BUFFETS IN 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LANCASTER, PA BUFFETS REOPENING

In Pennsylvania the Covid-19 reopening is coded by color and Lancaster County went Green at the end of June.  The buffet restaurants that have been written about on this site started to reopen for inside dining - but not all of them as buffets (for the time being).  I have not been to any of these for their reopening (yet) but I will share what I have learned about each one. I am not including prices as prices can change. (The masks and six feet distancing are a PA State mandate during Covid-19 and this applies to all restaurants and all businesses so I will not mention this for each restaurant unless there is something in particular to note for a specific restaurant.  Please understand - no mask and you don't get in - don't wear it as required and you will be told to leave. I am not saying this - the State of Pennsylvania is.)

I will start with the very popular Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Shady Maple closed and when take out dining was allowed they reopened for takeout dining with a limited per serving menu. With indoor dining now permitted they have once again opened as a smorgasbord buffet with a modification of its usual offerings. There are rules that must be followed if you are going to dine there during this period of time.  Your temperature will be taken as you enter. You must where a mask to enter the building and you must keep that mask on your face covering your nose and mouth - down to your chin fully. The mask may only be removed when you are sitting at your table eating. When you get up from the table for any reason the mask must be put back on. Disposable gloves will be given to your as you approach the buffet area.  You must put the gloves on before you enter the area with the buffet tables and grills and wear the gloves to take food from the buffet tables, grills, or soda and drink dispensers. As you leave this area to return to your table, there are bins to discard the gloves into. Each time you go up you will be given new gloves to wear. Before you are seated at a table the table will be fully sanitized by staff.  The buffet areas are being intensively cleaned every thirty minutes and serving utensils at the buffet are being regularly changed. Employees are being checked for temperature and health when they come to work. I had hoped that Shady Maple when it reopened like this would have followed the approach that Golden Corral has incorporated now at their restaurants that have have reopened for buffet dining and had employees serving from the buffet tables to your plate (cafeteria style) instead of allowing diners to serve themselves - even with gloved hands. But they have chosen to do it their way instead - which to me imposes more of a risk.  Occupancy of the restaurant is limited to 25% of its dining capacity. With Shady Maple there is normally a very high dining capacity with the many dining rooms it has. At 25% of that there should not be that much of a problem getting in - at least during the week. Though it could mean some long waits even so. Because of reduced capacity they ask that all diners limit their time in the buffet to two hours only - and that is fair.

The buffet menu is the same Mondays to Thursday and is the same at lunch every day. At dinner on Monday to Thursday they add additional items at the drill stations including Carved Smoked Beef Brisket, Carved Honey Ham, Kielbasa, BBQ Ribs, Grilled Chicken, Potato Cakes, Corn Fritters, Pizza, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Delmonico Steak & Baked Potato. On the buffet tables will be 32 Salad Bar items, 5 homemade breads & rolls, 4 soups, 3 cheeses, 9 meats, 14 vegetables, 9 cold desserts, 3 hot desserts, 5 pies, 6 cakes, sundae bar & many beverages. 

On Friday and Saturday what is on the buffet tables is the same but at the grill on Friday are added Salmon, Cajun Catfish, Pizza, Hamburgers, and Prime Rib and on Saturday are added
Salmon, Cajun Catfish, Fried Shrimp, Crab Cakes & NY Strip. Prices are higher on Friday and Saturday.  Over all the menu is not bad - and with what is included on the buffet tables there is certainly enough to eat, The Meals To Go menu is still available for pick up.  The smorgasbord hours are the same as always and they close at 8:00 pm.

Another restaurant that has opened its buffet tables is Dienner's. This is a small restaurant and has always had the earliest closing hours of any of the buffet/menu restaurants in Lancaster. Monday to Thursday and Saturday they still close at 6:00 PM and on Friday instead of being open until 8:00 pm as was the usual Friday closing.  Dienner's is serving the buffer cafeteria-style with diners coming up to the buffet and being served there by an employee.  They are keeping people six feet apart. Masks are required in the restaurant except at your table.  In addition to the buffet there is also menu dining. They are also still doing take out.  After 5 pm on Saturdays there is only the buffet - but the restaurant closes at 6 pm on Saturdays.  As I say, this is a small restaurant. The state mandate is no more than 25% capacity and that would mean a lot with the size of this restaurant in very much limiting how many can be inside at one time. There are always waits to get into Dienner's in the best of times - and with 75% capacity lost - this may be a difficult restaurant to get into. 

Miller's Smorgasbord has also reopened with its buffet in addition to menu dining and a meal that is served to your table. I do not often write about this restaurant as I feel that it exists for the tourists and it has very high prices. This was one of, if not the first Lancaster County PA Dutch buffet restaurants but it has changed greatly over the years. I have been checking on them through their website throughout the Covid-19 closures and there has not been a mention of the virus until recently - and this is what they say are their modifications - "

• We have established a one-way buffet route. Directional arrows and other spacing is shown on the floor.
• Enter the buffet line at the “ENTER HERE” signs and practice social distancing, maintaining six feet between you and the next guest.
• Use of the gloves or parchment paper is strongly encouraged when using utensils to take your food.
• Take food ONLY from one side of the buffet. Do not reach across the buffet."

OK, so from this we only assume that they are providing gloves -  and some type or parchment paper to take items from the buffet. But are they asking you to change gloves every time you go up - it does not indicate that - and will these gloves just be out on the counter and you HOPE everyone puts them on - or takes a clean piece of parchment paper. They are limiting each table to no more than four - so if you have more than four in your family you will need two tables. Nothing here is clear.  I would not feel comfortable here at all - but that is up to you to decide.

Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant and Smorgasbord was one of the first to open with outdoor dining - but no smorgasbord. They opened at the end of June for indoor dining with menu only. The restaurant is open Tuesdays to Saturday - CLOSED MONDAY and Sunday - and only open until 7:00 pm. On July 24, 2020, the Smorgasbord will reopen. They state the following which is very clear -  "To support distancing, we have established single-direction lanes at our buffets, and we change serving utensils regularly. We are requiring that guests wear masks and gloves when they visit the buffets, and we are providing gloves and glove-disposal containers for that purpose.". Again it would have been better if they went to cafeteria-style serving at the buffet - they are certainly set up for it with an open area behind the buffet tables for employees to serve you - but they have not. They had a survey about a month ago asking many questions about coming to dine at their restaurant and buffet if they were to reopen and I must have suggested a cafeteria style buffet served by staff - at least five times in my responses. Too bad they did not go with that idea. At least they are taking the same precautions as Shady Maple and they are giving gloves each time one goes up to the buffet.  They are open to 50% of their capacity - and they do have two large dining rooms - one very large - and this will make getting in easier with less wait.  This has always been a favorite - and one of the buffets I have thought about a lot while sitting home for the past several months. There does not seem to be any changes in the buffet menu.

Yoders Country Market Restaurant and Buffet has been open with menu dining only for over a month. I had to go searching a lot to find out that the buffet is now open also.  I only found out by looking at the supermarket's newspaper insert which came up on the website. They have decided to have cafeteria style serving at the buffet by employees. That is great! The buffet does not seem to have changed at all - but it appears that each day's buffet will be the same as it says "no featured buffets will be served at this time".  This is a favorite for both of us! They do not say how limited the capacity is - but the state guidelines are 50% so we can assume that is what it is.

Dutch-Way Family Restaurant and Buffet in Gap, PA has only recently opened again for indoor dining. Before that the only thing that was open was the food stand in the supermarket lobby and they had added some platters to their menu - and there were special events such as a chicken BBQ and a rib platter special.  With their reopening the restaurant it is menu only at this time - no buffet. And since this has happened the website says "Menu Coming Soon" - but there still is no menu. I  have been able to get to see their lunch and dinner menu that is current for this time - and it seems limited. There are several entrees that had been in on the buffet including meat loaf, fried chicken, and ham balls.  There has been always a lot here - on the buffet - and since my last visit there in January that I have missed. I am looking forward to when they are able to open the buffet again safely. I might go for the menu - as the food is always good here.

Oregon Dairy has opened its restaurant for indoor dining but it is menu only. The buffet is "temporarily" closed. This is the restaurant with the dairy on the premises made ice cream that is included on the buffet deserts. They have a pretty extensive menu with PA Dutch and other items included. The ice cream is at the ice cream stand outside.  The restaurant is only open until 7:00pm.

Lititz Family Cupboard is open but here also the buffet is temporarily closed and they are serving menu only.  They are open from Monday to Thursday to 7:00 pm and Friday and Saturday until 8:00 pm.  Their menu also is rather extensive.

I have not written about Good and Plenty Restaurant which is a family style PA Dutch all you care to eat restaurant. In normal times your family sits at a long table with other people and pass the serving platters around the table - everyone taking what they want and filling their plates. This restaurant reopened in July for both menu dining and family style dining - BUT you do not sit with strangers. Each table will be your family only - and you will be served the same way. The food was always good at Good and Plenty and you did get a lot. It has been years since I have been there as I much prefer not sitting with people I don't know and eating at the pace of the group at the table. I much rather go up and get what I want and eat at my leisure. With you and yours only being served family style that is much different and to me better. Enough for me to consider going back while this is going on.

The Hershey Farm Restaurant in Ronks, PA has also opened for indoor dining and has recently reopened its buffet. I do not write much about this restaurant as the last time we were there we experienced many problems including an infestation of flies around the buffet foods - and we decided we we would not go back. They are not having anyone go up to the buffet at all on their own - but will ask you at your table what to bring you from the buffet. This is certainly a safe way to do it - but without seeing what there is and knowing if you want it can be a problem plus you are depending on that server being available to go and get what you want - and how much of it you want when you are ready for it.

The Golden Corral in Lancaster, PA has just reopened and they are serving the buffet indoors. They are serving you cafeteria-style at the buffet counters. A server will put what you want on your plate.  With all of the really good buffets in Lancaster we tend to only go to the Golden Corral there if it is a Sunday night and all other buffets are closed or we are too late to get to one of the other buffets and Golden Corral is open later.

These are just about all of the all you care to eat restaurants in Lancaster, PA.  As you see some are not serving buffet now and some are.  Whether it is safe to go to a buffet now is up to you - and my feeling is that the ones that are serving you or are making sure that everyone has gloves on that will be changed each trip up are the safer choices. One thing that gives me hope about all of this is I saw a news story that said buffets are dead because of Covid-19 and will never be again. Well that is certainly not true!

Will I go? I am, right now, undecided. One thing I keep watching are the Covid-19 updates for Pennsylvania - which very recently have not been good and Lancaster County has the highest daily counts of the counties in the Susquehanna Valley. I would love to go to a buffet again - as soon as possible - but it is not worth dying for.  I will keep a close watch on all of this and if I do go, you will hear about it - right here on this site!

The Future of Buffets - After Covid-19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE RULES OF THE BUFFET

It has been a very long time since we  have brought out the Rules of the Buffet  - rules to be followed by any one eating a buffet - and WOW are they needed now.  What I see at buffets is just beyond manors and often just disgusting - and this goes for adults, kids, and even supervised kids. 

RULES OF THE BUFFET

1. All you can eat is not a challenge. It is an offer!

2. There is no limit to the number of times that you can go up and get food.

3. Take your food in courses - as you would be served if ordering from a menu.

4. Everyone must pay!

5. No food is permitted to be taken out of the restaurant.

6. Take only what you will eat - do not waste food.

7. For a more social meal, it is polite to wait for the others at the table to finish their plates and then go up together to get more.

8. Take a clean plate every time that you go up to the buffet tables.

9. If you put it on your plate, leave it there. Never return food to the serving tray.

10. Never eat at the buffet tables!

11. Children under 12 should not be going up to the buffet tables alone.

12. The buffet table is not a cafeteria line.

13. Tip the server.

14. Never take a serving piece from one item and use it for another item.

15. Never place your dirty plates on someone else's table.

16. Never use your silverware to serve yourself from the buffet trays.

17. Once you have gotten what you want, don't stand around the buffet tables. Move on back to your table.

18. Children should remain seated through the meal.

19. Do not fill community plates for the "table". Each should take their own plate of what they wish to eat.

20. If you cough or sneeze into your hand, please do not use that hand to pick up the serving utensils.

21. In the buffet, as in any restaurant, children (and adults) should use their inside voices.

22. Don't talk on your cell phone while you are getting your food at the buffet tables.

23. Never bring an animal into the buffet. (this is not referring to medical guide dogs)

24. Never put your hands into a serving tray.

25. Tell your children not to put their hands into a serving tray - and make sure that they do not!

26. Do not carry on a conversation throughout dinner with the people at the tables around you.

27. Do not put anything back into a serving tray that has dropped onto the serving counter - and never put anything back into a serving tray (whether from the counter or your dish) with your fingers.

28. Never put the serving utensil, whether it a spoon, fork, or tongs, up to your nose to smell the food that you have taken out of the serving tray.

29. Do not eat while walking with your plate back to your table.

30. If you take a plate, bowl, cup, or piece of silverware and you decide you don't want it, do not put it back on the stack of clean dishes or back with the clean silverware. Take it back to your table or put it on the side of the stack where it will not be taken as clean. 

Golden Corral, Freehold, NJ - A Hit and Miss Golden Corral

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.

Foxwoods Casino Festival Buffet - Connecticut

I had not realized that we had not been to Foxwoods Casino Festival Buffet since 2013. That last visit was a disappointment and the year before that it has been as well. This had been a regular birthday dinner trip until then. I guess following that I took my own advice and we headed for Lancaster for my birthday buffet dinner. We have been trying to plan trips around rather poor weather reports and I saw that Thursday was going to be cool but nice and I wanted to go somewhere for a buffet. I started poking around to where to go. I decided that for another single day trip to Lancaster it really was too expensive and hopefully we will get there for several days at some point soon. I looked northward to Connecticut and started looking up the current pricing at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods for their buffets. Mohegan Sun is $30. Foxwoods is usually $24 but on Thursdays if you are 55 years of age or older - during a special they are having - the buffet at dinner from 6 pm to 9 pm when it closes is $9.99! I looked at my past articles. I felt things must have changed - maybe in the past five years. I looked around at reviews and they are mixed - some good and some terrible. For $10 each for dinner, a nice day out with a stop at a favorite spot in Connecticut before getting to the casino, and only one bridge toll - despite the recent jump in gas prices - we would go!

I could talk a lot about getting there. I will just say that the Waze app let me down and sent us out of the way and onto some rather dangerous roads that were single lane and twisted around high hills with one spot having a big sign reading "Dangerous Curve!"  That these roads brought us back to the same large main road it sent us off of - with no reported problems on that road convinced me that this is not an app to rely upon at all.

So we got to Foxwoods, later than we had planned and went straight to the buffet to have dinner. There was a line as I anticipated there would be but we only waited about fifteen minutes to get in. Needless to say, there were a lot of seniors also there for the regular $24 buffet for only $9.99 - but that is fine. 

Every night there is an option to a pay $10 extra for either a sirloin steak of snow crab legs. The week end buffet includes steak and snow crab legs at no additional cost - though I am not sure if you would be getting the same steak as the one you pay extra for. It is not right that they are charging the same every night (except Thursday nights for Seniors) and not including steak and crab legs as they do on weekends. It would be understandable if the price was higher on the weekends - but it is not. So that annoyance aside - onto our dinner.

Overall the selections and food stations are the same as they had been. There is a Seafood Station, a Carving Station, an "International" Station, an Italian Station, an Asian Station, and a Barbecue Station. There is a area in the middle of the dining room with soups and a salad bar with make your salad and prepared salads. The price includes unlimited soft drinks.

As usual, we started with soup. When we were seated my wife told me to go up for soup while she waited for the server to give our drink order. We had been sitting for about five minutes and no one had come over. As I was on my way back to the table with my soup, my wife was walking up to the soup area and she told me the woman server was very nice and took the drink order without any confusion. Plus one right there.

There are four soups - as there have been in the past. There were two thick soups and two thin soups. There was New England Clam Chowder, a red bean soup, a thin vegetable chowder, and chicken rice soup. In the past there were often all thick soups - this variety is much better. I chose the vegetable chowder. I was going to pick the New England Clam but decided on trying something different and I was not sure I wanted a thick heavy soup. The vegetable chowder was very good. It was a vegetable stock with a bit of a tang to it - either vinegar or a seasoning, There was a visible seasoning that looked like what is found in red clam chowder or minestrone. The soup was full of vegetables. As I got down to the bottom of the bowl I wondered if I should go and get more - but no, I decided that I would get on with the meal.  My wife took the chicken rice and felt it could have had more in it - but it tasted fine.

The salad bar was next - and we did not take much. Not that there was not a lot to take. We were not going to make big salads. We took a little of this and a little of that and not much at all, There was a really nice looking Caesar Salad but with the recent problems with Romaine lettuce and a national Ecoli scare I decided against that. Despite articles that say it has past, there was a report of four more cases including one in NY just the past week of when I am writing this. What we took from the salad bar was tasty. I tried some Tortellini salad with black olives. It was good. 

On to the main event! I walked around all of the stations deciding. I knew that at least once and more likely twice I was going to get the Prime Rib that was being carved. The other carving was pork roast with pancetta. What caught my attention were barbecue ribs in the Barbecue area, the sausage and peppers in tomato sauce, tortellini bruschetta (not sure why bruschetta as it just seemed to be thick tomato sauce), a macaroni in white cream sauce, and the Prime Rib kept calling me. And I took a little of each of this all - except the Prime Rib. When I was about to get  up to the carver from the line, he was left with a full half of a Prime Rib and a slice of Prime Rib from what he was carving from that was about an inch and a half thick. He was not carving thick slices. He cut that thick slice in half and he gave the woman in front of me that and gave me the other half. My first thought was that this was too much to start off with but I took it back to the table. It was supposed to be rare. It was pink and it was more medium rare, but as I have been writing, when I have been writing lately, I have a craving for beef, steak in particular but Prime Rib is a good second. The Prime Rib was mostly tender. Around the cooked edges there were some spots that had to be cut out as they were more grizzle than meat.  It was a little less than flavorful and I wound up adding salt which I rarely do. It was fine. The sausage was good. The tortellini was nice. The macaroni in white cream sauce, most would say was just right - but I am not a fan of  al dente macaroni. To me it is under cooked and hard to chew. I much prefer pasta/macaroni that has cooked to not quite soft but not at all hard. It tasted good but it was not as I like. I don't really get this passion for almost raw macaroni. The rib was tasty but I only took a small piece and there was no bone which I saw when I took it. It was covered in a pleasant barbecue sauce that was not too sweet and I liked what I ate. I put this on my get some more of list for the next trip up.

The Seafood Station has fried shrimp, fried calamari, a fried batter dipped snapper that looked dark and over fried, a cod fillet in a green curry sauce, and peel and eat shrimp. I passed all of it up. There were no fried clams on this night as they had been at least five years ago. I was not going to try anything in curry - I had an almost two hundred mile drive home after this dinner. I would have taken the snapper if it was not overdone.

I took two more full ribs. There were two focaccia to choose from- one with vegetables and cheese and the other with pepperoni and cheese, both with tomato sauce. I took the vegetable focaccia. There were crab clusters - but these were stone crab clusters - a half crab that were broiled or just put in a fryer. I took a half to try it. I took a meatball. I went over to the Barbecue Station and took some red skin potato salad. I went back to the table. My wife was up at the carving station. She is not a fan of beef and she was looking for turkey which has been here - again, at least in the long past. There was no turkey but the pork roast and she was not certain she would like the pancetta that was on it. Remember, my wife is a picky eater. When she came back without any carvings we had a discussion about this and she said the turkey was what she had always liked the most to take here. She does make do finding things.  These two ribs were good. They were almost fall off the bone ribs and they were very tasty. The focaccia was very tasty. The crab - well... When I got back to the table I was smelling the ocean which for raw fish is a good thing but it was the crab. OK. Stone crab is very hard to open, This seemed to be a bit brittle and it broke in half. I tried to pull out some of the white crab meat inside the cluster with a fork and came out with a little shreds of meat and a lot of a hard shell like substance that was over the open end of the cluster. It was then an effort to get these sharp little bits out of my mouth. I went back into the shell to try to get some actual crab meat and a little did come out - which I could taste - but again there was this shell. I stopped at that point and pushed the crab to the side of my plate. The potato salad was good.

What was to be my final trip up and you know it was going to be Primer Rib! There was no line and I could see the carver cutting up the rest of what he had out into small slices of well done beef. I said to myself - and my good wife - that I would wait. I wanted a new Prime Rib and it was still an hour and a half to closing so they would certainly bring another out. Rather than go back to the table with an empty plate - as my wife had already taken what she was going to have, I took some sliced beef in onion sauce. This was in a tray at the carving area. There was also a chicken dish there. I took just a little and some more vegetable focaccia and went back to the table to wait for Prime Rib. I finished what was on my plate and I saw people gathering at the Carving Station. My wife was not going to go up for more until dessert. The Prime Rib was red, rare and juicy! He cut one slice and I asked for two and he cut a second. He was cutting thin slices - more like one slices roast beef but at this point in the meal that was OK. I put some red skinned boiled potatoes on my plate and went back to the table and really enjoyed this beef.

There were other things to choose from and there were several vegetable dishes. I did not take any fried chicken but it did look good! 

During the course of the meal the server cleared the plates off the table each time we went up for more and she came and asked if we would like refills on our drinks which she brought promptly. She was an excellent server. In 2012 and 2013 my articles about Foxwoods talk about the poor service we had.

It was time for dessert and I went to look at what there was. The dessert area is a long counter with glass shelves going up full of baked goods. There were several things that looked good. Some labeling could have been better. There was a cheese cake that was topped with something - maybe caramel but there was no sign. There was a Boston Cream cake. There was a chocolate chip cookie cake that tempted me. I have to note this about the desserts - the Sugar Free desserts were the nicest looking desserts that were out - nice looking iced and cream layer cakes. I don't eat sugar free because one never knows what they have been sweetened with and some common sweeteners are sugar alcohols which are laxatives - fast working laxatives. There was a soft serve sundae bar - the soft serve ice cream looked icy. I went down to the very end and found bread pudding! I took that - thought about also taking the chocolate chip cookie cake - but didn't and headed back. The bread pudding was a little on the sweet side but fine. (Not as good as the bread pudding at Golden Corral which is my favorite.)

This was a good meal for $9.99! Was it a good meal for $24? Hmm. Nothing was bad. Nothing was wrong with anything I took. I enjoyed everything that I ate - but I can compare this to other $24 buffet meals that I have had and this was just OK - in comparison. I am looking strictly at value. Again nothing wrong. I would certainly go back on a Thursday night for $9.99 each and I am driving a distance for this!  We are not gamblers. I love casinos - the atmosphere, the money risked. But I can't afford to be a gambler. We go strictly to eat and walk around.  If it was not Thursday - that may be a dilemma in deciding.  There are two buffet choices - one is Mohegan Sun which we were at a year ago but I never got around to writing about. It was OK - but now it is $30. There is also now a Golden Corral in Connecticut which I have not yet been to. It opened with some difficulties and a reader wrote and told me to avoid it for awhile - and I have still not yet gone. When I do go, you all will know about it. But $12.99 or whatever this Golden Corral is charging (another article will talk about recent price increases) is a lot better than $24 and $30 each - and just about every Golden Corral I have been to has had good steak.  Ah yes - children are allowed in the building and in the buffet. They cannot go onto the casino floor where there is gambling.

I can say confidently that the negative reviews that I saw on Yelp and Trip Advisor was not the experience I had. It was pretty much all positive!  I wish I was close by - without the trip we have to get there - as I would be there most Thursday nights! The special is not on holidays - so Thanksgiving is out! 😄

Dinner at DJ's International Buffet, Garden City, NY

With a holiday week that was not feeling very special - not that it should - I had thoughts of going off somewhere to have a better than our usual buffet. I thought about the casinos in Connecticut, a drive to New Jersey to Golden Corral, or even all the way to Lancaster, PA for a day. None of that seemed worth the tolls and gas. My wife suggested that we go to a buffet locally that we might only go for for a special celebration.  There were two I thought about - one was going to cost over $80 for the two of us so I ruled that one out - and we decided to go to DJ's International Buffet which we have been to many times in the past, would cost half what that other buffet would cost, and we only go to for special occasions.

We were there a year ago - and had I gone back to read my article from then, we might have just stayed home to eat, but I didn't check and we went. We went on a weeknight for dinner. The price of dinner on Monday to Thursday is $20.99 per adult. They often run coupons which get sent out in local advertising mailers and sometimes in newspaper supplements.

I thought that it would be empty - based on it was a weeknight - but it was fairly busy. We were seated right away and we went up to the buffet. I started with Udon Soup, which is not at the soup bar which still has a number of soups. The Udon Soup is right across from the soup bar at the grill. The bowls are out filled with udon noodles, a piece of broccoli and a piece of krab - not crab though it is supposed to be crab. If you don't know, krab is fake crab that looks like snow crab leg meat but is actually a piece of fish formed to look like that.  There is a hot serving pot of soup for the Udon Soup that you ladle into the bowl yourself. I looked for other things that usually go into Udon Soup but I did not see any. The soup was good. It had the right flavor and the noodles were thick and long. (I will put this here so that it does not get lost later - there were several bowls of noodles out when we went up. When those were gone - not long after - none were brought out again.)

There is a large sushi bar that includes just fish with no rice and that is what I headed for. I took good size pieces of tuna and salmon. I also took some of the seared tuna that is covered on the edges with black pepper and is marinated. All of it was good.

I had a few appetizers - grilled beef on a stick, a grilled pork chop, a baked scallop, a small eggroll, and some mozzarella cheese from the tomato salad where the salads were. The beef on a stick was good. I have been craving steak and grilled beef and this was the start of what satisfied that - at least for this night. The pork chop was slightly sweet but tasty. The baked scallop which was a large scallop shell covered in baked cheese with small bits (barely evident) of scallops, corn, and shredded krab with corn kernels throughout - all in a mayonnaise based sauce. It was tasty but it would have been nicer had there been more evidence of scallops in it. The eggroll was all roll and very little filling. It was as if they took the wrapper for a full size eggroll and wrapped it around into this little eggroll. The cheese was bland.

In the past there has been steak grilled to order on a flame grill. I looked around the grill area and saw a sign for the steak that said to ask. I asked. A nice size but very thin steak was brought from the refrigerator at the end of the grill area and put on the flame grill for me. I asked for it rare - as I always do.  This steak - as many Asian buffets that claim they have steak - was just a quarter inch thick. This steak should cook in a few minutes and rare should cook for no more than 60 to 90 seconds. It was turned after a minute when the flames started to come up around it. What set this steak apart form others at Asian buffets was the fat around it which was not a bad thing. I would have taken it off much sooner but he let it cook for several minutes before he took it off. I added some French Fries to the plate and a few large black Greek olives from the salad bar and took it back to the table. The char taste of the steak was just what I was craving. It was not rare - it was more a juicy grey inside. It was very juicy and it tasted like I had hoped it would taste - a steak off a flame grill. I even had a second one later on. Also not rare but tasty all the same. I wondered while I was eating the second one if I should just ask for it well done - and get the crunchy outside that I also like on a steak. (My perfect steak is charred and crunchy outside with a red rare inside - closest I get to that at a buffet is Golden Corral when the chef knows what he is doing.)

There are snow crab legs served at dinner on weeknights - hot. When we got to the restaurant the tray was empty. When I went up after the steak they brought out more that filled about a quarter of the tray- maybe 15 or so claws and single small legs - not clusters. I took two of the legs. Others were descending on the tray and they were all gone by the time I headed back to our table. (They were not filled again the rest of the night we were there.) They were not hot inside which with crab legs is a problem because that makes them difficult to get the meat out of the shell. They were tasty. It was a good thing I did not want more as there were no more to be had. We left a little after 9 pm (they close at 10 pm) and they still had brought out no more crab legs.

There are a lot of seafood dishes served on this buffet.  A good number of them are spicy - and while there are signs over most of the trays some signs obviously did not match what was in the tray below. I can't eat spicy and "picky" eater wife does not eat seafood other than shrimp - and does not eat spicy, I tried only a few of the seafood dishes. There was a steamed halibut in ginger sauce. it was bland and was not as good as other steamed fish I have had at other Asian buffets (some at lower prices). There was tilapia with their "special" seasoning. It was better than the halibut, not spicy, and OK. Tilapia is the popular fish at Asian buffets. It is not a good fish to eat if one eats fish for the benefits of eating fish. Farmed tilapia is known to actually decrease benefits gained from other fish when consumed.

It came time for dessert and I decided to get one of their made to order dessert crepes. These are cooked on a round griddle at the grill counter. It was 10 minutes to 9:00 pm - they close at 10:00 pm. I caught the eye of one of the cooks as he walked by and asked for a crepe. He picked up a small container that had a coating of crepe batter on it and told me that there were no more crepes for the night because there was no more batter. There were other tables still occupied in the dining rooms that were not yet near ready for dessert. There was an hour and ten minutes until closing. If more batter was made at this point, it would certainly keep until the next day if there was any left over. No, there were no more crepes.

Just about all of the food that we had was good. On our last visit a year ago, I found things not kept hot enough. Almost all that I had was at the correct temperature - the crab legs should have been kept hotter. I felt that we had a good dinner - BUT it bothers me that there were three main items here that you are paying for in the $21.00 dinner price that they ran out of and did not replace - the Udon Noodle Soup, the Snow Crab Legs, and the Dessert Crepes. It is not as if they are going to make this up with a reduction in price - never will happen! You are paying for what you are not getting that you should be getting. This will, likely, not keep me from going back but we do not come here regularly because of the price and it will be some time before we return.

I will let you decide if this buffet is worth going to. It was fine. Long ago - even under this name and owner - International Buffet has a long history of changes - there was much more "international" in foods offered and more of a variety. That was then - this is now. If it matters there is lobster on Friday to Sunday at diner - the price per adult is then $25.

 D.J.'s International Buffet is located at 1100 Stewart Avenue in Garden City, New York. There is a website, linked at the side in the right column. Beware that when you open the website it plays annoying music, which can be turned off, but if you turn it off and go to another page (except the price page) the music starts again.
 

Golden Corral, Middletown, NY

We are rarely in Upstate New York - this for those who are not familiar with New York is considered anything north or west of Manhattan by those who live in the Metro NY area. We were going to spend the day up along the Hudson for an event we wanted to attend and I started looking for where we might find a buffet - and I was in particular looking for a Golden Corral.  With the conversion to Golden Corrals of some Old Country Buffets, etc. that had closed I knew that there was at least one up in this area. The one that I searched for first was the Golden Corral that opened in a former OCB in Newburgh, New York. I had heard about this in early summer along with the opening of a similar take over location in Connecticut. When I had looked up the reviews for this new Golden Corral in Newburgh, the reviews were not good - in fact they were terrible. When I went back to look now I discovered that this Golden Corral had closed! It was not open a half a year. There was some problem between management at the buffet and the NYS Department of Labor - I don't know the details - and Golden Corral pulled their affiliation and closed the restaurant. So, what else might be near enough to make a detour on the way home worth the drive. What I discovered was that there is a new Golden Corral in Middletown, New York. I did not read any reviews - I wanted to see for myself.

We drove about an hour plus out of our way and in the wrong direction to get there on a Saturday night. It is the most unusual Golden Corral I have ever seen. It is not a free standing building but part of a strip mall in one of the store spaces. At first I thought that it must be another OCB conversion - as it just seemed that way from the outside. As we went through the door there was also an open entrance - no doors to a large and noisy game arcade. Odd! I have since found out that this was not an OCB or any other restaurant before but was built as an add on by the arcade.

As we were parking two very large travel buses were parking in the parking lot near the restaurant. On the outside they had the name of a school in Georgia and they also had the name of a sports team. Oh boy!, I thought. and I commented that I hoped that they were on their way out and ont on their way in. It was about 7:00 pm and they were on their way in.

The area with the cashiers and where a line forms to go into the restaurant were very small. A big crowd here would be out the door. As we were on line one of the coaches from the bus was arranging for the team to come in. Looking at the crowded dining room we wondered where two bus loads of hungry athletes were going to be seated. It turns out there is a private dining room that they came into after we were seated.

The interior of the buffet is the smallest Golden Corral I have seen - which even more led us to thing that this had to have been an OCB. The buffet sections were smaller than usual and abbreviated in what they could hold. There was one section I have not seen before in a Golden Corral and that was an Italian foods section.

Now, this is still during the Smokehouse BBQ feature and it is a weekend night so the price is a dollar more - and for this you are supposed to get the Smoked Turkey (which they had for a while), Smoked Brisket (which they did not have), Pulled Pork BBQ (which they did not have) and several other specials for the feature. None of which they had. OK. So this was a weekend extra cost meal with nothing out that makes it special cost - except the small remains of a smoked turkey - that were pretty much totally gone during the time we were dining.

Because my rare opportunities to get to a Golden Corral now has to make up for no longer having regular buffet dinners weekly at the now gone two OCB locations that were near us, I am looking for particular things. One is steak - and they did have steak. After soup and a small salad, I went right for the steak grill - and did manage to get a piece - not a large piece as I expect to get at a Golden Corral of just about rare steak. The steak was not seasoned and pretty bland. It was also rather tough around the sides. My picky eater wife likes Golden Corral's meatloaf - as do I. She went to where the sign said Meatloaf and found a hot tray of some odd looking meat with some vegetables in a brown gravy or sauce - it was not pot roast - the pot roast was on the other side of the buffet section. This was not meatloaf - and we both were disappointed. This was not late. Something like meatloaf should not have run out - and this was before the sports team had come up to the buffet.  Some of the basics at Golden Corral were also missing which made my wife's choices very limited. She also likes the pulled chicken in gravy - there was no sign of that.

When we got up for the second plate, the fried chicken was gone. I waited awhile for it to come out - it did not come out. No fried chicken. As we were leaving several pieces of fried chicken were finally put out. I went looking for the pulled pork BBQ - a featured dish - and in the place with the sign for Pulled Pork BBQ was another tray of that same odd looking meat with vegetables and gravy. While I was there a man came over also looking for pulled pork and looked at that meat in the tray and asked me what it was - I said, "I have no idea, but it is not pulled pork!" He shrugged and put some on his plate. It did not look much better plated. Trays would empty and never get refilled. I went over to the Italian section and there were fried raviolis. I was interested and took a couple. I almost broke a tooth biting into one of them. It was not fried hard but fried too tough to chew and the edges were hard. So much for that. There was a baked ziti with cheese and that was fair, but nothing I go to Golden Corral for. I went back for another piece of steak and despite a "look" for rare, I was given what would more be described as medium - and this piece was tough and full of grizzle. I like the steak at Golden Corral - this was not it. This was not the thick cuts of steak that Golden Corral usually serves.

There is not much to go on further about in regard to the food. This is not up to Golden Corral standards - if Golden Corral cares about their locations following consistent standards - which seem to vary from location to location.

Service started out being good - and then went downhill and the server did not have a large section to cover. When it was time to refill our soft drinks I had to wait by the table until I saw him and go over to tell him to please bring us refills. When I got back to the table my wife was there and on the table next to our empty cups were two of the large take it with you plastic cups - that cost more than the regular soft drinks. My wife told me that the server brought these and said that they are "out of glasses" and he brought the refills in these. OK - a way around being out of glasses - but "out of glasses?!".   Our two glasses were on the table - no wonder they were out of glasses! In other Golden Corrals the server takes the glasses we have and refills them - either bringing a pitcher of soda to fill them with or taking the glasses to the soda dispenser and bringing them back. Not here. But OK. We had refills - and large ones at that - and the server had a chance to disappear again. So now a short while later we are going back up to find something more to put on our plates - not something that should be a problem at Golden Corral - but it was a problem here. We managed to find something. I went looking again for fried chicken - hoping to salvage something good from this meal. Still no chicken. I took a small slice of pizza that was under cooked - the cheese was not melted and the sauce was cold. I had such hopes after the experience we had just a couple of weeks before at the Golden Corral in New Jersey (see last article). Well, at least the food here was not overly salty - it was pretty much tasteless. Well - while we were up looking for food, when we got back to the table our silverware was gone, our charge receipt - which is all you are given to put on the table - and the server puts his name on the bottom and is to stay out - well that was taken away - but the empty soda glasses remained and the large cups that had been brought - still with plenty of drink still in them were still there. My wife saw this and asked me what happened. I had seen the server when I was getting up from the table and he saw me going over to the buffet - but he decided - I guess - that we had left - but why leave the cups then?  Everything here is beyond understanding.

So - another not good dinner at a Golden Corral. Before writing this article I went to reviews to see what others have had to say and it gets mostly only one or two stars and most say they will never go back. We will likely never be up that way again - so we are not going back. I would love to say that even a bad Golden Corral is better than no Golden Corral at all - but with this one - skip it! Outside in the parking lot there was a Carl's Jr. fast food restaurant - which we were surprised to see as we thought there were none in the North. We kidded driving in that maybe we should go there instead - since it is very rare that we eat on one of those due to location. We should have done that - we would have enjoyed it more and it would have been a lot cheaper.

This Golden Corral - if you care by now - is located at 360 Route 211 E, Middletown, NY 10940. On the way home I hoped that this meal would sit well as it was a long drive through the mountains and no rest areas. It did, but the trip home took a few hours and when I pulled into the driveway I was hungry. 

An Urge for Golden Corral

To start we will go back to August and I had a really big desire to go to Golden Corral for dinner. The nearest Golden Corral is about 70 miles away and requires taking two expensive toll bridges. I figured that between the tolls and the gas, I could just pick a restaurant that I cannot afford and just go there to have dinner, but the urge was specifically for Golden Corral and my wife knew this.

One afternoon while we were having lunch my wife asked if I would like to go to Golden Corral for dinner - despite the gas and tolls and ride. Yes! I really wanted to go and we started out at about 3:30 pm for the Golden Corral in Freehold, New Jersey.  according to the GPS we should be there in one and a half hours. Fine with me! The afternoon was bright and sunny.

I can never get around the idea that "rush hour" here starts that early and we should have been driving opposite to rush hour traffic but from the start we got caught up in heavy traffic.  I decided that until we came to the first bridge we could always just turn around and head back home so we kept going.

We crossed the first bridge and where at that at the point of no return. On the way to the second bridge we heard on the radio about traffic backing up along the route we were taking. I was using a GPS app on my phone that has traffic alerts but never seems to find a way to get one around it. So we continued along the route. Getting to the second bridge - a ride that should take less than twenty minutes took over an hour. The approach to the bridge was bumper to bumper. We moved along slowly and continued on in traffic. Now we were approaching "real" rush hour - it was after five and business were all letting out and the roads were filling even more. The thought of the prize at the end - and having already spent the money on the bridge tolls - kept me driving.

We finally got to the exit that would take us to Route 9 South which is what the Golden Corral is on - eventually. The exit ramp was stopped and cars were bumper to bumper and then the radio traffic report said that there was an accident on the Garden State Parkway which was backing up Route 9. We inched along. It was over a half hour sitting on the exit ramp and we were not getting anywhere.

Eventually we were able to get onto the actual road that much further south the Golden Corral is located on. It too was bumper to bumper and that was compounded by traffic lights. And then there was an alert on the radio. Not traffic this time but weather. There was a severe storm warning and they starting listing where it would hit and when and it would hit hard. There were recommendations to not be outside - take cover - the whole bit - and there we were sitting bumper to bumper and no way really to be able to even turn around and just give up.  I went on because I really did not want to have to come all this way just to give up. It was about 8:00 pm - not when we arrived at the restaurant but when the sky suddenly grew dark and looking at how far more we had to go it would be past 8:30 before we reached Golden Corral. Golden Corral on weekdays closes at 9:00 pm! I said to my wife that there was no point in going any further as we could not make it to the restaurant in time and I asked her to look for someplace to turn around and head back. We had been driving for four and a half hours for a trip that should only take an hour and a half.

We headed back and by the time we were home we had driven six hours. We could have driven one way to Virginia in six hours. By the time we got near home we headed for the Chinese take out that we go to and brought dinner home - no meatloaf, no steak, no Golden Corral.

We move forward now to October - a couple of weeks ago. The urge for Golden Corral was still there. The urge was even stronger. Earlier in the day we decided to try it again. This time we made it! Was the wait worth it? Well...

We have been to the Freehold, New Jersey Golden Corral many times before. It had started out just fair - sometimes poor to fair - and had improved somewhat over time. This is in the middle of their most recent feature - Smokehouse Grill - featuring on the weekends Smoked Brisket and Smoked Turkey and on weeknights pulled pork, baby back ribs, and smoked chicken - those also served on the weekend. This was a weeknight.

Almost everything we took tasted as if someone had taken a salt shaker and dropped its full contents into the pot or the mixing bowl. I was there for steak and  meat loaf. The steak was fine and the grill chef understood what the meaning of rare is and served me a nice rare steak which did satisfy my urge for steak. The meatloaf was more salt loaf. And along with that the mac and cheese, the pulled pieces of chicken in gravy, and the rest of what I tried. My wife was also not happy.  I went over to see the pulled port and what they had out was a tray with dried out pork on the top that below was sitting in a pan of grease. There were three different BBQ sauces to squeeze on. Looking at the grease and the really unappetizing dried out pork, I decided to skip this. I then went to see the baby back ribs and on a carving board next to the grill was a six inch section of dried out ribs with a few bare bones sitting next to this on the board. Forget Roadhouse Grill. It all looked inedible and certainly not anything I was going to take. A second piece of steak - almost cooked right was the rest of my dinner. There was also less out than there usually is here on a weeknight plus there were two and even three trays with the same item. Some trays were filled with rolls that should have had entrees or sides.

There was bread pudding on the dessert bar and there was little else that was not "sugar free" - no pies were left, no cake. My wife decided to take some of the soft serve ice cream which was more ice than cream. It was not late and the restaurant would be open almost an hour after we had finished our dinner.

It was a long hard road for a disappointing meal.

The next article will be about another Golden Corral - one we have never been to before.

Global Buffet, Levittown, NY - SECOND VISIT

We went back to Global Buffet. (See our first article about this buffet.) They have made some positive changes in the past two weeks since they opened.

Either they read our article or someone there was told or realized that their steam tables were set at too low a temperature, but now the temperature of the food is correct. Nothing was cold or just warm. Everything that needs to be hot was properly hot.

When we were there the first time, we overheard someone ask the manager why there was no Egg Drop Soup. There is now Egg Drop Soup. The soups section has changed. Gone is the so-so chicken noodle soup and also the soup that was unidentifiable in the serving pot. The soups now are WonTon Soup, Egg Drop Soup, Hot and Sour Soup, Miso Soup, and Clam Soup. They have also added in one of the spaces for a soup pot server, steamed Dim Sum filled with meat. I tried the WonTon Soup. It was good. I don't know if it was just chance but the wonton was the largest wonton that i have ever had. When I walked past later it may have just been chance as what I saw was standard sized. There is not much to do with wonton soup to make one different than another. The broth was better than most.

There was an additional meat on the American meat carving section. They added large beef ribs. They are big and long ribs with a lot of meet. The meet is stringy but that is how beef ribs are. They do not have a light sauce on them based on what was in the pan they are served in, but this did not add any different flavor to them. They were pretty good. Now, I know what some are going to think - just like OCB's long gone beef ribs - not really. These are cooked more like short ribs than OCB's beef ribs were - but they are something you rarely see anymore - and don't see at a buffet. In this section, they have made a place for the turkey gravy to sit in the steam table and it was kept properly hot. The turkey seemed more to be a roasted turkey breast - but it was juicy and good and the gravy makes it better.

My wife found a shrimp dish that she says was not there the last time. It was called Seafood Delight - which in other Asian buffets usually is a mix of shrimp and fish. This was just shrimp and that made her happy. She said it was very good.

I tried more Asian dishes this visit than I did the first - as I was focusing then on the American offerings. The sushi bar was full and there was a tray of large pieces of raw salmon - no rice. They were big and moist - and good. Then there were the usual sushi in addition. Next to the sushi bar there are Asian cold "appetizers" including peanut chicken with noodles. That was good - not spicy and that made it even better. I tried the pepper steak and the beef was not overcooked, a little chewy, but tasty. The sauce did not overwhelm it - as it often does in other Asian buffets. The Spring Rolls are standard - but not over cooked as they are in some other buffets. I tried stuffed fish - a roll of fish stuffed with more fish. It was fine. I tried their spare ribs. The spare ribs are close to Chinese restaurant spare ribs - not covered in sticky red sugar sauce, but just broiled under a hot broiler. Teh spare ribs were good - not as good as the spare ribs at Good Taste Buffer in Commack, NY which I have written about several times in the past that to me have the best Chinese Spare Ribs of any buffet. These at Global are close but not as good. I can only describe the ones at Good Taste as having sizzle - these lack the sizzle. BUT not bad - and better than most.

I did go back to the things I liked the first time - the turkey, the beef stew, and the baked clams. All still good! I even tried a french fry to see how it is - something very basic but not all Asian buffets that serve them do it well. Not much of an achievement but here it was good. 

The ice cream machine is working and the soft serve ice cream was nice and creamy - not at all icy. There were a few different cakes including a chocolate cake with cheesecake on top and a coffee cake. I tried both of those and they were good. I had intended to take the hot apple strudel and took these instead. I was happy I did. My wife took the strudel and liked it.

The service was still good. The Senior price has gone down to $12.99 from $13.99. The adult price stayed the same. An effort was made to keep everything moist and also empty or near empty trays were refilled fairly quickly.

At the end of the meal my wife summed it up - "It's pleasant!". Yes it is. The food is fine. The decor is nice - not at all like it was as OCB. It is funny sitting in there after all of those years sitting in the same space as OCB. We were near the side door and my wife said to me, that we were near where the claw machine was - yes, we were!

They still don't have a web page but they do have a Facebook page. From the Facebook page I saw that they had a special dinner for Labor Day that included lobster and steaks and with on increase in price. There was a negative comment that there was no lobster while they were there - I don't know. I am looking at negative comments about this restaurant in view of what I am seeing for myself - especially now with the improvements I have seen in just two weeks. The restaurant across the street is trying hard to get their business back - which many of us know went down long before this new buffet opened - and I am not sure that some negative comments I have seen have not been planted.

At this point I will say, "Yes! Try it!"***. It is primarily an Asian buffet but it is not hard to sit down and not eat any Asian dishes for the entire meal with the meat carvings and other "American" dishes and sides. You could have corn on the cob, fries, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes and any of the meats out to carve. We have not tried the hibachi grill - it is standard to what most are like. I looked closely at the grill area behind the counter - there is a flat grill and also a char flame grill. I don't know what they make on that grill but it is there. I know many were expecting an OCB like buffet and this is not it. Give it a chance for what it is. I will be going back.

Global Buffet (the and grill seems to not be on any sign now - but the grill is here and open) is located at 3541 Hempstead Tpke, Levittown, NY 11756. Here is the phone number (516) 605-1799. Hours on their Facebook page say they are open 11:00 am to 11:00 pm. Good for a late night dinner or if you are running late and all others have closed for the night.

***
READ THE NEXT ARTICLE AND IT'S ADDENDUM FOR AN IMPORTANT UPDATE BEFORE GOING TO THIS BUFFET! 

OCB Levittown Former Location News

We drove past the former location of Old Country Buffet in Levittown, New York today and there is a change. There is now a sign on the side of the building - and soon to be one on the front of the building. The sign says, "GLOBAL BUFFET".

I have tried to find out about what Global Buffet might be. From the name, I say that this is ANOTHER not needed, Asian buffet which will be in direct competition from another large Asian buffet directly across the street. I have found a Global Buffet that WAS in Oswego, New York. This has closed.  It was a Chinese/Asian buffet with mixed reviews that tended toward the negative - and since it has gone out of business, evidently those who though poorly of it were correct. The other is a chain of buffets in Great Britain - though this is named "JRC Global Buffet". These seem to actually be a combination of world foods including American, British, French, Asian, Thai, Brazilian, and more. That would have possibilities but I doubt that this is what this Global Buffet will be - and their website talks about making reservations SO unless that is something that Eurpeans just expect to be able to do, it will not go over well here with the usual buffet dining crowd.

So now we wait and see. It will not likely be long until we know. This does put to rest any idea that Golden Corral was coming here.  I would so much like to see an American buffet or an actual "international" buffet open that is not Asian based. There are enough Asian buffets near by - and the affordable ones all seem to serve the same things. I have been looking forward to a buffet coming with things like meatloaf, carved turkey, steak - maybe, roast beef, real ribs - maybe, fried chicken... Well, I am not so hopeful anymore.

If I can learn more, I will be back with another article.

Finally a Buffet Dinner Not in an Asian Buffet!

Locally there are now only Asian buffets where we are. I have been craving a meal at what I will call an "American" buffet for about three months. I want meatloaf. I want steak. I want fried chicken! I have thought a few times of just taking the trip across two expensive toll bridges and driving the hour and a half to have dinner in the nearest Golden Corral (the nearest American buffet) several times in the past several weeks. Despite the cold and the snow storms, it seemed almost worth it - but to pay those tolls and then pay for dinner, we could have gone to a non-buffet and ordered meatloaf. Well, it is late February and we have annual business in New Jersey - weather permitting - and we went to Golden Corral!

I really was looking forward to this - even though this particular Golden Corral has not been one of our favorites and it is one of the Golden Corrals that charge more than most others - but I did not care. I needed to eat at a Golden Corral!

It is a Saturday night. Surprisingly warm weather all day. The line - as we have found before at this Golden Corral - was out the door and the length of the building outside. As we got inside on the line a large group that apparently had only a few of their party on the line ahead of us suddenly all arrived and went to join the rest of their party of perhaps twenty five or more at the front of the line. They were polite and apologized so it was fine. We finally got to the cashier. Premium weekend prices were in effect - $14.99 per person and $2.29 each drink. OK! I wanted steak, meatloaf, and fried chicken! My picky eater wife on the other hand was anticipating a hard time finding what she eats as she often does not find at any Golden Corral and with the current weekend feature of seafood, this was not helping as these features often remove some of the basic items on the buffet.

We were seated at an uncomfortable table for two that was stuck out in the aisle with another table for two - and the table had an uneven leg that rocked. One thing we both enjoy at Golden Corral is their chicken soup with thick, doughy noodles! That was first! A full heaping bowl of those noodles and broth with carrots and celery mixed in along with chunks of chicken! It is always good and now it was not wonton soup!

We skipped the salad and went right to the hot buffet. I went directly to the grill for steak. The chef at the grill understood what rare is and when I said "rare!", he picked up a steak, cut into it and saw it was red inside but not raw and cut me off a good chunk! It was charred and crispy outside and red inside - to me an almost perfect steak - only not perfect as there was a good amount of fat inside which is good in moderation. I went next with my plate with the steak looking for the meatloaf. The tray was empty! I eyed the fried chicken and took a breast (I should have taken something smaller). I added an onion ring to the plate, and then some mashed potatoes and gravy and fried okra! I passed my wife walking around with an almost empty plate. OK - there were things for her to eat and it was up to her to decide what she was  going to take. I headed back to the table as did she.

I cut into the steak, red juices ran out! It really was crispy outside and red inside! I took a forkful in my mouth and made a Galloping Gourmet face! (Galloping Gourmet - one of my favorite daytime shows as a kid in the late 60's. He was (is) an international chef from Canada who had his own syndicated show that played here in the US during the late afternoon. I learned to cook watching the Galloping Gourmet - still have two of his cookbooks - and when he bit into something wonderful his face lit up and a smile came across his lips!) I had the steak that I was craving. Thick and juicy and cooked just right. I cut around the excess fat - ate some, left some - but I ate every bit of meat. The chicken was OK. Not great - too big a piece and that was my fault for taking it - and the crust could have been more crispy. I ate most of it. The mashed potatoes were good. The gravy was good. The onion ring complimented the steak nicely!

Next plate. I went straight to the meatloaf. It had been put out again. I put a hunk on my plate. The special feature (that makes the weekend prices cost more) is scallops with garlic on a skewer, two types of fish, two types of shrimp, a honey teriyaki chicken breast, and carved sirloin steak with lemon and rosemary. Another steak to try! I went to the carving counter and the man behind the counter looked at the little piece of steak on the carving board, looked at me, and discarded it. Good! He went to the grill and took a large sirloin steak that looked too under cooked, even to me. He put it on the carving board, looked at it, picked it up and took it back to the grill. He came back with another - this one better done. He reached into a crock with a ladle and filled it with lemon rosemary sauce. He poured that over the top (less you think this steak is marinated in lemon and rosemary - it is not) and moved it around the steak with the ladle. He then cut it into pieces. He took one of the pieces and cut a section off and put it on my plate - it was red inside but now raw - good! I added some large cut fries and a hush puppy to the plate along with a big spoonful of mac and cheese and returned to our table. My wife was there with meatloaf also on her plate. The meatloaf was very good. I go back and forth between meatloaf with brown gravy and meatloaf with tomato gravy or catsup on top. My wife does not like meatloaf with tomato sauce or catsup and likes it with brown gravy. Golden Corral varies how they serve it - on this night it was with brown gravy. That was fine with me and that made my wife happy too. The meatloaf was good! It satisfied that craving well! The lemon rosemary steak was fine but not spectacular. It was rare and good in that respect. I feel that the lemon took away from the taste of the meat that would have been better just left alone - which means just as the steak is ordinarily served here charred on the grill.  The mac and cheese was thick and gooey and wonderful!

Just an aside about the weekend feature. The big feature of the added weekend pricing was that it would include Prime Rib carved at dinner. This is not so any longer - at least not with this feature. They seem to feel that scallops on a skewer brushed with garlic are equivalent to Prime Rib - and even though I have generally liked the Prime Rib that Golden Corral has served - the scallops are not the equivalent. I have read that scallops are expensive recently due to a shortage of them due to the temperatures of the ocean water, and perhaps that is why they replace the Prime Rib with this feature. I don't know. I did not try them. I do not like garlic all over what I eat so I passed. I saw them. There were maybe six or so small scallops on a skewer cooked on a flat griddle. They may have been very good.

Next plate. I did what I generally do at buffets. The third plate is a combination of the things I like best. I went back to the steak grill - "Rare, please!" - and got another piece of steak. I then went back to the meatloaf tray. I saw the pieces were cut very large, so I cut one in half with the serving spatula and took that. An onion ring when on the plate and then I realized that all I had eaten were meat and carbs so I took some string beans - and a small spoon of baked beans (more carbs). This steak was almost as good as the first. The meatloaf just as good. And during this plate the feeling of I have eaten too much meat hit me. I finished it all but knew that this was my last plate of meat for the evening. I can no longer eat as much as I once could. I find that I hit that wall a lot sooner. That is OK - as this site is called - it is not a challenge - and we will be doing more business in New Jersey in a couple of weeks so we will be back for more!

I finished the meal with a bowl of bread pudding. I love Golden Corral's bread pudding. This is something else you don't get in an Asian buffet!

The service was good, but the poor guy was way over worked. Two servers who also buss tables is not enough for a large section of tables. This man was running back and forth and doing his best. When you could get his attention - and that was not his fault - he dropped what he was doing and ran over. And I did not see other tables leaving a tip - a problem at buffets. I always leave the server a tip - unless the service is horrendous. He got a tip!

For the time being craving satisfied. You know OCB is gone - at least from here and none anywhere possible to get to just for dinner - and you don't know what you've got until its gone - to borrow from an old song!

We'll be back!