# Restaurant Buffet **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 11, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831 "2003-10-11T12:42:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/21 "2003-10-12T13:06:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > \*\*What’s your take on restaurant buffet lines? \*\* The best are in Las Vegas. I especially liked the ones in Paris Las Vegas, the Mandalay and the Bellagio. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/22 "2003-10-12T13:54:07Z")
One person took ALL the crawfish? That IS rather rude. Especially as I ALWAYS want the crawfish. Somehow I missed that. I do understand the temptation, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/23 "2003-10-12T18:59:02Z")
#1 with a little bit of #3. I love buffets, because I love to try lots of different things, especially when there’s lots of unfamiliar food like at the Indian restaurant. Taking a lot of one thing kind of defeats the purpose, and it’s tacky and rude if you’re not leaving enough for other people. That goes double for potlucks and picnics. So I wouldn’t pile up my plate with crawfish or crab legs—that would be shellfish! ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/24 "2003-10-12T20:44:21Z")
This is funny, b/c Mr. Levins used to go to the local Pizza Hut lunch buffet when he was in college, with his buddies, at least once a week…and they ate so much pizza that the manager told them, “Look. Whenever you guys get here, just tell me what kind of pizzas you want, and how many, and I’ll make 'em for you at the buffet price. Just please stop eating all the pizza on the buffet.” So they’d each get one whole pizza for the paltry buffet price, b/c the manager was tired of them eating his whole buffet! 😃 #1 and #3 for me, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/25 "2003-10-12T22:25:16Z")
Definately 1 and 3 for me. I learned early on that I was to take small portions and if I wanted more I could go back for more, but not pile up my plate to extremes. This applies to the supper table at home as well as buffets. You see when I was a munchkin I used to take so much food that my father ended up eating it! He never had to buy meals of his own. (This also partially applies to regular restaurants, I’d try to order one of everything.) Then he laid down the law. I either take small portions (or not order so much) or he was going to do the ordering/plate piling for me. You don’t know how many times I’ve heard the story about the kids my Grandma saw on a ferry one year. They had a buffet on the ferry as it was a long ride so you could get dinner. Well these kids piled up their plates to insane heights, ate half and went back for more. Then left a ton of wasted food when they got full. My family has this thing about wasting food, which is why I opt for #3 because otherwise I eat way too much (still do sometimes) because I feel I _must_ clear my plate. Now I don’t feel as bad about it but I’m careful not to leave enough for a whole other meal! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/26 "2003-10-12T23:06:23Z")
One Thai buffet I go to in Monterey has a sign: “$2 charge for extra food left on the plate” Another one: "if you choose the buffet, don’t waste the rice’ (sushi buffet) What gets to me is people who don’t get a clean plate each time they get more food. ---
**Author:** ![Kieras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a87d85/32.png) [@Kieras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kieras)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/27 "2003-10-12T23:43:37Z")
I have the same reasoning as you FairyChatMom Personally, I lean toward #3. Much as I love a particular food, I won’t be so selfish as to take it all as soon as I get there. And, with a little bit of #1 - it’s nice to have a big variety to sample. I think it is extremely rude to pile your plate full of one item. This leaves other people to wait for the staff to replenish the item. To me it would of been reasonable to take a few. Once I finished the plate and was still hungry I would of went back to take some more. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/28 "2003-10-13T00:11:53Z")
**ivylass** , the amount of meat in a crawfish is approximately in the ballpark of an average-sized shrimp. It’s in the tail (some people suck the stuff out of the heads, too). **whiterabbit** , I’ve certainly eaten my share of frozen crawfish. . .we can usually get them here for about $2.50 a pound, I think, at the grocery store. There’s also an independent-type seafood shop here that _flies them in **live** from the Gulf when you order them_, so that you can have a _real_ boil if you want. We haven’t done that yet. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/29 "2003-10-13T01:16:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > [ul]1. Great place to sample lots of different things. > 2. I paid my $9.95 or whatever - I’ll take as much of whatever I want, dammit. > 3. I really, really like those crab legs - I won’t take them all at once, but I’ll go back until I’ve had enough. > 4. Buffet? How plebian![/ul] I don’t eat much at lunchtime, most days, so I rarely go out for lunch, and when I do, it’s usually something like the 99¢ Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger at Wendy’s, which fills me up. So lunch buffets are an extreme rarity for me. And I can’t remember when the last time was that Mrs. F. and I had dinner at a restaurant with a dinner buffet. So ‘buffet’ = ‘breakfast buffet’ in my lexicon. I love 'em, but none of the above really apply there. #1 because you don’t really ‘sample’; you know what the standard choices are already, and you know which ones you like. #2 because it’s hard to go through a whole panful of scrambled eggs or French toast. #3 because it’s moot on account of why #2 doesn’t apply. ($9.95?? On those rare occasions when I’ve been at a seafood restaurant with a buffet, the price was in the $20s; it’s always been cheaper just to order off the menu.) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/30 "2003-10-13T15:32:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > \*\*($9.95?? On those rare occasions when I’ve been at a seafood restaurant with a buffet, the price was in the $20s; it’s always been cheaper just to order off the menu.) \*\* This was at Buddy’s on Main in Annapolis - their lunch buffet was $9.95. I don’t know if it’s their regular or if it was a Boat Show Special. There’s a buffet in Jax that has, among other things, steak, lobster, and crab legs, and it runs (I think) $26.95. I’ve not gone there because I’d feel obliged to get my money’s worth and I’d wind up pigging out. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/31 "2003-10-13T19:10:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*…the food is on otter tummies that swim around a moat. \*\* Nothing to add, but that’s the best posting all day.😃 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/32 "2003-10-13T21:03:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > ($9.95?? On those rare occasions when I’ve been at a seafood restaurant with a buffet, the price was in the $20s; it’s always been cheaper just to order off the menu.) That’s not a buffet, that’s a rip-off. There’s an Asian buffet place just a few miles from my house. A full-blown dinner buffet, including sushi, seafood, crab legs, and Mongolian barbecue, is only $11. Damn good eating, and there’s always a line to get in. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/33 "2003-10-14T05:59:33Z")
I’m a #1. Want to try a little of everything. Mostly, the only buffets I like are the chinese/mongolian ones. There’s one near where I used to live that was chiense/american/seafood, had a carved meat bar with ham, turkey, roast beef and my favorite, real corned beef brisket. That place was only $12.95. (15.95 on Friday or Saturday nights) I’m also fond of places with soup bars, but that’s not exactly the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/34 "2003-10-14T09:55:28Z")
Mostly #1, with a little bit of #3. To be honest, though, I’ve been getting used to smaller portions, so buffets don’t hold as much attraction for me as they used to. Still, there’s a curry buffet I like to stop by every once in a while where it’s simply not possible to walk off with most of the buffet on your plate. ---
**Author:** ![cadolphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cadolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/35 "2003-10-14T10:39:54Z")
#1 and #3. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831/36 "2003-10-14T10:43:48Z")
I’m with #1 and #3. I love our local Chinese buffets. We go often, and I’ll go just for lunch after class on occasion. It’s a good way to introduce new flavors to Aaron without having to pay for a whole meal for him that Dad or I don’t have to finish for him. The other night, we went out and Aaron got to try a barbecue chicken stick and meatballs. If he liked them (and he did), wonderful. He can have more. If he didn’t like them, no great loss. They’ve also got more American foods like mac n’ cheese, ham and turkey cubes (for salad, but they’re perfect for Aaron), mashed potatoes, and that kinda thing, so if Aaron isn’t feeling very adventurous that day, it’s not the end of the world. That said, I am careful about portion control. It’s rare when I take the last of something unless I know more is on the way. It’s just rude to go to the buffet and hog all the Crabmeat Supreme, y’know? Robin [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-buffet/206831.md?page=1)