Shoney’s Restaurant

Looking for a quick meal this evening, my wife and I settled on the Shoney’s near downtown Charleston WV. While the health department rating displayed at the front door noted «Excellent» compliance, it is quickly obvious to any one watching that the Buffet service is a nightmare. Food had fallen from one tray to the next and cleaning was slow. Servers at the buffet failed to wear gloves and were seen picking up stray food from the bar and placing it back in the service trays bare handed. Just a small sample of the food safety violations observed during this visit.

Yuuuuuuck! Dinner rush so we got the buffet. A huge mistake. Dry meatloaf, dry fish, dry chIcken, dry salisbury steak, and a mystery casserole with noodles, spaghetti sauce, shrimp and corn! Nasty! WTF! It looked like eel shit. Even the soup was dry. Is that possible? The Waitress never came back to the table except to give the check. The guy running the buffet poured water into the mashed potatoes to make them presentable. It didnt work. Made it look like lumpy buffalo semen. Never again. Shoney’s is dead. Before you think of eating at this place… pull down your pants, stick your pinky in your butthole and like the poo stink seductively from your knuckle. I swear you will be more satisfied.
Please forgive the owners and staff for their transgressions against the culinary world and humanity.

No complaints about food or service. I usually drop in just for the potato soup. I would recommend.

Ah, I remember the good old days when Shoney’s was the place. I gave this one two shots for breakfast. Servers were friendly and quick. The food, not so much. While the breakfast bar had a lot of things on it, not much of it had any taste. Cantaloup looked good, but was hard to bite into. Both types of gravy had no taste. How can gravy not have taste? For that matter, how can maple syrup not have taste? It didn’t. While they had a good selection of meats, the bacon didn’t taste like bacon, the ham was so dry it seemed to be freeze dried, and there was some kind of unidentifiable meat substance. My best guess is they took a whole bologna, cut slices off and ran it across the grill. Oh, but keep whoever supplies the pineapple as they were wonderful. It was the only highlight I found on the bar.
The presentation was not much better. There were heaps of pieces which I believe we’re pancakes at one time. I saw the replacement of one of the trays and the fresh tray did not look better than what was hauled out. Thus, I was not willing to try them. Someone needs to learn about food presentation. Being in a hurry because of being busy does not apply since there were only 5 of us in the place. Oh, and clean off the serving utensils. I felt like I needed to wash my hands after serving myself every time.
One last thing; morning manager take time to talk to your customers. Since there was only 5 of us the one morning it normally would not take long. I waited for you to ask me if everything was okay as you kept walking by the second morning I was there. I was going to invite you to sit down to discuss the easy to fix problems I was seeing, but you didn’t. Even if I stay at the Courtyard next door the next time I am in town, I will be finding another place for breakfast. Of course the way this business seems to be heading, the choice might not be there much longer.

Checked out this Shoneys because it was next to the Four Points. It was about what I expected although I was hoping for better. Steak and Seafood buffet. Better than starving but could be greatly improved. Waitress was friendly and efficient.

This was the worst dining experience my family and I have ever had. If we were not bone tired from the road, we would not have even stayed. We were just hoping for something edible. We barely got that.
The floor was so greasy/​slippery that I had to ice skate style walk — no kidding — up to the salad bar. The silverware was dirty, the glasses were dirty. The food was terrible and no one who worked there cared.
Don’t stop here.

The only bright spot so far on our trip. Server was incredibly pleasant, and recommended I NOT eat the chicken pot pie. So either they were out or it was really horrible. Regardless, everything was hot and well cooked. The only thing was the mushrooms are NOT fresh, they’re canned. I don’t mind canned mushrooms, but they should be fresh if you say they are. Maybe she didn’t
know the difference.

Cheap food & friendly service. I generally stick to breakfast food here. Not the cleanest looking place. It is what it is ala Denny’s/IHOP etc. Notch below places like Bob Evans.

Food was ok at best. If you do insist on stopping, don’t waste the $ 9.99 on the buffet when you can order an entrée for $ 7.99 that comes with the buffet. There was hair in one dish, slimey black lettuce at the salad bar, and I saw one server pouring hot water in the mac and cheese and mashed potatoes when they were looking crusty.
The server was attentive. That’s all.

My husband and I had breakfast around 8 AM on 10÷21÷12. It was great service! Our waitress was attentive, the food was fresh and hot. Loved the down-​home, country atmosphere! We will definitely eat here again!
We were also asked to donate a pie to a local organization that distributes holiday baskets to the needy in our area which we eagerly agreed to do.