BUFFET EUROPA UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP

I have been informed by one of our readers that on a very recent visit to Buffet Europa, he discovered the restaurant was sold. The restaurant remains in business but the original owners are gone, and apparently have moved to Jersey City, New Jersey.

This reader reports that they went into the restaurant, immediately learned that there were new owners and then they looked around at the buffet to decide if they wanted to stay and try it. They had been to Buffet Europa before and saw nothing of what they expected. As the reader put it to me, they did not like what they saw and left.

For all of you have been to Buffet Europa - the restaurant that this site chose as the "Best Small Buffet of 2oo9" - this is a real tragedy. I say this because it was the two people who ran this restaurant all on their own who made this the unique and wonderful place that it was.

I cannot judge the new owners or their cooking or the food that they are serving. It may be very nice - though as I say, I reported above what a reader encountered when he and his wife went their. I have been told that the ethnicity of the new owner is not the same as the original owners who were Italian and Polish - and the reason why this European cuisine featuring buffet was so good. Whether that should make any difference remains to be seen.

I have looked at the website and it remains exactly the same as it always has - the site shows the same hours, days, and menu items on the buffet. There is no mention of new owners and the links to all of the reviews remain from various media including ours. Of course, that review no longer holds true without the people who made this restaurant so special.

I look upon this is just one more notch in this bad economy's belt. We have speculated for a few months now how they could remain in business with the few customers that would be there on nights that several of our readers and I have been there in 2010. A month or so ago we learned that they had closed for renovations - and from the description of the person who spoke to our reader that time and the person who spoke to the reader who informed us of the new owner - well, that had to be the same person.

For now, I can no longer recommend Buffet Europa until some of our readers report back to me - if they try it - how the food is now. Maybe they will be pleasantly surprised. I hope so. Whether I will return any time soon remains to be seen - and if I do, I, too, would go in prepared to walk right back out if I don't see what I think is a quality meal being served. If you go to Buffet Europa after you see this article please leave a comment. If you have been there before - even within the last few months it was likely you were there with the original owners - so to be current with this restaurant - only comment on the food if you are there from here on.

Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902.

Farewell, Buffet Europa. Maybe the nice couple who started this restaurant will open another just as good in a location deserving of the food that they serve and they get the business that they should.