Olivia's Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Owatonna

I only tried the breakfast buffet, which was absolutely worth it unless you only wanted biscuits and gravy which looked and tasted prepackaged. I understand that for a buffet, but I was just a little disappointed.

The pancakes were fine, but having French toast on a buffet is pretty great and really saved this place for me. There was also some fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon (decently thick!), ham(also decent!), sausage links and sausage patties. Hash browns were exactly what you might expect.

Food was added right on top of the old stuff and not really rotated well which meant some of the eggs sat too long and turned green. Temps seemed safe, though I didn’t bring an instant read thermometer or anything.

The buffer area gets very crowded since it’s just a small section and it’s right in a main walking area, and getting in and out was a bit rough with how many people piled up over there.

All in all it was ok, more like 3.5 stars than 4, but I’ll round up on this one without hesitation. Price was around 18 bucks per person before tip. Service was good, orange juice was bad,...

Cool little family place, but .... there's a little-known fact about restaurants: if their menu is really large, it means pretty much everything is canned or frozen. That certainly seemed to be the case here. The menu features a full array of sandwiches and burgers, plus appetizers, some pasta dishes, diet plates, dinners, even a couple stir-fry entrees.

Our table had a broasted chicken, a pork cutlet, lasagna, and something else I can't recall, and I think every bit of it came from the freezer. The side of veggies was canned corn with a few carrots and beans. Even the iced tea -- something that's easy to brew on site -- was pre-made. The midwest is a place to find some amazing home-cooked meals, so I'm not sure why the region sets the bar so low for its restaurants.

Side note: I'm not sure when the local standard is for "BBQ ribs," but the ones I saw at another table were clearly boiled or steamed, not smoked. The sauce on them looked like gravy.

On the plus side: everyone was very friendly, and the service was...

This is a great example of people opening a business and turning it into a dump. The food was terrible. I had an open face sandwich that came with a piece of bread on top. Um, that's not open faced. The gravy was a gelatinous mess because it was made with corn starch. The mashed potatos with hard clumps, not lumps, that I hope was crusty bits from sitting in a pot for way to many days. The roast beef was a fatty mess. And by the way, this was not home cooking - unless your mom can't cook and your grandma died.

The staff are friendly but seem to have forgotten about general professionalism. One guy talked to himslef while walking around. UGH! Shut up.

This place would be improved by installing plywood over the front door.

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