Journey's End Restaurant — Restaurant in Loganville

So for the positives. The food can be quite good and geographically speaking it is very convenient.

And here we go with the negatives. The process of closing the entire restaurant in the middle of the day is patently idiotic. The excuse given is that they have to close between 3:30 and 4:00 pm in order to replace the lunch menu with the dinner one. Right. Yet miraculously, every country buffet I've dined at over the decades manages to smoothly make this transition between the two meals pretty seamlessly, minus the inconvenience to the patrons of having to stand around waiting. Without fail, everytime I'm up there waiting for reopen, the lobby bottlenecks with hungry customers. Also without fail, complaints and curses can be heard from costumers who aren't allowed in to eat. The reviews would probably be a lot lower but these people sometimes simply give up and go somewhere else.

And ... why? It honestly gives the impression that this establishment simply doesn't want people dining there. How exactly are customers eating preventing the transition from lunch to dinner? Again, I've never been to a place in which this was such an issue. If they want to take away lunch and put out dinner while patrons are there ... well, what exactly is stopping them? Surely not the patrons. And the pricing is remarkably simple too. As in every other buffet of its kind, if a patron comes in at 3:59, charge them for lunch. If another patron comes in at 4:01, charge them for dinner. Again, remarkably uncomplicated.

But in the customer alienation department, nothing is worse than this nonsense of requiring half a dozen to go containers for each individual type of fish on Friday evening. For the love of sanity. Not that they even remotely care, but Journeys End lost a customer today. One who has been coming in off and on for years and years, as has his family.

No, I'm not going to get a third to go container for Three Pieces of Shrimp. Losing a customer over three pieces of shrimp. Seriously, what kind of business model is that? Shrimp I was trying to pay for. Again, this is remarkably simple. You provide goods - in this case food - and I provide payment. Barring the collapse of civilization and a reversion to a barter economy, that'd the way it works. Not complicated.

Look, nor do I need to be lectured about how much each individual type of fish costs. Keep the graphs, pie charts, tea leaves, whatever. I don't care. At all. Even a little bit. Not a perfect analogy, but it would be like buying a refrigerator and the hapless clerk has to explain how much each and every particular part costs. Again, I don't care.

There is a sign about it, true. There are signs about many things at this establishment, about what patrons can and can't do, ad naseum. It's off putting and unnecessary, and just heightens the sense they don't really want people eating there. But the pricing rules are the most ridiculous. Just charge whatever you want, and patrons can either elect to pay or not pay.

So despite the food and geographic convenience, it's just too much of a hassle to eat there. And now I'm even more annoyed and put off because I had to waste time writing this idiotic review. On top of having nothing to eat for lunch at work tomorrow and outlining problems that completely alienate customers and - quite frankly - should have been ironed out by the owners...

If you're looking for Southern Hospitality, then turn your gaze away from Journey's End. You won't find it here. In it's place you'll find slow service, overcooked food and management willing to kick out their guests so another may have the table.

We arrived at the restaurant (party of seven, by the way, consisting of three adults and four children) at 3:45pm. We were seated promptly in the back left room which seats forty-five people. Another party had already been seated in there, consisting of twelve, so it was hot in that space, as you can imagine. Our server was pleasant, but we barely saw her. Our drinks were left empty for a long time, and the kids never received a refill. But, like I said, she was pleasant, and I have a great deal of respect for waitstaff.

Most of the food was bad. The catfish and tilapia weren't edible. They were extremely overcooked, making them tough. I don't know what was wrong with those hushpuppies. They tasted stale. I get a sour face just thinking about them.

The fried green tomatoes were my favorite. Not as crunchy as they should've been, but they were okay overall. I didn't eat the fried chicken, which is what Journey's End is known for, because it didn't look appetizing. When I picked it up with the tongs, the soggy breading fell off. Just no.

The desserts, you ask? Don't expect homemade. This ain't your momma's house. Pre-packaged all the way. The only thing that may be made in the kitchen is the apple and peach cobblers. (Oh! What was with that box inside the dessert fridge next to the buffet line? The box that said: Expires 8/2/2013?! Um....)

I stuck to peach cobbler (cause I'm saucy like that) with a little bit of vanilla ice cream. By the time I sat down to eat my dessert it was about 4:40pm. That's when the 'terrible awful' happened.

An older woman came up to the elderly couple in my party and explained to them that they were going to need the table at five o'clock, and we could either move or leave.

Excuse me? No. Just no. We were paying customers like everyone else. It wasn't our problem they had a party coming in. It was theirs. They could have either not sat the section an hour and a half before the time they were expecting, or they could have told them to wait. I've worked in enough restaurants to know asking a guest to get up and abandon their table for another (especially with small children) is a big no no. Anyone with a brain would understand WHY it's a big no no, except the manager. Apparently, she had no idea because she also told the party of twelve the same thing. "I'm not kicking you out just yet," she said, "but as long as you leave five minutes before five, you'll be okay." The audacity.

Needless to say I was perturbed. I don't know if we'll ever be...

I didn't stay to eat the food but I want to share my experience at the restaurant and why I left. My visit was earlier today (Sunday, 1/14/24) around 5:00 pm. The hostess took me to my seat and there were cups left from the last customers so I waited for her to clean it off. She wiped off the table with the cloth, then the seat, and wiped the table again. I said to her "Why are you wiping the seat and the table with the same cloth?" Her response to me was "Well, that's how it's been done all day" The waitress walked up during the interchange and asked what was wrong. I told her what happened and she said that she would clean the table. I went to wash my hands but I was very unsettled with the hostesses' remark. So I just decided to leave because I wasn't satisfied with the cleanliness of this place. What else is being wiped down with those wet towels and are they sanitized properly? I did call the restaurant after I left and spoke to a manager. I wanted to know if this practice is customary and what they are taught because I felt that it was unsanitary. She informed me that they are not taught to do that and she felt that it was unsanitary as well. She stated that she knew who the hostess is and would address it. However, I wanted to share this experience so others will know that this is being done & be aware that towels are used to wipe where multiple people have been sitting then transferred to your table where you will place your food to eat. I guarantee you that this is not the first time it was done and may not be the last. I won't be back so problem solved for me but everyone else "be aware". They need to do away with those wet, filthy rags and get a spray bottle with table sanitizer and use paper towels....