Great American Steak & Buffet Company - Good All You Can Eat Restaurant Chain

It is joked about that once you reach a certain age you tend to grow very fond of buffets. I guess I've reached that age. heh. I just really like being able to walk in the door and start eating. Yeah, I'm a pig. Bite me. The Great American Steak & Buffet Company just happened to have a location down the road from my house when I lived in Richmond. Coolness. There's nothing really eye catching about it, all red, white, and blue signs but a very undistinguished building. That's fine. They don't claim fine dining, just plentiful stick-to-your ribs all you can eat eats... and that's what this restaurant delivers.

At the Richmond location of the Great American restaurant chain, you are met at the door by the cashier's desk and I've never had to wait to be seated. The gals are always friendly and prompt. The place is lit with those tiffany style mosaic glass hanging lamps so it gets a bit dim in some areas, but my smoking section is by the outside walls so I have plenty of light from the windows. I'm not saying it's even close to dark anywhere though; Just a bit dim is all.

So you are seated by the perky staff and brought drinks and silverware. Now you head to the buffet and chow down! Great American has three big tables to the right of the restaurant filled with all manner of side dishes. Here you will find hash brown casserole (pretty damn good), green beans fixed southern style with ham & onions (yummy), a pot of pinto beans with the requisite corn bread... just really enough choices to make your head spin. Of course there is a to die for salad bar and plenty of bread on the buffet too..

Behind all that food is a buffet table with the main dishes which change from day to day. On my last Great American Buffet adventure they had carved ham (very, very good), home made roast beef (flavorful, but kinda tough), usually a salmon choice, roasted chicken, fried chicken, and ribs. I have seen them offer steak on the weekends... and I think at night too, actually. I was here for a nice hearty all you can eat lunch that visit. No loss, the steaks, to be honest, are kinda dry and tough so I avoid those anyway.

On the other side of the main three buffets is a table with fruits of all kinds: watermelon, cantaloupe, fresh strawberries, etc... and almost adjacent to that is a big L shaped table with desserts made in the restaurant. Oh yes. Pudding cake, carrot cake, various puddings and cookies, ice cream with various toppings, peach cobbler... no wonder I've gained so much weight!

One complaint about buffet type all you can eat restaurants is that the food is generally bland. Well yeah their clientele is usually elderly and they require a blander diet... but with Great American it isn't all bland at all. They have plenty of choices for any diet.

Buffets are serve yourself but those girls are right on top of keeping my ice tea filled every time I've eaten at Great American... without fail. One evening they even asked (with a wicked grin) would I like a loaded potato. It kinda confused me but I said yeah bring it! Man that thing was huge and just totally loaded with all kinds of fattening things. Loved it. Apparently they didn't have enough for the buffet, but were randomly offering the few they did have to folks like me. Very cool.

Kids are very welcome at Great American, and there are plenty of things to keep a Vegetarian happy.

All this food or under $9 including drink and tax. Oh yeah. I highly do recommend Great American Steak & Buffet Company when you are in the mood for an all you can eat buffet service... just bring an empty belly.