Ryan’s

Not surprised they are closed. Used to be very good and my daughter’s favorite place to eat. The last couple of years, everything has declined. My husband and I tried it 3 times in the last few months/​years and they have cut back so much it’s ridiculous. No condiments or sugars on the table… very limited items on the buffet, inattentive waitstaff… I could go on and on, but why bother… they are finally closed. Wish Golden Corral would take over this location. They are the bomb!

Absolutely disgusting! Food was over cooked, bland and gross. The deserts left hints of powder in them, the ice cream machine was broken yet they put all of the toppings out for the ice cream, brilliant! There was NO soap in the men’s restroom and when I told an employee she says to tell my waitress? WTF? Then there’s the knowledge that employees to include cooks aren’t using soap when they wash their hands! You want something good to eat? Go somewhere else! You want diarrhea? Come to RYAN’S!!!

I’ve been going since I was a child and having birthday parties here. Wonderful family place and the chicken and biscuits with their honey butter is the best ever.

I have been going to Ryan’s since the early 90’s and it used to be a quality place to eat. However, every aspect of this business is beyond poor. The facility is deteriorated and sloppy. The unsanitary enviroment makes you feel very uncomfortable. The staff uniforms are dingy and show that the employees do not value their jobs. The fact that, if paying with a credit card (how most people pay these days) you must leave a tip as you walk in the door is unsettling. Get with the times? The food is terrible. They call themself a «Steak House» yet their steak was an atrocity. 2“X4″ and 3 oz. is more of a steak bite. What makes it worse is that the steak was extremely salty to the point that I couldn’t eat it. My brother had orange chicken and it was raw to the point that somone could have gotten sick. When we asked for a manager she did everything she could not to face us. She walked around aimlessly as if we didn’t know she was the manager and she was hoping that we would just leave. When she came to our table, she dropped a basket of rolls and attempted to walk away. When we stopped her, we asked her to please remove the chicken before someone gets sick. She stated that she would remove it and gave us a half hearted apology.
It isn’t just like this was an isolated instance. I have watched for the last nearly ten years as the food and service have deteriorated. I feel certain that my 25 year’s of visiting this place has now come to an end.

This place use to be mediocre. But with coupon was acceptable. Now it’s just gross, with barely any decent foods to eat. They replaced old staples with new sloppy ploppy pot pies. And they don’t even keep it stocked. It’s just a bunch of starches and a few pieces of greasy chicken. Even with a BOGO coupon my wife and I felt cheated. We actually left a buffet hungry. That shouldn’t happen.

I eat here often (Texas City location) and I think the food has gotten better recently. I agree with others that the food quality was declining over the years but someone has changed something and it’s for the better. I like the individual servings of pot roast and all the ways you can eat chicken. The desserts have always been lacking until recently. The cakes used to be dry, the cookies bland, and the pies nothing but meringue. Not so anymore. I like the individual servings available and the new creations of bread pudding or chocolate cake with chocolate filling in the middle. I found out that the desserts are made from scratch from those that work in that part of the restaurant. You get someone on shift who is lazy and doesn’t care about the quality of the item, it turns our poorly. The rolls are usually hot and there is a huge variety of veggies, fruit and salad. I am disappointed about one of the dining rooms being turned into a game room but Ryans is trying very hard to cater to families. They have Family Night every Thursday. We went one evening and found breakfast food on the bar. That was a nice surprise. When you consider what all is available and that you can eat as much of it as you can hold, the price matches the quality. This is not a $ 20 pp buffet. I appreciate a business who is changing things and trying very hard to provide quality service and quality product.

The food has been slowly declining and this is sad to see. We’ve made Ryans a tradition for our family but the last few times their famous rolls have been hard, small and tasteless. The bathroom is dirty and unkempt. We have been giving them chances but at some point if it doesn’t change we’ll find a new tradition.

We brought my father here for a Father’s Day breakfast and ALL of the food was over cooked. It is sad that most of the foods offered seemed like they would be good if only the cooks would cook it correctly. I even had them cook a waffle and omlet to order thinking maybe the it was only the food on the buffet but I was wrong– STILL overdone. I DO NOT recommend eating breakfast here.

I brought in my 88 year old dad and his twin brother for a senior’s buffet. I think it’s great that there is a group of seniors that come in almost daily to take advantage of a good opportunity to get a reasonably priced meal. They offer a great variety to please everyone’s tastes.

This wasn’t our first choice for Thanksgiving dinner; it seems that all the Chinese buffet places were closed for Thanksgiving this year. Huh.
So we decided on Ryan’s…ok,. hubby decided on Ryan’s…I was leaning towards pizza but hey marriage is all about compromise.
Actually usually buffets are all about compromise: you compromise quality for quantity, personal space for fighting people for a place in the feed trough, etc.
But this was pretty good. The food was hot and fresh, except for the steaks… they looked like wrinkled old shoe leather… ew. But everything else was good and even if there wasn’t a lot of different choices the stuff that was there was definitely tasty!
The service was ok. I mean it is a buffet, not a 5-​star restaurant. So really wasn’t expecting much and that’s about what we got.
The price was decent; not sure if it was the regular buffet price but it was $ 10.69 a piece and $ 1.99 for drinks, so $ 27 for all you can eat for two people? Not too bad.
Now I did add a star on because of the desserts… oh yum! They didn’t have sprinkles for my ice cream and that’s usually a deduction but since the other desserts were really good I won’t hold it against them! They had pudding, cake, pie, pumpkin bread (which was fantastic), ice cream, etc. I think I ate more dessert than I did dinner… lol
So it was decent, and it was hot and on Thanksgiving when so many people don’t even get that I felt very grateful for it!

This is a really nice buffett! I know it’s ut of the way being from Houston and about a 25 minute drive (70 mph) depends on how fast you go you know, but you can;t beat these deals… seriously! You’re talking about a lunch buffett for an adult around six bucks a person or dinner for around 9. Nice! Food… man that food was freakin fresh all the time, macaroni and cheese (I’m a cheese lover… brie, gouda, swiss, cheddar… cottage. whatever) cannot get any more of soft delicate creamy tenderness. The sweet potatoes… like none other, not like the kind from a can, but actually baked yams cut in half… sweet! mashed potates look dry like Texas weather and unappealing, but it actually was whipped to near perfection. Gravy like your old fashioned or country style. Good fried fish, good rosated chicken. just a little bit dry, ribs are very soft, easy to peel off and eat the meat… it makes you keep clean unlike others, but not way too tasty. kind of like an amateur’s barbecuing. More and more and more food! Most of it was really good.
Dislikes:
1. Ice cream machine… the vanilla came out watery, the mixed vanilla and chocolate came out clump after clump, too bad all food was refilled and fresh except ice cream =(
2. The food was really good and I got full off just two plates, didn;t have time for their good looking desserts!
3. They have a pretty good rule that children under 10 have to be accompanied by a guardian, but one girl seems she could be eleven or twelve, maybe maybe not, but one the employees spoke kind of in an unpleasant tone with her. Felt sorry, but didn’t think of doing anything at the moment, didn’t know what to do. She didn’t get yelled at but didn’t like that tone. But she seemed to shrug it off okay, just stayed polite and ignored that employee.
Superior Excellence:
#1: Service: Our waiter, Bobby (I think), gave us absolutely wonderful service. I know this is a buffett, but man that was good service. Drinks not even finished… and refills were asked if we needed it… Star up! He was quick on bussing our tables. He was so very polite and seemed sincere on his kindness whether we enjoyed our food or not. Bad interruptions were non whatsoever. He checked on us plenty enough times, without it being a nuisance as well, cause sometimes it can be. Very attentive and all there! 5 Stars to his service
2. We had two dinner coupons and they let us use it for lunch! 2 for 1! Awesome!

Scrumptious, extravagant, lush, top-​of-​the-​class. All illustrative words. But, none apply to Ryan’s Family Steakhouse. Which ones, you ask? Middle-​brow, good for families with small children, jack-​of-​all-​trades, master-​of-​none, and buffet feedbag would fit nicely.
Next question you may be asking: Why did he go there? Simply put, I went because my mother asked me. Plus my sister, BIL, and kids were in town for a week and this was our last chance to meet up before they returned to Seattle [aka Federated State of Microsoft].
The place is located at the outskirts of the Mall of the Mainland in Texas City. This mall is not going to rip the tiara off of The Galleria or even the beauty queen sash of Baybrook Mall. Its a mall that is clean and shiny because no one ever goes here. I don’t know how Macy’s and Sear’s continue to chug along but I’ll leave those operational decisions to the wunderkinds that run those chains since they’re doing a bang-​up job.
Occupying a squat spread-​out building, Ryan’s tries to be all things to all people. We came for dinner and prices reflect this. Seniors eat for $ 9.49. Regular adults eat for $ 9.99. Kids 4 – 8 years old eat for $ 3.99. Kids under 3 eat free with a paying adult and get a free drink. Drinks are extra and run about $ 1.70 each.
Various buffet islands are surrounded by jostling mobs: children, teens, adults, seniors, zombies. [Kidding — or am I?] The ebb-​and-​flow of the mobs rival Grand Central Station in NYC as they scamper around eyeing what they want then pouncing on the selection. I’d wager an Emmy-​award winning «Nature» documentary could be filmed right here in the middle of Ryan’s.
Dozens of choices for each meal component existed but nothing stood out to me as shining examples of someone working here with a CIA (Culinary Institute of America, you barbarian) certificate. Suffice it to say they had oodles of food but not much culinary delight.
There are lines at the Steak Station where you can have one of dubious quality cooked for you. Perhaps they have the same meat distributor as Mo’s from the dismal Unilocal reviews I’ve read.
Service is largely done by young teenagers: starting with the cashier with braces and a slight lisp to the waitress assigned to us who almost put her nose in my root beer so she could avoid giving it to someone who ordered a Coke. I’m glad I kept an eye on her; who knows what she does when not watched? But, she was friendly and frequently around to clear dishes.
In essence, if you want a slice of modern Americana [spandex pants, NASCAR shirts, and teen servers], come here.