Sam's Original Restaurant

We stopped in coming back from Galveston. The buffet was SO FREAKING FRESH. The food was delicious. Scratch made pies and cobblers were also. The chicken is a MUST. Cute country store is attached.

We have been eating here since I graduated from Navarro College c/o 93. We love eating here, my wife and I, everytime we drive to Houston and back home to Dallas. The food has always been good.

We were on a road trip home from the DFW area and needed to charge our EV. We stopped at Sam’s for dinner while our car charged.

The food was great. We ordered the full buffet meal. There were plenty of options on the buffet from salads to meats and lots of veggies.

We topped off our meal with a slice of pie.

All the food was flavorful and tasty. The atmosphere was also pleasant.

We enjoyed our meal and will include Sam’s in our list of dinner places for our next roadtrip.

We liked the older model pickup in the attached photos was parked outside the restaurant door and decorated with lights and plants.

Google has this listed as barbecue for some reason, but it’s actually an American style buffet.

Super cute restaurant! Had a cool old car out front. Very clean place with a relaxed atmosphere. It was pretty empty which for me is a plus (probably due to the weird time and day we came, a Thursday at 3pm.)

Service - We were seated nearly instantly. We were asked if we wanted menus, and we opted for menus. When seated, a nice older lady came and took our drinks. She offered us fresh warm bread and cornbread. Our drinks were always full. At the end, she offered fountain drinks to go which is always a plus in my mind :)

COVID - This was my first time being back at a buffet since COVID, but thankfully they were being extremely clean. They had someone consistently cleaning the buffet.

Food - The fresh bread and cornbread that was offered was super good. My husband and I looked at the menu as well. It has lots of sandwiches, a few proper meals. The main draw of the place is the definitely the buffet, but I am glad they offer other options (including small portions.)

We both ended up opting for the buffet. The buffet food is probably best described as Thanksgiving fare, minus the turkey and stuffing. Very “American homestyle buffet” food. I grabbed some of pretty much everything on the non salad side, so if you look at my pics, you’ll see what I mean. I don’t eat salad, but my husband told me the salad side was very good as well.

Some of the buffet food: fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, sausage, brisket, corn, two types of beans, mashed potatoes, soup and salad bar, and a few other things I think I didn’t grab.

If you are looking for a buffet that has 1,000 options, this isn’t the place. However, what they lack in quantity they make up in quality. Every single thing in the buffet was super good. I definitely prefer when a restaurant has a more limited menu, especially when it means they have perfected the stuff they do have.

They also have homemade pie and desserts that you can buy for $5 a piece, or they come with the buffet. I had coconut cream pie. My husband had a vanilla cupcake and peach cobbler. This was my personal favorite part of the meal, but I’m also a big dessert guy.

Price - $18 per person for the buffet. The other standalone dishes were similarly priced except for a few things like the smaller portion meals and some of the sandwiches. Definitely more on the pricey side, but not terribly so. I think it’s a fair price for the quality of food and to support a local business.

Gift shop - This is worth mentioning on its own because it’s very cute. They had a surprisingly wide variety of things in there. Clothes, toys, jewelry, locally made goods like soap, their own homemade jellies and canned goods, and even geodes you can take home to break open yourself. It was fun to go after dinner and have a nice little shop to browse.

All in all, glad to have come and will definitely be back. I would recommend anyone who is in the area to stop by, especially if they are a fan of American buffets.

Love this place. Over the years it has had the same great food. I don't like how they moved the cash register. Too far away from the door.
Also, please find a new recipe for your pies. The meringue weeps and makes the pies and crust wet and soggy. Maybe you could make the pie shells first and assemble the pies as needed throughout the day. Just a suggestion.
Also, please have your waitress not smack gum on duty.

I stop at Sam's whenever I'm heading into Houston. I love it. True classic, I hope it never goes away

Enjoyed my visit here thoroughly 💗
My family used to visit regularly here when I was a child and I absolutely loved coming to the gift shop to go rock hunting. On my most recent visit they told me the rocks had just come back and it made me so happy to relive that experience. Food was phenomenal as always and our server Cassandra was top notch. Thank you Sam's! I can't wait to come back :)

Great buffet.
It was like Thanksgiving in OCTOBER.
Cleans and friendly server.
Enjoyed the freshness of the salad bar

Drove all the way from Midlothian after seeing it suggested in a group page. It was worth the drive. Sometimes the best buffet are the ones that have just the right amount of food. Sam's did not disappoint. I am a huge C F Steak connoisseur and I had about 3 servings here. Food was hot, fresh and delicious. I wish it were closer so I can visit again. Service was pretty good and the atmosphere was acceptable.

One of the best country buffets I have enjoyed in a long time. The country steaks were the right-size...5 or 6 bites. White gravy...perfect. Fried okra, chicken breasts, sweet corn excellent. Wide variety of salad choices, peaches, cantaloupe, mixed fruit...all fresh. Priced right at $18. Staff was welcoming smiling, and friendly. Obviously a local favorite as the place was filling up quickly just before church let out. In Fairfield off the east side of I45. Recommended!

Came here on the way from Houston to Dallas with family visiting from abroad back in 2019. Wanted to write a review then but couldn’t remember the name of the place until I just passed by again this week.

Overall great fresh food, great place to introduce homemade southern style food to my European family. They enjoyed the welcoming and friendly atmosphere, and we keep good memory of this place we randomly picked on the road after trying to avoid eating at another fast food chain.

Now I can finally answer whenever my family asks “Oh what’s that place we ate at on the way from Houston to Dallas?” again. :)

This is a great restaurant with a huge buffet! I normally order from the menu because I love the pork chops but everything I've ever had here was really good.

We had a really big group, over 15 people, and the service was great. I won't try to review all the entrees we had but I can say the brisket, fried fish and pork chops were very good and everyone enjoyed them.

The desserts are fantastic! Go hungry and save room for soft serve ice cream or homemade pies.

Wow I can’t believe I have been passing this all these years. I make a lot of trips to Houston and this will be a must stop for me along the way. The buffet is huge and it is down home cooking. There is something for everyone from young to old. The bread that they bring out is delicious and a great start. They have a great menu, but I just couldn’t pass up the buffet. The salad bar is fresh and probably a hundred thing to choose from. Gotta check this one out!
They also have a great gift shop just as you walk in.

This is a halfway point for my sister and I to meet up for a visit. We had breakfast. It was the best western omelette I’ve had and pancakes delicious. Homemade bread was wonderful and even bought a loaf to take home along with some delicious coconut cream pie. The lunch buffet was being set up as we finished our late breakfast. It looked sooo good. The store is really cute with lots of great gifts. I highly recommend!

Folks, seriously. This is your preeminent country food stop.... Leave the dang diet in the car, go in and soak up the atmosphere. The hostess, waitress and entire crew are happy and you know it! Skip the salad, you can get rabbit food anywhere. Go for the fried chicken, fried steak (best ever!) brisket, sausage, green beans, corn, Mac n cheese, and hush puppies. Say YES to the bread when the waitress asks and slather it with butter! Aaaaannd your welcome! Save a spot for the pie, any pie, there is a wall of the stuff. Don't let your sidekick talk you into sharing. You will each need your own, make them different and only share then, to experience a variety!! Just do it Blanche.

One of our favorite spots on the way to Galveston. The buffet is a little pricey at $16.99, but worth it! Every bit of this comfort food was absolutely delicious from the unlimited best brisket you've ever had to the perfectly seasoned fried chicken. They even had chicken fried steak portions on the buffet. The buffet price also included a limited selection of their pies, which added value to price. There's also a gift shop with local items upon entry. Will return!

That was SO good! We stopped in to use the car charger and made a lunch stop out of it. Clean restrooms, nice buffet. Our server Nadia was super kind and efficient. We had the chicken salad in a tomato. Really, really good! I can't believe I had not been here before! We will be back!

We arrived for lunch on a Thursday. It was not very crowded so we were seated quickly. They have a great looking buffet at an excellent price especially with the amount and quality of the BBQ items offered. My appetite was not up for a buffet, so I had the "small" size chicken fried steak and my friend had the patty melt with onion rings. Both dishes were absolutely delicious and a great value for the price. I finished off my meal with a slice of apple crum pie. And even though it was not as warm as I like, it still tasted fresh and delicious. And the bread offered as we waited for our food was as fresh as any I have had before. This is absolutely yhe best place if you and your crew are hungry travelling between Dallas and Houston.

Cute little curio shop when you walk in. The food is pretty good, it's all homestyle in a buffet format. The menu changes slightly everyday. The salads are excellent and my favorite place to get a good salad!
Reasonable prices and very good service.

We stopped in Fairfield for the weekend and Sam's was one of the places we ate at.... I LOVE the little bread loaf they give you when you sit down. We came on a fried chicken steak night food was okay,but for a buffet it didn't have a lot to choose from apparently they change the options on a daily basis. We ordered sweet tea and it was delicious our server was very attentive,not very friendly but is okay people fight battles every day,we have no clue about. Would definitely stop and grab a bite to eat again.