Beefeeders, Palm Springs, Fl

Beefeeders Steakhouse has re-opened (again) in Palm Springs, Fl.  It is located on Forrest Hill, just West of Congress Ave on the south side of the roadway.  I'll start out by showing a picture from inside the restaurant. 



The ambiance is done really well, and they have a very "old school" elegance inside.  Beefeeders is dark with out being dreary.  It almost reminds me of restaurants from up north. 

We went with a fairly large party (7 including both boys) for a birthday party.  We had reservations set up for 6pm on a Saturday, but we probably didn't need them as the restaurant was not very crowded. 

As for the Food and Service, I'll be honest, we weren't impressed.  This is, for this area, a pretty pricey establishment.  Average entre' costs are between $20-40, if you don't get one of the "early bird specials", then you can expect to put down a pretty large chunk of change.  As for the steaks, I wasn't impressed.  While they were excellent cuts of meat, there was hardly any flavor.  It just tasted, dull.  There was no pop or kick or pizazz.  Our server though very friendly and personable, just didn't seem like he was interested in the quality.  It's little stuff, like asking if people want anymore drinks, or making sure the correct side dishes go on the right plates.  You know, basic service type of things.  Another thing that dropped Beefeeders down, is that they got rid of their Salad Bar.  Now you have a choice of House Salad (lawn clipping style aka Mixed greens.) or Caesar, no more do you have the option of getting the unlimited salad bar, with that awesome green ranch dressing.  The reasoning behind it is that they were loosing too much money on the salad bar.

Overall I was highly disappointed with this trip out and unless some changes are made, I can't recommend this restaurant

Scores
Service: C (Friendly, but with messed up orders)
Portion size: C
Food: D

Cici's Pizza Greenacres, FL

The best way to describe this establishment is also exactly what it is... "Cheap pizza Buffet". If you're looking for a gourmet culinary experience you might want to just pass on by as this is not the place for you. On the other hand, if you want to consume large amounts of cheap, but filling pizza. While getting the opportunity to play some arcade games and watch TV for a ridiculously low price, then you might want to stop on by.

You'll be able to get a dine-in meal with drink for less than $8.00. Also at this location, they have several arcade machines and a big screen TV that they use to show cartoons.

The pizza choices are pretty good, and they continually put out new options.

If you've got kids who are around ages 4-14 (ish) then this is decent place to go out for a night. Also, teenagers tend to head here on the afternoons of Half-days at school.

Food quality wise, they won't win any awards, but it's still pretty passable and the garlic bread sticks were very good.

We would definitely go back again, even if price was the only consideration.

The Carving Station Lake Worth, FL.

The Carving Station is a buffet style restaurant located in Lake Worth, Fl on the South East corner of Jog Rd and Lake Worth Rd.

I'll start this review by saying that we fully expected to be disappointed by this restaurant. It's located in a shopping center that just lost its anchor store Winn-Dixie, and the whole plaza has been in what seemed like a downward spiral for a few years.

We arrived around 11:30, and were some of the first customers of the day. I will admit my surprise at just how clean the place was. Everything in the restaurant seemed to gleam and the decor reminded us of a vintage type of diner.





As we walked in the manager/owner (I forgot to get his name) welcomed us very warmly. He told us to take a look around, and that if we liked what we saw to have a seat and dig in. He let us know the prices which were amazingly reasonable, the full lunch price was $7.99 per person or you could get just a soup & salad buffet for $6.29.

We took him up on his suggestion and checked out what they had to offer. Just on a quick walk through we noticed they had several stations set up. These included a cold food section that served salad, bread, and cold pasta. A hot food section that had 4 different kinds of soups, tacos/chips & salsa station and a hot food and carving section. They also have a cakes/desert section for a small additional fee.

After looking around we liked what we saw and decided to stay. The wife and the little guy started out with some salad. She said that the tomatoes tasted fresh off the vine, and they had what looked and tasted like "in-house made croutons". She only had one minor complaint, and it wasn't on the food itself but on the layout of the salad bar. Which was, with her pregnant belly, a little hard to reach the iceberg lettuce. The iceberg was placed near the back and they had a romain lettuce and bean sprouts in the front.

All of the food served appeared and tasted "home made". I've got to add that buffet's are a guilty pleasure of ours and usually at most buffets the emphasis is on quantity not quality. The food at the Carving Station was great, I was especially happy with the mac & cheese. It wasn't just an average dish, it had a lightly baked crust on top and several additional seasonings. Everything else was also very good -- from the mashed potatoes and 2 types of gravy, to the 3 or 4 types of chicken and everything in between.

Our server wasn't the most smiley person in the world at first, but she kept our drinks filled and our tables clear in a quick and efficient manner and she warmed up as the meal went on.

Overall we were highly impressed with this place. If you're a fan of buffets or a fan of good "old fashioned" American style cooking, then you should definitely give this place a shot.


Grades
Food: A
Service: A
Portion Size: N/A (its a buffet)