What is the best chain buffet?

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Originally posted by enginecapt

That yeast roll looks a bit underdone. Do I see red velvet cake?

YES, that IS red velvet cake, which I have a thing for...
theirs was just okay..

quote:

Originally posted by Brad_Olson

"Pssst...hey lady, we'll give you $3 to say something nice about us on Roadfood..."

Brad

Hey Brad,
It would take a lot more than 3 bucks for me to talk nice!
That was just my tip for the waiter, of course...

Love Golden Corral! Everything seems to be homemade and fresh - including their mashed potatoes. I like it mainly because I can have just a little bit of lots of things. I always start with the salad so I don't go way overboard on the desserts.

1. Todai in either LA or honolulu
2. Golden Corral; it is what it is and does it well.
3. King Chinese Buffet; they have over 24 dim sum items on the weekends

quote:

Originally posted by ellen4641

Well, Michael are you starting to sway just a little bit?
C'mon, just a little?!?

Nope. It could be the greatest chef in the world serving up nothing but my very favorite foods, but if it was presented buffet style I wouldn't go near it.

1. Todai in either honolulu or LA
2. Golden Corral; it is what it is and it does it well.
3. King's China Buffet; 24 items of dim sum on the weekend

Buffets/cafeterias are fantastic. I'm not sure I can remember a single one I've been disappointed with. My favorite was a cafeteria that sadly disappeared from Las Vegas a few years ago, Furr's. I believe it's still available elsewhere.

And I've lived in Las Vegas since the mid '80s, so I've sampled dozens of buffets. On a recent Hawaiian cruise on NCL with the freestyle meals I ate exclusively at the buffet, while the stuffy passengers predictably wasted hours of precious travel time pretending they were experiencing something extraordinary or necessary at the cliche restaurants.

For one thing, at a buffet there's a minor factor called vision. It's incredible that consumers want to open packages, and sort through every type of garment before purchase, etc., but in the most basic daily experience of them all, food consumption, they are blindly content to rely on a brief description or a tiny picture. LOL. I've had so many problems avoiding hideous cheese at standard restaurants, even when I emphasize no cheese to the waiter, that it's sheer delight to pick and choose from a display, certain my plateful is cheeseless and therefore edible.

The secret to buffets is avoiding the high cost garbage and defaulting to the basic establishments. I've known many people who have worked in the food and beverage departments of Las Vegas casinos and they insist the difference from place to place is primarily the presentation, not the quality of the food. One guy, previously with Flamingo Hilton, said he took several chefs with him from a $9.95 buffet to a new casino charging $24.95, and the only difference was the new place had idiotic customers conditioned to believe they were looking at something unique and therefore worth the price.

BTW, it's high hilarity reading this thread. There can't be anything more pathetic than someone desperately posting over and again that he's petrified of buffets. It reads like a parody.

quote:

Originally posted by Awsi Dooger

BTW, it's high hilarity reading this thread. There can't be anything more pathetic than someone desperately posting over and again that he's petrified of buffets. It reads like a parody.

I don't recall anyone posting that he is petrified of buffets. By the way, a cafeteria and a buffet are different animals.

What about things like Mongolian BBQ or Omelet Bars, where you gather your ingrediants from a buffet, but someone than cooks your food in front of you. Would those of you hate buffets be open to something like this?

quote:

Originally posted by Robearjr

What about things like Mongolian BBQ or Omelet Bars, where you gather your ingrediants from a buffet, but someone than cooks your food in front of you. Would those of you hate buffets be open to something like this?

Nope!

This one is easy for me. I think there are 3 in different cities so I'm calling it a chain. Phillip's Seafood Buffet. Golden Corral...is what it is, and what it is is not the best.

We used to enjoy TODAI, an Asian Buffet with the accent on sushi and other fresh seafood items. When I mentioned this group of restaurants (it has expanded nation-wide) Some folks here said that it had gone downhill in quality since the expansion. Too Bad, it was a pretty good place to go.
The SUMO in Irvine,CA just off the 5 freeway, was another of the same sort of place. It was a favorite place to go when we were taking my mother out to lunch while visiting her.

quote:

Originally posted by Robearjr

What about things like Mongolian BBQ or Omelet Bars, where you gather your ingrediants from a buffet, but someone than cooks your food in front of you. Would those of you hate buffets be open to something like this?

I wouldn't.

I do love Mongolian BBQ. My Bro, a Marine, says he has had the REAL thing, cooked on a shield, over an open fire, by Momgolians, in... Mongolia.
Joe
Edit... Now that's REAL Roodfood!

The Marines are in Mongolia?

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Originally posted by Robearjr

The Marines are in Mongolia?

They were during War Two.

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Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

quote:

Originally posted by Mossman

To just refuse a buffet style restaraunt is, well........... nevermind.
But to think people actually lean "up under" the sneeze guards just to sneeze on the food is crzy.
If you feel you're NOT getting your food sneezed on, spit on, floor wiped or otherwise, just because you get it hand served to you.........is also crazy. That's the best chance of getting "special treatment" of your food... especially if you ooze unhappy person to the wait staff.

What is crazy is someone thinking I ever said that people lean under the sneeze guards in order to sneeze on the food. I said I'd seen people doing it, not that the reason they leaned under was to sneeze. I've also seen people use their hands to pick up food, and then put it back, and I have seen children reach in and grab food, take a bite and put it back. Yessir. Buffets are wonderful places to eat. You are welcome to all the buffet food I don't go near.

By the way, who said I was oozing unhappiness -- other than you?

That settles it. I am NOT going to eat at a buffet. Everything you mention above seems entirely plausible.

BTW, FWIW, I have never noticed a buffet restaurant around here other than the Chinese ones.

Those reasons and more are why I don't go near buffets... or if I do, I get food to go - right when they open.

I'd have to say The Mandarin here in Canada.

My Brother was in Mongolia. He could not tell me why. I hope my mention of him being there is not a briech of national security!

Edit; Oh, maybe he just went for the BBQ! He was already in Japan. Some here at Roadfood have taveled further for some good Q.

The Mongolian BBQ booth at the Rio buffet, in LV, was the only booth that had a long line.
Joe

don't care for golden corral myself, or most of the other chain buffets. but i have a fondness for sweet tomatoes (called soup plantation out west). all their soups are good, great salad bar, great premade salads-caesar, wonton chicken etc. their pasta is awful so i avoid that, but im usually full from salad anyway. sometimes im in the mood for just soup and salad and they fit the bill

I went to an International buffet last week-was sick all night long-don't really know if it was from that-but I say you need to pick and choose your buffet. This is why I started this thread.

Any restaurant buffet is the best place in the world to come in contact with all sorts of germs....what else would you expect with food being under heating lights for hours and people with unwashed hands using all the serving utensils?

Mike, sory about your experience!

I guess I have been lucky? I have been to more buffets than I can count w/ no probs. I am a beleiver in geting germs in small amounts. That is not to say that that will save me from some bugs.

"The meek shall inherit the earth". Hmm, who said that? Could it mean that bacteria and viruses will be all that's left? I think so. Hey, you heard it first here at Roadfood, maybe? But, no one will be around to prove me wrong. Shoot, I love being wrong!
Joe

Why do you think most buffet places are asian food?-is it that cheap to make asian food?