Old Country Buffet

I’m adding a star. Came in for dinner on a Monday night, and had a pretty good meal for $ 12 (water, no soda). Again, it’s not the best food in the world, but they have what I like. Mac & cheese, kielbasa sausage, cream of broccoli soup, steak, fried chicken, rice, green beans, cornbread, desserts, etc.
I cleaned out my three plates of food. There wasn’t anything that made me put down my fork, because none of the food was bad to me. But taste depends on the person. And the dessert — I got hot bread pudding and coconut cream pie. Good lord the bread pudding was heaven. Steaming hot, sweet, chewy, and full of flavor. I don’t care how they make it or what garbage goes into it. It’s just freaking delicious.
If you’re a trendy Starbucks regular who is health conscious and fit, this place most likely not for you. But if you’re a blue collar kinda person who likes decent food at a decent price, try it out.

I didn’t think this place would get so bad, but it got bad… Then horrible. I came here a couple of years ago and the environment was great, the placement of food was fantastic, and service was wonderful. Then, I came here quite recently and realized they changed management and the entire layout of the restaurant went down. Selection was poor, lacked what it used to have, and waitress/​service wasn’t up to par. Not only that but the manager came to check up on us and simply walked off not at all letting any waitress/​server know that we had many empty plates on the table to take away. So we had about 6+ empty plates stacked up and it wasn’t taken away until a little before we decided to leave. Also, it wasn’t busy! We were here for breakfast!
Whatever, never coming back.

My parents used to take my brother and I to eat here as kids. We loved it. All you can eat fried chicken and fries, followed with cheesecake and ice cream. Of course as kids we burned it off. Tonight, my parents wanted to take us to OCB since we are visiting them. As soon as we walked in, there were barely any food. All the tables in our vicinity were covered with plates and cups. The final straw was seeing people use their hands to get the food. We left and treated our parents to a Thai dinner next door.

Our family have been here throughout the years. It was not that great to start with but things have deteriorated. Only reason I go is because one of my kids like this place.
Latest visit: Salad bar was fine. Mashed potato was not eatable. It was a mixture of potatoes and some chemical that did not taste good. Our family agreed that it was not eatable. The fried chicken which is the highlight of this place seem very greasy, skins of chicken falling off due to oiliness. There were no main dish options that looked attractive. At least the tacos seem decent.
Will avoid this place but may need to come because of my kid.

No, just plain no.
As a young child I use to love this place and I thought it was the best buffet in the area. I grew up quite a bit and came back. and boy was I wrong. Horrible quality, felt like I was eating cardboard, and there are not many choices.

Went here today for dinner… Thought I was going to have the steak. Guess what the steak is only served tues, and Thursday… But the food was dry and the buffet line had kids sticking there hands over some of the food. I complained, they made a announcement but it didn’t work people are not watching their little kids… now I love kids I have kids of my own but I keep an eye on my kids… anyway if you don’t mind this then this is the price for you

My family usually come here but we haven’t been here in about 6 months. We came here today, on a Sunday at 11:45 am. The place was pretty empty. The hot food was cold. It was totally disappointing.

My family of five went to OCB last Thursday. We were surprised right off that the fresh carved meats and fresh grilled meats were not out. My wife asked about them and was offered to accept $ 3 off next time or to get our money back and leave. By that time kids had already moved to the food bars and it was toooo late.
The food bars were just nasty dirty (see pictures) and often empty with little or no fresh items presented. I recommend avoiding the desert, salad and taco bars if you go. Finding clean plates and utensils proved a second challenge.
The hot served food were better attended and kept stocked but not clean.
I covertly snapped some pictures, intending to share them with the Corp office who seemed uninterested in how awful their restaurant is being managed. When I complained to Corp they sent me back a «canned response» email about how they take complaints seriously.
If you like OCB you should go now before it’s too late, people will not eat regularly in places that look like this. I personally hate to see it fail, as I have good memories of how it used to be

We used to come here for the Grill station particularly, and seemed to satisfy enough everyone in our family including the kids. But unfortunately, the Grill station is not open daily anymore. 3 weeks ago, we went to OCB and already paid and some of us were already started with the salad bar when I noticed the Grill station was empty. I though, oh, we are lucky its is not crowded. But when I went there it was closed. I asked one of the worker there, and she told me it is only opened twice a week (Monday and Thursday? not sure). We are all disappointed because the rest of the food was below average and we always come here for the steak part. and more than that, we have been charged the same amount of money that we usually pay when the Grill used to be open!
This is differently the last time we will visit this place. It does not worth the money at all; dry fried chicken, limited verities of food and some tasteless ones. Used to be

First impression is that the restaurant is outdated and has a strange odor. Food was warm at best and most of the food was very salty. Golden Corral is much better and for the price, it’s not worth it. Not impressed. Will not be back.

One of the worst experiences I’ve had here. This used to be a nice place to take the family. Wide variety of food and decent prices. Apparently they stopped serving steaks, and have reduced the amount of variety. Everything seems cheap and the food isn’t good. I won’t make the mistake of coming back.

Traveling from DC we found this place on Unilocal.Based on the reviews I was a little hesitant but it sounded like our type of food. The restaurant is in a mall and was resonably busy when we arrived, looked like they were hosting a young baseball team. The wait staff was ok — just on auto pilot. The young man behind the grill was on point though. The food was ok, just not the best exucution. Silly things like, the collards were good– just a lot of stems. The fried chicken was cooked too done for my taste and the salad bar was a bit messy. But the food was decent for the price and they kept everything stocked even when 3 bus loads of kids hit them. Looks like it’s a destination spot for travelers.

Me and my now wife used to frequent this location fairly often when we lived in Annandale. Back a little over a year ago the food was good, the food bars were always kept clean, the bathrooms were kept in good order, and the price was reasonable.
Yesterday me and my wife happened to be back in town and decided to hit up the OCB again for old time’s sake.
This was a mistake
First, the «Grill» is no longer part of the standard meal. To get steak, ham, etc it’s an additional charge on top of the standard meal. When I saw the bill of $ 37 for two people to eat I should have turned around right there, but my wife had her heart set on her steak salad she likes to make.
The next thing to disappoint me was the state of the restaurant itself. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a day and a half of heavy use. Straw wrappers, balled up, used napkins, and other garbage all over the floor, puddles of soda etc., you name it. The food bars weren’t in much better shape either. The salad bar was a wreck with all the food invading each other’s containers, and the blue cheese dressing was actually spoiled! Also remember how they used to have real bacon bits? Yeah no, you’re getting bacos.
But the worst part, BY A MILE, were the bathrooms. The men’s room looked/​smelled like it was hosed down with urine, and all the toilets in all the stalls were covered with bits of toilet paper and feces. I covered my face and went in to use a urinal, only to find that the urinals had a full blown puddles of urine under them. Truly disgusting.
You may be thinking «Maybe he caught it during a shift change on like a Tuesday afternoon…». Nope, this was a Sunday during the lunch rush, when a restaurant should be putting it’s best face forward for the church going crowd looking for a post service meal.
Truly no excuse, we wont be going back.

I don’t normally put one stars but when I do, it’s the worse food I’ve ever had at a buffet. Don’t waste your money. They would have to pay me to eat here again

I have been coming here for over 5 years now and the food has become very unhealthy and low-​quality! The place just seems dirty and the food seems old. I’ve been here all times in the day and it isn’t worth your time or money! The only thing I do enjoy when I come here is the soup, salad, and dessert bar. The manager is also very rude and angry all the time, he seems as if he’s in a rush. Honestly, the food isn’t even edible anymore… don’t waste your time here!

So my wife and I was tired of going to same olé buffet (i.e. Golden Corral, Hibachi Buffet and Grill, Golden King, CiCi’s just to name a few) and wanted to try a new buffet. We’ve passed this Old Country Buffet a few times while running some errands and told ourselves we would give it a shot when we had some time.
Well my fellow Unilocalers, My wife and I was very disappointed with our experience. Let me break down the things that made our experience so bad.
1.) Is the price. Although the price is considerably similar to the other buffets I listed, the amount of food options they offer wasn’t. I felt like if you are going to charge similar rates like your competitors at least give me the same amount of food options.
2.) The food options. The number of food choices here is very limited and really doesn’t equal the amount they charge you to eat here. Honestly their were only 1 or 2 (not including deserts which shouldn’t be hard to mess up) items they had available that we liked, and none were mind blowing. Honestly when we go to a buffet there has to be a minimum of 4 or 5 solid items the establishment offers to make us even consider coming back. This place just didn’t have it for us today.
3.) Limited plates and utensils. At one point I had to wait for a plate and silverware, which is an absolute no no for a buffet. When you are running a buffet the customer should feel like you have an unlimited supply of those items. Again, not the case for this place.
4.) Rude employee. One of the employees was very rude to my wife. My wife tried to ask the employee where something was located the employee told my wife where to look but my wife still didn’t see it. So she saw the employee the walk by and asked them again and the employee turned around, pointed, and said, «it’s right there in your face» with an attitude. That was the last straw.
With all that being said just know that my wife and I won’t be back to this place anytime soon.

I have been coming here as a child! That literally means 15 years of my childhood, and now even my kids go here. I have to say that the quality has gone down in the past 10 years. The food keeps getting poorer as the years go by.
I wished that they would up their service-​staff too. People there don’t seem to care anymore, and hate their jobs. The steak line is extremely long. Sometimes, I had to stand for 15-​minutes almost to wait for a steak. The waiters are pretty friendly though.
The quality of the food is hit or miss. I have to say that their fried chicken is consistent and extremely good for the past decade. Probably, the best all-​American fried chicken I’ve ever had! The soups have gone down hill. It’s very slimy sometimes. They have a huge salad bar selection. The corn bread, rolls, and chicken dumplings are another favorite. Ice cream and dessert selection are pretty good too.,
Overall, it’s a kid-​friendly and family-​friendly place. I can always count on coming here every weekend to find a long line. Sign-​up on their website, and receive monthly coupons.

Went here for lunch a few weeks ago with a special I received via email.
The food was not replenished at all while we were there, so there was almost nothing edible available. I made a salad, but since ALL of the dressings were out, I had to throw it out. The lunch menu was very spare to begin with, with almost no proteins on the menu. Everything was deep fried and unhealthy. I noticed several employees sitting and eating while nothing was restocked (what were they even eating?)
2 stars because the cheese cake desserts were awesome, served in cute dishes too!
I really regretted coming and won’t be back. The president of the company sent out an email asking to hear customers opinions– so let’s see if he responds.

Got kids? Eat here on Thursdays. Kids eat for 1.99…AFTER 5pm. Don’t show up a minute earlier — the registers are automatic so the people at the counter can’t help you if you are 5 minutes early. Sign up for their Crave online plan and you’ll coupons and deals. They also hand out coupon books from time to time. Plan it right and you get a good deal. No planning? It’s expensive.
If your kids like pizza or mac and cheese or fried chicken or spaghetti, you can totally have them fed up to the gills. Mine like tons of sliced roast beef — I just keep going back and they eat half of a steer. No bedtime snack necessary.
Salad bar is VERY good. It’s kept stocked, the broccoli salad and the caesar salad is very good, and the fresh fruit is FRESH. The taco bar is great if you hit it when it’s stocked — awful when it’s neglected. Soups are ok. The bread that goes with the soup is VERY good.
They stopped handing out steaks to order (c’mon guys — this is a buffet — they cannot afford to do that so don’t be hating on staff
.) They take a few slices and put them on top of potatoes in little dishes under a heat lamp. If you just want the steak, take the dishes and waste the potatoes. Eventually they will get the hint that nobody really wants the potatoes.
The dessert bar just keeps getting better. They have dessert shots, the usual cakes, cookies, brownies, fruit crisp… but also interesting stuff like tres leches cake.
The staff is friendly, attentive, and from many different cultural backgrounds. My kids usually learn a new word from another language with each visit here.
One thing. DON’T come here to experience good Asian food. Try Peter Pan or even better? Harvest Moon. Old Country Buffet is where you go for American food, with a coupon, and a bunch of kids.
On a Thursday. Oh, and Thursdays are very kid friendly. Balloons, kids activities, the works. It’s worth it. For a Tuesday, kid deal? Try Denny’s.
We go to OCB probably a couple of times a month — almost always on Thursdays.

Where hungry farm animals and near-​death senior citizens come to indulge in below-​grade average-​food. Make sure before you go to wear two pairs of underwear and have a colonoscopy scheduled with your family doctor.
My favorite meal consists of people’s shattered dreams and twisted souls. The chicken is a very close second
It’s certainty nothing to get your hopes up about, and it’s a run-​of-​the-​mill buffet.
Typically the staff IS courteous and friendly when I go there…
Usually there is a line to get in and I dont understand why they don’t open the second register. What’s the point of having them if you’re not using them?
This reminds me of Walmart and there endless supply of checkout registers but only a few underpaid employees working them at any given time.
Overall I will be back. But first, I have a few miles to run.