Yes, it has been a long time since the last article. I have not wanted to keep writing about the same places and there are so few buffets to write about any longer - in fact, even the old standbys seem to be closing.
I am often asked about the Golden Corral in Freehold, New Jersey. We have been there many times in the past and the one thing that holds true is that one visit can be great and another visit not so good. This Golden Corral opened with some problems and during that first year it was to be avoided - and that was some time ago. It got better - but it remains inconsistent.
We were just there again. We had not been there for a number of months. This is not near us. It takes two expensive bridge tolls and a lot of traffic to get to this Golden Corral - the closest Golden Corral to the NY Metro area. We had business in the area and decided to spend time until dinner to have dinner at Golden Corral.
We had been to the Golden Corral in Whitehall, PA for dinner not too long ago. That was nice! Our experiences there have been consistently good. The price for dinner there was $13.99 - less for Seniors. We walked into the Golden Corral in Freehold and the price for adults was $15.99 with a Senior price of $14.99!!! This was not on the weekend. This was a Wednesday night! This Golden Corral has always been more expensive - but never this high! Drinks are almost $3.00. This is now quite an expensive meal with nothing really different from what they have ever served before.
I like Golden Corral, in general, for the steak. It is the best of the buffet steak - thick sirloin - and when there is a grill chef who knows what he is doing will cook to order as you request - and you get your piece of the steak the way you want it. The grill chef on this night at the New Jersey Golden Corral was one I have seen there before. I like my steak rare - not raw - but red inside and crispy cooked outside - and often I get it this way just by asking for rare. I asked for a rare steak. He took one off the side of the grill from a pile of steaks and started cooking it again - OK - he was going to heat it back up (I guess). He cut a piece off the steak - did not show it to me - as they usually do - and put it on my plate. It is best described as medium/well. Tasty? Yes. Grizzly? No. Overdone? Yes - for me.
We start our meals with soup and we both like the chicken noodle soup that Golden Corral serves. Unlike other chicken noodle soups the noodles are thick and doughy - great. The soup has pieces of chicken, carrots, and celery in a nice chicken broth - USUALLY. This chicken noodle soup tasted like someone in the kitchen dropped a full container of salt into the chicken noodle soup. It really was beyond edible for the salt. This is not usual in our experience with this soup - there or in other Golden Corrals.
My wife likes meatloaf - as do I. She likes brown gravy meatloaf - as opposed to tomato sauce/ketchup covered meatloaf. On this night it was brown gravy meatloaf - burned on the top. We both took some. This too was so salty it was hard to eat it. My wife says that the next tray they brought out - which was not burned on top - and she took some - was not salty. So what happened to that first one? Not good!
There are special features on the menu this month - the one most intriguing on the television commercial is Slow Smoked Sirloin. On the commercial this looks like steak. In photo ads it looks like sliced sirloin. In each ad, it is pink and juicy looking - nicely pink and juicy looking! When I saw this I knew I had to get to a Golden Corral to try this - and was looking forward to this when we came in that night. it was on the side of the grill counter - a large blackened chunk of beef to be sliced by one of the grill people. I went up for a piece and eventually someone came over to slice it - they had been slicing in advance before I came up. He sliced off about an inch thick slab of grey meat with a thick crust and a small pink ring around the edge under the crust. I figure that was the "smoke ring" and the crust was the "bark" - all smoked BBQ terms. The nice pink and juicy smoked sirloin was just on the commercial and the photo ads. This was more pot roast than anything else. It was tender - at least while it remained hot. As I was getting to the end of the piece (reluctantly) it was fast becoming tough and not chewable. There was a seasoning on the outside - and on the meat - that was a bit overwhelming - and not good. I did not finish the piece I was given. I just could not eat any more of it. Is this representative of this entree in all Golden Corral's - I hope not - but maybe it is. I regretted not taking another piece of steak instead of this not good featured slow smoked sirloin.
The other features are Peel and Eat Shrimp, Golden Fried Shrimp, and Cajun Shrimp Boil. Of these I only saw the peel and eat shrimp and that was on the side of the salad bar. My wife missed that completely and when I told her about it she thought I was talking about the tiny boiled shrimp that are always on their salad bar. The other two - ? - if they were there they were not obvious, but I was not looking for them.
Between the too much salt and the price and the not so properly cooked steak and the not so good slow smoked sirloin this was one of those better not happen too often OFF nights at Golden Corral, Freehold, New Jersey.
My wife was even more unhappy because for some reason they need to pour a thick butterish oil over the cornbread and rolls and soak it in - making that not very appealing. it is not butter - and there is plenty of butter available to put your own butter on the rolls and the cornbread.
Dessert - the selection is limited - and my wife likes to take the apple cobbler and put the vanilla soft-serve over it - which she says has been good at other Golden Corrals - and even at this one in the past. The apple cobbler was fine but the soft-serve machine was putting out white ice and not vanilla soft-serve ice cream. I had a small cube of chocolate frosted chocolate sheet cake - which was just OK.
Service here - in our experience - has mostly been good and it was good on this night. The server went out of his way to keep checking in with us and while it took him a little while to get to our table when we first sat down, he was good during the meal. He also was covering too many tables and was constantly carrying more stacks of dishes than he should be expected to. Another server was needed in this section. Many were not tipping him. I did - as always.
Cleanliness was just OK. There were too many dirty plates coming off the clean stack and when you pick you a plate check the top and bottom of that plate and the bottom of the plate that was under it. Since plates are now out to take (and not brought to your table by your server as they were at Golden Corral in the past) there is a problem with finding a clean plate.
Will this be the last time we go to this Golden Corral? No, it won't be. We will go back again as the next time could be very good. Why was this time like this - there really is no explanation or excuse. It was not crowded. We did not arrive late - in fact we were earlier than we usually are at most buffets - just after 6 pm. The price, however, will be a concern. For the cost of this dinner for two I could go to a non-buffet steak chain and save the gas and tolls.
Do I caution those who have never been there from going? Yes. Expect that it could be great or a bumpy meal! But do definitely expect it to cost a lot.
Showing posts with label pricing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pricing. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Friday, July 29, 2016
Premium Weekends at Golden Corral
Early in 2016 Golden Corral instituted a new "promotional feature" - an increase in price to $13.99 on dinner from Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday all day. This promo actually ended and prices went back to usual but then recently it was brought back. For the additional cost you get "Prime Rib", teriyaki steak, and fried butterfly shrimp. If you happen to unfortunately be in a Golden Corral that already has a $13.99 dinner price all of the time, your special promotional price is $14.99. On top of these prices you pay for your soft drink at well over $2.00. So your "affordable" buffet dinner with soft drink becomes over $16.50 or $17.50 each. Add sales tax and tip and you are paying a lot for a dinner for two or more. Does this seem like a feature to promote? It does not to me.
I have been to Golden Corral's twice on a weekend night for this promo and just my luck both were the already $13.99 priced Golden Corrals. I wish that I could say that the addition of Prime Rib makes this "premium" price worth while, but I have to report that what they are presenting as "Prime Rib" is far from it. My first premium meal was at a Golden Corral that has been marginal in my past experiences there and I thought that perhaps it was just at that particular Golden Corral. The Prime Rib there was 90% fat with barely any edible meat on the slice and in between the fat was grizzle. This is not Prime Rib - a poor cut of roast beef perhaps, but not Prime Rib.
The second Golden Corral that I went to on a weekend night was in a different state. I was hopeful that this experience with the Premium weekend price dinner would be better - it was a better Golden Corral in general and one I had dined in before. I cringed when I paid over $35 at the register for two. I looked at the Prime Rib at the counter and was uncertain if I was even going to try it again. I started with a steak - and steak at many Golden Corrals is done well (depending on who is cooking at the grill). The steak was good. I was going back for another when I decided that I would try the Prime Rib at this Golden Corral. The carver sliced off a thin slice - not much thicker than a slice of roast beef - and put it on my plate. No fat- good sign. When I sat down and went to cut off a piece to eat, it was hard cutting with the steak knife that had no problem shortly before with the thick cut of steak that I just had. I put it in my mouth and I could not chew it. Tough is too mild a term for this meat. I made an attempt but again, it could not be chewed. I tried cutting into another part of the slice - no better. I was able to get a few bits of meat that could be chewed and go down. IT was not tasty and overall again, this was not Prime Rib.
At this Golden Corral I get to try the teriyaki steak. It was pretty much the regular Golden Corral steak pre-grilled and put out on the buffet server. This particular piece was red rare - just like I like my steak - but others passed it by as not cooked enough. The teriyaki sauce was not overly sweet and the steak was good. Did the teriyaki sauce and not being cooked to order as the regular steaks are justify an additional dollar for the meal? Of course not.
My wife did have the fried butterfly shrimp - as she was going to try to get our money's worth out of her dinner - and she said that they were OK but no better or different from the fried shrimp served frequently at Old Country Buffet - at the regular dinner price. She was annoyed that several of the usual dishes that she often eats when we are at a Golden Corral were not being served as their place on the buffet now had the Prime Rib, the teriyaki steak, and the fried shrimp.
Overall - Premium Weekends at Golden Corral - big FAIL! As my readers should know by now that I very much like Golden Corral. I look forward to dining at a Golden Corral when I am somewhere near one. They have had some odd promotional features in the past - this one is one of the worst - and that is accentuated by the increase in price for something that is not what it is presented to be. So - Golden Corral, go back to regular price weekends - forget the not quite Prime Rib - move on to a real promotional feature at regular price or just stick with your regular menu as it is really good on its own.
I have been to Golden Corral's twice on a weekend night for this promo and just my luck both were the already $13.99 priced Golden Corrals. I wish that I could say that the addition of Prime Rib makes this "premium" price worth while, but I have to report that what they are presenting as "Prime Rib" is far from it. My first premium meal was at a Golden Corral that has been marginal in my past experiences there and I thought that perhaps it was just at that particular Golden Corral. The Prime Rib there was 90% fat with barely any edible meat on the slice and in between the fat was grizzle. This is not Prime Rib - a poor cut of roast beef perhaps, but not Prime Rib.
The second Golden Corral that I went to on a weekend night was in a different state. I was hopeful that this experience with the Premium weekend price dinner would be better - it was a better Golden Corral in general and one I had dined in before. I cringed when I paid over $35 at the register for two. I looked at the Prime Rib at the counter and was uncertain if I was even going to try it again. I started with a steak - and steak at many Golden Corrals is done well (depending on who is cooking at the grill). The steak was good. I was going back for another when I decided that I would try the Prime Rib at this Golden Corral. The carver sliced off a thin slice - not much thicker than a slice of roast beef - and put it on my plate. No fat- good sign. When I sat down and went to cut off a piece to eat, it was hard cutting with the steak knife that had no problem shortly before with the thick cut of steak that I just had. I put it in my mouth and I could not chew it. Tough is too mild a term for this meat. I made an attempt but again, it could not be chewed. I tried cutting into another part of the slice - no better. I was able to get a few bits of meat that could be chewed and go down. IT was not tasty and overall again, this was not Prime Rib.
At this Golden Corral I get to try the teriyaki steak. It was pretty much the regular Golden Corral steak pre-grilled and put out on the buffet server. This particular piece was red rare - just like I like my steak - but others passed it by as not cooked enough. The teriyaki sauce was not overly sweet and the steak was good. Did the teriyaki sauce and not being cooked to order as the regular steaks are justify an additional dollar for the meal? Of course not.
My wife did have the fried butterfly shrimp - as she was going to try to get our money's worth out of her dinner - and she said that they were OK but no better or different from the fried shrimp served frequently at Old Country Buffet - at the regular dinner price. She was annoyed that several of the usual dishes that she often eats when we are at a Golden Corral were not being served as their place on the buffet now had the Prime Rib, the teriyaki steak, and the fried shrimp.
Overall - Premium Weekends at Golden Corral - big FAIL! As my readers should know by now that I very much like Golden Corral. I look forward to dining at a Golden Corral when I am somewhere near one. They have had some odd promotional features in the past - this one is one of the worst - and that is accentuated by the increase in price for something that is not what it is presented to be. So - Golden Corral, go back to regular price weekends - forget the not quite Prime Rib - move on to a real promotional feature at regular price or just stick with your regular menu as it is really good on its own.
Friday, May 08, 2015
Golden Corral, Freehold, NJ - Revisited
In December 2014, I wrote about the new Golden Corral located in Freehold, New Jersey. This is the closest Golden Corral location to the Metro NY area. Our experience there was not the greatest and if this was a first time to any Golden Corral I likely not go back. We found ourselves in that area in April and other than Asian buffets, there are no other buffets in this area. I thought that despite that first visit, we would go back again and see if things were the same or if they have improved.
We were there again on a Saturday night and when we arrived at 6:45 pm for dinner there was - again - a line out the door. We waited about fifteen minutes to get in and up to the cashier. We were seated about five minutes later. The restaurant was crowded but the crowd did not seem as maddening as it had the first time that we were there. In December I talked about the price at this Golden Corral being more expensive than other Golden Corrals that we have been to and they have raised that price. The weekend dinner price is now $13.99 with another $2.29 added to that if you want a beverage. The weekend dinner is called "Premium" but like the first time there it is "premium" only in price. What is on the buffet is exactly the same as is there at any other Golden Corral on any night. There was a sign advertising Mother's Day dinner for $14.99 - plus the price of the beverage which would make this buffet dinner for Mom $17.28 plus tax and tip. That is a lot for a meal at Golden Corral. (As an aside, OCB's local price of $13.99 includes the beverage and their Mother's Day meal is also $14.99 but includes the beverage - and OCB has a current coupon for $2.00 of Mom's dinner on Mother's Day.) This Golden Corral remains the most expensive Golden Corral that we are aware of.
The current feature was (perhaps still is if you are reading this currently) baby back ribs made with a variety of KC Masterpiece BBQ sauces. One sauce is daily after 4 and after 11 am on Sundays. I tried the ribs with the basic sauce. The other ribs that were out had chipotle sauce. These were the only two being served that night. I found the ribs to be dry and not as good as I had hoped that they would be. I have had Golden Corral baby back ribs before and they have never really been very special. Since this was a big feature with a promotion for the BBQ sauce, I had hoped that they would be better. The ribs, however, were popular and they were carving ribs all night. These ribs were served at the carving station, about three ribs at a time.
I have not had a decent steak in a long time and I like Golden Corral steak. I decided pretty much going in that it was the steak that I was there for and this is what I mainly would have - and I did. All together I went up three times for steak - now if you wonder how or why anyone would eat three steaks in one meal, understand these are not full steaks but are about three or so inches around in size and about an inch or less thick. The three steaks together were the equivalent of one full steak. The first two that I had were very good. The gentleman cooking and serving steaks at that time new exactly what he was doing and knew what a rare steak looks like before he serves it. I like steak that is rare in the middle and charged on the outside and those steaks were just this way (with the first one perfect and the second close to perfect. This was what led me back for the third and perhaps I should have stopped at those two. When I went up, the same chef was there and I asked for a steak rare and he told me that all of the steaks had to go just a little longer and he then walked away. He did not come back. A while later another chef came up and started asking those standing there all over again. I asked him for a steak rare and what I got was a steak medium well - which he did not recognize even after he cut into it before serving it to make sure it was rare. Well, he made sure it was medium well and that is what I got. The steak was still tasty. The Golden Corral steaks are seasoned and they do tend to be slightly on the salty side - which some would not like but I don't mind as long as it is not overly salty.
My picky eater wife found more choices here than she did the last time we were here and she did not wind up eating the cold salad chicken from the salad bar for the entire meal. She had meatload which she said - this time - was good. She also had a piece of the rotisserie chicken which she usually does not take but this time was not dripping with grease and was not seasoned, as it had been before. I was actually surprised at the variety she found for herself.
As trays emptied they were being replaced - though not always with the same thing. The dessert section was fairly well stocked and the bread pudding is still the best dessert there - which I indulged in though I am not supposed to.
Our server was a "serving trainer" and she was good. She was attentive to our table despite the crowd and she made sure our used plates were taken away and our drinks were refilled. She was one of the better servers that we have had at a Golden Corral.
The buffet was crowded but getting around the buffet and to the serving counters was manageable. The continuing problem that occurs in many Golden Corrals - especially ones where people have never been to a buffet before - is that people think that they are at a cafeteria and insist on starting a line at one end of the long winding counter and moving along. We heard one woman at a table nearby ask the server for a tray so that she could get on the line. A buffet is not a cafeteria and you go up to whatever tray you want, wait politely for the person there to take what they want, and then you take some. This cafeteria mentality is what results in plates piled so high that one cannot recognize what is at the bottom with the entire meal layered over it! I just go up and go to what I want. I am not walking the entire buffet to get what I want that is at the other end of the room.
We had anticipated another disappointing experience but had quite the opposite. We were both complimentary of the meal and the restaurant when we were finished. The wait outside to get in seems like it will never go away. I am curious if this also happens on weeknights.
So, other than the price, if you are in or near Freehold, New Jersey this Golden Corral is worth a try. This Golden Corral is located at 3520 US Highway 9 in Freehold, New Jersey 07728. The phone number is 732-400-8600.
We were there again on a Saturday night and when we arrived at 6:45 pm for dinner there was - again - a line out the door. We waited about fifteen minutes to get in and up to the cashier. We were seated about five minutes later. The restaurant was crowded but the crowd did not seem as maddening as it had the first time that we were there. In December I talked about the price at this Golden Corral being more expensive than other Golden Corrals that we have been to and they have raised that price. The weekend dinner price is now $13.99 with another $2.29 added to that if you want a beverage. The weekend dinner is called "Premium" but like the first time there it is "premium" only in price. What is on the buffet is exactly the same as is there at any other Golden Corral on any night. There was a sign advertising Mother's Day dinner for $14.99 - plus the price of the beverage which would make this buffet dinner for Mom $17.28 plus tax and tip. That is a lot for a meal at Golden Corral. (As an aside, OCB's local price of $13.99 includes the beverage and their Mother's Day meal is also $14.99 but includes the beverage - and OCB has a current coupon for $2.00 of Mom's dinner on Mother's Day.) This Golden Corral remains the most expensive Golden Corral that we are aware of.
The current feature was (perhaps still is if you are reading this currently) baby back ribs made with a variety of KC Masterpiece BBQ sauces. One sauce is daily after 4 and after 11 am on Sundays. I tried the ribs with the basic sauce. The other ribs that were out had chipotle sauce. These were the only two being served that night. I found the ribs to be dry and not as good as I had hoped that they would be. I have had Golden Corral baby back ribs before and they have never really been very special. Since this was a big feature with a promotion for the BBQ sauce, I had hoped that they would be better. The ribs, however, were popular and they were carving ribs all night. These ribs were served at the carving station, about three ribs at a time.
I have not had a decent steak in a long time and I like Golden Corral steak. I decided pretty much going in that it was the steak that I was there for and this is what I mainly would have - and I did. All together I went up three times for steak - now if you wonder how or why anyone would eat three steaks in one meal, understand these are not full steaks but are about three or so inches around in size and about an inch or less thick. The three steaks together were the equivalent of one full steak. The first two that I had were very good. The gentleman cooking and serving steaks at that time new exactly what he was doing and knew what a rare steak looks like before he serves it. I like steak that is rare in the middle and charged on the outside and those steaks were just this way (with the first one perfect and the second close to perfect. This was what led me back for the third and perhaps I should have stopped at those two. When I went up, the same chef was there and I asked for a steak rare and he told me that all of the steaks had to go just a little longer and he then walked away. He did not come back. A while later another chef came up and started asking those standing there all over again. I asked him for a steak rare and what I got was a steak medium well - which he did not recognize even after he cut into it before serving it to make sure it was rare. Well, he made sure it was medium well and that is what I got. The steak was still tasty. The Golden Corral steaks are seasoned and they do tend to be slightly on the salty side - which some would not like but I don't mind as long as it is not overly salty.
My picky eater wife found more choices here than she did the last time we were here and she did not wind up eating the cold salad chicken from the salad bar for the entire meal. She had meatload which she said - this time - was good. She also had a piece of the rotisserie chicken which she usually does not take but this time was not dripping with grease and was not seasoned, as it had been before. I was actually surprised at the variety she found for herself.
As trays emptied they were being replaced - though not always with the same thing. The dessert section was fairly well stocked and the bread pudding is still the best dessert there - which I indulged in though I am not supposed to.
Our server was a "serving trainer" and she was good. She was attentive to our table despite the crowd and she made sure our used plates were taken away and our drinks were refilled. She was one of the better servers that we have had at a Golden Corral.
The buffet was crowded but getting around the buffet and to the serving counters was manageable. The continuing problem that occurs in many Golden Corrals - especially ones where people have never been to a buffet before - is that people think that they are at a cafeteria and insist on starting a line at one end of the long winding counter and moving along. We heard one woman at a table nearby ask the server for a tray so that she could get on the line. A buffet is not a cafeteria and you go up to whatever tray you want, wait politely for the person there to take what they want, and then you take some. This cafeteria mentality is what results in plates piled so high that one cannot recognize what is at the bottom with the entire meal layered over it! I just go up and go to what I want. I am not walking the entire buffet to get what I want that is at the other end of the room.
We had anticipated another disappointing experience but had quite the opposite. We were both complimentary of the meal and the restaurant when we were finished. The wait outside to get in seems like it will never go away. I am curious if this also happens on weeknights.
So, other than the price, if you are in or near Freehold, New Jersey this Golden Corral is worth a try. This Golden Corral is located at 3520 US Highway 9 in Freehold, New Jersey 07728. The phone number is 732-400-8600.
Friday, March 27, 2015
What the Heck is Going on With Old Country Buffet?!?
There have been some big changes at Old Country Buffet over the past six months - perhaps longer in other areas of the country - and not for the better. I am not talking about any particular Old Country Buffet location but with the chain as a whole. I am talking about the change in menu and how some foods are not being served.
To start - and certainly, no surprise to anyone that regularly goes to an Old Country Buffet or has been to one since this past summer - there is no longer steak served. Steak was a regular feature every night - as it is (was?) at Ryans and as it is at Golden Corral. Now, I was never a big fan of OCB steak as in all of the OCBs that I have been to it was cooked on a grill in the kitchen and brought out to a steam table where it sat until each steak was carved and served. I know that there are OCB's with grills right out at the carving area and steaks are cooked to order, but that was not chain-wide. Well, it does not matter any more as steak every night - or any night - is gone.
In the place of steak, in the two OCBs that are local enough for me to go to, a buffet table was partially covered with a flat heat tray and little pots of meat - sometimes steak sitting on one type of potatoes or another are laid out. As it turned out these pots change every couple of months to what they are calling new features. So there has been pulled pork barbecue sitting on potatoes, pot roast - the same that used to be served on the buffet, chili, a variety of little pieces of steak seasoned in various ways and always overwhelmed by most of the little pot filled with potatoes. Then there has been just mashed potatoes with a little cheese and bacon bits put on top, and little pots of macaroni and cheese with bacon bits put on top. Why? And I have to say that these pots of food are the most unappetizing looking foods that I have ever seen. I have heard more than one guest say what I thought the first time I saw this - "Little pots of dog food!" The best of all of these little pots has been chicken pot pie which is actually very good and looks good too - covered with a pie crust. Unfortunately when you get under that crust you will find a few small cubes of chicken with a few small carrot squares, a few pieces of potato, and peas. It does taste good but this particular pot is popular and disappears as soon as it comes out and there is a long wait for more to come.
These little pots work to make a long standing problem at OCBs (almost all from what I hear from various employees and managers who write to us) even worse - taking an already occupied employee away from the buffet (sometimes even the person carving) and into the kitchen, not only to get these pots and bring them out, but also to assemble them. So with this each buffet is minus one employee needed at the buffet.
And the little pots are not just for the hot foods. They have found their way to the dessert area. Instead of a tray of bread pudding, there are now little pots of bread pudding. Instead of a tray of fruit cobbler, little pots of fruit cobbler. Instead of a tray of chocolate cake with fudge sauce, now a little pot of chocolate cake with fudge sauce. Often these are too hot to each and very much too hot to pick up and put on a plate to take to your table.
The benefit of a buffet is not only that you can eat all that you care to eat, but you can also eat as little of something that you would like to eat. Perhaps you might like to take a little pulled port to try it - you have to now take the whole pot. Perhaps you would like just a small treat of bread pudding or cobbler - now you have to take a whole pot of it. Then there is the waste - and I ma just as guilty of this as everyone else. I want to eat just so much of potatoes. I don't want to have to eat a pot of potatoes each time I take a little pot just to eat the meat. So I eat the meat and leave the potatoes to be taken away to the garbage. I felt like a couple of spoons of bread pudding and before I would have taken just that - a very small serving of bread pudding. Now I had to take the pot, eat the few spoons that I was allowing myself to have, and the rest was thrown out. I just don't get these little pots. The restaurants are told that this is how corporate wants it now and that is that.
The newest of the changes has been to the carvings and the two local OCBs now have areas set up away from the hot food buffet tables just for carvings - with a sign "Carvery" over it. Well in one this is the end of the dessert counter but that I guess makes sense to someone. The first time we encountered this we thought that they had eliminated carvings all together. It was not until well into the meal when we looked over toward the dessert area that we saw the sign and the carvings. And the carvings - there used to be ham and roast beef every night, but not any longer. Now there may be smoked sausage and what they call "chopped steak" that are thin hamburgers that are over cooked. There may also be turkey but no longer on Sundays are there the three - turkey, ham, and roast beef all together as there had been in the past. Then on some nights when there is smoked sausage (and I like smoked sausage) at the carving station, there has also been smoked sausage with sauerkraut and smoked sausage in barbecue sauce on the buffet table. How much smoked sausage should take up the buffet at one meal period? Certainly, not three kinds at once. One of the better things brought back - now as a carving though it is served in a tray on the buffet - are baby back ribs. Two summers ago, the OCB baby back ribs were terrific. They are not quite as good any longer - though it may just be that whoever is cooking them now here, does not know what to do with them.
Hopefully, the little pots will go the way of the stir fry - that was a failed and short lived idea of Corporate. The not so new anymore CEO either has poor advisers or bad ideas on his own.
My wife wondered if Corporate was looking to put themselves into bankruptcy again. We have seen people come in, look at what is on the buffet and walk out. We have seen people who have paid, come in and go back and ask for their money back. All within this period since this past summer. If you needed to find a way to lose business intentionally, what has been going on is it. We do not see the crowds that we saw on weekends at OCB that we saw just a year ago. Another problem now is also with a price for dinner of $13.99, it is just too much for many couples and families.
Well, I don't know what the heck is going on with Old Country Buffet now, but it is not good. If anyone on the "inside" wants to share it with us, please leave a comment. We have not been to a Ryan's since this started, so I don't know if this foolishness has extended to there - but I suspect it has.
To start - and certainly, no surprise to anyone that regularly goes to an Old Country Buffet or has been to one since this past summer - there is no longer steak served. Steak was a regular feature every night - as it is (was?) at Ryans and as it is at Golden Corral. Now, I was never a big fan of OCB steak as in all of the OCBs that I have been to it was cooked on a grill in the kitchen and brought out to a steam table where it sat until each steak was carved and served. I know that there are OCB's with grills right out at the carving area and steaks are cooked to order, but that was not chain-wide. Well, it does not matter any more as steak every night - or any night - is gone.
In the place of steak, in the two OCBs that are local enough for me to go to, a buffet table was partially covered with a flat heat tray and little pots of meat - sometimes steak sitting on one type of potatoes or another are laid out. As it turned out these pots change every couple of months to what they are calling new features. So there has been pulled pork barbecue sitting on potatoes, pot roast - the same that used to be served on the buffet, chili, a variety of little pieces of steak seasoned in various ways and always overwhelmed by most of the little pot filled with potatoes. Then there has been just mashed potatoes with a little cheese and bacon bits put on top, and little pots of macaroni and cheese with bacon bits put on top. Why? And I have to say that these pots of food are the most unappetizing looking foods that I have ever seen. I have heard more than one guest say what I thought the first time I saw this - "Little pots of dog food!" The best of all of these little pots has been chicken pot pie which is actually very good and looks good too - covered with a pie crust. Unfortunately when you get under that crust you will find a few small cubes of chicken with a few small carrot squares, a few pieces of potato, and peas. It does taste good but this particular pot is popular and disappears as soon as it comes out and there is a long wait for more to come.
These little pots work to make a long standing problem at OCBs (almost all from what I hear from various employees and managers who write to us) even worse - taking an already occupied employee away from the buffet (sometimes even the person carving) and into the kitchen, not only to get these pots and bring them out, but also to assemble them. So with this each buffet is minus one employee needed at the buffet.
And the little pots are not just for the hot foods. They have found their way to the dessert area. Instead of a tray of bread pudding, there are now little pots of bread pudding. Instead of a tray of fruit cobbler, little pots of fruit cobbler. Instead of a tray of chocolate cake with fudge sauce, now a little pot of chocolate cake with fudge sauce. Often these are too hot to each and very much too hot to pick up and put on a plate to take to your table.
The benefit of a buffet is not only that you can eat all that you care to eat, but you can also eat as little of something that you would like to eat. Perhaps you might like to take a little pulled port to try it - you have to now take the whole pot. Perhaps you would like just a small treat of bread pudding or cobbler - now you have to take a whole pot of it. Then there is the waste - and I ma just as guilty of this as everyone else. I want to eat just so much of potatoes. I don't want to have to eat a pot of potatoes each time I take a little pot just to eat the meat. So I eat the meat and leave the potatoes to be taken away to the garbage. I felt like a couple of spoons of bread pudding and before I would have taken just that - a very small serving of bread pudding. Now I had to take the pot, eat the few spoons that I was allowing myself to have, and the rest was thrown out. I just don't get these little pots. The restaurants are told that this is how corporate wants it now and that is that.
The newest of the changes has been to the carvings and the two local OCBs now have areas set up away from the hot food buffet tables just for carvings - with a sign "Carvery" over it. Well in one this is the end of the dessert counter but that I guess makes sense to someone. The first time we encountered this we thought that they had eliminated carvings all together. It was not until well into the meal when we looked over toward the dessert area that we saw the sign and the carvings. And the carvings - there used to be ham and roast beef every night, but not any longer. Now there may be smoked sausage and what they call "chopped steak" that are thin hamburgers that are over cooked. There may also be turkey but no longer on Sundays are there the three - turkey, ham, and roast beef all together as there had been in the past. Then on some nights when there is smoked sausage (and I like smoked sausage) at the carving station, there has also been smoked sausage with sauerkraut and smoked sausage in barbecue sauce on the buffet table. How much smoked sausage should take up the buffet at one meal period? Certainly, not three kinds at once. One of the better things brought back - now as a carving though it is served in a tray on the buffet - are baby back ribs. Two summers ago, the OCB baby back ribs were terrific. They are not quite as good any longer - though it may just be that whoever is cooking them now here, does not know what to do with them.
Hopefully, the little pots will go the way of the stir fry - that was a failed and short lived idea of Corporate. The not so new anymore CEO either has poor advisers or bad ideas on his own.
My wife wondered if Corporate was looking to put themselves into bankruptcy again. We have seen people come in, look at what is on the buffet and walk out. We have seen people who have paid, come in and go back and ask for their money back. All within this period since this past summer. If you needed to find a way to lose business intentionally, what has been going on is it. We do not see the crowds that we saw on weekends at OCB that we saw just a year ago. Another problem now is also with a price for dinner of $13.99, it is just too much for many couples and families.
Well, I don't know what the heck is going on with Old Country Buffet now, but it is not good. If anyone on the "inside" wants to share it with us, please leave a comment. We have not been to a Ryan's since this started, so I don't know if this foolishness has extended to there - but I suspect it has.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant and Smorgasbord, Bird-In-Hand, Pennsylvania
Less than a year ago we went back to Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant and Smorgasbord in Bird-In-Hand, Lancaster County, PA. We went then on a Wednesday night and I was impressed with the featured food for that night being very well prepared Pennsylvania Dutch favorites. I was also impressed that the price for this meal was $15.99 which included the beverage.
Fast forward to this year and we decide to go back to this buffet on a Wednesday night. We walk though the door, go up to the hostess counter and see a sign that dinner is now $19.99! Wow! One of the things that in the past had kept us infrequently going to this buffet was it's high price. At $15.99 the price last year had gone down. Now, at $19.99 it has soared back up. Even with the two dollar coupon compared to many of the buffets in this area, the price is high. Now, one can just walk right out the door again when seeing the high price and not feeling it is worth paying, but with Lancaster buffets, if you want to go then to another buffet, you had better gotten to the first one early. Buffet restaurants close here at 8:00 pm. We were set for a good buffet meal and we would not have made it any place else before it would have been too late to go in. We went on in.
The best thing at this restaurant in my opinion is the Chicken Corn Soup and they just about always serve this on the buffet. They make it very differently from other restaurants and in my opinion their thick and grainy version of this soup made of chicken and creamed corn is the best. It is not a thin chicken noodle soup with corn added that is served at the other restaurants in the area - whether buffets or menu restaurants. It is possible at this restaurant to have the soup and salad bar only. I still go for the full buffet - even though I could easily be happy with multiple bowls of this soup here. So, of course, my meal started with the chicken corn soup and my wife's meal started with the beef vegetable soup which is also very good.
The salad bar here is one full double sided buffet server with greens and salad toppings and prepared salads. At one time at this buffet the salad bar also had chicken salad or ham salad and then you actually could make a decent meal with just the soup and salad bar without the rest, but there are no meat salads now. The salad bar is good - not spectacular but decent as salad bars go.
The entrees and hot foods were some of the Pennsylvania Dutch specialties that I had a year back here and enjoyed so much then - but they were lacking some on this night. The Chicken Bot Bie was just OK. There were country sausages but when I cut into one, it did appear pink inside - a sign that the pork was not cooked through enough. I left that piece of sausage aside and the rest were better - but the sausage was lacking. Still good, but lacking. The Pork and Sauerkraut was good but not spectacular. I do like their turkey - which most people would probably not like. It is served - white meat and dark meat - cut up in a tray full of liquid. This keeps the turkey very moist and topped with gravy, if you choose to add it, this turkey is very good. They did have the turkey and I did have more than one serving.
There is a large dessert bar and one can order that alone. There are pies and cakes and puddings but, you know, we were in the mood for dessert and had trouble finding something - even with what was there - and some of what was there was the only piece left and was not replaced. There was a nice looking apple cake. We hesitated too long to take it and someone took it first while we were standing there deciding. It was not replaced. If you like whoopee pies - chocolate cake on top and bottom of thick, sweet whipped cream - they do have whoopee pies cut into pieces at the side of the dessert counter. There is soft serve ice cream and icees.
I remember - and wrote about - spectacular last year - and now, I was not feeling that. I have to wonder if that is because of the big price increase. I was feeling that night that it should have been better. Well, it always should be the best - and don't get me wrong, the food here is good but on this visit not memorable. Maybe the Amish cooks were off on this night? Who knows. Some restaurants do vary by who is cooking that night. I may be spoiled by finding the exceptional buffets in this area. And then again, if this one was spectacular we would have been going much more often over the years. There was a time that there were few buffets, more family style restaurants instead of buffets, and this one was one of our regular stops. That was long ago. We have been coming to this area for many, many years. It was also before this restaurant's owners built what seems now to be an empire. If you look on their website you will not only find this restaurant but also more than one hotel, a bakery complex, a campground, catering, and now dinner theater that uses this restaurant for the dinner and a stage auditorium on the lower level. And a lot of the focus in the restaurant - particularly the buffet - is on the theater guests. We did not leave hungry. There have been a few buffets that we have been to in our time that we did leave hungry. There is plenty of food here - it just should have been better than good.
Aside from the tourists who dine here - it is prominent on a major tourist route - Rt. 340 - there are many locals that do dine here - mostly from the menu that is an option if you don't wish the buffet or some members at your table do not want the buffet. They have no problem with the table mixing menu and buffet - just don't give buffet food to someone at your table who has ordered from the menu. This is a family restaurant - as are most of the restaurants in this area. It is not uncommon to be sitting next to a family of Amish or Mennonites at this restaurant. (Don't stare, be polite. This is there home and we are just visitors - perhaps more intruders.)
The price really got to me on this visit. I hope that they see a reason to put the price back down. As I say, they have done this before. Jack up the price, then the next year lower the price, and then jack it up again. There seems to be no pattern - it is not seasonal or holiday related. With the price back down, I would go back again. Is this the most expensive buffet in this area? No. I admit that Shady Maple has nights that are more than this in price - but Shady Maple includes the tax and tip in that price - and the drinks. Here you are adding the tax and tip on top of $19.99. Millers Smorgasbord is much more expensive - but I do not go there and you can look for my article as to why that is. Yes, there are coupons for Bird-In-Hand - only found in one tourist "magazine" that is free at most of the tourist sites - including the lobby of this restaurant and that will save you two dollars, but still it is expensive for what is here.
Should you not go here? I would not tell you not to go here but I will tell you that there is better for less money. If I had not place else that I was able to get to for whatever reason, I would go here. I put a lot on value - the value was missing the most at this price.
Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant is located at 2760 Old Philadelphia Pike, Bird-in-Hand, PA 17505. The phone number is 1-800-665-8780. There is a website located at the side of this page.The restaurant closes at 8:00 pm and is not open on Sundays. You will not be seated for the Smorgasbord after 7:30 pm.
Fast forward to this year and we decide to go back to this buffet on a Wednesday night. We walk though the door, go up to the hostess counter and see a sign that dinner is now $19.99! Wow! One of the things that in the past had kept us infrequently going to this buffet was it's high price. At $15.99 the price last year had gone down. Now, at $19.99 it has soared back up. Even with the two dollar coupon compared to many of the buffets in this area, the price is high. Now, one can just walk right out the door again when seeing the high price and not feeling it is worth paying, but with Lancaster buffets, if you want to go then to another buffet, you had better gotten to the first one early. Buffet restaurants close here at 8:00 pm. We were set for a good buffet meal and we would not have made it any place else before it would have been too late to go in. We went on in.
The best thing at this restaurant in my opinion is the Chicken Corn Soup and they just about always serve this on the buffet. They make it very differently from other restaurants and in my opinion their thick and grainy version of this soup made of chicken and creamed corn is the best. It is not a thin chicken noodle soup with corn added that is served at the other restaurants in the area - whether buffets or menu restaurants. It is possible at this restaurant to have the soup and salad bar only. I still go for the full buffet - even though I could easily be happy with multiple bowls of this soup here. So, of course, my meal started with the chicken corn soup and my wife's meal started with the beef vegetable soup which is also very good.
The salad bar here is one full double sided buffet server with greens and salad toppings and prepared salads. At one time at this buffet the salad bar also had chicken salad or ham salad and then you actually could make a decent meal with just the soup and salad bar without the rest, but there are no meat salads now. The salad bar is good - not spectacular but decent as salad bars go.
The entrees and hot foods were some of the Pennsylvania Dutch specialties that I had a year back here and enjoyed so much then - but they were lacking some on this night. The Chicken Bot Bie was just OK. There were country sausages but when I cut into one, it did appear pink inside - a sign that the pork was not cooked through enough. I left that piece of sausage aside and the rest were better - but the sausage was lacking. Still good, but lacking. The Pork and Sauerkraut was good but not spectacular. I do like their turkey - which most people would probably not like. It is served - white meat and dark meat - cut up in a tray full of liquid. This keeps the turkey very moist and topped with gravy, if you choose to add it, this turkey is very good. They did have the turkey and I did have more than one serving.
There is a large dessert bar and one can order that alone. There are pies and cakes and puddings but, you know, we were in the mood for dessert and had trouble finding something - even with what was there - and some of what was there was the only piece left and was not replaced. There was a nice looking apple cake. We hesitated too long to take it and someone took it first while we were standing there deciding. It was not replaced. If you like whoopee pies - chocolate cake on top and bottom of thick, sweet whipped cream - they do have whoopee pies cut into pieces at the side of the dessert counter. There is soft serve ice cream and icees.
I remember - and wrote about - spectacular last year - and now, I was not feeling that. I have to wonder if that is because of the big price increase. I was feeling that night that it should have been better. Well, it always should be the best - and don't get me wrong, the food here is good but on this visit not memorable. Maybe the Amish cooks were off on this night? Who knows. Some restaurants do vary by who is cooking that night. I may be spoiled by finding the exceptional buffets in this area. And then again, if this one was spectacular we would have been going much more often over the years. There was a time that there were few buffets, more family style restaurants instead of buffets, and this one was one of our regular stops. That was long ago. We have been coming to this area for many, many years. It was also before this restaurant's owners built what seems now to be an empire. If you look on their website you will not only find this restaurant but also more than one hotel, a bakery complex, a campground, catering, and now dinner theater that uses this restaurant for the dinner and a stage auditorium on the lower level. And a lot of the focus in the restaurant - particularly the buffet - is on the theater guests. We did not leave hungry. There have been a few buffets that we have been to in our time that we did leave hungry. There is plenty of food here - it just should have been better than good.
Aside from the tourists who dine here - it is prominent on a major tourist route - Rt. 340 - there are many locals that do dine here - mostly from the menu that is an option if you don't wish the buffet or some members at your table do not want the buffet. They have no problem with the table mixing menu and buffet - just don't give buffet food to someone at your table who has ordered from the menu. This is a family restaurant - as are most of the restaurants in this area. It is not uncommon to be sitting next to a family of Amish or Mennonites at this restaurant. (Don't stare, be polite. This is there home and we are just visitors - perhaps more intruders.)
The price really got to me on this visit. I hope that they see a reason to put the price back down. As I say, they have done this before. Jack up the price, then the next year lower the price, and then jack it up again. There seems to be no pattern - it is not seasonal or holiday related. With the price back down, I would go back again. Is this the most expensive buffet in this area? No. I admit that Shady Maple has nights that are more than this in price - but Shady Maple includes the tax and tip in that price - and the drinks. Here you are adding the tax and tip on top of $19.99. Millers Smorgasbord is much more expensive - but I do not go there and you can look for my article as to why that is. Yes, there are coupons for Bird-In-Hand - only found in one tourist "magazine" that is free at most of the tourist sites - including the lobby of this restaurant and that will save you two dollars, but still it is expensive for what is here.
Should you not go here? I would not tell you not to go here but I will tell you that there is better for less money. If I had not place else that I was able to get to for whatever reason, I would go here. I put a lot on value - the value was missing the most at this price.
Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant is located at 2760 Old Philadelphia Pike, Bird-in-Hand, PA 17505. The phone number is 1-800-665-8780. There is a website located at the side of this page.The restaurant closes at 8:00 pm and is not open on Sundays. You will not be seated for the Smorgasbord after 7:30 pm.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Drinks Now Back to Being Included at Old Country Buffet
This article is timely and I am putting it in right now in the middle of the two week span of articles. We received an email yesterday that soft drinks were back to being included in the meal price at OCB. The claim is that We listened to you and you want this! in so many words. We went tonight to see if my suspicions were correct about this. We walked in and yes, there is a sign that drinks are now included - and then I looked at the dinner price on the board at the register and the price was increased by more than two dollars and the senior price was increased even more as it is less of a discount now that it was two weeks ago when we were there last. Dinner at OCB for the two of us - with DRINKS INCLUDED - was $30! That does not include the tip I left for the server. She is good and there is no reason to take this out on her. It does include sales tax. Price here now for dinner at OCB is $13.99! Senior price is $13.49. And if you don't want the beverage - many did not spend the two plus dollars on the soda before because it made the price too high - too bad! There is no option any longer.
Right before the soda stopped being included in the price at OCB they raised the dinner price. Then they dropped the soda out - and, of course, did not lower the price. Now, the soda is back in the price and the price went up a little more than the price of the soda that one paid a week ago. It was not surprising that on a summer Sunday evening when this OCB is usually packed with a line to the door, there was no line and the dining room was noticeably empty. For many, $13.99 is just too much to pay at OCB - especially for a family with kids (the kid's price went up too). This increase is going to hurt this OCB location even more as there are three big chain restaurants about to open in the parking lot of this shopping mall - and compared to OCB for the same money people will be going to those restaurants instead.
I recently got an email survey from OCB that was focused on OCB seeing their competition as chain restaurants such as Applebees, Olive Garden, Fridays, etc. It surprised me to see that OCB was focusing on these and not Golden Corral and other buffet chains. And then in this survey they wanted to know if OCB would be more attractive to coming to IF they offered some special pay extra additions to the buffet! I could not believe this - and even more so now with this price increase! The survey went on to say that a new promotion WILL BE coming soon that offers a "Special Premium Steak" for an extra charge - one steak - not unlimited "special premium steak"! "Would you be more likely to go to OCB for this feature?" they asked - NO! I answered. They have got to be kidding! First they are all but admitting that the current steak is inedible which in the way it is cooked and allowed to sit in a steam pan until served more than well done it is, and then in expecting us to believe that this special premium steak is going to be prepared properly - which here in the two local OCBs and most of the others that I have been to - it won't be. So is the new over priced dinner at OCB another step toward self-belief by Ovation Brands that they are just like Applebees, Olive Garden, etc.?
I also have to comment about another change at the OCB that we go to that we discovered tonight. Part of the carving buffet server has been tiled over where food serving trays once went. On this tile under heat lamps were small tin pans. One was "Steak Tips over Loaded Mashed Potatoes" and the other was "Pulled Pork BBQ over Cowboy Potatoes". You don't take what you want of what you want like the rest of the food at OCB, you take the pan. I had heard about this on discussions - negative discussions - on the OCB Facebook page. Our OCB has never served Pulled Pork BBQ before in any way, nor has it served steak tips. It seems that other OCBs in other parts of the country had served the pork - and served it like everything else. Now you get the potatoes and less than a spoonful of pork with too much spiced BBQ sauce covering it. I tried both pans. The steak was crunchy and charred, the loaded mashed potatoes had some bacon bits and shredded orange cheese sprinkled on top along with scallions- both pans were covered with scallions. I did not want the potatoes in either pan - I tasted them. They were OK but I did not want these potatoes. The potatoes in both pans had one taste and were taken away by the server to the trash. Really a terrible waste. I wanted Pork BBQ - not potatoes. Any other buffet, I would have taken the pork and decided on my own what potatoes to have - if any. The only acceptable thing about all of this was that the items that should have been where these are now were put in half trays and scattered around the buffet, resulting in some usual foods going missing. What is even more ridiculous is that the man who is carving is responsible - at least here - for going into the kitchen (leaving the carving to no one) to make more pans which were being taken and were gone no more than ten minutes after being put out.
Ovation Brands, someone in your offices is very miss-directed in what OCB - and I am sure Ryans, Hometown, and Fire Mountain - needs and you need to get people out into the restaurants and see (unknown to those working) what goes on day to day and how your "ideas" make things worse than better. Right here - three strikes for OCB! And no, I am not down on OCB. If you follow all of my articles you know that we go to OCB more than any other buffet - though at this change in price that may be changing. I am hoping for more coupons to start being emailed now to all to make up for this. We shall see...
And now back our every other week schedule and the next article will be this coming Friday...
Right before the soda stopped being included in the price at OCB they raised the dinner price. Then they dropped the soda out - and, of course, did not lower the price. Now, the soda is back in the price and the price went up a little more than the price of the soda that one paid a week ago. It was not surprising that on a summer Sunday evening when this OCB is usually packed with a line to the door, there was no line and the dining room was noticeably empty. For many, $13.99 is just too much to pay at OCB - especially for a family with kids (the kid's price went up too). This increase is going to hurt this OCB location even more as there are three big chain restaurants about to open in the parking lot of this shopping mall - and compared to OCB for the same money people will be going to those restaurants instead.
I recently got an email survey from OCB that was focused on OCB seeing their competition as chain restaurants such as Applebees, Olive Garden, Fridays, etc. It surprised me to see that OCB was focusing on these and not Golden Corral and other buffet chains. And then in this survey they wanted to know if OCB would be more attractive to coming to IF they offered some special pay extra additions to the buffet! I could not believe this - and even more so now with this price increase! The survey went on to say that a new promotion WILL BE coming soon that offers a "Special Premium Steak" for an extra charge - one steak - not unlimited "special premium steak"! "Would you be more likely to go to OCB for this feature?" they asked - NO! I answered. They have got to be kidding! First they are all but admitting that the current steak is inedible which in the way it is cooked and allowed to sit in a steam pan until served more than well done it is, and then in expecting us to believe that this special premium steak is going to be prepared properly - which here in the two local OCBs and most of the others that I have been to - it won't be. So is the new over priced dinner at OCB another step toward self-belief by Ovation Brands that they are just like Applebees, Olive Garden, etc.?
I also have to comment about another change at the OCB that we go to that we discovered tonight. Part of the carving buffet server has been tiled over where food serving trays once went. On this tile under heat lamps were small tin pans. One was "Steak Tips over Loaded Mashed Potatoes" and the other was "Pulled Pork BBQ over Cowboy Potatoes". You don't take what you want of what you want like the rest of the food at OCB, you take the pan. I had heard about this on discussions - negative discussions - on the OCB Facebook page. Our OCB has never served Pulled Pork BBQ before in any way, nor has it served steak tips. It seems that other OCBs in other parts of the country had served the pork - and served it like everything else. Now you get the potatoes and less than a spoonful of pork with too much spiced BBQ sauce covering it. I tried both pans. The steak was crunchy and charred, the loaded mashed potatoes had some bacon bits and shredded orange cheese sprinkled on top along with scallions- both pans were covered with scallions. I did not want the potatoes in either pan - I tasted them. They were OK but I did not want these potatoes. The potatoes in both pans had one taste and were taken away by the server to the trash. Really a terrible waste. I wanted Pork BBQ - not potatoes. Any other buffet, I would have taken the pork and decided on my own what potatoes to have - if any. The only acceptable thing about all of this was that the items that should have been where these are now were put in half trays and scattered around the buffet, resulting in some usual foods going missing. What is even more ridiculous is that the man who is carving is responsible - at least here - for going into the kitchen (leaving the carving to no one) to make more pans which were being taken and were gone no more than ten minutes after being put out.
Ovation Brands, someone in your offices is very miss-directed in what OCB - and I am sure Ryans, Hometown, and Fire Mountain - needs and you need to get people out into the restaurants and see (unknown to those working) what goes on day to day and how your "ideas" make things worse than better. Right here - three strikes for OCB! And no, I am not down on OCB. If you follow all of my articles you know that we go to OCB more than any other buffet - though at this change in price that may be changing. I am hoping for more coupons to start being emailed now to all to make up for this. We shall see...
And now back our every other week schedule and the next article will be this coming Friday...
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tipping at Buffets
Through observation I have found that many people at buffet restaurants do not leave a tip on their table when they leave. These are people that would not think twice about tipping the waitress at a menu restaurant, tipping a cab driver, or tipping the guy who wheels your suitcases up to your room at a hotel. For some reason they do not think that they should leave a tip at a buffet.
Some buffets add the tip to the bill automatically and usually that is around 12%. Our favorite buffet - Shady Maple - does this. When you pay for your meal in advance the tip is included. This is not only because you are paying in advance, but because they are making sure that their service staff are getting a tip.
Why don't people leave a tip at a buffet? The most common answer that I hear is that because you are serving yourself, why should you leave a tip for the person who is assigned to your table - "they are not doing anything".
Actually, the wait person at your table is doing a lot - and generally much more than the waiter or waitress at the menu restaurant. Not saying anything about the job of waiters and waitresses - as I know this can be a very hard job (according to Woody Allen it is the worst job in the world). However, where the waiter or waitress comes to your table to take your order and then comes back and serves the plates to your table, the service person for your table at the buffet must come to your table regularly and take away your empty plates. In many buffets that person also must come and check on your drinks and bring you refills when you want them. They are actually working for you a lot more - AS LONG AS THEY ARE DOING THEIR JOB.
Hey - why did you just say that? I want to make it very clear that tips should not be just expected. They are not a given. Though many just expect that they will be given the full tip no matter what the quality of the service. Your tip is supposed to be your reward to the server for good service. Unfortunately, restaurants including buffets have made tips a part of salary and pay a lower salary with the expectation that a more compensating salary will be reached with the addition of tips - and frankly, between you and me - this is not right. This has also led to pooling of tips so that an equal distribution of wages can be made to the employees - and for some this is necessary to bring them to or just above the minimum wage requirements. But still - if you feel that you did not receive good service - or service at the level that was expected by you - you should either not leave a tip or leave less of a tip. (I tend to leave less of a tip in these infrequent situations - to indicate that I did not "forget" to leave a tip, but I was not satisfied with the service that I received - and then also let a manager know how the service was.
So, how much of a tip should you leave at a buffet? This can vary by the type of buffet. If you are at a high end buffet - one at a fancy hotel or at a restaurant that is considered "a cut above" you might leave a higher percentage than you might at one of the chain buffets. Generally, 12% is a fair tip at most buffets. I take this number as it is the same percentage that is most often added on when the tip is included when you pay. At some buffets I leave a little less and at others I leave more. If I feel that the service was very good I leave more. And if I feel that the service was not good at all - well, I told you what I do then above.
Bottom line - you should be tipping the server at your table at a buffet. Whether that tip is pooled or not - and that, as I said, is generally what is going to happen, that server represented the others working there for that meal for you.
Some buffets add the tip to the bill automatically and usually that is around 12%. Our favorite buffet - Shady Maple - does this. When you pay for your meal in advance the tip is included. This is not only because you are paying in advance, but because they are making sure that their service staff are getting a tip.
Why don't people leave a tip at a buffet? The most common answer that I hear is that because you are serving yourself, why should you leave a tip for the person who is assigned to your table - "they are not doing anything".
Actually, the wait person at your table is doing a lot - and generally much more than the waiter or waitress at the menu restaurant. Not saying anything about the job of waiters and waitresses - as I know this can be a very hard job (according to Woody Allen it is the worst job in the world). However, where the waiter or waitress comes to your table to take your order and then comes back and serves the plates to your table, the service person for your table at the buffet must come to your table regularly and take away your empty plates. In many buffets that person also must come and check on your drinks and bring you refills when you want them. They are actually working for you a lot more - AS LONG AS THEY ARE DOING THEIR JOB.
Hey - why did you just say that? I want to make it very clear that tips should not be just expected. They are not a given. Though many just expect that they will be given the full tip no matter what the quality of the service. Your tip is supposed to be your reward to the server for good service. Unfortunately, restaurants including buffets have made tips a part of salary and pay a lower salary with the expectation that a more compensating salary will be reached with the addition of tips - and frankly, between you and me - this is not right. This has also led to pooling of tips so that an equal distribution of wages can be made to the employees - and for some this is necessary to bring them to or just above the minimum wage requirements. But still - if you feel that you did not receive good service - or service at the level that was expected by you - you should either not leave a tip or leave less of a tip. (I tend to leave less of a tip in these infrequent situations - to indicate that I did not "forget" to leave a tip, but I was not satisfied with the service that I received - and then also let a manager know how the service was.
So, how much of a tip should you leave at a buffet? This can vary by the type of buffet. If you are at a high end buffet - one at a fancy hotel or at a restaurant that is considered "a cut above" you might leave a higher percentage than you might at one of the chain buffets. Generally, 12% is a fair tip at most buffets. I take this number as it is the same percentage that is most often added on when the tip is included when you pay. At some buffets I leave a little less and at others I leave more. If I feel that the service was very good I leave more. And if I feel that the service was not good at all - well, I told you what I do then above.
Bottom line - you should be tipping the server at your table at a buffet. Whether that tip is pooled or not - and that, as I said, is generally what is going to happen, that server represented the others working there for that meal for you.
Friday, October 22, 2010
China Grand Buffet - Farmingdale, NY - Once More
Wow! I did not realize that it has been five years since I wrote about this buffet. China Grand Buffet is located in Farmingdale, New York. For a long time I was a weekly regular at this buffet. We would go just about every Friday night. We stopped going about two years ago when the prices went up higher than what this buffet was offering. It was hitting almost $16 an adult on the weekend for dinner and this was out of line with other local Chinese buffets. In addition, the selection of food on the buffet never changed, and frankly, I became very tired of the same things each time that we went. So we stopped going.
On a recent Saturday night we decided that we would go back and see if anything has changed. It was nice to find the price lower - now $14.99 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Weeknights are $12.99. Unfortunately, the food selection was pretty much as it had been. We could have just been there last week rather than almost two years ago. Compared to some other buffets that I have been to recently, this buffet was crowded and the dining room was full throughout the time that we were there.
The food is fine. There is nothing wrong with what is being served. But if you want to go several times to find a variety, you will not find anything different each time that you go (with the exception of some dishes missing on weeknights or at lunch). Not only is everything the same but it is in the same places on the buffet.
Service on this particular night was OK once it got started, but we were seated and it took at least ten minutes to be noticed for one of the servers to come over and take our drink orders. Drinks are unlimited but are not included in the price. Once we started eating, our plates were cleared and once one of the young ladies came over to ask if we wanted refills of our drinks. When we were done and ready to leave - just as when we came in -no one came by to give us our check. We had to flag down one of the ladies to get it. At times it seemed like our table was invisible to the table staff.
So what did we have. Soup selection is basic with one additional soup that is out of the ordinary - and on this visit that was chicken corn soup. Obviously, Chinese Chicken Corn Soup and not Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Corn Soup. (So - OK - this additional soup does change - well, at least it was not there two years ago.) The other soups are hot and sour, egg drop, and won ton. The hot and sour soup was not too hot and spicy and in my opinion that is a good thing. Some Chinese buffets put so much red pepper flakes in the hot and sour soup that it is inedible.
There is peel and eat shrimp, a small selection of sushi on rice and rolls, clams on the half shell and a variety of salads on the cold bar.
In hot foods there are a LOT of fried foods. Just about everywhere you look there is something that is fried . Fried shrimp, fried fish, fried crab claw, fried chicken, fried calamari, fried crab Rangoon, and on. They do a lot of frying. There are the usual egg rolls and summer rolls. There are three dumplings to choose from in steamers and also fried dumplings.
If you read my other articles about this buffet you are going to see mention of lobster. There is no more lobster on the buffet. This happened about three years ago when we were still going semi-regularly and just about when the price went up - price increase, lobster gone. There are still crab legs and they did refill the server several times with legs while we were there. These are small, separate legs and not full clusters. There is hot butter sauce near by the tray of crab legs.
The hot dishes are mostly the standards for Chinese buffets - chicken with broccoli, beef with peppers, General Tsao Chicken. There is also hot and spicy chicken, spicy tofu and vegetables, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed baked clams, a tray of baked salmon, crab (but not real crab) baked with cheese, sauteed string beans, bok choy, french fries, chicken on a stick, stuffed peppers, lo mein, mei fun, fried rice, white rice (no brown rice), sweet chicken meatballs, and other dishes.
Before and again this time, I take from different dishes and create my own - some chicken from the chicken and broccoli, some beef from the beef and peppers, both combined with string beans and bok choy. This buffet also still offers a grill station - like a Mongolian grill - in a window into a small cooking area, right to the side of the buffet tables. Then and now - this is open but no one ever seems to go and have anything cooked there. One problem perhaps is there is no one there to cook. There is a refrigerator case that has vegetables and meat, but the glass on the case is so fogged over that it is hard to tell what is in there - and everyone seems to ignore it. This actually would make this buffet more interesting as you could create anything that you desire. There is a counter bell to ring to get someone to cook. On this night someone asked one of the servers about it. The server brought her over to the window and showed her and then hit the bell - DING - and no one came out. I kept looking to see what would happen. When we left that night there was still nothing cooked on that grill. Despite large signs over the window - BUFFET INCLUDES GRILL - if you have to stand on your head to get someone to come out and cook, what good is it?
Dessert is the basic Chinese buffet Little Debbie cake assortment. There is also soft serve ice cream, fruit, pudding, and jello.
Now, this is very important. I eat at A LOT of Chinese and Asian buffets. Very rarely do I react to what we are going to guess is MSG in the food. Most use it, I am sure. It can give one sensitive to it a headache. I am mildly sensitive to it. But as I said, almost never have I had a headache at a Oriental buffet. Before I left this restaurant I had a walloping headache. Something - or everything - had to have had a heck of a lot of MSG in it.
Would I go back? Probably, but not right away. Would I recommend this buffet? Hmm. I want to say yes, but with note of everything that I have written in this article.
The China Grand Buffet is located in a strip mall shopping center next the Republic Airport in the Airport Plaza shopping center at 201 Airport Plaza Boulevard in Farmingdale, NY. It is just off of Route 110. There is a website and this is listed at the side of this page.
On a recent Saturday night we decided that we would go back and see if anything has changed. It was nice to find the price lower - now $14.99 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Weeknights are $12.99. Unfortunately, the food selection was pretty much as it had been. We could have just been there last week rather than almost two years ago. Compared to some other buffets that I have been to recently, this buffet was crowded and the dining room was full throughout the time that we were there.
The food is fine. There is nothing wrong with what is being served. But if you want to go several times to find a variety, you will not find anything different each time that you go (with the exception of some dishes missing on weeknights or at lunch). Not only is everything the same but it is in the same places on the buffet.
Service on this particular night was OK once it got started, but we were seated and it took at least ten minutes to be noticed for one of the servers to come over and take our drink orders. Drinks are unlimited but are not included in the price. Once we started eating, our plates were cleared and once one of the young ladies came over to ask if we wanted refills of our drinks. When we were done and ready to leave - just as when we came in -no one came by to give us our check. We had to flag down one of the ladies to get it. At times it seemed like our table was invisible to the table staff.
So what did we have. Soup selection is basic with one additional soup that is out of the ordinary - and on this visit that was chicken corn soup. Obviously, Chinese Chicken Corn Soup and not Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Corn Soup. (So - OK - this additional soup does change - well, at least it was not there two years ago.) The other soups are hot and sour, egg drop, and won ton. The hot and sour soup was not too hot and spicy and in my opinion that is a good thing. Some Chinese buffets put so much red pepper flakes in the hot and sour soup that it is inedible.
There is peel and eat shrimp, a small selection of sushi on rice and rolls, clams on the half shell and a variety of salads on the cold bar.
In hot foods there are a LOT of fried foods. Just about everywhere you look there is something that is fried . Fried shrimp, fried fish, fried crab claw, fried chicken, fried calamari, fried crab Rangoon, and on. They do a lot of frying. There are the usual egg rolls and summer rolls. There are three dumplings to choose from in steamers and also fried dumplings.
If you read my other articles about this buffet you are going to see mention of lobster. There is no more lobster on the buffet. This happened about three years ago when we were still going semi-regularly and just about when the price went up - price increase, lobster gone. There are still crab legs and they did refill the server several times with legs while we were there. These are small, separate legs and not full clusters. There is hot butter sauce near by the tray of crab legs.
The hot dishes are mostly the standards for Chinese buffets - chicken with broccoli, beef with peppers, General Tsao Chicken. There is also hot and spicy chicken, spicy tofu and vegetables, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed baked clams, a tray of baked salmon, crab (but not real crab) baked with cheese, sauteed string beans, bok choy, french fries, chicken on a stick, stuffed peppers, lo mein, mei fun, fried rice, white rice (no brown rice), sweet chicken meatballs, and other dishes.
Before and again this time, I take from different dishes and create my own - some chicken from the chicken and broccoli, some beef from the beef and peppers, both combined with string beans and bok choy. This buffet also still offers a grill station - like a Mongolian grill - in a window into a small cooking area, right to the side of the buffet tables. Then and now - this is open but no one ever seems to go and have anything cooked there. One problem perhaps is there is no one there to cook. There is a refrigerator case that has vegetables and meat, but the glass on the case is so fogged over that it is hard to tell what is in there - and everyone seems to ignore it. This actually would make this buffet more interesting as you could create anything that you desire. There is a counter bell to ring to get someone to cook. On this night someone asked one of the servers about it. The server brought her over to the window and showed her and then hit the bell - DING - and no one came out. I kept looking to see what would happen. When we left that night there was still nothing cooked on that grill. Despite large signs over the window - BUFFET INCLUDES GRILL - if you have to stand on your head to get someone to come out and cook, what good is it?
Dessert is the basic Chinese buffet Little Debbie cake assortment. There is also soft serve ice cream, fruit, pudding, and jello.
Now, this is very important. I eat at A LOT of Chinese and Asian buffets. Very rarely do I react to what we are going to guess is MSG in the food. Most use it, I am sure. It can give one sensitive to it a headache. I am mildly sensitive to it. But as I said, almost never have I had a headache at a Oriental buffet. Before I left this restaurant I had a walloping headache. Something - or everything - had to have had a heck of a lot of MSG in it.
Would I go back? Probably, but not right away. Would I recommend this buffet? Hmm. I want to say yes, but with note of everything that I have written in this article.
The China Grand Buffet is located in a strip mall shopping center next the Republic Airport in the Airport Plaza shopping center at 201 Airport Plaza Boulevard in Farmingdale, NY. It is just off of Route 110. There is a website and this is listed at the side of this page.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Not So Hot New Deal at Old Country Buffet
We had not been to the local OCB in a few weeks and when we went in there were signs at the entrance - one about lunch and one about dinner. These large bold signs said "New Price $10.99 for Dinner" and then at the bottom in much smaller writing it said "Beverage Bar NOT included". There was a similar sign for lunch at $7.99. As we went in and a long the line we came to another sign - order the "unlimited beverage bar - unlimited choices". There was NO price on that sign. Hmm. I was a bit annoyed. The lower price sounded good as the price here had come close to $13 on weeknights and over $13 on Friday and weekend nights. I immediately thought of the prices and the ads at Golden Corral - but those ads are for dinner under $10 so this was not quite as good. Of course, Golden Corral and Ryans have always priced the beverages separate from the meal and what set Old Country Buffet off was the inclusion of the beverages. Of course, my experience at OCB has been some nights all of the soda flavors are working on the machine, some nights the ice tea container has tea, and some nights there is no ice in the machine the entire night. So having the drinks included tended to be a bit better psychologically when you were not getting the drink you went up to get.
We were still on the line and real curious as to how this would work. How could they not charge everyone for the beverages automatically? Who was going to "police" this in the dining room? Certainly not the table cleaners who barely are around to take the dirty plates off the table. And still no sign with the price for the drinks.
We got up to the cashier and started looking for the price for the drinks. On the side wall in small print there it was - "Beverage Bar - $1.69". So, the illusion of a wonderful deal for dinner at $10.99 plus the $1.69 for the beverage brought the new price within ten cents of the old price. Weekends would be a savings of about 70 cents. But still how was this going to work?
We paid and instead of the familiar strip of color paper with the number of guests written on in crayon to put on your table to show that you both paid and the table is occupied we got a very large, full color printed half page stapled to our receipt that showed - still written in crayon - 2 dinners 2 beverages. And in two languages.
An interesting idea, but still who " is minding the mint" so to speak - who is watching that I paid and I am not taking beverages without paying. As we discovered, NO ONE.
This was something that was tried at OCB and failed with the just order the salad bar idea. No one was watching. We observed many order the salad bar and help themselves to the whole meal. I have even seen people order the take out container at the lower price for take out and then sit down at a table - with the container - and eat dinner and return back to the buffet servers for more - in the container! No, at least in this location, no one is minding the store.
Then, again, I have written about the Levittown, NY OCB before as the "worst OCB in the country" and despite a change in mangers who were actually pretty good for a while and then disappeared and now new managers who are as bad as the usual management that they get at this location this remains the "Worse OCB in the country". A bunch went on that night in addition to this new "deal". Here the meat carver (there is no grill here) is located at the end of a buffet server and from the start people would line up on both sides of the server to go up to the carver which correctly made for shorter lines. On this night the woman who was carving was only serving one side - and ignoring the other side. Since she did not speak or understand English the comments to her went acknowledged. When you got to the side she was serving the portions of meat that she was carving were hardly wait the wait. The pieces of steak were no larger than two inches square. In addition, no one explains to the people who refill the buffet trays with food that the Board of Health requires that you take the old food in the tray and transfer it to the top of the new tray of food - so that the bottom of the tray does not always remain with food that is not taken and increasingly getting older with each refill. NO here they just dump the new on top of the old.
Now, for those of you who are going to say - and I hear from many of you - why are you dumping on this particular restaurant? Well, I am not the only one who encounters what goes on here and I get more email and comments from readers who agree with everything I say about this particular OCB. And with this site - I am the one to speak out. And for those who say why do you go back there. It is the only game for many many miles and you can't eat Chinese Buffet all of the time - so I go back and keep hoping. Some nights I am pleasantly surprised and then there are nights like this one.
So don't be surprised if you go now to OCB and see the NEW LOW PRICE - but you know now that it really is not "low" at all!
We were still on the line and real curious as to how this would work. How could they not charge everyone for the beverages automatically? Who was going to "police" this in the dining room? Certainly not the table cleaners who barely are around to take the dirty plates off the table. And still no sign with the price for the drinks.
We got up to the cashier and started looking for the price for the drinks. On the side wall in small print there it was - "Beverage Bar - $1.69". So, the illusion of a wonderful deal for dinner at $10.99 plus the $1.69 for the beverage brought the new price within ten cents of the old price. Weekends would be a savings of about 70 cents. But still how was this going to work?
We paid and instead of the familiar strip of color paper with the number of guests written on in crayon to put on your table to show that you both paid and the table is occupied we got a very large, full color printed half page stapled to our receipt that showed - still written in crayon - 2 dinners 2 beverages. And in two languages.
An interesting idea, but still who " is minding the mint" so to speak - who is watching that I paid and I am not taking beverages without paying. As we discovered, NO ONE.This was something that was tried at OCB and failed with the just order the salad bar idea. No one was watching. We observed many order the salad bar and help themselves to the whole meal. I have even seen people order the take out container at the lower price for take out and then sit down at a table - with the container - and eat dinner and return back to the buffet servers for more - in the container! No, at least in this location, no one is minding the store.
Then, again, I have written about the Levittown, NY OCB before as the "worst OCB in the country" and despite a change in mangers who were actually pretty good for a while and then disappeared and now new managers who are as bad as the usual management that they get at this location this remains the "Worse OCB in the country". A bunch went on that night in addition to this new "deal". Here the meat carver (there is no grill here) is located at the end of a buffet server and from the start people would line up on both sides of the server to go up to the carver which correctly made for shorter lines. On this night the woman who was carving was only serving one side - and ignoring the other side. Since she did not speak or understand English the comments to her went acknowledged. When you got to the side she was serving the portions of meat that she was carving were hardly wait the wait. The pieces of steak were no larger than two inches square. In addition, no one explains to the people who refill the buffet trays with food that the Board of Health requires that you take the old food in the tray and transfer it to the top of the new tray of food - so that the bottom of the tray does not always remain with food that is not taken and increasingly getting older with each refill. NO here they just dump the new on top of the old.
Now, for those of you who are going to say - and I hear from many of you - why are you dumping on this particular restaurant? Well, I am not the only one who encounters what goes on here and I get more email and comments from readers who agree with everything I say about this particular OCB. And with this site - I am the one to speak out. And for those who say why do you go back there. It is the only game for many many miles and you can't eat Chinese Buffet all of the time - so I go back and keep hoping. Some nights I am pleasantly surprised and then there are nights like this one.
So don't be surprised if you go now to OCB and see the NEW LOW PRICE - but you know now that it really is not "low" at all!
Friday, February 05, 2010
The Nine Dollar Cup of Soup or Why I Like Buffets
We were invited out to dinner by relatives who have quite a bit more spending income than we have. The dinner was on them and the restaurant was their choice. Needless to say, they did not choose a buffet. The restaurant that they chose is a small restaurant on Long Island in New York that consists of a bar and a small dining room - nothing fancy with a tavern atmosphere and they fashion themselves as a "steak house", though there is a little more on the menu besides two or three types of steak. When there were such a thing as neighborhood restaurants, one could safely described this as that. This being Long Island, the prices are extremely high. The menu is ala carte. An entree includes a potato and very small serving of vegetable. This is not a restaurant that one would know by name and is not a restaurant that is noted as a fine restaurant.
When I am out like this I always wait for my hosts to order and when looking over the menu and deciding I pick two entrees at different price levels. I always order the one that is lower than what my hosts are ordering. I never want to be seen as taking advantage and I believe it is polite to order conservatively while still having something enjoyable. Both of my hosts ordered salads. A basic salad was $11.00. Two slices of tomato and two slices of onion were also $11.00. Salad was not included with the entrees. As I was not going to sit there as they ate their salads before the entrees were brought to the table, I ordered a cup of soup. Th ecup of soup - a so-so cup of bisque cost $9.00. I toyed with the thought to order the bowl - which was $11.00, but felt that the nine dollars was enough of a waste - and certainly, this was the most expensive cup of soup that I have ever had. I only wish that it was the best cup of soup that I have ever had. Entrees were in the $28 to $40 range, though one person in our party had a vegetable platter which consisted of a few pieces of broccoli, some carrots, and a piece or two of squash - and this was priced at $16.00. Yah!
Ridiculous, but I am sure that there are some out there reading that will say that this is what you have to pay for a meal out. Really? I rarely pay anything near this amount and I eat out quite well. And this is why I like buffets. Even the most expensive of the buffets that we have encountered - even the all you can eat lobster buffets or the fancy five star hotel buffets - are proportionally not as expensive as this small (and typical) neighborhood restaurant. And when you are finished with your meal you have gotten something worth the money that you paid. This is what I mean when I talk about value for your dollar in my articles - and I will say regardless of the price level when value is delivered. Certainly, at this particular restaurant with its high prices, the food was no better than any I have had a most of the buffets that I have recommended. The steak was not as good as some that I have had a Ryans, Wild, Wild West Casino Buffet in Atlantic City, New Jersey, or some other buffets that I have been to. No better attention was paid to how it was cooked - and the quality of the beef was not as good as it was not really tender, as one might expect in a restaurant that claims steak as its specialty.
Yet, my hosts return here often. I have tried to bring them to buffets - some very nice ones, but because it is a buffet their attitude is that it cannot be good. This is an attitude that I often encounter about buffet dining. It cannot be good if it is served in quantity. It cannot be good if it is priced reasonably. But many of you know and agree with me that this simply is not true. Had I left this restaurant feeling that the steak was the best steak that I have ever had and that the nine dollar cup of soup surpassed all other soups that I have eaten, I would not be as amazed by the prices charged because if you are serving something THAT good then perhaps (and just perhaps) you can charge a ridiculous amount for it, but I would still find them lacking in value. And yet I know there are restaurants out there that go even further than this one and charge these prices and serve portions that are barely visible on the plate.
I will stick with buffets when one is available. Now, of course, I don't only eat at buffets, but when I am at a menu restaurant I look for similar value - and around here that is not so easy to find.
When I am out like this I always wait for my hosts to order and when looking over the menu and deciding I pick two entrees at different price levels. I always order the one that is lower than what my hosts are ordering. I never want to be seen as taking advantage and I believe it is polite to order conservatively while still having something enjoyable. Both of my hosts ordered salads. A basic salad was $11.00. Two slices of tomato and two slices of onion were also $11.00. Salad was not included with the entrees. As I was not going to sit there as they ate their salads before the entrees were brought to the table, I ordered a cup of soup. Th ecup of soup - a so-so cup of bisque cost $9.00. I toyed with the thought to order the bowl - which was $11.00, but felt that the nine dollars was enough of a waste - and certainly, this was the most expensive cup of soup that I have ever had. I only wish that it was the best cup of soup that I have ever had. Entrees were in the $28 to $40 range, though one person in our party had a vegetable platter which consisted of a few pieces of broccoli, some carrots, and a piece or two of squash - and this was priced at $16.00. Yah!
Ridiculous, but I am sure that there are some out there reading that will say that this is what you have to pay for a meal out. Really? I rarely pay anything near this amount and I eat out quite well. And this is why I like buffets. Even the most expensive of the buffets that we have encountered - even the all you can eat lobster buffets or the fancy five star hotel buffets - are proportionally not as expensive as this small (and typical) neighborhood restaurant. And when you are finished with your meal you have gotten something worth the money that you paid. This is what I mean when I talk about value for your dollar in my articles - and I will say regardless of the price level when value is delivered. Certainly, at this particular restaurant with its high prices, the food was no better than any I have had a most of the buffets that I have recommended. The steak was not as good as some that I have had a Ryans, Wild, Wild West Casino Buffet in Atlantic City, New Jersey, or some other buffets that I have been to. No better attention was paid to how it was cooked - and the quality of the beef was not as good as it was not really tender, as one might expect in a restaurant that claims steak as its specialty.
Yet, my hosts return here often. I have tried to bring them to buffets - some very nice ones, but because it is a buffet their attitude is that it cannot be good. This is an attitude that I often encounter about buffet dining. It cannot be good if it is served in quantity. It cannot be good if it is priced reasonably. But many of you know and agree with me that this simply is not true. Had I left this restaurant feeling that the steak was the best steak that I have ever had and that the nine dollar cup of soup surpassed all other soups that I have eaten, I would not be as amazed by the prices charged because if you are serving something THAT good then perhaps (and just perhaps) you can charge a ridiculous amount for it, but I would still find them lacking in value. And yet I know there are restaurants out there that go even further than this one and charge these prices and serve portions that are barely visible on the plate.
I will stick with buffets when one is available. Now, of course, I don't only eat at buffets, but when I am at a menu restaurant I look for similar value - and around here that is not so easy to find.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Bowl
The Olive Garden is a chain of Italian restaurants with locations across the United States. The Olive Garden is not a buffet restaurant but every so often it does run an all you care to eat special. In addition, they always have an unlimited soup and salad offering on the menu. At the current time there is an all you care to eat special that they are calling the Never Ending Pasta Bowl. This is a limited time offer, but it has been brought back through the years.
I never have had much regard for non-buffet restaurant chain all you can eat special offers. I have tried them in years past at both this chain and also the Red Lobster, a seafood chain across the U.S. that frequently offers specials of all you can eat shrimp, crab legs, etc. How this works is that yu order from the menu and your waiter or waitress brings you the first dish and when y9u want more the server must bring you another plate, and so on. My experience always has been that the first serving is brought and then when you are ready for more you can try to find your server who is avoiding your table, and when and if you find the server and ask for me, it is a big surprise - I recall the scene from the play/movie, Oliver - "Please, Sir, may I have some more?" "SOMEMORE...the boy wants somemore?" And then a song and dance number starts about how never before has a boy wanted more. Well, once you get past the - yes, bring me somemore!- the server comes back after a considerable amount of time with a few pieces of whatever it was you asked for on a small plate. Yes, this has happened consistently to me in the long past at both of these chains - and I have not gone back for one of these specials since. Until now.
The television commercial for the Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Bowl tempted me enough to bring me back to the Olive Garden after oh so many years for one more try. I have to say that I was pleasingly surprised.
The offer is this - order a bowl of pasta in one of six pasta shapes covered in one of six different sauces. As their advertising states, there are forty two different combinations. You can keep asking for as many of these combinations as you would like. With the pasta you will also get unlimited breadsticks (more like long, narrow garlic bread rolls) and a choice of unlimited soup of your choice from the soups on the menu OR unlimited salad. The amazing price for all of this is just $8.95. If you enjoy your pasta with Italain meatballs or sausage, for an additional $1.95 you can order unlimited meatballs or sausage to accompany your pasta. You can order unlimited softdrinks - but there is no price for this on the menu. We decided on just water, but certainly it could not be much more than another $2 each, if you are inclined to soda. Right at this point, the price is good. If you are inclined to dessert you are going to pay over $6.00 or more for ONE piece of cake. Add single serving appetizers and you are getting into serious money. But the pasta is unlimited so you don't really need much more - much to our waiter's chagrin. One other word before I continue on - they are big on wine here and it is the first thing the waiter offered while holding a bottle in his hand ready to pour into the glasses on our table before offering the special menu choices. If you are so inclined, it is not cheap.
Now, we went to one of the two local Olive Gardens in our area and there was a short wait top get in - they said fifteen minutes, it was more like ten or less. I am not sure why there was a wait aother than to show off the fancy electronic pager system - not sure why they have that either as there was no place to go but the parking lot or the lobby of the restaurant. Once we were seated there were a number of vacant tables. The restaurant was not empty, but other than staggering server assignments, there was no reason to have anyone wait. But the wait was not bad - though one family came in, heard about the wait and left (I am not sure what other restaurant they were going to get to in the fifteen minutes they were told they would have to wait). Any way, we were tyaken into one of the several dining rooms and seated. Very nice, faux-rustic Italain decor. On the table was a special menu and on the front of that was the Never Ending Pasta Bowl and all of the choices for it. They did not hide the special, and while it was not the only thing we saw people at other tables ordering, it was one of the more popular choices. As I said, you order your "first" bowl of whatever combination you would like and also order soup or a salad.
Ok - the pastas - spagetti, whole wheat spagetti, linuini, fettachini, penne, and orechiette (ear-shaped pasta, similar to shells). The sauces - marinara, five cheese marinara, alfredo, meat sauce with beef and sausage within, and two new sauces introduced with this offer - Roasted Portabello Pomadoro and Creamy Parmesean Florentine. You order a pasta and a sauce. When yu want more you order any pasta and any sauce, and you can change as many times as you order another bowl. There are a nice selection of soups and you are ordering these from the standard menu - these include minnestrone, chicken and gnocci, macaroni and beans, and a spicy sausage soup. I have not used the Italian names that these soups have on the menu. If you roder salad you get a very large bowl of greens served family style to all those who order it. If you would like more soup or salad, it will be brought to you.
Together, my wife and I tasted an assortment. We went for the soup instead of the salad. I had the Chicken and Gnocci and she had the Minnestrone. The chicken soup was a cream of chicken soup that contained small chunks of chicken and a few gnocci. Gnocci is potato dumpling pasta - little balls of potato dough that is boiled like pasta to cook. My first experience with gnocci was wwhen my father made it when I was young using my Grandmother's recipe. The gnocci in the soup was not quite like Dad's, but they were not bad - though there were maybe four in the whole bowl. Of course, if I wanted more I could have asked for another bowl - which was offered when we had finished our bowls of soup. The Minnestrone was the usual tomato based, Italian vegtable soup. This one was fine, yet again, not as full of vegetables as some. All in all, the soups were good, We saw salad served on other tables and they bring a VERY large bowl for those who ordered it to share - or a similarly large bowl for one. And again, you can get more if y9u wish.
We did not get more soup - the attraction for the evening is the pasta and why get full on soup or salad - or the breadstick/garlic bread. The waiter brought out two bowls of pasta. The bowls were large in size - perhaps as large as a dinner plate about ten inches. The bowl was full of pasta but not overflowing. The pasta was covered in sauce. All was very hot when it came out - and stayed close to that throughout. I started with the fetticini with the specail roasted portobello pomadoro sauce and my wife had the whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce,. Each pasta was good. The whole wheat pasta was actually too good to be whole wheat - so much so that my wife doubted that it was - though the waiter said that it was when he put it in front of her. The Roasted Portobello Pomodoro was a chunky tomato sauce with regular mushroom slices mixed in and on the top were a few strips of portobello mushrooms. It was tasty. My wife felt that the marinara was spicy. It should not have been. I tried some of hers and did not find it that. It seemed mild to me. It is possible that she was just feeling whatever spice had been in the Minnestrone. When the pasta is served you are offered freshly grated cheese which is ground over your bowl by your server. I enjoyed my first bowl eager to see what was to come. Would the waiter dissappear?
As we were coming to the bottom of our bowls of pasta the waiter appeared. To my pleasant surprise he asked if we wanted then to order the next bowl or would we want to finish our bowls and then order another - as they come out quickly, he said. We said we would wait. When we had finished, in a few minutes the waiter reappeared and asked if we were ready to order more. This time I ordered the little ear pasta and the creamy parmasean florentine sauce adn my wife ordered the penne with meat sauce. True to form for these types of specials in this type of restaurant, when the next bowls were served, gone where the large, dinner plate sized bowls and now the pasta was served in a smaller bowl - perhaps six or seven inches across. Ok, less pasta - or at least the suggestion of less pasta, but you can still ask for more. The creamy parmasean florentine is described as an alfredo sauce with spinich. What they do not say is that this is raw spinach leaves torn up and put over the top of the pasta and alfredo sauce. The taste was nice but I had expected cooked spinach and did care as much as I would have liked. The meat sauce was not heavily loaded with meat but the meat was evident. My wife says that she did not notice if there actually was sausage meat mixed in with the beef. I tasted it and it was not bad.
Let's face it - and this is what Olive Garden is counting on for a $9 all you care to eat dinner - there is just so much pasta one can eat at one meal. By the end of the second bowl my wife was ready to stop and I was not far from it. But, of course, I had to go on to at least one more bowl. Again, the waiter did not dissapoint and appeared in a timely manner to ask if we would like another bowl. I had the penne in five cheese marinara sauce. This sauce was much like an ala vodka sauce with9ut the vodoka - a creamy red tomato sauce that was thick with cheese - which may have been what made it creamy in the first place. It was a very nice sauce. Again, this pasta arrived in the small bowl. I made it through three quartes of the bowl before I had to call it quits. Unlless you intend to marathon eat this meal, there is not much more than three bowls that the average preson is going to eat.
I was full, but I also wanted to see something involving my left over pasta. At every other table, there servers were rushing to bring take out boxes and bags for people to take their left overs hoke with them including the garlic rolls. Would I be offered to take my left over pasta home and the almost full basket of garlic bread breadsticks? The answer is no.
I found the $8.95 Never Ending Pasta Bowl to be a very satisfying meal. The value was great, the food was good, and there was plenty to eat without any real effort to get the refills. If you like pasta and can eat your fill of it - this is the dinner to go for.
Olive Garden restaurants are all over in many states. This offer is for a limited time and in a few months or even less, call first to see if it is still offered (if you are no longer seeing the commercials). If it is gone, it will come back at some point. The hours at the Olive Garden may vary by location but many are open until 10 on weeknights and 11 on Friday and Saturdays.
I never have had much regard for non-buffet restaurant chain all you can eat special offers. I have tried them in years past at both this chain and also the Red Lobster, a seafood chain across the U.S. that frequently offers specials of all you can eat shrimp, crab legs, etc. How this works is that yu order from the menu and your waiter or waitress brings you the first dish and when y9u want more the server must bring you another plate, and so on. My experience always has been that the first serving is brought and then when you are ready for more you can try to find your server who is avoiding your table, and when and if you find the server and ask for me, it is a big surprise - I recall the scene from the play/movie, Oliver - "Please, Sir, may I have some more?" "SOMEMORE...the boy wants somemore?" And then a song and dance number starts about how never before has a boy wanted more. Well, once you get past the - yes, bring me somemore!- the server comes back after a considerable amount of time with a few pieces of whatever it was you asked for on a small plate. Yes, this has happened consistently to me in the long past at both of these chains - and I have not gone back for one of these specials since. Until now.
The television commercial for the Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Bowl tempted me enough to bring me back to the Olive Garden after oh so many years for one more try. I have to say that I was pleasingly surprised.
The offer is this - order a bowl of pasta in one of six pasta shapes covered in one of six different sauces. As their advertising states, there are forty two different combinations. You can keep asking for as many of these combinations as you would like. With the pasta you will also get unlimited breadsticks (more like long, narrow garlic bread rolls) and a choice of unlimited soup of your choice from the soups on the menu OR unlimited salad. The amazing price for all of this is just $8.95. If you enjoy your pasta with Italain meatballs or sausage, for an additional $1.95 you can order unlimited meatballs or sausage to accompany your pasta. You can order unlimited softdrinks - but there is no price for this on the menu. We decided on just water, but certainly it could not be much more than another $2 each, if you are inclined to soda. Right at this point, the price is good. If you are inclined to dessert you are going to pay over $6.00 or more for ONE piece of cake. Add single serving appetizers and you are getting into serious money. But the pasta is unlimited so you don't really need much more - much to our waiter's chagrin. One other word before I continue on - they are big on wine here and it is the first thing the waiter offered while holding a bottle in his hand ready to pour into the glasses on our table before offering the special menu choices. If you are so inclined, it is not cheap.
Now, we went to one of the two local Olive Gardens in our area and there was a short wait top get in - they said fifteen minutes, it was more like ten or less. I am not sure why there was a wait aother than to show off the fancy electronic pager system - not sure why they have that either as there was no place to go but the parking lot or the lobby of the restaurant. Once we were seated there were a number of vacant tables. The restaurant was not empty, but other than staggering server assignments, there was no reason to have anyone wait. But the wait was not bad - though one family came in, heard about the wait and left (I am not sure what other restaurant they were going to get to in the fifteen minutes they were told they would have to wait). Any way, we were tyaken into one of the several dining rooms and seated. Very nice, faux-rustic Italain decor. On the table was a special menu and on the front of that was the Never Ending Pasta Bowl and all of the choices for it. They did not hide the special, and while it was not the only thing we saw people at other tables ordering, it was one of the more popular choices. As I said, you order your "first" bowl of whatever combination you would like and also order soup or a salad.
Ok - the pastas - spagetti, whole wheat spagetti, linuini, fettachini, penne, and orechiette (ear-shaped pasta, similar to shells). The sauces - marinara, five cheese marinara, alfredo, meat sauce with beef and sausage within, and two new sauces introduced with this offer - Roasted Portabello Pomadoro and Creamy Parmesean Florentine. You order a pasta and a sauce. When yu want more you order any pasta and any sauce, and you can change as many times as you order another bowl. There are a nice selection of soups and you are ordering these from the standard menu - these include minnestrone, chicken and gnocci, macaroni and beans, and a spicy sausage soup. I have not used the Italian names that these soups have on the menu. If you roder salad you get a very large bowl of greens served family style to all those who order it. If you would like more soup or salad, it will be brought to you.
Together, my wife and I tasted an assortment. We went for the soup instead of the salad. I had the Chicken and Gnocci and she had the Minnestrone. The chicken soup was a cream of chicken soup that contained small chunks of chicken and a few gnocci. Gnocci is potato dumpling pasta - little balls of potato dough that is boiled like pasta to cook. My first experience with gnocci was wwhen my father made it when I was young using my Grandmother's recipe. The gnocci in the soup was not quite like Dad's, but they were not bad - though there were maybe four in the whole bowl. Of course, if I wanted more I could have asked for another bowl - which was offered when we had finished our bowls of soup. The Minnestrone was the usual tomato based, Italian vegtable soup. This one was fine, yet again, not as full of vegetables as some. All in all, the soups were good, We saw salad served on other tables and they bring a VERY large bowl for those who ordered it to share - or a similarly large bowl for one. And again, you can get more if y9u wish.
We did not get more soup - the attraction for the evening is the pasta and why get full on soup or salad - or the breadstick/garlic bread. The waiter brought out two bowls of pasta. The bowls were large in size - perhaps as large as a dinner plate about ten inches. The bowl was full of pasta but not overflowing. The pasta was covered in sauce. All was very hot when it came out - and stayed close to that throughout. I started with the fetticini with the specail roasted portobello pomadoro sauce and my wife had the whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce,. Each pasta was good. The whole wheat pasta was actually too good to be whole wheat - so much so that my wife doubted that it was - though the waiter said that it was when he put it in front of her. The Roasted Portobello Pomodoro was a chunky tomato sauce with regular mushroom slices mixed in and on the top were a few strips of portobello mushrooms. It was tasty. My wife felt that the marinara was spicy. It should not have been. I tried some of hers and did not find it that. It seemed mild to me. It is possible that she was just feeling whatever spice had been in the Minnestrone. When the pasta is served you are offered freshly grated cheese which is ground over your bowl by your server. I enjoyed my first bowl eager to see what was to come. Would the waiter dissappear?
As we were coming to the bottom of our bowls of pasta the waiter appeared. To my pleasant surprise he asked if we wanted then to order the next bowl or would we want to finish our bowls and then order another - as they come out quickly, he said. We said we would wait. When we had finished, in a few minutes the waiter reappeared and asked if we were ready to order more. This time I ordered the little ear pasta and the creamy parmasean florentine sauce adn my wife ordered the penne with meat sauce. True to form for these types of specials in this type of restaurant, when the next bowls were served, gone where the large, dinner plate sized bowls and now the pasta was served in a smaller bowl - perhaps six or seven inches across. Ok, less pasta - or at least the suggestion of less pasta, but you can still ask for more. The creamy parmasean florentine is described as an alfredo sauce with spinich. What they do not say is that this is raw spinach leaves torn up and put over the top of the pasta and alfredo sauce. The taste was nice but I had expected cooked spinach and did care as much as I would have liked. The meat sauce was not heavily loaded with meat but the meat was evident. My wife says that she did not notice if there actually was sausage meat mixed in with the beef. I tasted it and it was not bad.
Let's face it - and this is what Olive Garden is counting on for a $9 all you care to eat dinner - there is just so much pasta one can eat at one meal. By the end of the second bowl my wife was ready to stop and I was not far from it. But, of course, I had to go on to at least one more bowl. Again, the waiter did not dissapoint and appeared in a timely manner to ask if we would like another bowl. I had the penne in five cheese marinara sauce. This sauce was much like an ala vodka sauce with9ut the vodoka - a creamy red tomato sauce that was thick with cheese - which may have been what made it creamy in the first place. It was a very nice sauce. Again, this pasta arrived in the small bowl. I made it through three quartes of the bowl before I had to call it quits. Unlless you intend to marathon eat this meal, there is not much more than three bowls that the average preson is going to eat.
I was full, but I also wanted to see something involving my left over pasta. At every other table, there servers were rushing to bring take out boxes and bags for people to take their left overs hoke with them including the garlic rolls. Would I be offered to take my left over pasta home and the almost full basket of garlic bread breadsticks? The answer is no.
I found the $8.95 Never Ending Pasta Bowl to be a very satisfying meal. The value was great, the food was good, and there was plenty to eat without any real effort to get the refills. If you like pasta and can eat your fill of it - this is the dinner to go for.
Olive Garden restaurants are all over in many states. This offer is for a limited time and in a few months or even less, call first to see if it is still offered (if you are no longer seeing the commercials). If it is gone, it will come back at some point. The hours at the Olive Garden may vary by location but many are open until 10 on weeknights and 11 on Friday and Saturdays.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Stomach Staples and Buffets
What an odd association - stomach staples and buffets. It has got to be a stretch for this medical weight loss procedure and buffet restaurants to have something in common. But, believe it or not, they very much do.
It seems that many people who have undergone the stomach staple operation, a procedure in which the stomach is made smaller (with surgical staples) in order to restrict the amount of food that may be passed through the stomach at a time and that one is made to feel full with (actually uncomfortable), want to continue to eat at buffets after their surgery. Well, why not?, you may ask. The problem comes about that they not only want to still eat at buffets - they want to eat at them at a discount. Yes, a discount. Why? Because they cannot eat all that they would like to eat, so they should be entitled to a discount or better yet come in and eat free.
I am sure that anyone who is reading this who has undergone vertical banded gastroplasty, the medical name for the stomach staple surgery, is going to be angered by this opinion, but going to the buffet is a choice - and the price is the price for all. If a very thin and small person goes to the buffet, should they be entitled to a discount? If I like to go to amusement parks - just for the entertainment of the shows and the atmosphere but do not like to go on the roller coaster, should I be able to ask for a discount at the admission gate and expect to get it? I guarantee that I would not get it.
So how does this work? How is the buffet supposed to know if someone really has the surgery? The people who get the surgery get notes from their willing surgeons a testing to that the person had the surgery and can only eat a small amount.
Does this work? At many buffets, no it does not work. Most are going to tell you that the price is the price and you are welcome to eat as much or as little as you can. Remember that the actual definition in the word "CAN" as in All you Can Eat is "ABLE" so it is All you are ABLE to Eat. We were at a pizza buffet where a woman (a thin woman) came in with a young girl, presumably her daughter. She went up to the cashier and flashed her note from her doctor expecting to be let in for free. The buffet manager came over and an argument from the woman ensued. She was not going to eat more than some salad, her daughter was going to be eating the pizza, not her. She was indignant when they told her that if she was coming in she had to pay the full price just like everyone else. She tried to say they were punishing her daughter because she could not eat. They told her she was welcome to come in, just pay the cost of the meal. Now, this was a buffet where you paid first before you eat. I would hate to see the scene that would ensue if this was tried after the meal was consumed and then you pay.
Now, there is a buffet that I know of that willingly gives a discount when a valid note from an M.D. is presented attesting that the person has had the stomach staple operation. Yes, we were recently at none other than Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, Pennsylvania and saw a sign on the cashier's counter that said that a ten percent discount would be given off the meal price to the person with medical proof. Our very own, three year in a row, Best Buffet anywhere winner has come through again. If anything is going to be given, I guess ten percent seems fair.
I have heard from buffet managers who say that many try this who don't have proper proof and want them to take their word for it or better yet, present notes that clearly are not from doctors. One manager called this a recent and frequent scam.
The bottom line is that the price of the meal is set and applies to everyone equally. It is not based upon how much you eat, it is an offer for you to eat what you care to eat - or are able to eat, in the extreme. Everyone can or cares to eat a different amount from anyone else. In the buffet "game", that is just how it is.
It seems that many people who have undergone the stomach staple operation, a procedure in which the stomach is made smaller (with surgical staples) in order to restrict the amount of food that may be passed through the stomach at a time and that one is made to feel full with (actually uncomfortable), want to continue to eat at buffets after their surgery. Well, why not?, you may ask. The problem comes about that they not only want to still eat at buffets - they want to eat at them at a discount. Yes, a discount. Why? Because they cannot eat all that they would like to eat, so they should be entitled to a discount or better yet come in and eat free.
I am sure that anyone who is reading this who has undergone vertical banded gastroplasty, the medical name for the stomach staple surgery, is going to be angered by this opinion, but going to the buffet is a choice - and the price is the price for all. If a very thin and small person goes to the buffet, should they be entitled to a discount? If I like to go to amusement parks - just for the entertainment of the shows and the atmosphere but do not like to go on the roller coaster, should I be able to ask for a discount at the admission gate and expect to get it? I guarantee that I would not get it.
So how does this work? How is the buffet supposed to know if someone really has the surgery? The people who get the surgery get notes from their willing surgeons a testing to that the person had the surgery and can only eat a small amount.
Does this work? At many buffets, no it does not work. Most are going to tell you that the price is the price and you are welcome to eat as much or as little as you can. Remember that the actual definition in the word "CAN" as in All you Can Eat is "ABLE" so it is All you are ABLE to Eat. We were at a pizza buffet where a woman (a thin woman) came in with a young girl, presumably her daughter. She went up to the cashier and flashed her note from her doctor expecting to be let in for free. The buffet manager came over and an argument from the woman ensued. She was not going to eat more than some salad, her daughter was going to be eating the pizza, not her. She was indignant when they told her that if she was coming in she had to pay the full price just like everyone else. She tried to say they were punishing her daughter because she could not eat. They told her she was welcome to come in, just pay the cost of the meal. Now, this was a buffet where you paid first before you eat. I would hate to see the scene that would ensue if this was tried after the meal was consumed and then you pay.
Now, there is a buffet that I know of that willingly gives a discount when a valid note from an M.D. is presented attesting that the person has had the stomach staple operation. Yes, we were recently at none other than Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, Pennsylvania and saw a sign on the cashier's counter that said that a ten percent discount would be given off the meal price to the person with medical proof. Our very own, three year in a row, Best Buffet anywhere winner has come through again. If anything is going to be given, I guess ten percent seems fair.
I have heard from buffet managers who say that many try this who don't have proper proof and want them to take their word for it or better yet, present notes that clearly are not from doctors. One manager called this a recent and frequent scam.
The bottom line is that the price of the meal is set and applies to everyone equally. It is not based upon how much you eat, it is an offer for you to eat what you care to eat - or are able to eat, in the extreme. Everyone can or cares to eat a different amount from anyone else. In the buffet "game", that is just how it is.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Gatti's Pizza - A Pizza Buffet
When I think Pizza Buffet, I think Cici's but that is only because that is the chain most local to me - if local is 200 miles. There are other pizza buffet chain restaurants as well. We wrote about a new, small, two location chain in Pennsylvania a year ago. I recently found another chain that is much more wide-spread across the country. That chain is Gatti's Pizza.
Now, as always, I tell you right up front when I am writing about a restaurant or chain that I have not been to and this is another of those. I have not eaten at Gatti's Pizza, but I will share with you all that I have learned.
Gatti's presentation is very much like Cici's - a buffet comprised of pizza, salad bar, pasta, and dessert. There are also chicken wings - though it appears that these are not included on the buffet, . There is a take out option and there is also the ability to internet order from some of the locations, particularly those in Texas.
Locations are across the US as far west as Texas. There are Gatti's Pizza locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Most states listed have several locations with the most in Texas. This is not surprising as this is the state where the chain was founded in 1964 with a pizza restaurant called The Pizza Place. In 1969 the founder moved to Austin, Texas and renamed the restaurant using his wife's maiden name, it the restaurant became Mr. Gatti's. The restaurant prided itself on using all natural ingredients to make the best tasting pizza possible. In the 1980's the restaurant expanded to a chain of game rooms that included a pizza buffet. Interestingly, Cici's also began its pizza buffet restaurants in Texas in 1985. (So, who came first?) There are now 140 + locations of Gatti's Pizza. Locations are franchises.
So what types of pizza will you find on the buffet? This is another of the every combination you can think of assortment of pizzas. There is a Sampler pizza, a Bacon Double Cheeseburger pizza, BBQ Chicken pizza, Meat Market pizza, Vegetarian Sampler pizza, Superoni (pepperoni) pizza, Gatti's Deluxe pizza, Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Veggi Sicilian, and Meat Sicilian. There is a separate list of toppings so we can presume that other combinations are possible. Personally, I like to try the exotic when I go to pizza buffets but I am usually happier when I find basic cheese pizza also available.
The salad bar is what you would expect. Salad greens, tomatoes, and toppings with a variety of dressings. The pasta is spagetti with tomato sauce. There is a mention of macaroni and cheese as well. Most locations have a website and these tend to get a little more specific as to what you might find at that location.
The dessert choices are apple pizza and cinnamon bread sticks (what appears to be pizza dough baked with cinnamon). Of course there are soft drinks and it is stated that these vary by location.
To find prices you need to look at the websites of the individual restaurants which are linked on the locations page. For an example over 12 at the West Virginia location the buffet is $7.99. Not bad, but two to three dollars higher than Cici's. Kids over 6 pay $6.49. Only children under 2 are free and there is a senior discounted price of $6.49.
Each restaurant features a game room and large screen TV's in the dining room. There are larger locations call GattiTown which have party rooms and are listed as "destination" locations. Generally, destination means "shoppertainment" - an attraction location offering entertainment, food, etc. These are stand-alone restaurants meaning that they are not inset into other stores, etc. but a larger facility all on its own.
The food looks good. That is no recommendation. If I am in Virginia, West Virginia, or one of the Carolinas I will try it. The corporate website is linked at the side of this page. It is light on buffet information but if you go to the locations page and click on a location's website you will see much more about the buffet, prices, hours, etc.
If you have been to a Gatti's Pizza please leave a comment and tell us all about it!
Now, as always, I tell you right up front when I am writing about a restaurant or chain that I have not been to and this is another of those. I have not eaten at Gatti's Pizza, but I will share with you all that I have learned.
Gatti's presentation is very much like Cici's - a buffet comprised of pizza, salad bar, pasta, and dessert. There are also chicken wings - though it appears that these are not included on the buffet, . There is a take out option and there is also the ability to internet order from some of the locations, particularly those in Texas.
Locations are across the US as far west as Texas. There are Gatti's Pizza locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Most states listed have several locations with the most in Texas. This is not surprising as this is the state where the chain was founded in 1964 with a pizza restaurant called The Pizza Place. In 1969 the founder moved to Austin, Texas and renamed the restaurant using his wife's maiden name, it the restaurant became Mr. Gatti's. The restaurant prided itself on using all natural ingredients to make the best tasting pizza possible. In the 1980's the restaurant expanded to a chain of game rooms that included a pizza buffet. Interestingly, Cici's also began its pizza buffet restaurants in Texas in 1985. (So, who came first?) There are now 140 + locations of Gatti's Pizza. Locations are franchises.
So what types of pizza will you find on the buffet? This is another of the every combination you can think of assortment of pizzas. There is a Sampler pizza, a Bacon Double Cheeseburger pizza, BBQ Chicken pizza, Meat Market pizza, Vegetarian Sampler pizza, Superoni (pepperoni) pizza, Gatti's Deluxe pizza, Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Veggi Sicilian, and Meat Sicilian. There is a separate list of toppings so we can presume that other combinations are possible. Personally, I like to try the exotic when I go to pizza buffets but I am usually happier when I find basic cheese pizza also available.
The salad bar is what you would expect. Salad greens, tomatoes, and toppings with a variety of dressings. The pasta is spagetti with tomato sauce. There is a mention of macaroni and cheese as well. Most locations have a website and these tend to get a little more specific as to what you might find at that location.
The dessert choices are apple pizza and cinnamon bread sticks (what appears to be pizza dough baked with cinnamon). Of course there are soft drinks and it is stated that these vary by location.
To find prices you need to look at the websites of the individual restaurants which are linked on the locations page. For an example over 12 at the West Virginia location the buffet is $7.99. Not bad, but two to three dollars higher than Cici's. Kids over 6 pay $6.49. Only children under 2 are free and there is a senior discounted price of $6.49.
Each restaurant features a game room and large screen TV's in the dining room. There are larger locations call GattiTown which have party rooms and are listed as "destination" locations. Generally, destination means "shoppertainment" - an attraction location offering entertainment, food, etc. These are stand-alone restaurants meaning that they are not inset into other stores, etc. but a larger facility all on its own.
The food looks good. That is no recommendation. If I am in Virginia, West Virginia, or one of the Carolinas I will try it. The corporate website is linked at the side of this page. It is light on buffet information but if you go to the locations page and click on a location's website you will see much more about the buffet, prices, hours, etc.
If you have been to a Gatti's Pizza please leave a comment and tell us all about it!
Friday, December 12, 2008
ABUSING A BUFFET - PART 2
I am writing Part Two of this article for the second time. I wrote the whole article together and in the process of splitting it into two parts when I realized how long it was, I foolishly lost the second half. Oh yeah! So I will say that the original second half was wonderful - a full catharsis of all I wanted to say. This second writing, however, will be even better now that the thoughts have been so well organized in my head. The lesson to be learned when writing on Blogger is never save something with one name and think that when you go back and edit it and change the name, that the original save is still going to be there.
SO - Abusing A Buffet - Part 2
What exactly goes on at restaurants that are abuses? The greatest abuse is taking food from the restaurant. Though as you will read, that is not the only abuse that takes place. Taking food has gone on for years but it seems to be getting much bolder and much more deliberate. It is not just the few cookies wrapped in a napkin anymore. It has become an entire plate of cookies wrapped in napkins and pushed into a pocketbook at the end of the meal. Is anyone going to get upset if a kid is still eating a cookie as he/she walks out the door? Of course, not. But I have seen people - seniors - fill a plate of more cookies than they could possibly eat in the restaurant, wrap them up, and shove them inside a pocket and walk out the door. There goes three dollars or more in cookies that the restaurant intended to serve to a number of guests. Now there are fewer, if any, cookies out for you to take to enjoy for dessert with your meal.
It gets bolder. How about the equivalent of an entire fried chicken? I watched this go down. This was not a kid, but a youngish man who was seated with an older couple. After he finished his dessert he went back up to the buffet and overfilled a plate with fried chicken pieces. When I saw him come back to the table I thought to myself, here is another wacky eating story to tell, thinking that now the he finished dessert he was going to start the meal again eating all of this fried chicken. No. That was not it at all! He brought the plate back to the table and proceeded to unfold several napkins, laying them down overlapping them. He then put the entire plate of fried chicken parts down on the napkins. He folded the napkins carefully to contain all of the chicken in a bundle. I heard him remark to the couple that he was with that he REALLY likes this fried chicken. At that they got up and he tucked the bundle of chicken under his arm to hide it and they walked out the door. Did he know he was doing wrong? Of course, he did! He was hiding the chicken to go out. He was a thief and was acting like one. I am sure in his mind he was thinking, "Look what I am getting away with!"
How about bolder still? One of my readers reported this story to me. Four well dressed seniors (two couples) were at a buffet with a box of zipper bags on the table and a COOLER CHEST on the floor under the table. As they got plates of food for themselves to eat at the table, they also filled plates with food that they brought back and openly put into the bags, sealed them, and then put into the cooler chest. My first reaction was how did they get into the restaurant past the cashier with a cooler chest - and then out again carrying it full of buffet food? But, I know this particular buffet and the employees there never notice anything that is going on in the restaurant much less do the jobs that they are paid to do. So there, out in the open are meals for the week going out the door all for the one price of the senior discount dinner. If I were the management at that buffet I would have seen them out the door in handcuffs!
Here is one that I had to laugh at - we were in a Chinese Buffet and there were two guys in the booth behind us. At the end of the meal with a hefty plate of food still on the table, one of the guys calls over the server and asks her to bring him a take out box to put the food in to take home. She politely tells him that she could do that but he will be charged extra for a take out meal. He became indignant and said that this was ridiculous and that the food would just be thrown away if he left it. She told him that was ok; it's the rules that no food may be taken out unless paid additionally for. He and his friend could not believe this and went on and on about it. When the server left, one of the guys took the stack of napkins on the table and started wrapping the food up - all the while looking around to make sure no one could see (my wife could see and noticeably watched him all the while increasing his panic). They hid the bundles of food as they left.
Not all abuses involve taking food out of the buffet. There seems to be some need for some people to have a lot of napkins on their table. I am not talking about three or four. I am talking about more napkins than a family of six can use in a week. One or more stacks six inches high are taken and placed on the table. Now, I am not talking about the "Napkin Man" who I wrote about a few years ago (look back in the archives or search the site for that name) who had Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and would cover everything at his table in napkins. These are seemingly "regular" people - again often seniors - who are emptying napkin dispensers and stacking hundreds of napkins on their table. All but a few of these napkins go unused and the restaurant cannot (SHOULD NOT) be taking these napkins back and putting them out again for others. Sometimes these napkins are also stashed into a pocket and go out the door. I am not referring to a couple of napkins to take with you - I am talking about the stack. Again, this is stealing.
Another of my readers related this story to me. At a buffet chain restaurant in the Mid-West USA a rather large gentleman eats there every day. In fact he spends the day there. On the days that buffet breakfast is served he arrives for breakfast, stays through lunch, and then stays on to dinner. On other days when only lunch and dinner are served he arrives for lunch and stays on. He brings reading material, an mp3 music player, and he eats all day while socializing, reading, and listening to music. So what is wrong with this? He only pays for one meal each day the first one that he comes in for. You may or may not know that at many buffet restaurants - in particular the chains - if you come in for one meal and the next meal change takes place while you are there you are able to go and take from the next meal selections. Generally, the price goes up from lunch to dinner, but if you are in the buffet at the time of the change, you may just stay. They have to make the meal change and they are not going to clear the restaurant so for the few who are there in-between the buffet says nothing. It has happened to me when we have gone for buffet lunch late. When 3:00 pm comes the lunch dishes are taken away and the dinner dishes are brought out - good bye hot dogs, hello steak. No one says get out or you can't take that because you paid for lunch. But in this situation - this guy is staying for three meals for the price of one! The worse part of the abuse is that he is a regular and management and employees know that it is happening every day and do nothing about it. Perhaps they feel sorry for him, you say. Well, we are paying for each of our meals and pretty soon the price is going to go up and we are going to be paying for all of his "extra" meals.
So what should you do when you see abuses going on around you at a buffet? Sadly, I am going to advise you to do nothing. There are all kinds of dangerous people in this world - even those you would not suspect. If you turn them in to the management you are going to open yourself to the possibility of physical retaliation from the "abuser". Besides, you may not like the management's lack of response because if we are aware of these things going on, they likely are aware of them also. You are not there to be the "Buffet Police". You are out for a pleasant meal and not a fight. It is the manager's job to train his employees to be observant in the dining room, intervene, or report to him/her. The manager can then do the confronting or call the police. And if they allow this to go on, they should not be raising prices because of it. I know there are good managers out there who really care about their jobs - and these are the ones who will do something about it.
Well, there you have it. And as I expected when I started the rewrite - this is certainly the superior version of the article!
SO - Abusing A Buffet - Part 2
What exactly goes on at restaurants that are abuses? The greatest abuse is taking food from the restaurant. Though as you will read, that is not the only abuse that takes place. Taking food has gone on for years but it seems to be getting much bolder and much more deliberate. It is not just the few cookies wrapped in a napkin anymore. It has become an entire plate of cookies wrapped in napkins and pushed into a pocketbook at the end of the meal. Is anyone going to get upset if a kid is still eating a cookie as he/she walks out the door? Of course, not. But I have seen people - seniors - fill a plate of more cookies than they could possibly eat in the restaurant, wrap them up, and shove them inside a pocket and walk out the door. There goes three dollars or more in cookies that the restaurant intended to serve to a number of guests. Now there are fewer, if any, cookies out for you to take to enjoy for dessert with your meal.
It gets bolder. How about the equivalent of an entire fried chicken? I watched this go down. This was not a kid, but a youngish man who was seated with an older couple. After he finished his dessert he went back up to the buffet and overfilled a plate with fried chicken pieces. When I saw him come back to the table I thought to myself, here is another wacky eating story to tell, thinking that now the he finished dessert he was going to start the meal again eating all of this fried chicken. No. That was not it at all! He brought the plate back to the table and proceeded to unfold several napkins, laying them down overlapping them. He then put the entire plate of fried chicken parts down on the napkins. He folded the napkins carefully to contain all of the chicken in a bundle. I heard him remark to the couple that he was with that he REALLY likes this fried chicken. At that they got up and he tucked the bundle of chicken under his arm to hide it and they walked out the door. Did he know he was doing wrong? Of course, he did! He was hiding the chicken to go out. He was a thief and was acting like one. I am sure in his mind he was thinking, "Look what I am getting away with!"
How about bolder still? One of my readers reported this story to me. Four well dressed seniors (two couples) were at a buffet with a box of zipper bags on the table and a COOLER CHEST on the floor under the table. As they got plates of food for themselves to eat at the table, they also filled plates with food that they brought back and openly put into the bags, sealed them, and then put into the cooler chest. My first reaction was how did they get into the restaurant past the cashier with a cooler chest - and then out again carrying it full of buffet food? But, I know this particular buffet and the employees there never notice anything that is going on in the restaurant much less do the jobs that they are paid to do. So there, out in the open are meals for the week going out the door all for the one price of the senior discount dinner. If I were the management at that buffet I would have seen them out the door in handcuffs!
Here is one that I had to laugh at - we were in a Chinese Buffet and there were two guys in the booth behind us. At the end of the meal with a hefty plate of food still on the table, one of the guys calls over the server and asks her to bring him a take out box to put the food in to take home. She politely tells him that she could do that but he will be charged extra for a take out meal. He became indignant and said that this was ridiculous and that the food would just be thrown away if he left it. She told him that was ok; it's the rules that no food may be taken out unless paid additionally for. He and his friend could not believe this and went on and on about it. When the server left, one of the guys took the stack of napkins on the table and started wrapping the food up - all the while looking around to make sure no one could see (my wife could see and noticeably watched him all the while increasing his panic). They hid the bundles of food as they left.
Not all abuses involve taking food out of the buffet. There seems to be some need for some people to have a lot of napkins on their table. I am not talking about three or four. I am talking about more napkins than a family of six can use in a week. One or more stacks six inches high are taken and placed on the table. Now, I am not talking about the "Napkin Man" who I wrote about a few years ago (look back in the archives or search the site for that name) who had Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and would cover everything at his table in napkins. These are seemingly "regular" people - again often seniors - who are emptying napkin dispensers and stacking hundreds of napkins on their table. All but a few of these napkins go unused and the restaurant cannot (SHOULD NOT) be taking these napkins back and putting them out again for others. Sometimes these napkins are also stashed into a pocket and go out the door. I am not referring to a couple of napkins to take with you - I am talking about the stack. Again, this is stealing.
Another of my readers related this story to me. At a buffet chain restaurant in the Mid-West USA a rather large gentleman eats there every day. In fact he spends the day there. On the days that buffet breakfast is served he arrives for breakfast, stays through lunch, and then stays on to dinner. On other days when only lunch and dinner are served he arrives for lunch and stays on. He brings reading material, an mp3 music player, and he eats all day while socializing, reading, and listening to music. So what is wrong with this? He only pays for one meal each day the first one that he comes in for. You may or may not know that at many buffet restaurants - in particular the chains - if you come in for one meal and the next meal change takes place while you are there you are able to go and take from the next meal selections. Generally, the price goes up from lunch to dinner, but if you are in the buffet at the time of the change, you may just stay. They have to make the meal change and they are not going to clear the restaurant so for the few who are there in-between the buffet says nothing. It has happened to me when we have gone for buffet lunch late. When 3:00 pm comes the lunch dishes are taken away and the dinner dishes are brought out - good bye hot dogs, hello steak. No one says get out or you can't take that because you paid for lunch. But in this situation - this guy is staying for three meals for the price of one! The worse part of the abuse is that he is a regular and management and employees know that it is happening every day and do nothing about it. Perhaps they feel sorry for him, you say. Well, we are paying for each of our meals and pretty soon the price is going to go up and we are going to be paying for all of his "extra" meals.
So what should you do when you see abuses going on around you at a buffet? Sadly, I am going to advise you to do nothing. There are all kinds of dangerous people in this world - even those you would not suspect. If you turn them in to the management you are going to open yourself to the possibility of physical retaliation from the "abuser". Besides, you may not like the management's lack of response because if we are aware of these things going on, they likely are aware of them also. You are not there to be the "Buffet Police". You are out for a pleasant meal and not a fight. It is the manager's job to train his employees to be observant in the dining room, intervene, or report to him/her. The manager can then do the confronting or call the police. And if they allow this to go on, they should not be raising prices because of it. I know there are good managers out there who really care about their jobs - and these are the ones who will do something about it.
Well, there you have it. And as I expected when I started the rewrite - this is certainly the superior version of the article!
Friday, December 05, 2008
ABUSING A BUFFET - PART 1
For as long as I have been going to buffets I have seen customers abusing buffets. What do I mean by "abusing"? I am talking about both taking advantage of the restaurant and also outright stealing by taking food out of the restaurant.
I have thought about this article for some time, but I have been hesitant to write and publish it for fear that some might take it as a "how to" guide and then do some of this themselves. Several have told me that I should write it, and I have heard over time from some buffet managers who shared some of the terrible things that have been done that have, frankly, resulted in the need to increase the prices charged to everyone to make up for the losses perpetrated by a few.
Taking food from a buffet and then taking it out of the restaurant is a crime. It is shoplifting and it is subject to the same penalties as are applied to someone stealing an item from a store. While few buffet restaurants want to prosecute anyone, most have posted in writing that if you take food out of the restaurant you will be subject to pay for an additional meal. If done to an extreme or casually, the manager of the buffet has every right to call the police, have the person arrested, and press criminal charges. Would this happen over a cookie? Unlikely, but it certainly could happen and should happen with some of the things that I have seen and have been reported to me.
Now, why should you care if you don't do it? There is just so much loss that a business can figure into its routine operating expenses before that loss starts to take a toll. In these difficult economic times, restaurants are struggling. Add the loss of food "walking out the door" and there will be a financial reaction and that will first be seen as an increase in price of the meals at the buffet. This is a problem specific to the buffet business where all you can take is the offer that is made. In a restaurant with plated meals the portion goes out of the kitchen to your table and they do not care what happens to it after that. You eat it, toss it, or take it home - you paid for that specific dish and it is yours to do with as you please. But - in a buffet, the food goes out to the buffet tables with the expectation that it will be taken and eaten by all those in the room. If that food starts going into people's pockets to leave the restaurant that buffet has a problem. SO you say, it is already on my plate and if I don't eat it it will just be thrown away, so why should it go to waste when I can take it home and eat it later, give it to the dog, or feed Aunt Suzi who has come to visit? The answer to all that is no because of the potential abuse to the restaurant of taking more than you can eat. Sadly there are people out there who want to get away with anything that they can. The innocent at heart who have left over chicken on their plate, having intended to eat it all but couldn't,, can't take it home because of those who would intentionally fill a plate beyond what they want with the idea that they can make another meal of it at home. The logic makes sense. It is the temptation of the "dark side" that the buffet restaurant must defend itself against.
When I was a kid - many, many years ago - buffet restaurants (yes, they had them way back then too) would post signs that if you left food on your plate you would be charged for an extra meal. I remember this - and my wife, who I did not meet until we were at the same college, remembers this as well. And interestingly our parents - both sets - had the same reaction to that sign and to each of us, "You see that sign - make sure you eat everything that you take!" Of course, this would cause a general paranoia that someone from the restaurant was watching us eat and keeping track of very pea on the plate. We, both separately, recall finding ways to mush what we could not eat together and stealthily covering it on the plate with a crumpled napkin. I still do this when I overindulge and find I cannot finish something that I have taken - or find that I do not care for something - things get mushed together and the napkin is crumpled and strategically placed - as if anyone in the restaurant would care. This certainly was not the buffet restaurants intention by that sign - but in those days it certainly worked!
I have thought about this article for some time, but I have been hesitant to write and publish it for fear that some might take it as a "how to" guide and then do some of this themselves. Several have told me that I should write it, and I have heard over time from some buffet managers who shared some of the terrible things that have been done that have, frankly, resulted in the need to increase the prices charged to everyone to make up for the losses perpetrated by a few.
Taking food from a buffet and then taking it out of the restaurant is a crime. It is shoplifting and it is subject to the same penalties as are applied to someone stealing an item from a store. While few buffet restaurants want to prosecute anyone, most have posted in writing that if you take food out of the restaurant you will be subject to pay for an additional meal. If done to an extreme or casually, the manager of the buffet has every right to call the police, have the person arrested, and press criminal charges. Would this happen over a cookie? Unlikely, but it certainly could happen and should happen with some of the things that I have seen and have been reported to me.
Now, why should you care if you don't do it? There is just so much loss that a business can figure into its routine operating expenses before that loss starts to take a toll. In these difficult economic times, restaurants are struggling. Add the loss of food "walking out the door" and there will be a financial reaction and that will first be seen as an increase in price of the meals at the buffet. This is a problem specific to the buffet business where all you can take is the offer that is made. In a restaurant with plated meals the portion goes out of the kitchen to your table and they do not care what happens to it after that. You eat it, toss it, or take it home - you paid for that specific dish and it is yours to do with as you please. But - in a buffet, the food goes out to the buffet tables with the expectation that it will be taken and eaten by all those in the room. If that food starts going into people's pockets to leave the restaurant that buffet has a problem. SO you say, it is already on my plate and if I don't eat it it will just be thrown away, so why should it go to waste when I can take it home and eat it later, give it to the dog, or feed Aunt Suzi who has come to visit? The answer to all that is no because of the potential abuse to the restaurant of taking more than you can eat. Sadly there are people out there who want to get away with anything that they can. The innocent at heart who have left over chicken on their plate, having intended to eat it all but couldn't,, can't take it home because of those who would intentionally fill a plate beyond what they want with the idea that they can make another meal of it at home. The logic makes sense. It is the temptation of the "dark side" that the buffet restaurant must defend itself against.
When I was a kid - many, many years ago - buffet restaurants (yes, they had them way back then too) would post signs that if you left food on your plate you would be charged for an extra meal. I remember this - and my wife, who I did not meet until we were at the same college, remembers this as well. And interestingly our parents - both sets - had the same reaction to that sign and to each of us, "You see that sign - make sure you eat everything that you take!" Of course, this would cause a general paranoia that someone from the restaurant was watching us eat and keeping track of very pea on the plate. We, both separately, recall finding ways to mush what we could not eat together and stealthily covering it on the plate with a crumpled napkin. I still do this when I overindulge and find I cannot finish something that I have taken - or find that I do not care for something - things get mushed together and the napkin is crumpled and strategically placed - as if anyone in the restaurant would care. This certainly was not the buffet restaurants intention by that sign - but in those days it certainly worked!
Friday, November 07, 2008
Downfall of a Buffet - Failed Economy or Failed Management? - PART 2
PART 2
PART 1 appeared one week ago.
_________________
On my visit in 2006 I found that the recipes were too spicy for what is expected at this type of restaurant in this specific area. This is the Pennsylvania Farm Country - home of the Amish people. The Amish are an American culture all onto themselves with religious beliefs that have them living today as they did in the 1800's. They are farmers with no use of electricity or gasoline driven engines. They travel by horse and buggy on today's roads along side the trucks and cars. They farm with horse-drawn plows. These are "plain" people and there food is wholesome and filing. What they cook is tasty, but they do not generally use hot spices. The food at this buffet in 2006 could have been described as Pennsylvania Dutch Tex-Mex. This was not going to appeal to locals or tourists who were looking to dine "Pennsylvania Dutch". So, bottom line - in 2006 the recipes were just WRONG!
I also found in 2006 that the food trays were not well maintained. Food was dried out. Many items needed stiring. This is all very unappetizing and not at all appealing to the people dining. All and all, my first experience at this restaurant in 2006 was not bad. Were there better choices to go to at the time - absolutely, but this was one of the few that remained open on Sundays - so business should have been a shoe-in!
Let's move on to 2007. I went back expecting a pleasant experience, hoping for better recipes, but willing to have the same experience that I had in 2006. Well, not so. On this visit things had taken a downward turn. What was wrong? Oh, there was oh, so much!
It was a very hot July evening and there was NO air conditioning running. There were floor fans that just seemed to blow the hot air at you faster. This alone made for an unpleasant dinner.
The one soup that was offered on the buffet - where there used to be two - was not hot - in fact it was cold (not intentionally). In the heat of the room this unheated soup server was a breeding gound for bacteria. Looking over to the food servers, there was a single piece of fried chicken and two pieces of pale barbecue chicken in two trays - all not very appetizing in appearance. Other meats that were out looked to be deli-counter sliced meats, heated in broth. Was any of this going to boost business here? Absolutely not. And the temperature of all of the food was just barely warm to cold!
Then there was the incident with the raw chicken. It was discovered by a diner a table away from us and by me that the "barbecued" chicken and the fried chicken was raw inside when you cut it open. I mean blood dripping raw. I said nothing because the gentlemen at the other table said everything. The response he got from the young lady waitress was totally unacceptable.
Let's talk for a moment about the front line staff at a buffet - the people who have direct contact with the customers. If you have this job, whether you like it or not, the basic tenant that the customer is always right and always watch what you say to a customer has got to always be in the front of your thoughts when you are speaking with a customer. Your job is to pleasant, appear to be ready to solve all of the customer's problems should there be any during the course of the meal, and to make the customer feel that he/she is not only welcome but special. Some of the people working at this particular buffet were wonderful and tried to do exactly as I describe. However, there was one young woman who was there in 2007 and involved with the "raw chicken incident" and surprising was still there a year later in 2008 communicating with the customers in just the same manner. Here is the situation - the customer calls the young lady over to his table and tells her that the chicken that is out on the buffet server is raw. What she should have done is apologized on behalf of the restaurant and ran and grabbed the tray of chicken so that no one else would take any. What did she do? She stood there in a defensive tone and said, "You know, I don't do the cooking." She did actually go and bring out the chef who properly thanked the gentlemen for telling him - but you know he did not go immediately over to get the tray of chicken right away. He went back into the kitchen and then came out to take it away. Buffet owners - your staff can make or break you! You can have the best food, but if you have staff that is not on the ball and pleasant with your customers you will not succeed.
So I said that this young woman was still there in 2008. What did she do then? A customer told her that the tray of mashed potatoes was empty. Her reaction, "Yeah, they know. When they come out, they come out." Oh boy. How about, "I am sorry. The kitchen told me that they will be out in five minutes."
In 2008, again on a hot July day, there was still no room air conditioning. There was a through the wall, house air conditioner built into the emergency exit. It churned away in futility trying to cool this large room with steam tables that was open to a room twice its size that had been closed down for some time. Needless to say, it was still hot in the room and not very pleasant to enjoy a large buffet meal. (What would happen if there was a need for the emergency exit I am not sure.)
The food had improved some in 2008. There seemed to be two cooks - at least one was Amish and the recipes were now more in line with the area. The majority of the food was good and the prices were right.
Efforts had been made to advertise and offer coupons that brought the price of dinner to $10. 00 per person. Yet, the parking lot was still empty. There were just a few tables filled. This restaurant is off the main road, but not that far off. People were filling the other restaurants while this one was empty. Can a restaurant that has a two year poor record not turn itself around? In this area it should be able to. Many of your potential customers have never heard of you before and your reputation of lack of it does not necessarily proceed you, because your target customer is the tourist - many here in the area for the first time. Think about the "average Joe" when he travels with his family who is deciding where to have dinner tonight. If there is something to grab his attention - a billboard on the road, a large ad in the tourist newspaper handouts, coupons left in hotel lobbies - he is going to come and try your restaurant. If you have turned your restaurant around for the better, he is going to tell his friends who will come next month to be sure to try your restaurant. You cannot blame the economy when there are tourists in the area looking for someplace to eat - especially when you are open on Sunday and few others are.
We went to see if there was a crowd at this restaurant around the beginning of September 2008. We were struck by the restaurant's sign on the main road where the turn is made up to this buffet that said, "Under New Management". A month before it had not said this. What "new management" was this referring to? Did someone new come in and take over? Or was this the old "new management". The sign also referred to menu dining with hours along with buffet hours - there was no menu dining at this restaurant since 2007. We went up to the restaurant and there was another sign that said "Closed for Renovations". Later that evening I went to the buffet's website. The website had a message that explained that the restaurant has gone out of business - due to the economy.
Now, perhaps someone else is going to give this location a try. Anyone thinking of going into the buffet business - or any restaurant for that matter - can learn a lot reading this article. In a tourist area, every tourist has got to eat. If the economy has not kept them away - and here, certainly, it has not - then be ready to provide good food geared to the locale, served and maintained properly, have good employees who have the interest of your business at heart, provide a clean and comfortable dining room, and give value. In this particular area you can't miss.
PART 1 appeared one week ago.
_________________
On my visit in 2006 I found that the recipes were too spicy for what is expected at this type of restaurant in this specific area. This is the Pennsylvania Farm Country - home of the Amish people. The Amish are an American culture all onto themselves with religious beliefs that have them living today as they did in the 1800's. They are farmers with no use of electricity or gasoline driven engines. They travel by horse and buggy on today's roads along side the trucks and cars. They farm with horse-drawn plows. These are "plain" people and there food is wholesome and filing. What they cook is tasty, but they do not generally use hot spices. The food at this buffet in 2006 could have been described as Pennsylvania Dutch Tex-Mex. This was not going to appeal to locals or tourists who were looking to dine "Pennsylvania Dutch". So, bottom line - in 2006 the recipes were just WRONG!
I also found in 2006 that the food trays were not well maintained. Food was dried out. Many items needed stiring. This is all very unappetizing and not at all appealing to the people dining. All and all, my first experience at this restaurant in 2006 was not bad. Were there better choices to go to at the time - absolutely, but this was one of the few that remained open on Sundays - so business should have been a shoe-in!
Let's move on to 2007. I went back expecting a pleasant experience, hoping for better recipes, but willing to have the same experience that I had in 2006. Well, not so. On this visit things had taken a downward turn. What was wrong? Oh, there was oh, so much!
It was a very hot July evening and there was NO air conditioning running. There were floor fans that just seemed to blow the hot air at you faster. This alone made for an unpleasant dinner.
The one soup that was offered on the buffet - where there used to be two - was not hot - in fact it was cold (not intentionally). In the heat of the room this unheated soup server was a breeding gound for bacteria. Looking over to the food servers, there was a single piece of fried chicken and two pieces of pale barbecue chicken in two trays - all not very appetizing in appearance. Other meats that were out looked to be deli-counter sliced meats, heated in broth. Was any of this going to boost business here? Absolutely not. And the temperature of all of the food was just barely warm to cold!
Then there was the incident with the raw chicken. It was discovered by a diner a table away from us and by me that the "barbecued" chicken and the fried chicken was raw inside when you cut it open. I mean blood dripping raw. I said nothing because the gentlemen at the other table said everything. The response he got from the young lady waitress was totally unacceptable.
Let's talk for a moment about the front line staff at a buffet - the people who have direct contact with the customers. If you have this job, whether you like it or not, the basic tenant that the customer is always right and always watch what you say to a customer has got to always be in the front of your thoughts when you are speaking with a customer. Your job is to pleasant, appear to be ready to solve all of the customer's problems should there be any during the course of the meal, and to make the customer feel that he/she is not only welcome but special. Some of the people working at this particular buffet were wonderful and tried to do exactly as I describe. However, there was one young woman who was there in 2007 and involved with the "raw chicken incident" and surprising was still there a year later in 2008 communicating with the customers in just the same manner. Here is the situation - the customer calls the young lady over to his table and tells her that the chicken that is out on the buffet server is raw. What she should have done is apologized on behalf of the restaurant and ran and grabbed the tray of chicken so that no one else would take any. What did she do? She stood there in a defensive tone and said, "You know, I don't do the cooking." She did actually go and bring out the chef who properly thanked the gentlemen for telling him - but you know he did not go immediately over to get the tray of chicken right away. He went back into the kitchen and then came out to take it away. Buffet owners - your staff can make or break you! You can have the best food, but if you have staff that is not on the ball and pleasant with your customers you will not succeed.
So I said that this young woman was still there in 2008. What did she do then? A customer told her that the tray of mashed potatoes was empty. Her reaction, "Yeah, they know. When they come out, they come out." Oh boy. How about, "I am sorry. The kitchen told me that they will be out in five minutes."
In 2008, again on a hot July day, there was still no room air conditioning. There was a through the wall, house air conditioner built into the emergency exit. It churned away in futility trying to cool this large room with steam tables that was open to a room twice its size that had been closed down for some time. Needless to say, it was still hot in the room and not very pleasant to enjoy a large buffet meal. (What would happen if there was a need for the emergency exit I am not sure.)
The food had improved some in 2008. There seemed to be two cooks - at least one was Amish and the recipes were now more in line with the area. The majority of the food was good and the prices were right.
Efforts had been made to advertise and offer coupons that brought the price of dinner to $10. 00 per person. Yet, the parking lot was still empty. There were just a few tables filled. This restaurant is off the main road, but not that far off. People were filling the other restaurants while this one was empty. Can a restaurant that has a two year poor record not turn itself around? In this area it should be able to. Many of your potential customers have never heard of you before and your reputation of lack of it does not necessarily proceed you, because your target customer is the tourist - many here in the area for the first time. Think about the "average Joe" when he travels with his family who is deciding where to have dinner tonight. If there is something to grab his attention - a billboard on the road, a large ad in the tourist newspaper handouts, coupons left in hotel lobbies - he is going to come and try your restaurant. If you have turned your restaurant around for the better, he is going to tell his friends who will come next month to be sure to try your restaurant. You cannot blame the economy when there are tourists in the area looking for someplace to eat - especially when you are open on Sunday and few others are.
We went to see if there was a crowd at this restaurant around the beginning of September 2008. We were struck by the restaurant's sign on the main road where the turn is made up to this buffet that said, "Under New Management". A month before it had not said this. What "new management" was this referring to? Did someone new come in and take over? Or was this the old "new management". The sign also referred to menu dining with hours along with buffet hours - there was no menu dining at this restaurant since 2007. We went up to the restaurant and there was another sign that said "Closed for Renovations". Later that evening I went to the buffet's website. The website had a message that explained that the restaurant has gone out of business - due to the economy.
Now, perhaps someone else is going to give this location a try. Anyone thinking of going into the buffet business - or any restaurant for that matter - can learn a lot reading this article. In a tourist area, every tourist has got to eat. If the economy has not kept them away - and here, certainly, it has not - then be ready to provide good food geared to the locale, served and maintained properly, have good employees who have the interest of your business at heart, provide a clean and comfortable dining room, and give value. In this particular area you can't miss.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
