Buttercup Pantry — Restaurant in Placerville

Considering I was able to find something to eat at what is a pretty typical American restaurant in the middle of California, far from major urban cities, I can't complain too much. Although, my vegan options WERE limited to just the all-you-can-eat salad bar or all-you-can-eat soup bar (where there was just one vegan soup). I ended up going with the salad bar, which had your basic salad toppings (raw mushrooms, canned mushrooms, canned garbanzo beans, carrots, raw broccoli, red onions, alfalfa sprouts, etc.), but I wished there was some kind of tofu to add more protein to my salad since it was my main meal. But I guess I should be glad that I was able to eat anything at all at a place like this. My sister also gave me her cup of vegetable soup that came with her meal that she didn't want, and that was just okay. I wouldn't have wanted to eat more than just that bowl of it.

But again, I wasn't really expecting to find much to eat here to begin with. Everyone else in my family seemed more or less satisfied with what they got. There also seemed to be a good number of pies and desserts that they might have enjoyed, if we had been more hungry. (We came in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, so it was sort of a late lunch.)

Service was great at least. Our server was very friendly and helpful. They had blank paper and crayons for my two-year-old niece to color with before our food came, which she enjoyed.

So, I guess this place is fine if you're into eating the Standard American Diet filled with meat and/or dairy. Even their "lighter" items on their menu have meat, eggs, and/or dairy and still sound...

BEWARE! I've been an out of town guest of Buttercup Pantry for about 10 years, patronizing the restaurant about 4 times a year. On this occasion I brought my 5 grandkids to an afternoon lunch at Buttercup after a day of playing in the snow. Soon after we were seated, our server went on break and we were assigned another server. At this point, is where the service became slow and the server inattentive, but we didn't mind too much because we were not in a big hurry. After lunch I was presented with a bill of about $89. After a few minutes, the kids wanted dessert, so I summoned the server to take our dessert order. It took us almost 1/2 hour to get our desserts, a mild irritation, but again, we weren't in a hurry. After dessert I was presented with an updated bill to include the additional desserts ($129 new total of bill). Much to my surprise, the waitress then tacked on an 18% gratuity on the second bill! (the gratuity was not in the first bill) When I asked to see this policy in writing, the manager showed me the back of the menu that says on "parties of 8 or more" or " larger bills" that an 18% gratuity will be added. Our party was only six, and when I questioned the "larger bill" policy they were not able to give me an exact figure. I let them know I customerarily tip 15% for prompt service. The hostess became very quiet and quickly processed my credit card for about $149. Management did absolutely nothing to mitigate this situation. They have lost me and my family...

First of all we were very impressed with entering the restaurant. The decor is exceptionally well done. Unfortunately receded we put in a drink order that was not filled correctly. That was not that much of an issue was easily corrected when we finally got a hold of our waitress. Waitress returned several minutes later with no other people in the restaurant, we could hear her talking in the back and forgot about us. Apologize when she came up to the table. I wasn't that hungry, so I ordered a cup of chili and my wife ordered a sandwich. Waitress didn't seem to like the idea of me ordering an expensive item and was trying to look up so more than usual. Not check on our drinks to see if we needed anymore. Food came but the fries were burnt, the chili was not very good, and the sandwich was very soggy. I reviewed hundreds of restaurants not just on Google but for publication. Even though I've made it in the top 10% of Google reviewers I sold them come across the restaurant that I would not give a decent review, but this one was not very good. I personally would not recommend it for travellers. It seemed like since we weren't locals we didn't fit in. I've reviewed restaurants in 28. But the staff did seem to be preoccupied with personal even at other tables. When we mentioned the people we knew in the area they said that the service had gone down quite a bit in the...