Old Country Buffet

We decided to give OCB another chance it’s an affordable option when your dining with children. Previous experiences have been inconsistent but never worse then a 3. We dined here noon Saturday ¹⁄₂₃. You would think the food would be freshest at this time, not here, half the food trays were empty the ones that weren’t had dry stale food. There was no lettuce for salads, etc. The hot dessert section had NO desserts, they ran out of ice cream dishes and the ice cream was runny. I could go on but you get the picture. I will be avoiding this establishment in the future.

I have never witnessed OCB tossing out cold, expired, damaged food. They always just mix in the hot, replacement food with the cold, expired food.

I have been here quite a few times for a meal with the family. I am not a fan of buffets; however, this one rates as one of the better ones that I have dined.
I have tried out both their lunch and their dinner hours. I have had better luck with their lunch hour. Their lunch hour is better quality than their dinner hour.
Their atmosphere is a little odd. It is hard to put into words to describe the oddness, but it is odd. It is obvious set up to attract mostly the older and elderly generation who grew up in a rural setting. It shows. This type of atmosphere does not make me say ‘wow’.
To their benefit, the employees do a great job at keeping everything clean and organized. For this reason, I feel a little more comfortable that I would in most other buffets. Therefore, I have not had to worry about sanitation.
For the most part, their lunch hour employees have a better eye at food freshness. I can tell that they keep a close eye on when foods need to be replaced with new ones. Their food tastes much better than the dinner hour. During their dinner hour, I have had several issues with cold food. Therefore, it does not taste nearly as good as it should.
When it comes to customer service, my experiences have been a hit and miss during lunch and dinner. Considering it is a buffet, that is not the biggest issue, considering we grab our own food. Despite this, about half of their employees need to work more on being friendlier and more attentive to their customers.
In the future, when I am in the area and hanging out with the family, I will continue coming here for their lunch hour. I will likely try my best to continue avoiding their dinner hour when possible.

Having broken the appaling food & service culture by firing the manager & staff … it’s now *** 100% improvement in all ways *** — both Crystal & Fridley stores. We’ll return. Jun 2015.

Terrible. Food dry. Carver took a personal call on his cell phone while people waited for food

They need to refill the food faster. Walk around for 10 min and nothing got refill. They ran out of plats. They need to do better for being a buffet.

Sunday morning NO COFFEE, NO EGGS! Told the server that the regular coffee was empty. It was still empty when I left. They filled the little bowl of eggs twice while I was there, the line for eggs was so long they were instantly gone. HUGE FAIL!!!

This is the worst place to ever eat. It seems like they change the price everytime I go there what happened to 7 – 10 $$ for one person it was 25.00 I dont see any sea food on this menu. In fact, what happened to the menu!!! Its not worth it!!! I thought the commercial and ads said this was new and improved. WHOW! They removed all the buffet setup and replaced them with pots and pans. where is the FOOD what did they do with it because I felt like I was chasing my tail and became dizzy. This place need to be shut down and throw away the key

May have been the worst restaurant I’ve ever been to.
The pictures another user posted are spot on. The staff doesn’t do ANYTHING at all. The table and floor next to us was covered in filth, napkins, and had a spill just sitting on the table. Meanwhile, 3 of the workers were sitting on the table next to it, talking, texting on their phone and talking about plans for after work.
The only reason we went was to use coupons we received and check the place out after seeing the commercials that it’s brand new and improved. Well, my friends, I declare bullshit to the highest degree.
And oh yeah, don’t ask the employees there anything. They treat you as if you’re interrupting something and it’s such a drag to help you out or serve you.
How this place is still open in a prime spot in Crystal, I’ll never know.

We ate at the Richfield location. We went because of the new ads on TV said how good it is. The place was so dirty, the food not stocked and wait people could have cared less. When asked if they had more chocolate sauce she said 20 minutes! This is the dinner time, THIS IS A NEVER TO GO TO SPOT!

This location is NASTY. Dirty floors, sticky tables, and disgruntled employees. Instead of keeping food stocked in the buffet, they dried out odds and ends in the pans until ALL of each item is used up.
This is a bad location, in a bad part of town. The manager needs to go. Go to the one in Maple Grove for better food and service.

This place is filthy. The food is mediocre and the service is absolutely terrible. The only good I liked was the ham and the server who had to cut it made me feel like I was a chore.

I only go here with my kids because I know they’ll all get something they like, but I end up paying $ 9.99 just to eat the salad bar myself. Thank goodness the water is free, because the water tastes like ASS. Liquid Ass…
I’m vegetarian, so I avoid all of the meats — unfortunately, even many of the vegetable dishes have bacon as an additive. Green beans, with bacon! Even the taco bar has meat in the refried beans — why couldn’t they leave them out? I don’t know… unless they’re concerned with being authentic, but it’s Old Country Buffet — I mean, why?
The macaroni and cheese is like a creamy salt lick. The spaghetti is mushy. The baked potatos are stiff. The guacamole looks like mayonnaise… it goes on and on.
The only redeeming item? A childhood favorite: chocolate lava cake with a dab of vanilla «ice cream».

Two words: Butt Vomit