Shoney’s

My wife and I thought we’d try Shoney’s on Church street one more time, we realized why we haven’t been in several years. The Thanksgiving buffet left a lot to be desired. We won’t be back.

Ate their buffet today. Food poisoning all day. Eak unsure from what, but I’m still sick to my stomach

The place was absolutely filthy! In the back area where we were seated, there was debris all over the rug, and spilled food all over the floor. I don’t understand how the hostess could seat people there. It was obvious though that she couldn’t have cared less. Her attitude just screamed ‘I am bored and don’t want to be here’.
I asked one of the servers who was responsible for cleaning and she said that each server cleans his/​her own area. I showed her our area and she was horrified. I asked ‘shouldn’t the manager keep an eye on this?’ and she kind of rolled her eyes and said ‘yeah, he should’. Clearly he didn’t because the debris and food on the floor had been there for quite a long time. The food was mediocre at best. The buffet was just plain disgusting looking and I avoided it entirely.
There were not many people in here at lunchtime on a Saturday which is a bad sign. Guess the locals know enough to stay away. And I will stay away too.

I am surprised that this place is not shut down by the health department. I’ve always been a fan of Shoney’s and make a point to stop at one on vacation. So on our trip to Chattanooga, we pulled off for dinner.
First of all there was hardly anyone in the restaurant. Always a bad sign. We ordered the Country Fried steak and the Chicken Pot Pie. With the dinners you can get to eat off the salad bar as well. This may have been the worst salad bar ever! The «soups» were dried up with crusty vegetables in the ladle, the cheese sauce was dried up, the other sides were barely warm and ever so often one of the employees would go over a pour water into the mashed potatoes or another dish to make it stretch until the end of the night. There was no ranch dressing for the salad. The topper though happened when I picked up my plate, there was a huge wad of gum on the plate underneath.
We should have left at that point, but we were tired and hungry. The country steak was tough and the gravy looked water down. It was the saddest steak I ever saw. My pot pie was runny in the middle and tasted really greasy.
I’m really surprised we didn’t end up with food poisoning.
This is the first place I ever wrote the corporate office and complained. Totally disgusting. Stay far, far away.

Have been here three times. Once for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Disappointed each time. Sad too as this is the only Shoney’s in town. I recently moved here and was excited to see that Shoney’s was near me. Where I used to live we ate there at least once a week. Normally Shoney’s has the best burgers anywhere. Not so at this place. Ordered a burger and it was raw in the middle. Blood spurted out into my mouth. YUCK! Sent it back and refused anything else as the blood taste was still in my mouth and I had lost my appetite. The manager came out and apologized and admitted the burger was raw and said she asked the cook about it. His response was that it would have been done in a few more minutes. I asked her why then did he not cook it a few more minutes, especially seeing as how they were not busy and there were only four other tables occupied at the time. She said she asked him the same thing. This same visit my kids had the club sandwich which later made them very ill. Went in for their breakfast buffet which I normally love. It was terrible. The bacon undercooked, almost raw. The rice, which is my favorite item of theirs, was hard and dark brown, like it was left over from the previous morning. I asked the girl at the bar for fresh rice and she told me there was nothing wrong with the rice that was out there. I showed her that it was hard and dark brown and she stirred it up and said the middle was fine. I dug down into the middle and showed her it too was hard and dark brown. She had the manager bring out fresh rice twenty minutes later. I thanked him for it. He said it was the good rice and laughed. I told him you could see the difference and he agreed. I also told him I should no have had to argue with the girl to get fresh food. He just walked off. Went for dinner on another occasion and everyone had to send their food back due to it being terrible. We left without eating. Will not return. I see now why they are never ever busy, even at breakfast time which is usually Shoney’s busiest time of the day. Will never return. Wish there was another one in town.

Last night my in-​laws wanted to go out to eat somewhere. Being as indecisive as we can be sometimes, we just said to pick somewhere. When they said Shoney’s I thought I was going to pass out. Needless to say, the Shoney’s in Louisiana went bankrupt for the most part and before they did they were not known for their cleanliness and elegant cuisine. I have to say that this Shoney’s definitely surpassed my expectations. It was really enjoyable! The service was excellent-​our server Ruth was friendly and funny and made it a really personal experience. They had a seafood buffet, which I was hesitant getting at first since, again, I am from Louisiana and can be picky about seafood. But I did end up getting it. I can only get 1 small plate of food so there was a lot that I didn’t get to try that I wanted to, but I can say that their fried fish was on point-​very crispy, well seasoned, awesome. Their cheddar biscuits that they had were almost exactly like the ones at Red Lobster. The sides were plentiful and good. The only complaints I did have is that the green beans looked really greasy, so I didn’t get them. Also, there was no tartar sauce on the bar, which is kind of a staple when you eat seafood. Lastly, the hush puppies were kind of bland. Aside from those things, which were truly minimal, the meal was great. My husband got a double burger and it was HUGE. He couldn’t even eat it all and said it was delicious. My mother-​in-​law got the baked spaghetti and it looked delicious. Nice diverse choices and everything was satisfactory. We’ll definitely go there again!