Hill Country Barbecue Market - NY and D.C.

I am always looking for buffets that feature barbecue and I "sought of" found one practically in my own backyard. Right off I am going to tell you that this is NOT a buffet restaurant. This is a menu barbecue restaurant BUT on Monday nights varying by location there is an All You Can Eat barbecue dinner. I will also tell you right off that I have not been there yet but I felt that I should share this with our readers. There are three locations of this restaurant - one in Manhattan, NY, one in Brooklyn, NY, and one in Washington, D.C. . Each one offers the all you can eat barbecue dinner on Monday nights with a variation in prices and an offering variation in the restaurant in Washington, D. C. . In NYC the meal is only available on the First Monday of the Month from 5 pm to 10 pm. In Brooklyn the meal is available EVERY Monday at dinner. In Washington, D.C. the dinner is available EVERY Monday at dinner.

What you get on this all you can eat dinner is Market Chicken, Barbecue Pork Spare Ribs, and Barbecue Brisket. In Washington, D. C. the brisket is only included with a $5 additional charge for the Ribs. The price varies at each location and the prices that follow are as of the current website prices to when this article is written. The D.C. restaurant is charging $27 for the meal (plus $5 to add the Ribs). The Brooklyn restaurant is charging $25.00 per person - all three meats included. The Manhattan restaurant is charging $32.00 per person (which is the same as D.C. when you add in the Ribs). Now, get this - in Manhattan children under 12 eat free accompanied by an adult having this dinner! In Brooklyn, for children 10 and under the dinner costs $15. In Washington, D.C., children 12 and under also eat free accompanied by an adult having this dinner!

From what I understand the restaurants are set up as a market. There are counters that you go to and order what you want to eat. On Monday nights, the included items are going to be there for you to get as well (though one person who has been to the Brooklyn restaurant spoke of a waiter). While this AYCE dinner is going on, they are also serving from the menu - but all three restaurants are very clear to say that EVERYONE at one table must order the all you can eat dinner or no one can. This is not a surprise and there are buffets that allow one to order the buffet and another to not and others that say all or none.

So what do you get - as said, you get Market Chicken, Barbecue Pork Spare Ribs and Barbecue Beef Brisket. The meat is smoked as barbecue should be. Then you get sides - Longhorn Cheddar Mac and Cheese, Campfire Baked Beans with Burnt Ends, EAK's Bowl of Red Chilli, White Shoepeg Corn Pudding, Green Bean Casserole with Durkee Onions, Beer Braised Cowboy Pinto Beans, Collard Greens and Applewood Smoked Bacon, Sweet Potato Bourbon Mash, Cool As A Cucumber Salad, Confetti Salad, Texas Black Eyed Caviar, and Hot German Potato Salad.

There is a bar, of course. There is soda but don't expect free refills. There are desserts and they are extra. What you get for the $25, $28, or $32 is the meat and sides. Everything else is extra. Now, given that we are talking Manhattan (and Brooklyn) this could be one of the least expensive meals you can have there - unless you start ordering from the bar and/or adding desserts.

And, of course, what goes better with Barbecue than Country Music and after dinner there is music here. I cannot say that there is no cover charge for the music or a drink minimum during the music.

Is it good? As I say, I have no personal experience but from the diner reviews I have seen the food is good. If any of our readers, have been to any of the three, please leave a comment - please be polite.

When I can get to one - if I can get to one - I will let you know, but for now, you are on your own. There is great potential here and others do say it is good. There are not many places that serve smoked barbecue on a buffet or all you care to eat. And as I have said, considering the locations, the prices are not bad!


Brooklyn, NY | 345 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 | 718-885-4608
 http://www.hillcountrybk.com/

New York City | 30 West 26th Street NY, NY 10010 | 212-255-4544
 http://www.hillcountryny.com

Washington, D.C. | 410 Seventh Street NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004 | 202-556-2050
  http://www.hillcountrywdc.com

I am not adding the links to the side of the page as this is not a regular buffet. Keep in mind that if you go to the Manhattan restaurant you will only get this meal on the FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH at dinner.

If you try it - let us know!

Timber Creek Grill Buffet - Idaho and Washington States

I have come across a buffet that looks very interesting. There are two locations and they are located in the Northwest corner of the United States. The buffet restaurant's  name is Timber Creek Grill Buffet and one is located in Spokane, Washington and the other is located in Lewiston, Idaho. For those who are not all that familiar with geography, the states of Washington and Idaho border on each other.

I must start out by saying that I have never been to either of these locations and I only know about these buffets by chance. I have not eaten there. I cannot tell you if the food is good or not. The buffet looks good and has an interesting menu variety and I thought that I would share it with you all. This is the type of buffet that I like to go to and if there was one that I could get to - and all was as good as it looks, I would go there frequently. It is also not often that I find buffets in this part of the country to share with my readers.

The food type is what has become know as "American" despite the variety. In fact, it changes by the day of the week.  They also have a breakfast buffet on the weekends. Each day is a different theme food. There is a large salad bar and a dessert bar.

I will tell you about the dinner features. The lunch features are similar but there are less choices at lunch. Monday is "Timber Creek Favorites". At dinner on Monday night you will find Meat Loaf, Beef Liver & Onions, Macaroni & Cheese,Timber Wings,Chicken Fried Steak,Butterscotch Rolls,Chicken & Dumplings, and the soup of the day is Broccoli.  Tuesday and Saturday share a theme and that theme is BBQ. On those nights you will find BBQ Pork Ribs, BBQ Beef Ribs, BBQ Chicken, BBQ Wings, Macaroni & Cheese, Baked Potatoes, Fresh Baked Bread, and the soup of the day is Steak Soup.  Wednesday is Italian and you will find Spaghetti & Meatballs, Veal Parmigiana, Manicotti, Garlic Cheese Biscuits, Texas Toast, Ravioli, Butterscotch Rolls, and the soup of the day is Minestrone.Thursday is Mexican and on Thursday's you will find King Ranch Chicken, Sirloin Burgers, Grilled Cheese, Macaroni & Cheese, Enchiladas, Beef or Chicken Fajitas, Tacos, Nachos,  Chicken Tenders, Cotton Candy, and the soup of the day is Cream of Tomato. Friday is seafood (what else?) and on Fridays you will find Scallops, Steamed Clams, Salmon Bites, Shrimp Scampi, Baked Fish & Fried Fish, Fried Clams, Fried Shrimp, Baked Potatoes,Mussels, Pickled Herring, Seafood Alfredo and the soup of the day is Clam Chowder. On Sundays dinner is served all day from 11:30 am and you will find on the buffet Carved Turkey Breast, Chicken & Dumplings, Yams, Scalloped Potatoes, Lasagna, Baked Potatoes,Timber Wings, Bread Dressing,Yukon Potatoes, and the soup of the day is again, Clam Chowder.

You will notice that the menu here is a bit different from the familiar chain buffets in that it does not feature the usual southern style cooking which always seems to include fried chicken. Every night at dinner they also serve Steaks Grilled to Order, Carved Ham, and Carved Roast Beef.
The two restaurants are run by one family - the Klinke family who have been running restaurants in Washington state since the 1970's. The restaurants also appear to be involved closely with their communities giving food to school districts, feeding veteran's and active military for free in recognition of Veteran's Day and other worthwhile causes.

I  have seen very positive comments about how clean the restaurants are and how good the food is.
Lunch is served from 11:30 am and dinner starts at 3:30 pm. I do not have a closing time for the restaurants. I do not have any prices, but from comments I would say that the price per person at dinner is similar to the other chain buffets and two can eat for about $25 or less at dinner.

If I am ever in Spokane or Lewiston, this is a must visit for me. If any of you have ever eaten at either of these locations at Timber Creek Grill Buffet please leave a comment and tell us how it is.

Timber Creek Grill Buffet is located at 9211 E. Montgomery, Spokane Washington 99206 - telephone number 509-892-6390 and at 2305 Nez Perce Drive, Lewiston, Idaho 83501 - telephone number 208-743-5430. There is a website and it is linked on the side of this page.

Washington D.C. Buffets

I get a lot of requests for buffets in different cities and areas. One of my most frequent areas has been one of the hardest requests that I have to answer and that is Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., the capitol of our nation, is as one might expect a very expensive city to dine out in. I learned this during my first trip there with my wife. I had been there as a child and on vacation with your family you don't quite pay all that much attention to the prices of things that your parents are paying for - but once you have to go out on your own and pay the bill, well, you certainly take notice. Of course, way back when I was a kid traveling with my parents, there were no buffet restaurants as we have now. On that first trip to D.C., my wife and I were not sure we were going to have much money left for anything else paying what we were in restaurants in the city. In the many years since then, this has not changed and in all of that time with prices going up, this is very true of dining in Washington, D.C. today.

On our second trip to Washington, D.C. we saw an advertisement in one of those explore the city magazines that are free in hotel lobbies. It was for a restaurant that was not only advertising Prime Rib for $6.99 - this was 1980 - but with that there was an all you can eat salad bar. The restaurant was located just across the bridge from the city in Rosslyn, Virginia just across from the Iwo Jima Memorial and it was called Tom Sarris Orleans House. If you search through this site you will find an article about Tom Sarris. But don't get your hopes up - it was knocked down about a year or two ago. We had continued to dine there each trip to the area until it was gone. The food was good and the price - while no where near $6.99 any longer, was still affordable compared to surrounding restaurants.

So my first recommendation when anyone asked about affordable dining in D.C. - much less a buffet - was Tom Sarris. With that gone - well, the search was on. I am know for certain that if you want an Asian/Chinese buffet there are several both in the city and in the not too distant suburbs. In fact there is a Chinese Buffet that I will recommend that I have written about before and I will get to that but what about other types of buffets? There are actually a few.

In Washington, D.C. itself - within the city - there is one that I have not been to myself, but I have been to another location in Maryland and I always enjoy eating at that buffet. The restaurant is Phillips Flagship Seafood Buffet. This location is both menu dining and buffet. The Baltimore, Maryland location that I have eaten at many times is buffet only. Phillips is a restaurant with several locations in Maryland. They are known for their crab and crab cakes and this is the area's specialty, This is the Chesapeake and crabs are king - but not king crabs - blue crabs. If you look in your supermarket fish area you will see Phillip's crab meat in cans and packages. They are are very well known. If you go to any of Phillips menu restaurants you are going to pay quite a bit for crabs, crab cakes or any of the local seafood specialties. Surprisingly, most of that seafood is found on the Phillips seafood buffets. The price when recently checked was around $25 per adult - not bad for what you are getting. When blue crabs are not in season, they replace them with snow crab legs- which they often have in addition to the blue crabs. If you want a buffet to go to in Washington, this is the one to try. It is located down near the Potomac River boat yards, not too far from the U.S. Navy Yard. You can find out more about Phillips Flagship in D.C. here. If you or someone in your party does not like shell fish, there are other selections that are not shellfish or fish - but not much.

I am sure there are probably other non-Asian buffets within the city - most likely in the many hotels, but I suspect they are not going to be very affordable. If any are noteworthy, they have not come up in my research or travels about the city.

Our search of buffets in this area takes us outside the city, primarily into Virginia. For those of you who are not familiar with how Washington, D.C. is located, this small city (actually it is a District) sits surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. Cross a bridge and you cross into one or the other of those states. The Capital Beltway is a parkway that travels in a circle around Washington, in and out of Maryland and Virginia. The roads around are good - except at rush hour when you can sit bumper to bumper for hours. So anyway, back to buffets. The other buffets that I have found are all in Virginia. There is one that I have discovered, but not gone to in Oxon Hill, Maryland which is just outside the District, called Pienza Italian Market Restaurant. It is located inside the Gaylord National Hotel. The price is around $32. So why have I not written about this buffet - after all it is an Italian buffet, and I am always looking for Italian buffets? The reason is that the reviews that I have seen about this restaurant have been mixed - some good, some bad - and not enough one way or the other to make me comfortable about it. Perhaps on a future trip to D.C. I will try it - and hope that the good reviews were the correct reviews. Until then, if you try it, let me know - and I make no recommendation to go or not to go.

So where do I go and where have I been?

I have written several articles about The Green Olive Buffet and there is and has been a link to the restaurant at the side of this page. Despite the Italian sounding name this is an Asian buffet. It is nice and the food has been good the several times that I have been there. It is on Richmond Highway in Alexandria/Arlington (but outside of the city of Alexandria on the highway heading toward Mount Vernon). The choices are not just Asian and there is seafood and American selections here enough to please even those who don't like Chinese/Asian cuisine. I have recommended it and I still would.

There is a chain of steak restaurants called Western Sizzlin' that is very similar to Ponderosa. They used to combine their order off the menu steak restaurants with small buffets (which were terrible for the one I was at many years ago) BUT they have since split their buffets off into their own chain - with few locations. One of those locations is just outside Washington, D.C., also in Alexandria called The Great American Buffet. I have eaten at this buffet. It was a number of years ago - the food was fine. The selections were much like those at Old Country Buffet - basically Southern US-style cooking. As I say, it was a number of years ago and it may have changed - either way, better or not so better. If I was in the area and was not going to any of the others to choose from I would go back again. As the economy has led to a lot of restaurants closing even before company websites are updated I would call first to check it out - (703) 329-1555 You can find it at 5902 Richmond Highway, Alexandria VA.

Beyond those we are left with the usual chains - there is an Old Country Buffet in Alexandria - again on Richmond Road (get a pattern where the action is here). There is a Ryans way down in Fredericksburg - which is my favorite Ryans. This is about forty miles south of D.C. and at least an hour's drive. There is also a Golden Corral in Fredericksburg. And there is another Asian buffet that I have written about in Fredericksburg called Kings Buffet which I can only assume is still open - always call first. I am not sure that I would drive all the way down to Fredericksburg for any of these - and I love this Ryans - but I do always plan a stop at this Ryans when I am traveling south. (Why do I love this Ryans? I am not really sure - and most of my experiences have been pre-Buffets, Inc. takeover - but it has always been good.)

I wish I had more to recommend in the Washington, D.C. area. As I said, throw a dart and you will probably hit a Chinese buffet - a bunch come up on a search. But for the ones that I go to and would recommend, you have them here.

If you know of a buffet in this area, please send me an email and tell me about it! Or leave a comment with this article!

Royal Fork Buffet - Mount Vernon, Washington

I am always searching for buffet restaurants and I often find ones that chances are I will never get to because of their location - but not everyone who reads this site is on the East Coast of the United States and some of my readers have asked about buffets in other parts of the country. Whenever I find one I want to pass it along. Despite the historic association of the name of the location of this buffet, it is not in Virginia, but in the State of Washington, completely across the country.

Now, as always, when I have not been to a buffet myself, I let you know right up front that I have no personal experience with this restaurant. I have never been to the Royal Fork Buffet and it is probably unlikely that I will get to the State of Washington. But this is our West Coast readers and this one does look interesting.

The Royal Fork Buffet is located in Mount Vernon, Washington in the Skagit Valley. The buffet has been in business for 17 years. This restaurant appears to be a part of a chain of Roayl Fork Buffet restaurants with other locations that I have found elsewhere in Washington, North Dakota, Idaho, Alaska, and Alberta, Canada. As this restauant's web site makes no mention of other restaurants I cannot verify this, nor can I find details on these other locations - other than addresses on a variety of restaurant listings. Generally a chain, especially one with a number of locations across several states and crossing into Canada has its own web site for the chain - I cannot find anything like that for Royal Fork. Only this particular Royal Fork Buffet has its own web site.

I can not tell you about the prices but the restaurant is open seven days a week. They serve lunch from Monday to Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm. Dinner from Monday to Thursdays is to 8:00 pm and on Friday and Saturday to 8:30 pm. On Sundays dinner is served from 11:30 am to 8:00 pm - and on Sundays there is a breakfast buffet from 8:30 am to 11:30 am. There are special prices for children and seniors - and on their web site there is a coupon for money off dinner or breakfast for adults.

The restaurant has eight food lines. The menu changes daily with different offerings at lunch and dinner. There are some good things on the menu on various nights including bbq spare ribs, Swedish meatballs, chicken and dumplings, fish and chips, sausage and peppers, Polish sausage and suerkraut, country fried steak, meatloaf, poached whitefish, fajitas, shrimp scampi, and baked salmon. Also scattered through the days are the usual roast beef, fried chicken, spagetti, roast chicken, baked ham, etc. There is a complete salad bar, an assortment of vegetables and desserts to go with the meal. There is also a different soup every day.

There is also something on the menu each day that sets this buffet apart from all of the rest. Breakfast on Saturdays and all day dinner on Sundays include Belgium Waffles. These are very large and thick waffles topped with your choice of fruits, whipped cream, and other toppings. At these meals there is a Belgium Waffle Bar for you to top your waffles. When I first looked at the menu for this restaurant I thought that the waffles were included at every meal - which would have been a real treat, but they are there for dinner on Sunday. That makes Sunday dinner dessert a real treat!

The restaurant is located at 2300 Freeway Drive, Mount Vernon, Washington 98273. The phone number is (360)424-4044. There is a web site and a link may be found at the side of this page. The web site details the menu for each day for each meal.

If you have ever been to the Royal Forks Buffet in Mount Vernon, Washington please leave a comment and share your experience with all of us. If you know about other Royal Forks Buffet restaurants, please let us know about those too!