The topic of buffet restaurants came up recently in another item. So
instead of taking over  that discussion with buffet talk, here's the
place to do it...

So what's your take on restaurant buffets?  And where are some of the
good ones in the  area and which ones should be avoided?  Which places
are buffet-style only vs  restaurants that have a buffet along with
being able to order off of the menu?  In these  kind of restaurants
where you can eat either way, do you notice much of a difference in 
food quality and in meal prices?

26 responses total.

I haven't had much recent experience with buffet dining in the Ann Arbor
area, having  only been to 2 such places where the buffet was the only
option [no off-the-menu  ordering].  The chinese buffet had a somewhat
more extensive selection than the indian  buffet had.  


There was a seemingly bigger selection in buffets where I lived down
south.  Most of  them I wasn't really all that impressed with.  Mainly
because most food doesn't do well  if left sitting in a warmer... so if
you don't get there right after the place opens, you  don't know how
long its been sitting there.  Though some places do better than others 
with bringing out new food on a frequent basis.  There was one chain,
though, that did a  pretty good job with their buffet restaurants and
thus, I didn't mind going there.  And it  wasn't as expensive as many of
the other buffet style places.   However, generally  speaking, this
style of meal tends to cost much more than I feel I'd otherwise spend on
 a meal AND, being a buffet, you usually can't bring home the leftovers.
 

But I do know many people that seem to love buffets [and an old friend
of mine is a  waitress at one of these restaurants near where she
lives], thus, I'd like to see a  discussion on this topic.  :-)

My favorite buffet is the Chinese buffet in Westgate, near the library.
 Its name is New Garden.  They put out fairly small amounts of food at a
time, and replace the pans often.  They also have a good assortment of
Chinese, Korean, and Japanese dishes.  It is all you can eat for about 9
or 10 dollars

I have to confess that I sometimes like Old Country Buffet, especially
if I'm with picky eaters.  There are so many different choices at
dinner, including rare roast beef, and other goodies. Dinner is about 11
dollars.

The other buffet I like is Earthen Jar, next to the downtown branch of
the library.  Great vegetarian options, and you pay for the food by the
weight of your plate.  

The Westgate buffet (and others) is about $2-3 cheaper for lunch.  We found
their cooking style highly variable, in the sense that you never could predict
which dishes would be inedible due to salt or pepper.  Also they have very
little for vegetarians.  Lots more vegetables at the place on Washtenaw
(Star Buffet?) but they seem to have discontinued daikon salad and plantains.
Old Country Buffet had lots of salads.  Their cooked vegetables are greasy.

Actually, I asked about the lower-cost at lunch, and discovered that they
remove menu items.  At the Old Country buffet, the carved meats, and higher
price meats are not put out. At the westgate Chinese buffet, there are certain
menu items primarily available at dinner.

When I was living and traveling in Europe, and through most of the 80s in the
US, the rule of thumb was as Sindi suggests:  go to a restaurant at lunch time
and you'll get the same menu items at a lower cost.  Nowdays, restauranteurs
have much better information through computerized inventory control, and they
price meals much more closely to what they are worth.  

I have to admit that I used to like Old Country buffet quite a lot. I 
thought it was really decent food for a pretty low price. I havent 
been there in several years but that is mostly because I dont have 
anyone to go with who likes it. 

The only buffet I have been to recently has been the one at MGM Grand 
in Detroit. It is really good but very expensive ($18). Sometimes they 
send me a coupon for a free meal and that is when I go. They used to 
have a really nice bruch on the weekends for $11 but they seem to have 
discontinued that and now it is the higher price. 

My friend mentioned earlier works at an Old Country Buffet [has been
there for years]  but at the one in the Garden City/Westland area.  I've
eaten there with her a couple  times and it seemed pretty good.


There doesn't seem to be as many weekend brunches as there used to be,
either.   Hmmm.


In a somewhat different category...  My parents live in a retirement
'village' in  Dearborn [a pretty nice one, too].  They get served one
meal a day in the main dining  room [the other meals my parents fix/have
in their own apartment].  Mondays- Saturdays the dinner in the dining
room has a menu with several different main dishes,  a selection of
sides, as well as desserts. And a salad bar.  But on Sundays, holidays, 
and other special occasions, they have brunch.  The brunch menu varies
somewhat  from week to week; and its been good every time I've been.  A
few days ago, I was  there for their 'Italian' buffet and had a lot of
cool stuff.  Though I ate more than I  should have [easy enough to do at
a buffet] and felt ill afterwards.

I stay away from buffets if at all possible.  It's simply far to easy to 
eat 3000 calories in one meal.  I should be able to do better, I know, but 
it's simply not a good choice for me.

Now, if some of you manage to go through once, making good choices and 
then stopping, let me know how you do that, please.  I'm all ears.
From what I've seen at buffets, it's especially hard to do.

Nah, there's no way.  

I suppose if I ate at a buffet every night, I'd eventually get past the
"novelty" phase and make good choices.  

I eat small amounts of every thing that interests me.  At a large buffet
that's way too much food, even if my "serving size" is less than 1/8
cup.    I'm just too curious about how they have prepared things.  

I stay away from the buffets for the same reason as Mary.

For me, intuitive eating has helped me not pig out at buffets. I dont 
feel like I have to pig out because I know that I can always come back 
another time to try something later. It is funny because, for me, 
regular access to good food causes me to eat less. It is also helpful 
to go with someone. I *love* to talk and I have found that when I 
share meals like that with others, I end up eating slowly because I 
spend so much time talking. If you eat slowly, it allows your body to 
send "I'm full" signals to the brain. 

None of that means that I never pig out at all you can eat places. 
Sometimes I do. But I go so infrequently that it doesnt matter. 

I have not noticed any difference between lunch and supper at buffets other
than more meat at supper, which we have no reason to pay for.  They have let
us pay lunch prices at 4 pm when we explained we are vegetarian and had no
interest in the added dishes.

It might be difficult to eat 3000 calories of vegetables, but if we did, it
won't hurts us a couple of times a year.  How often do the rest of you eat
at restaurants?

More than we should... My husband and I both enjoy going out for dinner,
so we eat out regularly.

I go out once or twice a week.  Usually it's to a menu-based restaurant,
but sometimes we hit the buffet.  

Actually, it's pretty simple to get 3000 calories in vegetables. 
Tempura vegetables, battered and deep fried are one example.  Any
vegetable that is sauted, deep fried, or dressed with a sauce made of
oil, mayonnaise, or butter is going to add up pretty quickly.    

I eat at restaurants more than twice a year...  And probably more often
than I really need  to.  Though a lot of the time when I do, I get the
cheap stuff that I can hardly beat the  price of if fixing the same
thing at home.  Like something from the dollar menu [say, a  chicken
sandwich or a breakfast biscuit] when I'm running too late to fix
something at  home before leaving for an appt. Or when out doing errands
and the stuff takes longer  than expected and I don't have the time to
go home, eat lunch or dinner, than head back  out to finish doing the
stuff I need to do [which would cost more than the food I brought  when
considering gas for the car and the actual time it takes to go home, fix
food, eat, go  back out, etc].

I eat out maybe 4-6 times a week.  Because it's fun.

That, too... :-)

Good.  I was starting to worry about you. ;-)

I enjoy pigging out at a buffet a few times per year.  My current favorite
is the Clinton Inn (Sunday brunch only, just $9).  In Ann Arbor, Weber's
Sunday brunch was nice price & quality last time i went, but that's just
breakfast food.

That it's a boatload of calories doesn't matter too much to me - i do it
too seldom, don't eat much for a couple days, and can walk 12 miles or so
to help burn it off.

One of the definite benefits to eating out is that the chefs can make
things that I can't (or at least, don't know how to make and have no
real desire to learn how to make). :)

Heh, I am such a lousy cook that pretty much my only chances to eat 
well are to eat out or to get invited over to someone's house for 
dinner. :)

Lynne, here's your invitation.  Do you want dinner or cooking lessons?

Colleen- can I maybe horn in on some cooking lessons when I move back to
the area? :)

We checked out the free meal on your birthday options in Ann Arbor and I 
could not find anything I wanted to eat at Seva (everything was made with 
hot peppers on the entree list) or Cottage Inn (only vegetable dish was 
mostly white flour and cheese).  I can cook what I want at home, without 
the refined starch, grease, salt and pepper, much cheaper than I would pay 
for even tax and tip at a restaurant.  I did get six bagels at 
Zingerman's.  My last home-cooked (by Jim) meal included fresh-picked beet 
greens.  Do any restaurants around here serve those?  Or 100% whole-wheat 
bread, all you can eat?  Gooseberries?  Black raspberries?
.

Haha. I would choose dinner because I dont like to cook :)

I went with some friends to that Chinese Buffet II place on Washtenaw. 
It wasnt all that great but seemed decent for the $6 price. I did eat 
a little too much. I was doing fine but then the kids at the table got 
ice cream and then I wanted ice cream too so I got a very small dish. 
But that pushed me over the edge from satisfied to full. Not 
uncomfortably full though. The talking technique worked well for me. 

Re: #19/20/24
A restaurant chef can make a lot of things that just don't make sense 
to cook yourself, no matter how much spare time you've got.  All the 
more so at a buffet, where I may have a dab of 5 different entrees, 6 
desserts, 3 sides, 4 salads, etc.  

Flip-side, the time & bother of cooking lots of food at home, where i
usually eat, helps keep me on-the-vague-order-of thin.

I'm pretty much with Anne and Mary in terms of avoiding buffets.  The 
only exception is for Indian food, which I rarely eat.  It's a chance 
to get to have a bunch of different things, which is what I always 
want - I never want just one thing.

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