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| - This place just opened recently, so we decided to give it a shot. I've eaten at several of these over the years, while traveling, and they've always been at least okay.
For what it is, this one is awesome! No, it's not a gourmet restaurant, it's a steakhouse with a buffet. They serve cafeteria style. It's aimed at families with a lot of mouths to feed.
The parking lot was well lit, and FULL on a Friday night. They had a cordial rent-a-cop outside directing traffic and greeting people in the cold.
We expected a wait, but there was none. We got in line, got our drinks, and went through the check out, in about two minutes. The four of us ate dinner tonight for about $36... two adults, two 11-year-olds. Right away, our server led us to our table.
We immediately visited the salad bar. Everything I saw was fresh, and well-refreshed, too. The presentation was the best I've seen in one of these places. There is a big variety of fresh veggies, fruits, cheeses, meats and dressings.
I usually fill up on salad at these places, so I don't overdo it on the other stuff, but... I did, on all counts. That's the only problem with places like this --- WAY too many temptations!
For entrees, they had many good choices of grilled meats, fish, Asian style dishes, pizza, home-style cooked vegetables... something for everyone. Some things were better than others, but nothing was bad.
I tried the barbecue (pulled pork) and found it a little smokey sweet, but tasty. The applewood bacon-wrapped pork loin was a little dry, but delicious. Applewood bacon-wrapped scallops were better. My wife had a small bacon-wrapped filet she really liked. Oh, don't forget to try the yeast rolls. You can smell them baking while driving down North Tryon street!
The kids found plenty of things to eat, and my son who had wanted to go to the Taco Bell down the street (!) decided he was more than happy with Golden Corral instead. The server came by attentively, refreshing soft drinks and water and bringing us coffee, since it was cold beside the window (27 degrees outside!).
What can I say? It is what it is... a great place for a family to strap on the feed bag. Healthy? Meh. It can be. You just have to make the right choices. There are enough. As for us, we made the mistake of hitting the extensive dessert bar... Sampling peanut butter cookie coated with chocolate and whipped cream, chocolate layer cake, peanut encrusted fudge, ice cream, and other goodies had us waddling out of there knowing we would be back, but sparingly.
I'd give them five stars for people moving, four and a half stars for table service, two stars for climate control, three stars for seating arrangements, and three and a half stars for the food. They get four stars for variety, and overall, four stars for experience with reference to the "Platonic Form" of this concept of a restaurant. Well above average execution!
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