Chuck-A-Rama — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

The restaurant was cold enough that most people were wearing jackets when we walked in about 11:30. We got our food, sat down and within one bite we knew there was a problem. I took one bite of each item, my dad one bite of a few items, and found every single item to be cold. I'm not saying refrigerator cold, but not at all warm, especially considering the food just came out of the pans. I opened the enchilada and stuck my finger into the very center of it and felt almost no heat.

Having had only small bites of each item, we had no qualms about asking for our money back so we could go elsewhere to avoid food poisoning. My father asked the cashier who told him no, said we ate our meals and cannot have our money back. My father said no, we did not eat our meals, we took a bite to see if it ALL was cold and that we would not be eating there. That guy got someone else, she asked for the ticket, looked at the time on her watch and said yes, you just got here 10 minutes ago. She went and looked at our table and the full plates still sitting there, then begrudgingly agreed to refund our money after snidely remarking that 'no one else has complained'. We aren't everyone else. We are two people who choose not to accept substandard food that may or may not have been poorly prepared considering that the presentation of that food was well below acceptable serving temperature. Even the SOUP was lukewarm! We tipped our server, who was super friendly and sweet, left, and about an hour later as we sat down to eat, I was hit with diarrhea. We made a good decision to not eat there and, obviously, will...

I jokingly call this the Mormon Golden Corral. And that isn't entirely fair or accurate. A better description would be Golden Corral if it was a better buffet. There, corrected!

Good servers. Generally fresh products (if you abide by the 'don't go an hour before closing' rule that anyone going to a buffet should know or learn quickly). A good range of standard buffet fare. A well-stocked salad bar with a lot of options (though they need a thinner Caesar salad dressing; their option is like spackle!). I always laugh when I see goldfish as a salad option. Never considered that before going to C-a-R! The price is, as others noted, a bit higher nowadays. But, when comparing options of this sort, it is priced reasonably.

Ignore most of the negative reviews, esp. those that seemed to have been typed in a fever dream. Also cast a critical eye at those reviews that strive to be heartfelt and critical and a warning to others . . . all the while seeming to not notice that they are reviewing a buffet?!?! I suspect these people would have gone to Rax long ago (remember that place?) and complained that there weren't linen napkins. I kid. Actually, I don't. Adjust your view, people. And the thing is, if a dish is 'off' on a given night (it happens), you know what you do? You don't eat it and move on to the next option.

Anytime I am in Utah or Idaho with a group, I seek out C-a-R. And I will continue to do so. Lowered expectations? No....

If I could 0 stars I would. The food looked like it had been sitting out for two days rock hard and yellow, the gravy was water nothing was up to code. We used to love this place but we will not come back to the location because of this. We asked to speak to a manager she never came to our table my husband had to go find her. When asked why the food was old and nasty she said because they are closing in an hour and she did not want to bring out fresh food. My husband said we'll your gonna make someone sick, he asked why she did not come to our table when we asked to speak to you and she had more excuses. We asked for our money back let's see if it comes back. But we left and will not be back. That manager should not be a manager. She has no idea what temperatures should be for food, she has horrible customer service. This restaurant used to be our favorite place to eat but we will not be back. This is the second time this has happened at this restaurant. We tried to give it another chance and they blew that out the water. You all need to train your ppl on what is exceptable and what is not. Disgusting you all should be ashamed. My son ate some of that old meat came home and was vomitting all night long. I am so upset at this location and I see all the other reviews on this page and I can't not believe you all would allow this to keep happening....