IKEA Summer Smorgasbord - All IKEA stores

We regularly go to the four time a year IKEA Smorgasbord special dinners. These take place four times a year. There is a pre-Christmas dinner, a pre-Easter dinner, a Mid-Summer dinner (in June) and a dinner in September that features Crayfish. These are all all you care to eat dinners laid out on Smorgasbord tables and they have seatings twice on a Friday - one 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm and one 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm and they take place in the restaurant in IKEA stores. We go to all but the crayfish dinner. We have written about these dinners before.

I am writing this right after attending and enjoying the Mid-Summer Smorgasbord. Usually the menu is pretty much the same from one dinner to the next with some seasonal changes. This year the Mid-Summer dinner had different entrees than any of the dinners have had in the past. The menu from IKEA store to store is generally the same at all locations for these dinners - so the changes here should have been the same at the dinners at the other IKEAs as the advertising for these dinners goes out from all IKEA stores.

The many of the usual were included - and consider the price of these items if you were to go to a restaurant and order them - and for some - if you went to a store to buy them and bring them home to eat. There was three kinds of pickled hearing, Gravlax (in the US - Lox, outside the US - smoked salmon), poached salmon, and hot smoked salmon. There was shrimp salad - small shrimp in a mayonnaise based dressing. There were shrimp stuffed hard boiled eggs.  There was the usual Swedish Meatballs. There was tossed salad. There was redskin potato salad. Other than the potato salad this all has been at IKEA smorgasbord dinners before. The usual meat entree at these dinners is ham, but at this dinner there was no ham. There were St Louis Ribs and Bratwurst. Never before has there been St. Louis Ribs and Bratwurst! Both absolutely seasonal - not very much Swedish - but a nice change!

The ribs were fall off the bone. We were told during the dinner that the Food Service Manager cooked the ribs - and he was very proud of it. There were sections of three and sections of four ribs - take as much as you want, of course. They were dry seasoned - no barbecue sauce. I would have preferred  barbecue sauce on them but they were meaty and good even without the sauce. Several years past IKEA would serve in their restaurant half racks of baby back ribs in a thick barbecue sauce that were pretty good - but they no longer offer that. These ribs were different - much more meat but no sauce. I enjoyed them!

The bratwurst was also a new entree and these were cooked with onions and cut in half to serve. Large serving platters of brats were put on the two serving tables. The brats has a slight beer taste underlying and they were either cooked in beer - as brats often are - or these were beer brats as sold in some meat markets. They were good! Even my picky eater wife tried them and liked them - I did not tell her there was most likely beer in them or they were cooked in beer until we were leaving. She knew there was a different taste than she expected.

The deserts included fruit salad, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, red velvet cake, and a strawberry filled cream cake. There were two types of IKEAs excellent sandwich cookies - one jelly filled and the other chocolate filled. The deserts do change from Smorgasbord to Smorgasbord and are usually seasonal.

Of course, there is unlimited soft drinks, a non-alcoholic seasonal cider drink and now this IKEA has a computerized coffee dispenser that makes lattes, cappuccino, espresso, and Americano coffee. Put your cup under the spout and push on the screen for your choice and it is made in the machine and dispensed into the cup complete with a head of milk foam.

As I have reported in the past this IKEA store goes all out to make these dinners a party and here there is music from a live band that plays both Swedish Music and Country/Cajun music - interesting combination and they are excellent. During the dinner they stream live on Facebook. We were speaking to the manager during dinner and he said that there are very few IKEA stores that have live music at the Smorgasbord dinners and he has booked this specific band for several years into the future to be sure they are available. The band was talking about jobs they play all over the country - not for IKEA.

There is always a seasonal presentation at the dinners. These dinners coincide with traditional smorgasbord celebrations in Sweden. Mid-Summer does take place in Sweden and the people eat all night on the Summer Solstice celebrating the midnight sun. At this dinner tonight at IKEA there was a circle dance done around a tree as done in Sweden for this holiday - and they get children and adults to come up and join in the dance - which is always a simple dance and easy to do. All night they also had a craft table going on for children - and adults - to make a traditional Swedish head wreath with flowers - which is worn at these celebrations in Sweden - no real flowers but some nice paper flowers adorned many heads on this night.

And then there is the price - and I save the best for last. This dinner - with an IKEA Family Club Card is $12.99 each for adults and $2.99 each for children!  What you don't have an IKEA Family Club Card? They are free and you get one immediately at kiosks all over the store. Get the card. Buy your tickets in ADVANCE at the cashier in the IKEA restaurant (not the snack bar). These dinners often sell out - this one was sold out. People came to see if they could get in, not having bought tickets in advance, and were turned away.  Tickets go on sale during the dinner before the next dinner - and if the next dinner was not the Crayfish dinner we could have bought tickets for that to be held in the Fall tonight. Signs for the dinners go up in the store and in the restaurant about two months or so before the dinner. Depending on the dinner they can sell out quickly. 

I had said above about what you are getting here for the money you are paying compared to getting the same off a menu at non-buffet restaurants. Well, around here two slices of lox (smoked salmon) on a bagel with a little cream cheese in a dinner can cost you upwards of $15.99 and more. I had at least six slices of lox tonight along with everything else.

We very much look forward to each of these dinners. We have a lot of fun. We get there to be on line to be one of the first in - you pick your own table - and then we stay to the very end and the music plays all night!  One thing we always take note of is how friendly and nice the IKEA employees are in the restaurant and at these dinners. They actually seem to enjoy their work.

TOP BUFFET - DUTCH-WAY RESTAURANT, GAP, PA

Dutch-Way Restaurant in Gap, PA has been an absolutely go to on every trip that we are in this area. We have been there on various nights of the week and have never been disappointed. This is one of the buffets that are unique to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania that are located in supermarket buildings. The buffet is not in the supermarket but is owned by the supermarket and is in the same building. The decor is very much like most of the family restaurants in Lancaster - pleasantly decorated with tables and booths scattered through two areas of the restaurant. The buffet is offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner Mondays to Saturday.

So what makes Dutch-Way Gap a Top Buffet?

The food is very, very good and the dishes vary from night to night and from visit to visit. There is a featured theme every night that focuses around what is served from the grill/carving station and this carries over to the entrees on the buffet tables. Each time that we have gone, in addition to specific features on the grill and carvings, there has been at least one dish that we have never had before and each has been something good. Food is a mixture of PA Dutch/Amish dishes and continental entrees and side dishes.

The food is consistent in proper preparation, kept at the correct temperatures on the buffet, and in taste when the same dish is served. There are some things that I look to find each time we go on the salad bar and they are there. They make an exceptional chicken salad and it is one of the prepared salads found on their salad bar. It is so good that I have thought to just order the Soup and Salad Bar as I could easily make a meal of their chicken salad. (I have not done that yet, because they I would miss out on the rest of the buffet.) The foods on the buffet are properly maintained and not allowed to dry out and are replenished before the tray is empty. The buffet tables, the buffet area, the dining rooms are consistently clean and well maintained. So are the restrooms - which are located in the lobby of the restaurant.

There is great value here. The price of the buffet is comparable and perhaps even less than the chain buffets. There are children's and senior prices as well. The price is a little higher on the Friday and Saturday as there is Prime Rib at the carving station. Thursday nights are higher as this is the Seafood Buffet. This is a very affordable family restaurant at family prices - and if you have some at your table who do not wish to have the buffet that is no problem at all. There is a full menu here along with the buffet and some at the table may have the buffet and some may order from the menu - please don't give anything from the buffet to someone ordering from the menu (that is this site saying that).

There is quality in what is served here. The meats and vegetables are coming fresh from the food market on site. The baked goods are bakes on premises. Items on the grill are cooked to order.

Service is very good and the best - I mean the BEST - waitress in any restaurant works here. I have written about her before and there is no better. Whenever we are there, we look for her and ask for a table in her section.

Sadly, the last time that we were going to have dinner at Dutch-Way, it was closed for the employee Christmas party. I looked forward to this for a week. We were in the area for business during the day and in the evening we went to the restaurant and got right up to the door to see the sign that said that they were closed for their party. Well, they deserve a party for a job consistently well done! I do wish that they had been open, as we could both taste that dinner as we walked up to that door. Just writing about this buffet I can taste my favorites there! Soon, soon...

This buffet is not in the main tourist area of Lancaster. It is off to the edge of the county and not far from Delaware. You will not find tourists dining here. You will find local families here - Amish, Mennonite, and the English (as the Amish refer to the rest of us). These are the people who shop in the supermarket or just come here for dinner. There is a shed for horse and carriages to be tied up outside in the parking lot.

The Dutch-Way Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527. The dinner buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. The restaurant is closed on some holidays. This is about two and a half miles south of Route 30. There is a web site and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.

Breakfast for Dinner at Old Country Buffet

We had a coupon for OCB good on a weeknight only. We usually avoid Thursday nights at OCB because it is Kids Eat for $1.99 night and while we like kids, we don't like kids running wildly around the restaurant completely unsupervised by their parents, but in the last several weeks - maybe longer Old Country Buffet has been sending emails saying that they serve breakfast at dinner on Thursday nights. This has intrigued me. We have never been to OCB for breakfast - pretty much because we don't eat a breakfast meal and the thought of a heavy breakfast buffet meal that early in the day just does not appeal to either of us. I do like breakfast foods and I thought that this would be an opportunity to get at least of sampling of the OCB breakfast buffet.

So we went on a Thursday night - to the good OCB a distance away. We arrived to balloons for Kids' Night and a lot of children but they were - for the most part controlled and behaved. This OCB has a griddle station that was specially built for the wok feature that has been gone now for about a year. It has been used for breakfast in the mornings but has sit empty at dinner. For Breakfast for Dinner the griddle station - two fry pans on portable conduction cook tops, a cold section of omelet fixings, a big bowl of whole eggs, and on the side kept warm a small try of bacon and a small tray of breakfast sausage. There was a young man behind the grill and every so often he was cooking eggs - mostly for kids. Out on the buffet, mixed in with much of the usual OCB dinner menu items which do not seem to change much from night to night any longer. (No matter what night and which of the two local locations, we find the same foods out each night - and one night when asked, the manager told another guest that he is told each day by corporate what food to serve that day and he has no control (unless, it seems if they run out of something and make a substitute - hopefully), anyway - out on the buffet three was a tray of pancakes, a tray of quarter round waffles, a tray of hot syrup, and a tray of hot what could be - butter sauce. I looked for some form of breakfast potatoes. I have seen these on the poster for breakfast in the morning. There were none. On the poster they talk about Country gravy for omelets, there was none. There were no muffins, breakfast pasteries, or anything else breakfast. Eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, and waffles is what Breakfast for Dinner consisted of here.

Here it the surprise. I liked it! It was not necessary to order eggs to get breakfast sausages or bacon from the chef at the griddle. He was happy to give me all that I asked for and offered more. The waffles were not bad - thick and a little dry. I don't use syrup and I was trying not to add the melted butter. I went over to the cold condiments table and found a tray of butter that had been well scooped through and was full of extraneous other condiments so I skipped on that butter. The first pancake - these are small pancakes about three inches in diameter - was OK. I took another two later and these had been sitting for some time on the hot tray and dried out. One was edible, the other was solid and would not cut with a knife. I liked the sausages and went back for more of those - and again, the young man wanted to put more on my plate - which I actually gave in to as I was not resisting as I should. The bacon for the most part is good - it is real bacon, after all, but it is cooked in a fryer - like fried chicken which is a common way to cook bacon in bulk. The problem is that some of the bacon over cooks this way and burns so some of the bacon that I had could not be eaten. What I could eat was good. (I don't recommend overindulging in bacon unless you want to put a cardiologist's kid through college.)  The sausage was distinctly breakfast sausage in flavor and mild - slightly mealy but I liked them.

I added to the sausage, etc. some of OCB's usual meatloaf, mashed potatoes, string beans and such. This was certainly not a typical breakfast but more like a brunch but I was pretty happy at the end of dinner. My wife who does not eat any of this for her own various reasons, made do with the usual dinner entrees and sides. Gone were the Kid's Night foods - corn dogs and such. The ice cream mix banana split station - right next to the egg fry pans was serving the kids. I am not sure that Breakfast for Dinner - at least on this night at this location - was a big draw for the crowd who was there. I did not seen any adults getting any omelets or eggs. A few got sausages, as I was.  

Kid's Night features like the ice cream mix in ends at 8:00 pm at night and before that my wife asked if that meant that the breakfast would end then too - and at 8:00 pm the eggs were taken away and the griddle station was shut down - but the sausage and bacon trays were brought to the buffet table which is much better as now it was out for you to take yourself. They also refilled the pancakes and waffles.  

This was certainly not a carb-friendly meal and not something that I can do too often but I would like to go back. If you have no reason to watch carbs or fat, you can go all out. I would have liked to see more breakfast items out. We started to figure out what was missing from the usual dinner menu to make room on the buffet table for the breakfast items. There was no pasta in creme sauce. That was the most evident item not usually seen at dinner.  There was fried chicken, roast chicken, meatloaf, carved ham, steak, and roast beef. The usual side dishes and vegetables were out - mac and cheese, pizza, string beans, corn, carrots, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, the french fried potatoes that look like waffle fries but are too hard to bite into... And the usual desserts were out.

They don't say how long this will stay available on Thursday nights. I do miss Thursday BBQ nights that had beef ribs, etc. so many years ago in the long gone and long past. If you are partial to breakfast you might like this. I suspect that you get a lot more breakfast foods at the regular morning breakfast buffet. Years ago we used to go to a breakfast buffet that would start at midnight at a truck stop along Route 222 in Pennsylvania. We would be there on line waiting for it to open - having skipped dinner for only a snack earlier. That too is long gone. Even the building is gone! The OCB breakfast buffet was not as good as that but it was enough to remind me of it. My favorite item from that gone breakfast buffet is something that many find disgusting and many GIs from wars long ago found disgusting too and had a special name for it - abbreviated SOS - creamed chipped beef which there, I would serve myself over home fries. (Another cardiologist's delight!) Oh my. I half imagined before we walked into this OCB that it would be there - of course, it wasn't. This is not something in this area that you will find even in a regular restaurant or diner for breakfast. (I have seen it on menus in Pennsylvania. I should not eat it and especially not a full restaurant order of it.)

I leave it up to you to try or skip Breakfast for Dinner at OCB. I may find myself going back at some point, if it is still offered.

It is Christmas time and that means its time for IKEA's Julbord Smorgasbord!

I have written about these dinners for the past few years. The IKEA stores celebrate the holidays and the summer with a special Swedish buffet dinner in there store restaurants for one night each. There is a Christmas dinner, an Easter dinner, a Midsummer dinner, and a special Crayfish feast dinner in August. I just returned from the  Christmas smorgasbord and it was great as always.

I have often said that a restaurant that does not normally do buffets rarely can pull off a buffet dinner well. The IKEA restaurants (or at least the IKEA restaurant in Hicksville, NY) does an excellent job at converting what is an everyday cafeteria to a buffet, rearranging the dining floor to accommodate two large buffet tables with a dessert and cheese bar to the side and an additional smaller buffet table for breads and meat, plus being able to seat hundreds in two seatings. This IKEA has also added a band and small dance floor and has made the dinner into a real holiday party with song and dance - and for Christmas a presentation of St. Lucia (from who the holiday custom of candles worn in a circle on the head) and a visit from Santa Claus! This non-buffet restaurant does this smorgasbord dinner as if they do it every day. They don't, but you would think that they do - and they do it far more professionally and better than other non-buffet restaurants do when try to have a buffet - and IKEA does it better than some every day buffet restaurants.

The first seating is held from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm and the second seating is held from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Tickets for these dinners must be purchased in advance and they sell out early - months before the day of the dinner. The price is incredible - the regular price is $12.99 all included per adult and $4.99 per child, BUT if you have an IKEA Family Card which is free at kiosks all over the store, the price becomes $9.99 per adult and $2.49 per adult. And the food is good!

We had a great time. The food choices from one season's smorgasbord to the next vary only slightly. Many of the same items will be found at each of the dinners. Some items are substituted with foods for that specific season or holiday and all are traditional Swedish foods. At this Christmas dinner there were a few things that we had not seen for some of the dinners but had had at others, and there were a few new ones added. Here is what was on tonight's buffet -

Three different types of herring - herring in wine, pickled herring, and herring in a cream mustard sauce
Hard boiled eggs with shrimp
Gravad Lax with mustard sauce
Smoked salmon with horseradish sauce
Whole poached salmon
Cucumber salad
Assorted Swedish cheeses
Liverwurst pate
Red Beet salad
Red Cabbage
Mashed potatoes
GRATANG Jansson - shredded potatoes with cheese and herring
Meatballs with lingonberries
Swedish ham served warm with mustard
Prinskov sausages (sauteed) - these ran out early
Crisp bread
Swedish spiced bread (an "S" shaped roll with a cake like taste - tradional to Christmas in Sweden
Swedish Rice pudding
Elderflower cupcakes
Pound cake with lingonberries
Cookies
Beverages including a bottle of a hops/barley, non-alcoholic Christmas drink on every day per two people and cups of non-alcoholic apple and pear wine and apple and lingonberry wine being poured plus sodas, lingonberry juice, coffee, and tea.

I started with an all fish plate with my second plate consisting of meats and side dishes. Perhaps I should have reversed the order of that as the Prinskov sausages, one of my favorites at these meals, were gone when I went up for the meats. (This has happened only once before.) These sausages must be very popular and perhaps they appeal to the kids because they are close in appearance to small hot dogs with a slightly different flavor. Smoked salmon is expensive. It is rarely found on a buffet and it is even rarer to find it on an inexpensive buffet. Here are unending platters of it in two different types. If you like herring here it is. The poached salmon is especially good - and I usually do not eat cooked salmon (much preferring smoked or raw salmon), but I like this one! The ham was very good. The meatballs are the usual IKEA Swedish meatballs - good. The side dishes are a chance to try some things that unless you are Swedish or Scandinavian you don't often get a chance to have other than in an Scandinavian restaurant. I don't eat liver but have had liverwurst in the long past. I tried the liverwurst pate here and it did not have what I consider the usual overwhelming liver taste that liver dishes have, but was mild and very pleasant. The food was good. The meal was satisfying. I ate too much. My picky eater wife who does not eat fish found enough in the meats, etc. to have a good meal. We both went for desserts and those were good as well.

This meal attracts all types of people from a various cultures. Those who stand out are the Swedes and there are many at these dinners. You can tell because they talk about the foods as being as good as home in Sweden and they with the singing and entertainment, they know the Swedish songs and join in. One thing I judge a culture-based restaurant (and buffet) by are the people of that culture who are dining there, commenting positively on how the food is, and who talk about frequently coming back. I find this at these IKEA buffet dinners with people who are from a family of people from Sweden or who have lived in Sweden. 

These dinners must not be judged by the usual IKEA cafeteria restaurant. With the exception of the meatballs and mashed potatoes, the foods served here are very different from those served in Ikea's day to day restaurant.

The best part aside from the food is that this is a party, especially now with the music added which started at this location at the buffet last summer. The same band was here on this night and they put on a good show. They got the whole room involved in singing, got people up to dance, got a line dance going around the room, and kept the party going right up to 9 o'clock. And the party atmosphere spreads from table to table with people enjoying themselves. There are couples, families. large groups, and singles. There are kids and when Santa came out, were brought up on the dance floor to meet Santa.

The employees who run this dinner and work at it are wonderful too! Everyone has a smile and warmly greets every guest. The people who come from the kitchen to bring out more platters if food do so quickly and seem happy to be there. The people who come and take plates off your table are friendly as well. The manager walks around the dining room stopping more than once at every table to be sure that everyone is happy and getting everything that they like.

During the dinner the tickets for the next dinner go on sale - the next dinner is for Easter on April  11, 2014. We bought our tickets for that dinner - as did many who were there. This is one reason why these tickets sell out so quickly. We bought our tickets for this Christmas dinner last August.

Every IKEA in the US - and perhaps the world - has these dinners and they are held on the same evening/night at each. As I just said, the next dinner is in April for Easter and the tickets can be purchased for that dinner right now at the cash register at the IKEA restaurant. If you would like to have a good smorgasbord for very little money that is also a party, try this. It has only been a few hours since we were there and I am already looking forward to the next IKEA smorgasbord in April!


I will make one last comment with this article. In the past when I have written about IKEA some readers have tried to leave negative comments because of some personal grudge with the store. I will not post those comments. If you have something valid to say that is negative about actually going to one of these dinners as long as it is written fairly, factually, and intelligently, I will post it. Often, though, the comments about IKEA from our readers are very positive. All comments are always moderated on this site.

Children at Buffets

Buffets are generally affordable dinners and many families come to buffets. When I go to a buffet I expect to see children there with their families. But children need to be supervised in a buffet, and for some reason so many parents just seem to send the children - I have seen as young as five - up to the buffet by themselves. And this is not only dangerous to the child, it becomes a broader problem.

Some buffets have signs posted on the sneeze guard glass above the servers, "Children under 12 must be accompanied by adult."  This is a good step but too often those signs are ignored (by the parents) and the children are up there alone anyway. Some buffets make announcement over the loudspeaker system - "Parents please do not allow your children to go up to the buffet tables alone!" Another good attempt that also seems to be ignored by many parents. Do you see that most of the problem is not the child but the child's parents?

I have seen small children - not easily seen as they are so close to the ground almost stepped on by bustling adults just walking around the buffet tables. I have seen people carrying bowls of hot soup almost pour the bowl onto a child's head. These are not single incidents. I go to and have gone to  many buffets over the years and this happens regularly. 

And the problem goes beyond the danger. So many times I have seen a child up at the buffet by themselves, trying to put food into their dish - some barely able to see over the counter - some who could not see over the counter to the tray - and large quantities of food that they will never eat go onto their plates - and onto the counter - and onto the floor. A more serious problem is when they don't use the serving utensils and their hands and fingers are in the food tray. I watched a young boy recently grab a handful of french fries with his hands, put them on his plate, take one and bite into it, make a face that he did not like it and the half of the french fry he bit into and the rest on his plate were scooped up in his hand and put back into the serving tray. (Tell the manager or staff this happened and in some buffets they will tell you that tray will be removed immediately - and it never is.) How about a finger that goes from the kid's nose to the mash potato tray and right into the mashed potatoes. And the parents - even when they go up with the child pay no attention to what the child is doing and they say "Well, he is little. He does not know any better."  Yes, he is little and that is why you, parent, are supposed to be watching and even better putting the proper amount of the right foods on that child's plate and carrying the plate back to the table for the child.

Old Country Buffet has been making this even worse with their Thursday is Kid's Night promotion. Not only is the buffet overrun with children, but the children are running all around the dining room and the buffet serving area - with no supervision whatsoever. Thursday nights was once one of my favorite nights at OCB. We do not go to OCB on a Thursday night any longer.

My wife says that the parents don't know any better themselves - and on observation, she is correct - as when you watch the parents (adults) up at the buffet, their hands sometimes go to the tray without a serving utensil (that is just sitting right there in the tray to be used). Sometimes, their food goes while standing there from the tray to the mouth and then bitten, back into the tray.  My wife's opinion is that their parents did not teach them proper manners so they do not teach their children manners either. And you know, this is not just proper manners - it is general common sense and an awareness that other people are around you, and your actions may and can effect other people. This is why our "Rules of the Buffet" came about in the first place - all are common sense do's and don't's.

So, parents who are reading this - please do not permit your children to go up to the buffet serving tables without you. When you are there, keep the child with you and YOU take the food and put it on the child's plate and make sure it stays there until the child and you together are back at your table! Remember "family dinner" does not mean "children's free for all".

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.

Return to Wood Grill Buffet, Charlottesville, Virginia

It has been six years since I have been to the Wood Grill Buffet in Charlottesville, Virginia. The only reason for this long absence is my schedule when I travel. This is one of my favorite buffets and has been since we first found it many years ago when it was in a different location.  Wood Grill Buffet is still part of the Western Sizzln' chain but appears to be run as a separate entity with only four locations - all in Virginia. There are locations in Harrisonburg, Norwalk, Hesperia, and this one in Charlottesville.

The layout is just as it was when I described it six years ago, so I am not going to repeat that here. You can read the link above to get an impression what the buffet looks like. The decor is western and pleasant. We returned this August and were there on a weeknight. There was a small group at the door coming in before us but we really had no wait. The restaurant inside was crowded. We were taken to our table and our server actually took some time to come over to our table and take our drink orders. I will put that up to the crowded dining room. The price of the buffet is now $10.59 for dinner Monday to Thursday and $10.99 for dinner Friday to Sunday. There is a $1.00 discount for seniors. Soft drinks with refills are $2.09 for adults and $1.39 for children up to age 12. The children's price is based on age and they charge $0.60 per year of age from age 4 to 12. Over 12 pays adult price. Soda price is a bit high compared to most similar buffets, but only by a dime. Compared to other chain American food buffets, the value here is exception for what the buffet offers.

We started as usual with soup. There were two soups and they are located on the counter that sits directly in front of the grill. The soups this night were Chicken Gumbo and New England Clam Chowder. Both soups are soups that my picky eater wife does not care for so she went on to the extensive salad bar and I took the Chicken Gumbo. The soup was hot, good and tasty though it was slightly spicy. If you only know Chicken Gumbo from Campbell's in a can the taste is similar but there is more heat in the real thing.

The salad bar is split between two cold servers at opposite sides of the buffet area. One has a variety of lettuce and greens and a lot of toppings and dressing. There were also cold meats to add to your salad. There was also everything you would want to make a Caesar salad. On the other there was a variety of prepared salads including the usual potato salad with large pieces of potato, macaroni salad, pasta salad, and coleslaw, but there was more. There were deviled eggs, chicken salad with large chunks of chicken, tuna salad, cucumber salad, and three bean salad among others. There was also a crab salad with real crab (not the fake stuff). The chicken salad was very good and I could not resist the crab salad. There was so much more to come, but it would have been easy to stay with the salad bar.

The hot entrees and side dishes are extensive and they are served both from hot buffet servers and from the counter that is in front of the grill which takes up just about all of the back wall. There are chefs cooking on the grill and continually replenishing the serving trays on the counter. This buffet serves steak and while it is not cooked to order, it is cooked in various stages of doneness and  placed out on a hot tray on the counter. There is rare, medium, and well done for the taking. In my last review six years ago I had found the steak that I took to be dry - but not this time. The steak was nicely medium rare, juicy, and tasty. At another end of the grill counter there is a taco and burrito bar with soft flour tortillas, fried corn tortillas, nacho chips, and all of the makings for tacos and burritos. Next to the steak were ribs- real, fall off the bone, barbecue ribs. These were excellent and close to what I had at a smoker pit barbecue non-buffet place several nights later in another part of Virginia. They were moist and properly sauced.

There was so much on the hot servers and at the counter I will just list what there was for you. There were in addition to what I have already told you about - meatballs, riblets, fried chicken (very good fried chicken and better and more Southern than any other chain buffet), pot roast, ham, roast beef, hot dogs, chicken teriyaki, fried shrimp, fried fish, grilled chicken pieces, grilled chicken breasts off the grill, two types of wings, chicken livers, meatloaf, cheeseburgers, crab cakes, lasagna, baked spaghetti and cheese (something local to Virginia perhaps because we encountered this in other buffets) and pizza that was at the bakery counter.

There was a multitude of side dishes as well. These included mashed potatoes, kernel corn, corn on the cob, Lima beans with ham, wild rice, white rice, sauteed green beans, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, turnip greens with ham and onions, green beans with bacon, onion rings, fries, hot carrots, fried apples (so good!), fried green tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, cabbage, broccoli casserole, potato casserole, broccoli, and sweet potato souffle.There was also a baked and sweet potato bar with toppings.

You are in the South and a lot of what is on this buffet is southern cooking with dishes that you will rarely see anywhere but the South. Yes, fried green tomatoes is not just the name of a book and a movie made from the book. You can eat them here.

I tried little bits of things and took more of what I know that I enjoy and I was stuffed at the end of the meal. Everything that I tried was good with one exception. The pizza looked good but it had been sitting too long and the crust had dried out and I ate only a taste. The steak was good and better than many. The ribs, as I have said, were exceptional. There was no pork barbecue as there had been six years ago but that may appear on another night. Selections do change from night to night at some buffets. My wife was just as happy with her plainer selections. There was more than enough to please most.

There is a large bakery counter which is a large half circle with bakers inside replenishing desserts, bread, and pizza. There were several breads including corn muffins, large rolls, and cheese rolls. I know that many of my readers want to hear about the dessert selection and they have a very good selection of sweets. There was fresh pineapple, fresh oranges, melon, and fresh grapes, and mandarin oranges over on the cold buffet server. There was carrot cake, several types of cream pies, chocolate cake cupcakes with vanilla icing and yellow cake cupcakes with chocolate icing, a variety of cookies,coconut cake, banana pudding, strawberry shortcake, pecan pie, Oreo pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie (in August!), lemon meringue pie, and three different cobblers including blackberry. There was soft serve ice cream and a sundae bar with ice cream toppings, There was also a chocolate fountain right in the middle of the bakery counter within view of the people working behind the counter. I will not get into my feelings about chocolate fountains at buffets again, but this one was subject to the same problems as all of them are.

I am getting hungry and wanting to go back again just writing about all of this.

Service was OK - she could have paid a little more attention to our table, but it was not bad.

I want to talk about the people eating here. I have been to many buffets as you know and all types of people come to eat at buffets. It has been primarily in New York, however, that I have seen the most immensely large people eating at buffets. What surprised me here - and different from other buffets that I have been to an went to recently in Virginia - that there were a good number of immensely large people eating here. No problem - everyone is welcome everywhere and I don't care who is sitting at the table next to me, but it just struck me as interesting here seeing this. I only share it because it is interesting.

Well, I am sorry that it took me six years to get back here and I will be sure to schedule more time in this area when I return so that I am in Charlottesville at dinner time. They are open on weekends to 11:30 pm. I recommend this buffet. Go there! There is a lot to see and do in this city including the University of Virginia and you can eat at this great buffet!

The Wood Grill Buffet in Charlottesville is located at 576 Branch Lands Boulevard, Charlottesville, VA 22901 and their phone number is (434) 975-5613. They now have a website and that is linked at the side of this page in our listing of buffet links.

Hershey Farm Restaurant, Strasburg, Pennsylvania

I have not been to the Hershey Farm Restaurant, another buffet in Lancaster County, in over three years. I wrote then about why I had not been there on that occasion since 1995, and the reason is has been the same since then - the price - and the price now is even higher than it had been then. I am not going to repeat what I had written before - though a great deal has changed, but if you would like to read that article this is the link.

We were on a trip to Lancaster County and before we went I found a coupon for $3 off the price of the buffet at this restaurant. I thought that even though it would still be expensive, we would try this buffet again, as three years ago it was not bad. I was also intrigued by the description of the buffet that said that it included soft pretzels. I really like soft pretzels and because of diet restrictions I do not have them often. Somehow, the idea of those pretzels were drawing me to come back to Hershey Farm restaurant's Grand Smorgasbord - which is what they call their buffet. I also thought that I should just go and buy a pretzel and save a lot of money.

We went on a weeknight in early November. The days and hours of this restaurant vary by the season and starting in November they are closed Mondays. We went on a Tuesday. A large sign at the entrance of the driveway announces what the daily special is on the buffet - and it said Steak Gyro. OK - not exactly what I would have expected in this area, but we would see.

We went in and there is a lobby with a large reception desk. From there you are escorted to your table. This is both a buffet and menu restaurant. The price of the buffet is Monday to Friday, dinner is $22.99. On Saturdays it is $25.99. This buffet is open on Sundays and the price then is $22.99. There are children's prices and these apply every day. For ages 4 to 8, the price is $7.99; 9 to 12 year olds, the price is $9.99. The children's prices includes beverages. Adults pay an additional $1.99 for beverages with refills. I told you this is expensive. If only it was worth the money - if only it was worth half the money...

Right away entering the dining room we could see that there were major changes since we were there just three years ago. Gone are the buffet servers. In their place there are free standing counters, each with several built in chaffing dishes with large dome lids on hinges - which proved to be near impossible to open and close easily. At the side of the room was a grill and near the entrance was a dessert area. In the back was a small salad bar, a soup area, and in a corner was a table with peel and eat spiced cold shrimp.

We waited some time for a server to come over to us and take our order - there were no more than ten tables in the two dining rooms with people at them and in our room there were three servers handling four tables. Finally, a server came and took our beverage orders and invited us up to the buffet - or should I say, Grand Smorgasbord.

We went up for soup. There was chicken corn soup, beef vegetable, chili, and cream of potato. The chicken corn soup tasted correct, but was thin when it looked like it should have been thick. The beef vegetable was excessively salty and the vegetables were just small pieces and these were over cooked. There were chunks of beef, but it was so salty that it really did not matter.

We followed soup with the salad bar and this is a very small and basic salad bar. There was mixed greens, toppings, and a several dressings. There were few prepared salads. The lettuce was wilting and browning in the serving bowl. We also noticed - after taking salad that there were many little flies around the salad serving tubs - some were crawling with these flies. This put an end to eating any more salad - and this was a problem as my wife tends to take vegetables from the salad bar at buffets to eat instead of the prepared, hot vegetables served. I don't know if the flies followed us back to our table - which was some distance from the salad bar, but when we got back to the table there were more of these little flies buzzing around us. I started to realize why the open buffet servers were now replaced by covered serving dishes.

One of the "features" were "gourmet breads". We looked for these and found nothing more than commercial white bread, commercial raisin bread, and commercial honey wheat bread, and white dinner rolls - all cheap bread as found in a supermarket. There was an assortment of spreads for the breads. I had to wonder where the "gourmet breads" were. A woman at another table asked - those were them! Next to the bread was a waffle maker and you could make your own waffles. There were plastic cups of batter sitting next to the waffle maker. I wondered if these don't need to be kept on ice or refrigerated, rather than just sit out - especially with the flies.

The entrees that were out included Swedish meatballs, ham balls, Italian sausage and peppers, sliced ham, chicken pot pie (bot boi), pot roast, meatloaf, fried chicken, honey bbq chicken, baked fish, chicken nuggets, pork and sauerkraut, krab and pasta in cheese sauce. On the grill there was chicken parmigiano that could be served with pasta and also in alfredo sauce, steak gyro (just like the sign said), steak on a stick, grill chicken with a variety of sauces of your choice, and carved loin of pork. Side dishes included mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, buttered noodles, a baked potato bar, french fries, corn, broccoli, winter mix, filling, candied sweet potatoes, stewed tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, cheesy potatoes, and corn nuggets.

I took a sampling of sausage, a Swedish meatball, some of the chicken pot pie, and I found the pretzals on the dessert bar - salty, soft pretzel sticks and cinnamon pretzel sticks. I took one of the salty soft pretzel sticks, it was small. The sausage was good. The meatball was not as good as are served at Ikea Home Store's restaurant for $2.99. The chicken pot pie was disappointing with thin noodles and and and over thick sauce - it had been sitting too long without stirring and some of the noodles were turning brown and hard. The pretzel, however, was very good.

I also tried the chicken parmigiano. The grill chef took a chicken breast and split it in half, and then put it on the fry grill with a lot of grease and a iron weight on top. Eventually, he covered it with tomato sauce and put cheese on top, covered this with a metal dome on the grill to melt the cheese. This was the most unusual chicken parm that I have ever had - and not really good.

I later decided to try the "steak on a stick". I went to the grill and the same chef seemed surprised that I wanted this. He took four chunks of steak from a refrigerator and got out a stick and skewered them. I expected that he would cook this on the chargrill that was next to the fry grill, but no, it went on the fry grill, again with the iron weight on top. He told me that it would take six minutes to cook. Six minutes is a long time to cook steak - even if you like it well done and especially on a fry grill. I waited several minutes. He never asked how I would like it done. There were very few people left by now in the restaurant so there was no distraction, It was just him and me at the grill. He went to turn it over in about three minutes and I said that I would like it medium rare. "Oh," he said, "then you can have it now." The steak was on the edge of over done. It was also tasteless.

The mashed potatoes were overly salty. The stewed tomatoes were more like chunky tomato sauce,than stewed tomatoes. The buttered noodles were drowning in butter. The rice pilaf was just white rice with beans and not real rice pilaf. The sliced ham was more like chunks of ham. The pork and sauerkraut was overdone.

I looked at the fried chicken and it was so overcooked that I did not take any. The honey bbq chicken was also way overdone and sitting far too long. The meatloaf was fair but had too much tomato sauce on top.

This was not a meal of quality. The food was not really good. Nothing that we had was something that we would recommend to anyone. And the buffet trays were not tended properly. Things dried out, overcooked, and some was just unappetizing. And all this for $22.99! I have had far better meals at Old Country Buffet.

Desserts followed along with the rest. There were the pretzels, a few pies, a couple of pieces of cake, jello- both regular and diet, something called java bean pudding - it looked like coffee in a cup, diet chocolate pudding, little whoppie pies (small chocolate soft cookie sandwiches with cream in the middle), cookies, small chocolate cupcakes, something called candy corn dessert, a sundae bar, and slices of cheesecake that looked wet around the sides. There was also a chocolate fountain with tiny pretzels which were far too small to sanitarily go into a chocolate fountain, marshmallows, chunks of pineapple, and tiny animal crackers. Even though it was up on a high counter, I saw several small children trying to dip a treat with their fingers in the chocolate. I tried a small whoppie pie and that was disappointing. It was not worth the calories or carbs.

Service was fair. Dishes stacked up on the table more than once - and again, this server had two tables to take care of. He did offer refills on the beverages.

At about 7:45 pm with several tables still with people eating, the chef starting cleaning behind the grill counter. I have seen this done in other buffets - getting a start on closing, but he was actually closing down with nothing being left on the side if anyone wanted anything else. Now, this buffet like most in this area closes at 8:00 pm but at most of the others, this means that they stop seating at 8:00 pm, and actually keep the buffet going for about another hour. Here as 8:00 approached, the staff came out to start shutting down. At almost all other buffets that I have been to, when a serving section is about to be closed down or food is going to be taken away for the night to close, someone comes to the table and says, "We are about to take away the hot foods (or dessert area), would you like anything else from there before we do?" No one came and said a word that the buffet was being shut down, including the dessert area - while there were still people actively eating. The laugh to all of this was a woman did walk around from table to table and I expected her to say something about the foods being taken down, but instead, she wanted to let us know that she was about to close the gift shop and were we planning on coming into the gift shop after our meal - and if we were she would remain open! So they were eager for us to shop in the gift store, but not finish the dinner that we all were all already paying for. No. It was time to go and the restaurant staff were taking away the food whether people were still eating or not, and not saying anything about it.

Many years ago, we would come to this restaurant for a very nice lunch - before it ever had a buffet. For some reason, they have never been successful with their attempts at buffets. Three years ago was the high point. No longer.

I do not recommend this buffet. There are so many really good buffets to go to in this area. Forget about this one!

The Hershey Farm Restaurant is located on Route 896 just south of Route 30, past the Rockvale Outlet Center. Follow the signs for the Sight and Sound Theater. There is an 800 number - 800-827-8635. They have a website which is linked at the side of this page.

All You Can Eat One Night Only Special Dinner at IKEA Stores Restaurants

IKEA is an international chain of home furniture stores. They are located across the United States. They are known for their "knock-down" furniture - furniture that you build yourself. Each store has a restaurant and while these restaurants are not buffets, they do have at different times of the year one night dinners that are All You Can Eat. One of those dinners will take place in two weeks and I wanted to get this out out all of our readers in time. This is something that is quite different and for what it is very inexpensive. On December 9, 2011, IKEA Store restaurants will be serving the all you can eat Swedish Christmas Julbord, a traditional holiday meal from Sweden.

The price of this meal is $9.99 per adult and just $2.49 per child under 12 and it requires tickets purchased in advance. Tickets can be obtained at the IKEA Store at the restaurant. Seating is very limited and there will be two seatings at each store, 4:00 pm to 6 pm and 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Times may vary from store to store.

The menu that will be served includes: Assorted Herrings, Graved Lax with Mustard Sauce, Smoked Salmon with Horseradish Sauce, Whole Poached Salmon, Hard Boiled Eggs with Shrimp, Swedish Cucumber Salad, Red Beet Salad, Christmas Ham, Liverwurst Pate, Assorted Cheeses, Meatballs and Ligonberries, Prinskov Sausage, Red Cabbage, Boiled Potatoes with Dill, Gratang Jansson, Lussekatter, Crispbread, Thinbread, Dinner Rolls, Swedish Rice Pudding with Almonds, Assorted Desserts, Glogg (non-alcoholic), and Beverages - coffee, tea, and fountain drinks.

I have eaten at the IKEA restaurants from their usual daily menu and the food is good. This dinner sounds fabulous and it is an opportunity to try things that you have likely not had before - unless you are Swedish or have a Swedish restaurant nearby - and it is all you care to eat! The price is unbelievable - they will be losing money on the smoked salmon alone. Their usual desserts look great so the chance to have them like this makes this a meal that is not to be missed.

If you cannot make it to this year's Julbord at IKEA, there is another chance to have a similar meal at the IKEA restaurants in March 2012 for their Swedish Easter Smorgasbord. I, unfortunately, have to wait for the Spring dinner, but if you are able to attend this meal on December 9th, get over to your local IKEA store and buy your tickets now. Don't miss out!

There is a store locator on their website linked here. Enjoy!

Unthinking, Stupid, or Just Rude?

We have the Rules of the Buffet on this site. All of the rules stem from common sense and just plain courtesy when dining out at a buffet. But - there are somethings that I have witnessed at buffet restaurants that just go beyond the rules - and to make a new rule would just make you wonder where did that come from.

Lately, I saw some really over the top things at buffets - all having to do with customers. The buffets are in no way at fault. These are the things that you say that make you wonder - is that person unthinking about what they are doing, is he/she just plain stupid, or is he/she just rude?

I was almost going to tell you about this first one in the article that I wrote about the buffet but I thought to myself that this has nothing to do with the buffet and no one should get the idea that the buffet was not good because of this. I am not going to identify the restaurant - but it could have been anywhere in any restaurant - even one that is not a buffet, though people seem to act differently in menu restaurants. I will start from when we were first brought to our table to be seated. The hostess is goes to the table that she is going to seat us at and I think that this table must be occupied. On the table there are personal belongings - a cigarette lighter and some other personal things. Across one of the seats (this was a booth) was a coat. The hostess looked down at these things knowing that the table was "supposed" to be available. She looked at the table across from this one that was filled with people. She asked at that table if these things belonged to anyone there. "Oh", said one woman, "those are mine." She made no move to retrieve them. The hostess had to ask - would you please take them so that we may use the table. The woman seemed put out and picked up her things off the table and the coat from the seat. Really? I had not seen anything quite like this before. It was not as if this buffet was empty and there were plenty of open tables. This restaurant was crowded.

Is this all that is bothering me? Need I tell you that this story continues? We went through the entire meal. It was just before we were about to leave. In fact, my wife had gone off to the restroom and I was at our table alone. That same table across from us still had the same people at it. This same woman had a toddler - about two years old. I see her pick up this child and lay him down on the bench seat of the booth behind us. Hmm. This booth had been occupied before and the people there had just left. The restaurant was still crowded so the table would certainly be needed again. Was she putting this child down to sleep on this seat? Much as she had left her coat on the seat of our booth? No worse. She proceeded to take down this child's pants and change the child's diaper! What a pleasant dining experience and odor! Not only did she change the diaper, but in doing so she took the dirty diaper and PUT IT ON TOP OF THE TABLE! After she finished with the child, pulled the pants back up and picked him up she picked up the dirty diaper off the table, balled it up in her hand and started talking to someone at her table while she stood in the aisle between our two tables waving this dirty diaper around in her hand. Eventually she took it and put it down on her chair.

When my wife got back she could see that I was perturbed by something and I told her that I would explain outside when we left. I told her and she told me that the ladies room had a very nice baby changing area. So there certainly was no reason why this woman could not have taken the child there to do this. This really was incredible. On our way out, people were brought to that table. The table had been wiped down before so there was no reason that the restaurant would wipe it down again. There was no one to tell in time and those people sat down to have their meal on a table that was just holding a poop filled diaper. This is really a disgusting thought - to me at least. In this case I think that all three of the words in the title of this article apply to this woman. I have seen a lot of nasty things in my times over the years at buffets - hamsters put on the table, dogs at a table, etc. This was the worst so far.

I wish that this was the only recent tale like this to tell. At another buffet, when it was time to leave a couple with another toddler, picked the child up and stood him on the table - in his dirty boots - so that they could put his coat on him. I am sure that all buffets are supposed to use a disinfectant in that spray bottle that they use to give the table a cursory wipe down between guests. Often I think and in some places I am sure that all that is used is plain water. It is intended to clear the remains of the meal away - not to wash off the remains of dirty boots. So the next person to sit down to eat and some food comes off the edge of the plate and unthinkingly that person lifts it back to the plate and eats it - yuck when there had been a child's boots on the table.

Another tale is not so extreme but goes directly into the rude category. I was at still another buffet, and went up to the salad bar to get some Caesar salad. In front of the bowl of salad is a large man, his wife and two daughters. They are standing there having a conversation. Ok - ordinary and no big deal. But he has one filled plate down on the counter of the salad bar and another plate in his hand. While he is talking with his family he is eating from that plate in his hand. The daughters are eating like this too. They have a table but evidently they thought that this was a good place to have their meal. I came up next to him and he did not budge. I tried to say excuse me and he paid no attention. I had to reach over the plate that he had on the counter to get to the tongs for the salad and started taking salad. His reaction was one of indignation and the look he gave me was as if to say how dare you lean over my plate and interrupt my meal. I returned the look and proceeded to take my salad. He finally got the idea to move - a little further down. What is going on with people?!? All too often I see people at the buffet servers eating. It is like a cocktail party as they carry their plates from one serving tray to the other and eat what is on the plate at the same time. Are they so hungry that they cannot wait?

Or are they unthinking, stupid or just rude?

Sadie's Buffet - Perkasie, Telford and Vernfield, PA

Last week I told you about the buffet that I did go to on a recent trip to Pennsylvania. This week I am going to tell you about a buffet that I "almost" went to. Well, I actually went there but I did not eat there. I need to say right up front that there was nothing wrong with it - it just was not the night to try this buffet.

Anyway, I heard about Sadie's Buffet two years ago. I have been actually waiting for an opportunity to be close enough to one of the three to try it. While we were at a nice little history festival called Goshenhoppen in central, eastern Pennsylvania, I decided that at the end of the day we would go to Sadie's Buffet which I saw on a map looked near by. When I put the location into my GPS as we were leaving the festival, the screen told me that it was about 50 minutes away and then a red warning screen flashed telling me that the route included "Unpaved Roads"- and did I want to take those. OK. Unpaved roads, really? I was in the mountains in a rural area but come on - unpaved roads? How was this thing routing me? I will stop here for a moment and tell you about my GPS - which will go un-named. Recently, particularly in the state of Pennsylvania it has been routing me north to go south and also routing me through parking lots - really - parking lots. All in a round about way to take me where one road would have lead to another road and then a simple left turn was all that would have been necessary to get me to the same spot that the parking lot led me to. Never the less, I told the silly thing that I did not want to drive on "unpaved roads", it seemed satisfied and we were on our way - with by the way one parking lot included in the route.

Back to Sadies. There are three Sadie's Buffets and each one is located in a Landis Supermarket. There is one in the towns of Perkasie, Telford and Vernfield, PA. I have written about buffets located in supermarkets before - the best of which is Yoders which I have written about many times and recently at that, and several others. Each was an actual restaurant located in the supermarket - seemingly unique (at least to me) to Pennsylvania. So we were headed by way of my GPS to Perkasie to the Landis Supermarket to have dinner on a Saturday night in mid-August. We arrived - with about an hour and a half ti spare before closing at 8. We went into the supermarket and I started looking for the restaurant. There was a sign in the supermarket window talking about the Sunday Brunch buffet - so this was the right place. But unlike all of the other supermarket buffets, separated off from the supermarket in an actual restaurant with servers, etc., Sadie's is part of a small food court in the middle of the produce department of the restaurant. Off to the side there was a sectioned off area with small booths and between the two there was a woman at a cashier. There were was a buffet server with cold on one side and hot on the other. Along one wall - an extension of the produce wall was a sandwich bar. There was also a small area of desserts - pies, cakes, and such. This was one of the most unusual buffets that I have ever seen. Let me clarify that - I have seen such set ups before in supermarkets always designed so that you package hot and cold foods, weigh them, pay for them by weight, and take them home to eat. I have not seen ones that are set up to eat there and with an all you care to eat option. The all you care to eat price is $9.95 per adult. Drinks were extra. You could also have made up a single plate of an item or taken things in a container to take home.

I live in an area in NY where some of these supermarket serve yourself food counters to make up containers to take home have become suspect. Because they are relatively unsupervised, they have been known to have had not very nice people slip things into the food, etc. NOW - this is just where I am and because of this I have avoided eating from these types of set ups. I am sure that not all are a problem and I am NOT saying that there was anything wrong with the buffet servers at Sadie's. But the idea gave me some pause. But I decided that we had come all that way, let's look and see what there was - it was right out there in the open so it is easy to see exactly what you would be eating. We walked around and I took stock of what was in store.

The selections were very limited. The most interesting thing and something not on any buffet that I have ever seen is a sandwich bar. There was an assortment of breads and a variety of sliced cold cuts and also bacon, along with a variety of sandwich toppings. Yes, very interesting. Along the hot foods there were individual small meat loaves, what had been a tray of fish but just one piece remained, some type of chicken that I could not tell if it was baked or fried, and a couple of other hot foods. There were also potatoes and a couple of vegetables. Some items seemed to need "tending" and were starting to look dry. Several items all around the servers needed replacing. There was no one visible that was maintaining the food bars or replacing anything. There was a small salad area with a few tossed salad fixings and prepared salads. The food did not look bad but was this going to make me happy for my dinner that Saturday night? (Since you got last week's story first - obviously, not.)

It is not just me who is eating at these buffets but my wife is with me at each meal. And as you know, if you read this site regularly, is a bit of a picky eater and likes things basic and plain. Well, basic and plain was not going to be a problem BUT the assortment of what was there for her was going to be - and me too. It was not for her that we left - it was my decision.

I had been looking forward to Sadie's Buffet. I was hoping for another Yoders. It was far from that or any supermarket buffet that I have been to - and written about. Had the selection been greater and had everything been out that was being offered in fuller trays and being watched over and refilled we probably would have stayed and tried it. I very hesitantly and reluctantly decided to leave. And off we went hoping that the additional almost hour's drive would get us in time to the Golden Corral that I told you about last week.

Should you go to Sadie's Buffet? Maybe. If you are in for a different buffet experience or like sandwiches for dinner (this might be a good lunch stop - and there is Sunday brunch with the usual brunch/ breakfast items), this could be very good. I am sure there are many who have enjoyed any or all of the three in this part of Pennsylvania. There were a few people eating there that night - but just a few. If I am back in this area, I may come back to Sadie's Buffet for lunch - it is a ten dollar lunch but I really would like to try it.

I have included a link at the side of this page with Sadie's buffet and you can get directions to all three locations from the website (which is also the Landis Supermarket website). It is hard to see in the photos what these buffets are like - I really did not know what to expect before going except for my miss-led assumptions. Each buffet is open from 11 am to 2 pm for lunch, closed for two hours and then opens again from 4 pm to 8 pm. every day. If you are up for something a little different in manner of eating at a buffet, please give it a try. If you have been to anyone of the Sadie's Buffets please leave a comment and tell us about it. You may just be able to entice me back sooner than later - and for dinner too.

New Changes at Yoders

I have written several times about Yoders Restauant - the buffet located in a supermarket in New Holland, Pennsylvania in Lancaster County. On a recent visit there were a few pleasant surprises - a few new additions. Before I tell you about these, I will give you a brief rundown on this buffet - my "second" most favorite buffet to go to.

As I say, Yoders is located in a supermarket building. It is off in a wing of its own connected to Yoder's Supermarket. It shares this area of the building with two gift shops and large banquet catering rooms that are an extension of the restaurant. Yoders Restaurant offers both menu and buffet dining. Look here for Yoders and you will see pricing, etc.

Don't go to Yoders expecting eletgance in decor. The dining room is filled with hard, but comfortable booths similar to those found in family restaurants or even some fast food restaurants. The main dining room seats four at the most at a table but there is another dining room to the rear that accommodates more at a table - so have no concern if you look in and wonder where your family of six is going to sit. The rear of the dining room is the buffet area. There are several hot and cold double sided buffet servers, a grill at the back, and two buffet servers on each side wall.

On this particular Saturday night the feature was Surf and Turf - and this is the same on Friday nights. Now, don't equate surf with lobster - there is no lobster to be found here but there is some very good seafood - and nice steaks grilled to order on a flame grill. The soups went along with the theme too - vegetable beef and "Krab Supreme" which was very large pieces of the "fake" crab meat in a cream of broccoli soup. It was rather good - different, but good!

The only complaint that I can say about this particular meal was that some of the portions that were given at the grill and even on the buffet were too large. NOW, this is A GOOD THING - but I would have been happier leaving more room in my stomach for trying more. The steak - which they call Marinated Steak - was a whole steak - not a cut off piece or a small cube of meat. The steak had a slightly sweet and seasoned taste which was very good. I took a piece of fried cod fish from the buffet and the pieces were large pieces of fish. The taste was excellent and I guess I could have cut into one in the serving tray and taken less but I hate to do that. My wife asked for turkey at the carving station and was given several substantial slices. BUT I would rather the servings are large than too small - as so often is the case at some buffets.

Now for the changes -

The most impressive change is an expansion of the dessert area. Still within the same space, there is an increase in cakes and also the addition of a sundae bar. Built onto the wall are cylinders that dispense sundae toppings - sprinkles, nuts, etc. along with a variety of syrups.

There are now two large screen televisions hanging down at each side of the carving area/grill. This is not for watching shows but electronically displays the specials on the grill and carvings. Very nicely done! Easy to change and I have not seen this anywhere else. The screens blend in well and do not distract you sitting in the dining room eating.

At the middle of the grill area they have placed a new buffet server. This replaces a small serving module that had been in this area previously. The new server has both hot and cold - condiments, hot mushrooms and hot onions for the steak, sauces, and on this night - steamed, spiced shrimp. This small double sided buffet server divides the grill/carving area and compliments it well with items that go along with what is served there.

The last change we did not notice until we were dining for awhile. There has always been a wall length buffet server along the left wall at the back with the soups and breads. For as long as we have been coming here, I never noticed the far area at the other end used to serve anything. On this night my wife was a bit disappointed that her favorite dish here on the buffet was missing - baked oatmeal. It is generally served every night but it was not on the buffet servers with the entrees and side dishes - which is where it always has been. Almost at the end of the meal she was walking past that far end of the wall buffet server and glanced in - and there was the baked oatmeal. Not only that but there was also baked oatmeal with fruit and other similar dishes. So this area is now being used and if you go make sure to look to see what may be there. Now, I wish I could say that this made my wife happy as she loves their baked oatmeal but she said that it was different - not the same consistency and texture as usual, and a slightly different taste. So she told me she wished that she had not found it or it had really been missing because it just was not the same. Maybe a different person in the kitchen made it - maybe it was a one time difference... I will encourage her to try a small bit of it again the next time just to see. I was happy to try a slice of something called Funny Cake - this is a cake in a pie shell - yellow cake with swirls of a dark chocolate syrup-like mixture of chocolate (not sure how to describe it because it is not filling and it is not syrup). What it is is good and this is the first time that I have seen it here or any buffet. It is not commonly found and is specific to one German region of Pennsylvania not in Lancaster County. I have had it at festivals - but never at a buffet. This one was not the best that I have had but it was good and a delightful surprise.

There is a website for Yoders listed at the side of this article. The restaurant is located at Yoder's Supermarket or perhaps, more properly, Yoder's Country Market, Route 23, New Holland, Pennsylvania. The phone number is (717) 354-4748. Yoders is open from Monday to Saturday for breakfast, lunch and dinner until 8 pm. It is also now open on Sunday morning/early afternoon for Sunday Brunch.

It is Going to Take a Lot

When I am in southeastern/central Pennsylvania I make a point to get to Shady Maple Smorgasbord for dinner. I have written about this restaurant many times and it has been selected as Best Buffet - anywhere - for several years running by this site. I was recently there again and started wondering what would it take to top this? What would it take for another buffet to be the best?

I have been to many elaborate buffets - some in hotels, some in casinos. I have been to many family buffets. None come close to the size, consistency, quantity, and value as Shady Maple. It is almost embarrassing to find no competition. I have looked. I have tried and tasted. Entering a new buffet there is always hope - will this be the one? So far none have.

It does not matter what season or what night of the six days of the week that it is open, it is always full of people. This is a favorite of both locals and tourists and they line up to get in. We were recently there in the middle of the week - what usually is an off night for restaurants - even in an tourist area. There were lines - though short lines - at Shady Maple and while there really was no wait most of the large dining rooms - and they have several were full of happy diners.

This recent visit the feature of the night was Prime Rib. Full prime ribs being carved to order at several carving stations. If you wanted rare, there was a rare one to be had. If you wanted well done, there was a well one there too, as were medium done too. Who else does this? Most are "here is what we have" - it is rare or it is well done, not both,and usually it is well done.

The same is true when steaks are served. Order it as you like it and it will be cooked for you and shown to you to make sure it is how you want it. A few buffets will do this, but not many.

The number of different items being served at one time on the buffet is unchallenged. As I have pointed out before that many do not walk down to both ends of the buffet servers. In the middle it appears that the each side repeats what is on the other, but that is not true. Even the second salad bar and soup area will have a number of different offerings than on the first. There are different side dishes on each end and different entrees mixed in with some that repeat. Even the two dessert areas have different things assorted in.

I want to see the buffet that tops this one. It will have to be spectacular beyond imagination. It really is going to take a lot to top Shady Maple. If it is out there, I want to know about it.

Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.

IVY BUFFET, WEST NYACK, NEW YORK

I love finding small, non-chain buffets that are not Asian. There are many oriental independent buffets and in areas like Pennsylvania it is also not unusual to find one, but in New York it is very rare. I came across the Ivy Buffet on a trip many months ago. We had planned to dine there on our next trip to that area - and I must say going to this area is very rare for us - but in the past year we have gone three times. Well, on that second trip things just kept going wrong and we never made it to the Ivy Buffet. Just recently we found that we needed to go past this area again, and we knew that on our way back home we would definitely dine at Ivy Buffet.

The Ivy Buffet is located in West Nyack, New York. It is across from Palisades Mall, one of the largest malls in the United States. The mall is a location to see all on its own with a Ferris wheel inside and even a Chinese buffet in the mall itself. The Ivy Buffet is not in the mall or accessed from the malls many parking lots. It is across Route 303 from the mall and you must be on the north bound side of the route to get in which resulted in our passing it and pulling into a business parking lot to turn around as the road is no U turn sign after no U turn sign.

The restaurant is in a building that had been formerly one of the many chain restaurants before - not a buffet chain, but the outside of the building was very familiar looking though I am not certain which of the chains it had been before. There is a large enough parking lot and the building has been well maintained. There is a large sign outside - Ivy Buffet - so that you cannot miss it.

Inside you find a very nice decor. I am sure that whatever this had been before - this buffet has only been here less than a year - came from the former restaurant. There are three dining rooms and a private room for parties also. The first dining room is directly in front of the entrance doors and away from the buffet servers. The other two dining rooms are next to each other - separated by only a short, see over wall and right next to the buffet servers.

Dinner at the Ivy Buffet is $9.99 Monday through Sunday for dinner. Lunch is $5.99 from Monday to Saturday. Unlimited soft drinks are $1.49, served to you by your server and they have Pepsi products. There are children's prices that are split by two age ranges. The price of the meal is well worth it and the food as you will see as you read on is good.

The food at the Ivy Buffet is called "Continental" and I guess that is a good description. It is not Southern or country like many buffets - no fried chicken (at least not on the night that we went there). This is what could be called European (not like Europa Buffet had though) or basic American fare. There are three large double sided buffet servers and one smaller server against the back wall with desserts.

We were told when we came in to pick any table that we liked. It was about 7:30 on a Friday night. The restaurant was almost empty. There were about six tables full. As we were there other groups came in, but the restaurant was never really crowded with many empty tables. As we were dining I kept thinking about a similar situation at Buffet Europa in New Jersey. Though, I have seen reports that Ivy Buffet can get crowded at times - which is a good thing for business.

We gave the server our drink order and we went up to the buffet. We always start with soup and there was one server with chicken rice soup. There was an empty spot next to that for another soup. Almost as soon as we were back at the table with our soup the second soup was brought back out full of seafood chowder. I, of course, finished my chicken rice soup - it was very nice - and went up for a cup of seafood ch0wder. The chowder was a thin, red chowder very similarly seasoned to clam chowder but it was full of chunks of a white fish and shrimp. This soup was good too.

We next headed up to the salad bar. One entire server was a cold server with salads, greens, salad fixings, prepared salads, and also peel and eat shrimp on ice. The shrimp were large. This server also had several fresh fruits to choose from along with chocolate pudding and vanilla pudding. There were also Greek stuffed grape leaves with the salads. When we came in I was certain that I heard a Greek accent from the gentlemen who greeted us and in NY it is common for local restaurants to be owned by Greeks. The fruit included whole fresh peaches, grapes, and watermelon. It is not everyday that you find whole fresh peaches on a buffet. I chose the Caesar salad. It was pre-mixed and nicely full of dressing with seasoned croutons. This salad was very good. One of the best that I have had at buffets.

We moved on to the hot foods next. There was an interesting assortment. There was chicken Marsala, chicken parmigiana, meatloaf, hot wings, spare ribs, fried whole whiting (fish), broiled basa (fish), whole shrimp with the shell and head, meatballs in tomato sauce, Italian sausage and peppers, linguine, chicken in Spanish rice, chili, baked ziti with meat, fried chicken cutlets, pizza, and mixed vegetables and potatoes including whole red potatoes, french fries and mashed potatoes. While this is not an overwhelming number of entrees there certainly were enough to choose from. The food was good. The chicken Marsala - chicken lightly coated and sauteed in wine sauce with mushrooms had a good taste of the wine in the sauce. The chicken parmigiana was cut into half size pieces, each covered in mozzarella cheese with tomato sauce. This was good as well - and with the addition of a little extra tomato sauce on top of the cheese taken from the server of tomato sauce next to the linguine, this made it even better - though it was good on its own. The spare ribs were thick and meaty. They did not have a traditional barbecue sauce on them though they had a light sauce that had been brushed on before they were baked that cooked into the top of the ribs. There was a lot of meat on each rib. I would have preferred them in barbecue sauce but many prefer them plain. These were baked ribs and in the bottom of the server there was some oil that had come from the meat - at first I was concerned that the ribs would be greasy but they were not. They were very tender and tasty but not fall off the bone ribs. Basa is a catfish that comes from Vietnam and is very popular in Europe and was recently introduced to the market here in the US. I did not know this at the time and I do like catfish. The Basa had a mild taste, was less fatty than catfish, and was mildly seasoned when broiled. The surface of the fish was a little tough but the meat of the fish was tender. The sausage and peppers were nice, as were the meatballs. The meat loaf was not covered in ketchup as it is in some restaurants. It was good. The chicken cutlets were brought out later while we were dining and added to the tray that contained french fries. When the pizza was gone - and it did not come back out, the chicken came out in its place. I think that is a fair substitution. I want to make a comment also about the linguine. In many buffets the pasta is kept in water or oil to keep it "fresh". Here the linguine was kept nicely fresh without being soaked in water or oil. It was not dry at all. It was hot and fresh. I am not sure how they do it but it was done well.

There was a small dessert assortment that included chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate brownies, butter cookies, European style chocolate chip cookies, apple strudel cake, soft serve ice cream and cones with toppings, and all of the fresh fruits and puddings that I mentioned above that were on the salad bar. A woman at a nearby table commented on how good the ice cream was. It did look good - creamy and not icy.

I must point out that food was continually brought out and added to the buffet to replace anything that was even beginning to run out through out the time that we were there and there were not that many tables full of diners. A good effort was made to make sure that nothing was empty and that everything was hot and fresh.

The meal was way beyond what one would expect to get in a buffet for $9.99. The food was better than some chain buffets and I must say was far superior to the buffet meal that I had a few weeks ago that I wrote about at the Mohegan Sun Casino high price buffet.

My only regret is that I am far from this buffet and it is in a location that I am not likely to return to very often. The trip back home took 90 minutes with several large tolls included. But I was there anyway and this was one of the high points of the day!

The food is good and the value is excellent. The location for anyone in this area is easy to get to. It is actually less than 30 minutes from New York City and it is also not far from the New Jersey state border (actually very near).

I recommend the Ivy Buffet. For those of you who had been to Buffet Europa before it was sold, do not expect to find a buffet on that same level, but judged on its own merits, Ivy Buffet is a find.

The Ivy Buffet is located at 78 North Route 303 in West Nyack, New York 10994. The phone number is 845-348-1110. There is an email address but no website. The email address is IvyBuffet@aol.com.

A Reader Speaks Out to Support Buffet Europa

I get a lot of comments and emails telling me how those of you near Buffet Europa have enjoyed this buffet. I just received an email from one of our readers who is passionate about keeping this restaurant going and had some ideas to share. Since this is my forum arena for such as that I want to share with you what this reader wrote. Now, please understand, that there is NO indication what so ever that there is any idea that Buffet Europa is not doing just as fine as it can - and may be very happy with how business is. But, not seeing this gem of a restaurant packed as it SHOULD BE we have concern - and we do not want to lose this wonderful place. So - here is what this reader wrote -

I live about 20 minutes away from Buffet Europa. First let me say I almost never go on e-mail and it's taking a great effort for me to type this. That being said, you can tell I feel passionately about Buffet Europa!!!!

Buffet Europa is AWESOME and everything you say about it is true: food authentic, fresh, hot and delicious; owners warm and friendly; restaurant clean (including bathrooms); atmosphere nice with soft, pleasant music playing in the background; and EVERYTHING included for about $16!!! ( I go on weekends). I can't understand why there aren't more people enjoying this FABULOUS restaurant :( It makes me sooooo sad because I fear it will close and we will lose this gem.

I have had the same experience as you i.e. being almost the only (and often THE only) occupied table in the restaurant no matter what time of night I go whether it be a Friday or Saturday. I "psych" myself up to go in even if I feel it will be awkward. When I peek through the window just before I enter, I hope there will be some other diners there to take the "spotlight" off my family and me. We continue to go despite the awkwardness because the food is so spectacular!!!

Now..what to do about this..one would think "word of mouth" advertising might be enough..apparently not so. They do advertise locally but that doesn't seem to have helped either. When I asked about putting up a sign on Route 1, they said that they weren't allowed to ( I don't remember the reason). Maybe the LOCATION i.e. New Brunswick is the problem!!

I'm certainly not a city planner nor do I claim to know anything about the restaurant business BUT maybe they should move to a place where they would be more greatly appreciated. A sign of a good Chinese restaurant is that it is populated by Chinese people, so perhaps in that same way, a GREAT Polish restaurant like Buffet Europa would benefit by being in a Polish area. For example, Linden N.J. has a BIG Polish population who would really appreciate FABULOUS Polish food without having to cook, clean, etc. I know Buffet Europa's concept is to provide new dining experiences for the general public, but this idea apparently isn't working too well and we all don't want them to close!! ( Also, selfishly speaking, Linden is close enough to us so we could still eat there!!).

Of course, I haven't discussed this with the owners; it is kind of awkward, and in addition, I don't know the conditions of their lease or any other factors that might affect their decision with respect to the business. BUT pardon the pun, it is definitely food for thought.

Here's to saving Buffet Europa!!!
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Great ideas and certainly all true. I know that this site has had some influences and I am hoping that what this reader has written and what I have written about this wonderful restaurant will have some positive influence on business at Buffet Europa. I also know that the owners have read some of the articles here about their restaurant and hopefully some of the ideas here - and our support will reach them. No matter what we want to be able to continue to enjoy this restaurant for a long time to come! (Now, I have to go and check to see if Linden is easy for me to get to when I go to NJ...)

Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page.

Bishop's, Dubuque, Iowa

I am always looking to share buffet restaurants with you when I find them, even if I have not had the opportunity to dine there. Sometimes this leads me way off my usual path, but that is good because there are a lot of people around the US who ask me to find buffet restaurants in areas that I may never have a chance to get to. Let me tell you how I found this one.

I was watching a re-run of the TV series, "The West Wing". This particular storyline is following the fictional candidates as they campaign through Iowa for the Iowa Caucus. A filler scene of local scenery flashes by and I see a sign flash past along the road - "The Pioneer Country Buffet". Hmm? This show is now several years old. I wondered if this place actually could be found. I set off on an internet search and I came across Bishop's. This is NOT the restaurant in the show, but it is a buffet restaurant in Iowa - and it looks really nice. No, I never did find The Pioneer - at least any restaurant with that name with a buffet.

Bishop's restaurant is located in the city of Dubuque at the Dubuque Kennedy Mall - a noted shopping center mall in the city. The restaurant may be seen from the outside of the mall. I cannot tell you what the prices are.The hours are Monday - Thursday 11:00-8:00 Friday 11:00-8:30 Saturday 11:00-8:00 Sunday 10:30-7:30 . There are two other locations - one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and the other in Moline, Illinois. The location I am writing about has been named the Best Buffet in Dubuque along with Best Pies eight years in a row in a local competition called Best Fest.

The food at Bishop's is prepared from fresh ingredients. They start preparing their roast beef each morning and have a special recipe for their chicken. One thing that is supposed to stand out at Bishop's (among many other thing) is their baking. Pies are made from scratch and the photos on their website make them tempting.

Bishop's features an extensive buffet menu that they claim are always offered along with features that will vary. In addition to the favorites which I will list for you, each day there are four new entrees, four new salads, and three new side dishes offered on the buffet. The favorites, there all of the time, would be sufficient on their own. The entrees are hand carved roast beef, fried chicken, grilled chop beef, fried fish, and baked fish. The salad bar includes Fresh Tossed Salad, Caesar Salad. Fresh Fruit Salad, Vegetable salad, Coleslaw, and Jello. The side dishes are Mashed potatoes, Stuffed baked potatoes, Plain baked potatoes, Parsley potatoes, Cheesy potatoes (lots of potatoes), Macaroni and cheese, Green beans, Corn, and Carrots. There is also a buffet server "just for kids" with kid-friendly offerings.

The baked goods offered are just as extensive with Soft rolls, Pumpkin muffins, Cinnamon rolls, Orange rolls and for dessert - Chocolate ambrosia pie, Coconut cream pie, Pumpkin pie, Custard pie, Bread pudding, Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Sugar Free Cream Pie, Strawberry Shortcake, and Brownies. Top all of this off with soft serve ice cream and sundae fixings.

The dining room is very pleasantly decorated. The restaurant also has a banquet room for parties or business functions. Bishop's is very community-minded and offers discounts to community groups, churches, and non-profits.

Again, I have not eaten at Bishop's. I would love to hear from those who have and please leave comments about your experience there.

Bishop's is located at 555 John F. Kennedy Road, Dubuque, Iowa 52002. The phone number is (563) 588-2031. There is a website which is linked at the side of this page.