Charley's Buffet

This place is only open on Friday and Saturday night's for only 4 or 5 hours or so. At times, expect to wait in line for an hour or more to get in. It is worth it. It is real home cooking by some Mennonite women (last I knew). The dessert bar is huge and the chicken and butter noodles are my favorite. A must see if you are hungry!

Oh, wow.....

I visited my brother that lives in a rural part of Missouri, for Thanksgiving.  He had previously raved on about this buffet near him, and said that we should just do that for Thanksgiving...instead of spending a bunch of time and effort cooking.

Admittedly, when I hear the word "buffet", I usually start cringing and develop an eye-twitch.   Most of them are simply item-after-item of frozen food or things dumped "right outta the can".  Many times, the food has been sitting there forever, and you just know that various strangers before you have been picking through it.  It actually terrifies me to think of one.

I decided to keep an open mind and go with my brother's plan, because I know that he knows good food.  He couldn't have made a better choice!!! EVERYTHING is homemade, delicious, and fresh.  I don't even know where to start.  A few tips:  if you miss the bread table, or dessert table, you are cheating yourself.  Even the butter is homemade!  (Extra points!)

From what I hear, Charley's cooks spend the week preparing everything and the buffet is only open Friday and Saturday nights.  We were there on Thanksgiving, which I think was an exception to their normal operating hours.  

It's a bit hard to find, and my brother drove forever on a highway that seemed like a roller-coaster.  

Totally worth it, I promise.   Extremely reasonably priced, IMO for the massive effort that must go into the preparation of this delicious food...the price is something like around  $10 per person, drink choice included.

Here are driving directions that I located from a site listing Charley's:

"Directions: From Cole Camp, take Highway B south about 10 miles to the intersection of Highways B and W. Charley's is on the right."