Jim's Buffet & Grill — Restaurant in Marianna

This is the place where hope goes to die, it shows as soon as you enter and are greeted with a grumpy old lady who obviously is The Keeper of the Cash. You pay BEFORE you're allowed to proceed, very over-priced and we were taken aback at the total. However, we decided to proceed (they can only get us once, right). After being seated, our drinks came, my tea was watery and lacked sufficient sweetener, wife's ice water with lemon distinctly smelled like bleach (obviously tap water). On to the buffet bar: Many items are simply deep fried in old worn out oil. With over 12 years in professional food service, I would LOVE to walk through their kitchen, walk-ins and freezer area. I'm absolutely positive some of their food items were well into the week old margin, then reused one last time being turned into "soup" which reminded me of filthy commercial sink water, flavored with a case of high sodium chicken base. The vegetables were all soaking in inches of liquid, rolls were cold, not proofed properly and zero butter was available, the corn muffin was crumbly, cold and totally stuck to the paper and crumbled to pieces when I tried to peel it off. T

The grumpy lady at the cash counter kept staring a hole through us for some reason? She's clearly dead inside and doesn't want to be there, this tells in her eyes and demeanor. Wait staff isn't much friendlier either. Beef was tough, chewy and after 2-3 minutes of straight chewing, I managed to break it down enough to swallow a piece. It was horrid, but I'm sure to them (the staff) it was delicious...it's their norm, they're used to it and don't know anything else or any better, so I sort of understand. I also tried the chicken, dry over-cooked and soaking in grease with a mismatch of dry spices sprinkled around, inedible also. My last hope was the fish, I tried the "fresh whole catfish" and another unidentified piece of deep fried square offering. The fresh whole catfish was whole, but clearly not fresh, it was obviously frozen for months on end, tasted like freezer burn and old oil, it was so greasy that grease oozed onto my plate and ran off into a small puddle. The unidentified square reminded me of a flat McDonald's fish fillet, it was over-cooked, refused to flake and could be bent like rubber. The desserts were semi-edible, runny pudding, dry cake and cold ice cream.

Not many smiles to be found in this place, it's a money hustle, The Keeper of the Cash (grumpy lady at front) is obviously the manager or owner and she absolutely makes you feel like you're a burden, or she's doing YOU a favor. This place is sub-standard, sub-par for even a cheap greasy spoon eatery by standard. I would love to take a stroll through their kitchen area, walk-in coolers, freezer and food prep areas. I strongly suspect foul play. Nobody with any food service experience would purposely do those things to raw ingredients, then plate them up for human consumption. We still crack jokes about that "soup" - it was definitely "SOUP" and their canned potato granules they used for mashed potatoes (I actually found a teaspoon size blob of unmixed powder) in my spoonful of "mashed potatoes". My professional advise is drive on, avoid this place at all costs, your wallet/purse will get raped and you will probably leave either sick or...

I’ve been here 5 times now. This is a buffet style, Southern American Restaurant where you’ll find the best Fried Chicken everyday, mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey some days, fried pork chops on some days, macaroni and cheese everyday, roasted potatoes, fish, Cod, Shrimp, different kinds of Soup, Yams, chicken livers, turkey stuffing... you name it... even cabbage the way it’s made in the South. They have an extensive Salad Bar, so extensive you can even find a Pistachio Salad! They’ll fry you up a Hamburger and Fries if you ask them, and the desert selection is to die for. Maria the owner is in the back peeling the pears for the pear crisp pie. The buffet for an adult is $13.00 and a to go plate is priced by its weight.

As a Registered Nurse working the night shift at the local hospital this is my go to place on my way to the hospital. Me and the night crew stop here on our way to fill up our plates so we aren’t starving at 3am.

Covid precautions include; masks worn by staff and customers are expected to wear plastic disposable gloves which are available on each buffet counter. You are expected to use a new set of gloves every time you go up for a new plate or serving.

The people are friendly, the restaurant is clean and the atmosphere is family oriented with ample parking in the front of the business.

Quick food with a home made...

Business hours are unclear on big sign out front also no posting of main course for the buffet for the day,you can find this on the website, they also use door dash : posted in their lobby and if you don't want buffet they have other selections ( look at website) not a lot of selection on buffet veggie wise but enough,star rating on the food was because of the chicken livers,chilli and catfish nuggets( chilli was missing that love no seasonings) even adding hot sauce didn't do it just to plain ( catfish nuggets large in size over cooked,rubbery instead of flaky,watch for bones to ( chicken livers overcooked but fair ) Rating on the service,dishes(dirty) remained on the end of my table longer than should have come on the place wasn't packed and not once was ask about refills ( had water but still) and the atmosphere rating was for the music (country) is good but not all country is slow ok ,Will return however on a different day Salad bar was fresh and would recommend it,iceberg lettuce fresh and yes they had spinach, pineapple coconut cake had flavor was good ( needs more pineapple) didn't find any,...