Chow Time Grill & Buffet — Restaurant in Panama City

DO NOT GO HERE!! THEY WILL HARASS YOU FOR TIPS! THERE ARE 45+ REVIEWS ABOUT THIS ISSUE!

Here is our story: We have never had quite the crazy experience like this at a restaurant before. Chow Time had great food, and for the majority of our meal, great service. This all ended when we received our receipt and got ready to leave a tip. Our waiter who had previously been pleasant adjusted himself to arch over my husband's shoulder and stared expectantly at the tip line. We were both uncomfortable, but my husband wrote the tip amount of $3, which was about 12% of our bill. We usually leave 20% at full service restaurants, but being a buffet and mostly self-service, we left a bit less (which was not an attempt to be a testament to the service we did receive-its just what we do at buffets or for takeout). The waiter then said, "No, four dollars." and stared at my husband expectantly. We were both quiet and a bit flabbergasted, and my husband said "No, I'm trying to leave three dollars". The waiter then physically grabbed the pen out of my husband's hand and went to change our tip! My husband snatched it back from him and the waiter stormed off. My husband looked at me and asked, "Well what do we tip now?" My blood was boiling at that point and I told him to scratch the tip out and let's leave! As we were walking away from our table the waiter runs past us to look at the receipt, and once he realized we had adjusted it to leave no tip, he started following after us, yelling for our attention and asking why we scratched out the tip in front of all of the other tables! We tried to keep our cool since everyone was starting and told him that this whole interaction was inappropriate and that we were going to speak to a manager. Once we got to the front and began asking the host if we could speak to the manager, the server had already followed us up there and began scoffing and trying to argue with us again. Once the manager came out and we began explaining what had happened, he was still trying to argue with us and the manager. The manager was respectful, but didn't offer us any remedy or compensation for the horrific experience, he just said he would talk to the employee about hovering over bills. We got out of there as quick as we could.

Again, there are a HUGE amount of reviews about this issue. It is clearly a culture that they're fostering in the restaurant and now looking back, the manager was so calm about it because it happens all the time! Eat here at your own risk for public embarrassment and shame! This place deserves to...

New Update: 8/5/2025, We as a family decided to give this place another chance as it was our family Dinner place of choice, well this time the food was good but the service sucked . Our waitress wendy was walkn around cleaning the same clean table over and over came by our table 2-3 times after we had plates and trash stacked at the end of the table she acted as she didnt want to get us refills. And then it gets worse we finish our meal and ask for our check and eat our dessert, wendy then just stands there and we said we just paid and she had the nerve to say wheres my tip, we explained we are going to leave a cash tip when were done, she then says I need a tip, we said again when we are done, because she was going to get a small tip for the small amount of work she did, she then said you poor people, WOW, Now she didnt get a tip period. The owner seems like a nice guy, he needs to get control of his people before they run his place down, we always get top notch service from a waiter named Benny, he works hard and gets a big tip because he is awesome and does an amazing job, they should make him a trainer.

This place should be inspected by the health department. This place is nasty, bathrooms are nasty with urine all over the floor but thats Not all. We have ate here a few times and it was ok we didnt have a issue, BUT this last time turned my stomach and i was sick the whole night. I got seasme chicken, crawlfish everything was old and cold,that when bit into was stringy and was a weird taste and dry, I asked for the manager who came over and dug through my chewed up food with no gloves or nothing and then told me its not chicken they go through a 3rd party vendor(puke) she would not tell me what it was. She gave me a 20% discount which led to 2 dollars and some change. I said no i want my money as after the god aweful bite i stopped eating, she said i had a full plate in which i did that all went into the trash, she said she seen me on camera eating,,, wow is all i can say people tried warning me. But i always see for myself, it took the 3rd time. What place digs through your chewed food without gloves on and then wont tell you what your eating, they are hiding something, Save your money, they need to be shut down. These other bad reviews i found out are not lies or an angry customer. I posted pictures for you to see the supposed chicken. This business is giving our community a bad rap and taking your money at the same time. If i could give a -100 stars I...

Used to be a great place but recently customer service and food quality have been horrible. Last night was my last visit. We have gone there 5-6 times a month at least for a couple of years. It was a great place for a family that can not agree on what they want for dinner, there you have your choice. Over the last few months on a few occasions the food has not been what it was before, dried out shrimp, chewy seafood, etc.- thought they may have new people in the kitchen so gave them the benefit of the doubt. Once about a month ago we went a little later in the evening - 7 PM or so - the selection of food was about half of what it normally is and of course all of the best foods were either empty or dried out. I asked about it and was told that they were getting ready to close. I thought at the time that if they were serving old food and limited choices they should have offered some kind of a discount but they did not. OK, again we gave them the benefit of the doubt. Last night I took my son to dinner there - we both went up to the dessert bar for something sweet and they were completely out of, again, the most wanted items. I had noticed when we came in that it was getting low but figured that it would be replenished by the time that we were ready for dessert. Nothing had been replaced and there was nothing there that we wanted. This time they were no where near closing, the restaurant was full of people. When I went to the counter to pay the bill I told the girl that I would like some kind of a discount because of the dessert bar being empty. She looked at a lady behind her who then went to check the dessert bar as if she did not trust what I was saying. She came back a few minutes later and stated, fairly rudely that they were only out of banana pudding - at that time I said "no maam, that is not correct and told her exactly what they were out of. She then turned to look at the bar like she was going to say something else or make another excuse - she just wanted to argue with me as a customer instead of offering even a 10% discount - I just paid the bill - left the server a $4 tip because it was not his fault and nope will not be...