I’m a fat guy. Fat guys like to eat. Eats don’t come cheap when you’re eating for 2.
This is why Buffets rock. You pay one price and you eat enough until you fall asleep.
I’ve been in the food industry for years. I know the ins and outs pretty well.
The one thing I CANNOT figure out is how Old Country Buffet makes any damn money. For $12 (plus $2 for a drink) you can eat all you want. Now… you may be thinking “Who cares? Buffets have horrible food and nothing useful in terms of selection!” Well. You would be wrong. There’s steak on the buffet. And mussels. And butterfly shrimp. And a few other kinds of shrimp. And pork ribs. And there’s a bit more protein based fillers like fried/grilled chicken, pot roast, etc etc etc.
I know the US has cheap food prices, but I still can’t figure out how these guys are in business.
The steak quality is shockingly decent for a $12 buffet. Don’t expect Prime Rib (actual “Prime” Rib too, not what most people call Prime Rib) but at the same time, don’t think it was something like Bottom Round. Surprisingly it was Sirloin. And it was cooked Medium Rare. A feat that is lost on most places that cook steak and somehow manage to charge at least double what I paid here.
The Mussels were quite good, but the Shrimp was a bit disappointing. All of it was severely overcooked and tiny.
Ribs were “unique” as I’ve never seen pork ribs that big. They were the size of Beef Ribs. And no smartass, they weren’t beef. They were pork.
Fried Chicken was good, as was the Pot Roast.
As always, my reviews are based on a weighted scale. Keep in mind that “Food” is based on the type of restaurant. Just because OCB scored an 8 doesn’t mean it’s gonna equal an 8 at some fancy pants snooty $500/plate place. It’s an 8 in the Buffet Category.
Ambiance… It’s a buffet. Full of screaming kids. Not exactly date night. That is unless you both don’t care about ambiance and want some tasty cheap eats. Probably a 2nd date. Not a first.
The Service was pretty damn good for a buffet. Granted… it was self serve drinks too, so it’s not like they did a whole lot outside clear plates, but those plates were cleared pretty damn quick.
Finally comes Value. It was $12. And had steak. That was cooked well. Easily a 10 here.
Ambiance (10%): 1
Food (50%): 8
Service (25%): 7
Value (15%): 10
Overall : 7.35
Bottom Line: If you want some cheap food that’s pretty decent, you could do MUCH worse than an OCB. Hell.. I’ve had much worse steaks that were priced at least twice as much as what OCB charges.