BUFFETS IN 2023

 Covid took its toll on buffet restaurants.  Many did not survive the pandemic. 

I will start with Golden Corral. Golden Corral has closed a number of its locations. Some were the result of Corporate's decsions. Others were the result of franchise holders who decided to close and never re-open their Golden Corral buffets. This is not to say that all Golden Corrals have closed. There are still Golden Corral buffets but they are much fewer and further between than they had been. 

One of the Golden Corral's we had been to many times is confirmed, gone forever. This was the Golden Corral in Freehold, New Jersey. It was closed by its franchise owner. It had been listed by Golden Corral on their website as "temporarily" closed.  I just learned that the building was sold and is being turned into a medical office facility. (As you will see as you read on this fate of buffet buildings is not that unusual.) 

This has all has effected the Pennsylvania Dutch buffets in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. While a few are closed, those that have remained open have cut their hours and some have cut the days that they are open. 

One of the buffets I have written the most about in Lancaster over the years is Shady Maple Smorgasbord. They remain open for business but they now close every night at 7:00 pm. During the pandemic when they re-opened, they were open until 8:00 pm as always before but only on Friday and Saturday nights.  Other weeknights were 7:00 pm closing.  Not too long ago they changed the hours for Friday and Saturday to a 7:00 pm closing. They state on their website that they remain open after the last dinner sold at 7:00 pm for 45 more minutes.  In the past, the buffet was out until almost 9:00 pm before they removed the food from the buffet servers. 

Yoders Family Restaurant and Buffet in New Holland, PA remains open 6 nights a week but closes at 7:00 pm Monday to Thursday and at 8:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.  This buffet has always  started to remove the food from the buffet tables right at 8:00 pm in the past. It seems that now with the nights it closes at 7:00 pm - it is really closing at 7:00 pm and you have to be ready to go. 

One of our favorite buffets in Lancaster has been the buffet at the Dutch Way supermarket in Gap, PA.  The restaurant is still open BUT the buffet is gone. It is menu dining only. The restaurant is still open until 8:00 pm - just no buffet. 

Dutch Way now has four locations with a new supermarket location in Ephrata, PA. This location does not have a full restaurant. It has a cafe with a limited menu. The only other of their locations that has had a buffet has been Dutch Way in Meyerstown, PA.  Meyerstown is not in Lancaster County. It is further northwest and a considerable drive from Lancaster. They still offer a buffet in their restaurant. They have maintained their regular hours with an 8:00 pm closing time Monday to Saturday. On Friday and Saturday dinner you can add an all you can eat prime rib buffet upgrade for an additional $3.99. If it was not so far out of the way, this would be pretty good. 

Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant and Smorgasbord is closed on Mondays and the restaurant closes at 7:00 pm. In the past, when 8 pm was approaching the server would come to your table and announce that the buffet would be closing soon and if you wanted anything more you needed to go up to get it now.  I assume this still takes place. 

 Miller's Smorgasbord - a buffet that at one time was a favorite and then decided it would get "fancy" and attracted a lot of tourists. They are also the most expensive of the PA Dutch buffets. Many of the buffets we prefer have more local people than they have tourists (perhaps with the exception of Shady Maple - but Shady Maple will often have Amish families dining there). Miller's is closed Monday and Tuesday and is open until 7:00 pm Wednesday and Thursday with Friday and Saturday until 8:00 pm. They are open Sundays to 7:00 pm (the only PA Dutch buffet open on Sunday). 

Dienner's Country Restaurant has always had early closing hours for their restaurant and buffet. This very much a restaurant frequented by Amish and Mennonite local people. It is in Ronks, PA. As in the past, Monday through Thursday plus Saturday they close at 6:00 pm. Fridays they now close at 7:00 pm (in the past on Fridays the hours were until 8:00 pm). Other than Fridays in the past this was always just too early to get for dinner. 

Litiz Family Cupboard is in northwest Lancaster, County. Up until two days ago this restaurant and buffet was going out of business. They were not able to re-negotiate their lease with the property owners and they were having problems hiring staff for the restaurant. They had announced their closing  a month or so ago. They are a nice buffet with some very authentic PA Dutch items on tier menu and buffet including pig's stomach on one night a week.  They have been able to renegotiate their lease and are currently hiring - they are not going to close down as announced.  They are closed on Mondays and open until 8:00 pm as they have always been. The buffet is available on al open nights. The menu dining is only on certain days and this may change as they get themselves settled again. 

The restaurant and buffet at Oregon Dairy is open but closed on Mondays.  Tuesday through Thursday they close at 7:00 pm BUT prior to the winter they were closing at 8:00 pm. That may go back to 8:00 as the summer approaches. They are open until 9:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.  They are open Sundays until 2:00 pm with a breakfast buffet and a soup and salad bar buffet. 

Now - the sad news.   Good N' Plenty Family Style Restaurant is one of the very long operating PA Dutch restaurants in Lancaster. County. This was all you can eat served in platters to a long table where you sat with others.  The platters were passed around the table and when they were empty they would be refilled. This was a restaurant that I went to with my parents on trips to Lancaster many years ago. Due to the pandemic the owners decided to retire. They were not able to hire staff as the pandemic wound down and could not keep running the restaurant on their own. They had hoped to sell the restaurant as a going business to new owners who would continue the restaurant as it has always been. They received no offers to buy the business and they sold the building at auction. The building will no longer be a restaurant - and will become a community health and medical center (as noted with Freehold Golden Corral - all you can eat restaurant becomes a medical facility).  This medical center will be a not for profit organization focused on the local community and it is in the heart of an Amish and Mennonite area. 

Another buffet lost is the  Hershey Farm Restaurant (and Hotel). This was located south of Ronks and north of Strasburg.  A fire destroyed the restaurant and the complete complex that included a hotel and gift shop. The fire was the result of a torch setting the roof of the restaurant on fire during repairs.  All buildings burned to the ground. News crews recorded the event and a number of fire companies responded to fight the fire including Amish men who were in some of the fire companies.  This was not a favorite buffet but it is sad to see it go! 

Going on to other areas where there have always been a lot of buffets. I have recently learned that there are no longer any buffets at the Las Vegas casinos.  With slow business during the pandemic and what one report claimed - they were not making the casinos' money, they have closed. 

Some of the Atlantic City casinos still have buffets. Prices are high. 

The two casinos in Connecticut - Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun - no longer have their buffets open. Whether this is permanent or will change is unknown to me. 

 What buffets seem to have been able to remain. For the most part, the Asian buffets are still in business and reopened back to their regular hours. Prices have gone up - but prices of everything have gone up.  We still go to a few of these- one fairly regularly. 

So what is going on and why are all of these buffets closing or cutting back open hours and open days?  The common answer each gives (and I have asked several with them not knowing who was asking) is that they cannot get employees to come back and work now that the pandemic is winding down. This makes no sense to me - but it is a reality.  

I keep hoping - in particular with the Lancaster buffets that they will see as this coming Summer gets near that they will see that they need to go back to the usual 8:00 pm closing and reopen the days they are closing.  This is a busy tourist area and they will get busy again and local people will be coming back as well this year. When visiting this area, with the number of people who typically dined at these restaurants - just two to three years ago - when you got there at 6:45 or 7:00 there were lines and you might not get seated until after 7:00 pm. With a 7:00 pm closing I see the need to be at the restaurant no later than between 5:00 to 5:30 pm. Local people who work don't get out of work until 5 - so if they want to go to the restaurant on a weeknight they rush home to get the family to travel then to the restaurant - it just does not work. And it will not work with visitors to the area either. The non-buffet restaurants are open. They have their regular hours. It is not like the buffets and all other restaurants are closing early.  If they don't go back to their usual hours and days it is going to hurt them even more than the pandemic hurt them. 

The Future of Buffets - After Covid-19

The last time I was at a buffet was mid-March, 2020. It was a usual Friday night at Flaming Grill Buffet in Baldwin, New York. We had been going with some concerns - carrying hand sanitizer in our pockets to clean our hands after going up to the buffet tables, using napkins to touch serving pieces and disposing of the napkins when we got back to the table.  At that point there had not been one case reported in this area - or in this county. The restaurant had noticeably less diners - many more open tables and that has gradually been increasing since February.  What I remember from that meal - and I think of this a lot - because I really miss it a lot -and have been craving a few of the dishes that I liked the most there. One, in particular, and I am not sure why was a seafood soap that was a thickened whitish grey broth containing eggdrop, tofu, bits of shrimp, and fake crab (krab) chunks. It was very tasty - and satisfying. I miss that soup - and I miss the overly sweet spare ribs - and for some reason I started eating their chicken nuggets covered in sweet and sour sauce. Not the highest of Asian cuisine but tasty.  And now, with understandable restrictions on New York State restaurants - and this buffet - which is part of a chain - the restaurant is closed as it was not set up to do take out unless the takeout was self-served from the buffet. I wonder if it will open again - and what will it be like?

Golden Corral - the most national of buffet chains - has closed all of its company owned locations due to Covid-19 - following a nationwide non-contact conference with its restaurant managers, employees, and franchise holders - and determined that for everyone's safety and well being - it would close. The franchised Golden Corrals were left to make their own decisions but were expected to follow any and all guidelines determined by the states that they were located in.  Some remained open as take out only - and the menu that I was able to see was a single platter of selected meat entree, vegetable, and potato. Not at all buffet but you were getting for example a piece of Golden Corral sirloin steak cooked on the grill - as it is in the restaurant - and you picked the vegetable and potato from the selection offered. I was not able to see a price - which I hope would have been significantly less than the price of a buffet dinner.

As some states have started to re-open, some Golden Corrals will be reopening as buffets again - but with a very different approach. What these have chosen to do is to serve cafeteria style - still a buffet - still all you care to eat - but you go up to the counters and an employee will put the food you wish on your plate - with a limited number of people up to the counters at one time and full social distancing being followed - six feet apart.  This seems to me to be the most logical and safest way to do it.  They have stated that there are sanitizing stations throughout the restaurant. The counters will be sanitized every 30 minutes. The employees will wash their hands on a schedule.  And most important - no one gets near the food but those serving it.

Some other ideas that I have heard involve everyone getting their own serving utensils - one variation I heard of that was these would be disposable. I have to say that this is not a good idea at all.  Over my many years at buffets - I do not trust anyone to not put that utensil to their mouth and then put it into the serving tray - just because they don't think! And then that utensil will go from one tray to the next - transferring what ever is in one tray to the others. Not a good idea at all.

The Lancaster buffets right now are all closed.  Shady Maple has meals to go from the Shady Maple Supermarket - which they have pretty much always have had. Dutch Way Gap's restaurant is closed but they too are selling dinners from their supermarket and have been having some special features -  not buffet in any way - being offered.  One was barbecue ribs offered in platters at their snack bar outside the supermarket. One big event was a chicken barbecue  - chicken barbecue is a popular event in Lancaster County. Chicken is grilled on a outdoor grill and is sold by the platter with sides or sold as in number of pieces.  A few weeks ago, Dutch Way Gap had a chicken barbecue that you went into the closed restaurant lobby to pay for and then get your purchased chicken outside.  Bird in Hand Family Restaurant and Smorgasbord has been closed - along with other Bird-in-Hand owned properties - but they announced for Mother's Day that they would start serving take out dinners. After Mother's Day a menu would be posted on their website to continue take out dinners that would be ordered through a menu form online and then picked up at the restaurant.  Yoder's Restaurant and Buffet is closed. They are offering Mother's Day meals to go with advanced ordering.

I have seen several articles saying that there will be no more buffet restaurants - but, personally, I don't see that happening. First, these are well established businesses that want to find a way to continue. Second - when everything settles down - and things start to get back to near normal - there are ways to continue the buffet style of eating - but perhaps with servers serving as Golden Corral plans to do now. What this might do to the price to have the additional employees that will be required to do this is anyone's guess.  But before all of this - at a Golden Corral to use that as an example - there were employees behind just about every counter refilling trays, cooking and serving from the grill area, and maintaining the buffet. It would not take many more to add servers to a section. It would slow things down a lot - but it keeps the restaurant in business - and those of us that prefer this way of dining happy.

Until then, I think of all of these restaurants - and when I was there last - and what I have enjoyed eating at each of them. Golden Corral sirloin steak rare.  Prime Rib carved to your plate at Dutch Way Gap. Chicken Bot Bie and chicken corn soup at Bird-in-Hand .  Seasoned steak at Yoders. I miss it. And my mouth is watering as I write this.

May you all be safe and healthy! Use good common sense so that you can once again enjoy a good buffet meal.

Think Twice...

Just a short article before the holidays!

A popular holiday gift has been a gift certificate or gift redemption card for one of the chain buffet restaurants. I have been getting emails and see Facebook posts from Old Country Buffet, Golden Corral, Sweet Tomatoes. and Bonanza Steakhouse offering gift certificates with a bonus. With OCB it has been Buy a $25 gift certificate and get a bonus $5 gift certificate for yourself. When I saw that I recalled the many people who had received gift certificates for an OCB or a Ryan's or a Hometown buffet this past year and then found themselves with a gift certificate and no longer any restaurant to use it in.

Think twice if you are considering giving an OCB, Ryan's, or Hometown Buffet gift certificate this year. With the way that the restaurants are there one day and gone the next, you may be spending money on a worthless gift. The corporation would not refund the gift certificates when this had taken place before.

And my thoughts go out to all those OCB, etc. employees who thought last Christmas that they would still have a job this Christmas.

The Remaining OCBs, Ryan's, and Hometown Buffets

As of today these are the remaining Old Country Buffets, Ryan's and Hometown Buffets. The information comes from the OCB website. The locations map is now hidden in a click on drop down named "MENU". I have to say that like everything else Corporate has done to sabotage their restaurants from succeeding, what a stupid name for a drop down for a restaurant website. Look at this on the page and it appears to be what you click on to see the menu, and if you are not looking to see the serving menu, you would not click here. Surprise! This is where they have hidden the locations link.

There currently are 97 restaurants across the United States. Some states have none, some state have several. California has the most. According to one of the articles sent to us and posted as a common one of our related articles, the original Ryan's location was closed.

Some locations have been scouted by Golden Corral and Golden Corral will be opening in some of those locations, but not all.  Some vacant OCB locations still have their large signs out front on the buildings and these are still lit at night. The OCB location that was once in Levittown, New York has a sign on the door that says, "New Buffet Coming Soon" and under that "Under Construction". There is no clue as to what type of buffet. It would be wonderful if it was an American/Country cuisine buffet similar to OCB and not another Asian Buffet as there is a large, popular Asian buffet directly across the road. We have a number of Asian buffets and various price points, we no longer have any other type of buffet. No Golden Corral, no CiCis, etc.

For me OCB is no more. I would have to travel many, many miles in my state to the remaining two OCBs, or go out of state, again for many miles, to go to one. And then the trip either way would require paying tolls that would more than quadruple the cost of the meal, plus gas.  I have to admit that I miss it. The OCBs here - and then when there was only one - were a regular weekly meal for us. As the song says, "You don't know what you've got 'till its gone!"

If you know of any of these that close, please send us an email or comment and we will remove them from the list. 



Arizona

Glendale O
Mesa O
Phoenix O

California

Anaheim H
Bakersfield H
Bell H
Burbank H
Canoga Park H
Chula Vista H
Concord H
Corona H
*Covina H
Downey H
Fairfield H
Fresno H
Fresno #2 H
Garden Grove H
Hayward H
Hemet H
Lakewood H
Loma Linda H
Modesto H
Montebello H
Moreno Valley H
National City H
Newark H
Oxnard H
Palmdale H
Palm Desert H
Rancho Cucamonga H
Redding H
Rialto H
Salinas H
San Diego H

**San Jose  H
Santa Ana H
Santa Clara H
Santa Maria H
Stockton H
Torrance H
Turlock H
Van Nuys H
Visalia H
Westchester H

Colorado

Colorado Springs C
Denver C

Connecticut

Manchester H

Delaware

Newark O

Florida

Crestview R
Pace R

Georgia

Athaus R
Commerce R
Rome R
Waycross R

Illinois

Chicago O
Effingham R
Mount Vernon R

Indiana

Highland O

Iowa

Cedar Rapids R

Kansas

Shawnee R

Kentucky

Bowling Green R

Louisiana

Lake Charles R
Ruston R

Maine

South Portland H

Michigan

Burton O
Kalamazoo O
Saginaw O


Minnesota

Burnsville O


Mississippi

Columbus R
Corinth R
Picayune R

New Jersey

Edison H

New York

Buffalo O
Elmira O

North Carolina

Asheville R
Sylva R

Ohio


Niles H
Sandusky H
Toledo H

Oregon

Beaverton H
Medford H
Portland H
Salem H
Springfield H

Pennsylvania

Hanover R
Harrisburg O
Philadelphia O
Whitehall O
York O

South Carolina

North Myrtle Beach R
Summerville R

Tennessee

Greenville R
Lebanon R
Madison R
Union City R

Texas

Conroe R
Waxahachie R

Virginia

Woodbridge O

Washington (State)

Bellevue O
Kennewick O
Kennewick #2 O
*Lynward O
Puyallup O
Tacoma O
Union Gap O
Vancouver H

West Virginia

Charleston R
Clarksburg R
Princeton R

Wisconsin

Eau Claire O
Greenfield O
Jamesville H



* These two restaurants were not on our original list of existing restaurants - and while it seems highly unlikely that two new restaurants have been opened since the closings started - they were not included on the OCB website locations months ago.

** This location was closed for health department concerns but it appears to be still open or coming back as it is still listed as open. 

Two More Ryans CLOSED!

Food Management Partners has done it again! It swept in under the cover of darkness and closed two more Ryan's Buffet locations on May 8, 2016 - the day after Mother's Day. Employees arrived for work on Monday to find a sign on the door - CLOSED! Once again done in cowardly fashion which is standard operating procedure for Food Management Partners and the former Ovation Brands.

One of the Ryan's closed was the location in Richland Township, (Johnstown) Pennsylvania. The other was the location in Beckley, West Virginia. The closing at both locations was, of course, a surprise to both restaurant managers and the employees. They worked their shift on Sunday and left that evening expecting to be back at work on Monday. Of course, Food Management Partners had other plans for them. Food Management Partners, of course, have no comment on the closings.

With the sweep of closing just over a month ago across the United States of Old Country Buffets, Ryans, and Hometown Buffets these two restaurants thought that they had escaped the axe. These closing took the employees and the managers of these two locations completely by surprise. When attempts were made by employees to call the corporate office to find out what happened, the phone number answered with a "no longer in service" message.


It is reported that food remaining at the Richmond Township Ryan's was removed that Monday and taken to a local food shelter. Community officials in Beckley are shocked as this was a popular restaurant. Popular to the customers, popular to the community, popular and necessary to the people who were employed there - but not so popular to Food Management Partners. To F.M.P. it is just business - to the people who had these jobs it is their livelihoods. This company certainly shows no consideration, much less loyalty, for their employees.

What little details we have about these two closings are credited to David Hurst, reporter at the Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown, PA and Daniel Tyson, reporter at the Register-Herald of Beckley, WV. Special thanks go to our of our readers, "B", who made us aware of this story.


One of our Readers informs us in a comment below that a third location also closed at this time - the Hometown Buffet in Columbus, Ohio on May 11, 2016.

Another reader informs us that the Grand Rapids, MI (Wyoming) location closed on June 14, 2016. A second reader informed us that the Ryans in Alcoa, TN closed also the week of June 14, 2016. There is a list of the closures on June 14 - here they are: 
San Jose, CA
Arlington Heights, IL
Laurel, MD
Wyoming, MI
Duluth, MN
Mankato, MN
Greenwood, SC (Ryan’s)
Alcoa, TN (Ryan’s)
Crossville, TN (Ryan’s)
Bellingham, WA
Onalasca, WI