In my experience pizza buffets are usually a collection of 5-12 different kinds of pizza as well as breadsticks, some kind of pasta (macaroni, spaghetti, etc) and possibly lazagna.
So about 80% pizza and the rest breadsticks, macaroni, spaghetti, lasagna.
Also Cici’s has dessert options too (brownies, cinnamon rolls, cheesecake).
I think I’ve been to the one at Orlando park. I know I visited one on the southern border of Chicago before. If so, that one didn’t have that good of a buffet (maybe only 4-5 pizzas). The one near where I live now has closer to 8+.
Our local pizza place runs a pretty good buffet, with specials on Monday. It’s a salad bar, plus a hot bar that has a rotating mix of 5-6 pizzas, spaghetti, meatballs, chicken wings, etc. and a dessert table with pudding, dessert pizza and coffee cake-like stuff. Quite tasty, and for $5.99 on Mondays you can stuff yourself quite cheaply.
We had one (in Rolling Meadows - directly across the street from the Track on NW Hwy) too - that was a weekend must do for my son and I. He was around 5 at the time. Those are some good memories. Thanks for reminding me!
pulykamell, from what I remember from Home Run Inn (I went to the Arlington Heights one once with a group for lunch when I worked in Schaumburg0 it was like five different pizzas. And I think a salad of some sort.
It really sucked. Then again considering it’s Home Run Inn pizza, it really couldn’t help but suck.
There used to be a pizza place called Shakeys or Shakers or something, and I know a Doper or 2 will remember, that had a buffet weekdays. Unlimited pizza and beer (of course you bought the beer.) We would sit there for hours, they never seemed to mind.
Cici’s is just plain horrible. Catsup on Wonder Bread pizza, with a bag of Reddi-Mix salad, just plain, thrown in a bowl.
I love Sweet Tomatoes, the one near me is always fresh and damn, their Cream of Mushroom soup is good-clam chowder doesn’t suck either
Golden Corral-crazy place, but good for little kids, they can have small bits of every little thing and they stay amused by all the activity and other little kids. I do like their banana pudding, but avoid the desserts for the most part.
Shakey’s. They still have it. We go about once every other year. It looks good, but it takes about 24 months for the memory to fade enough for us to go back.
Sorry, zoid - nothing personal. It’s pizza - and you know how judgemental people can be about what’s good and what isn’t. Oh the threads I could dig up… But I don’t think either of us has that kind of time.
I used to love Shakey’s - the pizza and those horrible-for-you but oh-so-tasty Mojo Potatoes. I especially loved it back in the old days when they used to run old-timey films at the restaurant. Sadly, we don’t have any around here anymore, and more sadly still, I got the chance to eat at one at another location and it wasn’t nearly as good as it used to be.
It’s my favorite frozen pizza, and, every once in awhile, I get a craving for their restaurant pizza, but I’ve only been at the 31st Street (original) location. I’m not sure I’d put them on my top ten Chicago style thin crust pizzas, but they have a characteristic product and I think it’s definitely a required stop if you’re doing a tour of Chicago pizza and comparing the different variations. They have a distinctive crust. It’s kind of like Barnaby’s pizza in that way: also not necessarily one of my favorites, but when I’m in Northbrook, I have to stop by because it’s a nice change of pace. (Personally, Connie’s is the famous local pizza joint I can’t stand. I really struggle to understand its appeal or popularity.)
Oddly, though, like I said, their pizza holds up best to freezing and they’re by far my favorite frozen pizza. Maybe Palermo’s Ultra Thin would be second.
There’s roughly the same number of buffets in my area (NY) since I was kid. 3 Chinese, 1 Brazilian, and 1 Pizza Hut with a buffet.
The Chinese restaurants range from okay to pretty good. They’re also the cheapest. The Brazilian restaurant focuses mostly on meat. Their food is by far the best, but also the most expensive (nearly $100 a plate!). The Pizza hut is fair enough priced, but pretty basic on the quality and variety.
I don’t eat anywhere that has the food behind something called a “sneeze shield”. Also, I’ve seen way too many loose children sticking their hands into buffet trays, taking a bite and throwing it back for my liking.
In Texas, DoubleDave’s is a pizza chain that has a daily buffet. The pizza is definitely a step up from CiCi’s, and DoubleDave’s Peproni Rolls are yummy.
This was about 20 years ago. All I remember are the hotcakes and scrambled eggs. There may have been English muffins, cheese, and ham or Canadian bacon so people could build their own Egg McMuffins.
Mine had scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits, sausage gravy, bacon, pancakes, cut fruit - I can’t remember much else because I always pigged out on the biscuits and sausage gravy, bacon, and sausage, and the son always pigged out on pancakes and bacon and scrambled eggs.
ETA - Now that I think about it (and read read Skywatcher’s reply) I remember Canadian Bacon and English Muffins as well - I’m sure they had cheese. They MAY have had hash browns, but I can’t remember for sure.
