After 15 years, popular Warner Robins buffet is moving to a new location

Pat O’Neal has been in the restaurant industry for around 25 years.

He owns about a dozen Ole Country Times Buffet restaurants North Florida, Auburn, Alabama and Georgia, including those in Warner Robins and Macon. His other restaurants include the Smok’n Pig and Momma June’s, both in Valdosta.

His six children all help with Valdosta-based O’Neal Restaurants: two daughters work in the office, one handles social media from her home in California and his three sons help run the restaurants, two as managers.

Wednesday, O’Neal is opening an Ole Times Country Buffet in the former Golden Corral outside the Houston County Galleria. It’s not a new restaurant but a relocation of the one that’s been in business on Russell Parkway for some 15 years.

“We’re just excited about being in our new location,” O’Neal said.

O’Neal has done some remodeling at the new spot. He’ll be able to seat a few more people for a 438-seat capacity. The salad and dessert bars will be bigger.

O’Neal also plans to sell fresh frozen vegetables to customers by the bushel or half-bushel at the new restaurant. He’ll also have vine-ripened tomatoes and sweet potatoes for sale.

These are the same vegetables cooked up at the restaurant. O’Neal said he uses Georgia-grown products as much as he can.

He’s also got a new smoker at the Warner Robins location that can cook up to 700 pounds of meat at the same time for restaurant favorites of Boston butts, St Louis ribs, chicken and Sunday’s roast beef.

O’Neal has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic like other restaurants, having to close and later reopen and taking extra precautions to prevent transmission. His restaurants are operating anywhere from 60 to 90% capacity depending on their location.

He’s had employees who’ve been with him from the get-go, like Rita Golden who’s worked at the Warner Robins location since it opened.

O’Neal attributes the success of his restaurants to the quality and type of food served and value.

“It’s just good Southern cooking and just the way we do everything: quality and really a good fair price. We try to keep it where people can take the family out to eat at a reasonable price,” he said

The restaurant will keep the same hours of 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursdays, 10:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10:30 to 8 p.m. Sunday.