Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Typically if we go to a buffet - we hit them most frequently in Disney World - I will have one plate of salad, one plate of entree style food, and then a dessert. But, if there is something on the entree or salad bar that I just have to have a little bit more of, I will.
So, I would say that 3 - 4 is my normal plate count. Not that each plate is heaping with stuff. When I am forced to go to Old Country Buffet or the like, I have a salad and then my entree plate is typically a piece of their baked fish, and possibly a taco if the taco bar is not grimy...which it typically is...
To me, what it means and what it usually turns out to be are two different things. To me, what it means are no limits, endless amounts of different foods and binge eating (for lack of knowing what else to call it). What it turns out to be is usually one plate with a variety of types of food. Like someone else mentioned, I don't pile on the food. I can always go back for more or to get something else. I have to admit that I've gone back for seconds if there is a particularly good type of fish or vegetables. But any more than that and I'm stuffed. I like it so much better when I can get up from the table, walk around or out to the car or around the mall and not feel like I'm going to be sick.
I recently saw where some high end restaurants here in town were offering 'all you can eat' buffets for $29.99 over the Mother's Day weekend. I guess I'm too frugal (you can read that as 'cheap') to pay that. No plate of food is worth $30 a person. That's a lot of money for a family or even just for one person.
I would be charged at that restaurant, the old me would have eaten the food and made myself uncomfortable, but the new me will try something, and if I don't like it, won't eat it.
I went to an all you can eat buffet recently with some friends and there were a few items that I did NOT like. So probably about half a small plate (and not full, just like 3 items) had some things I didn't eat. A person came by later and asked me why I didn't eat it and I said I didn't like those items, like really- I'm not going to choke it down because it's on my plate.
I rarely go to them now, I just find I end up not liking most of the stuff produced in mass quantities that's allowed to sit and congeal for hours.
Only "all you can eat" place I like is Souplantation and even then I get a large salad, and then a soup or two and something else, I try not to overstuff myself anymore.
I don't go to buffet restaurants, because they charge a lot. However, I do love a good continental buffet at a hotel, and I loved the buffet on my ship between Port Canaveral and St. Maarten. Get what I want, however much or little I want of it. Great variety as well.
1-2 servings?
3-5 servings?
Eat till you explode then eat again?
Realistically, you eat the same amount of food yet pay a higher-price for it. I do buffets when I am not exactly sure of what I want, or I want a little bit of this and a little bit of that; ala cart but with the ability to go back for something I really liked. It also gives me the ability to sample something I might not be familiar with.
Not all buffets are the same. When I lived in Minneapolis I used to hit up the Sunday brunch buffets almost every Sunday. These were NOT at those chain Golden Corral or Country Buffet type of places, but instead at real-deal independent joints (someone might understand the reason for the italics). My favorite buffet is the Phillips seafood in Ocean City, MD. At $40 per person...it's worth it.
I went to my first "all you can eat" buffet last year while traveling in Las Vegas. It seemed like a classic "Vegas" thing to do so we did a champagne brunch buffet mid-afternoon. I mostly skipped the things I can eat any time such as pastas, mashed potatoes, rice and focused on the proteins, a little salad and dessert. I took very small portions of things I wanted to try. We don't typically eat dessert so I had some that looked good. We didn't eat again for the rest of the day.
On another trip we visited a restaurant known for Sunday Brunch buffets. Again, I focus on proteins, skipped most of the carbs, and ate a couple different desserts. Again, didn't eat again all day.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
