IKEA JULBORD RETURNS!

 The annual Julbord -  Christmas smorgasbord - at IKEA has been gone since the start of Covid. This year it has returned and we were there last night! There are, two seatings - 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  We were at the second seating at the IKEA in Hicksville on Long Island in New York.

The price has gone up considerably - but so have the restaurant prices at the IKEA restaurant - and even the snack bar.  The cost per adult was $19.99 IF you have an IKEA Family Card - which is free to get and there are kiosk machines all over the IKEA store to get one from. Without the card the price was (I believe) $25.99 for adults. The children's price was $10.99 - again with the family card. 

Tickets were on sale at the restaurant in advance in November and into December. They also had a "reservation" system which enabled one to reserve tickets online and pay for them when they arrived -  BUT the reservation did not guarantee you would get in. It only put you ahead of any possible walk ins that could take a chance that after all ticket holders came in and were seated.  According to the IKEA website the second seating - 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm was sold out but there were people there with reservations and there were people there looking to walk in.  Ticket holders were put in one line. There were two other lines for the other two.  It did look like everyone did get in and even during the course of the evening they were selling tickets and seating arrivals.  We bought our tickets three weeks in advance. 

We arrived at 6:10 pm and there was already a line of ticket holders. We were in the first quarter of the line and the line grew after that.  The Hicksville IKEA restaurant was renovated and re-decorated in the past three years.  The room was rearranged and there were door enclosed refrigerated cases added to the serving counter where there previously were open cases.  We were not really sure how much of the smorgasbord, how it was served, or how seating would be knowing the room now was very different. When we bought the tickets there was a sign that talked about the menu and that some items would be served to you by staff. 

We were let in at about 6:50 pm and we quickly looked around the room and headed to one of the tables for four near the center of the room.  While I had not noticed the band set up in a different place this year from previous years, it turned out that we had a great view of the band that entertains throughout the night.  We were glad to see that the same Food Service Manager was still there. He has always been very friendly and very nice.  He announced that the buffet table would not be open yet but to be seated and if you wish go up to the soda and coffee machines and help yourself while waiting.  The tables were each set with a red or white large paper napkin, with a knife and fork on top, and a glass with another napkin of the opposite color at each seat. 

The biggest change was that there was only one buffet serving table.  In the past there had been two -  both with the same foods and set up to walk down one side and have reach of what was on both sides - so that they could sent a line down each side of the table for people to serve themselves from the many dishes of Swedish foods.  At first we wondered if this was going to result in a longer wait when you got on line to go to the single buffet table but it really did not slow anything down. 

When the announcement was made that the buffet table was now open, tables started emptying with hungry diners heading for the buffet.  The line moved fairly quickly - yet no one was rushed. There was a dish cart with an employee who was handing each diner a dish - which is what they always have done.  She was very friendly an smiled with a "I hope you are hungry! Enjoy!" as you were handed your plate.  Then you were directed to go down either side of the buffet table. At the very start of where the line formed which was at the usual restaurant counter, there was a man with bottles of Glogg and Sparkling Apple Cider (both non-alcoholic) pouring and handing you a cup of your choice.  This led you to the lady with the plates and the food.  To the side of the buffet table was a small table with two servers. We wil get back to that later! 

On the buffet -  at the start of the table there were three different types of Swedish meatballs - one the regular meat meatball in cream gravy, another a plant ball with a chili sauce on them, and the third was a vegetable ball in cream sauce.  Following that there was a large bowl of Potatoes Gratin. This is potatoes made hash style and baked with a  brown crust on top. Following that were bowls of boiled red potatoes.  Two platters of thick sliced baked ham follow followed. Beyond that one on each side of the table were platters of herring - one in mustard sauce and the other dill.  Following there were two large bowls of chopped smoked salmon. There was also a large bowl of a cream sauce with what seemed to be potato salad - or it might have been a sauce to pour over the smoked salmon (I did not take any so I do not know for certain).  The best in my opinion followed- two large platters of very large slices of gravlax - cured smoked salmon - like lox but more seasoned with a very pleasant seasoning (not spicy - not "hot").  Last on the table was a tray of smoked salmon in a lime sauce. There was a basket of round hard "bread".  

From past years, was anything missing.  The only thing that they have had intermittently in the past were small "pinsky" sausages. There were none at this buffet. There was also no green salad which had been in past years - though, why fill up on salad with all of these great dishes to try and enjoy! 

There was a constant stream of kitchen staff replacing platters on the table. It was not until much later in the evening that I noticed anything not being out any longer and that was the chopped smoked salmon. 

Had this been one of the Julbord tables of the past - and this being a very new approach to the buffet set up- and not having the ablility to walk past to see everything on the table before I started taking anything - which I do at any buffet.   I took more than I would normally take on the first plate.  I took two meat meatballs, a large scoop of the Potato Gratin, a smaller sized red potato, a slice of ham - which I took from the plate at the other side of the table as the pieces in the plate in front of me were very large, two pieces each of the two herring, a lot of the gravlax,  a large spoonful of the chopped salmon, and a piece of the smoked salmon in lime sauce and headed back to our table. 

I tried a little of everything on my plate first.  It was all delicious.  I then proceed to eat it all! (It has been three years since the last IKEA buffet we had been to and I love the food served at these.) Between the mustard herring and the dill herring I liked the dill herring best - but the mustard was good too - and the sauce was not overly mustard in taste. The gravlax was exceptional and I did not regret taking as much of it as I did.  The ham was good. The meatballs were good. The ham was good - and nice piece of ham with a crust on the outside that was not sweet.  The Potato Gratin was excellent! The red potato was a plain boiled red potato - tasty in itself - and a nice taste!  We took our time and enjoyed what we were eating while listening to the band made up of an electric organ, an accordion, and a drummer. With other instruments picked up and played as the songs called for them. The music was a combination of classic Christmas songs, songs from Sweden, and Swedish Christmas songs. The woman at the organ/piano had a lot of humorous patter between songs - and they even set up a camera put their performance live on YouTube.  They also started calling children to come up and join in dancing, and toward the end of the evening they dressed children up to do the Swedish custom of Santa Lucia -  with (electric) candles on one little girls head who was Santa Lucia while the two of the band played the song Santa Luci and the woman marched the children around the room.  The kids loved it - as did everyone watching. 

Of course, first dish now empty, it was time to go back up. For me it was more of some of what I took first -  and at this point the chopped smoked salmon was gone. I took gravlax, of course!  I took the salmon in lime sauce. I took meatballs, Potato Gratin, another red potato, more dill herring, and with a full plate headed back to the table. 

My picky eater wife who is still a picky eater decided she would try one of the vegetable meatballs - she had taken the usual meat meatballs first - and she said she really could not taste any difference from the all meat meatballs. 

I did go back for a third dish - dill herring, gravlax, Potato Gratin, and now there was out a soft flat bread that I took a piece of.  As I ate it occured to me that were I to go down to the food section where IKEA sells all of these Swedish foods - were I to buy a small jar of the herring and a package of the gravlax it would have cost more than the $19.99 I paid for the smorgasbord.  And other than at a buffet, they are well out of my ability to afford them (even in a supermarket or restaurant)

 By then Santa came out to greet all of the children - carrying a yellow IKEA shopping bag full of small stuffed toys which he handed out to the children.  Sometimes at these Julbord dinners it is hard to tell who is in the Santa suit but we were pretty sure this was the Food Service Manager. 

Oh yes, that small table next to the buffet table with two servers at it -  this was one of the best changes this IKEA made this year. This was the dessert table. On the table was a large bowl of Swedish  rice pudding, chocolate and coconut covered balls (with a mocha filling), almond/chocolate/caramel cake - a crunchy cake, and there were a stick of cake that was green with each end dipped in chocolate (possibly marzipan???).   I had to have some dessert and asked for a scoop of rice pudding and the chocolate/coconut covered ball with mocha inside. Each served to a plate and handed to me - and that is what was so good as opposed to other smorgasbord dinner here in the past.  In the past the desserts were served buffet style from a small buffet server.  Before most were even finished with the main course, diners would go lto the deserts and pretty much empty it all out. More would be brought out and again it would be emptied in no time.  This was the first time at one of these dinners - and not just the Julbord Christmas one - I had a choice of all the desserts because they were all remaining.  The rice pudding was excellent.The chocolate ball was good but a little too sweet for me. 

From what was said - by the band at the end of the night. There will be a summer smorgasbord coming in 2024. There used to be three - one at Easter, one in the summer, and this one.  This past summer there was one at this IKEA but when read the sign about what would be served it talked about meatballs but did not talk about the various fish dishes - and we decided we would not go and hope for the Julbord to come back - which it did and here it was!

I  understand that not all IKEAs serve the same way for the smorgasbords - some have no music - and some have you go up to the counter and be served.  The IKEA near us is just as I have described in this article. As we were leaving, my wife said to me "Yes!".  I asked yes what? She said - yes about the music when we were coming here you asked me "do you think there will be the music and that band again?".  So the answer now was - YES!

A Waste of $90

Anyone who reads this site regularly knows that I would not pay for a buffet that costs $90 for two, but we were invited to one and we went with relatives. I have written of this annual Christmas Eve excursion before but this year the price is higher and the meal was just not good. The restaurant is not a buffet normally. It is a menu restaurant with a catering hall on the side that has been around for many, many years. As a boy I came here with my family to the menu restaurant. My parents when I got older but still at home would come here for special occasions and Christmas Eve. They liked it for Christmas Eve because it had a very festive holiday atmosphere, though even then they would be disappointed in the food. Were I not invited - and understand this is more a command appearance than anything else (though I do enjoy seeing the children) - I would not go there. The restaurant is the Milleridge Inn in Jericho, New York and the buffet is served on several holidays during the year. The buffet is served in the catering building (seen a year ago on an episode of the television show, "Royal Pains", (which films locally) as where the brother's wedding took place.

The restaurant and the buffet was crowded. It surprised me given the cost of the dinner, but around here income (to many - not me) seems irrelevant when it comes to spending money. By accident, we stumbled across the price of this dinner as we were waiting for the people who invited us to arrive, as they were arriving late. Their arriving late had caused a problem for the restaurant. This was the last seating. They called me and asked me to inform the restaurant that they would be there a half hour late. I was told by the hostess that the restaurant closed at 9 and those who were coming late should be told that. OK. About ten minutes later, she came over to me and said she was about to give away all reservations who had not arrived - I looked around and saw no one waiting and empty tables inside now not being filled - and that in a few minutes there would be no reservation for our group unless we sat now - pretty much in their attitude therefore guaranteeing them payment for at least two. We had preferred not to go in without our hosts but if we did not go in then without them, there would be no table for anyone when they arrived. We reluctantly went in and were seated. We did not eat anything or touch anything on the table until they arrived - as it was my intention to walk out the door if the party had not arrived by 8:00 pm and not pay for anything. Anyway, the price - while we  were standing in the lobby next to one of the reception desks and there printed on a paper, not visible to the public, it said $45.00 per adult. Later I learned that children are charged at $19.99 per child, seemingly regardless of age as a three year old at our table who consumed a few spoonfuls of fruit salad and not much else was charged $19.99 as was a 12 year old. On top of this tax and gratuity are added by the restaurant to the bill along with any beverages - soft or hard - that are ordered with the exception of hot coffee or hot tea. So here are four adults and two children with a dinner bill coming to over $220 plus soft drinks charged at bar prices, tax, and tip (tip amount added by the restaurant) - no alcohol ordered. As I overheard, the total was near $300!

For that kind of money I wish the meal had been good. Everything was tasteless. Items were mislabeled. The choices to select from were extremely limited - and most entrees were sweetened in some form or other.

There was an appetizer section of prepared salads - Italian cold cuts, julianned and mixed with Italian dressing, small mozzarella balls with grape tomatoes, pasta salad with seafood - scattered bits of shrimp and tiny scallops, one or two other pasta salads, and shrimp out of the shell on ice with cocktail sauce. Sounds good, but tasteless - every dish out in this section was tasteless. There was a salad of mixed greens with one dressing served on the side of the salad serving bowl.

There was a "kids'" section consisting of cut up hot dogs wrapped in dough, chicken fingers, french fries, and macaroni and cheese. I tried the mac and cheese - tasteless.

The entrees went around two sides, repeated. Salmon in teriyaki sauce, Veal scallopini (which on one side was the label on a second server of the next dish which was) chicken in barbecue sauce with pineapple, beef and broccoli, penne with vodka sauce, mashed potatoes, spaghetti and clam sauce, and steamed vegetables that were swimming deep in butter sauce. There were three carvings - turkey breast, ham, and a roast beef that was presented as if it were something better. It all sounds nice, right? But everything that I took was tasteless - even that which was overly sweet. I guess it had a generic sweet taste. The turkey gravy was thin and seemed to be from a mix. And with each unsatisfying bite, I was thinking what a waste of money. When I went up and asked for roast beef the chef who was carving after putting the meat on my plate, grunted and pointed at me with his carving knife and then pointed the knife at the beef gravy sitting in serving dish next to him and grunted again. How pleasant!

By the time our group was ready for dessert several servers rushed to the table with coffee pots and one had a clear glass water pitcher full of boiling water for tea. As there was only one teabag in the sugar dish, had anymore than one wanted tea, as things were going they would have been out of luck. While we were dining I had heard a number of desserts being offered by servers to tables around us. One dessert to a person - no dessert buffet. When we asked what they had for dessert the selection was down to chocolate mouse cake which the 12 year old told me was overly sweet, coconut cake, and cheesecake.

I have had more enjoyable meals at Old Country Buffet. I have had more enjoyable meals at buffets that are just fair at less than one-fourth the price. For the money spent for an hour and a half dinner for six, the two of us could eat at buffets for about three months two or so times a week. It was such an incredible waste of money. I am not often effected after a buffet meal but as I write this I have been burping some odd tastes for more than an hour and a half now. This is not going to be a very good night.

Well, if you are ever considering this restaurant - menu or holiday buffet - skip it! It is not good, has no value, and is not worth it. And with that, I wish you a Merry Christmas to all - and for those who did not eat here, to all a good night. as we who did dine here are going to be awake most of the night.

It is Christmas time and that means its time for IKEA's Julbord Smorgasbord!

I have written about these dinners for the past few years. The IKEA stores celebrate the holidays and the summer with a special Swedish buffet dinner in there store restaurants for one night each. There is a Christmas dinner, an Easter dinner, a Midsummer dinner, and a special Crayfish feast dinner in August. I just returned from the  Christmas smorgasbord and it was great as always.

I have often said that a restaurant that does not normally do buffets rarely can pull off a buffet dinner well. The IKEA restaurants (or at least the IKEA restaurant in Hicksville, NY) does an excellent job at converting what is an everyday cafeteria to a buffet, rearranging the dining floor to accommodate two large buffet tables with a dessert and cheese bar to the side and an additional smaller buffet table for breads and meat, plus being able to seat hundreds in two seatings. This IKEA has also added a band and small dance floor and has made the dinner into a real holiday party with song and dance - and for Christmas a presentation of St. Lucia (from who the holiday custom of candles worn in a circle on the head) and a visit from Santa Claus! This non-buffet restaurant does this smorgasbord dinner as if they do it every day. They don't, but you would think that they do - and they do it far more professionally and better than other non-buffet restaurants do when try to have a buffet - and IKEA does it better than some every day buffet restaurants.

The first seating is held from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm and the second seating is held from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Tickets for these dinners must be purchased in advance and they sell out early - months before the day of the dinner. The price is incredible - the regular price is $12.99 all included per adult and $4.99 per child, BUT if you have an IKEA Family Card which is free at kiosks all over the store, the price becomes $9.99 per adult and $2.49 per adult. And the food is good!

We had a great time. The food choices from one season's smorgasbord to the next vary only slightly. Many of the same items will be found at each of the dinners. Some items are substituted with foods for that specific season or holiday and all are traditional Swedish foods. At this Christmas dinner there were a few things that we had not seen for some of the dinners but had had at others, and there were a few new ones added. Here is what was on tonight's buffet -

Three different types of herring - herring in wine, pickled herring, and herring in a cream mustard sauce
Hard boiled eggs with shrimp
Gravad Lax with mustard sauce
Smoked salmon with horseradish sauce
Whole poached salmon
Cucumber salad
Assorted Swedish cheeses
Liverwurst pate
Red Beet salad
Red Cabbage
Mashed potatoes
GRATANG Jansson - shredded potatoes with cheese and herring
Meatballs with lingonberries
Swedish ham served warm with mustard
Prinskov sausages (sauteed) - these ran out early
Crisp bread
Swedish spiced bread (an "S" shaped roll with a cake like taste - tradional to Christmas in Sweden
Swedish Rice pudding
Elderflower cupcakes
Pound cake with lingonberries
Cookies
Beverages including a bottle of a hops/barley, non-alcoholic Christmas drink on every day per two people and cups of non-alcoholic apple and pear wine and apple and lingonberry wine being poured plus sodas, lingonberry juice, coffee, and tea.

I started with an all fish plate with my second plate consisting of meats and side dishes. Perhaps I should have reversed the order of that as the Prinskov sausages, one of my favorites at these meals, were gone when I went up for the meats. (This has happened only once before.) These sausages must be very popular and perhaps they appeal to the kids because they are close in appearance to small hot dogs with a slightly different flavor. Smoked salmon is expensive. It is rarely found on a buffet and it is even rarer to find it on an inexpensive buffet. Here are unending platters of it in two different types. If you like herring here it is. The poached salmon is especially good - and I usually do not eat cooked salmon (much preferring smoked or raw salmon), but I like this one! The ham was very good. The meatballs are the usual IKEA Swedish meatballs - good. The side dishes are a chance to try some things that unless you are Swedish or Scandinavian you don't often get a chance to have other than in an Scandinavian restaurant. I don't eat liver but have had liverwurst in the long past. I tried the liverwurst pate here and it did not have what I consider the usual overwhelming liver taste that liver dishes have, but was mild and very pleasant. The food was good. The meal was satisfying. I ate too much. My picky eater wife who does not eat fish found enough in the meats, etc. to have a good meal. We both went for desserts and those were good as well.

This meal attracts all types of people from a various cultures. Those who stand out are the Swedes and there are many at these dinners. You can tell because they talk about the foods as being as good as home in Sweden and they with the singing and entertainment, they know the Swedish songs and join in. One thing I judge a culture-based restaurant (and buffet) by are the people of that culture who are dining there, commenting positively on how the food is, and who talk about frequently coming back. I find this at these IKEA buffet dinners with people who are from a family of people from Sweden or who have lived in Sweden. 

These dinners must not be judged by the usual IKEA cafeteria restaurant. With the exception of the meatballs and mashed potatoes, the foods served here are very different from those served in Ikea's day to day restaurant.

The best part aside from the food is that this is a party, especially now with the music added which started at this location at the buffet last summer. The same band was here on this night and they put on a good show. They got the whole room involved in singing, got people up to dance, got a line dance going around the room, and kept the party going right up to 9 o'clock. And the party atmosphere spreads from table to table with people enjoying themselves. There are couples, families. large groups, and singles. There are kids and when Santa came out, were brought up on the dance floor to meet Santa.

The employees who run this dinner and work at it are wonderful too! Everyone has a smile and warmly greets every guest. The people who come from the kitchen to bring out more platters if food do so quickly and seem happy to be there. The people who come and take plates off your table are friendly as well. The manager walks around the dining room stopping more than once at every table to be sure that everyone is happy and getting everything that they like.

During the dinner the tickets for the next dinner go on sale - the next dinner is for Easter on April  11, 2014. We bought our tickets for that dinner - as did many who were there. This is one reason why these tickets sell out so quickly. We bought our tickets for this Christmas dinner last August.

Every IKEA in the US - and perhaps the world - has these dinners and they are held on the same evening/night at each. As I just said, the next dinner is in April for Easter and the tickets can be purchased for that dinner right now at the cash register at the IKEA restaurant. If you would like to have a good smorgasbord for very little money that is also a party, try this. It has only been a few hours since we were there and I am already looking forward to the next IKEA smorgasbord in April!


I will make one last comment with this article. In the past when I have written about IKEA some readers have tried to leave negative comments because of some personal grudge with the store. I will not post those comments. If you have something valid to say that is negative about actually going to one of these dinners as long as it is written fairly, factually, and intelligently, I will post it. Often, though, the comments about IKEA from our readers are very positive. All comments are always moderated on this site.

Christmas/New Year's Special Dinner at Best Buffet, Huntington Station, NY

I am pushing this article ahead of other articles that are scheduled to appear on this site, as I want to give those who would like to try this special dinner a chance to get there for New Year's Eve 2012 or New Year's Day 2013. We have been to the very special Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day dinner at Best Buffet located in Huntington Station, New York last year and the year before on Christmas Day. We returned there again this year and were very pleased. Last year, and prior, at this restaurant there had been temperature problems with the food. There was no such problem this year and everything that I tried was very, very good!

This is a Chinese/Asian buffet and it is one of the highest priced such buffets in this area. The price for this special holiday dinner is $33.99 per person - the same as it was last year. This is the most expensive buffet dinner that I have been to and written about. It is way above most of the buffets that I recommend. This price is just for this special holiday dinner, but it is not much more than their usual weekend dinner. For a holiday dinner- we are talking about the biggie holidays here - it is not that bad. If you want soda or tea you will be charged $1.79 each more. They will automatically add a 12% tip onto the bill in addition to sales tax.  The children's price is $16.99!  The bill for the two of us without beverages - just water - was over $84.00. For us that is a lot - but I enjoyed the meal and that is what is important!

There are usually over 180 items on their buffet at dinner. This special meal is adding a number of special items to this - you will find:

Special Seafood bisque - this was a very unusual soup and unlike any bisque that I have ever had. It was a dark brown similar to hot and sour soup but not spicy. It had chunks of seafood - not sure what but some had the consistency of shrimp and lobster. It also had gelatinous noodles which may be soybean noodles. It was interesting and good.

Tokyo Beef Shortrib - this was a large roasted beef rib carved at the carving station. It was carved off the bone and placed on your plate. It was very rare at the center and crispy at the edge. It was very good.

Lobster Salad with Tropical Fruit - this was on the cold bar with the salads and fruit. It was white in color and it was pieces of lobster and fruit. As I have to watch which raw fruit I eat due to allergies I did not try it. I wished I could have!

Roast Suckling Pig - they have had this each year. This year it was on the carving station and you took it yourself. It was inch wide strips of pork with a very crisp skin and each strip was about three inches long. Unlike year's past, it was hot and very good. The skin is very hard to bite. It is worth trying!

Grilled Stuffed Clam - this was a half calm that was grilled with bacon on top. It was overly salty to the taste and the clam was very, very chewy. I tried one but did not go back for another.

Fillet Mignon with Pepper Cone - this was a large roll of Fillet Mignon that was roasted with a pepper cream sauce on top. It was very good and very tender. It was served and carved at the carving station.

Alaska Jumbo Crab Legs - these were single legs - not clusters and not very jumbo. There were both hot and cold crab legs. Mixed in were also steamed lobster claws.

Fresh Oysters and Clams - raw oysters and clams on ice next to the sushi bar. The oysters were large and tasty. I added cocktail sauce. There were several types of sauce to top them with.

Grilled Lamb Leg with Rosemary Sauce - served on the carving station.

Pan Fried Fresh Scallop - these were served at the grill and they had a dark sauce on them and they were served on a large scallop shell. The scallop was tender and very tasty!

Grilled Lobster with Cheese - these were half lobsters - small with no claw. Mostly you are eating the tail as there was no meat in the rest of the half shell. The lobster was tasty. There was always a line when these lobsters came out and they were served at the carving station at one per plate. When these lobsters were not out, there was lobster in ginger sauce served to your plate in a good quantity. The lobster in ginger sauce was tastier.

Italian Seafood Platter - I have to say I have no idea what this is - I did not see anything there that would meet this discription, but there was seafood everywhere on the buffet!

Salmon Fish with Dijon Sauce - there was a large salmon on the buffet. I am not partial to cooked salmon so I did not try it.

Jumbo Shrimp Scampi- these were large shrimp in garlic sauce. They looked very good.

Teriyaki Chilean Sea Bass - this was on the buffet and was very popular, especially with the Oriental people who were dining. Large chunks of Chilean sea bass were covered in a thick teriyaki sauce.

Roasted Peking Duck - this is always offered at the carving station here. The duck was large and meaty - and surprisingly not very fatty. Duck was carved and put in a thick, doughy steamed pancake and there were the traditional toppings and sauce for you to add yourself. There was no problem just carving several good sized pieces of duck to your plate.

Japanese Sushi and Sashimi - there is always a sushi bar here and there was a good variety of fish being offered. While I was at the sushi counter, one gentleman was asking for a certain roll and they were making it for him.

Seafood Delight with X.O. Sauce - this was no the buffet. I did not try it.

Roasted Prime Rib - this was on the carving station and they were carving thick slices of prime rib. This was real prime rib - not just roast beef. There were slices on the bone. The meat looked moist.

Fried Oysters with Wasabi - this was on the buffet. While I like raw oysters, I do not care for cooked oysters. If you like cooked oysters, these would be good.

Crispy Prawns with Mayonnaise - this was on the buffer. I did not try it.

Holiday Dessert - there was a variety of desserts with the most authentic being two Chinese dessert soups. There were cups of mango pudding, honeydew pudding, and chocolate pudding. There was a sign for creme brulee but there was no out. There were the usual Chinese buffet sheet cakes, a variety of cookies and macaroons, a coconut cake (which was gelatinous), kiwi fruit, something called Dragon Fruit which was red on the outside, white inside with black seeds, fruit salad, apple pie roll, and a sundae bar with soft serve ice cream. I tried a small piece of cheese cake which was not much more than the usual cheese cake found with the sheet cakes at many Chinese buffets. It was fine but not great cheese cake. I also tried something that looked like it should be a very thin chocolate cookie. A platter came out with very thin cookies in random shapes as a batter must have been poured out as liquid onto the baking sheet. There were the shapes of almonds (inside) bumped across the pieces. It looked like a chocolate cookie. It was hard to the bite and it did not really taste like chocolate. When you bit into the bump where the almond shape was it tasted like almond but no almond could be seen. It was very unusual - and without the chocolate taste was not really worth finishing.

These were the holiday features. In addition there were many other things to eat - some of which is found on their regular and weekend buffet and some not. There were two soup pots on the side near the carving station. One had duck soup. The other had spare rib soup. There were a variety of meets and seafood coming off the grill - beef, chicken, shrimp, octopus, and more. There were three dumplings - traditional shumai, a shumai stuffed with wild black rice, and pan fried pork dumplings. There were non-Asian foods like Fettuccine Alfredo (which was very good) and Chicken Marsala. They also have an hibachi grill now that they did not have in the past and there were raw meats and vegetables for you to choose and give to the chef to grill for you. There were many, many good things to choose.

The only problem is that there is so much, it is not possible to take even a small amount of everything that you would like to try. I tried to just take a little of what I wanted to try and still could not include everything that caught my eye. One thing that I had that is worth mentioning - along with so much else - was sweet and sour cod fish. The tray had a whole fried cod including head with bared teeth. There were large chunks of fried cod that were continually added to this tray and they were covered in a light sweet and sour sauce that was not the usual red sweet and sour sauce you usually get in a Chinese restaurant. This was very good. So much was very good.

When we were almost finished, my wife asked if I felt (pertaining to value) if this meal here or the meal at Captain George's Seafood Buffet in Virginia was better. That was a hard question to answer and she choose that buffet to compare to as it is the closest (though cheaper) to the price of this buffet. My answer was this meal and I based that answer on the carving station. Here you could make a meal of Prime Rib, Leg of Lamb, Fillet Mignon, Short Rib, Duck, and two types of lobster. And not include anything else. There is no place (at least locally) that you can do that for $34.00 - and the food was quality.

I do this holiday buffet once a year. It was a nice holiday dinner. I recommend that you try it and as New Year's Eve and New Year's Day is next week you still have an opportunity to go here and also enjoy this meal. Otherwise you have to wait until next year's holidays.

Best Buffet is located on Route 110 North - 179 Walt Whitman Road in Huntington Station, New York on Long Island. Their phone number is 631-385-0800. There is a website and that is linked at the side of this page.

Swedish Christmas Julbord at Ikea Store Restaurants

I have been sharing some wonderful meals that we have had at the Ikea Store Restaurants all you care to eat smorgasbord dinners that they hold four times a year. We recently enjoyed the Christmas smorgasbord - called the Swedish Christmas Julbord.

All of these dinners are held for two seatings on just one night. The first seating is at 4 pm and ends at 6. The second seating starts at 7 and ends at 9 pm. This year's dinner was held on December 7th. Tickets for the dinners must be purchased in advance and one week after the sign went up at our local Ikea store that the Julbord dinner was coming, we went to buy our tickets. The second seating was already sold out. I grabbed the first seating without hesitation. I don't usually like to dine this early but I was not going to miss this dinner. The price for the dinner is $12.99 for adults and $4.99 for children, but if you have an Ikea Family card - available free at kiosks all over the store, the price was discounted to $9.99 for adults and $2.49 for children. This is all inclusive except for sales tax. Your beverages are included and there is no tipping.

We arrived at 3:30 to wait on the already long line of people with tickets to get into the restaurant. The restaurant on these days is closed from the afternoon to the evening to prepare for this special dinner. While the Ikea restaurants are ordinarily cafeteria style, the cafeteria section is closed and large smorgasbord tables are set out where there are usually tables in part of the dining room. I noticed right away that many of the people on line were Seniors. Older people seem to like dining early. There were some families and younger couples mixed in. At 4:00 pm tickets started to be collected and the line quickly moved into the dining room. You are told to sit at any table you wish. Each table was festively set with  silverware, glasses with fanned red napkins in each one and for this dinner a bottle of a Swedish holiday drink made from hops and malt. It was a sweet soda drink that in essence was "beer soda" - though totally non-alcoholic. The couple that eventually sat down at the table next to us have been to Sweden and the wife was Swedish. They loved this drink and finished their bottle quickly. They have been to this dinner before and they made a point to comment to us how authentic everything served is. 

Once seated you go up to the smorgasbord tables as you please. There are a lot of people dining at these dinners and early on into the dinner there is generally a line to get up to the food. It never was more than a few minutes wait and there are very friendly employees who are directing the flow to get people to each of the two sides of the two smorgasbord tables. As you got halfway through the line area, there was a server offering everyone a hot cup of Glogg. This is a non-alcoholic version of hot spiced wine. The idea is that you will finish your cup of Glogg by the time you get up to the smorgasbord tables. I mistakenly decided to hold onto mine until I got back to the table and juggled it as I filled my plate.

The food at each of the smorgasbord dinners that I have been to at Ikea have been very much the same from one dinner to the next. There are slight variations and also some differences in how some of the food is prepared. I will list through menu that was offered - and if you have read my articles about Ikea smorgasbords before you will not a lot of similarity.

There were three herrings. All were in a wine sauce. Two I had a hard time telling apart though the seasonings visible with the herring in the sauce were different. The third was sweeter than the other two - and I preferred that more than the other two. There was Gravad Lox with Mustard Sauce on the side. This is smoked salmon - similar to American lox but seasoned  a bit differently. There were large rolled slices of the salmon to take. The mustard sauce was a bit sweet and you added this as you wished. There was Najad Salmon with Horseradish sauce. This was cold smoked marinated salmon thinly sliced. There was also poached salmon - a large whole salmon poached and set out on a platter. You dug out what you liked from the fish and scooped it onto your plate. There was a nice cold cream sauce on the side to add to this. I have commented on this before - I do not like cooked salmon. I do like this poached salmon. There were also hard boiled eggs with shrimp stuffed into the middle of each half egg. There was one more fish dish that I was not aware was fish until later in the meal. There was what looked like au-gratin shredded potatoes. My wife asked me about them and it looked to me to be just potatoes. If you read this site regularly you know that my picky eater wife does not eat fish. I took some and she waited for me to report to her.  The potatoes were good but a bit salty and there was a grainy feel mixed in with the cheese. I told her that they were just potatoes but they were salty. On her next trip up to the smorgasbord she took some. She did eat it and commented that there must be something more than potatoes. I was sure not and I spoke too soon. On one of my trips up I saw a sign on the table near this platter that I had not seen - GRATANG Jansson - with an explanation - shredded potatoes with cheese and herring. I wondered if I should tell her. I asked if she wanted to know. She did and it was no big deal, but she took no more of it. Other than the salt, it was good.

Those were the fish dishes but there was much more. There was Swedish Cucumber Salad, Red Beet Salad, and Swedish Potato Salad. I particularly liked the Swedish Potato Salad. There was Christmas Ham that was being carved on a table of its own. The ham had a thick crust on the outside. The ham was served cold. There was sharp mustard served on the side. There were Prinskorv Sausages which are a favorite of mine. There were Swedish Meatballs in creamy gravy and there were jellied Ligonberries on the side. There was hot red cabbage. There was supposed to be boiled potatoes with dill, but in their place was mashed potatoes with dill. On a side counter there were several different cubed cheeses. There was also Swedish crisp bread and also large pieces of a French type loaf bread.

The usual Ikea soda bar beverages are available including Ligonberry juice plus Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, etc. There is also coffee and tea.

I know that many of my readers want to hear about deserts and, yes, there were several desserts to choose from. There was Swedish Rice Pudding with Almonds. There were also two other puddings. A platter was stacked high with squared of chocolate truffle cake. This was a rich and very thick cake - more like a fudge than cake. It was quite good. The rice pudding was interesting - the rice was not cooked soft as some rice puddings are. There were also very thin Swedish holiday cookies.

This dinner was excellent and the value was phenomenal. If you came even to Ikea for a single plate of any of the fish dishes that were offered here as much as you cared to eat, you would pay almost as much as this entire dinner cost. Where I live, even at a deli counter, Lox is extremely expensive. Here was all you wished to eat.It is rare to find smoked salmon or lox on a buffet and if you do it will not be one of the lesser priced buffets.

Everyone around us was enjoying this dinner. The Swedish lady next to us was piling her plate high - as was here husband. While we were eating we heard people at another table talking about purchasing tickets for the next dinner which is for Easter in March. It sounded like the tickets were being sold right then at this dinner. My good wife went up to find out and came back with two tickets - again $9.99 with the Family Card for the later seating of the Easter Smorgasbord.

If you have an Ikea store near you and you want a buffet dinner that is something very different, keep an eye out for signs about the Easter Smorgasbord in March. In fact, you could ask now at the restaurant cashier. Get one of the Family Cards - they give changing discounts in the store and also free coffee or tea at the restaurant - which day to day is not a buffet.

I look forward to the next Ikea smorgasbord!

All You Can Eat One Night Only Special Dinner at IKEA Stores Restaurants

IKEA is an international chain of home furniture stores. They are located across the United States. They are known for their "knock-down" furniture - furniture that you build yourself. Each store has a restaurant and while these restaurants are not buffets, they do have at different times of the year one night dinners that are All You Can Eat. One of those dinners will take place in two weeks and I wanted to get this out out all of our readers in time. This is something that is quite different and for what it is very inexpensive. On December 9, 2011, IKEA Store restaurants will be serving the all you can eat Swedish Christmas Julbord, a traditional holiday meal from Sweden.

The price of this meal is $9.99 per adult and just $2.49 per child under 12 and it requires tickets purchased in advance. Tickets can be obtained at the IKEA Store at the restaurant. Seating is very limited and there will be two seatings at each store, 4:00 pm to 6 pm and 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Times may vary from store to store.

The menu that will be served includes: Assorted Herrings, Graved Lax with Mustard Sauce, Smoked Salmon with Horseradish Sauce, Whole Poached Salmon, Hard Boiled Eggs with Shrimp, Swedish Cucumber Salad, Red Beet Salad, Christmas Ham, Liverwurst Pate, Assorted Cheeses, Meatballs and Ligonberries, Prinskov Sausage, Red Cabbage, Boiled Potatoes with Dill, Gratang Jansson, Lussekatter, Crispbread, Thinbread, Dinner Rolls, Swedish Rice Pudding with Almonds, Assorted Desserts, Glogg (non-alcoholic), and Beverages - coffee, tea, and fountain drinks.

I have eaten at the IKEA restaurants from their usual daily menu and the food is good. This dinner sounds fabulous and it is an opportunity to try things that you have likely not had before - unless you are Swedish or have a Swedish restaurant nearby - and it is all you care to eat! The price is unbelievable - they will be losing money on the smoked salmon alone. Their usual desserts look great so the chance to have them like this makes this a meal that is not to be missed.

If you cannot make it to this year's Julbord at IKEA, there is another chance to have a similar meal at the IKEA restaurants in March 2012 for their Swedish Easter Smorgasbord. I, unfortunately, have to wait for the Spring dinner, but if you are able to attend this meal on December 9th, get over to your local IKEA store and buy your tickets now. Don't miss out!

There is a store locator on their website linked here. Enjoy!

Christmas Eve Buffet at Milleridge Inn, Jericho, NY

Every Christmas Eve my family gets together - my sister and her husband and little girl with my wife and me - and has dinner out. For a good many years the Milleridge Inn was a family tradition and a a number of years back, they began serving a buffet dinner. As time progressed, the special buffet dinner went down hill and a few years back we stopped going there. When it was time to find a restaurant for Christmas Eve 2010, my sister - and I discovered that the restaurants that we were going to either went out of business or were not going to be open on Christmas Eve. With a reluctance I suggested that she find out if the Milleridge Inn was serving the buffet again this year. We knew that they were serving a menu dinner, but that has not been good for a long time. I have actually written about the "special" buffets served at this restaurant before - not positively. I was pretty sure before we went that things had not really improved. So keep reading to find out...

The Milleridge Inn is a "landmark" restaurant on Long Island. It seems that it has been in business forever. It started in the late 18th/early 19th Century as a stagecoach stop and in the 20th Century the mansion became a restaurant. The building has been expanded many times so that the little stagecoach stop has been lost within the many constructions. Years back a little village of gift shops was added in the large parking lot and some time ago a catering building was built at the back of the property. This catering building is where the holiday buffets are held. There are similar buffets for Christmas Eve, Valentine's Day, and Easter.

The Milleridge Inn is not a buffet restaurant. It is a menu restaurant. The buffets are set up as a catered dinner would be set up for a party or a restaurant. I have said this before and I will say it again - the problem that comes up time after time when a menu restaurant tries to serve a buffet is that the staff are not willing or prepared to do what is necessary to take care of buffet diners and the restaurant is not used to dealing with a buffet set up. Here the problem is 95% the wait staff. In the past here we encountered waiters and waitresses that were upset with working on Christmas Eve and made that very obvious. On this night, the wait staff really wanted nothing to do with the tables that they were responsible for.

There were a lot of people dining at this buffet. We had a 7:30 pm reservation which was not the last of the night. We waited to be seated after arriving for our reserved time. We were a party of five - four adults and a child. We were escorted to a very small table that should have seated no more than two. We made a comment to the gentlemen who seated us that five could not fit at this time properly. He smiled and said, "Yes, this is your table." Then he walked away. OK. We sat down elbow to elbow, two on each side with the child at one end. We got up and went to the serving tables as it was quite clear that this was our table or there would be no table.

The spread of food is set out as it would be for a catered party - times two. There were two set ups that met in the middle, both exactly the same on each side. There was a long ice table with prepared salads and cocktail shrimp (already peeled and very large). There was a bowl of greens in the middle on a small table. My sister identified the greens in the salad as mescaline greens. There were two serving bowls of dressing - one that was Catalina French and the other some dark, oil and vinegar concoction. At the wall near the salad was a table with serving dishes of macaroni and cheese, pasta with a cream tomato sauce, and a single server with chicken fingers and french fries. Along the middle and meeting the other side in the center at a roast turkey breast carving were hot, covered serving dishes with entrees and vegetables. There were also stuffed roast pork and sliced steak carvings.

This poor quality photo taken with my cell phone camera will give you an idea of the setup of the buffet. You are looking at one of the sides with hot dishes. Not really visible to the left end of the table are the carvings.

There was no soup so we started with the prepared salads and cold shrimp. There were a variety of Italian style salads - this is not an Italian restaurant. There was a mixture of sliced salami and mixed olives. There were two pasta salads. There was an artichoke salad - which was tasteless and used more than the artichoke hearts making it pretty much artichoke leaves with nothing to eat. There was a nice tomato and mozzarella cheese salad that consisted of balls of semi-fresh cheese with chunks of fresh tomatoes in an oil and vinegar with chopped parsley dressing. There was a black bean salad and there was a string bean salad. At the end of this row was the cocktail shrimp. These were large shrimp peeled with the tail on - very much like the shrimp that would be served in a restaurant as shrimp cocktail.

We completed that course at varying times - one of the reasons that I do not like going to buffets with a group - they do not like my idea that we all eat together and once a plate is empty are up for more regardless of where the rest of the table is for that course. I know that many readers have said that this is the only way to dine at a buffet in a group - and perhaps that is practical, but it does not make for much of a family meal and certainly does not lend to dinner conversation with people bouncing up and down through the entire meal. As it was, three adults and the child finished together after the one of the adults had gone back up and had already come back and continued eating. When we returned with our salads, the plates from our first course were properly taken off the table. Why would I note such a thing? I never talk really about when plates are taken away - UNLESS - they are not taken away. Well, these were the only plates the entire meal that were taken away. Now, I have noted how small this table was. Barely room for the plates that we were eating from. There was certainly no more room to put soiled plates. But no one - after that first course - ever made an appearance to take away any soiled plates. This was not just our problem as other tables around us had the same situation. It got to the point that we were cleaning our own table between courses to remove the used plates. And what did we do with them? We broke a cardinal rule of buffets and stacked them on a small empty table not too far off from our table - as were others. Oddly, the stacks of plates every so often would disappear from that table. The waiter was aware enough to take the dishes from there - but never came near the dining tables to clear the plates away when necessary. OK - someone is going to say, why didn't you say something. Well, I did. I went over to two waiters who were standing on the side with a used plate in my hand. I put it down in front of them and said to them - "you are not taking the used plates off the tables" - I added, "I have never been anywhere that the soiled plates are left on the tables." I got a surprised look, a shrug, and a "huh?" I made my message known again. One of them followed me over to our table - with several soiled plates waiting to be picked up he took one, left the rest, and was not seen again. See, this is what I mean about restaurant that are not buffets doing buffet meals - and about staff on holidays. I have been to a number of buffets where the plates do not get cleared off the table promptly - mostly in the same chain. Sometimes the meal goes along for a while - but eventually every time before someone came and eventually cleared the table - and then returned to continue to do the same (at some point). This night was really a first.

At one point my sister got one of the waiters and asked for two things - this was after telling him about the plates - which he still did not come and take. She asked for a glass of ice and one of the loaves of bread that were on other tables but were never brought to our table - perhaps because there was no place to set it down. Again, she got a stare, a "huh?", and a total blank. Eventually, she got the message through and a loaf of bread showed up on the table - on a plate but without a knife to slice it with.

So back to the meal. The hot dishes were chicken Parmesan - not bad, sausage and peppers - much too greasy, eggplant rollatini (i did not try that), string beans and carrots - underdone (to my liking), salmon teriyaki - my brother in law said this was very good, mussels and shrimp in garlic sauce, red potatoes, and fried calamari - which ran out mid meal and were replaced with stuffing (some substitution!). The turkey that was being carved was a "real" turkey breast on the bone roasted with the skin on. There was a very thin turkey gravy for it. The steak was a thick, but narrow length of steak that was being sliced. When I went up for it, it was nicely rare and juicy. When I went back for more, what was left was well done and dry (so I did not take more). I did take, at that point, a slice of the stuffed pork loin. There was a thick gravy for the pork. Condiments including apple sauce were set out along the carving area.

On one side of the duplicated sides there was a hot dog cart serving steamed hot dogs on a bun and along side were very large soft pretzels. This may have been intended for the children along with the chicken fingers and french fries, but adults were getting this too. I took a hot dog (I love hot dogs) - this one was nothing to boast about. My little niece wanted one of the soft pretzels and brought it back to the table filling the plate. She took a few bites and was not happy. Asked why she said it was covered in butter - she did not understand why and evidently never had the buttered pretzels sold by some hot pretzel chains. She is used to NYC street pretzels which are more like the Philadelphia soft pretzels. I asked her how it was - other than the butter. She was very emphatic - "It tastes like NOTHING!" She even spelled out "n o t h i n g". Hmm, if you can't impress a kid with a giant soft pretzel...

Desserts are not on the buffet but were included with the meal. There were three desserts offered - a piece of cheesecake, what they called a little Christmas cake that was actually a cupcake with green frosting, and peppermint ice cream. One dessert was offered to each. They also brought a small serving dish of little pastries to the table. My brother-in-law said that they were very good.

Overall, the food was fine. My picky wife (regular readers know about how she eats) had a hard time finding things. She had planned to make salad and turkey the bulk of her meal but the salad was not to her liking. For the most part there was plenty of it, though as the night went on the carvings were getting down to the barest of remains and there was no intention on what we being brought out. Way back in the past, there were somethings in the cold seafood section that were not there this night - most notably clams and oysters on the half shell. I would just say that they have removed them from the menu, however, as we were first coming in I overheard someone talking about the oysters. Did the raw shell fish run out and was not replaced? If so, that was a big thing to be missed for the cost of this meal.

I cannot tell you how much this meal cost. I was the guest of my sister and her husband and it was not polite to ask. I am going to say that based upon the prices at this restaurant in general and other buffets that I have seen advertised here, the cost was $40.00 per person. I hope the child's price was less. That is a lot. Perhaps not for a holiday dinner, but it really was a lot for what was offered. No beverages were included in the price. And soft drinks were NOT refillable - without full charge.

Above all the worst part of this dinner was the service. We were clearing off our own plates! I turned to my little, 8 year old niece who was astounded at this too and I asked her, "Do you know what it means when the waiter does not take the dirty dishes off the table for the whole meal?" Then I answered when she said "what" - "No tip!" Her father chimed in - "That's right!" I always tip at a buffet provided the server actually does something - and at most buffets that means taking away the dirty plates promptly and refilling the beverages. I don't know if my brother-in-law left a tip or not - but had I been paying - I would not have. Gratuities should not be expected unless they are earned - in even the smallest way.

So! What will happen next Christmas Eve if other restaurants do not open for a holiday dinner? I don't know. Would I recommend to you to come to the Milleridge Inn for any buffet meal for any of the holidays on which they offer it - absolutely not! And I am really sorry to have to say that. I had hoped that in the several years since we had done this last that perhaps things had changed - attitudes had changed. No, sadly, they have not. I must say that I had a better Thanksgiving meal with a friendlier atmosphere and nicer employees at OCB than I had a Christmas Eve dinner at the Milleridge Inn buffet.