Review: Grace China Buffet in Athens, Pennsylvania

That's right, a year ago I chose Grace China Buffet in Athens, Pennsylvania as one of my top places to eat in the Valley area. Now, however, I would not set foot in there again. I was sadly disappointed the last time we visited to find that the quality of service had dropped. The staff was rude to the point of standing in front of the customer and speaking about them in Chinese.

The quality of food, at that point, had not fallen too far from what it was when we first started going there. They still had the freshest choices. They still had the cleanest restaurant and they still had the best prices over all.

We had not gone there for a while, but we decided to give them our business for a late lunch. When we first went in, it was noticeable that things had changed. The parking lot was almost empty, as was the dining room. No one was at the front to greet us, as was always the custom. No matter how busy, there was always at least one person at the front counter, mostly the owner.

Once we were seated, one of the servers took our drink orders and we went to get food. I went to fix a plate and noticed that a lot of the food looked like it had been sitting there for a while. I thought maybe it was just the way it looked, so I went on and finished fixing my plate.

Once I got back to my table and started eating, I found that my first instinct had been correct, almost everything was cold. Things that were meant to be hot were barely lukewarm and the things that were meant to be cold were also lukewarm. Most of the standard items that I had chosen were either inedible or barely edible.

If that wasn't bad enough, my husband found a plate that was supposed to be clean that was not. When asked after we had left, he told us that it was a dead bug. When we got ready to leave, there was no one available to give us our check, so I went up front to pay for them, then the girl decided to bring the check over to the table.

Over all, the experience was one of the worse restaurant experiences I have ever had. They have lost three customers forever. I have given second chances, but Grace China Buffet has blown their second chance. Hopefully anyone else in the area will read this and take it as a warning to be careful if you still choose to go there.