Address:
Ryan’s
1900 Northwest 86th Street
Clive, IA 50325
(515) 270-8620
www.ryans.com
The Dish:
Two Adult Buffets
Two Diet Cokes
$26 (Tax and tip included)
Grade: 1 Spoon
Our original plan for this day was to drive to Des Moines, eat at a “better” place, play free pool, eat appetizers at the place we play free pool, and take in a Tim McGraw concert. About the only thing according to plan that happened was the concert, which prior to we had a late lunch at Ryan’s (aka Ryan’s Steakhouse, Buffet, and Bakery).
Ambiance: Ok please don’t think I am any more racist than you are (we are all racist to some extent). But the American flags hanging all over the very busy dinning are do not cover the fact that the only American is the person running the operations of the place. Every time we are there Ryan’s seems to be the melting pot of different ethnic and racial backgrounds. It is as if to get American citizenship, you have to complete a semester at Ryan’s, which in itself might portray Americans as we are, but that’s a whole different blog post for that one. Today however everything appeared dirty. There were multiple tables that had not been cleaned from previous guest which made finding a table a bit tough. But its a Buffet and a busy one so some of that is to be expected.
Menu/Price: If you want you can order a Steak, but it seems most folks just go for the buffet. It is a bit cheaper at lunch than dinner at about $8 and $12 respectively. Since it is a buffet not much else to talk about here.
Meal: The food quality has gone way downhill from what it used to be in my perspective. The choices are there, but it seems you will run into stuff that looks really good but ends up being “meh.” For instance, they had some really cheesy looking mac and cheese that really looked awesome, but ended up being “meh.” They have dinner rolls that are delivered to the table when you waiter/waitress gets your drinks (if they come). The rolls are really good, and probably the second reason they did not get just the 1 Knife rating. The first reason they did not get that rating is because they did have self serve soft ice cream and yogurt at their desert bar area. However like everything else, they look better than they really are. Some of the better items they used to have are not out on the line any more. One of those was sliced potatoes and onions fried/sautéed. Another was the same dinner rolls that instead of just butter slathered over the top, butter, cinnamon and sugar were slathered over the top. These are items I missed dearly.
Service: Sometimes when you go you get a server whom you don’t understand that well but they take great pride in their work. Today however we got a waitress whom was more interested in spending time with her Spanish speaking group than waiting on us or the other three tables that she was assigned to. Needless to say we self served our drinks and got our own plates, something that they are supposed to do.
Overall: I was a bit disappointed with the condition, quality, and service of Ryan’s from what I remember it being having eaten there many times for lunch when I worked the night shift. It will defiantly be awhile before we revisit.