ryans buffets

what do you think of the quality of the food at Ryans Buffets?

I have'nt been there in a few years, but I like checking them out when I'm down in the southeast...

They are hit and miss. We had one near where I live and they were terrible. Tried them twice thinking maybe we hit them on a bad night but no luck. The quality of the food was bad and some of the selections on the buffet were cold. There is one near where I work and when someone wanted to go for lunch I went just to be nice and they were great. They had a better selection, the quality was much better and they had a grill putting out burgers, pork chops, chicken and small steaks. The two near me closed a couple of years ago.

joe

Ryans in Knoxville is very good. I used to have lunch there once a week when I was working. Love their fried chicken and veggies and salad bar.

The only trick I know of is to get their fried food when it first comes out.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Blech!!!

It's OK, they seem to go downhill after being open a year or so.

MikeS.

I hear their macaroni and beef is really good...

Ryan's near us in Marietta, GA was quite good,but it shut down. I think the manager was skimming because it was always crowded. Another in downtown Marietta is suspect, but it stays open. Go figure.

I've been trying to change my eating habits and lose some weight lately so I've been avoiding a lot of fast food places.

I eat at Ryan's quite a bit. I find that I make a decent salad with lots of veggies, ignore the dessert bar entirely, and hit the hot bar for veggies mostly. Sometimes I ask for two salad plates instead of a hot bar plate.

While it's never going to be the first place I go for a steak, I really like having the option of a salad bar. I try to hit Ryan's on their off-hours so it's not as crowded and noisy. Since I'm just going there for the salad bar mostly, I don't have to worry about the food on the steam tables being cold.

I agree that Ryans is not a very good steak place. I never go there for steak but I go for their veggies, fried chicken and salad bar. Thier dessert bar offers a lot of options but I do not do desserts very much.

Their hot bread is very good but they serve a honey based butter that I do not care for.

Their lunch tab at 6.99 is a bargain.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

There used to be a Ryan's Steakhouse on Nacodoches Road in NE San Antonio for years.It's closed now which is strange.I ate there for Thanksgiving and it was packed.I have no idea what happend with the place.

Ryan's took over the Fire Mountain here in Lexington.
Fire Mountain had good food and service and a good selection of food lunch or dinner.

Now the place is the worst restaurant I have ever had food at.
The plates I received had cracks in them. The food selection for lunch was Mexican fajitas, Tacos, fried chicken, dried up fish and a salad bar with very few items. The desserts from their bakery that use to be on plates or bowls are now just whole cakes or pies with a customer serve themselves so they are a mess.

But the good thing was the water was cold.

I look for this place to be closed down soon.

thanks so much for the great feedback, fellow Roadfooders...

had a feeling it was "hit or miss"....

I had been to the Ryan's in Biloxi , Miss awhile back a few times..
(it's no more, though, as it got blown away by Katrina)

More recently I had been to the one in Sandusky , Ohio during a road trip to Cedar Point amusement park a few years ago. I remember a tasty , but barely lukewarm burger.

My favorite thing was probably their yeast rolls.

I better "inspect" their buffet first these days , depending which one I am in. Since it's hit or miss, I don't want to be in one of their "miss" locations!


BTW, I went to their website, and I see that they also own the Fire Mountain chain........(in answer to the previous Lexington Roadfooder who said their Ryan's became a Fire Mountain..)

Yes, it is odd when one sees restaurants that are often so busy but yet they close down.

I agree with the poster above about Lexington, KY.. The Fire Mountain used to be awesome, but after the switch..the place is horrible. I have never liked Ryan's, but really like the Fire Moutain concept....so I gave it a chance and it was great. I agree that it will only be a matter of time before this place closes down. There are too many food choice in the Hamburg area...

quote:

Originally posted by HollyDolly

There used to be a Ryan's Steakhouse on Nacodoches Road in NE San Antonio for years.It's closed now which is strange.I ate there for Thanksgiving and it was packed.I have no idea what happend with the place.

another skimming victim, perhaps ?!?

What do you mean,another skimming victim,don't understand? I remember when the place opend,was there for years.Went and ate there with family quite a few times over the years.There was a Ryan's Steakhouse in new Braunfels off IH-35,over by the Peperrel Mills store shopping center.There is a movie theatre there now,a chinese buffet,Pflatzgraff outlet and other stuff.
Only now it's a Fire Mountain instead of a Ryan's Steakhouse.Fire Mountain is apparently part of the Ryan's chain.

quote:

Originally posted by HollyDolly

What do you mean,another skimming victim,don't understand? I remember when the place opend,was there for years.Went and ate there with family quite a few times over the years.There was a Ryan's Steakhouse in new Braunfels off IH-35,over by the Peperrel Mills store shopping center.There is a movie theatre there now,a chinese buffet,Pflatzgraff outlet and other stuff.
Only now it's a Fire Mountain instead of a Ryan's Steakhouse.Fire Mountain is apparently part of the Ryan's chain.

sorry, just trying to figure out if it was closed altogether, or is now a Fire Mountain... did'nt mean any harm, or to spoil any of your good memories..

That's okay.I'm not up on all these internet terms. No as far as I am aware,the old Ryan's on Nacodoches isn't a Fire Mountain,at least not at this time.May drive by it though some time to check it out and what it may have become.
I really don't understand why they closed it as it always seemed to have customers. I didn't go back there after my dad passed away in 1996,nothing wrong with the place just didn't that's all.
By the way,the Pig Stand restaurants in the San Antonio area are all closed except for the original one on Broadway. The one near the ATandT Center where the Spurs play,is to become a Mexican restaurant according to today's business section in the paper.The owner of the Pig Stand went bankrupt.ellen4641 your' okay in my book.
By the way one of the guys at work ate at the Fire Mountain in New Braunfels with his wife.He thought it was alright.

We had one here, that just closed down. I seldom went there as the selection wasnt nearly as good as Golden Corral but Ryan's cost about 10% MORE than Golden Corral.

I am not sure why they closed for sure, I just seen it on the outside sign a couple months ago, that they were closing, about a week later, everything was gone, but the building.

the one in hagerstown md is top notch...

I eat at Ryan's probably once every other week for lunch. It isn't awful. I like to go there when I have had a bad morning and need lots of comfort food. Their mac and cheese is pretty good and they have grilled pork chops, fried okra and fried corn on the cob. I know it's not healthy, but it tastes o.k.

To me, Ryan's and Quincy's both went downhill fast when they switched from steaks-to-order to all buffet. I was last in a Ryan's about two years ago and it makes me throw up in my mouth a little to even remember it. What was so wrong about cooking the cheap steaks and putting them and a non-hockey-puck baked potato on a cheap aluminum plate with that big plastic thing underneath it and bringing it out to you? Of course, I get nostalgic for the great old Western Sizzlin' chain with the big technicolor pictures of the steaks up front, so your miles may vary.

In NC they seem to all be closing.

Ryans here in Southeast Texas...ehhh its iffy. Sometimes you go and they have a great variety to choose from and everything taste wonderful, but lately it hasnt been that great. I do have to say that their rolls are awesome though..

quote:

Originally posted by Poopy

I eat at Ryan's probably once every other week for lunch. It isn't awful. I like to go there when I have had a bad morning and need lots of comfort food.

Hey, it's good to see my thread got resurrected!!

So it's a good time to add a Ryan's update.
I managed to squeeze in a visit to Ryan's during my Roadfood.com weekend trip to Nashville in April.

They DID still have the steaks to order in the location I went to (off I-40 , east of the airport). I loved the extra hot temperature of the steaks as they came off the grill. Very nice flavor ,too (for a "cheap" steak). Visits to the steak grill were unlimited. The fried chicken was decent, too.

A lot of the other stuff looked sloppy and not as well monitored as I was hoping. But I was satisfied just eating my steak, fried chicken, and real good buttery texas toast. (the drink refill waiter even came by one time to hand deliver a basket of texas toast. (the same type I had just self-served myself from the food bar)( I never saw him again after that, but he did have a nice smile)

I was so stuffed from my Roadfood.com weekend of gorging myself with food, that I doubt I was even in Ryans for more than 15 minutes.
I went just for the experience of it, even though I was not hungry.