Old Country Buffet

We have been to this location before but only for lunch. It has been awhile and we decided to stop in for dinner and had hoped that there would be some different types of food instead of the same old, same old lunch items. Not really…
It was around 6 on a Saturday night and the place was empty. They had some kind of unmanned carving station with a hunk of beef, half gone that looked like it had been sitting out for a long time. There were only a couple of pitiful looking little barbecued ribs sitting next to it. I like their salads and their fried chicken but that’s really all that looked appealing. The already instant mashed potatoes were even more instant and soupy. My husband said the cornbread stuffing was terrible. I noticed the looks of aggravation on several customer faces as they waited, and waited and waited for someone to serve them some of that hunk of beef at the unmanned carving station. So for me I had exactly the same old, same old food I would eat at lunch but with their dinner prices.
Ok so now let me explain why we will never go back to this pisshole. I went to use the ladies room and was appalled at the condition it was in. No TP in the first stall so went to the second stall. Just gross. Toilet paper looking used was all over the floors, filthy, the bathroom reeked of urine and the worst part the floors were tacky and who knows what was sticking to the bottom of your shoes. My husband said the men’s restroom was just as filthy and disgusting. Cannot after seeing this even imagine what the kitchen would be like. Where is management that this kind of unsanitary conditions are permitted. I felt like I was going to gag on my chicken wing and soupy spuds before I could get out of that stinky piss filled bathroom. HELLO HEALTH DEPT YOU NEED TO CHECK THIS PISSHOLE OUT!

nothing for vegetarians. They charged $ 14 including taxes for a very average buffet on Christmas

Food was cold, not too many options. Over priced for quality. Much better dining nearby.

Regret spending $ 12 for unhealthy smelly food. Choices are all out of the can food. Got sick and tummy churned for 2 days

Their food was decent. The service was garbage, it was if they didn’t even want us their. And the bathrooms were so bad you could smell them throughout the hole restaurant. I went in to check and they were destroyed. Each stall was filled with toilet paper on the floor, their was even a missing door

It’s an Old Country Buffet. If you give it five stars, you’re out of your mind. The food’s not that good. If you give it one star, you’re being entirely unfair, as it’s an Old Country Buffet, and they gotta figure out how to still make a profit after someone makes five trips to the buffet getting the «steak» each time. My kids think it’s novel, I can make them load up on lots of veggies before they go to town on the chicken nuggets, and nothing sucks. If you’re on their mailing list, and you only go when you’ve got a coupon that brings the price down significantly, then you kinda can’t go wrong. So three stars it is.

I’m all for buffets, and I love that Thursdays are family night and the kids get to eat on the cheap. There are a few new menu options that are quite tasty but over all I’d like to see more option for veggies other than salad and less sauced veggies, too. My fave Hometown Buffet (sister company to Old Country) is in Santee, CA. Maybe take a cue from that franchise, but otherwise I think you guys are doing the best you can with what you’ve got. The staff is always pleasant and my kids love the variety of food that they get to choose from. My only complaint would be the dirty dishes and silverware. believe you me I know what it takes for a restaurant to have clean dishes. I was a dishwasher in a resort kitchen when I was younger. The job stinks! But, I had to inspect everything that came out of the washer. I think that this needs work. Other than that, I think you’re okay. As my dad says, «Everything and everyone could stand for some improvement.»

This place is exactly what you would expect from a value buffet. So frills no thrills but the buffet price is unbeatable. Had all the basics and my favorite, jalapeño peppers at the salad bar, so I ain’t complainin. Fanciest part is the meat butcher guy who stands there, waiting to offer you either ham or beef. Don’t try picking up his utensils while he is not at the station, they get upset.

First of all Jaye L hit all the points… This place has really gone down the tubes from many years past… we tried to give this place another chance after almost 6 months… no improvement at all… in fact it got worse… as my significant other stated dumpster diving would be a better choice. They could open the doors and let the seagulls that are in the parking lot feast on the garbage they are serving. yet again I think the seagulls probably have better meals from the left over fast food restaurants around this mall… the Board of Health needs to visit this place as they need to monitor the temperature of their food, and what they are serving.

The food is about average OCB quality. The bathrooms were a bit untidy, and seriously outdated. Other than a general dirtiness from kids putting their hands on everything, it’s not horrible. If you’re really hungry, and don’t mind the food, it’s not a bad place.

2 words: Suburban Vomitorium. 12 reasons to keep driving.
Ahhhhh! What is that stuck to my cup? Why are there dirty piles of dishes on EVERY table? Ewe, gross, that’s not salmon… that’s mashed potatoes! Why is that table of 8 sharing just 1 glass? Oh yeah, there are no clean glasses in the restaurant; they’re all still on unoccupied tables!
Okay. This place was truly disgusting. After waiting in a long line with the unwashed masses, waddling toward the counter like unsuspecting cattle, here are the 12 reasons you should never ever ever eat at this place:
1) no forks available
2) waited a good 20 minutes and finally my wife and I shared a fork. It was dirty. Note to self, get vaccinations updated.
3) there were almost no clean tables. The entire restaurant looked as though they had a party, then, inexplicably just opened the doors to the public without cleaning or bussing the tables. Piles and piles of filthy plates with food everywhere. My skin crawled. Maybe that’s where all the silverware and glasses were?
4) there was one poor girl working the whole place (Sunday after church). Haha. She looked like she was going to go home and hang herself. We saw a few tiny scant tips ($ 1 here or quarters there).
5) the salad bar was out of all lettuce. Wait, I lied… there was plenty of lettuce stuck to the food trays and swimming lifelessly in the pudding.
6) as other reviewers have stated, there is nothing worse than playing «entrée roulette.» Gee honey, what do you suppose that item is? I mean, screw labels. I think most people enjoy this game. It’ll be really fun when some guy with peanut allergies dies in his Thai chicken because he thought it was an f’ing pork chop!
7) Botulism should not cost so much. The prices were too high for such crap.
8) I personally don’t mind paying for a drink, as long as I can have a cup!!!
9) Coffee distinctly tasted and smelled like some sort of grape or apple drink. Probably reusing the containers/​dispensers.
10) I’m pretty certain half the dining room patrons had water cups… filled with soda. Yeah, how’s that «charging for drinks» working out for you? Gotta have more than 1 employee to make that work.
11) THE FOOD WAS TERRIBLE!!! That’s what really matters, right? Well, the fried chicken was sooooooo dry and scrawny. Where did you find such horrible chickens?! Probably been laying under that heat lamp looking like Paris Hilton passed out at a tanning parlor. Quick, someone rotate that thing. And the fish? Well really, after this review do you really think I’m going fishing in the E-​coli Sea?
12) lastly, because I told you not to! That is why you should keep driving. Because I’m smart, I have great taste buds, and no one should ever put their internal organs through what I went through.

Two stars for Old Country Buffet. I hadn’t been to an OCB in a long time, and it was pretty good back then. Unfortunately this particular OCB is horrible. It’s dirty and unkempt, the food is just edible, and ridiculously expensive. You pay $ 13.50 per adult plus, PLUS a drink is extra. I asked for water and got my unlimited cokes anyway. The food seriously lacks flavor and there is no variety whatsoever. There’s no appeal to what’s on display. The salads look just ok, the pizza looks sloppy, there was some sort of red chicken, fish in watery yellow stuff, orange chicken that looked more like candied chicken nuggets. I’m not gonna lie, I ate three servings, but it was only because I paid so much and had to eat my moneys worth. The only thing that looked pretty was the desert. It was pretty good. BTW, they need to delete the photos on this Unilocal listing, because by no means does this food look THAT good!

I was extremely unsatifsed and bloated with fake food, definitely not how old country buffet used to be. THE GMO’S

one complaint.
they charge for drinks!!!

My husband and I were very pleased with our visit to this Old Country Buffet. It’s been well over 5 years since we’ve been here. The food tasted the same as we remembered it. It was good. Meatloaf is still my husband’s favorite. I liked the fried shrimp and the orange chicken. Dessert options were plentiful. All of the staff worked very hard throughout the time we were there. Our dishes were politely cleared after being asked ‘May I take this dish?’ In order to make it worth your while, cost-​wise, plan to spend some time there so that you can sample all of the different foods. There was the added bonus of connecting to KMart’s guest wi-​fi.

Wow This Place has the Best Food and Greatest Manager working I’ve been to Several Old Country Buffets but this place is the best Terry, the Manager. that I had the pleasure to meet was very helpful and really wanted to make sure I found everything. and was satisfied I’ve never been treated so good by any manager anywhere else.

Upon my father’s arrival to Chicago for a visit, his first question was «You guys got an Old Country Buffet?»
I understand. He has trouble eating because of all the chemo, radiation and surgery he’s had done on his mouth and throat over the years. He needs food to be a certain consistency or else he has a hell of a time getting a meal down. Spiciness hurts him and his sense of taste is working at about 50%, so flavoring is often lost on him anyway. However, for those of us without a legitimate medical reason for not being able to eat elsewhere, I would highly suggest eating elsewhere.
I made the rounds and found a few things to eat. It was barely enough to cover an entire plate because most of it just didn’t look appetizing and I didn’t feel like playing a guessing game with half of their dishes. On the day we came, at least 90% of the food was not labeled and left me wondering what was the difference between the gorpy bright yellow sauce and the thick dull yellow sauce.
Prices have gone up and the quality of the food has gone down. They even charge you for beverages now. The one star is for the Icee machine.

I don’t know why I continue to go to these places. I have been unhappy with the result since I was 20.
First off, the clientel always botheres me. Millions of kids unatteneded by parents, gross people… but I knew all this going in.
The food was bland. Everything tastes the same. They now charge you a ridiculous amount of money to ‘add a beverage’ based on the attraction that it’s a ‘beverage bar’. No, it’s not. It’s soft drinks, teas, coffee and slushies. Not worth an additional nearly $ 3.00
For the price, it’s not worth it. 5 people (3 adults, 2 kids) and even with coupons it was $ 59.00 We could have had a beeter meal somewhere else for the same price.

Why can we never resist the buffets??? Haven’t been to OCB in a while, but enjoyed our last visit here.
The OCB in Rolling Meadows closed, so we drove a little further out to Bloomingdale. It’s always been a consistent location in terms of service, cleanliness and quality of food. The managers here always makes rounds to check on customers and the staff is friendly.
For the most part, food trays are always filled (no half-​empty/​dried pans lying around), there’s a good variety of dishes — mostly American, some Mexican, salad bar, and dessert bar with ice cream and frozen yogurt machines. Food is decent — a step above fast food and it’s nowhere near healthy but you shouldn’t come here expecting all that anyway… it’s a cheap quick buffet. They have a slurpee/​ice machine too, which my kids loved.
Plates are cleared regularly. Dishes are clean and so is the silverware. The carpet could generally use a good overall shampoo, but for the most part, you can tell that they vacuum every day/​night. I only note this because my son is still inconsistent with his knife/​fork/​spoon skills which means a lot of dropped food, and I can’t help but pick it up cuz I feel bad about leaving a mess under the table. I noticed here that there was a lot of dropped food that wasn’t picked up on the carpet when I was cleaning up after my son’s mess, though, I’m sure they wipe up/​sweep up much bigger messes in the middle of meal services when necessary.
You have to pay separate for drinks now… didn’t they used to be included? Regardless, pricing is decent… and definitely a deal for the kids. We came for a late lunch around 2:30 and paid the cheaper lunch price… but at 3pm they started turning the lunch dishes out for the dinner entrees which included ribs, roast beef, turkey, ham (cut & served to order), and shrimp (popcorn/​butterfly). We didn’t do this on purpose, but might have to remember that in the future ;)

Ground zero for the very young, very old, and/​or very obese at feeding time.
Though I would never ever choose OCB as a dining destination, I have become far more tolerant of this place whenever I get in– or semi-​voluntarily dragged here. There is indeed much to complain about in terms of quality and nutritional value of many of the food offerings, but they have a pretty well-​stocked salad bar where you can put together a dish that is not (necessarily) deep-​fried or slathered in fats. If you feel that you must partake in junk, the taco bar is tolerable, as are some of the desserts.
Overall a fairly acceptable, if slightly creepy, place to consume mass quantities. Might even try the breakfast buffet one of these days.