Carving Station Buffet — Restaurant in Lake Park

BEWARE!!!

While driving home from South Florida, my family and I decided to give this place a try, as I heard my family mention it a few times.

Upon arrival, the girl at the front desk, was not welcoming, as she appeared to be annoyed to have to tell us their procedure. (Do we just sit, get seated, pay first, pay after?) We grabbed our plates and walked the buffet looking for something that looked promising. At minimum a salad and a piece of meat from the carving stations would be sufficient. I'll say 1 thing, the lettuce was fresh and crunchy. The cucumbers and carrot shreds were wilted and soggy, the macaroni and cheese was mushy, and obviously mixed from many other containers, as the baked top was mixed though out, cold and obviously not fresh from the day. The pulled pork and jerk chicken were both oily and so over done it was crunchy, the lamb was dry as a bone, the roast beef was over well done, and my daughter compared the turkey to cardboard. Nothing had flavor and none of us could eat 1/4 of what we took. We asked for our check. I was going to chalk it up to bad day, bad experience, wont come back, and based on the photos and info on Google, we were expecting to pay $11.00 per person at lunchtime (before 3:30). There are 4 of us. Imagine my surprise when the bill totaled $83.19. I do not walk out on my bill, ever, so I paid it and left. That's not the worst of it.

Once I got in the car and realized I had to buy another round of lunch, I decided to call and speak to the manager/owner, who wasn't there. I told the girl my concerns and requested a call back. Spiro, the owner called me back first thing this morning, and asked me what happened. I explained the entire situation and spoke to him from 1 small business owner to another, about how I understand that every business has a bad day now and then, and I don't like to leave reviews, especially without the respect of a conversation with the owner first. I let him know that 2 other negative reviews were literally posted while we were in the restaurant, saying what I was saying to him. He offered to give me free meals next time I come back. Only, I live in Virginia and honestly wouldn't waste another meal on that mediocre, at best food. I told him I think it would be fair to meet me in the middle and refund me 1/2 of my check. Again, owning a small business, I understand expenses and how inflation and rising costs affect us. He refused my offer. I explained that I would be writing this review and alerting my family, who go there often, and were surprised at our experience and bill, how I was treated and he would be losing 10 customers, and that I would be filing a dispute for the charge on my card. He yelled at me, " I'd rather give it all back that way and lose the customers, than refund you myself". Then he hung up on me.

Moral of the story, idk if the food always sucks, but on Mondays I believe they take everything leftover from the weekend and reheat it for lunch. Its not good....

Iama Critic Rating - Carving Station Buffet - 1 star 720 US 1, Lake Park, FL

Overall: We are utterly mystified by their good ratings. None of my guests, nor I, thought this place should even be open, much less serving food. If you have no teeth, if you hate spices, if you hate all things savory, If you love to slurp your food through a straw, then this is the place for you! But before you go, please check out our Facebook picture album. This was the worse restaurant during our entire two week we spent in Florida.

$10.38 Buffet - 1 star The Carving Station isn't the worse buffet ever, but it is certainly in contention. If you work real hard you can find a few items to tie you over until you can get to a good buffet. I have never worked so hard to get good pictures of buffet food, it took us over an hour to take our five pictures.

Various Buffet Items: (ratings vary per item) 1 star - unidentifiable piece of grilled chicken 1 star - bone dry ham 3 stars - sausage with overcooked grilled red bell peppers 1 star - waterlogged carrots 1 star - lifeless cabbage boiled to extinction 1 star - the worse corn beef I have ever tasted 3 star - an unusual ham salad 1 star - horrid coleslaw 3 star - decent chicken salad 2 star - boring macaroni salad

Chicken Macaroni Soup: This Carving Station classic soup represents everything that is wrong with the restaurant, because it is just like what my Grandma used to make. Of course my grandma was the worse cook who ever attempted to destroy thanksgiving dinner! The macaroni were so outrageously overcooked they would slither between the tines of your fork, which was better than slimming down your throat.

$3 Carrot Cake - 3 stars The saving grace of Carving Station was their desert. But they charged extra for it. We received a meager piece of carrot cake cost for an addition $3.

We do give 5 stars for the old timey table place mats with local business advertising on it. Remember when all good Mom and Pop's had these local business place mats? The Carving Station still has them, but it is a shame that they are not a good Mom and Pop diner! They are a disgrace to paper place mats everywhere!

To see 5 Star Restaurant Review's entire pictorial review on Facebook. Click on Iama Critic's name link, then click on about, and select "5 Star Restaurant Reviews on Facebook" under the "Links" section. We take pictures of every...

IF I COULD GIVE THIS TRASH PLACE ZERO STARS I RESLLY REALLY WOULD. I was HIGHLY disappointed, I've been here multiple times. Once for breakfast a while ago and didn't recall if I liked it out not so decided to return this past Saturday and what a mistake I made. The owner stepped to me as i went to get my second plate and was very rude and nasty because I didn't finish much from my first plate, he felt I was wasting food and that I should get less food next time (keeping in mind, I got very small portions of different items in case I didn't not like anything) which us exactly the case. Everything tasted bland and dry, even the French toast it seemed as if they took bread sprinkle some cinnamon on it and called it French toast. My omlet was over cooked (dried out) with way too much cheese. The sausages looked scary so I didn't even bother to take my chances on it. The OWNER of the establishment approached me about getting less food and etc. Then when I said you shouldn't speak to the customers that way he responded I can get a lawyer if I want KEEP IN MIND I SAID NOTHING ABOUT SUING OR EVEN GETTING ANY TYPE OF COURT ISSUE INVOLVED. He kept goin I just walked away I couldn't take the disgrace of that place anymore. Their lunch/dinner is fairly good not the greatest but for good food and AMAZING customer service your better off spending your money somewhere else. When the owner won't talk down to their customers as if your his child. Or expect you to eat EVERYTHING on your plate especially if you do not like it. A buffet restaurant has the highest rating in food waste. If you hate food waste then you shouldn't own a buffet restaurant. Common sense. Smh. Try...