a short sentence to food hell

[cassidyrose]

So, my sister, her fiance and his parents and two of his brothers flew into SJC today from Louisiana. They had a couple of hours to kill before a couple of their friends arrived (who are driving to the valley with them), so my sister called to ask where they could go to lunch that they could easily drive to (read: not get lost). I directed them to McCarthy Ranch, for although it is a horrific display of suburban sprawl, it has a number of restuarants and is very easy to get to from SJC. I drove down to meet them for lunch and had assumed, as had my sister, that they might end up eating at Pasta Pomodoro or one of the Mexican restaurants.

Uh, no.

My sister called me about 10 minutes before I arrived and said, "I didn't chose it, really." What? "They didn't want to have Italian and they thought Mexican would be too spicy and they really wanted to go to Hometown Buffet so that is where we are." I took a deep breath and said, OK, as visiting with them was far more important than the food. However, all I could think was Hometown Buffet??!! You come all the way from Louisiana to California and you eat at Hometown Buffet?? Now my sister is a bona fide crappy buffet food lover. I, on the other hand, not so much.

I have not eaten at that type of buffet restaurant since I was a little kid. It was worse than I remembered. The whole place smelled of warmed over canned ham. All the food seemed to be either brown, yellow or grey, even the paltry selection of vegetables. There were plenty of mysterious looking dishes that I think consisted of some sort of scary meat, weird sacue and even scarier overcooked vegetables. I ended up having a sad salad (at least they had some romaine lettuce), some very sad mac n' cheese which tasted suspicously like the crap from a box, some corn kernels and some soft serve chocolate ice cream. It was fairly gross, but I don't think any of it is going to make me sick. Had I not been so hungry upon arrival I might not have bothered trying to eat, however, I hadn't really eaten yet today and was really hungry. I really cannot believe that people choose to eat there, especially when there are plenty of other options.

::sigh::

I told ptor that whatever culinary adventures I missed out on not being in Oklahoma last weekend with him was made up for with today's lunch.

Comments

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

*boggle*

Hell, given the stuff I remember at McCarthy Ranch, I'd hit almost anything there before Hometown Buffet. Sheesh, the mexican I remember there is a basic chain (unless On the Border has left).

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's still an On the Border, but there is also at least one independent taquiera as well.

And, yeah, I would have eaten just about anywhere there instead Hometown Buffet. Hell, Taco Bell would have been better.

Of course, when my dad arrived in Lousiana to visit he insisted on eating at Chili's rather than at any of the many much nicer and much more diverse restaurants.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i went to old country buffet, which is the midwestern version of the same restaurant , tonight for dinner. it's my grandmother's birthday, and it's her favorite restaurant. this is the one and only reason i eat there.

[dbubley.livejournal.com]

I am a bona fide crappy buffet food lover. I love Hometown Buffet's roast beef; hell, I love Hometown Buffet, mostly because it reminds me of home. If my family came to visit that is exactly where I should take them. When they did come to visit we took them other places, but they looked suspiciously wary at the food and made the best of it. It was a waste of money. Next time they visit it's Hometown Buffet, Sizzler's, and Church's Chicken. Anything else is a waste. Me, I'm a food slut. I love the aforementioned places, but I have a very, very long list of places I'd at least try. The No. 1 question is: How wheelchair accessible is the place? If I can get past that question, hey, I'll give it a try.