Old Country Buffet

Love this place. Variety is no.1 and most items are fresh and hot. The service is good and friendly and we go there whenever we visit the Bellingham area. Mac and Cheese the kids love, Salad selection always fresh and large, fresh buns Yum! Fried chicken is tasty, smokies are always delicious, soups are good, desserts are massive and great variety. unlimited drinks! A gluttons dream world for sure!

We always stop here for lunch or dinner when doing a day trip for shopping in the USA. Can’t beat the price. I love the fried chicken and ribs.
Feeding three teenagers here makes a lot of sense and is good for the pocket book!
Staff are always friendly and polite. They clear dishes fairly quickly.
One thing that gets two thumbs down is the bathroom situation. There’s only one stall for women. I’m not sure what they have in the guys washroom.

By far the best buffet I’ve ever been to. Fresh food, drinks and the workers are very nice. There’s a lot of food to choose from and everything is so good I could eat there everyday. The desserts are great tasting and very good and the place is not crowded.

I used to go here as a kid, but since it’s been under new management its been a lot less than stellar. The pasta tasted like a pureed tomato with brown sugar thrown in, the potatoes were so soupy that they literally dripped off of my spoon, thee shrimp were rubbery, and the items in the salad bar were less than fresh. It was very unsatisfying for a meal that cost about 30 – 40 $ for two people. Even the dessert bar had hardly any options.

I like buffets. I won’t give excuses. I was bummed when a branch of this restaurant closed in Seattle. Now I live here, and was excited to go. Don’t laugh at me. The place is run down as some others have noted. The employees were extremely nice. They don’t go around stirring the food or whatever as much as would be advised but seriously, if you don’t understand what a buffet is, how it works, that the food does sit out and it’s not going to kill you if you have a little skin on your mac and cheese. Personally, I stir things myself when I go to get stuff. No biggie. I am no longer fat nor hungry enough to probably get my money’s worth anymore (this is a comment on ME, not on anyone else. I lost 80+ lbs in the last couple years. I used to eat a LOT), to be truthful. It’s $ 8.99 for lunch (adult, till 3pm) and I think it was $ 11.99 for dinner (more meat), plus tax, plus drinks cost about $ 2.50 if you want one, and add .99 to that and they will give you a large to-​go cup you can fill up before you leave. Standard buffet fare, I am a person of habit and usually get the fried chicken, mashed potatoes (instant) and gravy (beef or white), some kind of veg. This last time I had pot roast with carrots and celery and it was very good. The mac was good. The prime rib was good (different visit). They have a pretty good salad bar which I haven’t tried yet. No soft serve when I was there, but I had a chocolate thing (didn’t like it much), an apple cobbler thing (good). I’ve tried their cheesecake, which isn’t cheesecake really but some kind of jello pudding hybrid like the one my aunt makes and it’s good, I have no complaints about it. Haven’t tried their coffee yet, I’m sure it’s not great but who cares. The manager himself talked to me and he was super nice, everyone looked like they were busting ass working. I feel for them, I wouldn’t want to work at a buffet with folks sitting there for hours stuffing their faces or kids running around all day but all I saw was smiles. The food area looked clean, they say check the bathrooms to see if a place is really actually clean but I don’t use public bathrooms, so… Anyway I recommend this place IF you understand about the buffet concept and are on board with it, like comfort food, don’t care if your booth has a rip in it, and are a student of human nature. I tipped well as I appreciate customer service.

This place has been around for ages and it definitely is a bit run down. They have been trying out different models in how to increase their sales rate. I guess business is going down in the last few years for them with competition around the area. The good thing about them is the location, if you are tired and hungry after walking around for hours at the mall, for 10 $ you get a buffet dinner, why not? Their food selection includes: salad bar, soups, taco station, roast beef, pizza, spaghetti, fried chicken, some Chinese dishes, dessert bar, ice-​cream station etc. Don’t expect them to have superb quality for a 10 $ buffet dinner, you get what you pay for but I can say their stuff is generally edible and no food poisoning there.

My buffet expectations aren’t set that high, but I do have a few basic standards that weren’t met at Old Country. The food here is good; Nothing special, nothing horrific. The prices are very reasonable at 11.99 each for dinner. They have a pretty decent variety, although some things could have been topped up more frequently (some dishes were almost empty when we got there and never refilled in the hour or so we spent dining).
My main concerns here are centred around cleanliness. It’s total roulette in regards to whether or not you get a clean plate — on my initial trip to the buffet counter, I had to turn over 4 plates before I found a clean one. Not a great first impression. And when I say dirty, I don’t mean a couple specs of food here and there, I mean covered in old cheese sauce. It made me wonder about the state of the other utensils. The dining area is very tired, with several tables having ripped booth seating (some with duct tape covering the 4″ round rips, others with yellow foam sticking out). The entire place felt kind of rundown and unclean, which doesn’t make for a very comfortable dining experience. In addition to the dirty plates, I found many sticky drinking glasses as well. We did mention this to a staff member (who was incredibly nice), and she said they had just called for a dishwasher repair person. That’s really no excuse, but I can appreciate that they run a busy restaurant and things like this happen.
It’s typical American fare (meatloaf, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, etc.), and some attempts at international dishes (orange chicken that was mostly cartilage, ground beef that was swimming in grease… you get the picture). It was just OK. Dessert (warm chocolate pudding cake) was excellent.
Would I be back? Probably not. There are enough restaurants in the area that serve better food on plates that I know for sure are clean.

The place definitely needs a good renovation and the bathroom is scary. Seats are ripped and well it’s worn out. With that being said I always enjoy the food. Too bad their ice cream machine was down. Either way worth the money a their turkey was real yummy.

Old Country Buffet
Bellingham, Washington.
Couldn’t stop flashing back to a few South Park episodes as we checked in here…
…and yep… we did the buffet @4 :30!!!
(blue tinted highlights would’ve completed the tri-​fecta of old)
Fun buffet with lotsa selections from typical us interpretations of Asia, Mexico, Italy & USA.
Honestly nothing was very fresh but he Mexican Build ur own taco was good, (i built an awesome sopa)
The freshest item seemed to be the Orange Chicken which was coated in a perfect sweet & sour sauce.
Rest of the buffet was… well…buffet food and it tasted sorta .well…sorta buffety…
ya…that’s the perfect descriptor… nonetheless
If ya feel the need to feed… this is the place…
Honourable mention goes to the Potato Soup, Bread Pudding and Apple Brown Betty… classic «from scratch» buttery goodness in all these dessert dishes.
Huge dessert bar, average salad bar,…
The kitchen should really make smaller portions soas to be fresher items, things were at best warm and on the old side. Better labelling of items is a «must improve»…many items were not identifiable. Cleanliness around the steam tables could be better as well.js. Plz stock ice cream cones if u have soft serve!
Overall, fun, cheap and just back the truck right in the dining room and load up,…btw: mr. pibb! I know right !
Bring the lil’ foodies too, they’ll love it !!!
‘appy Noshin’
Brianm
Brianm_​foodieatlarge on instagram!

I rarely have overly great expectations from a buffet, unfortunately, and old country left me sighing and shaking my head. The dinner didn’t start out great – the man at the front taking our payments aggressively and rudely hit on my fiancé in front of me. Not only is that incredibly rude to both of us, but the comment was highly inappropriate and I will likely be taking action over it.
The food itself was okay. It wasn’t incredible, but it wasn’t awful. It was kept at safe temperatures for a safe amount of time, and I didn’t get any illnesses. It was filling and the meat was actually quite well cooked and good.
The rest of the staff was quite friendly and helpful, particularly our server. Plates were taken right away despite the high amount of customers and we were treated with respect and appreciation.
Regardless of that, I doubt a return is in my future anytime soon, except to have a word about hitting on customers.

We came here for a quick lunch before starting off our day of errands. In terms of food, don’t expect much, it’s a buffet. Price is not bad for a family of four. Kids’ pricing includes unlimited drinks but it’s an extra couple of bucks for adults. Pop and Icee are a real treat for my kids so they hit up those machines frequently. Food selection is not bad. I usually stick with what I know, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and roast chicken. And sausages and scrambled eggs if you can catch breakfast before they switch over to full on lunch selections. I do find some of the items are saltier than what I’m used to like the sausages and fried chicken.
Service, is pretty good. We have one server, Alicia, who is really attentive and friendly. She chats up the kids, makes sure the plates are taken away, and often comes back and asks us about our food.
To finish off our lunch, we decided to get some soft serve ice cream. Toppings, include sprinkles, gummy bears, smarties, chocolate chips, etc. BUT the ice cream tasted sour and we basically left them on our table after one lick. When Alicia came by and asked why the kids and I didn’t eat our ice cream, we told her that it tasted funny. She apologized and informed the manager right away. I did hear the page for the manager after our conversation. And She said the manager is going to get someone to change and clean out the machine. I think that’s great. We wouldn’t mind coming back again if we’re in Bellis Fair and couldn’t decide what to have for lunch.

I could start out with an insignificant negative aspect – the washrooms are rather small, but there is a large, new washroom for mall customers, within a few meters of the OCB entrance.
Old Country Buffet is extremely well managed, by a conscientious lady, Manager Denise, who assures that food quality remain consistently fresh and
delicious, while maintaining reasonable prices.
Some reviewers have characterised the fare as «convenience food», which is a truly nebulous concept. The food is of the same quality as one would buy for himself or herself, at a market, and cooked with an eye toward pleasing the general populace; not too salty, too spicy, nor too sweet.
The prices are reasonable, and the staff are, without exception, attentive, helpful and very pleasant.
Some reviewers’ negative comments, such as «mystery fish» are quite misplaced and unfair. There is nothing mysterious about the fish dishes, information about which the staff is always eager to disseminate.
I didn’t photograph any portion of our fare, nor did I report my visits to some Facebook or Twitter account. All information about OCB is available online.
I have visited OCB for only one purpose, quality fare at reasonable prices (special discounts for seniors and military), and on that note, OCB has consistently delivered.
If only there were a similar establishment closer to Vancouver!

After reading that they had new management, my wife and I decided to try them again. I was less than impressed. There were a few changes like a couple of seats that had previously been repaired with duct tape were now reupholstered, but nothing else really changed. The food was lackluster at best. I can’t say that anything made my taste buds ask for more but there was nothing that was completely inedible either. Some things were too salty, some were bland, but nothing really bad or really good.
My biggest gripe was basically with the poor management of the food and the store. As I previously mentioned, there had been a few repairs made since my last trip but there was still foam visible from some of the back rests. Everything just appeared worn like a place that was bordering on going out of business. The food was actually the worst. Liquid items (i.e. soups, queso cheese on the taco bar, the mac and cheese, gravy, etc.) all had a skin on top. This is something easily corrected by simply having someone pay enough attention to the food to go through and stir things once in a while.
In addition, the temperature management was awful. The queso cheese was supposed to be a melted, warm cheese sauce. Instead, it was cold with lumps in it. Other foods were the same way, either too cold or too hot. The apple crisp was so hot that I observed another customer burn themselves when he tried to pick up the metal container using the handle. The woman behind the counter just said «Oh yeah, they’re a little hot.» If a kid had grabbed that it could have done serious injury. A pot pie in a glass bowl that I had was so hot I had to slide in on another plate with a napkin.

if you asked me to rate this place a year ago, I would give it a two star but now a three star because i believe recently management changed. The food tasted a lot better. And the staff looks more happier. They even got new uniform. Service is always great and the same.
I prefer going on Saturday because there is all you can eat ribs but you do have to make more then one trip.

They’ve got a variety of food here ranging from mostly Western to some southern Mexican delights. You’ll find things like mystery fish, mashed potato by the barrel, and vegetables kept warm up in giant vats. There is also a section on the side where you can construct your own tacos and burritos which I thought was a cool cultural touch. I believe the best choice here is the fried chicken. It was surprisingly moist in the middle with little dryness. Many other items, especially the vegetables, were quite mushy and tasted like they could have come from cans and drowned in water like what you’d buy from the grocery store. However, it is a buffet so for diners looking for sheer quantity, this is your stop. For dessert options they have a variety of plates like apple crumble and soft serve ice cream, but again this mass production doesn’t lead to tastier things than what you could find in the neighbouring food court.

We came here for lunch and I will honestly say the food was not that good. Tasted really synthetic and bland. I think they really need some improvement. However the prices are great. Can’t complain there. You get what you pay for basically. But I do want to say, employees are very friendly! One employee stood out a lot, a server named Jason. Super positive friendly guy, on top of it and making everyone smile. Kudos to this guy. He deserves a raise.

Had dinner with wife and 2 kids dec. 26. Food was ok as usual. Kids really like coming here, but may be last. As next morning both kids had the runs for two days. And son had vomiting first day. I think it may have been salad or tacos. As those were the only items I didn’t eat, as I was ok

All-​American gluttony in all its starchy, fatty, deep fried glory. I married a Southerner, so periodically I am required to come to this Mecca of White People for his monthly cholesterol ration. I wish I could say I liked the food here, but really it’s just the kind of salty & greasy comfort food we all love, done with mediocrity and provided in abundance.
I will say the staff are all really fun and friendly people. The place is usually pretty clean, and the food seems as fresh as this kind of food can be.
If you are looking to stuff yer craw with some seriously guilty pleasure food, this is the place to go

The service and staff are outstanding and whoever does the hiring does a fantastic job. All the staff are super friendly, helpful and very happy. You can definitely feel the team vibe.
The food has sadly gone downhill in the last six months. No more Salisbury steak with mushrooms. No more cucumber salad (in vinegar). No more option of chicken gravy and beef gravy. No more corn on the cob. No more meat sauce spaghetti. No more chicken pot pie. Their ice cream tastes different now. Before it would melt and now it doesn’t melt as fast and it has an aftertaste.
I love the old OCB. I still think there is a lot of potential but I guess they are trying to cut corners to offset their losses.

I haven’t seen slabs of steak served during dinner in a while. They used to have real bacon bits, not any more. Fried Chicken recipe leaves a lot to be desired. Their milk on tap tasted funny the last time we were there. No root beer in the soda fountain. No sani wipes or stations. Spreading of germs is pronounced here.
Not many buffets in Bellingham around any more. I guess this is why OCB does as well as they do.