Cook’s Buffett, Cafe and Bakery

Amazing establishment! The buffet is one of a kind. Large salad bar with fresh toppings and choices of dressings. The cowboy dressing (?) Was delicious! Definitely get the buffet — choice of meats — I had the lamb… cooked perfectly. The mashed potatoes and gravy are possibly the best I’ve ever had in my entire life.
Fresh vegetables all divine — huge carrots and perfect green beans.
Took dessert to go – so driving home with key lime pie and chocolate cake. Probably will be scrumptious!
I can’t wait to go back!!!
Next time — having the chicken velvet… yum!

The overall feel is home-​y and old fashioned. The food was fresh and as close to homemade as you can get. There ends any positive comments I have about Cook’s. I wouldn’t necessarily call Cook’s a buffet. It’s an unlimited side and salad bar. As you sit down, it’s explained to you that you will receive a ‘GENEROUS’ portion of meat. This was very off-​putting and far from accurate. If you wanted dessert or more meat, the waitress would have to bring it to you. This is where your bill starts to get pricey, and you should have just went somewhere else. The waitress was nice when she actually acknowledged our table. I wouldn’t go back.

This is not your typical Chinese or Golden Coral buffet. This is fresh food daily. This place is like Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma’s. Nice ambiance, great service and reasonably priced. Great for kids and families and also for small parties of two or four. Well managed.

Love coming here when I’m looking for a GOOD HOME COOKED MEAL! Roast beef, turkey, lamb, stuffing, mashed potatoes, tons of fresh veggies, full salad bar, delicious garlic buttered bread. No words to describe how happy this place makes me and warms my heart.

My husband typically doesn’t like buffet style but he likes this restaurant a lot. And never hesitated to go back.
It’s a small homey and simple place. It’s been there forever, so that speaks volumes.

Rules, rules, and more rules. 1 piece of meat. Dessert is extra and btw they place the dessert on a stand and frost around the stand to make the dessert look huge. Soup is extra and the salad bar is just ok. I had the bland over-​cooked med rare roast beef. Hot bar consisted of mashed potatoes, quartered red potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and stewed tomatoes. What a waste of money and time… not certain if other Unilocal readers can see the owners comment to me but I just received this comment from the owner; 10÷3÷2015 Rules, rules, rules. Yes, there are rules. But the problem here is that because we are buffet style, people think it’s all you can eat. Buffet does not mean all you can eat. It is a style of service. Our salad bar has over 35 fresh items and has won multiple awards. Our vegetables are fresh and change throughout the day, Unfortunalty the first cuts of any roast will be more done. Yes, a cake pan is used as a stand for our cakes but most of our cakes are three layer cakes. But maybe next time it would be more polite to take the time to speak to management if you have a problem with your meal, instead of publically bashing a business. Thank goodness that the thousands of customers we serve a week appreciate and enjoy our food. That’s why they continue to come back. First, buffet style is not all you can eat and I’m well aware of this. Rather, it is a style where people serve themselves. For some reason this establishment has you serve yourself everything that’s less expensive and the meat, desserts, and soups are left up to the staff. So more like a partial buffet with a lack of good flavor, too many rules, and almost no selection. Meat carving– Well I waited for a few minutes for someone to carve my meat. When they came out there was no carving knife. I requested a thick cut. The carver turned to I believe the manager said thick cut and the manager proceeded to whisper to him «we can’t do that» the carver turned back around and carved me a seriously thin piece of OVER-​COOKED roast beef. Tasted more like shoe leather didn’t want to be rude about it earlier but since the owner cannot accept responsibility for how poor the food is. The salad bar… award winner huh? Maybe in a small town like Deland but Ruby Tuesday’s salad bar crushes this one. There is no way there were 35 items on the Bar. 3 types of lettuce, 1 type of cheese… oh wait there were like 6 – 8 types of dressing, a few prepared salads like cucumber salad that had literally no flavor. I watched these two small children (probably under age 5 who left more than half of the cake they had purchased for extra on their plates) It’s 13.95 for buffet with one serving of meat, dessert, and a drink. It’s .99 more for a bowl of soup on top of that. If you want another serving of meat an extra $ 3. There are sooooo many things about this restaurant… but why waste my time… run and run fast!!!

Sarah hunter is the best salad prep she is so hard working respectful and caring since she has been doing the salad prep I’ve had no complaints she’s doing a really great job

The food is consistently good… but our waitress Amy was amazing! She memorized all 17 drinks and who was to receive each salad from the buffet. Always a good experience here. We called ahead and received a free birthday dinner for my Dad and a beautiful yummy birthday cake for all to share!

Great local spot… Amazing service and food. Good prices. Our server was Amy and she was just amazing.

i must say by the other reviews i was nervous about trying cooks but i was glad i did. first off this place has a lot of history to it for a 104 year old building the restrooms look brand new and the carpets look great the service is friendly and very attending to your needs. the food has a real home cooked taste with the reataurant atmosphere. for the selection of meats iam happy with them. deserts are good as well overall I cant wait to go back.

We have eaten here on many occasions so we have had good and bad experiences. However the bad are starting to happen more than the good. 1^st the food has always been good. However Mike needs to work on his management and customer service skills. Don’t scold or reprimand your staff in front of a line full of people at the buffet When you have a party that has just spent 120.00 at your establishment and a little girls drops her cherished piece of cake as she exits the door do you really need to charge again to replace that slice. Especially when you know the individuals frequent your business sometimes several times a month. And lastly fix your birthday offer the card at your register says join you for a free birthday dinner on the date of or week of your birthday with 3 paid adults and 4 drinks. Then further down you say «call 24hrs in advanced to receive your complimentary birthday cake and your free birthday dinner.» This makes it look as though one should call if they wanted cake. We were not the only one to misunderstand this card. The table next to us showed their ID and were told the same no free dinner because they did not call. Poor customer service.

Have you ever walked into a place and have a feeling you’re not going to enjoy the experience? It’s the feeling I had when entering Cook’s and I’m still kicking myself for not leaving immediately.
Yes, the place is clean. The waitress was friendly. But the «rules» regarding «you can select a dessert if you order a soft drink» and «2^nd helping of meat is available at an extra charge» are ridiculous. By the time the waitress finished explaining the pricing I was reaching for my car keys but didn’t do it as I didn’t want to embarrass others in my party. Once again, I should have followed my instinct as they later confessed the pricing presentation was silly to them as well.
By the way, the food is nothing to write home about. The «chef» slicing the ham. roast beef, etc. was as bad as my Dad on his worst carving the Thanksgiving turkey 30 years ago. Portions were skimpy… if you have a teenager in your party be prepared to stop at the nearest McDonalds. The beef was overcooked and the vegetables mushy.
The experience at Cooks was less than a «1.» I just can’t seem to find the «0» on the Unilocal rating scale. Skip this one… I beg you!

Place is a real disappointment … The all you can eat buffet is not all you can eat. it is explained once you sit down that you get” one generous serving of meat «. (There generous size was the size of a deck of cards.). Also seemed that every other hot serving platter on the buffet was empty… Lots of salad and Jello… lol…
I will give it one star because it was clean… But will never revisit.

Cheap cheap cheap place for lunch it’s not a bad value if you pick one of the specials like a half sandwich and soup for $ 6.50 or unlimited soup and salad for $ 8.50 it’s all fresh and there are usually two or three velvet soups to choose from.
As for the buffet it’s a joke one thin slice of meat but unlimited helpings of the cheap stuff like jello or cottage cheese I had to ask for a second slice of beef just to test the waters but was quickly shutdown it appears they cater to the bridge clubs, church auxiliaries and other blue hair organizations. The food did seem fresh and since they have a niche I guess they can get away with being the most non flexible restaurant I’ve may have ever been in.
The restaurant is very neat and proper and sometimes I feel that if I had worn a bow tie and rock-​ports with black socks pulled up to my knees I would fit in. I’m very middle of the road on this place it’s strange the service was ok but stiff.

We were a party of three and we had Lamb, Roast Beef and Pork along with the usual sides. The Salad bar was excellent and our only complaint was the Corn on the cob being a but soggy but that’s normal in most Buffet style eatings. We didn’t have desert but it sure looked good
In regards to the prior complaints about only one meat it’s a buffet salad with all you can eat not all the meat you can eat. They call that a «All you can eat Buffet «not a buffet

Um… I don’t know what other people are thinking giving this 4 or 5 stars. I’m no food snob but this place was not good. We went on a Sunday, it was packed right around noon. I guess they only offer the dinner ‘buffet’ option on Sunday. My boyfriend got the turkey, it wasn’t good. I got the fish, it wasn’t good. All of the warm sides tasted like nothing no seasoning at all. The salad bar was good. They servers were very nice and helpful but aside from that I have no idea why this place was packed.

We’ve been coming here since it was Holiday House. We’ve come here s couple times since the change to Cooks. This is by far the worst experience I’ve had.
Asked for Roast Beef rare and it was overdone and dry. Tasted like burnt shoe leather. The horseradish sauce had no horseradish in it. Mashed potatoes were not fully mashed and drowning in salt. The salad was not cut or dried. Tomatoes were sickly looking. When you asked for meat they kept cutting tiny chunks and no full piece cut.
We also had lamb. That was horrible. Again no large pieces very fatty. Treated horrible. Inedible was putting it lightly. It was more like old dried out mutton than lamb. The meal was a huge disappointment. If you see Cooks I recommend that you skip it and go else where.

Wound up at Cook’s after a forgettable experience up the street. Cook’s markets itself as a buffet but it’s really kind of a partial buffet. The buffet part kicks in with the salad bar and hot side items. There is a meat carver who cuts you your one and only portion of meat (unless you pay extra). Also part of Cook’s is a soup table and dessert table that costs extra. Basically, you pay for one protein and have salad bar and hot side dish access paying extra for all other items such as soups and desserts (and extra meat).
I felt really weird dining here. I didn’t like the setup; it felt welcoming, but only to a point. The servers were nice, but I never actually knew what things cost aside from the printed daily special because our server gave us our plates and forgot to come back. I knew it wouldn’t be too bad based on the steady stream of old people coming in but I felt awkward looking longingly at the meat table wondering how much another portion would cost.
The server was a little scarce and when she came by she was busy-​I didn’t feel like going through the trouble of finding out how to get another meat portion. Maybe they should charge a few dollars more for a different color plate that has unlimited, sensible access to the other items. I get what Cook’s is going for and I’m sure their policies are rooted in keeping the Stetson football team away… but it kind of sucks for regular Joe patrons who aren’t trying to be slobs who might like beef AND pork during a particular meal.

Ok, where to begin. The word «buffet» is a little misleading. I knew going in what to expect because of other reviews. You get ONE choice of meat and then all of the vegetables you can eat. If you’re a meat eater, like myself, then this place is NOT for you. I did like the vegetables that they had and the food was very good. Your drink and any desserts are extra. The «generous» portion of meat was actually only average for most places. The service was average. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t stellar either. Definitely, defintely not worth the price you pay.
Overall, I probably won’t be back simply due to the price you pay for the meal you get.

Unlimited salad bar and one meat entrée for 9.99 at lunch time. Meat entrée choices: roast beef (well done or rare), lamb leg, pulled pork, fried chicken and fish. If you want another plate of entrée or dessert, it will be an extra charge. Meat portion they give you is just right for women but probably not enough for men (I got three slices of roast beef). The food was okay. The pecan pie they make is super super sweet and it was not for me. The carrot and chocolate cakes were good, but I left the frosting. $ 9.99 did not seem so attractive after seeing how much meat and what quality you get. Like Kim W said the salad bar is the best part unfortunately.
P. S. I really loved the décor of the restaurant!