Robbins Nest

I usually don't give one star, especially a buffet that is cheap enough for the food. But this buffet, is bad... I saw the reviews said it was good, those reviews were kind of out dated, I guess.

I had good experience at another southern style buffet several days ago. So when we saw the this one called Southern buffet on the way home, it sounded good. We were actually looking for a BBQ place, but couldn't find it .And it is so close to JR Cigar, we were going to stop there anyway. So we decided to give it a try.

I should just leave when I saw the food was very limited for the lunch buffet at 12:30pm. One buffet table with less than 10 different hot food and some salad items. Another two buffet tables were almost empty, only 4 different kinds of dessert, and two of them had a little bit left on the bottom, they never refilled them during I was there.

I thought, well, maybe the food will be good taste, then I don't need that many varieties. But I was wrong.

Fried chicken was over fried, skin was dry, not that crispy any more. The meat inside was totally dry, the worst fried chicken I had this time during my vacation in NC. I love Fried chicken, the fried chicken here, was bad.

Harsh browns tasted tough and chewy, bad.

Mashed potato with super salty gravy, bad.

Only one green, it was canned green beans. Two kinds of beans.

Sweet potato was not that bad.

Coleslaw was good. There was some potato salad sauce left in the bottom of the container, it never got refilled either. No fresh fruit, only one canned peaches.

Well, at least the BBQ pork was pretty good. But it's buffet, right? I can't just eat the  pork.

I can recall everything on the buffet table now, because the varieties were so little. Desserts looked nasty and tasted nasty.

I haven't had bad food like those for a long while.  I go back for more plates of food if the food is good in a buffet. But this one, I didn't want to go for another plate. The food here reminded me the prison food, even I didn't go to prison before. But it just looked like that.

The price is cheap. Only $7.4 for lunch, $1.25 for ice tea. Even it's cheap like this, I   still have to give one star, cause the food was really horrible. Don't go there! There are much better Southern buffets in NC for the almost the same price.

I joke around that this is the 'Gravy Shack.'  No, it's not healthy.  Nothing on the buffet or on the menu is particularly good for you.  But my goodness, can these folks cook.  I've had better southern comfort food, but the Robbins Nest is some of the best around in Johnston County.  If you like southern staples -- fried chicken, salisbury steak, fried fish, mashed potatoes, etc., then you'll be a fan.  It's good food served up by local folks.

This place is awesome. If you like good home cooking and friendly people, this is the place for you.