The Ranch 1849 Restaurant — Restaurant in Beatty

Steer clear of this so-called 'buffet' restaurant. It's a culinary disaster! The first red flag was the moment we were asked to pay upfront – that’s when my alarm bells began to ring. With each plate priced at a hefty $36 U.S. ($49 Canadian), I expected a buffet-style spread that would accommodate various tastes, food sensitivities, and preferences. Boy, was I wrong!

As I entered the line, I couldn’t help but notice little bits of old wet rice stuck onto the supposedly “clean” trays. Every single utensil was coated in dirt and soap residue. As I perused the limited selection, I quickly realized there was going to be nothing for me, as a vegetarian. I took a few small scoops of macaroni salad (that tasted like plastic), wilted and yellowing broccoli salad, flavorless mashed potatoes and the driest unflavored wild rice. I sat down and attempted to eat this garbage, but I just couldn’t do it. I spoke with one of the staff members to ask for a partial refund. I didn’t request a full refund, but since they had no edible vegetarian meals, I felt as though I was warranted to ask for a partial refund.

They called the manager and she came over to speak with me. Andrea was dismissive, condescending, rude and unwilling to provide any sort of customer service. She suggested that I should just eat the curry, as that’s what she ate every day when she was a vegetarian. Imagine having the nerve to tell a customer they only have one dish to eat at a $36 ($49 Canadian) buffet?! The lack of empathy was astounding. She then proceeded to tell my mom and I that we could get up and leave the rest of our family if we wanted a refund on our bill. The rest of my family does eat meat and although they were also disgusted with the garbage food, they felt trapped since the other limited dining options were unavailable (booked up or closed for the night). Andrea claimed she was offering me choices, but her options boiled down to either leaving without my family or eating the curry, which my aunt had just described as awful and inedible. Andrea's persistent refusal to address my concerns only heightened our overall frustration. I finally just gave up. It was at that point that perhaps she felt an ounce of emotion and reached deep into her brain to find the very last customer service skill that remained from her training 30+ years ago, and she offered to have the kitchen cook me fries. Fries for $36 US ($49 Canadian). I accepted her offer. At least it was food and I’d be able to eat something. She came back a while later with fries and asparagus, but the damage was already done.

The garbage food aside, it was Andrea’s terrible attitude and poor customer service that made the entire experience even more awful. This establishment was indifferent to our dissatisfaction, banking on our limited alternatives at The Ranch resort.

To summarize, the management's attitude was appalling, the food was reminiscent of freezer-burnt leftovers sitting in Grandma’s freezer for three decades, and hygiene standards were shockingly subpar—other people’s leftover food bits on “clean” trays. And if you have food sensitivities, allergies or are vegetarian – forget it, you can’t even get plastic tasting garbage food.

I will be warning all of my Canadian friends to NEVER frequent this place during their travels. I would give ZERO stars if possible. Avoid this place at all costs!!

For any meat-eaters reading this review: after speaking to my family who ate the "meat" they said it was awful - chicken legs in soggy sauce, dried out burgers and hotdogs, and overly fried fish. They had to fill up on the cornbread muffins and cheesecake (the only two...

Paid $39 per person for one of the worst meals of my life. All the food was terrible, with the possible exception of the salad bar (but you can't really mess up raw chopped vegetables). My advice is to save your money and just microwave something at the general store. ANYTHING would have been better than this garbage, up to and including a bag of corn nuts and a coke from the nearest gas station.

Here's the full story:

We came here for dinner, tired and hungry after the long drive, and we didn't have any particular expectations. At first there was nobody at the register, and it took a while for someone to amble over and take our money. He gently hinted that perhaps we should look at the buffet before going through with it. We admitted that this was our only option (everything else was booked or closed). He responded with a laugh and said "good choice then." We appreciated his honesty and sense of humor, but that was the high point of the meal.

The salad bar was... a basic salad bar. Nothing exciting, but nothing horrible. After that things went downhill though. It was obvious that all the hot food had been sitting under heat lamps for hours, and nobody had bothered refreshing or even taking basic steps to preserve the quality. However, I'm convinced that it wouldn't have been good even when fresh--the meat quality was awful, the preparation was sloppy, and the flavors were boring. Everything was either depressingly bland or way too sweet or way too salty, depending on the dish. To summarize: • The dinner rolls were cold and tasteless • The fried fish was overbattered and rock hard • The mashed potatoes were fine I guess, but the gravy tasted terrible and pretty much ruined them • The chicken was bone dry • The drink options were uninspiring • My wife reported similar findings for the meatloaf. She described the hot dog as "fine," though. I guess the cheesecake was also fine, though they probably just bought it frozen and thawed it out.

Long story short, we were hungry and would have been happy with high-school-cafeteria-quality food. But this was way, way worse. To charge $39 for this trash was an insult to their customers and cooking as an art form. Worst of all, it was clear that everybody on staff knew it was terrible but nobody cared to fix it. They have a captive audience and know they can get away with anything, so they serve their guests...

DO NOT COME HERE. $36 per adult, $17 for kids. food is terrible, you may get $8 worth of food.

This was a terrible experience. These guys know that there are no other options in town, so they put out terrible food and exploit people who don't know what they are providing until its too late. the foods that should have been moist were dry, and the foods that should have been dry, were wet. They charge $17 for kids and then provide zero options suitable for the average child. They had signs for hot dogs, but didn't have any out, seems like the easiest food to make, but alas, they had none and said they had no plans to make any that night. those and chicken strips would be the easiest things to make and provide for the $17 dollar entry price for kids. The rice was dry and overcooked, the fish filets were overcooked and looked like they were several days old. the Mac and cheese was like a horrible, watery cheesy soup (and I use the term 'cheesy' very loosely there was not likely more than half a cup of cheese across a five gallon batch. The deserts were terrible, dry cakes, flavorless cheesecakes that were also clearly several days old. very disappointed that anyone would allow such horrible...