LYNNWOOD – After my recent review of Golden Corral Buffet in Marysville, Herald reader Derick Hermke recommended that I visit Old Country Buffet in Lynnwood.
“Whenever I go there for dinner (usually Thursday, Friday or Saturday), I am never disappointed in the variety and great taste of the items at this buffet. … I recommend that you visit for dinner sometime,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Never willing to pass up variety and great taste, I decided to take Hermke’s advice and visited on a Saturday for dinner. Also, my only experience with Old Country Buffet was knowing a member of the Thunderbirds. The hockey team regularly visits “OCB” after practice.
Old Country Buffet is one of three buffet chains operated by a corporation in Minnesota. The menus are displayed on the Web site, which I checked out before visiting. Breakfast includes traditional favorites such as ham, bacon or sausage, poached eggs, biscuits and gravy, waffles, French toast and assorted pastries. There are also some unusual breakfast choices like fried chicken and sauteed veggies. The lunch and dinner menus are similar. I compared the list to my Saturday dinner choices and found that the baked squash wasn’t available while baked fish, which was excellent, wasn’t on the menu. Changes like these usually mean the local restaurant has adapted the corporate menu to meet area tastes.
From the size of the early dinner crowd during my visit, it was apparent that Old Country Buffet is indeed meeting the tastes of local diners. The tables were filled with large groups and families. For those considering a visit during lunch or with children the prices are $7.29 for adults, and children are charged 55 cents multiplied by the their age. Dinner is $10.33 for adults, and children are charged 60 cents multiplied by their age.
I checked out what everyone else had selected as I made my way to the salad bar. The salad bar is divided into two stations. One has all the makings for a tossed salad, which I made, and spinach salad complete with bacon bits and chopped eggs. The second station features prepared salads and fresh fruit. I topped my tossed salad with a scoop of crab salad. The crab salad, made with imitation crab, celery and shell macaroni, was acceptable but I don’t understand why imitation crab is used in the Pacific Northwest. My bed of tossed salad delighted me – no colorless, heavy stalks or brown, withered lettuce leaves. Every bite was cold and crunchy.
A thoughtful touch at Old Country Buffet – the salad plates are kept cold while the plates for main dishes are warm.
I noticed that it looked like every plate in the place had a serving of orange chicken. Of course, that meant I had to try it. And I wasn’t disappointed. The coating wasn’t too thick, the chicken wasn’t overdone and the orange sauce wasn’t too sweet. Although it could be, surprisingly, the orange chicken isn’t the restaurant’s signature dish. It’s the cornbread stuffing, which I sampled along with a fried chicken leg with macaroni and cheese, plus a slice of roast beef, green beans and mashed potatoes.
The cornbread stuffing deserves to be OCB’s signature dish. It’s delicious. The roast beef, carved at the station, lacked the pink to red for those of us who like that way. My disappointments were the mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. The mashed potatoes lacked the thrill of potatoes mashed with lots of butter and cream. They’re just mashed potatoes. And I suspect they’re prepared without salt to accommodate those on a low-salt diet.
The cheese sauce in the macaroni was too thin. It ran across my plate, and everyone who’s out of elementary school knows that’s not how macaroni and cheese is supposed to be. On the other hand, the fried chicken was crispy but didn’t have a heavy coating like some fast-food places. The green beans were just the way we like them – not too raw, not too overcooked.
The dessert station includes favorites such as carrot cake, soft-serve ice cream, bread pudding, peach cobbler and apple strudel. I sampled the warm bread pudding and peach cobbler. They were good. But my favorite dessert came from the salad bar. At the salad bar I found a delicious rice pudding flavorfully accented with cinnamon and raisins. In fact, I had two scoops.
All in all, Old Country Buffet does just what you expect – favorite American selections in a buffet setting with a surprise or two.
Herald restaurant reviewers accept no invitations to review, but readers’ suggestions are always welcome. Reviewers arrive unannounced, and The Herald pays their tabs.
Anna Poole: features@heraldnet.com
Old Country Buffet
4601 200th St. SW, Suite A, Lynnwood; 425-672-9731; www.buffet.com
Specialty: American favorites
Hours: Breakfast 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday; lunch 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; dinner 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday
Price range: inexpensive
Liquor: none
Smoking: non-smoking
Reservations: not available
Disabled accessibility: easy access
Credit cards: Discover, Master Card, Visa
Old Country Buffet
4601 200th St. SW, Suite A, Lynnwood; 425-672-9731; www.buffet.com
Specialty: American favorites
Hours: Breakfast 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday; lunch 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; dinner 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday
Price range: inexpensive
Liquor: none
Smoking: non-smoking
Reservations: not available
Disabled accessibility: easy access
Credit cards: Discover, Master Card, Visa
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