Reviews Fred's Market Restaurant

I was really in the mood for some great Southern comfort food. I drove over an hour (Minneola to Lakeland) because this was/is the best place I could think of. Thankfully, Fred's did not fail!! The food was just as good yesterday as it was over 2 years ago.😋 I really wish Fred's in Lake Mary didn't close. Also, the pricing structure isn't too bad considering everything cost more these days.

I heard about this restaurant a few weeks ago and decided to try them today when we were nearby. Wow! If you like traditional southern cooking, stop reading this and go to Fred's. Their menu changes but today we had green beans, macaroni and cheese, corn casserole, collard greens, black eye peas, sweet plantains, mojo pork, fried green tomatoes, fried catfish, fried chicken, corn bread, biscuits and more. They have a dessert bar but we managed to skip it (diuh-beetus). However, the best part of the meal was the salad bar which brings me to my only complaint. Why does the salad bar have smaller plates? Service was also great. Our server was very sweet and attentive but I overheard other servers around us and they all seemed very friendly. Can't wait to go back.

I love this Southern home food spot. When you walk in you get this Southern hospitality feeling. They see you get your drinks and then you go to the buffet they had a lot of choices of sides. And maybe about four selections of different meat( ribs chicken fish beef tips). A couple of the desserts were good I would recommend the pecan pie or the red velvet the banana pudding really didn't have any flavor. For two people the bill was $41.

My daughter & we visited this lovely, clean, affordable family style restaurant. The food & service were great. I tried to finish my plate, but I couldn't 😂 I even took home a gallon of sweet tea😋If you're ever in the Lakeland area, do stop in and pay Fred's Market Restaurant a visit.

Legit so good I don't even know where to start. Kids eat free Monday-Thursday, 2 per each adult meal. Our family of 5 (with 3 growing boys) ate for under $40 before tip. The menu was explained briefly and we chose the multiple trip option. Our server was so attentive and noticed we'd only taken one trip to each station and made sure our bill reflected that. Water on water on water, never let them get near empty. I am bad with names but I really hope I'm getting it right, Brendan I believe was his name. Okay so then the food. It's so rare that I don't have to season things at a buffet and I didn't use a single shake of salt or pepper. The salad bar was fresh, the food was warm and homey and perfect. Loved all of the breads. Rutabagas, greens, cabbage, black eyed peas, great northern beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese, tomato gravy. And that's only part of it. They have daily meat specials. The desserts were great and I like that they're served. I had bread pudding and butter pecan ice cream. I wanted to still be hungry so bad, it was all so good. I've not found country vegetables and soul food done this well at home in Memphis or in the many places I've been. We are only in town for one night and I haven't ruled out going back for breakfast. (Edit: We for sure went back for breakfast). Great experience and vibes, highly recommend!

Just a yummy buffet with fresh food and cozy environment. Inviting staff and good service. Loved it! My favorite was the sweet potatoe casserole and the corn casserole!

Nothing to complain about here. Eat here weekly for many years and never had a complaint. You choose what you would like to eat and the prices reflect on that. Very good and so many choices. Very country southern cooking. The Family founders are lovely people. Perfect eating experience.

If you haven't tried this restaurant! You need to go immediately. The food is amazing. Everything I tried from the potato salad to the fall off the bones was delicious. The food is like Big Momma cooking. The buffet is only $20.76 Not to mention the staff is very friendly and professional. The desserts are tasteful as well.

We drove from Orlando to Lakeland to experience this all you can eat buffet for $15.95 at Fred's Market Restaurant. We ate around 4pm, so well after the brunch menu had been removed and the lunch/dinner menu was being served. I was very impressed with the fried catfish nuggets which were fried to perfection in a cornmeal dredge. The mashed potatoes covered in brown gravy was super delicious, especially with the corn casserole as an added crunch. I had the smoked chicken thighs which was some of the best smoked chicken I have ever had. Perfect smoke ring, and oh so juicy. I had seconds on those as well as the regular fried chicken which was also fried to perfection and had a really nice seasoning both on the skin as well as the inside chicken. One of the juiciest fried chickens I have ever had the privilege of gobbling down. The Mac'n cheese was utterly flavorless however. It contained a great deal of cheese, but it was just very dull and had absolutely no seasoning to it. Really needed some salt or a saltier cheese to make it more palatable. The oh so soft hot buttered rolls were to die for and were the perfect accompaniment to the fried chicken and mashed potatoes covered in gravy. The cornbread biscuits were also quite good, but could have been a little more seasoned. My second plate had fluffy white rice which was quite good covered in a pot roast stew which had carrots and large Yukon gold potatoes cooked in. This was very delicious and went well with the cornbread biscuit and a hot buttered roll. I did feel like the sides were very lacking however. I had some cooked cabbage which had no seasoning or at least sweet and sour on it what so ever, and the green Italian flat beans also had no seasoning on them at all either. Keeping with the same problem with the side dishes, the collard greens were absolutely flavorless also. I have had many a collard green, but these I couldn't even finish. Just no love in the cooking of the sides. I did see pigeon peas, and other types of beans which I did not try as I was too full by the end to even attempt to eat them. They had a soup of the day which was bean soup, and while I didn't try it, it smelled wonderful. I should have gotten a bowl in retrospect. The salad bar was fairly large and had a good variety of greens and vegetables to add as well as cubed ham and a variety of cheeses and croutons. Cottage cheese and fresh fruit was also included and looked quite tasty. I saw many people going to the salad bar, but I simply had no room in my stomach after my three plates of food. I DID have some dessert however, and I had a bowl of some of the best banana pudding I have ever eaten. A very good mixture of freshly sliced bananas and of course the scrumptious pudding topped with fresh whipped cream made this a standout favorite for me. I also had a big bowl of hot peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and again, it was one of the best I have ever eaten. The dining room is slightly cramped and pretty outdated, but the service and main dishes more than make up for the ambiance. Our server was constantly checking on us and removed our dishes as soon as we finished them as well as filled up our water glasses and fountain drinks. Service was impeccable! The floors and overall appearance was clean albeit outdated, and the bathroom I used was average as it was fairly clean but slightly cramped. All in all it was a very pleasant experience and I would definitely go again, next time I would like to try the breakfast fare on the brunch menu. There aren't that many all you can eat buffets around, surprisingly for a tourist driven economy, and it is nice to go to one where the majority of the food was outstanding. If it wasn't for the very subpar side dishes, I would have given it 5 stars, but those were so drastically under seasoned, that there is just no way that I could rate it any higher. If you love awesome smoked and fried chicken and some really, really good southern desserts, come to Fred's Market Restaurant and eat your monies worth - I sure did!

My girls and I really enjoyed this place. It was our 1st time and we will definitely be back. We had a great experience and were very well taken care of by our sweet and kind server Naomi. She was such a delight, so polite, kind and so attentive to us. We came during lunch, reasonably priced for a great selection of food. I especially loved and enjoyed all the side dishes: collar greens, black eyed peas, sweet potato casserole, mash and gravy and the Mac and cheese was so delicious. Just like having a home cooked meal! There also were soups and a salad bar but did not get to try those. Deserts were also delicious, red velvet, peach cobbler and my girls enjoyed the ice cream.