# What's to stop someone from staying at an all-you can eat buffet forever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 10, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142 "2005-05-10T00:05:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/21 "2005-05-10T14:40:07Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > Tough one to call: in the landmark case [Simpson vs. The Frying Dutchman](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/9F06.html), the court ruled in Homer’s favor. > > But with the voice of legal superstar Lionel Hutz now deceased, a similar case might turn out different. As I recall, the Captain attempted to still turn a profit by putting Homer on display as “Bottomless Pete: Nature’s Cruelest Mistake.” ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/22 "2005-05-10T14:47:29Z")
> [@Tom Carroll](#): > > I ate at an all-you-can-eat chinese seafood resturant in Saudi Arabia called “Silver Tower.” I ate all the lobster tails they had on their buffet and complained to my friend they should make more. A waiter came to our table and asked if I was the one who ate all the lobster tails. I told him, “Yes.” He said, “Don’t worry! We’re cooking more. They will be out soon.” That was the best resturant I ever visited. I guess when you’re making so much money in oil who cares how much you eat! I hope you left a good tip. That guy is the best waiter _ever_! ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/23 "2005-05-10T14:48:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As I recall, the Captain attempted to still turn a profit by putting Homer on display as “Bottomless Pete: Nature’s Cruelest Mistake.” “… come for the freak, stay for the fish!” _Observer1:_ “He’s hideous!” _Observer2:_ “I heard they shaved a gorilla”. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/24 "2005-05-10T15:32:01Z")
Places that kick you out probably aren’t places you’d want to come back to anyway. Consider that food isn’t all that expensive versus making a customer happy, and especially versus making a customer very, very happy such that he lets all of his friends know about this great place (best advertising there is). So, if you’re being kicked out of a Chinese buffet, for example, then where else are the owners cutting corners? Is it a wrong impression that Chinese buffets seem to have a higher incidence rate of being shut down by boards of health compared to other restaurants? Many times at chain restaurants you have the problem where an uneducated “manager” thinks of his silly little inflexible daily reporting program. He’s going to look like crap that he completely mismanaged his budget for the day. The corporation would probably a bunch of hungry jocks finish off the salad bar – happy customers, right? – but you have managers that don’t know anything but what the computer tells them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/25 "2005-05-10T15:42:57Z")
In the No Cal area, there are several "oriental buffets’ serving sushi, various chinese, vietnamese and korean delicacies, and usually a nice assortment of american foods. In other words, some 8+ or so tables of food. I have arrived at these around noonish, brought a good book, and stayed until 4. No one had a problem. Now sure, I wasn’t eating Homeresque amounts of food either. If i did stay until the dinner hour, once or twice they did mention that certain items were only for those that paid the (much higher) dinner prices- which is certainly reasonable. I’d say that **rfgdxm** more or less has it right- once you fall asleep, you can be thrown out. But here’s what I don’t get- I see many going there and eating mostly salads and fruit (they do have a large fruit bar). Why pay those prices to eat fruit? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/26 "2005-05-10T15:48:38Z")
When I read the thread title, I assumed the answer would be “a sense of dignity” but then I opened the thread itself and saw I was wrong. Seriously, why would this even be an issue? Why would anyone want to keep eating at a buffet “forever”? I’ve seen people in buffets who focus on one menu item and see how much of it they can eat. I often wondered what the motive was; it can’t just be a competitive thing because I’ve seen solitary diners doing it. But this is the first chance I’ve had to ask someone like this - why do you guys want to eat five plates of lobster tails or crab legs or chicken wings or shrimp cocktail? Is it a competition? Do you actually enjoy it or are you just forcing yourself to eat more? Are you making some kind of statement? Do you worry about what the other diners are thinking? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/27 "2005-05-10T16:33:21Z")
Well, when in Vegas I generally eat about 3+ pounds of Prime Rib in a sitting. I’ll have a little dab of salad, a touch of a couple of the more appealing specials, then top off with however much mashed potatoes and gravy I can stomach, but I’m there for the Prime Rib. I love Prime Rib, that much Prime Rib at Lawry’s here would probably run you in the ballpark of $250, so for $20 it’s a damn nice trade-off for all the money I lost ;). Really, sometimes it’s a little competition between me and my more juvenile friends. Others it’s just that you love one kind of food they have, the quality isn’t usually as good as a place that specializes in that food, but when you make the trade off for all-you-can-eat that usually not such a bad idea. If I wanted to go to a really good hot-wing place, have wings, fries, salad and slaw and a little dessert, you would do that instead of hitting the buffet since the quality is better. But when you do the buffet the wole point is to indulge. If you’ve got a fave, why waste time on other fixins? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/28 "2005-05-10T18:53:45Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Well, when in Vegas I generally eat about 3+ pounds of Prime Rib in a sitting. I’ll have a little dab of salad, a touch of a couple of the more appealing specials, then top off with however much mashed potatoes and gravy I can stomach, but I’m there for the Prime Rib. > > I love Prime Rib, that much Prime Rib at Lawry’s here would probably run you in the ballpark of $250, so for $20 it’s a damn nice trade-off for all the money I lost ;). Slight hijack- can you suggest a few buffets with good Prime Rib? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/29 "2005-05-10T19:07:42Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Well, when in Vegas I generally eat about 3+ pounds of Prime Rib in a sitting. I’ll have a little dab of salad, a touch of a couple of the more appealing specials, then top off with however much mashed potatoes and gravy I can stomach, but I’m there for the Prime Rib. I thought that I’d met you at a ChiDope once, but no way the average sized guy I met could put away 3 pounds of prime, so I must have you confused with someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/30 "2005-05-10T20:35:05Z")
I once spent most of a day at an AYCE. It was on a Hang-Gliding trip. My Buddy and I were camping in a tent. It was a wet rainy day. It was Utah, there were no bars to hang out at. We’d only just met a female pilot from CO, and hanging out at her motel room didn’t seem “proper”. We actually explained the situation to the manager, offering to pay double, but he refused. We were about the only customers, and a lot of the Buffet was destined for the dumpster anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/31 "2005-05-10T23:52:09Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But here’s what I don’t get- I see many going there and eating mostly salads and fruit (they do have a large fruit bar). Why pay those prices to eat fruit? I have a name for those people- gentiles. 😃 **Little Nemo** If I pay for an all you can eat meal, I will eat all I can eat. If they have one dish I particularly enjoy, I will ingest it in vast amounts. I will make as many trips through the buffet as are needed too obtain all the food I can eat. I do not care what strangers at the restaurant (or anywhere else really) think about me. They may love me, loathe me, or perform bizarre autoerotic activities while screaming my name. I don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142/32 "2005-05-11T02:17:56Z")
I guess it’s just a personal preference. I see a buffet line with a hundred different items and I can’t imagine why anyone would only want to eat one thing. It seems to defeat the purpose. And even if there’s something I loved to begin with, I couldn’t eat four plates of anything without ending up hating it and not wanting to eat it again for a year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-to-stop-someone-from-staying-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet-forever/303142.md?page=1)