Old Country Buffet

Not worth your money or time — avoid.
Not recommended.
If you’re a foreign national visiting the U.S., don’t stop sites in this chain acting under the assumption this place is representative of your «average and good» American restaurant. It isn’t.
I’ve visited sites in this chain over the years in the Northern Virginia area, not by design or intent, but by mandate of a group event. My enduring impression remains the same as my initial encounter: the quality is low and it’s overpriced.
Rarely, have entrees been fresh or tasty. And I can say that about every visit over the past 20 years. The desserts can be the exception. They usually have a wide variety of pies, puddings, and ice cream to choose and they can be quite good.
So, what’s the draw? Why do places in this chain stay in business? I can’t say for certain. Clearly, this chain draws those less well off in our society and who view the offerings here as a good deal. There are so many good and a few great restaurants to choose from in the DC Metro area. This isn’t one of them.
Visited July 2015

This is one of my favorite places for lunch. The food selection is always good and appetizing. They do an excellent job of keeping the food bars clean and stocked. On my last visit, drinks were included in «senior rate», which makes the lunch an even better value.

My little cousin had her baby shower here. Pretty decent space. Now the food was mediocre at best nothing spectacular, the cheese cake they had was probably the best did I had out of there buffet.

The prices for the meals are reasonable. However, the price for beverage is ridiculous and overpriced. The bathrooms needs cleaning. Some of the workers displays preferred treatment.

Stick to the NON fried food, and you’ll be fine!
Question: Where can you have eggs, 2 types of sausages, and build your own version of a double decker taco?
Answer: Old Country Buffet?!
This buffet has everything for breakfast. Pancakes, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, beats (I LOVE BEATS), omelette station, eggs, hotdogs, gummy bears, and much more! I can even make Southern Style Grits here! (Grits, an egg sunny side up, bacon, pepper, and Tabasco Sauce all in a bowl, BOOM)
They have an Icee Machine! How amazing is that? Not sure why the coffee creamer was on the opposite side of the coffee but maybe that was just a mistake.
Price is a tad stiff at 12 bucks a person PERO if you’re gonna go to IHOP you might as well spend a few extra on all you can eat (This type of thinking is why I’m round). With IHOP’s high priced menu you are NOT that far off price wise per person.
STAY AWAY FROM THE FRIED FOOD!
Not sure what was going on with the fried food but it was just awful. Maybe their oil went bad. I tried the fried chicken and the country fried steak and both tasted like dried DEATH. That’s the best way I can explain it.
Only come here if you have a big appetite AND you are thinking of going to IHOP because there are more affordable places to go for breakfast in the Woodbridge area. Check out my reviews about Denny’s and Ikea, especially Ikea.
Yay! I’m a fan.

I love buffets like this. My wife and I went around 1:30pm today and everything was tasty and fresh. The lunch price was $ 8.99 without a drink. I think it’s $ 11.99 for dinner and $ 7.99 for breakfast.
I particularly liked
* variety
*taco bar. I couldn’t find the taco sauce dispenser. However, it was delicious.
*salad bar was clean and nice variety. I like how they make their own croutons.
The staff was very courteous and the sweet lady who greeted us asked if was out first time there. We said yes, and she asked if we would like a tour. That was great. The food was very good and I can’t wait to go back for breakfast, dinner and lunch again and again. Thanks OCB!

Not many food choices but they taste OK.
The price is fair, but with $ 2.5 additional drink charge, it’s a bit expensive.
Soups are really salty.

OCB!!! They really are trying to revamp the old country buffets. In Maryland, they have shutdown pretty much all of them so when I do see an OCB that is still open, I make it a point to stop in and have some grub. When I walked into the WOodbridge OCB I was absolutely blown away. They had all of these different stations now, and it was revamped with color and awesome crock dessert dishes (molten lava cakes, cobbler, bread pudding, etc.). It was one of THE BEST buffets I have ever been to… and honestly the only reason I go to buffets anymore is for the Chocolate Milk. KID AT HEART, what can i say? :)

Not what it used to be! We dined on a Tuesday around 3:45PM. Upon entering this location the smell of old shoes and feet greet you immediately. The booths are sticky and are in need of a thorough wipe down and cleaning.
I started off with the Mac & cheese (not bad), mashed potatoes with chicken gravy (decent), steamed broccoli with (disgusting) cheese sauce, fried chicken (good!), and green beans with onions (not good). My second plate was a salad & the salad station was not bad. Lastly, I had dessert. The apple pie was mediocre, but fresh baked chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies were good. The vanilla soft serve ice cream was good as well.
The taco station was a mess and the ground beef looked as if it had been out for a long while.
A major gripe was that many things were not labeled or were labeled incorrectly.
One ice cream machine was out of order and the one that worked only had the vanilla flavor available.
Cappuccino machine was out of order & omelette station was not in service.
Bathrooms were okay, but soap dispensers were barely hanging on the wall seeming as if they would fall off at any moment.
Verdict: OCB has gone downhill and I will not be going back ever again! End of story.

Oh my g… Wow, this place is actually worse than Golden Coral. Came through Potomac Mills with a group had 4 meals here, 3 dinners and a breakfast. They want the money, but don’t like to give service or food. It’s a BUFFET replace the food!!! Not only did they not replace the food, but how ironic that the Ice Cream machine was always down. But strangely there was Ice Cream down in the tray like someone had just got some… Oh and the Manager had to wait till we were all seated and give us a lesson in Buffet… I am so glad I do not live up this way. This place needs to be closed…

This location has really gone downhill. The last time we went here, we arrived about and hour or so before closing. The food was cold and been sitting for quite a while.
I asked the manager if he could get some fresh meatloaf and his response was something like, I don’t know if we have anymore because you know it’s only an hour before we close. I told him I paid FULL PRICE for my wife and I to eat and I expect to have the opportunity to eat the same thing no matter what time it was. Guess what.. he found more meatloaf and several other items I requested. The meatloaf was so dry I couldn’t eat it. I ate a few bites of other things as my wife did. I told the manager I was extremely dissatisfied with the food and requested a refund. His reply, «Keep your receipt and call the home office.» I answered «Really??? This is how much you care about your customers.» I took his advice and called their corporate office. The young lady told me she would pass my complaint to the proper person and I should hear from them, I believe within 5 business days. Well that was about a year ago and I haven’t heard a thing.
OCB will not get anymore of my money, neither will Ryan’s because they are owned by the same company.

We stopped here for breakfast to kill some time before my 10 AM appointment at Carmax. It’s an okay restaurant for breakfast. It’s an all you can eat buffet for $ 7.99 and an additional $ 2.49 for drink. There is only one person making omelets. Sometimes, you will have to wait.

NOT RECOMMENDED — Management needs to be replaced and get this place back on track as it went downhill big time in the lastbyear. Went there today for Easter lunch — very disappointed
prices were increased just because it was Easter not because they were providing anything special — What a ripoff!
No crowd like they normally have on holidays
They desert pies and cake area was barren. I have never seen it so bare in my 13 yrs going here
Ice cream machine was broken
Pot pie looked great until i broke into the crust top and found it just half full and grease floating on top of the mostly gooey cheese filling with very little else in the filling — no meat just 3 or 4 peas nothing else
The rest of the food was the normal old country buffet fare and okay quality
Not the same since its long-​term Manger left which is why I only go here 2 or 3 times per year instead of the 7 times per week
I’m not happy I was charged more money for the same food but less offerings and lower quality
Last time i was here was Christmas day. I remember the bathroom had someone defecate in the corner. And i saw no toliet paper in either stall. How hard is it to keep a bathroom stocked with toliet paper when the dispenser takes two or three large rolls at a time? I know they could not have used all of that paper in just 4 hours between when they opened that day and my use of the facility (unless the food made people sick) — someone did not do his or her job and none of the 3 or 4 managers on duty that day checked
I used to stick up for this place when people called it a Barff-​et not Buffet but now i can only remain quiet and no longer sing its praises
Based on today’s experience I recommend you go elsewhere
A new management team is needed for sure

A little disappointed in OCB on this Easter Sunday. First, the $ 2 surcharge for no reason with Post-​it-​Notes as new price tags over old? Really? And no one could explain why? Ok… so on to the food. First, if you go to OCB, you know what you are getting. A decent selection and for the most part, fresh standard American food. Now, that being said, you need to be able to keep the food in stock! They consistently ran out of any main dishes (ham, turkey, roast beef, pulled pork) and to top it off, none of the ice cream or frozen yogurt machines worked. To top it off, I saw at least 3 employees eating out of their hands without washing. They think the customers cannot see but they can. Let’s make a better effort to serve people and have better hygiene.

The cockroach crawling on the baked potatoes was unappealing.
The lady at the American Classics saw it too and took the pan of baked potatoes away. I was happy she did that. But I was more impressed with the ability of the cockroach to survive that long under a heat lamp.
This occurred Tuesday March 24 at about 5:15pm.

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Based on the Unilocal reviews I have read, closing this restaurant wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Enjoying the consumption of comfort food on occasion, I did like dining at this Old Country Buffet and never had to endure some of the gastronomic issues some of these reviewers have dealt with.
A recent remodeling of this Old Country Buffet doesn’t improve the service. The prices are too high. Going there on a weekend afternoon means waiting in a long line to get to the cashier to pay for a meal. The soft serve bar is a mess, with toppings strewn about, and the soft serve machine is in constant need of refilling. The restroom looks as it has never been cleaned.

This place didn’t have a wide selection of food. They had a dessert bar, italian food (with like three things here, which included corn dogs?!?-is that Italian?), Mexican food, a salad bar, grill with steak and other meats, and some other selections. There weren’t a lot of choices to choose from. The best thing I ate there was their dessert. They actually had some tasty sweets. They had really soft and chewy cookies that had a crispy edge. Yumm– it was baked perfectly. Other than the cookie, I didn’t really enjoy anything else I ate.
Make sure you use the coupon. I found one online and got three dollars off my meal! There are coupons that work for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Let me know if you find a working coupon online and if it worked for you! – I put one on the business site for Unilocal if you’re interested!

Went here on a Sunday night for dinner with a friend. Neither of us had been here since we were much younger. The last time my family went, we never came back because my mom got food poisoning.
I was surprised I didn’t get it this time — the food was not very good. All was fairly questionable and the areas were not well kept. They have remodeled the inside, which looks much nicer, but the cleanliness factor is pretty much non-​existent.
The staff was very nice, at least. The two stars go to them.

I tried this place four times for dinner because I really didn’t want to give a bad review but this time around, they earned it wholeheartedly! Do people really pay to eat here? There’s nothing to chose from at all! Everything here is either watered down, tastes old or way too salty which is the last thing from fresh obviously. They try to say that they have variety but it’s really bad imitation of Spanish and ‘Asian’ food.
Their Spanish section had Taco shells and ingredients to make your own taco. Sometimes they had chili, but I don’t care about any of that. What I care about is why the ground meat has no flavor each and every visit.
As for their Asian section, why do they even bother? Again, each visit is General Tso’s chicken and instant rice. It’s obvious that this is instant rice; anyone who knows anything about food, not even specifically Asian food, knows that this is the lowest quality you can serve.
The rest of their food is this: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, «steak», Mac n Cheese, fried okra, broccoli, brussel sprouts, chicken and biscuit in gravy and country fried steak. Ask yourself this: what’s the point of going to a restaurant when you can cook better food at home? No seriously, all the food I named here was canned and/​or came from a box already made. The food here takes no skill to make; either that or the workers here are so miserable that they’re making bad food just to get a paycheck and go home already.
The prices here are way too high for this low quality. Best eat at home if you’re really craving southern food. Youtube tutorials will let you make better food from scratch than this place serves, or should I say reheats? The service here is also awful. The workers behind the scenes don’t speak English and if you ask for a medium rare stake they’ll be ticked off because they don’t know what you’re talking about, nor do they really want to unless you make your point in a way where they HAVE to understand. I can go on and on with what’s wrong here. If you come to this place you’ll be walking around in circles not exactly knowing what to get on your plate next because of how tasteless and redundant the palate is.
TLDR: I will never come here again.