We used to do the Bob's Big Boy thing once upon a time. The all-you-can-stomach breakfast is a big draw. Although chafing dishes and buffet tables often make lunch and dinner entrees a bit overcooked, it's difficult to screw up breakfast in the same way.
I note several members here recommend hotels. I have to say that the best buffet brunches I've ever had were in hotels. While the Bob's Big Boys of the world have no real need to be fabulous in order to draw customers, hotels want repeat guests, and so their buffets tend toward the fancy. Yes, sometimes you get "caviar" dishes, but you usually can also find waffles and omlettes made to order, sausage in both links and patties, pancakes with real maple syrup rather than Aunt Jemima, and true sausage gravy with fresh biscuits. There are a couple in particular that I recommend highly.
In the winter of 1996 there was a major snowstorm on the East Coast. We were staying for the weekend (or so we intended) in Blacksburg, Virginia, in the mountians in the southwestern tip of that state. We wound up staying three extra nights, as they'd closed all the roads leading out of town. (Fortunately, we had an all-wheel-drive Audi, owned by "Argent" on this forum, which took us into town to the great dart bar, Ton 80.) Many of the people staying in town for the same event were at a cheap hotel down the street from us. But we were at the Courtyard by Marriott. The cheap hotel didn't pay its staff particularly well, so they didn't bother coming in in the snow. Marriott pays time and a half if you come in in the snow, so somebody walked a mile through three feet of snow to cook us waffles, omlettes, and breakfast stir-fry to order. Now
that was a breakfast! My husband remembers the poached salmon and smoked salmon in particular.
But not all Courtyards are alike. We went to one in Virginia Beach that was notably inferior. You had to make your own waffles if you wanted any, and everything was overdone and left out too long.
On the other hand, I can't recommend The Tradewinds, also in Virginia Beach, highly enough. Two huge groaning tables filled with the widest variety of foodstuffs. And the crowning glory is the swans. They have whipped cream-filled pastry swans which we all toast each other with and bite their heads off together. Argent is a major fan of this hotel, and introduced us to it.
The Asian thing is great, by the way. I did in fact visit a Chinese restaurant's breakfast buffet. It was in Richmond, actually, and was basically dim sum and chicken wings. I amused my friends by noting that Buffalo wings were actually a Chinese invention, and that they'd derived from Buffalo, China. They scoffed, but I said, "No, really! Look at the underside of your plate!" Lo and behold, it read, "Buffalo China."
