Pizza Ranch — Restaurant in Marshalltown

Current one-star review (May 2023): Two price hikes in the past months have regrettably removed this buffet from our go-to list. We were shocked to find on Sat, 5/20 that a senior buffet is now $13.50, for a total $14.45 w/ tax.

We made it a point to get there early, at 11:30, because in the past on Saturdays the restaurant filled up very quickly. But we needn't have worried on this day; it was like a ghost town. We were among just a handful of diners. We saw a party of three come in and go to the counter, but then leave without ordering. Price shock?

I wouldn't blame them. (We very nearly left without ordering as well.) The regular price for a buffet is $14.50, and with tax around $15.50, so the total for three people is close to 50 bucks!

Cleanliness seemed to have gone downhill as well. The carpet was littered with debris (and shortly after opening), and the top of our napkin holder had a thick layer of dust.

This restaurant pays among the lowest wages in town (now $10/$11 an hour, previously $9), so it would appear projected revenues from increased pricing is not intended for the workers.

The difference from previous Saturdays when we've eaten there was stark. Typically the place is packed with people, noisy with a lot of chatter and some waits at the buffet lines. So unusual to see it so quiet, as shown in the photo I took at 1 pm. One of the people in our party said it looked so strange to see the two young men at the counter mostly standing around, rather than working feverishly to keep up with an almost constant line of customers placing orders.

Next time, we'll go to Chef King on Main St, a favorite with reasonable prices (senior buffet is $10.50), amazing selection (hot bar, salad bar, dessert bar, and soft-serve ice cream), with great service and attentive staff. Previous five-star review (Jan 2023): One of my favorite places to have lunch! I love that they have so much variety: pizza bar, traditional American food bar (fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and veggies), a salad bar, and soft-serve ice cream.

We requested taco pizza (called Texan) and within minutes fresh slices were delivered to our table. Excellent! The best taco pizza I've had in years, since I lived in Austin, TX and the whole family would meet up weekly for taco pizza at an awesome chain...

The service was terrible, this was our very first time at Pizza Ranch, due to the experience we had today it will be our last. We ordered the buffet experience, a cheese pizza, and an order of teriyaki/sweet chili wings. After waiting almost 45 minutes we watched 3 other tables receive their pizzas, eat and leave,we inquired about the food. We were told the kitchen never received the order and that our intended pizza was put out to the buffet. My husband was informed by Amy that the wings were not included with the price, even though they were listed on the receipt. She said he would need to pay an additional fee, she became very flustered and got loud. She started yelling for the manager, then when he got there she started yelling at him and berating him for our missing order. The manager apologized and promised to rectify the situation. We waited another 30 minutes and finally received the wings, they were not seasoned or sauced. We sent them back and waited another 10 minutes for sauce, still no pizza. Finally frustrated my husband went to inquire and received the pizza, it was dry and extremely disappointed we left. We will not be returning, the service was terrible and the hostile work environment and lack of professionalism between the employee Amy and the manager was extremely...

I actually love pizza ranch, one of the best buffets in my opinion. Chicken is second to none and pizza is always good. I honestly should probably rate my experience less than 3 stars but I guess they are super short staffed and that's understandable. I was in line waiting to get chicken when a staff member came out and wiped down the buffet tables. There was plenty of mashed potatoes and gravy from all the customers who were sloppy that got spilled. The gentlemen cleaning the table in the best way I can describe it cleaned all of the old mashed potatoes and gravy right back into the new mashed potatoes and gravy. It was quite disgusting and obviously I decided to skip mashed potatoes and gravy that trip. I also mainly go there for chicken. I was actually excited that as soon as I got there a brand new pan was brought out. For some reason though the bottom of the chicken I took was absolutely soggy as could be. Like it had been sitting in a little bit of water for a good solid 5 minutes. Pizza ranch I love you, but I feel like there was absolutely no quality control at...