Many Tastes Of Home At Country Harvest

------------------------------------------------------------------ Restaurant review

Country Harvest Buffet, 31845 Pacific Hwy. S., Federal Way, 941-0140. Hours: breakfast, Saturday and Sunday, 8 to 11 a.m.; lunch, Monday through Friday, 10:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.; dinner, Monday through Saturday, 3 to 9 p.m., Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Checks, major credit cards accepted. No smoking; no alcohol. Wheelchair-accessible. Extra charge for takeout; discounts for seniors and children. ------------------------------------------------------------------

What a wonderful idea: an inexpensive restaurant with an all-you-can-eat format and no tipping.

Only two years old, Country Harvest Buffet is one of the fastest-growing and most successful restaurant chains in the Puget Sound area. Its $6.89 dinner price ($5.29 for lunch) attracts crowds of families and senior citizens who come to enjoy home-style cooking in a bright, clean, comfortable setting.

The homey interior, done in pastel shades of blue, rose and cream, makes it attractive for families, as do the prices: Kids 10 and younger get lunch or dinner for 49 cents per year of their age (on Thursdays, 45 cents per year), and senior citizens (60 and older) get lunch for $4.89 and dinner for $6.19. There also are "Senior Saver" cards offering additional discounts, including a free birthday meal.

Country Harvest has its genesis in the old Royal Fork Buffet chain (also an all-you-can eat buffet), which became the present King's Table restaurants. The parent company launched an experimental Country Harvest in a converted King's Table in Seattle, and the idea proved so popular that successive Country Harvests rapidly opened in Tacoma, Lynnwood and Yakima. A second Tacoma restaurant, and one in Bremerton, will open soon.

Instead of the single long buffet line at King's Table restaurants, Country Harvest offers a half-dozen "islands" of food and drink, making it easy to return for the inevitable seconds. Servers keep each buffet line well-stocked, and repeatedly visit your table to remove used dishes.

The menu, which rotates weekly, features such traditional American fare as roast beef and baked ham, pork cutlets, fried chicken and fish, mashed potatoes and gravy, and country biscuits, as well as soups, salads, breads and desserts.

The impressive, fresh salad bar has a full set of fixings, as does the potato bar; the steamed potatoes are rather small, but you can take as many as you like. Another island features pasta and seafood salads, fresh pineapple and grapes, carrot-raisin salad and coleslaw.

Strangely enough, for a restaurant that features old-fashioned cooking, Country Harvest's mashed potatoes are instant and its corn and green beans are the canned variety.

But the country biscuits are wonderfully fluffy and delicious (although the country gravy is a bit runny), the corn bread is very good and the roast beef and baked ham (served daily) are excellent. Also good are the fried chicken and steamed fish fillets, and the tasty soups are usually full of meat and vegetables.

The dessert bar includes cherry and apple crisp, lemon and chocolate cake, warm chocolate cookies, bread pudding and jello.

A popular feature is the country-style breakfast, served only on Saturday and Sunday mornings ($5.49 adults, $4.99 children). Along with the usual fixings you get eggs Benedict, corned-beef hash, French toast, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, and a Belgian waffle bar. Also available are grilled chicken livers, home fries, apple fritters, cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit and juice.

Fridays feature all-you-can-eat fried shrimp and Maryland crabcakes, while Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays offer Chinese, Mexican and Italian foods, respectively. Saturdays have barbecue and Sundays include roast-turkey dinners.