# Ever been to a "good" buffet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676 "2018-11-17T13:42:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/21 "2018-11-17T19:22:03Z")
There are at least 3 excellent Indian lunch buffets available here in Las Vegas. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/22 "2018-11-17T19:27:02Z")
The salad bars at Churrascarias are usually awesome. These days I’m less interested in a $60 endless torrent of meat than I am in $15 all-you-can-eat antipasti. Indian buffets are usually pretty great, too. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/23 "2018-11-17T22:00:35Z")
I avoid buffets like the plague, because my experience with buffets is that they almost always suck. I will give a pass to five star hotel breakfast buffets, because they’re usually excellent and don’t attract people that taste test the dishes with the serving spoons. Those same hotels, though, often have dinner buffets, and while the behavior of the guests doesn’t bother me, warmed-over buffet food is never as good as something made while you’re waiting. There is an excellent brunch buffet a little ways away from me on the St. Clair River, but since that, strictly speaking, is a hotel, I guess it follows my first paragraph. It’s a well known restaurant that attracts non-hotel guests, though. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/24 "2018-11-17T22:10:50Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’ve been to some excellent breakfast buffets in hotels. One in Helsinki was so excellent (and the food in Helsinki so expensive) that we basically ate two meals every morning, and skipped lunch. That may have been a bad idea because the kids got a little cranky mid-afternoon. Hotel buffets are generally going to be your better ones. I worked in hotels for a number of years, and the fact that we also provide buffet dinners for weddings and buiesses conferences and such means that we have to make sure that our quality is pretty high for the general buffet as well. We also put out holiday buffets for Mother’s Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving that were “good”. Of course, I am assuming that the OP is not talking about actual wedding or conference buffets, but only ones open to the general public, or I would include most wedding buffets as “good” buffets as well. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/25 "2018-11-17T22:16:34Z")
The dining room at the hotel ([https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/china/hyatt-regency-wuhan-optics-valley/wuhrw/dining](https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/china/hyatt-regency-wuhan-optics-valley/wuhrw/dining)) I stayed at in Wuhan, China had a buffet for breakfast and dinner that was very good. I think they essentially divided it up into Chinese, Japanese and “Western” sections. Everything was exceptional. They had a more traditional Italian restaurant that was surprisingly good, but I didn’t eat there often because it was kind of surreal. Huge, but completely empty except for me and more than a dozen staff standing around. Made me feel a little uncomfortable. Most people used the buffet restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/26 "2018-11-17T23:15:32Z")
Now I’m craving a good buffet. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/27 "2018-11-17T23:32:04Z")
There are actually some really good ones in Chicago, especially around the holidays. This year for Thanksgiving I’m taking the kids to either Shaw’s (PDF): [http://bucket2.shawscrabhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/Shaws-Chicago-Thanksgiving-2018.pdf](http://bucket2.shawscrabhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/Shaws-Chicago-Thanksgiving-2018.pdf) Or The Clubhouse (PDF): [https://www.theclubhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CHOB\_Thanksgiving\_Buffet\_Menu\_2018.pdf?ddcdb8&ddcdb8](https://www.theclubhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CHOB_Thanksgiving_Buffet_Menu_2018.pdf?ddcdb8&ddcdb8) Unless they insist on Fogo de Chao - _ **AGAIN** _ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/28 "2018-11-17T23:44:13Z")
Nope. Never been to a good one either. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/29 "2018-11-18T00:41:05Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Nope. Never been to a good one either. If, however, you meant a _bad_ buffet when you said a “good” buffet, then i must revise my answer to yes. All of them. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/30 "2018-11-18T01:03:23Z")
The best buffet I’ve ever been to was in Vienna. It was a breakfast buffet, but it could have served for any other meal as well. Lots of choices of meats, cheeses, pastries, eggs and juices. I left the buffet every morning, and didn’t eat again until a late dinner. The one in Amsterdam was nearly as good. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/31 "2018-11-18T01:27:00Z")
I haven’t been for awhile, but the Sunday bunch buffets at both the Ahwahnee (now the Majestic Yosemite Hotel) and The Furnace Creek Inn (now the Oasis at Death Valley) were quite excellent. Both of their offerings changed from morning to afternoon and I liked to time my meal right about when they started bringing out the prime rib, trout and alaskan king crab legs. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/32 "2018-11-18T01:35:55Z")
I have been to a few good ones. A large hotel near work does a Christmas buffet in one of their dining rooms. Several times we have had our work Christmas dinner there and it is a far better, more varied spread than any other Christmas dinner I have ever had. In my experience, most affordable Chinese buffets are the absolute pits, really bad food but lots of it. Once in a while, I will be fooled into trying one and halfway through a plate of poorly prepared food will remember why I haven’t eaten at a Chinese buffet for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/33 "2018-11-18T02:31:05Z")
Yes. My own small town has a very good Chinese buffet. There is also an excellent high end buffet (~$25/per) in the Orlando area that I used to go to every now and then when I lived in Central Florida. Not sure if it’s still open, but it was called Crazy Buffet. I love the country style buffets as well. There’s one in Saraland, AL called Barnyard Buffet that I would recommend to anyone who likes down home style. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/34 "2018-11-18T03:47:08Z")
Buffets are awful, the one exception is Everest on Grand in the Twin Cities. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/35 "2018-11-18T04:16:01Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Hotel buffets are generally going to be your better ones. I worked in hotels for a number of years, and the fact that we also provide buffet dinners for weddings and buiesses conferences and such means that we have to make sure that our quality is pretty high for the general buffet as well. > > We also put out holiday buffets for Mother’s Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving that were “good”. > > Of course, I am assuming that the OP is not talking about actual wedding or conference buffets, but only ones open to the general public, or I would include most wedding buffets as “good” buffets as well. I’ve had good, very good, interesting, and for-the-love-of-God-BAD at Hotels. The best (_the best_) steak I’ve had in my life was at a hotel buffet. And it wasn’t even steak night: it was seafood night, and the chef just had some of his dry-aged steak on the buffet for people who didn’t really want lobster. But I wouldn’t depend on it, because I’m seared by the badness of at least one of the hotel buffets I’ve experienced, and at some of the others, I can see the money, but I’d just as soon be eating at home. In general, the good buffets I’ve been to, I pay more than I would for a good meal, and I get better food. The only better meals I’ve had, I’ve straight up paid $150 $300 for the food, ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/36 "2018-11-18T05:24:56Z")
All i know is one time, several years ago, I was in Florida for a bodybuilding competition. Competitions require months of extremely strict dieting (as well as hard training), where food almost becomes like a drug. Oh you crave it. You just daydream about the biggest, greasiest pizza with everything on it. And doughnuts. Oh doughnuts…Anyway, when it finally did come time to have that first, glorious post-competition meal, I found myself in a situation with limited options, as I had no car and the people that I could get a ride with (fellow competitor and his girlfriend) were for some reason dead-set on going to this all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. It was definitely not my first choice but at that point, _any_ food with enough fat, salt or sugar sounded like heaven to me. Aaaaaaaaand, I could barely eat this garbage. Even in the semi-starved, depleted state i was in! I had binged on Tums tablets earlier in my training leading up to this competition and _those_ were fucking delicious. I thought to myself, “why have i never discovered these delectable treats before?” Just a reference point as to how non-discriminating my palate was during that time. That buffett was _still_ too awful to eat. Tums? Delicious. But Chinese buffet? Revolting. I went back to my hotel and raided the vending machine to get 6 packages of Oreo Cakesters instead. So that was my dinner. I’ve never considered going to another buffet since. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/37 "2018-11-18T05:27:36Z")
The buffet at the Aria in Vegas is good. I suspect you will find the premier Vegas resorts have good buffets. You’re also paying $40 a head. A local restaurant here, the Water Street Cooker in Burlington, had an outstanding brunch buffet. I haven’t been in five years, but it sure was amazing back then. This being the Toronto area, you can find some pretty good Indian buffets. Indian food is especially suited to buffet style eating because so much of it it too goddamn complex to cook for a family of four, so a buffet is a great place to enjoy a lot of different tastes. Canada has a buffet chain called Mandarin and serve a very large buffet. It’s perfectly fine food and, because it’s very popular, always fresh. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/38 "2018-11-18T05:35:49Z")
I put myself through college working at one, if you’re talking about the kind of buffet with the chef standing at the end of the table with at least one big chunk of meat, carving off slices for people who want them. Usually we had beef and turkey, and sometimes ham; for parties with more than about 200 guests, the beef would be a baron (cow femur) and if not, a roast. We had our usual side dishes, along with dinner rolls, fruit or vegetable relish trays, etc.; we did not bake wedding cakes, but yeah, if there was one, we’d always find a way to grab a slice for ourselves. Our Sunday buffet was widely variable; a surprising amount was leftovers from Friday’s or Saturday’s buffet, heated up and served to guests. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/39 "2018-11-18T06:17:40Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I forgot a good one, in California there is the **Soup Plantation** , called Sweet Tomatoes in the south instead. They were good, but they seem to be slowly going down hill over the last 30 years. They are called Sweet Tomatoes in the Bay Area. Almost more a salad bar with soup and a few other things than your normal buffet. Pretty good for the price, though. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676/40 "2018-11-18T07:14:56Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Canada has a buffet chain called Mandarin and serve a very large buffet. It’s perfectly fine food and, because it’s very popular, always fresh. It depends on the location. The Mandarin on Finch is mediocre at best, for instance. There used to be an all-you-can-eat sushi/Chinese buffet place called Wasabi in Richmond Hill that I thought was pretty good, but it closed down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-good-buffet/824676.md?page=3)