Doc Bales' Grill, Holidays, and Special Events — Restaurant in Daytona Beach

EDIT: "They" replied to this review within an hour of me writing it, saying the same thing to me as many others. Nothing will change here I'm sure, read below and don't bother eating here.

Seafood buffet is overpriced, mediocre and not worth it. $40.00 per adult and does not include any beverage other than water. Still no crab legs and not much other than fried fish and whitefish for the seafood offerings as of July 2024.

The fact that we were here from 5:00pm to about 6:30pm on a Saturday bandshell concert night at dinnertime and there was maybe 10 tables full should be a big red flag. If you want seafood, go up or down A1A and find a local seafood place that'll be cheaper and better quality. I would never dine again here and we left very disappointed for what was supposed to be a fun birthday dinner.

Started our experience here by arriving at 5:00pm (posted opening time) to find buffet not ready and that we had to wait for them to get it ready. We were brought water to the table, but no ice with it.

Finally buffet was opened, and honestly other than the salad bar, there wasn't much to choose from, there was fried and roasted chicken, fried fish, a seafood "boil" with sausage, corn, potatoes and crawfish, but no shrimp; some broiled whitefish, garlic bread and rolls, and then the prime rib. Sides included mac n' cheese, mashed potatoes, both somewhat good, and some rubbery green beans that were overcooked.

Prime rib was seasoned well, but overcooked. The kid cutting it was too stingy, as in the slice he cut before mine looked like philly cheesesteak meat and I had to beg to get a slice that might have been a half-inch thick, he didn't want to cut it but I didn't give up on asking. I went back for a second piece and the ends that were very overcooked were all that was left and asked if there'd be more coming out toward medium or medium rare and was told no, even though this is "all you can eat" and it didn't close until 10:00pm. It seemed the kid did not know how to cut and was told to be stingy.

Desserts were frozen pies and brownies, some hot cobbler (did not try) and rice crispie treats. Took a brownie and it had someone else's hair stuck to it when I got back to the table. Waitress came around and asked if we wanted coffee, dining partner said yes, but waitress neglected to tell us it was an upcharge until we got the final bill.

We let her know this and the hair were upsetting and that we were very disappointed but she did not seem to care, guessing it is probably the usual opinion over this establishment. We did receive the 15 percent off as promised on the room key insert as hotel guests though. The discount was one of the more positive experiences about this stay.

NOTE: This review is for the seafood buffet on Saturday and Sunday, not breakfast. Didn't ever visit for breakfast so can't speak to that, but probably cheaper to just go to IHOP or similar or just hit a...

We came on a Friday evening for the seafood buffet that is only offered two days a week. It seemed to have decent reviews, so we gave it a shot. We arrived and at peak dinner time on a Friday in a vacation spot (8pm ish), there were only 3 or 4 total tables with guests. This should have been warning number one. We pressed on.

Husband and I decided to do the buffet sight unseen, as it had pretty decent reviews. There were only a few dishes available when we approached the buffet. There was a salad bar with all the normal stuff, some seafood salad, and I believe one or two other sort of very typical things. I tried the seafood salad. It was cold, but there was so much horseradish it was nearly inedible. Despite all the “dressing” on it, it was still dry; almost as though it had been sitting out for a while and was unstirred. Moving to the hot dishes, the Mac and cheese was really the only decent thing, if I’m being very blunt. The mashed potatoes were dry and lukewarm, the lemon roasted chicken was cold, the seafood boil with shrimp was cold, the prime rib being freshly sliced was freezing cold (no heat lamp on it), braised ribs that were room temperature at best, and there was only one other seafood dish - a cold tilapia.

I have never (until this day) not paid for something at a restaurant when I ordered something and didn’t like it or it wasn’t properly cooked. Under any other circumstance, I’d have had the server ask the kitchen to make it again or something, or simply pay for my meal and never return. However, this was so awful it was inedible. The temperatures for the food weren’t right, the food itself was not great, and the food as a whole left us feeling queasy after only a bite or less of a few dishes. Needless to say, we left, and the server was kind enough to not charge us for the 4 or 5 bites we ate. My husband and I were both very ill later that night, and we assume it was the poorly kept food, but there’s no way to know.

I would say buyer beware. Ask to check the food first before agreeing to the buffet, and open the chafing dishes to see if there is any real heat...

I wish I could give ZERO. My husband and I were very disappointed with the food and the service tonight for the seafood buffet. We have been here for two days at the Hilton and this was our last night and our last big meal and it was the most expensive and I hate to say the worst. I have had a better buffet experience at my local chinese buffet with seafood included. That is saying a lot because those that know me, know I hate the chinese buffet.

When we came, we were sat and ordered water. Then the server gave us a tour of the buffet and it was ok. The prime rib and peel and eat shrimp were good. All of the hot dishes were cold. The baked fish was rubbery. The rolls and biscuits were hard. The seasoned potatoes which are my favorite were aweful. I can't describe what was wrong the were not hot and the texture was off. All of that was bad, but we were trying to make the best of it. No one checked on us or refilled our water. I started to notice everyone around me had crab and we had not seen any on the buffet and we had not been offered any. I didn't make a big deal of it because we had just eaten crab the night before at Joe's. But if that was what the buffet included we should have been offered it. Everytime we saw the server he had his back to us and we couldn't get his attention. There was also an issue with the soup. It was empty and we kept checking. They never refilled it, even after we asked and were told it was being refilled. We tried 3 desserts and they were mediocre at best. We finally flagged down the server and asked for water and the check. He asked us who was taking care of us. I said you are because he gave us the tour and my husband said nobody is....We never got an apology or anything. We spent $100 and it wasn't worth $50.

We have eaten out every meal since we have gotten here...all at different places and to be honest they were all a really good experience. I really wanted to like this because our trip has been great, but this was far worse for us than even the bad...