Hole in the Wall Buffet's and Restaurants

[WVH1977]

When I travel south for work there is a little place in a rundown hotel called Thunderbird Country Buffet in Florence, SC. Yellow ceilings and ice cold sweet tea that the waitress keeps full at all times. Everything is home made and delicious. I like checking out places like this that most folks would just pass by and never think about going in. Sometimes you find a gem.

 

[bmaverick]

At first glance at the title, I thought you were referencing Warren Buffet's restaurants that he owns. Some are dives that serve up great food. Others are just dumb burger chains.

The great gems are getting harder to find now. This dumb post-covid era has way less now as placed closed their door for good. Very ad.

Out in my area, there hasn't been much to brag about. The pizza out here is yuck, the custard ice cream is yuck, some of the stake houses are 'alright', there was a great family owned Thai place, but it closed.

If you are in a town and the people brag about Denny's, then there isn't anything good for miles around. This is sad.

 

[jaxs]

When I travel south for work there is a little place in a rundown hotel called Thunderbird Country Buffet in Florence, SC. Yellow ceilings and ice cold sweet tea that the waitress keeps full at all times. Everything is home made and delicious. I like checking out places like this that most folks would just pass by and never think about going in. Sometimes you find a gem.

And sometimes you wind up with ptomaine poisoning.

 

[setxjeff]

not a hole in the wall but a meat market that decided to open a restaurant next door. Awesome food esp off the steam table and hamburgers the size of your plate if you want one that big.
Roberts Meat market in Orange Texas

 

[mjarrels]

not a hole in the wall but a meat market that decided to open a restaurant next door. Awesome food esp off the steam table and hamburgers the size of your plate if you want one that big.
Roberts Meat market in Orange Texas

Morrisons caferaterias in TN use to be great. some the best liver and onions and spinish salad I ever ate. very resonable price too along with good cold sweet tea.

mark

 

[jaxs]

Morrisons caferaterias in TN use to be great. some the best liver and onions and spinish salad I ever ate. very resonable price too along with good cold sweet tea.

mark

Texas once had three cafeteria chains,liver and onions was me and the wife's go to at all of them since the kids didn't like it we never had it at home. They've all dried up now. Why? According to local food critics "customers don't consider cafeterias a dinning experience". I don't consider sports bars a dinning experience.

 

[Torvy]

Warren Buffett owns Dairy Queen...

In Texas, "sweet tea" is redundant. It's gonna be sweet unless you order it unsweet. I don't mind sweet tea, but don't need the empty calories, so I'll stick to unsweet.

Back in the day, in Brown's Valley, Minnesota there was a place called Ike's Chicken Shack. It was a smorgasbord (fancy word for buffet). Great food without all of the ambiance.

Seems the only buffet style places in see now are Chinese or pizza. The Chinese is like playing roulette. Lots of decent food, cheap, but sometimes it is awful. The pizza is always a loss or a push.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Brown's Country Buffet in Alachua Florida, fried chicken everyday, but my favorites are Monday's with fried chicken gizzards and Thursday's fried porkchops with plenty of country sides on the buffet everyday, about $12 drink included.

 

[Oaktree]

In Texas, "sweet tea" is redundant. It's gonna be sweet unless you order it unsweet. I don't mind sweet tea, but don't need the empty calories, so I'll stick to unsweet.

Seems the only buffet style places in see now are Chinese or pizza. The Chinese is like playing roulette. Lots of decent food, cheap, but sometimes it is awful. The pizza is always a loss or a push.

For whatever reason, buffet restaurants are not a "thing" here in New England, the sole exception being Chinese. I don't know why. Many of them serve some non-Oriental dishes too, like mac & cheese, french fries or chicken fingers. Most of the ones I've been to are pretty good.
Never seen a pizza buffet, though back in the 70s when I spent a couple years in the PNW there was one chain that did an all-you-can-eat one day a week. Wasn't a buffet though, waitresses would come around with carts with several varieties and serve it. First time I'd ever heard of pineapple on pizza...sounds weird but it's good. No anchovies though...

Is "sweet tea" just tea with some sort of sweetener in it or is there more to it? Seems to be a southern term.

 

[Torvy]

Real sweet tea is made with simple syrup. The specifics are a closely held secret among aficionados.

Pizza Inn and CiCi's are chains around here that have buffet-style pizza. In the Northern Plains they have Pizza Ranch that has pizza and fried chicken in their buffet.