Brisket House — Restaurant in Jena

Ok to start off with, I've been eating at this establishment for years. However tonight was bad enough i will never grace their doorway again! The service was the worst I've ever seen. I had "All you can eat buffet" and guess what, it's not actually all you can eat! When my family and I get there it was pretty busy. We all fixed our plates from the buffet (1st round). As we are eating, people keep coming in. I went back to the buffet for a bowl of rice and gumbo. There wasn't any rice left. The lady serving tells me she doesn't think they can make more, but she'll go ask to make sure. I made the comment to her surely they can make more for an all you can eat buffet. She said, I don't know, but then she looked at me as if to say "not really". I patiently wait for her return and see, in the back, the workers are giving her a hard time. People throwing their hands in the air, as if saying "oh well". The lady returns and profusely apologizes, telling me they cant make any more rice. I told the lady it wasnt her fault, she didnt need to apologize. At this point, some young girl, appearing to be a teenager, starts yelling across the restaurant to me, telling me they can't make any more. I just looked at the lady serving the buffet and began to let her know that I was not only upset that I couldn't have what I wanted from their buffet, but people that are steadily coming in now can't have it either. She understood and agreed. I went back to my table. As I am letting my family know what just happened, the young girl comes to my table to explain. This is where it all goes down hill...

She proceeded to explain that they made two batches of rice and simply could not make any more, because if it wasn't all eaten before they closed (in two hours), that they would have to throw it away, and that would be wasteful. My family and I tried to explain to her that the rice was a staple of the all-you-can-eat buffet. And that two of the dishes on the buffet (gumbo, and red beans & rice), require it to complete the dish. She kept interrupting and told us that they had been very busy tonight. So we pointed out to her that they still had customers coming in and still had hours before closing, so surely that was reason eough to make more rice. This girl then laughingly and shockingly said "we're just a restaurant." At which point we all looked at each other and said "exactly!" At no point did she ever try to understand anything from the customer's point of view. She only tried to explain a non-sensical decision not to make more rice for the buffet. After the "we're just a restaurant" comment she made, I told her to just stop trying to explain things because she was just making it worse. She then aggressively turned away and stated loudly as she walked away "I'm sorry I can't give you a refund for the rice you couldn't get." I would hope that she wasn't the restaurant's manager, but no one else ever came over after that obviously loud and dramatic confrontation that just occurred. I was later told the manager was there, and seen discussing the situation with her while I was still there. I saw it as cowardly and unprofessional that the manager did not address the situation with me. After obviously witnessing the entire thing. The customer should always at the very least feel heard and be given an opportunity for resolution, even if only as a path forward, for future patronage.

Side Note: If you can't refrigerate, what's more cost effective to throw away? Rice? Or Gumbo and Red beans? Hummmm food for thought. Oh and let's all remember, this is a restaurant! They cant be bothered with rice, like all the fast...

My sister and Mom and myself were trying to figure out something good for dinner tonight and chose The Brisket House and I'm so glad we did. The food was absolutely delicious and I will say the best BBQ I have ever had. Melt in your mouth Brisket, perfect Ribs, fall off the bone chicken with sides of Potato salad and baked beans is the best meal I have had in a very long time. The sauce was spectacular as well. Also the service was great, we ordered the family meal deal and the nice gentleman even offered to take the food to the car for us. Service like that is very appreciated. We will be returning and also telling everyone to give it a try if they...

You walk in and up to the counter and there's no menus. There's about 7 ppl behind the counter talking and playing with their phones, nobody greets you. You finally get someone's attention and they ask what you want and you ask for a menu and you're given a dirty piece of paper to look at. You order and you're given a dirty number sign and you seat yourself. The cook brought out our plates and she cooked good fish and was more friendly than anyone there. Will never go back here. None of the girls holding up the counter came and checked on us not once. Horrible. Price was way too high. Almost 30 dollars for 2 small fish plates and 2 drinks....