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Years ago, when you could order a variety of steaks and the buffet was secondary, we used to eat at Ryan's Steakhouse.  Today along with Golden Corral it seems that they are Buffet restaurants with Steak as a side.  No longer can you order a Ribeye or Filet or so I'm told, and you just have to choose a particular day that maybe steaks might be on the menu.

Now I'm not so sure that this is correct so I'm asking if there are any forum members that have tried Ryans recently?  If so could you post your opinion about the local Ryans?   Sometimes it seems Ryan's has good business but then other times it seems that not too many people are willing to give them a try.  I had spoke with a supervisor or manager at the local store about a year ago and he indicated that he felt that Ryans would be bringing a new concept to the local store and bring back a selection of steaks that you could order apart from the buffet but I never got that follow up call that he promised when it was implemented. 

Be as the Bereans ( Acts 17:11 )

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It's been a while since eating there, but they did have steak, during my visit. I even ask the cook to cook me a Med.Rare steak and he did so. (Never hurts to Ask). I must say it wasn't filet mignon but for the money, not bad at all. I don't see how Ryan's could afford to keep selling Sirloin when Beef prices were at all time high. The trouble with Buffets presenting Steaks, they get old fast, sitting in the warming trays.. I like mine hot & juicy fresh off the grill... If you want a steak, go to a steak house..custom cooked to order. Nice to see Ryan's offer steak as a buffet item for those wanting a taste of beef with all the other carbohydrates offered.

I hate going to Ryans, but my wife likes it because of the vegetables, so I go with her occasionally . The current order of business is that you order steak , cooked to how you want it from the waitress. Sometimes it is really good, sometimes it is shoe leather.
Ryans got really good back when they had Barnhills as competition, but since Barnhills left,  Ryans has consistently gone down hill in my opinion. I usually prefer well prepared fish to most other meats, and they used to have pretty good baked tilophia and even Atlantic salmon. Now they just have little ole deep fried fish planks, so I get the steak . Haven't tried the pork chop tho, maybe try it next time.

I hope that rumor is true about Golden Corral coming to town. That is by far my favorite of those buffett places. I eat at GC when I am traveling if there is one, and the worse one was in Texarkana , Tx, and it was still good enough that I ate there several times. 
 
There is another buffet chain that is even better IMHO, and that is Furr's, but there are none this side of Ft Smith, Ark that I know of.

 

 

I agree about Golden Corral being better and the last one I remember being near the Shoals area was at Russellville and that was when you could order individual steaks just like Ryan's used to be.  I too hope that rumor about Golden Corral is true but I don't see them going into the Ryan's existing building.  If they want to go there they should just level the building and start over but that's just me.  Given the way things are growing in the area I would expect that they might look either toward North Florence area or over in Muscle Shoals area but like most other things, time will tell.

Where are the people going to?

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 I prefer to go to Chinese Buffets for Lunch versus Ryan's. 

Mongolian

Evergreen (Seniors $1.00 off) Now that their Health Ratings are Up in 90's

China Star on Avalon in MSC

I like Evergreens Hot & Sour Soup (Best in the Area) w/ Eggrolls; Plus you can pick your raw meat type along with Veggys and such to have Special Cooked for you, just like Mongolian Buffet. Enjoy picking out what I like to eat. Other food selections are quiet good. You can't beat the price..& get good fresh food.

jmmgj5 posted:

They closed all theirs locations in Alabama and around 60 nation wide. Also strong rumor that steak & shake is building around hwy 72 in Colbert County. The question now is who is going to be the last one to turn the lights out in Florence.

This seems to be rumor of the day, about Steak & Shake opening a location in the new Publix shopping complex over off Woodward Avenue. Just where is this rumor coming from I wonder?   There have been many passing this along for a while now only it was over on the Florence side near the new WalMart where people were initially saying it would go.   I called Steak & Shake in Decatur and ask the manager who said that around three people a day, from the Shoals/Florence area seem to come in there asking him the same question.   His reply to them and me was that he didn't know of anything in the works but also stated that he wouldn't know until the company announced it looking for folks to hire.

I'd love to see a Steak & Shake but given the Shoals size I just doubt it's a substantial rumor or that there is any real possibility of them coming to this area.

Another Florence Business closing or leaving.  Different business but still a closing business. Driving down Florence Blvd today notice the Hyundai car dealership lot was completely empty, no cars in sight. They moved them to the dealership in Tuscumbia. Florence City officials need to wake up & do something or there will be no businesses left in Florence except the all important downtown businesses (joke). I would love for the city of Florence to put together a committee of average people to make suggestions on how to improve Florence. I know that is why we elect the mayor & council but it is plain that with the exception of Dr Morris, they have no clue in what to do.

We can do without the Hyundai dealership in my opinion. It seems like almost every dealership has sold out to University, including the Dodge dealership directly across the street.

A few years ago when I was in the market to buy a truck, I made the mistake of going to the University Hyundai to look at one. The salesman I was talking to was an idiot to say the least. He refused to give a straight out price for the truck and insisted I let them finance it. When I would make a counter offer from what he wanted, he would maraud around the entire sales floor and go talk to his superior to ask if he could accept it, the whole time I could hear every word they said for there was only a divider wall separating us. He was persisting I buy the truck and even got mad when I refused, I was only wanting to look at it to begin with. He had the nerve to call me the next day asking if I had changed my mind. I let him know not to expect me to buy anything from him or return to the place after the way he acted such a fool. He made the comment that he has been selling vehicles for fifteen years and done pretty good at it. I informed him that I have been buying trucks for a lot longer than that and I have no intention on dealing with someone who uses such high pressure to make a sell. 

UncleGus: University Hyundi Florence: Had a similar experience when I was only looking to buy the wife an SUV. I liked Hyundi, since many are made in Montgomery. Knew the average selling prices for this model from NC to MS. I was looking at a 1 year old used model. When I ask the Sales person for the price, he hem hawed around and invited me inside to sit down to discuss.. after ~20 minutes he gave me a very High Ball cost. Almost the same as a New model & I let him know! Now, I was ready to get up and leave after the insult price quoted to me. We were done here.  As he quickly saw I was leaving.. He said, Please, make me an offer on the SUV... I have to bring to my manager, xxx amout of offers to meet my quota. Since I already Understood New & Used prices throughout the SouthEast, I gave him "My Low-Ball" Quote, below Wholesale. He said, he couldn't take that number to his manager.. I said to him, "You Ask what I was willing to Pay for the SUV and I gave it to you..."  Well, he & his manager sat in his office playing solitaire and finally (10 minutes) the manage came out and said, He couldn't accept my offer... I politely told him He shouldn't tell his salesmen to Sell Used Vehicles at New Vehicle Cost...I probably would have given you a more reasonable Offer for the Used SUV, If you hadn't price it at a New Cost. I said it Loud enough for another Customer to over hear. Further telling him more details of what the Average cost for this model was selling around South East. By this time, the manager was wanting me out of there, before I ran off the other customer..  We parted ways as they wasted my time by offering Unrealistic Used Car Prices. Usually it's the Manager's job to play Hard Ball with you, the Salesperson is to soften you up to be beaten down by the Manager... Their Job is to Squeeze maximum profit from each category of the Transaction. The Sale, Finance, Extras, Dealer Prep, Etc. Each has a profit center to earn extra income. Also mentioned to the Manager, I would never do business with them again and He & His Salesperson had Lost me as a customer. Today, I'm Totally Done with University Group...I'll go out of state if need be.

As far as university goes. I have an associate who has always bought new Dodge trucks for his business every couple of years and he has always dealt with the local Thornton Dodge dealer. the last truck he bought he went to The Decatur dealership to buy his truck because he could not deal with the folks at University.

Every time drive past the old IHOP building I think of how quick bad management can destroy even a new Restaurant in a new building.  What I don't know is if the IHOP restaurant that opened there was a franchise restaurant being locally owned or a company restaurant.  Not that it makes a difference given the outcome but I guess I'd be more shocked if it was a corporate restaurant and no more attention was given to it to attempt to correct the horrible problems that was so apparently bad management just to shut it down shortly after opening it.

gbrk posted:

Every time drive past the old IHOP building I think of how quick bad management can destroy even a new Restaurant in a new building.  What I don't know is if the IHOP restaurant that opened there was a franchise restaurant being locally owned or a company restaurant.  Not that it makes a difference given the outcome but I guess I'd be more shocked if it was a corporate restaurant and no more attention was given to it to attempt to correct the horrible problems that was so apparently bad management just to shut it down shortly after opening it.

___

Amen to that!  I went there a few weeks after they opened for business.  There were perhaps two other customers at tables. It took them about 10 minutes to get a menu to me and after I ordered, it was at least 15 minutes before my order came. Inexcusably slow .  I predicted then that they would not last long and so it was.

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