The thing that irks me most abou buffets, is when people fill their plate (god forbid they tak too little on the first helping) and then leave most of it they don’t like it, only to get a new plate filled to the brim with other stuff. Repeat at will…
I really only go to buffets when I’m staying at a hotel and it’s incorporated in the deal, so maybe people act differently there…
Chinese buffet - focus on the items I like, specifically meats with fresh-looking veggies. Maybe get some fried dough for dessert, but nothing overly filling. I’ll leave full, but comfortable.
Fogo de Chau? It’s on. If there isn’t a gaucho at my table every 5 minutes, I’m doing it wrong.
I’m very fat, and I always anticipate eating until I burst, but I almost always wind up just overeating a little bit. My friend and I back in college used to go to Old Country Buffet and load up on their $6.99 lunch buffet. Once, I was literally worried that he might rupture his stomach. The best buffet, relative to price, was the Shoney’s $3.99 breakfast buffet. Decent food, well-done bacon, and CHEEEEEP!
Joe
I remember that comedian - what’s his name? It’s the same guy who did a riff on the tiny Mazda 323, right?
Joe
When I was in high school and college, I would work my hardest to eat the most food possible every time I went to a buffet. I definitely came out ahead from a calories per dollar standpoint, although not necessarily from a “feeling great after dinner” standpoint.
Now, I find I’m happier if I view it as paying for the variety rather than the quantity. That way I still feel like I’m getting my money’s worth even if I don’t pack in six pounds of shrimp and corn dogs. I just eat a normal amount.
John Pinnette
Pretty much this, except I tend to get really, REALLY big salads when I go to one. I really hate buffets. To me it’s the equivalent of letting people randomly wander through the kitchen sneezing and picking their noses over my food.
However, I have two children that really enjoy the Chinese buffet and it makes it a little easier on me to be able to point and say “is this what you want?” and everyone gets a huge variety rather than choosing between two sides, and it lets me sample different foods (for them mostly) without having to commit a meal on a rare night out for something they are not going to be happy with.
Because if the tongs or whatever come into contact with your plate, they’re tainted? This seems a bit paranoid to me.
Actually, health department regulations around here prohibit re-using your dirty plate at a buffet…
Personally, when I eat at a buffet restaurant, it’s for the sake of variety, or because the kids request it. There’s a southern-style buffet a block or so from my office, and we eat there every once in a while - I like the veggies and breads, my daughter is in love with the macaroni & cheese and the fruit, hubby & son like pretty much everything. For price and convenience, it’s a pretty nice deal, especially at lunchtime.
My fave local Mexican restaurant has a lunchtime buffet that is cheap and satisfying when I’m in that mood. But we never, ever eat at the local Chinese buffet, because my 9-year-old daughter gets violently ill at every single Chinese buffet restaurant she’s ever tried. Apparently, some common ingredient seriously doesn’t agree with her. (However, she can eat standard takeout fare without a problem… 
)
They DO? It’s really a violation of the health code to do this? Wow. I guess I haven’t been to a buffet in a while…
I found that it kicked in around the same time places started bringing you a new cup of soda rather than refilling your drink.
A lot of these questions are complicated. I’ll explain:
I don’t mean to fast. But when I tend to get buffet more often when I’ve missed a meal or two.
Most buffets I know well enough to know what I like, so I’m not going to try everything. But, if it’s new, I might.
I used to overeat tremendously, but my appetite has shrunk considerably. I still tend to eat a bit too much, though. I feel bad if I don’t feel like I got my money’s worth, and I was taught never to waste food, which, on a buffet means I have to eat it all (as you aren’t supposed to take it home.)
I tend to wait around a lot between plates to see if I’m full. But I always feel I must at least go back for desert.
I usually eat salad, then entree, then desert, except at a lunch buffet, where I just eat the entree.
this is also what I like to do.
Your thread title makes it sound like you have to sneak up on them while they’re not looking.
Get the biggest plate possible. Pile it high.
Eat too much.
Make several trips bringing back smaller plates. A single heaping stack that all runs together is nasty.
If I know the place, eat pretty much normal sequence: salad/soup, then appetizer, then entree +veg + starch, then dessert. lather rinse repeat.
If I don’t know the place, try little samples of all the items, then come back for a real helping of the good ones.
When I lived in Vegas back in the 80s we occasionally did silly things like go to a casino buffet & eat nothing but the desserts. Or have scotch & prime rib for breakfast (on a non-work day). Last time I visited the prices had gone up enough that just doing desserts would be pretty wasteful; I can only eat maybe 8 helpings of cheesecake.
I went to a buffet for the first time in ages right after I answered this. I usually don’t bother because, as a vegetarian, there’s little I can eat. (Even the “sauteed green beans” at a Chinese restaurant usually have chicken broth.) But a new local seafood buffet opened that has a good variety of vegetarian offerings and off I went.
I had a full plate of vegetarian sushi rolls. One dinner plate entirely covered with rolls. I felt like a piggy.
But they were really good rolls!
Walk up and say “Hi”.