An all-you-can-eat Southern country buffet has opened in Manhattan, and the details only get better: fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and a $26.99 adult dinner price. Good Time Country Buffet began serving September 12 at 166 First Avenue in the East Village.
The owners are David Yun, Steve Choi and Yong Min Kim, the team behind Korean diner Kisa and Southern and Korean restaurant C as in Charlie. Their newest project draws on the country buffets they grew up visiting around Atlanta, bringing a familiar Southern dining tradition to a new downtown address.
For Yun, that connection extends well beyond a few memorable meals. His father delivered produce to country buffets, and Yun worked the register at Donnie’s Country Cookin’, according to Eater. These were places woven into family life, including birthdays and outings with grandparents, he told Resy.
“It’s not something we’re inventing. We’re just reintroducing it from our perspective,” Yun told Resy.
The food follows through on that idea. Alongside fried chicken and collards, opening coverage lists Salisbury steak, cornbread and a build-your-own salad bar. Rotating dishes include rib tips, Sloppy Joes, chicken wings, fried catfish and chicken gizzards, according to Eater. Yun told the publication that Korean adaptations of Southern dishes were not part of the plan.
Resy also reported mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, with two hot stations and two cold stations forming the buffet. The format is the familiar one: serve yourself, sit down, and return when another helping seems appropriate. Nobody needs to negotiate which side dish the table is sharing.
Patterned wallpaper, wood paneling, booths and a drop ceiling carry the country-buffet atmosphere into the dining room. There is even carpeting. A preopening application filed with Manhattan Community Board 3 proposed seating for 60 diners.
Manhattan has Southern buffet history of its own. Charles’ Southern Style Kitchen in Harlem served an all-you-can-eat spread decades ago, as GQ documented. Good Time adds a new chapter, with a team drawing on its own Atlanta memories and giving the country buffet another place to gather.
Opening dinner prices were $23.99 for guests 65 and older and $13.99 for children ages 4 through 9. Drinks are additional, with sweet tea, soda, beer and a peach-forward frozen cocktail called Southern Twang among the reported options. The restaurant launched with Wednesday-through-Sunday dinner service from 5 to 10 p.m., accepting reservations and walk-ins.
For people who regard the freedom to go back for another piece of fried chicken as an essential restaurant amenity, this is a welcome addition to the map. The country buffet has a new Manhattan address.
