I Tried a $19 Highway Buffet in Texas!! (Full Review)

0:00 What's it like to eat at an all you can eat highway buffet in Texas?

0:16 Hey everyone, hope you're having an amazing day.

0:17 It's Mark Wiens and today we are driving from Houston to Dallas on the I-45

0:24 and we have just pulled off the highway at a place called Fairfield,

0:30 home to Sam's Original.

0:34 OKAY, OH FEELS GOOD to stretch.

0:37 But again, welcome to Sam's Original.

0:39 This place has so much history.

0:41 It's a family-run institution.

0:43 It dates back to the early 1900s.

0:45 They have about 10 or more dishes that are

0:49 available and different each day of the week.

0:52 So, we happen to be here on a Friday.

0:56 So, I thought in order to make things more interesting for the buffet,

0:58 we'll be trying all of the specials for the day, every one of them.

1:02 And I will be giving you a rating so

1:05 you know what the best dish is at the buffet.

1:07 I'm excited.

1:08 This is an ultimate Texas highway buffet.

1:14 Another just monumental restaurant culinary

1:18 institutions that have been preserved.

1:20 This place is just classic.

1:23 You walk inside and the buffet is all in the center.

1:26 We're going to try it all.

1:33 Oh man, we haven't even been to the buffet

1:36 and already you get a whole loaf of bread.

1:38 People have very high reviews of the bread here.

1:42 Ready for the insides of it?

1:44 Oh, it feels like really fluffy.

1:46 More fluffy than your your average loaf.

1:49 This is not even one of the specials.

1:51 This is just something that's mandatory when you get here.

1:59 How's the little sweetness to it, crusty edges, and then it is really fluffy.

2:04 But yeah, with a little bit of butter, that would make it even better.

2:09 Okay.

2:10 We're off to a good start, and we haven't even made it to the buffet yet.

2:13 But let's go explore the buffet.

2:16 I think I'm going to ease my way into the buffet starting with a salad.

2:19 The salad section is impressive.

2:20 Actually, before we get to the salad, let's go for the soup.

2:22 And there's two different types of soup today.

2:24 There's a vegetable soup, and then there's a a Mexican soup, I think.

2:29 I guess we got to try both soups.

2:30 That looks hearty.

2:34 Yeah, let's jump into the salad starting with some iceberg lettuce here.

2:37 Go with a little bit of that.

2:40 I'll go for some of the sunflower seeds.

2:42 Oh, and here's more of the the other greens.

2:44 Onions.

2:46 Go for some of the broccoli.

2:49 Let's load up with some of these olives, some radish, um cucumber.

2:55 And then you have a lot of pre-mixed salads as well.

2:58 And then dressing, there's Italian, there's balsamic vinaigrette, there's ranch.

3:02 Let's go with some of the balsamic vinaigrette.

3:06 And continuing with the salads,

3:07 this is more of like the garnishing salad station with pickles.

3:11 Oh, these are like some of the pickled banana peppers, I think.

3:14 There's pickled jalapenos.

3:16 There's some mushrooms, some of the pickled beetroot.

3:21 And then they do have just some more carrot sticks.

3:24 Some like pico de gallo here.

3:26 Let's go with that.

3:28 And then there's Oh, yes, there's whole sprigs of green onions.

3:30 Oh, that's a must.

3:31 And then you do have your classic toppings, bacon bits, and croutons.

3:35 Well, it's almost like we need a bit more dressing on top of this now.

3:38 Yeah, I'll stick with the Italian.

3:42 That's a great selection of salad, actually.

3:44 You could come here and be happy just with the salad bar and the soups.

3:46 But this is just this is only the beginning, our base.

3:50 Well, let's start with the soups.

3:51 So, I'll start with this the vegetable soup.

3:53 Green beans, peas, carrots.

4:02 Similar to a minestrone soup.

4:03 It was very tomato-y based.

4:05 Tastes the sweetness of all those vegetables boiled down.

4:07 The onions in there.

4:08 And the vegetables are just kind of melting in your mouth.

4:10 It's good.

4:11 Not oily at all.

4:15 Just soft, tender vegetables.

4:18 And now for the Mexican zucchini and squash soup.

4:25 Actually, it almost tastes like a clam chowder without the clams.

4:29 Like that rich creaminess.

4:31 The sweetness of the corn.

4:32 And then the squash and the zucchini just melts in your mouth.

4:34 With a just enough acidity in the tomatoes to balance it.

4:43 Okay.

4:43 Now, onto the salad.

4:44 Yeah, I got a big mix of different things though.

4:46 The pickled jalapenos, the the spring mixed greens down there, broccoli, onions.

4:59 I love that addition of the the pickled jalapenos.

5:02 Pickled jalapenos make everything better.

5:05 The onions as well.

5:06 The crispness of the onions.

5:10 Also, it's always good before you eat that heavier the fried food,

5:16 the barbecue that we're about to eat.

5:18 It's always good to have a base of vegetables.

5:25 Now, for the green onion.

5:30 Oh, yeah.

5:32 I love all those pickles.

5:33 The pickled jalapenos, the pickled peppers.

5:52 That salad hit the spot.

5:54 And let's bring up our list of the daily specials today.

5:58 So I was thinking let's divide it into two plates.

6:00 The first plate will have three of the proteins plus some sides and then

6:03 we'll go go back for another plate with the next three of the proteins.

6:07 And again for these dishes we're going to be rating them

6:10 so that we can find the best dish at the buffet.

6:19 Okay, I got my first plate of food.

6:22 Looks excellent and then we definitely have more that we missed

6:24 that we need to come back for on the next plate.

6:28 Okay, I'm going to start with Oh, let's start with the chicken fried steak.

6:33 Yeah, when it comes to Texas food probably

6:34 the most iconic is steak or maybe barbecue than steak.

6:38 But anyway, chicken fried steak is it's up

6:40 there with the most iconic foods of Texas.

6:42 Um and usually they can be giant but it's nice that they give you

6:45 a little portion because you got to you got to try all the buffet.

6:52 Feels like it's been flattened to tenderness.

6:54 It's crispy and then you kind of have that just creamy gravy on top.

7:00 It's really tender with just that crispy edge.

7:03 Let's see.

7:04 Rating?

7:05 Pretty good.

7:05 Um I'd say like a six and a six and a half out of 10.

7:11 Next up, let's move right along to the green beans.

7:17 Okay, I usually prefer when green beans are a little more crisp I guess.

7:23 Like not quite as wilted down.

7:25 These are cooked until they're like

7:26 completely like disintegrating in your mouth.

7:28 It's the style of the cooking in America um in the south especially.

7:33 And you do taste the nice salty juiciness

7:35 plus the onions the sweetness of the onions.

7:37 I'd say like a five and a half.

7:40 Now, I'm not totally sure what this is.

7:42 It looks like a meatball.

7:43 So, on the menu there is barbecue sausage or it could be the meatloaf.

7:47 There's also meatloaf on the menu as well.

7:53 On the buffet line they don't have names

7:55 of the dishes because I think most people will know.

7:58 They're all pretty distinguishable.

8:00 But actually I'm not sure if that's the meatloaf or the sausage.

8:02 Well, if you know, let me know in the comments

8:04 below if this is the meatloaf or the sausage.

8:07 But it it is like nicely seasoned with a little bit of pepper,

8:11 a little bit of onions and like some green peppers in there as well.

8:17 And then the meat You know, it's like a solid meatball.

8:21 I found this on another table, some Louisiana hot sauce.

8:24 Oh, there we go.

8:31 With that Louisiana hot sauce you can't go wrong.

8:33 Not too hot, but that good acidity and the pepper flavor.

8:36 That meatball or sausage or meatloaf.

8:40 Yeah, that's really good.

8:41 I think it's going to get a Let's see.

8:44 That's an eight out of 10.

8:48 I've just confirmed with the waitress

8:49 that the meatball is actually the meatloaf.

8:51 In terms of meatloaf, this is like top.

8:54 That's like an elite meatloaf because it's not ready.

8:56 Sometimes you get the meatloaf in America

8:58 that's like too bready, too spongy almost.

9:03 This meatloaf is solid meat.

9:04 I don't even taste the bread in here.

9:06 Uh so, in terms of meatloaf, yeah, I'm in fact I'm going to I'm going to revise

9:10 my rating and give it an eight and a half.

9:14 That is good meatloaf.

9:16 And I'm not quite sure what this dish is either.

9:17 I don't know if it's on the daily specials.

9:19 It looks like almost like a like a risotto,

9:21 like rice with a cheesy sauce with broccoli.

9:26 Yeah, that is rice.

9:28 That is creamy and cheesy and that is broccoli.

9:30 It's almost like a rice and broccoli macaroni and cheese,

9:33 like the same kind of sauce as the macaroni and cheese.

9:37 Pretty rich for me.

9:39 But tasty.

9:40 I'm going to say 6 out of 10.

9:42 Okay, and now for the pinto beans.

9:47 Mhm.

9:48 That tastes like it's been simmered for hours

9:50 and hours until they're perfectly creamy in texture and starchy.

9:54 And you taste the flavor of like that smoked meat in there, maybe smoked bacon.

9:58 Really good pinto beans.

9:59 That's like a a 7 and 1/2 out of 10.

10:04 Then also on this plate we have the barbecue beef, which I'm very excited for.

10:08 Oh, oh that definitely does not need a knife.

10:10 The knife is just a prop.

10:12 But it does look like a brisket.

10:14 But like a leaner brisket.

10:16 You know they know what they're doing when it comes to barbecue beef.

10:22 Oh, yeah.

10:24 I think that is the leaner brisket.

10:25 The tangy, sweet barbecue sauce, the smoke embedded.

10:29 I actually quite like the lean brisket.

10:31 Not too fatty, not too rich.

10:33 And it is a buffet, so you can't compare this barbecue brisket

10:37 to a a craft barbecue restaurant that you're

10:40 going to go to when you're in Texas, but it's a great buffet barbecue beef.

10:44 Has that smokiness, has that crispy bark around the edges.

10:50 Mhm.

10:52 I'd say like a 7 out of 10.

10:54 Guys, so so far after the first plate the meatloaf surprisingly is at the top.

11:01 Little bit of that Louisiana hot sauce.

11:12 I love the pinto beans.

11:14 But before we go to get our next plate of food,

11:15 I want to tell you a little bit of history about

11:17 this place because it has some incredible history uh how it got started.

11:22 So it all dates back and it started in the early 1900s with uh Mr.

11:27 Samuel Augustus Daniel.

11:29 And at the age of 9 years old in Fairfield, Texas.

11:33 He started selling chili as well as an ice cream called Hokey Pokey.

11:37 I think Hokey Pokey is like with little sugar caramel in the ice cream.

11:40 And so, at 9 years old, he started selling here.

11:43 But then later on, Sam and his wife

11:45 Doris opened a barbecue restaurant here in 1953.

11:49 I think actually it wasn't even a restaurant.

11:51 It was more of a stall or a stand serving barbecue.

11:54 And then from there,

11:54 they continued to grow because of the traffic along the highway,

11:58 eventually becoming a buffet.

12:00 But Sam Daniel's his original barbecue recipe

12:04 and barbecue sauce is one of their key ingredients.

12:08 And I tasted that sauce.

12:08 That sauce is great.

12:09 It has an amazing tanginess.

12:11 But that barbecue sauce is still the original barbecue sauce, same recipe.

12:15 And Sam's Original, the buffet, is still family run.

12:18 It is an institution.

12:20 People drink coffee, hang out, chat for a while, sit for an hour,

12:24 two hours, uh maybe we're even going to be here three hours.

12:28 You can eat as much as you like.

12:30 Okay, this time I'm going to go for some of the corn.

12:34 Get some of the mashed potatoes.

12:37 And then here are the the main proteins that we still need.

12:40 Let's get a nice piece of fried catfish.

12:43 And then not forgetting the fried chicken.

12:45 That looks like a good piece right there.

12:47 And we're going to put the gravy on the mashed potatoes.

12:50 And I actually love the barbecue sauce to give it a bit of tanginess.

12:54 Got the next plate of food.

12:56 You know the only biggest problem about a buffet

12:59 when you're on a road trip is that it's

13:01 so much food and the likelihood of getting

13:05 sleepy increases with every single bite that you take.

13:08 All right, let's go with the corn next.

13:15 Really sweet, not too buttery, has a little bit of acidity to it.

13:18 Just good classic.

13:19 You can't go wrong with corn.

13:21 Seven out of 10.

13:23 Okay, next up let's try the catfish.

13:25 And you can see Oh, even though it's

13:27 in the buffet but you can feel how crispy it is.

13:29 It looks like cornmeal.

13:31 Maybe we break it in half.

13:32 Oh nice that's really flaky.

13:33 Oh and you can actually see the moistness of it as well.

13:42 Oh yeah that fried catfish is excellent.

13:45 Really meaty.

13:47 Really moist and flaky.

13:49 Has that natural oiliness to it with that cornmeal crumble fry on the outside.

13:54 That's some really good fried catfish actually.

13:56 Really good.

14:01 The barbecue sauce has not hurt anything.

14:04 It's ever touched.

14:05 Oh and actually we got to put on some Louisiana hot sauce as well.

14:11 It's a perfect combination.

14:14 The tangy vinegary hot sauce.

14:16 The flaky crispy catfish.

14:19 Catfish.

14:20 Excellent.

14:21 I got an 8 out of 10.

14:24 Okay mashed potatoes.

14:29 Good.

14:30 Smooth.

14:30 I like how the mashed potatoes are not too not too buttery.

14:34 But yeah a nice smooth texture.

14:36 Classic home style mashed potatoes.

14:38 7 out of 10.

14:41 Okay let's try this I think it's from the the kids section.

14:44 Could be a mozzarella stick.

14:45 Is it cheese?

14:46 I think so.

14:47 Well this is not really on the menu this is just a little an extra freebie.

14:53 Oh no they're not they're not cheese on the inside.

14:55 It's all like a hushpuppy.

14:57 Okay.

14:58 And we have the fried chicken.

15:00 I do like the way it looks.

15:01 Nice and golden.

15:03 You see the seasoning the pepper in it.

15:06 The skin is fully crispy.

15:14 I hope you could hear that crispiness of the skin.

15:16 The seasoning is not too heavy but you taste

15:19 the black pepper and the chicken underneath is nice and juicy.

15:22 That skin is definitely a highlight, though.

15:25 That's just purely crispy.

15:26 Again, another combination that never fails,

15:28 Louisiana hot sauce and fried chicken.

15:40 Yeah.

15:41 It's a staple, an essential dish when you're in Texas,

15:44 when you're in America, fried chicken.

15:49 Good fried chicken.

15:50 Especially for a buffet.

15:51 I mean, you know it's made in quantity, and it sits at the buffet.

15:55 Um so, it's not going to be as good as when it comes out of the oil,

15:58 but it is still really good fried chicken.

16:00 It's like a 7 and 1/2 out of 10.

16:08 And we just scoop up all of that corn with the barbecue sauce,

16:12 with the white gravy, with the chicken skin.

16:16 Oh, that makes everything better.

16:21 That catfish.

16:22 That catfish is a highlight.

16:26 So good.

16:28 Okay, on to the desserts.

16:29 And they have the the cobbler stations over here.

16:31 This one is the banana pudding, another essential southern dessert.

16:35 I think this one is the peach cobbler.

16:41 Oh, there's pecan pie, there's like a apple pie.

16:45 There's that looks like a lemon meringue.

16:48 And if you keep going down, one of the most popular pies is

16:50 the the chocolate pie and the the coconut meringue.

16:54 I don't think there's any way I can eat both of them.

16:56 So, I think we'll go Should we go chocolate?

16:59 What should we choose?

17:00 What would you choose?

17:02 Would you choose the coconut meringue or the chocolate?

17:04 Um Okay.

17:07 We'll go chocolate.

17:11 Okay, let's go eat dessert.

17:14 A dessert at the end of your meal is

17:16 part of the their repertoire of a meal in Texas.

17:20 Okay, this one must be the bread pudding.

17:21 Let's start with that.

17:27 A little bit of a cinnamon flavor.

17:29 It is kind of bready and puddingy.

17:32 I guess that's why it's a bread pudding.

17:33 Very good.

17:34 A little bit of custard on the top as well.

17:35 Quite sweet actually.

17:37 But good.

17:38 7 out of 10.

17:41 Okay, we got the peach cobbler next.

17:43 Another classic.

17:50 Peach cobbler.

17:51 Excellent, again.

17:53 Nice and sweet.

17:54 Peaches melting in your mouth.

17:55 Have that kind of like gooey, crusty, crispiness and butteriness.

17:59 Yeah, let's give it 7 and 1/2.

18:02 And then we have a classic southern banana pudding.

18:06 That's an absolute essential.

18:07 You see the pieces of banana just melting, the wafers, the pudding.

18:20 The bananas have the exact same texture as the pudding.

18:23 Just melting, gooey in your mouth.

18:27 The flavor of the banana.

18:29 That vanilla-y pudding with the wafers that just kind of collapse.

18:35 7 out of 10.

18:38 And now finally, Sam's original famous pies.

18:41 So, there's the meringue on top.

18:42 There's the chocolate and vanilla, I think all in one.

18:45 And I know Sam's wife Doris was legendary, well-known for her pies.

18:50 Uh and she personally made the pies for many, many years.

18:53 And so, their family is still continuing her pie and cobbler legacy.

18:59 Probably some people that don't even eat the buffet, they stop for a pie.

19:06 Okay, that's the highlight dessert right there.

19:08 Really chocolatey with another maybe vanilla custard to to contrast it.

19:13 It's creamy.

19:14 The meringue just melts in your mouth.

19:15 That chocolate pie is excellent.

19:17 That's like I'm going to say 8 and 1/2.

19:20 Yeah, that's good.

19:20 Oh, it even has a nuttiness to it.

19:22 I don't know if it's that it's it's in the crust.

19:24 Did I get a like a pecan in that bite?

19:27 Possibly?

19:28 Maybe?

19:29 And it definitely passes the wobble test.

19:32 Mhm.

19:34 So, we rated the entire buffet, every dish.

19:39 If I remember correctly, the top things are the the meatloaf,

19:46 the fried catfish, and the the chocolate pie.

19:51 I think those were our top three three items.

19:53 But really, buffet was excellent.

19:57 It's affordable.

19:57 It's $19.99.

19:59 And additionally, along with the food, the Texas hospitality, the friendliness,

20:06 all the waitresses, the yeah, the staff have been fantastic.

20:10 And they will take care of you when you come here.

20:13 Oh, kind of rolling out of Sam's, but that was great.

20:16 And I think I told you a mistake.

20:18 I think I said $19.99, but it's actually $19.49 per person, per adult.

20:23 So, that's great value for what you get.

20:25 And again, the Texas hospitality, the friendliness,

20:29 I love that it's still family run.

20:32 This is a must stop for an excellent, great experience,

20:37 and an all you can eat buffet on I-45 when

20:40 you're driving from Dallas to Houston or Houston to Dallas.

20:43 From here, we're back on the road.

20:45 So, see you on the next video.