Don't Back Down

After last night's debacle at the Old Mill, we were looking for something - anything that would a: mean that we didn't have to wait for an hour just to get seated and b: hopefully have some semblance of decent food. Duff's did well on the first point, and performed adequately on the second.

I'm not quite sure if Duff's is always less-than-crowded. When we arrived, at somewhere around 5pm, the place was almost empty. Perhaps four or five tables were occupied, and we quickly took over a small section in the back room, which was necessary for our party of eight in order to sit together. It meant that we were farther from the "smorgasboard" than we would have liked, but it wasn't far.

As to the food, there was a decent selection, but I'm still wondering why exactly it was called a smorgasboard. Oh, I understand that it's a chain of restaurants (over 100, if you judge by the advertisement on the wall), but we're talking one primary buffet line, and then a carving station at the end, which offered both roast beef and ham (and these excellent miniature potato cakes).

Other than that, there was a half-size dessert bar, but that was it.

I've been to only one other place that dubbed itself a smorgasboard in my life, and that was twenty years or so ago, so my memory is fuzzy (that could also be from the sheer amount of food on hand). There were several buffet lines, and stations scattered all about. Even your typical Old Country Buffet will have more food on hand than Duff's (at least, than this Duff's).

The food itself wasn't bad, if a bit bland and somewhat congealed, as food that sits on a steam table for a while will get.

Service was friendly, because quite frankly they didn't have anything else to do since no one was there at the time. If they were busier, it might not have been quite so nice. Mostly it was nice to just get in and out, but it wasn't really all that great either. Am I just too picky?