McFarlain's Family Restaurant, Branson, Missouri: Review

McFarlain's Family Restaurant is a home-style food restaurant located in the Imax Entertainment Complex in Branson, Missouri. The street address is 3562 Shepherd of the Hills Expressway, Branson Missouri 65616. We have ate dinner at McFarlain's on past weekend trips to Branson and remember enjoying the food so we decided to eat breakfast at the end of our August trip.

The restaurant is pretty sizable with a nice country décor. We were warmly greeted and asked if we wanted to sit on the lower level or try the breakfast buffet on the second level. We decided to try to breakfast buffet, especially since the price was only $4.99 per person. The hostess said just go up the stairs which we did and we ascended into madness. There was not waitress to direct us where to sit so we just found an empty table, a huge empty tables. All the tables were set up to seat eight, which seemed very big for our party of three. The tables were very close together which made it very difficult to maneuver around to the buffet line. A rushed looking waitress showed up and took our drink order. We weaved our way through the maze of tables and said excuse me a hundred times to the patrons that we had to brush past to reach the buffet line.

The buffet spread looked good with a nice assortment of fruits, bacon, eggs, sausage, waffles, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, etc. As we headed back to our table, the waitress intercepted us to inform us that a group had taken our table and she would find us somewhere else to sit. She sat us at another long table with another group, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. I don't like to sit with strangers when I am eating. We weren't in the mood to socialize, we just wanted to eat. Well at that point I wanted to leave but I decided to stick it out for my breakfast companions.

The food was good, the bacon was hot & crispy and the gravy for the biscuits was delicious. For $4.99, the food was good but the atmosphere was terrible. I constantly had to scoot my chair forward so people could pass behind me. I sat at the end of the table and had people hit my elbows as I was eating. I am pretty sure McFarlain's was trying to break the Guinness book of world records on how many people they could fit into a buffet room before someone had a meltdown. I think the waitress realized I was at that point so she quickly brought the bill with not apologies and we squished our way out of the buffet dining area.

McFarlain's Family Restaurant lost any future business from me. The restaurant is huge and there are plenty of places to sit. They made a poor decision on putting the breakfast buffet in their smallest room but yet cramming their biggest tables into the room. The food was good but nothing special that you can't find at any other breakfast buffet. Unless you like to be constantly touched and bumped by strangers, skip McFarlain's breakfast buffet.