Pebbles Family Buffet is located at 313010 Hwy. 6 in the small village of Varney, approx. 180km NW of Toronto. It's tied with the Great Blue Heron as the least transit accessible location we've ever been to... there don't seem to be any bus routes in the area. Pebbles has a very generous birthday offer where there only needs to be one other paying customer at the table for a free birthday meal, whereas most places need four or more. The flipside is that it is only valid on the actual birthday day, instead of a few days before or after. There are also two levels of senior pricing for 60+ and 80+ (aka “Young at Heart”) whereas almost everywhere else is 65+ only, and it's also $6 less during weekday lunchtime, which is when we visited. Full price every other time is $43 currently. Pebbles has a brightly contemporary monochrome interior with religious music and motifs throughout as it is run by Mennonites. Note that due to this it is closed all Sundays. The main dining area behind the buffet even looks like a church with its vaulted ceiling. Booth seating is present (and was quite comfortable.) AYCD pop is available for $2.99.
Mishy loved the chicken fingers with included plum sauce. Beef vegetable soup was very good and the only missing savour was salt, probably to be kind to an older clientele... a little from the tableside rock salt grinder livened up several of the dishes. Noticed the same with the garden vegetable soup. Mishy adored the pulled beef as was very tender. I tried it and had a fantastic flavour due to the acid, perhaps vinegar, that tenderizes and flavours it; it reminded of German beef rouladin where this comes from the vinegar in the mustard. Macaroni and cheese had plenty of real cheese... definitely wasn’t Kraft Dinner. Green bean casserole seemed to use the same cheese sauce and it was a very good flavour combination. Breaded cod was good though I missed seeing any nearby lemon or tartar sauce. Homemade stuffing was delicious and had nice seasoning with some different flavours that still worked.
Chili I was not big on as it had (too much) added sweetness and was more like Sloppy Joe... would have been very good if that component was lost. This isn’t just merely my opinion either; competition chili does not have added sweetness (at least if the entrant is actually planning on winning!) Unfortunately the meatloaf suffered from the same thing with a sweet sauce. Pork and beans was excellent, and also due to being made on premises and not out of a can as everywhere else, so was much tastier. Roast beef was kept in a steam tray in gravy which tends to pull the flavour from it via liquefying the intramuscular fat; Mishy correctly compared it to pot roast which is prepared in the same manner.
There is an open flame grill, and entire small steaks are included with the buffet grilled-to-order, which is excellent. I had a medium-rare and it was delicious and almost as good as a steak from a steakhouse, as it had the real grill smokiness, and happily was not overdone as so many are apt to do. I had a burger from the grill as well and it was amazing due to that same smokey grilled flavour like being cooked over a barbecue. The pickles and bun went very well with it. Sausages are also homemade on or for the premises and not standard commercial, and were very good.
Sadly Mishy didn't care for Pebbles’ signature dish "broasted" chicken, which is pressure fried. She didn't like it as her piece was bony. Mine was not, and I loved the moistness and flavour. Truth to tell, the texture, moistness and seasoning all reminded both of us of the ready-to-eat hot roasted chickens at grocery stores, but breaded. Fries were probably the best I have ever had with much more flavour than others that were probably bought frozen from a supplier, but I asked and was told these too are actually bought from elsewhere. I guess it's just a matter of choosing the right supplier! Deluxe mashed potatoes are made with real butter and milk and are quite good.
For dessert, Mishy loved the poppy seeds and flax seeds of the Queen Elizabeth cake, and the posted history plaque of it. I agree it was delicious and the ingredients went together very well. She also loved the topping on the coconut cream pie. This was clearly a made on premises as it had actual creamy flavour to it without the chemically overtones in commercial pies. Gluten free peanut butter squares were delicious. Jumbleberry pie with added soft serve vanilla ice cream and real whipped cream was wonderful. I underdid it on the desserts as I was unfortunately very full. The servers are very friendly and pleasant in their traditional garb, and used plates were removed promptly.
Pricing Pebbles for value is difficult due to the two levels of seniors' discounts starting at 60, included steaks, the free birthdays with only one other paying diner, plus the partial buffets (soup/salad, soup/rolls and desserts only) that are offered. The base is currently $43 and $37 weekday lunch which is about $5 over, Spreading the 60-64 $5 discount evenly based on age percentages leaves less than a dollar average which isn’t enough to count, but it isn’t even: I’d estimate that half or more of the clientele is 60+. There are also going to be numerous people who only go for the birthday special which would result in serious bonus points only applicable one day a year. So I’m going to just call it standard pricing to avoid confusion and ambiguity hoping they all balance out. Regardless of the shortcomings, I certainly (over)enjoyed my lunch and look forward to future special birthdays there.
Rating: 8 - 8.5 / 10 + 0 value adjustment (standard pricing) = 8 - 8.5 / 10
