JoDean’s

I have ate at JoDean’s off and on since I moved to Yankton in the late 90’s. I remember the food being much better back then, then it is now. The wait staff is friendly, and it is timely getting your drinks ordered and refilled. The quality of the food on the buffet has gone down in recent years. The meat items were dry and the other tasted bland, the last time I ate there. I only go there now, if a visiting out of town relative or friend wants to eat there.

Usually drive from about an hour away and always love coming to eat at Jo Deans. Not just any night, but either Friday or Saturday night as they offer a seafood buffet.
Best crab legs in the area in my opinion and they are all you can eat. Large, juicy, and tasty unlike crab legs you can find anywhere else. With a whole buffet of food to go with it.
Large salad bar and plenty of deserts to choose from as well. Place is clean and has a great atmosphere.

Granted I am from out of town and I usually never give a five star rating on my first visit unless I was blown out of the water by the food. I was blown out of the water by the crab legs alone. $ 22.99 for all you can eat seafood. I ate crab legs till stuffed and my rating is for that alone plus the excellent service we got from the waitress. The crab was crisp and easy to get into with nice big pieces of meat. It was a nice and clean environment. If I lived here I would be a regular.

This is NOT the steakhouse I remembered. The original owners are long gone and it is a BUFFET. Think USA Steak buffet. No, wait, it’s Golden Corral because the food isn’t terrible. Not a steak place. 2 stars because the help was super nice. I was the only customer at 8pm on a Week night. Adobe ribs, carved beef and fried shrimp were all very good. Other buffet items looked very old. And cold. They did have several signs I wanted to buy with other nik naks on the walls. The people are very nice there which really helps a restaurant. Who wants good food and crabby servers? Servers are nice and polite.

Very disappointed, the food was not good. I am so surprised that there were so many good reviews and expected much better quality than what was delivered.

Horrible, they need to quit saying they are also a steak house. Steak was very dry. To solve the problem the waitress said she puts ketchup on hers.
The seafood buffet is a joke. Wanted to dump a tray of crab legs on the floor to feel like I got my moneys worth

This place is all about the quantity … with little to no thought about the quality. If you want to eat a lot … go for it. If you want something good … try somewhere else.

Let’s just be honest right away: the 5 star reviews make me think they are done by the owner/​staff or people who have never been to a restaurant with good food.
Moved to Yankton 3 years ago and have given JoDean’s a shot 3 or 4 times now, each time hoping it will be better. Even the brunch is bad and I don’t know how you mess up breakfast. Go to Minerva’s or Fry’n Pan and save yourself the general disgust you will inevitably leave with.
Atmosphere is kitschy country. Service us friendly and efficient. Food is mostly tasteless and greasy. Salad bar is not bad. Dessert options are ok. Definitely not worth the price.

I love JoDean’s! Whenever we visited my grandma in Yankton, she always took us to JoDean’s. The buffet is terrific, the service very friendly and I love the décor.

Lots to choose from, too bad none of it is worth choosing. The seafood buffet is an insult to seafood. For the price I would expect a lot better. Service and atmosphere are great, unfortunately not good enough to make up for the food.

Gross had the worst buffet I ever tasted. For $ 22 u expect a lot more. The ribs are way over done, too chewy. The frog legs tasted old and was like eating a ball of butter. Swordfish was clearly frozen dry and bland. The shrimp was soggy and gross. I will never eat here again also my waiter never returned to my table I was there for over an hour.

You can get a load of food but I didn’t get any food that would cause me to go back and I had the big dog seafood buffet. Interior is cool

We happened to be hitting this place when they were evidently trading out the buffet trays as most of them were missing. What was there had clearly seen better days and there were plenty of congealed sauces and such (the fried chicken was somehow soft and soggy). They did have some ham available and some roasted chicken that was edible, but other than that, this is the same sort of gloppy and bland food that is synonymous with that part of the upper Midwest. You’re not going to a food mecca of any sort, like any of the larger cities. You can plan on encountering a bunch of food stuffs that are hearty (and greasy), the kind described as «sticking to your ribs.» Service was pretty much non-​existent, but at least the price was very moderate.
One of the more interesting things about this place, though, was the vast amount of bric-​à-​brac on the walls and suspended from the ceilings. This is also a frequent facet of places in the upper Midwest and one of the more redeeming features. Some of it is clearly old and rusting junk (errr, sorry, I mean antiques), but there is a lot of really cool stuff to see. If I was to go again, it would largely just to inspect that closer and more leisurely and see if I missed anything. The lunch buffet I wouldn’t gamble on again. The other redeeming feature here is parking is a breeze.

Interesting place for sure! Yankton options are very limited so based on Unilocal reviews we tried this place. Huge buffet, pretty standard fare but service was good and the décor kept us pretty entertained!

There are lots of good things about JoDeans — but the food isn’t one of them. Great ambience. Lots of locals. There’s friendly service and a well-​rounded salad bar but I think the salads come out of tubs and are not homemade. The hot food seems to be fried or soaked in butter. The desserts are the same desserts they’ve had for years and I don’t think any of it is homemade either. (I’d sure like to see them switch up the dessert bar from time to time). The Friday night seafood buffet is OK if you like tiny crab legs that take forever to eat. The shrimp is either fried or (again) soaked in butter. Same with the fish. If you’re careful about what you eat, you probably don’t want to go to JoDeans.

OMG! This place has so much ambience though no music playing which is very sad because it would improve the financial bottom line for the place. But they do have big screen TVs.
Service is immediate, price is too low but I’ll take it. Strong affordable cocktails, wine & beer. The best Fried Chicken in Yankton!
Clean bathrooms, unlimited parking.
Too bad this is not a publicly held franchise as I would buy stock. I love this place!!!

Been going here for 10 years. Good food and service (especially Tom). Prices have gone up in recent years… look for coupons.

I normally avoid buffet like the plague but when your grandfather-​in-​law is buying brunch you go where he wants to go. I have to say it was good. They offered a good selection of fresh food. They even had Walleye on the buffet which was really good. The had a carving station with ham and roast beef. The salad bar was fresh. The atmosphere wasn’t classy. Think of a cracker barrel. The service was as to be expected with a large group. Overall they well surpassed a bar which was set rather low.

Always love coming here. Great variety! All the food is hot and fresh every time. The seafood buffet on the weekends is a must! Oh yes, and the brunch buffet is fantastic as well!!!

I was impressed with JoDeans when I came with my Fiancé and her parents. The food was awesome, just like your grandma’s home cooking. My father-​in-​law-​to-​be seemed to know everybody there and the cook was yelling at him for pulling the stuffing out of the stuffed peppers (again) I guess he does this frequently. Anyways I spent a good portion of my time checking out all the stuff on the walls, a bunch of old farming equipment,
I tried a bit of everything from lunch buffet. They had great salad fixins, fried chicken, pork chops, ham, roast beef, fried fish, potatos and gravy it just goes on and on. Cant wait for my next JoDeans experience!