no mention, though, if they are still banned from returning.
_______________
There are the tidbits! Check out Prime Sirloin. I have placed their web link at the side of this page.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Hong Kong King Buffet, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
The last time that I was in Winston-Salem, North Carolina was about five years ago. At that time I found one of the very few western-themed buffet restaurants that was part of the Old Country Buffet family at that time (it no longer exists.) I knew that this buffet had gone out of business but was curious as to what may have taken its place. On this trip "South" I went back to the location and found the Hong Kong King Buffet. So what am doing eating in a Chinese buffet in North Carolina when I should be eating the local version of barbecue (shredded, slow cooked pork in a vinegar sauce)? Well, I could not resist seeing how an Old Country Buffet (even under another name) converted over to a Chinese buffet.
I must say it was interesting to see the entire OCB layout inside the restaurant. The usual OCB curtain-topped walls along the booths are now topped with glass partitions with Oriental designs etched into them. The pictures on the wall that were once western themed are now pictures of Hong Kong.
So how was the Hong Kong King Buffet? It was good and for the price of $8.99 per adult was exceptional in what is offered. Let me begin as I usually do in telling you about this buffet.
As I said this space once was an OCB and all of the booths, all of the tables, and some of the serving areas are the same. This is a really big restaurant. We went on a Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm and there were diners spread through all of the dining areas. Had this been a more conventionally sized restaurant for a Chinese buffet it would have appeared very busy, but because of the size and layout, it looked sparse (but wasn't). Now this is North Carolina - the home of most of the tobacco and cigarette companies and smoking is not so frowned upon in these here parts. So this restaurant has a smoking section - which for a buffet is very unusual. We asked for a non-smoking table only to find later on that we were sitting on the edge of the smoking section - and the smoking section is right at the edge of the buffet serving area - well, this is North Carolina.
This restaurant had six double sided buffet servers plus a Mongolian grill. There was also a server along one wall. Prices at this buffet are very reasonable - Dinner is $8.99 per adult and $6.99 for children ages 6 to 10. There is also a younger child price from age 3 to 5 at $4.99. Now, there are king crab legs on the buffet, BUT if you want these there is an additional $5.00 charge for all you care to eat. On their website there is a current weekend offer that adds unlimited lobster to that same $5.00 additional charge- which is not bad (I am not sure how they serve the lobster (whole or pieces).) There is a lunch menu for $6.99, $4.99, NS $2.99 , respectively. Now all of these prices are from Monday to Thursday for dinner and to Friday for lunch. Saturday AND Sunday lunch is $7.99, $4.99, and $3.99. Lunch ends at 3:45. Dinner prices on Friday to Sunday are adults $9.99, children 5 to 10 $6.99 and children 3 to 5 $4.99. The crab leg charge at dinners is always $5.00. There is a clear sign over the crab legs on the buffet table that if you take crab legs on your plate you will be charged $5.00. There is a ten percent discount for seniors over 65 at all times. Soft drinks are $1.50 with unlimited refills - all Pepsi products. Hours for this restaurant are from 11:00 am until 9:30 pm and !0:30 pm Friday and Saturday.
To start off there is an extensive salad bar with greens, dressings, and toppings, along with prepared salads. There were four soups - the usual wonton, egg drop, hot and sour, and an unusual vegetable seafood tomato based soup with a Chinese name that I have never encountered before. I tried the hot and soup soup and it was good - not too hot and spicy. My wife tried the wonton soup and the broth was very good but the wontons were just fair - when she first went for soup there were no more wontons in the broth in the server - it took about twenty minutes for more wontons to be brought out - she felt it was not worth the wait. There is sushi with a good assortment of raw fish on rice and raw fish rolls. The rolls looked as usual,but instead of avocado rolled with the tuna it was cucumber. Looked the same but not what I expected as I bit down and crunched the cucumber. There were steamers for dumplings but no dumplings. Instead there were steamed rolls and steamed cake in the steamers. There were no dumplings of any kind.
There was a broad assortment of entrees. Some of them very unusual if you are used to Northern US, Midwest, or Western US Chinese buffets. This buffet offered steamed crayfish and frogs legs made salt and pepper style. Crawfish down South are known as "bugs" and they look like a cross between tiny red lobsters and bugs. You eat them by biting off the heads and sucking out the meat in the body and tail. I find them very fishy and salty. They are not bad. It is more of a get used to how it looks and how you eat it than anything else. If you like 'em you can have all that you want here. I did not try the crawfish or the frogs legs here. I have had them elsewhere and yes, frogs legs do taste like chicken (so does rabbit). There was plenty to eat without them. There were crab halves (included in the regular buffet price). There was a lot of shrimp and seafood dishes. There were several fried fish dishes and there was a steamed white fish in a light sauce. There were several chicken dishes - many hot and spicy and the hot sauce was very evident when you looked in the serving pan. There were beef ribs and boneless pork spareribs (that looked over done). There was Peking Duck - mostly carved duck pieces but these looked much too greasy - perhaps sitting in the tray too long and the duck fat melting into the pan. There were fried scallops but these also were overdone and hard when I tried to eat one. There were some dishes that were very good. The shrimp with scallions was great. This is one of the House Specialties on the take out menu. There was a good chicken in peanut butter sauce - thin strips of lightly fried chicken with a liquid peanut sauce on the side to pour on as you wish.I have had peanut chicken before but this one was much better. Of course there was General Tso Chicken, chicken with broccoli, and pepper and beef. There were several American dishes including fried potatoes several ways. There was also pepperoni pizza.
If you could not find something that you like among the claimed 180 buffet items, there is also the Mongolian Grill. Here there was a large assortment of raw vegetables including three types of mushrooms including the black mushrooms that are usually in the most expensive Chinese dishes. There were several types of noodles to add including the hair thin rice noodles that make up Mai Fun dishes. Of course there is meat and here it included beef, chicken, pork, crab, and shrimp. You mix what you want on a plate and hand it to the chef at the large flat round grill. He asks what sauce you would like added and rather than put it on at the beginning as is done at all of the other Mongolian grills that I have been to, here they put it on after the mix has mostly cooked through. There is a sign on the counter explaining exactly what is in each sauce which is a great idea! The chef was very nice and accidentally dropped my mix on the counter as he took it from me - he appologized in limited Chinese English a million times and with no problem I made a new mixture which he took and excellently cooked- handing it to me still apologizing with me saying, "No problem."
If you still want dessert after all of this there was a great assortment of the usual Little Debbie type Chinese buffet cakes, puddings, fruit, jello, and soft serve ice cream.
Service was very good. The dirty dishes were removed quickly enough and soft drinks were refilled regularly. An interesting aside to the drink area is that it is the old OCB drink island - two sided, with all of the equipment from the former tenant. They do not want you to go up and get your own drinks - they will bring them to you - and they do.
The restaurant was clean and nicely decorated. Restrooms were fine. The atmosphere was very pleasant (except for the cigarette smoke - BUT THIS IS CAROLINA!)
When the check comes the tax is added to the individual amounts so they don't look like the prices listed - but they are with the sales tax (for our UK readers this is the VAT) The check came with a fortune cookie for each of us - these were commercially baked cookies with the plastic sealed wrapper around them - the fortunes inside however were a bit unusual - a little nasty actually (I guess to bring a smile). Mine said,"You laugh now, wait until you get home." Oh boy! Not what you want to read after a meal!!!
The owners advertising claims that this is the largest "international" buffet and grill in "town". On the website they say that they are from Hong Kong and that is why they called the restaurant the Hong Kong King Buffet. That normally would imply Cantonese cuisine, but there was a broad mix of Oriental cuisines served here.
Do I recommend this restaurant? Yes. Would I go back? Probably, though I might want to go looking for one of those North Carolina barbecue restaurants (no buffets like that unfortunately). If you live in this area give it a try.
The address is 1237 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27127. There is a website and that is listed on the side of this site. The phone number is 336-725-9788. The restaurant is located in a shopping center next door to an Office Depot store. (Exit 192 on I40)
One other thing- restaurants are inspected by health officials everywhere, but in North Carolina those health inspection reports are on the internet. If you search for this restaurant you will find the latest year's reports. Maybe you don't want to read these. This restaurant got a score of 94 out of 100 on its last report. This is good. The violations were not significant. I think that I would not want to see the reports on many of the restaurants that I enjoy.
I must say it was interesting to see the entire OCB layout inside the restaurant. The usual OCB curtain-topped walls along the booths are now topped with glass partitions with Oriental designs etched into them. The pictures on the wall that were once western themed are now pictures of Hong Kong.
So how was the Hong Kong King Buffet? It was good and for the price of $8.99 per adult was exceptional in what is offered. Let me begin as I usually do in telling you about this buffet.
As I said this space once was an OCB and all of the booths, all of the tables, and some of the serving areas are the same. This is a really big restaurant. We went on a Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm and there were diners spread through all of the dining areas. Had this been a more conventionally sized restaurant for a Chinese buffet it would have appeared very busy, but because of the size and layout, it looked sparse (but wasn't). Now this is North Carolina - the home of most of the tobacco and cigarette companies and smoking is not so frowned upon in these here parts. So this restaurant has a smoking section - which for a buffet is very unusual. We asked for a non-smoking table only to find later on that we were sitting on the edge of the smoking section - and the smoking section is right at the edge of the buffet serving area - well, this is North Carolina.
This restaurant had six double sided buffet servers plus a Mongolian grill. There was also a server along one wall. Prices at this buffet are very reasonable - Dinner is $8.99 per adult and $6.99 for children ages 6 to 10. There is also a younger child price from age 3 to 5 at $4.99. Now, there are king crab legs on the buffet, BUT if you want these there is an additional $5.00 charge for all you care to eat. On their website there is a current weekend offer that adds unlimited lobster to that same $5.00 additional charge- which is not bad (I am not sure how they serve the lobster (whole or pieces).) There is a lunch menu for $6.99, $4.99, NS $2.99 , respectively. Now all of these prices are from Monday to Thursday for dinner and to Friday for lunch. Saturday AND Sunday lunch is $7.99, $4.99, and $3.99. Lunch ends at 3:45. Dinner prices on Friday to Sunday are adults $9.99, children 5 to 10 $6.99 and children 3 to 5 $4.99. The crab leg charge at dinners is always $5.00. There is a clear sign over the crab legs on the buffet table that if you take crab legs on your plate you will be charged $5.00. There is a ten percent discount for seniors over 65 at all times. Soft drinks are $1.50 with unlimited refills - all Pepsi products. Hours for this restaurant are from 11:00 am until 9:30 pm and !0:30 pm Friday and Saturday.
To start off there is an extensive salad bar with greens, dressings, and toppings, along with prepared salads. There were four soups - the usual wonton, egg drop, hot and sour, and an unusual vegetable seafood tomato based soup with a Chinese name that I have never encountered before. I tried the hot and soup soup and it was good - not too hot and spicy. My wife tried the wonton soup and the broth was very good but the wontons were just fair - when she first went for soup there were no more wontons in the broth in the server - it took about twenty minutes for more wontons to be brought out - she felt it was not worth the wait. There is sushi with a good assortment of raw fish on rice and raw fish rolls. The rolls looked as usual,but instead of avocado rolled with the tuna it was cucumber. Looked the same but not what I expected as I bit down and crunched the cucumber. There were steamers for dumplings but no dumplings. Instead there were steamed rolls and steamed cake in the steamers. There were no dumplings of any kind.
There was a broad assortment of entrees. Some of them very unusual if you are used to Northern US, Midwest, or Western US Chinese buffets. This buffet offered steamed crayfish and frogs legs made salt and pepper style. Crawfish down South are known as "bugs" and they look like a cross between tiny red lobsters and bugs. You eat them by biting off the heads and sucking out the meat in the body and tail. I find them very fishy and salty. They are not bad. It is more of a get used to how it looks and how you eat it than anything else. If you like 'em you can have all that you want here. I did not try the crawfish or the frogs legs here. I have had them elsewhere and yes, frogs legs do taste like chicken (so does rabbit). There was plenty to eat without them. There were crab halves (included in the regular buffet price). There was a lot of shrimp and seafood dishes. There were several fried fish dishes and there was a steamed white fish in a light sauce. There were several chicken dishes - many hot and spicy and the hot sauce was very evident when you looked in the serving pan. There were beef ribs and boneless pork spareribs (that looked over done). There was Peking Duck - mostly carved duck pieces but these looked much too greasy - perhaps sitting in the tray too long and the duck fat melting into the pan. There were fried scallops but these also were overdone and hard when I tried to eat one. There were some dishes that were very good. The shrimp with scallions was great. This is one of the House Specialties on the take out menu. There was a good chicken in peanut butter sauce - thin strips of lightly fried chicken with a liquid peanut sauce on the side to pour on as you wish.I have had peanut chicken before but this one was much better. Of course there was General Tso Chicken, chicken with broccoli, and pepper and beef. There were several American dishes including fried potatoes several ways. There was also pepperoni pizza.
If you could not find something that you like among the claimed 180 buffet items, there is also the Mongolian Grill. Here there was a large assortment of raw vegetables including three types of mushrooms including the black mushrooms that are usually in the most expensive Chinese dishes. There were several types of noodles to add including the hair thin rice noodles that make up Mai Fun dishes. Of course there is meat and here it included beef, chicken, pork, crab, and shrimp. You mix what you want on a plate and hand it to the chef at the large flat round grill. He asks what sauce you would like added and rather than put it on at the beginning as is done at all of the other Mongolian grills that I have been to, here they put it on after the mix has mostly cooked through. There is a sign on the counter explaining exactly what is in each sauce which is a great idea! The chef was very nice and accidentally dropped my mix on the counter as he took it from me - he appologized in limited Chinese English a million times and with no problem I made a new mixture which he took and excellently cooked- handing it to me still apologizing with me saying, "No problem."
If you still want dessert after all of this there was a great assortment of the usual Little Debbie type Chinese buffet cakes, puddings, fruit, jello, and soft serve ice cream.
Service was very good. The dirty dishes were removed quickly enough and soft drinks were refilled regularly. An interesting aside to the drink area is that it is the old OCB drink island - two sided, with all of the equipment from the former tenant. They do not want you to go up and get your own drinks - they will bring them to you - and they do.
The restaurant was clean and nicely decorated. Restrooms were fine. The atmosphere was very pleasant (except for the cigarette smoke - BUT THIS IS CAROLINA!)
When the check comes the tax is added to the individual amounts so they don't look like the prices listed - but they are with the sales tax (for our UK readers this is the VAT) The check came with a fortune cookie for each of us - these were commercially baked cookies with the plastic sealed wrapper around them - the fortunes inside however were a bit unusual - a little nasty actually (I guess to bring a smile). Mine said,"You laugh now, wait until you get home." Oh boy! Not what you want to read after a meal!!!
The owners advertising claims that this is the largest "international" buffet and grill in "town". On the website they say that they are from Hong Kong and that is why they called the restaurant the Hong Kong King Buffet. That normally would imply Cantonese cuisine, but there was a broad mix of Oriental cuisines served here.
Do I recommend this restaurant? Yes. Would I go back? Probably, though I might want to go looking for one of those North Carolina barbecue restaurants (no buffets like that unfortunately). If you live in this area give it a try.
The address is 1237 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27127. There is a website and that is listed on the side of this site. The phone number is 336-725-9788. The restaurant is located in a shopping center next door to an Office Depot store. (Exit 192 on I40)
One other thing- restaurants are inspected by health officials everywhere, but in North Carolina those health inspection reports are on the internet. If you search for this restaurant you will find the latest year's reports. Maybe you don't want to read these. This restaurant got a score of 94 out of 100 on its last report. This is good. The violations were not significant. I think that I would not want to see the reports on many of the restaurants that I enjoy.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Sweet Tomatoes / Souplantation
On my recent trip to
We went on a very hot day – predicted to be 99 degrees and it felt hotter. We went for lunch on a Monday at around
Entering the restaurant we were a bit confused. As we entered we were faced with the beginning of the salad bar stretching out down the entrance with the cashiers at the other end. The salad bar had rails for trays along each side and each side was either the same or easily accessed the other side. An employee standing inside the door handed each person who entered a tray and directed them onto the line that went down the salad bar. There was a large sign to explain things but basically it said to take a tray, take a plate, and create your salad. We took plates and followed along the line wondering to each other how one would go back to the salad bar if the cashier is at the end and it is necessary to come through the line if you were to come back for more salad. I started wondering if this was really a buffet or all you care to eat restaurant – but the signs inside all did say buffet and all you can eat. We went along and took salad.
There were salad greens to take at the beginning and several special prepared green salads that followed, I took two of these special salads – the Caesar and a Chinese chicken salad called Wonton Chicken Happiness Salad. I also took a prepared noodle salad that had the name tuna in it but no tuna listed on the ingredients. I had decided that I was not going to fill up on the tossed salad. Many were filling more than one plate full of salad and the many, many toppings and dressings that were offered. If you can think of a salad topping they had it. They had small cups of chicken to top salads but there was a sign under the cups stating that the chicken cost $1.25 extra for one small serving. This struck me as odd but my wife speculates that they do this so that someone does not make a meal of chicken (though if you take the chicken noodle soup – which I will say more about later – you could eat all the chicken you desired. As we got toward the end we were approaching the two cashiers – one on each side of the salad bar right on the bar. Just before you reach the cashier you are asked for your drink order. You are given glasses with ice. If you would like just water at no charge you are given a blue colored glass. All other glasses are clear. We paid for our lunches and my wife asked the cashier what to do if one wants more salad. We were told that you just come back through with your paid receipt. Fair enough!
We sat down and discovered that on each table as part of the little advertising platform was a card to signal that the table is occupied. This is great and comical! It said “See you next thyme” on the back to signal that you have left the table. We set the card and went for drinks. The soft drink bar is extensive and there are signs encouraging you to mix the drinks to create your own. There were fruit juices, coke soda products, “sweet” tea, and “unsweet” ice tea, lemonade, etc. This was one of the best soft drink bars that I have ever seen in a buffet. We returned to our table with our drinks and saw that everyone around us took everything off their trays and put them on the side of the table. Soon someone came to pick them up.
Moving along the hot bar there was a baked potato bar that included both baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes, each wrapped in foil. There were little bowls to put the potato in and there were hot and cold toppings. There was melted cheese and a light bean chili.
It was time to turn that little card over to the side that said, “See you next thyme!” and leave. We had a great lunch and this would have made an equally good and filling dinner. We really did not need to know how to get back to the salad bar because we had so much without a return trip, but had we wanted to it would have been no problem! Despite the change in price from lunch to dinner I believe that the menu remains the same all day.
Service was very good. Dishes were cleared regularly from the table. You get your own drinks and refills. The room, the tables, the buffet bars, the floors, and everything was clean. The room was very pleasantly decorated. There was no smoking in this restaurant (even though this is
Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation is a must try! I highly recommend it assuming that they are all like the one that I had the pleasure to try. If any of our readers have been to another location please share your experience in our comments. If you live in
Friday, August 24, 2007
SOUPER! SALAD!
One of our readers asked me if I had ever heard of this restaurant chain. I had not, but the question came at a very opportune time as when I searched the chain on the Internet I discovered a location in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Now while South Carolina is about 1500 miles from my home, I happened to be on the road heading for that very city to visit two nearby Revolutionary War historic battlefield sites. On Saturday night in Spartanburg we decided that we would give Souper! Salad! a try, and we are VERY GLAD that we did.
This is a chain of restaurants located in the Southeast Untied States and the Western United States from Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada. Souper! Salad! features just what the name states - soup and salad served on an all you care to eat buffet. In addition to the soup and salad, there is pizza, pasta, baked potatoes, breads, and dessert. This is very similar to Soup Plantations.
The Spartanburg, SC location is in a shopping center. It is a relatively small restaurant filling the space of three store fronts. The restaurant has large windows that look out onto the parking lot. You enter at the cash register and pay as you go in. This is an EXTREMELY REASONABLE restaurant. The adult price at all times is $6.29. The children's price from ages 5 to 12 is $2.99 and children to age 4 are free. The soft drink price is high at $1.69 with children's drinks for $0.99. Regular soft drinks are refillable. There are "special" flavored lemonades that cost $1.99 and are not refillable.
After you pay you come right to the beginning of the salad bar which is a long double sided cold buffet server that runs most of the length of the restaurant. You take a tray, your silverware, and napkins and start to assemble your salad - if you wish to start with that. There were two different salad greens plus a "featured" mixed salad. This night the featured mixed salad was a mango cranberry salad which was very good. There is every imaginable topping and dressing for your tossed salad and when I got to the croutons and dry toppings there were even small cookies to put on the salad. That was a first for me to see. You then come to several prepared salads that change by the day. There was California chicken salad, a pasta seafood salad, a fetticine pasta salad, tuna salad, a special pasta and tuna salad, edame (soy beans) salad, mustard potato salad and a few others. At the end of this bar was the dessert bar, which we will get to later.
As you pass through the salad bar you are into the dining room for the first time and you seat yourself at tables and booths. We were there on a Saturday night and the restaurant was not crowded but there were a number of people and families dining. I suspect that this is most crowded at lunch time when the shopping center is busy. The atmosphere in the restaurant is informal and the decor is very pleasant. The room was bright and clean. We chose a booth and sat down with our salads. A few moments later a waitress came over and asked what we ordered to drink. She brought large, full drink glasses to our table. Looking around most people had their receipts out on their tables to signal that the table was still occupied - but no one said to do this. We did (as we have had our table cleaned and reset in mid-meal when we went up to the server several times in other buffets recently - this was NOT a problem here!).
After our salad we went up to try the soups. There are five soups served and these also change every day. This night there was chicken noodle, vegetable beef, Santa Fe chicken soup, tomato basil, and double baked potato soup. I am a SOUP LOVER! I had to try each one. All of the soups were good, but I liked the double baked potato soup the best. It was thick and seasoned just right with pieces of potato and bits of potato skins in this hearty soup. The Santa Fe chicken was thick and spicy - it had a mild chili flavor. The tomato basil was a semi-thick soup with chunks of tomato. This had a bit of an acid taste - but it was good. The vegetable beef was a thin broth with vegetables and tiny meatballs. The chicken soup was good but it had too many herbs that overpowered the broth. The noodles were not the thick dumpling like noodles but more like pasta noodles. All of the soups are made from scratch at the restaurant.
So there you have the soup of the Souper! and the salad of the "Salad" but that is not all! At the rear of the restaurant is a wall of hot spots including the soup bar. There is pasta that changes by the day to either ziti or spagetti and two sauces of meat marinara and alfredo. As an Italian-American on both sides of my family I grew up with very high expectations of tomato sauces. I can be very critical of tomato sauce - called "gravy"in my family. Well, I usually have low expectations of tomato sauce in most buffets, but I must say that the meaty marinara sauce here is very good. It is not acidy and it is not sweet. It is not overloaded with meat or greasy. For a buffet restaurant it passed my test with a B+. Following the pasta on the server are two types of pizza - cheese and pepperoni. The pizza was odd compared to most buffet pizzas (and most pizzas). The pizza is more like cheese and sauce on a cracker. The crust is as thinner than a cracker, flat, and cooked hard and crispy. The taste was pleasant - the cheese and tomato sauce were standard but it was like eating a pizza cracker. I would not hold this against the restaurant but if you are looking for "real" pizza you are going to be disappointed. If you think of this as a unique pizza-like treat you will be more satisfied. Further along on the hot server are whole baked potatoes wrapped in foil. There are several toppings for the potatoes including hot cheese, hot chili, cold cheese, bacon, sour cream, butter, and chives. There is also everything on the salad bar to put on your potato if you wish. It did not seem like it from the descriptions that I read of this restaurant but there is a lot of filling food here. I went in thinking that just eating salad and soup for dinner I would be hungry - but I was stuffed when I walked out!
As if all of this is not enough there is fresh baked breads which also change by the day. There were garlic bread sticks, cheese biscuits, corn bread, and wonderful blueberry bread. The blueberry bread looked like a pan of corn bread but it had pure blueberry taste in every bite!
Had enough? You did not save room for dessert? There is lots of good things for dessert. There were the fixing to make a strawberry cream dessert - a try of cake to top with strawberries in sauce and whipped cream. There were peaches in syrup. There was fruit salad. There was pudding. There were fresh grapes and oranges plus cantelope, watermelon, and honeydue melon. And, of course, there is the ice cream sundae bar - soft serve vanilla ice cream with toppings and cones.
Those who wish to eat vegetarian can easily do so here as all vegetarian dishes are clearly labeled as such. Labeling was excellent all around - there was no guessing. The prepared salads and the soups were not only labeled but the ingredients were clearly listed below the name on each label. No guessing and no surprises.
The service was excellent. Your server comes and takes dirty plates away - and there are a lot of plate changes here and just about every item gets its own plate - salad plates, soup bowls, pasta plates, bread plates, dessert plates. The server also refills your drinks and there was no waiting for a refill.
Tables when empty are cleaned quickly and this restaurant was very clean - tables, seats, walls, and floors. The room was bright and restrooms were clean and well supplied.
This is a great restaurant for families. The food is inexpensive (actually, cheaper than eating at home) and there is something for everyone unless you have someone who wants lots of meat. There were several families enjoying the restaurant. There are signs saying that children under 12 must be accompanied at the food servers - which is great. On Sunday there is a family special and all kids over 5 are $1.99.
All of the food was good. The experience was nice and very pleasant. The staff were friendly and welcoming. I would highly recommend this particular restaurant and if it is a good example of the others I would highly recommend this chain. There is a website that is linked at the side of this page. The website will give you the locations and each location has a way to see the menu for any particular day on the calendar. As I have said many dishes change by the day and there are many, many dishes listed on the website for each restaurant to put on the menu. If you are lucky enough to be in a state with a Souper!Salad! give it a try for dinner or lunch. You should be as satisfied as I am. If you have been to one of these restaurants leave a comment and tell us about your experience.
This is a chain of restaurants located in the Southeast Untied States and the Western United States from Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada. Souper! Salad! features just what the name states - soup and salad served on an all you care to eat buffet. In addition to the soup and salad, there is pizza, pasta, baked potatoes, breads, and dessert. This is very similar to Soup Plantations.
The Spartanburg, SC location is in a shopping center. It is a relatively small restaurant filling the space of three store fronts. The restaurant has large windows that look out onto the parking lot. You enter at the cash register and pay as you go in. This is an EXTREMELY REASONABLE restaurant. The adult price at all times is $6.29. The children's price from ages 5 to 12 is $2.99 and children to age 4 are free. The soft drink price is high at $1.69 with children's drinks for $0.99. Regular soft drinks are refillable. There are "special" flavored lemonades that cost $1.99 and are not refillable.
After you pay you come right to the beginning of the salad bar which is a long double sided cold buffet server that runs most of the length of the restaurant. You take a tray, your silverware, and napkins and start to assemble your salad - if you wish to start with that. There were two different salad greens plus a "featured" mixed salad. This night the featured mixed salad was a mango cranberry salad which was very good. There is every imaginable topping and dressing for your tossed salad and when I got to the croutons and dry toppings there were even small cookies to put on the salad. That was a first for me to see. You then come to several prepared salads that change by the day. There was California chicken salad, a pasta seafood salad, a fetticine pasta salad, tuna salad, a special pasta and tuna salad, edame (soy beans) salad, mustard potato salad and a few others. At the end of this bar was the dessert bar, which we will get to later.
As you pass through the salad bar you are into the dining room for the first time and you seat yourself at tables and booths. We were there on a Saturday night and the restaurant was not crowded but there were a number of people and families dining. I suspect that this is most crowded at lunch time when the shopping center is busy. The atmosphere in the restaurant is informal and the decor is very pleasant. The room was bright and clean. We chose a booth and sat down with our salads. A few moments later a waitress came over and asked what we ordered to drink. She brought large, full drink glasses to our table. Looking around most people had their receipts out on their tables to signal that the table was still occupied - but no one said to do this. We did (as we have had our table cleaned and reset in mid-meal when we went up to the server several times in other buffets recently - this was NOT a problem here!).
After our salad we went up to try the soups. There are five soups served and these also change every day. This night there was chicken noodle, vegetable beef, Santa Fe chicken soup, tomato basil, and double baked potato soup. I am a SOUP LOVER! I had to try each one. All of the soups were good, but I liked the double baked potato soup the best. It was thick and seasoned just right with pieces of potato and bits of potato skins in this hearty soup. The Santa Fe chicken was thick and spicy - it had a mild chili flavor. The tomato basil was a semi-thick soup with chunks of tomato. This had a bit of an acid taste - but it was good. The vegetable beef was a thin broth with vegetables and tiny meatballs. The chicken soup was good but it had too many herbs that overpowered the broth. The noodles were not the thick dumpling like noodles but more like pasta noodles. All of the soups are made from scratch at the restaurant.
So there you have the soup of the Souper! and the salad of the "Salad" but that is not all! At the rear of the restaurant is a wall of hot spots including the soup bar. There is pasta that changes by the day to either ziti or spagetti and two sauces of meat marinara and alfredo. As an Italian-American on both sides of my family I grew up with very high expectations of tomato sauces. I can be very critical of tomato sauce - called "gravy"in my family. Well, I usually have low expectations of tomato sauce in most buffets, but I must say that the meaty marinara sauce here is very good. It is not acidy and it is not sweet. It is not overloaded with meat or greasy. For a buffet restaurant it passed my test with a B+. Following the pasta on the server are two types of pizza - cheese and pepperoni. The pizza was odd compared to most buffet pizzas (and most pizzas). The pizza is more like cheese and sauce on a cracker. The crust is as thinner than a cracker, flat, and cooked hard and crispy. The taste was pleasant - the cheese and tomato sauce were standard but it was like eating a pizza cracker. I would not hold this against the restaurant but if you are looking for "real" pizza you are going to be disappointed. If you think of this as a unique pizza-like treat you will be more satisfied. Further along on the hot server are whole baked potatoes wrapped in foil. There are several toppings for the potatoes including hot cheese, hot chili, cold cheese, bacon, sour cream, butter, and chives. There is also everything on the salad bar to put on your potato if you wish. It did not seem like it from the descriptions that I read of this restaurant but there is a lot of filling food here. I went in thinking that just eating salad and soup for dinner I would be hungry - but I was stuffed when I walked out!
As if all of this is not enough there is fresh baked breads which also change by the day. There were garlic bread sticks, cheese biscuits, corn bread, and wonderful blueberry bread. The blueberry bread looked like a pan of corn bread but it had pure blueberry taste in every bite!
Had enough? You did not save room for dessert? There is lots of good things for dessert. There were the fixing to make a strawberry cream dessert - a try of cake to top with strawberries in sauce and whipped cream. There were peaches in syrup. There was fruit salad. There was pudding. There were fresh grapes and oranges plus cantelope, watermelon, and honeydue melon. And, of course, there is the ice cream sundae bar - soft serve vanilla ice cream with toppings and cones.
Those who wish to eat vegetarian can easily do so here as all vegetarian dishes are clearly labeled as such. Labeling was excellent all around - there was no guessing. The prepared salads and the soups were not only labeled but the ingredients were clearly listed below the name on each label. No guessing and no surprises.
The service was excellent. Your server comes and takes dirty plates away - and there are a lot of plate changes here and just about every item gets its own plate - salad plates, soup bowls, pasta plates, bread plates, dessert plates. The server also refills your drinks and there was no waiting for a refill.
Tables when empty are cleaned quickly and this restaurant was very clean - tables, seats, walls, and floors. The room was bright and restrooms were clean and well supplied.
This is a great restaurant for families. The food is inexpensive (actually, cheaper than eating at home) and there is something for everyone unless you have someone who wants lots of meat. There were several families enjoying the restaurant. There are signs saying that children under 12 must be accompanied at the food servers - which is great. On Sunday there is a family special and all kids over 5 are $1.99.
All of the food was good. The experience was nice and very pleasant. The staff were friendly and welcoming. I would highly recommend this particular restaurant and if it is a good example of the others I would highly recommend this chain. There is a website that is linked at the side of this page. The website will give you the locations and each location has a way to see the menu for any particular day on the calendar. As I have said many dishes change by the day and there are many, many dishes listed on the website for each restaurant to put on the menu. If you are lucky enough to be in a state with a Souper!Salad! give it a try for dinner or lunch. You should be as satisfied as I am. If you have been to one of these restaurants leave a comment and tell us about your experience.
Monday, August 13, 2007
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!
This is it! Our two year anniversary of this site! We have grown quite a bit in our US and international readership. We average 1500 readers a week. I would love to multiply that by ten but I am satisfied! Plus we show up toward the top of most search engine searches for buffets.
Thanks to all of you for keeping coming back. Keep reading! Lots of great articles to come!!!
Thanks to all of you for keeping coming back. Keep reading! Lots of great articles to come!!!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Sweet Tomatoes
There are a number of buffet chains across the United States other than Old Country Buffet (and its various incarnations), Ryans, and Golden Corral. I have made a search to find some of these chains and tell you about them. This week I am going to tell you about Sweet Tomatoes. Interesting name - interesting buffet concept.
Sweet Tomatoes is located across the western United States to the mid-west. There are also locations in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The company, which started in California, operates restaurants under the names of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes. Both are the same. The name Souplantation is much more descriptive of this buffet, because its main offerings are soup, salad, pasta, and dessert.
This is a health conscious buffet, though there is plenty on the menu for anyone to be satisfied. The menu offers an extensive selection of both non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes. Let me start by saying that I have not yet had the pleasure of dining in a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation buffet. What I know I have learned second hand, but I think that you will find out enough to decide if you would like to try this buffet.
When you dine at a Sweet Tomatoes you will find a variety of soups and stews, pre-made tossed salads, prepared salads, hot pastas in a variety of sauces and combinations, breads (Focaccia) and muffins, and desserts. The tossed salads include such interesting offerings as Buffalo chicken salad, chicken tortilla, pesto orzo with pine nuts, spiced pecan & roasted vegetables with bacon, and many others. There are the more common Greek salad, Caesar salad, Cobb salad, and more. There are a number of salad dressings to make your own salad concoction.
There are also prepared salads - though the pre-made salads would seem to come under that same category - though I suppose that the difference is one features greens or lettuce and the other does not. Prepared salads include a selection from a variety (menus seem to change every day) including Ambrosia with Coconut, Chinese Krab, Field Corn & Very Wild Rice, Jalapeño Potato, Old Fashioned Macaroni with Ham, Poppyseed Coleslaw, Southwestern Rice & Beans, Tuna Tarragon, Turkey Chutney Pasta, and Zesty Tortellini. There are many others as well. All very different and not the usual buffet salad bar offerings.
While most buffets offer two or maybe three soups, Sweet Tomatoes offers eight at each meal. Soups also include stews, but you may not find stews included every day - as I said, the menus change daily by location. You may find Albondigas Locas (A Meatball Soup), Beef & Barley Stew, Cheese Stuffed Cappelletti Soup, Chesapeake Corn Chowder, Chicken Pot Pie Stew, Classical Shrimp Bisque, Cream of Mushroom (served every Monday), 8 Vegetable Chicken Stew, Arizona Chili, Creamy Herbed Turkey, Lemon Chicken Orzo, Mulligatawny, Ratatouille Provencale, and many more! There is also the simple (though nothing here seems simple) - chicken noodle, tomato, cream of broccoli, minestrone, vegetable (actual several vegetables), a variety of chili aside from the one included above, French Onion, cream of chicken and more. I am a soup fan and my mouth is watering just listing these! There are soups and stews with meat and there are vegetarian soups and chowders.
There are no entrees or side dishes but there is a variety of pasta dishes. There are eight at every meal. Some of the offerings are as good as entrees such as Beefy Meatball Stroganoff, Linguini with Clam Sauce, Spicy Italian Sausage & Peppers, Smoked Salmon & Dill, Tuscany Sausage with Capers & Olives, among others. Then there are pastas with sauces - Vegetarian Marinara with Basil, Southwestern Alfredo Pasta, Curried Pineapple & Ginger, Fire-Roasted Tomato Basil Alfredo, Cilantro Lime Pesto, Carbonara Pasta with Bacon, and many more. For the non-adventurous there is macaroni and cheese. All sound great!
To go with the soup and pasta you need bread! Here the bread is in the form of muffins and Focaccia (pizza-like breads). There si a long list of unusual muffins - all sweet and different. There is also an assortment of Focaccia - some sweet and some with meats or cheese or vegetables - or a mixture of all three. The muffins and "breads" could easily take the place of dessert - but there are desserts here too!
Desserts are an assortment of fruit cobblers, puddings, cakes, jello, fat free and sugar free desserts, cookies, chocolate frozen yogurt, and vanilla soft-serve. In addition there are sundae toppings to add to your ice cream or yogurt - or anything else that you like.
Hours for each restaurant may vary by location - as may price. I actually have not been able to find the price of the meal listed (but that is not unusual as most of the chains do not list prices except at the restaurant). The restaurants all offer lunch and dinner. Most open at 11am and close at 9:00 pm on Sundays through Thursdays and at 10:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. There is also a take out menu. You can get large portions of all that is offered or this combo -
a reate your own single-serving salad from the salad bar, plus two 8-oz. cups for either soup,
hot pasta, or loaded baked potato, and a bakery bag for your choice of muffins, foccacia and bread - all for the lunch price.
The closest Sweet Tomatoes to the Northeast US is in North Carolina. There is one in Raleigh, and the next time I am in that area I am going to try Sweet Tomatoes. If anyone has eaten at a Sweet Tomatoes please post a comment and tell us all about it. Is it as good as it sounds?
There is a web site and a link will be found at the side of this site. The web site includes extensive nutritional information for all of the menu items and there is a restaurant locater to find a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation near you or near where you are traveling.
Sweet Tomatoes is located across the western United States to the mid-west. There are also locations in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The company, which started in California, operates restaurants under the names of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes. Both are the same. The name Souplantation is much more descriptive of this buffet, because its main offerings are soup, salad, pasta, and dessert.
This is a health conscious buffet, though there is plenty on the menu for anyone to be satisfied. The menu offers an extensive selection of both non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes. Let me start by saying that I have not yet had the pleasure of dining in a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation buffet. What I know I have learned second hand, but I think that you will find out enough to decide if you would like to try this buffet.
When you dine at a Sweet Tomatoes you will find a variety of soups and stews, pre-made tossed salads, prepared salads, hot pastas in a variety of sauces and combinations, breads (Focaccia) and muffins, and desserts. The tossed salads include such interesting offerings as Buffalo chicken salad, chicken tortilla, pesto orzo with pine nuts, spiced pecan & roasted vegetables with bacon, and many others. There are the more common Greek salad, Caesar salad, Cobb salad, and more. There are a number of salad dressings to make your own salad concoction.
There are also prepared salads - though the pre-made salads would seem to come under that same category - though I suppose that the difference is one features greens or lettuce and the other does not. Prepared salads include a selection from a variety (menus seem to change every day) including Ambrosia with Coconut, Chinese Krab, Field Corn & Very Wild Rice, Jalapeño Potato, Old Fashioned Macaroni with Ham, Poppyseed Coleslaw, Southwestern Rice & Beans, Tuna Tarragon, Turkey Chutney Pasta, and Zesty Tortellini. There are many others as well. All very different and not the usual buffet salad bar offerings.
While most buffets offer two or maybe three soups, Sweet Tomatoes offers eight at each meal. Soups also include stews, but you may not find stews included every day - as I said, the menus change daily by location. You may find Albondigas Locas (A Meatball Soup), Beef & Barley Stew, Cheese Stuffed Cappelletti Soup, Chesapeake Corn Chowder, Chicken Pot Pie Stew, Classical Shrimp Bisque, Cream of Mushroom (served every Monday), 8 Vegetable Chicken Stew, Arizona Chili, Creamy Herbed Turkey, Lemon Chicken Orzo, Mulligatawny, Ratatouille Provencale, and many more! There is also the simple (though nothing here seems simple) - chicken noodle, tomato, cream of broccoli, minestrone, vegetable (actual several vegetables), a variety of chili aside from the one included above, French Onion, cream of chicken and more. I am a soup fan and my mouth is watering just listing these! There are soups and stews with meat and there are vegetarian soups and chowders.
There are no entrees or side dishes but there is a variety of pasta dishes. There are eight at every meal. Some of the offerings are as good as entrees such as Beefy Meatball Stroganoff, Linguini with Clam Sauce, Spicy Italian Sausage & Peppers, Smoked Salmon & Dill, Tuscany Sausage with Capers & Olives, among others. Then there are pastas with sauces - Vegetarian Marinara with Basil, Southwestern Alfredo Pasta, Curried Pineapple & Ginger, Fire-Roasted Tomato Basil Alfredo, Cilantro Lime Pesto, Carbonara Pasta with Bacon, and many more. For the non-adventurous there is macaroni and cheese. All sound great!
To go with the soup and pasta you need bread! Here the bread is in the form of muffins and Focaccia (pizza-like breads). There si a long list of unusual muffins - all sweet and different. There is also an assortment of Focaccia - some sweet and some with meats or cheese or vegetables - or a mixture of all three. The muffins and "breads" could easily take the place of dessert - but there are desserts here too!
Desserts are an assortment of fruit cobblers, puddings, cakes, jello, fat free and sugar free desserts, cookies, chocolate frozen yogurt, and vanilla soft-serve. In addition there are sundae toppings to add to your ice cream or yogurt - or anything else that you like.
Hours for each restaurant may vary by location - as may price. I actually have not been able to find the price of the meal listed (but that is not unusual as most of the chains do not list prices except at the restaurant). The restaurants all offer lunch and dinner. Most open at 11am and close at 9:00 pm on Sundays through Thursdays and at 10:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. There is also a take out menu. You can get large portions of all that is offered or this combo -
a reate your own single-serving salad from the salad bar, plus two 8-oz. cups for either soup,
hot pasta, or loaded baked potato, and a bakery bag for your choice of muffins, foccacia and bread - all for the lunch price.
The closest Sweet Tomatoes to the Northeast US is in North Carolina. There is one in Raleigh, and the next time I am in that area I am going to try Sweet Tomatoes. If anyone has eaten at a Sweet Tomatoes please post a comment and tell us all about it. Is it as good as it sounds?
There is a web site and a link will be found at the side of this site. The web site includes extensive nutritional information for all of the menu items and there is a restaurant locater to find a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation near you or near where you are traveling.
Friday, May 11, 2007
CiCi's Responds!
I would like to first thank Cici's corporate offices for their detailed response to last week's article. The response arrived by email this past Thursday. I applaud CiC's Pizza Buffet for responding. They are the only chain restaurant that I have written about that has taken the time and the concern to reply and answer the concerns that I raised.
I will now present their response as sent and following I will react.
______________
Thank you for your detailed feedback on your visit to CiCi's. We appreciate your comments and suggestions, as we are always open to feedback that will allow us to serve you better.
In answer to some of your concerns, many of our locations do accept credit/debit cards. Most of the stores that do not accept credit/debit cards have ATMs for use. However, there is a nominal fee for their use. It is entirely up to the franchisee which system they use. On the corporate level, we are urging them to move towards the acceptance of credit/debit cards.
The reason we do not label our pizzas is that we offer 16 different varieties and most of our buffets only have room to accommodate 12. They are constantly rotated, with pepperoni being offered at all times. With the rotation process, it is nearly impossible to keep the different pizzas labeled. We always have a server there to answer any questions our guests may have about the pizzas. After several visits, the different varieties are very identifiable and most of our guests don't have any problem finding what they want. You may also order any variety that you would like to have and it will be prepared fresh and delivered to your table in a very short time.
Our goal at CiCi's is to offer our guests exceptional service, beyond what the guest expects, while maintaining a family friendly environment. We are very glad to hear that you enjoyed your visit and hope that you will visit with us again in the near future. It will be our pleasure to have you as our guest.
Sincerely,
Pam Goodgion
CiCi's University
___________________
Now, apparently, I found one of the Cici's that did not take credit cards, and yes, there was a hand-written paper sign that said ATM available. Of course, with independent ATM fees as they are, bring cash... just in case.
I wish it was made known in the restaurant that one could order any variety and have it delivered to the table. This was not evident in this particular restaurant and we saw no one getting pizzas brought to their table. The idea that there are more varieties of pizza than there is room to serve is great - however - as stated in last week's article, there were several of the same pizza's out at once - and though new pizzas kept coming out, they were still the same. There must be a better system so that there is only one or even two of each type out at one time. Five pepperonis out of sixteen possible pizzas is a lot of pepperoni.
There was no response to devising a system of keeping your table while you go up to the buffet. This was one of the most important points made last week and was a problem for us at Cici's. As I wrote, we went up to the buffet together and returned to the table to find it had been completely cleared away including our soda glasses - still full with soda. Other chain buffets have easily solved this problem and Cici's need only visit an Old Country Buffet, etc. to see how it may be done.
Again, thank you Pam Goodgion of Cici's for truly being concerned about your customers. That is a rare thing lately! I recommend that you try Cici's. A friend with a young daughter was recently in North Carolina and visited a Cici's there. We heard this eleven year old telling someone about where she ate. We asked if it was Cici's and with a big grin she said, "Yes!" She loved it! It is a lot of fun for kids and adults alike. If you live near or visit an area with a Cici's Bizza Buffet give it a try. And then come back here and tell us all about your experience.
I will now present their response as sent and following I will react.
______________
Thank you for your detailed feedback on your visit to CiCi's. We appreciate your comments and suggestions, as we are always open to feedback that will allow us to serve you better.
In answer to some of your concerns, many of our locations do accept credit/debit cards. Most of the stores that do not accept credit/debit cards have ATMs for use. However, there is a nominal fee for their use. It is entirely up to the franchisee which system they use. On the corporate level, we are urging them to move towards the acceptance of credit/debit cards.
The reason we do not label our pizzas is that we offer 16 different varieties and most of our buffets only have room to accommodate 12. They are constantly rotated, with pepperoni being offered at all times. With the rotation process, it is nearly impossible to keep the different pizzas labeled. We always have a server there to answer any questions our guests may have about the pizzas. After several visits, the different varieties are very identifiable and most of our guests don't have any problem finding what they want. You may also order any variety that you would like to have and it will be prepared fresh and delivered to your table in a very short time.
Our goal at CiCi's is to offer our guests exceptional service, beyond what the guest expects, while maintaining a family friendly environment. We are very glad to hear that you enjoyed your visit and hope that you will visit with us again in the near future. It will be our pleasure to have you as our guest.
Sincerely,
Pam Goodgion
CiCi's University
___________________
Now, apparently, I found one of the Cici's that did not take credit cards, and yes, there was a hand-written paper sign that said ATM available. Of course, with independent ATM fees as they are, bring cash... just in case.
I wish it was made known in the restaurant that one could order any variety and have it delivered to the table. This was not evident in this particular restaurant and we saw no one getting pizzas brought to their table. The idea that there are more varieties of pizza than there is room to serve is great - however - as stated in last week's article, there were several of the same pizza's out at once - and though new pizzas kept coming out, they were still the same. There must be a better system so that there is only one or even two of each type out at one time. Five pepperonis out of sixteen possible pizzas is a lot of pepperoni.
There was no response to devising a system of keeping your table while you go up to the buffet. This was one of the most important points made last week and was a problem for us at Cici's. As I wrote, we went up to the buffet together and returned to the table to find it had been completely cleared away including our soda glasses - still full with soda. Other chain buffets have easily solved this problem and Cici's need only visit an Old Country Buffet, etc. to see how it may be done.
Again, thank you Pam Goodgion of Cici's for truly being concerned about your customers. That is a rare thing lately! I recommend that you try Cici's. A friend with a young daughter was recently in North Carolina and visited a Cici's there. We heard this eleven year old telling someone about where she ate. We asked if it was Cici's and with a big grin she said, "Yes!" She loved it! It is a lot of fun for kids and adults alike. If you live near or visit an area with a Cici's Bizza Buffet give it a try. And then come back here and tell us all about your experience.
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