Who has the best buffet in America?

My vote for the best buffet in America is The Manor in West Orange, NJ. It is a seafood buffet that has all the lobster, shrimp, prime rib, pasta station, paella, and so much more. The deserts are aso fantastic. The grounds and atmosphere are spectacular. It is like going to a fine wedding but you do not have to give a gift. All this comes at a price of over $30 per person but for that special occasion is worth it. As a side note I even proposed to my wife there almost 10 years ago! My family has been going there for at least 20 years.

You raise an excellent question. My bet is the best ones are in the South because buffets are along the same lines as free refills, and that is something you don't get in the Northeast in to many places

I would have to Subset that topic-
1.Seafood Buffet
2.BBQ Buffet
3.Boarding House/Southern Home style
4.Casino Buffet
5.Sunday Brunch Buffet
I am sure there are other sub-topics or types that I am not listing.
I can only think of two catagories that hit me right away.
2. BBQ Buffet- I vote for the Moonlight in Owensboro KY. Read Sterns writeup and try it anytime, but Friday evenings when they add some fresh Catfish to the piles of Ribs, Brisket, Pork, and Mutton and tons of great side dishes and homemade cobblers and pies I find the best time to go. Price reasonable at $10-12.
4. Casino Buffet- I am not much for Casino life, but when returning to SoCal from here via I-70 and I-15, one goes pretty "foodless" from Colorado to the Nevada Line... We like to stop at Mesquite,NV at the AZ-NV line, and feed at the Oasis (former Peppermill). Not the crowds of Las Vegas, Nice atmosphere, much more relaxed. Moderate to Cheap at $10 or less.

For ultimate pigging-out, there's nothing quite like[url='http://www.nordic-lodge.com/']The Nordic Lodge[/url] in Rhode Island, where it's all the lobster, shrimp, and filet mignon you can eat. (It opens late April.) But for sheer deliciousness, I vote for [url='http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=350']Bub Sweatman's[/url]:

Sheesch, Micheal, what does the Nordic Lodge charge for that feast? AND Are you referring to Bob Sweatman's BBQ? Tell us more about it.

The web site says $61.50 which includes all food, soda, tax and tips.

The lunch buffet at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI is great. Especially the desserts and service. $35 per person, well worth the price.

It's out of the way to say the least, but Gloria's in Mineville, NY (Near Lake Champlain, a couple of dozen miles from exit 31 off I-87)would be awful tough to beat in any competition about buffets. All, and I do mean ALL, you can eat. 5 main courses, soup--sometimes 2 choices, huge salad and hot food bar, 12-15 kinds of pie and cake, soft ice cream+more... and I think it's all of $ 13.95 on Fri and Sat and includes coffee, tea, milk or soda. It's $ 11.95 Wed, Thurs and Sun when the selection is (slightly) less.

Maybe if someone asks nicely, I'll write about our regional specialty here in northeastern NY...Michigan Red Hots, or as we call them, just Michigans.

Wally

I don't know about best in America, but my vote for best in Indiana goes to the Black Buggy in Washington IN. Great prices, fantastic fried chicken and side dishes, amazing pie selection. It's over a 2-hour drive one-way from my house, and definitely worth it.

http://www.blackbuggy.com/restaurant.htm

There are tons of Chinese buffets popping up all over my area, and while none of them is exactly what I would call great, it is really fun to see say, red Jell-O cubes in a bin next to boiled shrimp in shells with heads attached. Or when between the Singapore noodles and egg foo yung gravy there is a freshly-baked Tombstone pizza, with the Chinese characters for "pizza" labelled above the sneezeguard. Heehee. Many of these buffets also do all-you-can-eat snow crab legs for an extra couple bucks, although the crab legs always taste a little bit funky.

gimmepork - that Black Buggy sounds excellent. I love how in the menu it says: "Soft-Serve Ice Cream - with over 5 toppings!" And that on Tuesdays it's "Pastor and wife eat free might - when accompianed by two paying adults."

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Originally posted by Michael Stern

For ultimate pigging-out, there's nothing quite like[url='http://www.nordic-lodge.com/']The Nordic Lodge[/url] in Rhode Island, where it's all the lobster, shrimp, and filet mignon you can eat.

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Am I the only one who remembers Custy's?

AHR-
Don't leave us hanging...Tell us what or who Custy is and why we should remember him-her-it???

BBQ buffets (Austin and central Texas) --

1. The Salt Lick (Driftwood, TX) - It's BYOB, and everyone pretty much brings several apiece because the Salt Lick is no 1-hour ordeal. It's a nonstop wave of brisket, sausage, hot links, pork, ham, beans, potato salad, etc. Ask for it, and you will get it. Last time I went it was about 12 bucks a person, maybe even a tad less. And it's not only food in abundance, it's pretty damn good, too. The sauce alone is worth the drive, some of the best I have ever had.

2. Cyclone (outside of Temple, TX) - It's pretty much a Salt Lick knock-off, except the owner basically has her own zoo in the back. She has trained monkees, and it makes for a neat sideshow. The bbq is pretty good in itself, just a little less flavor than Salt Lick. Definitely worth the stop if you are in the area.

Gimmepork- You are right-on-target with your comments about the Black Buggy. It is a great roadie stop in a relatively empty (foodwise) area.

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Originally posted by AHR

quote:

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Originally posted by Michael Stern

For ultimate pigging-out, there's nothing quite like[url='http://www.nordic-lodge.com/']The Nordic Lodge[/url] in Rhode Island, where it's all the lobster, shrimp, and filet mignon you can eat.

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Am I the only one who remembers Custy's?

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YES, I remember Custy's. It was a proto-Nordic Lodge: huge place with huge tables holding huge platters of food for people with huge appetites. I remember whole fraternities coming to Custy's and having lobster-eating contests.

Not being big fans of chain stores, we would recommend the Golden Corral in Williamsburg, VA. It's a huge place with an astounding variety of middle American food. Fresh baked dinner rolls being made constantly, as well as pizza and other baked goods. Then there is the build your own sundae station.

As with any chain, each store depends on the manager. We tried the one in Aberdeen, MD, and found it to be not so good: less variety, food not as fresh and a bit "sticky" in cleanliness. It is also is much smaller than the Williamsburg store and doesn't have the volume, so that might explain some of it, but not the "sticky". Someone certainly could stir the food so it doesn't skin over, however. Won't be back to that one...

And, oh Hoydtasch,

While I've never had the Manor's Buffet I've eaten there several times. It's rated one of the best reataurants in NJ. Also, it's quite an experience just to be there. I could retire on what they spend on landscaping each year!

Mandalay Bay Champagn Brunch. Sundays and holidays only. Las Vegas. Lavish for $23.00. A meal fit for a king. Truly. Prime Rib, Salt imported from Iceland. Dessert Concoctions which could double as art pieces. Crystal glasses. Ice sculptures. They go all the way, pull out all the stops and put in every imaginable frill.

The food quality a taste is at the same pinacle of quality that everything else is. An experience that everyone should have at least once.

Chicago has more Polish-speaking residents than anyplace outside of Europe. Bobak's (just a few blocks from Midway Airport) is a big Polish deli/buffet restaurant. Lots of entrees, a nice salad bar and desserts for $8 at lunch, $9 for dinner. Unlike most buffets, the food is consistently fresh.

Except for the food, I hate the People's Republic of Chicago, but I'll make an exception for Bobak's.

Old Warsaw Inn in McHenry, Il. has a decent Polish buffet as well as a regular menu.

Blue Willow Inn, Social Circle Georgia. If it wasn't any good, would Jane and Michael have written a whole book about it?

Best Mac & Cheese I've had.

2nd best buffet -- Any one for brunch that has unlimited good quality nova scotia salmon.

I'm casting a second vote for Boback's Sausage Co. of Chicago. They have a second location along I-55 in Burr Ridge that I go to and it's always great. For the price ($8.95) you get all you can eat from a mostly meat buffet, I haven't counted but there have to be over a dozen different meat dishes. The best is the carve it yourself smoked ham that is undiscribibly good. I also always like the breaded pork chops. Salads and fruit are very good, but don't bother saving room for desserts, I think they're the only thing not made on premises and aren't tempting. Of course, it could be I'm just not hungry by dessert time.

My face is redand not just from eating too much sausage. I misspelled Bobak's. Here is a link to their web site. http://www.bobak.com/index.html

I can also recommend Bobak's. The only comment I have to add is that they have an excellent grocery store there (at least in Burr Ridge). It is Polish in background, excellent selection of pickles and sauerkraut, with an outstanding deli and meat market.

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Originally posted by St. Louis Browns fan

Chicago has more Polish-speaking residents than anyplace outside of Europe. Bobak's (just a few blocks from Midway Airport) is a big Polish deli/buffet restaurant. Lots of entrees, a nice salad bar and desserts for $8 at lunch, $9 for dinner. Unlike most buffets, the food is consistently fresh.

Except for the food, I hate the People's Republic of Chicago, but I'll make an exception for Bobak's.

I, too, loved Bobak's...almost as much as I love the People's Republic . I don't get much chance to indulge my jones for Polish cuisine (and after my chorizo golapki fiasco [don't ask], I don't even try to prepare it much anymore), so I'm patiently waiting for my next convention in, or train trip through, the Chicagoland area to go back. I liked both the hot & cold dishes, and thought the desserts were rather more continental - a little like some of the German delis I remember encountering in my SoCal youth. Hopefully the waitstaff will be a little less Polish-American princessy then....
Smacznego!,
Richard
Berkeley/SF, CA

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Stern
I remember whole fraternities coming to Custy's and having lobster-eating contests.

I too remember Custy's, formerly on Post Road in North Kingstown, RI, and the hordes that would descend on it for the all-you-can-eat lobster. To be frank, that place always kind of made me queasy - perhaps I was too young to appreciate it before it closed. The Nordic Lodge attracts some of the same kind of competitive eating stunts as Michael describes from local fraternites at URI, or least it did in the past.

I'm not experienced enough to comment on the best buffets in America, but I can think of a few notable ones in this area. The Blackstone Valley, in northern RI and central MA, has a tradition of establishments offering family-style chicken dinners. This generally consists of all you want of rolls, salad, pasta with tomato sauce, potatoes and roasted chicken. The most well-known of these is probably Wright’s Farm (http://www.wrightsfarm.com/) in Burrillville, RI,although I make no claims that they are the best. I haven't been in many years, but I recall the rolls and chicken as very good, the rest as okay - certainly more than acceptable if you have a number of hungry kids to feed. They are not to be confused with the extraordinary dairy and bakery Wright's Dairy Farm, located in nearby North Smithfield, a true RI classic (website at http://www.wrightsdairyfarm.com.)

I personally enjoy the lunch buffets that can be sometimes found in Indian restaurants - A Taste of India on Wickenden St. in Providence still does one, I believe, and there was another (probably more than one) in Central Sq., Cambridge, that I used to visit now and again. Often very good and reasonably healthy food that one can indulge in without feeling too guilty. But oh my, how I wish there was a barbeque buffet around here...

JL

The best buffet for me is Miller's in Lancaster, Pa. They have a breakfast buffet to die for and a dinner buffet. Both are excellent with too many selections to name. It is nestled in Pennsylvania Dutch country and you can see Amish farmers plowing their fields while you pig out on the food. The best Asian buffet is East in Flushing, N.Y. It's like no other Asian buffet I've ever been too. Aside from all the regulars, they will carve up Peking duck for you and cook special soups to order. This place has it all.

The Sunday Champagne Brunch at the Maui Prince Hotel in Makena, Maui is our all-time favorite. A sumptuous buffet featuring incredible salads, fruit platters and fruit juices, sushi and sashimi, peel and eat shrimp, Crablegs, carved meats, an omelette station, lots of egg and breakfast meat options (love that spicy Portuguese Sausage), 3 or 4 inventive meat, poultry and fish entrees, Maui Onion Mashed Potatoes, and you top it off with a groaning board of delectable desserts and cups and cups of Kona Coffee.
By the way, you also drink unlimited Champagne during the entire meal and when you look out of the picture windows you see a true Tropical paradise. The last time we were there (2002), the bufffet cost about $40 per person. Certainly not cheap, but a bargain for what you get and, as they say in the MasterCard commercials, an eating experience that is..........................priceless.

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Originally posted by LizzieR

The best buffet for me is Miller's in Lancaster, Pa. They have a breakfast buffet to die for and a dinner buffet. Both are excellent with too many selections to name. It is nestled in Pennsylvania Dutch country and you can see Amish farmers plowing their fields while you pig out on the food. The best Asian buffet is East in Flushing, N.Y. It's like no other Asian buffet I've ever been too. Aside from all the regulars, they will carve up Peking duck for you and cook special soups to order. This place has it all.

Miller's is good, but I think Willow Valley, S. of Lancaster in Willow Street is bigger and better. Bad thing about it is the crowds and tourists. Go on a week night for better service and fewer people.