All you can eat doesn't mean all you should eat

[bcla]

In the case of all you can eat sushi, you fill out forms and the food is brought to the table on large trays, you pay when you are done. It’s enforced (my kids went once with friends who were inexperienced).

I've been to "all you can eat" sushi restaurants of different types, but I haven't seen full trays brought to the table. I remember one where it was only at the bar, orders went right to the sushi chef (prepared freshly), and there was a 1 hour limit to order (although there might have been a fuzzy end to the hour). The chef (a Japanese woman who was very good at it) suggested that we order the most (a la carte) expensive item on the menu first - a baked sushi roll that took about 15 minutes. I've been to one where the procedure was to order up to 3 at a time and they wouldn't allow another order until the previous order was reasonably consumed. A sushi boat place wasn't too bad.

Just traditional buffets have usually been pretty much on the honor system. Again - have seen the sign but I have never seen an employee confront a guest about wasting food. And my father in law can absolutely bring tons to the table that he never intends to finish. Kind of reminds me of the infamous scenes of Chinese tourists at all you can eat places.

 

[tvguy]

Guess I'll have to wait until I turn 80 to appreciate the smaller senior offers 'cause I DON'T WANT smaller at 72.

Do you eat it all, or take home the leftovers? Taking home leftovers was my mom's method of operation. She could get 4 meals out of a typical restaurant meal.

 

[bcla]

With picky kids a buffet was always a Godsend. Not because of all you can eat, but because everyone could find something they wanted to eat.

Food courts/halls are OK for that. But then again, kids often try something and decide that they don't like it. Buffets are good at that if a parent might just grab a sample and go back if the kids like it. But I have seen a lot of kids with piles of food who then refused to eat it.

 

[disneyseniors]

I got lured into Applebee's by their current all you can eat special on riblets, boneless wings (well more like glorified sauced chicken tenders), and fried shrimp. When I got there I verified that it did mean that I could get refills for all three items (and their varieties) and was told yes. For $14.99 and tax it seemed like a good deal. At least until I got the first full plate.

I mean - the price was actually lower than that of the regular entree price - at least where I was. But after finishing the initial plate with fries, I was already starting to feel full. And I had actually eaten minimally all day in anticipation. The refills were all pretty small though. They were on 5 inch round plates. I think my shrimp refill had something like 6 fried shrimp with cocktail sauce. Then one try at some boneless wings and I was done. I was feeling regret at that point.

I'm wondering who actually eats that much as to make something like this worthwhile. I do remember when I used to play pickup games at an open gym I could eat massive quantities, but that was years ago.

Thanks for that reminder, We are going tonight for their 14.99 deal
I love to eat out and don't care as long as I don't have to cook, LOL.

We like Applebee's in our town. They consistently have good food and is always busy. I think the level of goodness is different in every town/area.

 

[tvguy]

When I was working a short term job in the Sac area I would maybe go once a week to Red Hawk Casino for their buffet. I never went crazy gambling there - maybe $10-20 was my limit and if I won I'd go home with extra cash in my pocket. But I was younger and my body could consume a lot - especially if I ate minimally during the day and saved myself for the feast at night. I mentioned it once when I returned to that place for a full-time job interview (we actually had a group lunch with just two interviewees and the rest of the team) and one of the team members said that most people there had gone there for that dinner buffet at one time or another.

And it was only $9.99 (with their free loyalty card) for M-Th dinner, where they had beef tri-tip that was grilled over a wood fire. And $12.99 on Sunday nights with prime rib. But one could eat just as much tri-tip for less money. The only thing I learned was to avoid the two nights (might have been Monday and Wednesday?) where they had their "Club 55" for 55+ guest at $5.50. I'd wait in line an hour to get seated even though I wasn't getting the senior price. I think once I thought maybe the line would be short and when I got there I gave up and ate somewhere else.

I thought that they canned the buffet but apparently brought it back. I don't think I would return at their current prices though. Even way back when, it was something like $25 on Fridays and they had something like crab legs.

https://www.redhawkcasino.com/dining/restaurants/koto-buffet/

35+ years ago my wife and I would occasionally go up to Harvey's at South Lake Tahoe on a Friday night for their all you can eat seafood buffet. I have only been to Red Hawk once and thought their food prices were very high for a casino. But my mom was the Queen of the Reno/Tahoe gamblers special busses. She said Indian Casino food was always way more expensive than Nevada casinos.
I did look at the menus at Sky River Casino in Elk Grove. Their prices seemed high for a casino restaurant.

 

[bcla]

Do you eat it all, or take home the leftovers? Taking home leftovers was my mom's method of operation. She could get 4 meals out of a typical restaurant meal.

When I had the meal plan at Six Flags I could bring back stuff. It was something like $7 a month per person on top of the admission (about the same per month). Even if I did it on the weekends I could bring back lots of leftovers. The first day I was there I saw a woman (whose son worked there) who just came in to get food with her grandkids. She said that she could eat for about a week from just coming there on weekends. There's an Asian-ish place that only put food in takeout containers and that made it easy to take stuff home.

 

[AppleDumpling]

We rarely go to buffets. I’m a petite woman with a small appetite, and don’t want to gorge myself. At a regular restaurant, most portions are too big and I typically get a take-home box about 70-80% of the time. The benefit of a buffet to me is being able to try a wide variety of foods, rather than the quantity. Price isn’t an incentive.

DH and DS really enjoy the Brazilian/Portuguese rodizio places that have become popular here. The servers come around with large skewers of meat and slice it at your table, and keep coming until you tell them to stop.

 

[bcla]

Thanks for that reminder, We are going tonight for their 14.99 deal
I love to eat out and don't care as long as I don't have to cook, LOL.

We like Applebee's in our town. They consistently have good food and is always busy. I think the level of goodness is different in every town/area.

I have certain expectations. I don't expect Applebee's to blow me away, but as a mostly franchised chain I would expect consistency. But of course different franchise owners provide different levels of service. However, the food is supposed to be standardized. I hear different things about whether or not the food is prepped in a bag and frozen, but there probably are some things like sauces that actually work pretty well that way.

 

[mrodgers]

With picky kids a buffet was always a Godsend. Not because of all you can eat, but because everyone could find something they wanted to eat.

Luckily no picky kids for us. They ate what we ate from the time they were eating solid foods. It helped that most of our food we grew ourselves in the family.

Only time buffet was a Godsend was at Disney because they couldn't eat at any of the regular restaurants since they had to eat off the kid's menu. So we had to do buffet so the kids had something other than chicken nuggets and hotdogs available.

 

[EsseG]

I once watched a group of Amish families and a group of motorcyclists demolish a buffet in my town. Fortunately we'd just filled our plates and sat down. The highlight was the Amish women emptying the bread baskets into their aprons to carry back to their tables. I was in awe.

Either group would have been manageable but arriving together made it the perfect storm.

 

[mjkacmom]

We used to go to Chinese buffets when the kids were little, 4 and under ate free. The kids LOVED it, good eaters. I HATED it, if I’m going out to eat I want to be served, I want someone else to feed my kids. Fortunately they all closed.

 

[White Cat]

I don’t go to buffets. The thought of handling a serving utensil after people is nauseating to me. Especially seeing how many people are in the habit of licking their fingers.

A friend of mine has told me he likes to get his monies worth and over eats. Makes no sense to me. Even worse is taking extra food home.

 

[mjkacmom]

I've been to "all you can eat" sushi restaurants of different types, but I haven't seen full trays brought to the table. I remember one where it was only at the bar, orders went right to the sushi chef (prepared freshly), and there was a 1 hour limit to order (although there might have been a fuzzy end to the hour). The chef (a Japanese woman who was very good at it) suggested that we order the most (a la carte) expensive item on the menu first - a baked sushi roll that took about 15 minutes. I've been to one where the procedure was to order up to 3 at a time and they wouldn't allow another order until the previous order was reasonably consumed. A sushi boat place wasn't too bad.

Just traditional buffets have usually been pretty much on the honor system. Again - have seen the sign but I have never seen an employee confront a guest about wasting food. And my father in law can absolutely bring tons to the table that he never intends to finish. Kind of reminds me of the infamous scenes of Chinese tourists at all you can eat places.

 

[John VN]

Do you eat it all, or take home the leftovers? Taking home leftovers was my mom's method of operation. She could get 4 meals out of a typical restaurant meal.

NOTHING is ever left behind.

 

[fly girl]

this thread just made me instantly think of John Pinette. “you here 4 hour!”

As for myself, all you can eat and buffets aren’t my thing. As a petite woman I don’t eat my monies worth. And as a germaphobe all those dirty hands …

 

[tvguy]

NOTHING is ever left behind.

Well, I'm 65 years old, 6 ' 2" and up to 237 pounds and I'd be 337 pounds if I ate some of those portions now.

 

[tvguy]

Luckily no picky kids for us. They ate what we ate from the time they were eating solid foods. It helped that most of our food we grew ourselves in the family.

Only time buffet was a Godsend was at Disney because they couldn't eat at any of the regular restaurants since they had to eat off the kid's menu. So we had to do buffet so the kids had something other than chicken nuggets and hotdogs available.

My son lived on hot dogs and pasta with just butter on it. We took the kids on a cruise when he was 15 and our daughter was 11 and encouraged them to try new things and they did.
Unfortunately, he acquired a taste for filet mignon and escargot on that trip.

 

[mrodgers]

My son lived on hot dogs and pasta with just butter on it. We took the kids on a cruise when he was 15 and our daughter was 11 and encouraged them to try new things and they did.
Unfortunately, he acquired a taste for filet mignon and escargot on that trip.

And mine being away at school, we grab a bite to eat when I pick her up and take her back on the weekends and Red Lobster and the $30 lobster linguini is her favorite...

 

[Colleen27]

With picky kids a buffet was always a Godsend. Not because of all you can eat, but because everyone could find something they wanted to eat.

Same with having not-picky (or maybe more accurately, reverse-picky? one of mine loved sushi even as a toddler but wouldn't eat breaded meat/fish) kids. None of mine were particularly happy with the chicken nuggets, mac n cheese and hot dog offerings on most kids' menus but I certainly didn't want adult entree portions for them (except in the rare occasions I could convince two of them to agree on one thing to share). Buffets let them have adult food at kid prices.

 

[bcla]

I'm thinking of going to UC Berkeley and seeing what they have. Last time I had a look, a dining commons employee said that he'd let my kid in for free if I paid the adult rate. Didn't do it since we had already eaten. But $16 and tax doesn't seem too bad.

https://caldining.berkeley.edu/visiting/guests/

My family has been on family retreats at universities. I remember once we were at UC Davis and the food was actually quite good, although my wife was alarmed that my kid seemed to be going for Popsicles over and over again. Last year I stayed at home while they were at Sonoma State. My kid said the food wasn't as good.