# All You Can Eat
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 24, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077 "2013-08-24T19:46:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/1 "2013-08-24T19:46:27Z")
Which “All You Can Eat” Buffet would you be apt to frequent?
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/2 "2013-08-24T19:56:10Z")
Italian. AYCE Chinese usually means the quality suffers. AYCE Mexican sounds like a GI nightmare.
My #1 not on your list: AYCE Indian.
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/3 "2013-08-24T20:08:01Z")
I’ve never seen all you can eat Mexican. I just gained 10 pounds thinking about it.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/4 "2013-08-24T20:14:14Z")
I would choose Italian, I think.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/5 "2013-08-24T20:26:55Z")
Other. I’d choose Studio B at M Resort in Las Vegas. Huge, fresh, stations for Chinese, sushi, Italian, Mexican, soups, salads, 4 carving stations, a dessert section to kill for, and beer & wine are included.
Otherwise I’d go for a Chinese buffet that closed about 7 years ago. Wonderful place, with the best shumai I’ve ever had.
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/6 "2013-08-24T20:29:42Z")
I picked Italian, as they don’t make pasta that I don’t like. Smorgasbords always sound like a good idea, but they almost always disappoint.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/7 "2013-08-24T20:29:57Z")
One of the clients at the food pantry I volunteer for just said he would love a Vietnamese AYCE. I could definitely go for that.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/8 "2013-08-24T20:36:23Z")
Indian doesn’t do well in a buffet, but if it was fresh, I’d pick that. I’ve had Mexican buffet, and it’s mostly glop, or tacos with those awful hard Ortega shells.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/9 "2013-08-24T20:57:29Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Indian doesn’t do well in a buffet, but if it was fresh, I’d pick that. I’ve had Mexican buffet, and it’s mostly glop, or tacos with those awful hard Ortega shells.
Wha??
Indian was _made_ for buffet. As long as you replace the naan and samosa to keep them fairly fresh all the main dished are just stews that can keep quite a while as long as they’re kept at temp.
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### Author:  [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/10 "2013-08-24T21:06:38Z")
I voted other seeing as how I’ve never been to an Italian or Mexican buffet before. That’s odd considering I’ve been to:
fresh rolled (but not custom) sushi buffet’s
Thai buffets
Filipino buffets
pakistani buffets
Indian buffets
barbeque buffets (only bbq)
American buffets (Old Country Buffet, Sizzlers, Golden Coral, etc.)
hm. I guess Olive Garden’s neverending pasta bowl counts as an Italian buffet? eh… still other.
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### Author:  [@prodicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prodicus)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/11 "2013-08-24T21:08:23Z")
> [@zoid](#):
>
> Wha??
>
> Indian was _made_ for buffet. As long as you replace the naan and samosa to keep them fairly fresh all the main dished are just stews that can keep quite a while as long as they’re kept at temp.
I was going to say this.
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/12 "2013-08-24T21:09:54Z")
Chinese.
I wouldn’t get my money’s worth at Italian or Mexican. But then I’ve never been to one of those, so maybe there’d be enough of a variety that I wouldn’t fill up on pasta and rice and beans.
Another choice would be seafood, but that’s not an ethnicity.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/13 "2013-08-24T21:12:08Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#):
>
> I’ve never seen all you can eat Mexican. I just gained 10 pounds thinking about it.
Where do you live? There’s at least two AYCE Mexican food chains around here, Pancho’s and Zorro’s, but we have a large Hispanic population. I haven’t been to Pancho’s in years. It has very low quality food, and my husband, who has a stomach of cast iron, always gets an upset stomach after eating there, so it’s not just me. I’ve never been to Zorro’s. The thing is, we’ve got a lot of little mom-and-pop Mexican restaurants around here, and many of them are very affordable and manage to serve decent quality food, and the portions are generous.
There’s a new Chinese AYCE a few blocks from us, and it’s really pretty good, though rather light on the plainer vegetables. It’s got sushi and hibachi available, and on Friday and Saturdays there are crab legs. My husband says that they aren’t first quality crabs, but they are perfectly edible.
And what’s wrong with Soup R Salad? That’s my favorite one.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/14 "2013-08-24T21:22:19Z")
> [@zoid](#):
>
> Wha??
>
> Indian was _made_ for buffet. As long as you replace the naan and samosa to keep them fairly fresh all the main dished are just stews that can keep quite a while as long as they’re kept at temp.
The few Indian buffet places I’ve been to were crap, but that may likely have been the cooks.
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### Author:  [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/15 "2013-08-24T21:27:50Z")
Seafood
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/16 "2013-08-24T21:32:26Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#):
>
> Where do you live? There’s at least two AYCE Mexican food chains around here, Pancho’s and Zorro’s, but we have a large Hispanic population.
Sure but you’re in Texas. Here in New York we have some areas with Mexican populations and good Mexican restaurants but I haven’t seen any buffet places.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/17 "2013-08-24T21:34:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> The few Indian buffet places I’ve been to were crap, but that may likely have been the cooks.
I can see that.
The trick in Chicago is to first find a really good Indian restaurant and then see if they have a buffet.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/18 "2013-08-24T21:35:35Z")
Yeah, that’s my point…in Texas, we have demand for Mexican/TexMex buffets. There’s probably demand in other areas of the Southwest, too. Not so much demand in other parts of the country, though.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/19 "2013-08-24T21:44:22Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> The few Indian buffet places I’ve been to were crap, but that may likely have been the cooks.
Total agreement.
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### Author:  [@Kasper1014](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kasper1014)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-can-eat/667077/20 "2013-08-24T21:45:46Z")
And in San Antonio, I think we only have one Mexican buffet restaurant, that may be closing soon. We used to have 5 Panchos here, but they were all shut down…though ice recently heard one MAY still be open.
We do have plenty of Chinese buffet restaurants that seem to compete with each other.
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