Golden Corral, Middletown, NY

We are rarely in Upstate New York - this for those who are not familiar with New York is considered anything north or west of Manhattan by those who live in the Metro NY area. We were going to spend the day up along the Hudson for an event we wanted to attend and I started looking for where we might find a buffet - and I was in particular looking for a Golden Corral.  With the conversion to Golden Corrals of some Old Country Buffets, etc. that had closed I knew that there was at least one up in this area. The one that I searched for first was the Golden Corral that opened in a former OCB in Newburgh, New York. I had heard about this in early summer along with the opening of a similar take over location in Connecticut. When I had looked up the reviews for this new Golden Corral in Newburgh, the reviews were not good - in fact they were terrible. When I went back to look now I discovered that this Golden Corral had closed! It was not open a half a year. There was some problem between management at the buffet and the NYS Department of Labor - I don't know the details - and Golden Corral pulled their affiliation and closed the restaurant. So, what else might be near enough to make a detour on the way home worth the drive. What I discovered was that there is a new Golden Corral in Middletown, New York. I did not read any reviews - I wanted to see for myself.

We drove about an hour plus out of our way and in the wrong direction to get there on a Saturday night. It is the most unusual Golden Corral I have ever seen. It is not a free standing building but part of a strip mall in one of the store spaces. At first I thought that it must be another OCB conversion - as it just seemed that way from the outside. As we went through the door there was also an open entrance - no doors to a large and noisy game arcade. Odd! I have since found out that this was not an OCB or any other restaurant before but was built as an add on by the arcade.

As we were parking two very large travel buses were parking in the parking lot near the restaurant. On the outside they had the name of a school in Georgia and they also had the name of a sports team. Oh boy!, I thought. and I commented that I hoped that they were on their way out and ont on their way in. It was about 7:00 pm and they were on their way in.

The area with the cashiers and where a line forms to go into the restaurant were very small. A big crowd here would be out the door. As we were on line one of the coaches from the bus was arranging for the team to come in. Looking at the crowded dining room we wondered where two bus loads of hungry athletes were going to be seated. It turns out there is a private dining room that they came into after we were seated.

The interior of the buffet is the smallest Golden Corral I have seen - which even more led us to thing that this had to have been an OCB. The buffet sections were smaller than usual and abbreviated in what they could hold. There was one section I have not seen before in a Golden Corral and that was an Italian foods section.

Now, this is still during the Smokehouse BBQ feature and it is a weekend night so the price is a dollar more - and for this you are supposed to get the Smoked Turkey (which they had for a while), Smoked Brisket (which they did not have), Pulled Pork BBQ (which they did not have) and several other specials for the feature. None of which they had. OK. So this was a weekend extra cost meal with nothing out that makes it special cost - except the small remains of a smoked turkey - that were pretty much totally gone during the time we were dining.

Because my rare opportunities to get to a Golden Corral now has to make up for no longer having regular buffet dinners weekly at the now gone two OCB locations that were near us, I am looking for particular things. One is steak - and they did have steak. After soup and a small salad, I went right for the steak grill - and did manage to get a piece - not a large piece as I expect to get at a Golden Corral of just about rare steak. The steak was not seasoned and pretty bland. It was also rather tough around the sides. My picky eater wife likes Golden Corral's meatloaf - as do I. She went to where the sign said Meatloaf and found a hot tray of some odd looking meat with some vegetables in a brown gravy or sauce - it was not pot roast - the pot roast was on the other side of the buffet section. This was not meatloaf - and we both were disappointed. This was not late. Something like meatloaf should not have run out - and this was before the sports team had come up to the buffet.  Some of the basics at Golden Corral were also missing which made my wife's choices very limited. She also likes the pulled chicken in gravy - there was no sign of that.

When we got up for the second plate, the fried chicken was gone. I waited awhile for it to come out - it did not come out. No fried chicken. As we were leaving several pieces of fried chicken were finally put out. I went looking for the pulled pork BBQ - a featured dish - and in the place with the sign for Pulled Pork BBQ was another tray of that same odd looking meat with vegetables and gravy. While I was there a man came over also looking for pulled pork and looked at that meat in the tray and asked me what it was - I said, "I have no idea, but it is not pulled pork!" He shrugged and put some on his plate. It did not look much better plated. Trays would empty and never get refilled. I went over to the Italian section and there were fried raviolis. I was interested and took a couple. I almost broke a tooth biting into one of them. It was not fried hard but fried too tough to chew and the edges were hard. So much for that. There was a baked ziti with cheese and that was fair, but nothing I go to Golden Corral for. I went back for another piece of steak and despite a "look" for rare, I was given what would more be described as medium - and this piece was tough and full of grizzle. I like the steak at Golden Corral - this was not it. This was not the thick cuts of steak that Golden Corral usually serves.

There is not much to go on further about in regard to the food. This is not up to Golden Corral standards - if Golden Corral cares about their locations following consistent standards - which seem to vary from location to location.

Service started out being good - and then went downhill and the server did not have a large section to cover. When it was time to refill our soft drinks I had to wait by the table until I saw him and go over to tell him to please bring us refills. When I got back to the table my wife was there and on the table next to our empty cups were two of the large take it with you plastic cups - that cost more than the regular soft drinks. My wife told me that the server brought these and said that they are "out of glasses" and he brought the refills in these. OK - a way around being out of glasses - but "out of glasses?!".   Our two glasses were on the table - no wonder they were out of glasses! In other Golden Corrals the server takes the glasses we have and refills them - either bringing a pitcher of soda to fill them with or taking the glasses to the soda dispenser and bringing them back. Not here. But OK. We had refills - and large ones at that - and the server had a chance to disappear again. So now a short while later we are going back up to find something more to put on our plates - not something that should be a problem at Golden Corral - but it was a problem here. We managed to find something. I went looking again for fried chicken - hoping to salvage something good from this meal. Still no chicken. I took a small slice of pizza that was under cooked - the cheese was not melted and the sauce was cold. I had such hopes after the experience we had just a couple of weeks before at the Golden Corral in New Jersey (see last article). Well, at least the food here was not overly salty - it was pretty much tasteless. Well - while we were up looking for food, when we got back to the table our silverware was gone, our charge receipt - which is all you are given to put on the table - and the server puts his name on the bottom and is to stay out - well that was taken away - but the empty soda glasses remained and the large cups that had been brought - still with plenty of drink still in them were still there. My wife saw this and asked me what happened. I had seen the server when I was getting up from the table and he saw me going over to the buffet - but he decided - I guess - that we had left - but why leave the cups then?  Everything here is beyond understanding.

So - another not good dinner at a Golden Corral. Before writing this article I went to reviews to see what others have had to say and it gets mostly only one or two stars and most say they will never go back. We will likely never be up that way again - so we are not going back. I would love to say that even a bad Golden Corral is better than no Golden Corral at all - but with this one - skip it! Outside in the parking lot there was a Carl's Jr. fast food restaurant - which we were surprised to see as we thought there were none in the North. We kidded driving in that maybe we should go there instead - since it is very rare that we eat on one of those due to location. We should have done that - we would have enjoyed it more and it would have been a lot cheaper.

This Golden Corral - if you care by now - is located at 360 Route 211 E, Middletown, NY 10940. On the way home I hoped that this meal would sit well as it was a long drive through the mountains and no rest areas. It did, but the trip home took a few hours and when I pulled into the driveway I was hungry. 

DUTCH-WAY FAMILY RESTAURANT - GAP, PA.

This is a buffet that is new to me. It has apparently been around for quite some time but because it is a bit outside of the usual Lancaster County area, and it does not advertise, I have not come across it before in my fifty years of visiting this county.

Unique to the Pennsylvania seems to be restaurants located within, and associated with supermarkets. We have talked about several of these on this site before - among them Shady Maple Smorgasbord and Yoders Restaurant. There are others - and Dutch-Way Family Restaurant is my newest find among this type of restaurant - and buffet. And what a find it has been.

There are three Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarkets in this general area of Pennsylvania. All three have restaurants, but only two have buffet restaurants. I have recently visited and dined at the Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in the town of Gap, Pennsylvania. As I started out by saying, Gap is not in the general tourist attraction area of Lancaster County. It is at the southeastern side of the county and very much off the main roads. I learned of this restaurant by accident while I was searching for coupons to restaurants in Lancaster and a list of restaurants came up in my search that included this restaurant - no coupon, but the name of a buffet that I had never heard of before. As it happened, we were traveling to the area and decided that this was a must see.

Getting to the restaurant is a bit tricky - once you actually see the parking lot, as we could only find an entrance if coming from the south, and we were coming in from the main route (Route 30) toward the north. We wound up passing the parking lot and making a U-turn to get in from the direction that the angled lot entrance faced. Once parked in front of the parking lot there is a entrance to the supermarket and an entrance to the restaurant - both connect on a front hallway. If you enter at the supermarket you must walk through a snack bar to get to where the main restaurant is located.

This restaurant impressed from the moment we walked through the door. The room and the entrance way is nicely decorated and nothing that you might expect about a restaurant in a supermarket. Coming in I did not know what the price of this buffet would be or what we would find. Looking into the room we saw a two large dining rooms with the buffet located in the rear. When we walked up to the reception desk, I was asked if we were there for the buffet. I said yes, and we were brought to one side of the dining room. I am not sure why as others around us were not all having the buffet - there is a menu and you can also add parts of the buffet to you menu meal. Since we were having the buffet, we were not handed menus so I had no idea of the price of the meal or beverages. What the heck - take a chance.

The buffet is comprised of three large double sided buffet servers and three walls that have food servers as well. At the end is a large grill area. There is something offered from this grill included with the buffet every night. It turned out, as we discovered when we went up to the buffet that we were there on Italian Night. Monday is Italian Night. Wednesday is Southwestern Night. Thursday is Seafood Night. Friday is Steak Night. Saturday is Prime Rib Night. We asked about Tuesday and were told that it is an assortment that varies. We also learned from the sign that announced that it was Italian Night that the price of the buffet was $10.99! I am going to tell you right now that this is an incredible buffet for just $10.99! The price is not the same each night and I was not able to find out about any of the other prices except Seafood Night which I will tell you about later.

As usual we started with soup and there were four soups out. There was vegetable beef, chicken corn noodle, chili, and pasta fagioli (macaroni with beans). I tried the chicken corn and my wife took the vegetable beef. I am a chicken corn soup fan. I prefer it made thick. This one is thin - chicken broth, noodles, chicken and corn. The soup was very good. My wife loved the vegetable beef. The soup was nicely seasoned. The vegetables were nicely cooked without being too soft. Neither soup was greasy. They make a point to let you know that they are homemade.

The soup was a hit. We finished it and moved on to the salad bar. The salad bar is extensive. There are two types of lettuce - iceberg and romaine. There was raw spinach as well. There were a nice assortment of toppings. They had chunks of local Lebanon Bologna - more a salami than a bologna - to add to your salad. There were also chunks of ham and two types of cheese. There was a nice assortment of dressings in serving bottles and next to that there was a basket filled with Ken's Dressings packets including several fat free dressings. In addition to the salad fixings bar, there was another server with prepared salads. These were a broad assortment of local salads like pepper cabbage and chow chow, along with the usual deli salads. There was also a wonderful chicken salad. The vegetables on the salad bar were extremely fresh and there was none of the typical dripping from one serving tray to another. There was also the traditional PA Dutch cottage cheese and apple butter. We both enjoyed the salad very much.

The entrees were an interesting mixture of Pennsylvania Dutch cooking with Italian dishes - as this was Italian Night. The feature at the grill on Italian Night is a Pasta Saute Station. A chef is there waiting for you to pick your pasta, your sauce, and what you would like sauteed with that. There was sausage, bacon, chicken, a wide variety of vegetables, mushrooms, and more. On the buffet the Italian dishes included eggplant parmigiana, sausage and peppers "rustica", baked stuffed manicotti with mozzarella melted on top in tomato sauce, shrimp scampi on spaghetti, spinach stuffed rigatoni with mushroom Alfredo sauce, and chicken ravioli with three cheese sauce. There were garlic bread sticks at the grill. The "regular" entrees included fried chicken, roast turkey served in gravy, roast beef served in gravy, pork and sauerkraut, dutch loaf (meat loaf in a nice gravy), and ham balls in pineapple sauce. The rest of two servers were filled with side dishes - potato filling, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, macaroni and cheese, glazed carrots, harvard beets, mixed vegetables, baked lima beans, and stewed tomatoes.

I had a tasting selection - a little of most things so that I can tell you how the food is. I liked it all. The turkey was turkey breast sliced thick and served in turkey gravy. It was good. The sausage and peppers were tasty but if you are Italian you will say that this sausage is "Italian-style" as it did not have the heavy traditional sausage seasons found in Italian sausage in Italian areas. The Dutch Loaf was a nicely lightly seasoned meat loaf in what must have been an onion gravy. This was the dish that I went back for more of. The fried chicken breasts that were out were HUGE. I dug deep into the serving tray to find a small piece. The mixed vegetables were nicely plain - not swimming in butter or seasoned in a way to not fully taste the broccoli, carrots, and zucchini that made up this mixture. The potato filling - stuffing made from potatoes - was light and not sweet so that you could taste the potato. The macaroni and cheese was not thick and gloppy but with a thin, mild cheese sauce that nicely covered the elbow macaroni. The pork and saurekraut was loaded with large chunks of pork. Break up the chunks on your plate into small pieces and you will enjoy this more. The stewed tomatoes were not overly sweet as some can be. The ham balls were also good. The pineapple sauce was sweet but not overly sweet.

I liked the Italian dishes as well. The chicken ravioli was better than the stuffed spinach rigatoni but both were good. The manicotti was as good as any that I have had when growing up. Even without the fennel sides the sausage was enjoyable, and the peppers were a mix of green, red, and yellow and were nicely cooked in the chunky tomato sauce.

There was a section on the side with breads. There were several specialty breads including raisin bread, slices of corn bread, pumpkin bread ('tis the season), cranberry bread, banana nut bread, and blueberry bread. There were also muffins - blueberry and cranberry. There were also white and whole wheat rolls. At the soup section there was an assortment of crackers. There was a lot of temptation. The corn bread was not sweet, but it wasn't not sweet - if you know what I mean. The raisin bread that was more like spiced raisin bread. It was dark and tasted like the "holidays", not at all like typical raisin bread - so good!

Desserts were as plentiful as everything else. There was a vast assortment of pies, some cakes, donuts, sticky buns, Danish pastry, and cookies. There was no sugar added apple pie and cherry pie. Of course, there was shoo fly pie. There was a large selection of puddings, fruits in syrup, containers of yogurt with granola to put in it. In this area prepared desserts are popular such as angel food cake at the bottom with pineapple on top covered in whipped cream in a tray, a tray of eclair "pudding", etc. There was also no sugar pumpkin cheesecake in a tray and no sugar tapioca. I love donuts. I over did my carb intake on this meal and had to reluctantly pass them by. Again, so much temptation. There was also a sundae bar with soft serve ice cream (that was good) and toppings. The sundae bar can be ordered separately as can the whole dessert bar.

This whole meal cost $10.99. The refillable soft drinks were $1.39. The quality was far beyond any chain buffet with a similar price- heck the quality was beyond many buffets that I have been to.

Service was very good. All plates were promptly taken away and refills of beverages were offered. Everyone was very pleasant too.

I was able to find out about the Seafood Night on Thursday nights. This meal is $17.99 - so you see that not all nights are $10.99. I suspect that many weeknights are. The Seafood Night includes Maryland Crab Cakes, coconut encrusted tilapia with pineapple butter, creamy mushroom/onion whiting, tomato basil catfish, mussels Provencal, steamed clams, New England Clam Chowder, snow crab bisque, peel and eat shrimp, Krab salad, coconut shrimp, breaded cod, breaded scallops, and southern hush puppies. At the grill there is grilled haddock with fruit salsa, and snow crab legs. This is well worth the $17.99. Selections may vary week to week.

I highly recommend this buffet. I am going back. It will be on a different night to see what other treats I will find. I cannot believe that this has been right under my taste buds and I never knew about it. I was almost reluctant to write this article because it was so good - and very much a local restaurant and not one frequented by tourists, that I did not want to spoil it. But heck, they need to make money just like everyone else. This was a great find. It was the best $10.99 buffet that I have ever had. Maybe it was the best at even a higher price too. Is it the best buffet I have been to - no, But with this one meal, it was way up there. If you are in this area, this is a must stop and eat!

The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527. The buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. This is about two and a half miles south of Route 30. There is a web site and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.

FRENCH QUARTER BUFFET- Showboat Casino, Atlantic City, NJ - PART 2

Part 2

As I had said in Part 1, the entrees and side dishes were scattered all along the various stations and mixed into each other without much regard for type of cuisine. I went for the crab legs next. These were located, not with the seafood but at the far end of the buffet next to the fried chicken. Ok. There was a large tray of crab legs and these were full clusters. I took two large clusters and went back to the table. I need to comment here about the climate in the room. This was not a very hot day despite the month of July - and we had been having some scorchers at that time. But this was a fairly pleasant day in temperature. The air conditioning in the restaurant was cranked up all the way to high. It was not uncomfortable to sit there but it made everything on one's plate cold in no time at all. The crab legs may have been hot or at least warm when I took them but by the time I got back to the table and started on the first leg of a cluster they were rapidly cooling down to cold. Perhaps they were not hot enough to start with. The problem is that when crab legs get cold they become a struggle to get the meat out of the shell. A properly hot crab leg only requires a snap in the middle and the section of crab meat slides out whole. Once the crab cools off, that same piece of meat breaks with the shell and the pieces need to be dug out - if they come out at all. So what should have been very nice crab legs were not worth the struggle. The tops of the clusters that should have nuggets of meat in them were pretty much empty too. So that was enough for the crab legs to not bother going back for more.

My wife - as those of you who read this site regularly know - does not eat seafood except for shrimp and while there was a variety of shrimp she was having a problem finding anything else to take. She resorted to eating salad and string beans (one of the vegetables for the night) and not much else. Besides the money, I felt bad that she was not finding much to eat. She had tried several dishes that she said were too highly spiced for her - and indeed, just about everything served had some seasoning and spice. There really was nothing plain. I thought that I would not have the same problem but I too was walking back and forth trying to find something that was worth eating.

One of the things that I had heard about being served at this buffet was good steak. I had been led to believe that it was cooked to order but it was not. There was steak - flat iron steak. It was served in a serving tray pre-cooked. I picked around the steaks until I found one that appeared that it might be at least medium rare - and it was when I cut into it. The steak had a crust of seasonings on it. I have had flat iron steak before but it had not been like this. This was nicely charred outside and then as I say crusted with seasoning. Inside the steak was red to pink which is how I like it. So what was wrong? The side of the steak was grizzle from end to end. You had to be careful cutting around it or you were chewing and chewing on something that was not going down easily. The taste was fine but for this money compared to other Atlantic City casino buffet steaks I have had (at less money) it should have been a better cut of meat.

In addition to the steak there was beef tri tip at the carving station. Tri tip is a cut of meat used for smoking barbecue but this not smoked. It looked like it had been baked or broiled and was not very inviting. It looked more like roast beef sliced at a deli counter than a fine beef meant for carving. It may be a fancy cut of meat but they did not do it justice here. I passed on that and I passed on the baked salmon that was also at the carving station.

None of the dishes that appeared to be "regular" dishes were "regular". There were meatballs - but not beef meatballs - they were beef and chicken meatballs. These were in a spiced tomato sauce. There was Italian sausage with peppers and onions. The sausage was off in taste - nothing wrong with it but an unusual seasoning. One of the dishes that people seemed to be lining up for was grilled skewered shrimp. There were four large shrimp with the shell split on a wooden skewer. I did not at first notice what the sign above them said and went back to the table with a skewer to try. The shrimp were not well cooked for grilled shrimp - moist but they could have been grilled more to give that grilled flavor. They tasted like they were seasoned with butter and lemon - which if that was the case would have been fine. But when I went back up to the counter the next time I read the sign and these grilled shrimp were Pineapple Chile grilled shrimp. Ok, but there was no taste of pineapple (or was that the lemon taste) and certainly no taste of chile - so now what should have been seasoned wasn't. Also up by the shrimp was fried codfish. I took a piece and it was fine. Nothing special but it was nicely batter breaded fish.

At the Italian area there was a large selection of pizzas. There was pepperoni, cheese, what looked like sausage, white pizza, and white pizza with broccoli. I took a slice of the cheese. The slice was about half the width of a street slice of NY pizza - thin but also a thin crust. The crust was disappointing. The pizza, itself, was nice. I know for a fact that Atlantic City knows what NY pizza is - the Boardwalk outside the casino is full of pizza stands selling real NY pizza. The crust on this pizza was flat. There was also a thick pizza. And when I went back I took a small square of that to try. This one was very dissappointing and perhaps was what they want to call Foccachia now instead of pizza. There was cheese and sauce on top but the dough was dried out - nothing like thick pizza that I have had anyplace before. I was sorry that I took that and not another slice of the thin pizza. Also at the Italian area was a pasta dish that looked like Penne ala Vodka. It was called penne something else. It tasted like penne ala vodka but without the vodka taste. There was also plain penne with a butter over it to keep it moist and a tray of Italian red sauce. There was another dish at the Italian area. It was macaroni and cheese with lobster and crab. I am not sure what this was doing in the Italian area but maybe because it was macaroni it some how fit. It was basic American mac and cheese with some lobster and crab meat chopped in - enough to stop any kid from taking their favorite mac and cheese.

The Chinese dishes consisted of General Tso's Chicken, Shrimp with Soy Beans, Shrimp Fried Rice, and Lo Mein. I tried the Lo Mein and it was not very good - not anywhere near what is found at every Asian buffet or restaurant. There was a large bowl of steamed dumplings and one sign above this single bowl that said Chicken Dumplings on top and then under that it said Fish Dumplings. All of the dumplings in the bowl looked the same - so which was which - and my wife who takes no chances on eating fish took none because she could not know if they were chicken or fish.

There was a desert bar behind the salad bar in the middle of the buffet area. There was hard ice cream scooped for you with a sundae bar. There was a very nice assortment of cakes and tarts and puddings. There was also a sugar free section at one end.

Our server was quick to take away our dirty plates and empty the shell bowl that was on each table - nicely providing shell crackers and cocktail fish forks along with a good supply of wet-naps. The server brings your drinks and she promptly took our soft drink order when we sat down and brought the drinks right away. But through the meal when my wife had emptied her soda glass, the server came and went and never refilled it. Several times with us sitting there she looked directly at the empty glass and before we could say anything was off somewhere else. It was not until the end of our meal when I finished my ice tea did she come over and ask me if I would like another - still ignoring my wife's empty soda glass. I had to tell her to bring both another soda and an ice tea or my wife would never have gotten a refill. You have to wonder about this and my wife later heard another diner complaining about this server to the manager.

Had this dinner cost the $20 that most other Atlantic City buffets cost would I have been so put off? Probably not, and it is not the extra money as long as you get value and a decent meal for that value. I have had better meals at Golden Corral and for under $10. After dinner we took a walk to a few other casino's to check out the prices of the buffets. All Friday night buffets and this was the highest priced. At what I consider still to be the best AC Casino Buffet - the buffet at Bally's Wild Wild West, the price was $20.99 and they too had a special feature which was Prime Rib. Plus there you get all of the international stations and the steaks. Value and the quality of the food means a lot. This was what was lacking here. With the sales tax and tip you are putting down almost $70 for a meal for two that offered little more than most $14.99 Chinese buffets that offer a raw bar and crab legs and lower priced chain restaurants.

I was so hoping to recommend this buffet to you all. I wish that I could but I can't.

The French Quarter Buffet is located on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in the Showboat/House of Blues Casino Hotel.Their website is listed at the side of this page. Parking at the casino is an additional $10 per day - one price no matter how long you stay in the garage for the day. If you have a casino comp card the parking is $5.00.

Sunburst Buffet at Mohegan Sun Casino Resort, Uncasville, Connecticut

The Mohegan Sun Casino Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut is an entertainment destination. Not only are there four or five full gambling casinos within the complex, there is an upscale, shopping mall, and a number of restaurants including two complete buffets. I have eaten at both (prior to starting to write about buffets) and the Sunburst Buffet - what is considered the "upscale" buffet here has always been a fond memory that I have longed to return to. I recently found myself in Connecticut and the Sunburst Buffet at Mohegan Sun was on my list of things to do.

Sometimes memories can be far better than reliving the experience again. And I am sorry to say that the Sunburst Buffet has changed a lot or I remember it a lot better than it is today. On our return it was a fine meal but nothing really that would stand out among other casino buffets that I have been to over the years.

The buffet is located just off of the shopping mall and the casino that is located where the big orange glass mountain is that is often shown in Mohegan Sun advertisements. Yes, there is a glass mountain. There are also two waterfalls nearby. You pay as you enter - as you do at most casino buffets. The price of the meal was $21.00 per person. Children are about half that price and there is no difference in price at various times of day - it is the same at lunch and dinner. The meal price includes unlimited soft drinks.

The buffet servers are set up in islands in the center of the restaurant with a carving station and the dessert bar along one wall. Each island is a tiled counter with hot serving trays on top or a cold area with cold selections. Every dish is marked above as to what it is - and this seemed to be consistent throughout and correct.

So what did I not see that I remember. As we go along now I will tell you more, but the thing that stuck in my mind the most were chefs at every station creating dishes to order. For example, a saute chef who would make a dish from a selection of dishes just for you. The stations were actually there, and with the exception of a woman boiling plain pasta at the Italian section, the chefs were not there anywhere to be found.

We started our meal with soup and there were six soup choices. Not bad, but several of the soups were variations of each other with slight modification. I tried the New England Clam Chowder which was a thick white cream chowder with noticeable clams. It had a nice taste. I also tried later in the meal the vegetarian vegetable soup which was a thin vegetable stock soup with a mixture of vegetables cooked in. This soup looked just like the Italian Wedding soup which was close by without the little meatballs. The vegetable soup was overly seasoned and salty. Overly seasoned is a phrase that you will see a lot in this article because that is how I can sum up the entire meal - overly seasoned.

We next went to the salad bar. There is an extensive salad bar, perhaps the most impressive that I have seen. It stretched around one island and then on the "Italian" island there is a second area with Italian themed salads. When we got to where the lettuce was put out - several varieties, they boasted on the sign that the lettuce was "bagged greens" from Dole. Hmm. I am not sure I would boast about bagged lettuce. Even if this may be common in the industry - and I am not so sure it is - I would at least give the impression that the lettuce was freshly cut from whole. Bagged lettuce often has preservatives added. My wife saw this and almost did not take the salad. There were many, many toppings to add to your salad and there were many, many prepared salads as well. Of note, at the Italian island there was a mozzarella salad that was fresh and good with the cheese not dry. There was also a pitted olive salad that was an assortment of Greek and Italian olives - and all with not pits.

Entrees were where we began to be disappointed. The sign in front of the restaurant listing a description of things to be found inside talked about a Mongolian grill where a chef would create entress - the grill was there but no chef - and not just no chef to be found because he was off somewhere - no chef and the grill was closed down. At the carving area there was a large steamship round of beef. There was a carver who just about understood what was being requested. She had to places to cut from for differently cooked beef - what should have been medium rare and well done turned out to be well done and more well done. On the side were caramelized onions and mushrooms together to put on top of the beef. My wife got all excited because she saw turkey gravy and went to get herself some turkey. The turkey being carved was "cajun turkey". This was a flat slap of turkey that had a thick black outside. My wife passed on the turkey. I tried it. It was dry, tough, and somewhat cajun-seasoned on the outside - but the outside was so thick that it was not really edible. I had to wonder why bother and why not just put out a nice turkey breast (I will tell you why later). This was the extent of the carvings offered. The carving area outside on the sign was described as the "Rotisserie". There was a large rotisserie behind the carver. We presumed - one should never presume - that something would be cooking on the rotisserie that would belong on a rotisserie such as chicken. No, we were wrong. Perhaps when the Cajun turkey had been cooked it came from there but there was nothing there now. Along the side of the carving station there were potato dishes and also a tray of St. Louis Ribs. The ribs were thick and meaty but over-sauced and again a bit too much seasoning. Even the steamship round of beef was seasoned with something that did not quite belong with the taste of the beef.

Over where the Mongolian grill was there were several more entrees around the counter top. There was a seafood fra diavlo - in Italian, Seafood from the Devil. In other words, spicy hot seafood and it certainly was that. The only seafood to be distinguished in the dish were shrimps. There were other fish in there but there was no telling what they were. There was mahi-mahi in a sauce with vegetables. There was a tray of "Summer Vegetable Melody" was was mostly zucchini but again with an odd taste that hinted that the vegetables were grilled but there was some seasoning there that overwhelmed the taste.

Around the far side of the salad bar - almost hidden were more hot dishes. There was beef barbecue that was overly sweet in barbecue sauce. There was also a tofu and cranberries dish. Tofu has no real flavor on its own and takes it taste from the foods that it is cooked with- this one tasted just of dry tofu.

The Italian island was the best of the selections with the ability to have the chef boil you pasta or spaghetti and add your own Alfredo sauce of Marinara sauce. There were also several Italian dishes. There was ravioli which were good but were in a thick cream sauce that again was over-seasoned. The most intriguing dish to me was an Italian sausage stew. Pieces of sweet Italian sausage with potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables in a thin brown stew gravy. When I saw this I was reminded of a wonderful version that I had many years a go in a very, very fine Italian restaurant in New York City. It looked the same. It tasted good - again, less seasoning would have made it much better. This was the dish that I went back to have several times. Though on the ride home from Connecticut I must say that this was the taste that continued to repeat on me with each belch. Also at the Italian Island was focaccia , which basically is thick pizza without any tomato sauce - just cheese. This looked very good but dry so I added the marinara sauce on top from next to the pasta - it made a so-so pizza.

Dessert may be the best part of the meal here. There is an extensive dessert bar with large pieces of real cheesecake, pastries, cakes, a variety of puddings, fresh fruit and hard ice cream. There are also waffle makers to make thick waffles to put toppings and/ or ice cream on. No one seemed to be getting any but the waffle makers and the ladies to use them were there. Next to the ice cream was an extensive sundae bar.

So, I said that I would tell you why no regular turkey. There are two buffets at Mohegan Sun - this one and one off one of the casinos called Seasons Buffet. Seasons Buffet is the less expensive and so-called "plainer" of the two. The big features at Seasons are carved roast beef and turkey - along with made to your order pizza and a variety of dishes from the various menu restaurants in the complex. I had been to Seasons once before and was disappointed there in the plainness of what was offered and the cafeteria feel that the whole buffet had. But apparently if you wanted turkey and roast beef (which had to be the same beef in a smaller version) that was the place to go that night and paid five dollars per person for dinner less.

Service though the night was fine. Our dishes were cleared away promptly. My wife's soda was refilled but when I emptied my glass of ice tea our server walked past our table - there were very few other tables he was waiting on - five times before he stopped when we were just about to leave and asked if I wanted a refill.

Overall, I had to apologize to my picky eater wife who mostly ate salad for her $21 as there was nothing really plain or not spiced for her to eat. I guess the past is always better in memory than in reality. But I truly do remember a wonderful meal here several years ago and I have been looking forward to that meal again. I still am.

The Sunburst Buffet is not open every day. It is closed on Tuesday and Wednesdays. Sunday, Monday, and Thursday it is open from 11am to 9pm. On Friday and Saturday it is open from 11 am to 11 pm. There is a full alcohol bar available in the restaurant at additional charge.

Would I recommend this if you are at this casino? Let me say this - go check out both buffets here first before you decide which to go into. Ask first to go inside and walk around and look. If you are happy with spiced and highly seasoned food you may like this. If not and you are a "plain" eater - skip this and go to the Seasons Buffet - but again, walk around inside first and see what is being offered. Frankly, if you want something different skip the buffets and check out the variety of other restaurants. There was an Asian food court restaurant - the whole Asian restaurant is the food court - that looked interesting.

There is a link to the Sunburst Buffet at the side of this article.

A Reader Speaks Out to Support Buffet Europa

I get a lot of comments and emails telling me how those of you near Buffet Europa have enjoyed this buffet. I just received an email from one of our readers who is passionate about keeping this restaurant going and had some ideas to share. Since this is my forum arena for such as that I want to share with you what this reader wrote. Now, please understand, that there is NO indication what so ever that there is any idea that Buffet Europa is not doing just as fine as it can - and may be very happy with how business is. But, not seeing this gem of a restaurant packed as it SHOULD BE we have concern - and we do not want to lose this wonderful place. So - here is what this reader wrote -

I live about 20 minutes away from Buffet Europa. First let me say I almost never go on e-mail and it's taking a great effort for me to type this. That being said, you can tell I feel passionately about Buffet Europa!!!!

Buffet Europa is AWESOME and everything you say about it is true: food authentic, fresh, hot and delicious; owners warm and friendly; restaurant clean (including bathrooms); atmosphere nice with soft, pleasant music playing in the background; and EVERYTHING included for about $16!!! ( I go on weekends). I can't understand why there aren't more people enjoying this FABULOUS restaurant :( It makes me sooooo sad because I fear it will close and we will lose this gem.

I have had the same experience as you i.e. being almost the only (and often THE only) occupied table in the restaurant no matter what time of night I go whether it be a Friday or Saturday. I "psych" myself up to go in even if I feel it will be awkward. When I peek through the window just before I enter, I hope there will be some other diners there to take the "spotlight" off my family and me. We continue to go despite the awkwardness because the food is so spectacular!!!

Now..what to do about this..one would think "word of mouth" advertising might be enough..apparently not so. They do advertise locally but that doesn't seem to have helped either. When I asked about putting up a sign on Route 1, they said that they weren't allowed to ( I don't remember the reason). Maybe the LOCATION i.e. New Brunswick is the problem!!

I'm certainly not a city planner nor do I claim to know anything about the restaurant business BUT maybe they should move to a place where they would be more greatly appreciated. A sign of a good Chinese restaurant is that it is populated by Chinese people, so perhaps in that same way, a GREAT Polish restaurant like Buffet Europa would benefit by being in a Polish area. For example, Linden N.J. has a BIG Polish population who would really appreciate FABULOUS Polish food without having to cook, clean, etc. I know Buffet Europa's concept is to provide new dining experiences for the general public, but this idea apparently isn't working too well and we all don't want them to close!! ( Also, selfishly speaking, Linden is close enough to us so we could still eat there!!).

Of course, I haven't discussed this with the owners; it is kind of awkward, and in addition, I don't know the conditions of their lease or any other factors that might affect their decision with respect to the business. BUT pardon the pun, it is definitely food for thought.

Here's to saving Buffet Europa!!!
-----

Great ideas and certainly all true. I know that this site has had some influences and I am hoping that what this reader has written and what I have written about this wonderful restaurant will have some positive influence on business at Buffet Europa. I also know that the owners have read some of the articles here about their restaurant and hopefully some of the ideas here - and our support will reach them. No matter what we want to be able to continue to enjoy this restaurant for a long time to come! (Now, I have to go and check to see if Linden is easy for me to get to when I go to NJ...)

Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page.

THEY ARE TRYING HARD TO ENTICE YOU AT BUFFT EUROPA

Our pick for Best Small Buffet for 2009 was Buffet Europa, located in North Brunswick, NJ. (See article) As I have said many times before, this is a buffet experience unlike most others. The food! The Food! THE FOOD!

I had an opportunity to be there again recently. I was very surprised to see that they are in need of customers and support. The restaurant is still wonderful. The food is still excellent. The atmosphere is unlike the chain buffets. The cuisine in European with a leaning toward Polish on Friday nights and a leaning toward Italian on Saturday nights. The owners - who as I have mentioned in my other articles, work the whole place themselves - are trying extremely hard to get customers in the door. They have lowered the weeknight buffet price - Tuesday to Thursday to $8.99! This is unbelievable. This is the FULL buffet from soup to salad to hot entrees and sides to wonderful desserts and it even includes the soft drinks. Why have they done this? It is obvious. They need to increase their business.

They have cut their weeknight - Tuesday to Thursday - hours to close at 7:00 pm. Friday and Saturday nights are still until 9:00 pm. They no longer are opened at all on Mondays. They had been closed for dinner on Mondays - now they are closed. They are still closed on Sundays, but do catering on Sundays in the restaurant. They have also added teen and adult dances on some Friday and Saturday nights after 10:00 pm.

We went in this time on a Friday night. When we entered there was just one other diner in the whole restaurant. We were warmly and personally welcomed by the owner and offered any table we wished. My heart sank a bit as I had hoped to find the place jumping. I have had readers contact me to say that they are going there and have been there - and each has has wonderful things to say about the restaurant. To find really no one in the restaurant at a little after 6:00 pm - dinner time - on a Friday night - I sigh when I think of it. I want so much for this restaurant to succeed because it is THAT GOOD and that different.

If this were a buffet that I had never been to before I might have hesitated to go in seeing no one inside. My concern always is if the food is out on the buffet server and no one is taking it, it may be sitting too long. I had no reluctance to go in and sit down here. I knew that with the personal attention that the food here gets it would be fresh and wonderful as always - AND IT WAS! Everything was moist, stirred, and hot.

As we dined other tables filled but there never really were more than three tables occupied the whole time we were there. This is not as it had been on previous visits - and my first visit had been at this same time of the year. Before while the small restaurant was never full, there were a number of tables occupied.

The price on Friday and Saturday nights for the buffet is $15.99. This includes unlimited soft drinks that you take yourself. This is the price that all nights had once been. At this price you are getting excellent value for the quality and taste of the food served. At the new lower price of $8.99 you are practically eating for free. There are fast food restaurants that you cannot eat at for this low a price.

Let me try to entice you with my meal and maybe you will say I have to go there. Now, I know that many of you are no where near the state of New Jersey, but maybe you know someone there or near there that you can call and say - Go right now to Buffet Europa! So, anyway, I started with the seafood bisque - chunks of fresh fish in a pink thin/thick cream broth. Just as I remembered it was very good. My wife had the chicken noodle soup which you might say is no big deal, but this one does not taste like buffet chicken noodle soup or diner chicken noodle soup. It tastes like fine restaurant chicken noodle soup. I know I am repeating myself from other articles about this buffet, but there is a point to be made here about the food. It is not buffet food. It is fine restaurant food.

I followed the soup with a plate of assorted cold vegetables from the salad bar. I am not a lettuce salad eater, but all of the fixings were there for one. I had a bit of Italian vegetable salad - pieces of carrot, cauliflower, red peppers, etc. in white vinegar. I also had some pickles and olives. Just a small bit to taste. I added a dinner roll - because they looked good.

Entrees on this evening were similar to the first night that I had been to this restaurant. There were Polish Perigees - a ravioli-like dumpling of pasta folded around mashed potato and skillet fried with onions. They are served with sour creme on the side. There were sweet cheese blintzes - folds of sweet, thin pancakes (crepes) folded flat around a sweetened cheese mixture and dusted with powdered sugar. There was something different this evening - fried potato pancakes - ground potatoes and onions formed into flat patties and deep fried - served with apple sauce on the side. There was also a different entree added to the selection - fried veal cutlets. This is something that I have not had since I was a child growing up in my Italian-American home.

Other entrees were as they had been - Polish kielbasa in sauerkraut, barbecue ribs, Swedish meatballs, small pieces of fried pollack, stuffed cabbage, Penne ala Vodka, chicken Francais, roasted and sauteed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and I am sure that I am forgetting some other things. All were as I remembered. All were wonderful. Long, long ago, I had a Polish girlfriend - and the kielbasa here reminded me of what her mother made. In addition to this all, there was a roast of beef to carve that was nicely crispy on the outside.

I had to stop eating entrees when I realized that I was getting too full to enjoy dessert. Oh the deserts! This night there was something that I have never seen in any buffet- and rarely is it found in restaurants. They had Sfogliatelle! I had at first been disappointed that I did not see Tiramisu out on the counter, but my wife pointed out to me that the sfogliatelle was there and something really unusual. So what is Sfogliatelle? It is a pastry of crispy layers of thin sweet dough in the shape of a seashell. The dough is such that it breaks apart as you eat it in thin strips - just hard enough to give it a crunch and the need to chew. Inside this seashell of layers of pastry dough is sweetened, baked ricotta cheese mixed with sugar and tiny pieces of candied dried fruits to give a hint of citrus to the taste. This is a pastry that I have, maybe once a year, with family at Christmas dinner. At an Italian bakery this is an expensive pastry - at a minimum $3.00 and often more a piece. Here at Buffet Europa there was a tray full out on the dessert counter, each covered in powdered sugar. The taste was spot on to what it should be! Whether they made them here or brought them in, I don't know, but if they brought them in, they paid quite a bit for them to just have them out as a buffet dessert! In addition, for those who want just the ordinary - but here the ordinary is extraordinary - there was sections of coffee cake, muffins, brownies with chocolate chunks inside, chocolate chip cookies, and cheesecake. Of course, I had to have a piece of the cheesecake! I was happy - Sfogliatelle and cheesecake at a buffet!

We left happy and full. There is not more that you can ask of any restaurant.

Have I enticed you? These people are trying hard to do that! They need your business. I don't know how else that I can say that this restaurant must continue because it sets a new and higher standard for buffets - family friendly and affordable buffets - with food that does not originate in some chain restaurant warehouse with directions to cook it exactly this way and serve so that it will be the same at any of the chain's locations.

I was delighted to see our Best Buffet Certificate professionally matted and framed on hung prominently on the wall to the right of the cashier's desk! It looked like they were proud to receive this award and they certainly went out of their way to display it! When you go in, mention it, and tell them that you heard about them right here!

So, go to Buffet Europa! If you are nearby, keep going back! I wish I could but I am more than 90 miles and $20 in tolls away. If I was nearby I would be a regular.

Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page. Please take note of their new hours listed above in this article.

Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Bowl

The Olive Garden is a chain of Italian restaurants with locations across the United States. The Olive Garden is not a buffet restaurant but every so often it does run an all you care to eat special. In addition, they always have an unlimited soup and salad offering on the menu. At the current time there is an all you care to eat special that they are calling the Never Ending Pasta Bowl. This is a limited time offer, but it has been brought back through the years.

I never have had much regard for non-buffet restaurant chain all you can eat special offers. I have tried them in years past at both this chain and also the Red Lobster, a seafood chain across the U.S. that frequently offers specials of all you can eat shrimp, crab legs, etc. How this works is that yu order from the menu and your waiter or waitress brings you the first dish and when y9u want more the server must bring you another plate, and so on. My experience always has been that the first serving is brought and then when you are ready for more you can try to find your server who is avoiding your table, and when and if you find the server and ask for me, it is a big surprise - I recall the scene from the play/movie, Oliver - "Please, Sir, may I have some more?" "SOMEMORE...the boy wants somemore?" And then a song and dance number starts about how never before has a boy wanted more. Well, once you get past the - yes, bring me somemore!- the server comes back after a considerable amount of time with a few pieces of whatever it was you asked for on a small plate. Yes, this has happened consistently to me in the long past at both of these chains - and I have not gone back for one of these specials since. Until now.

The television commercial for the Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Bowl tempted me enough to bring me back to the Olive Garden after oh so many years for one more try. I have to say that I was pleasingly surprised.

The offer is this - order a bowl of pasta in one of six pasta shapes covered in one of six different sauces. As their advertising states, there are forty two different combinations. You can keep asking for as many of these combinations as you would like. With the pasta you will also get unlimited breadsticks (more like long, narrow garlic bread rolls) and a choice of unlimited soup of your choice from the soups on the menu OR unlimited salad. The amazing price for all of this is just $8.95. If you enjoy your pasta with Italain meatballs or sausage, for an additional $1.95 you can order unlimited meatballs or sausage to accompany your pasta. You can order unlimited softdrinks - but there is no price for this on the menu. We decided on just water, but certainly it could not be much more than another $2 each, if you are inclined to soda. Right at this point, the price is good. If you are inclined to dessert you are going to pay over $6.00 or more for ONE piece of cake. Add single serving appetizers and you are getting into serious money. But the pasta is unlimited so you don't really need much more - much to our waiter's chagrin. One other word before I continue on - they are big on wine here and it is the first thing the waiter offered while holding a bottle in his hand ready to pour into the glasses on our table before offering the special menu choices. If you are so inclined, it is not cheap.

Now, we went to one of the two local Olive Gardens in our area and there was a short wait top get in - they said fifteen minutes, it was more like ten or less. I am not sure why there was a wait aother than to show off the fancy electronic pager system - not sure why they have that either as there was no place to go but the parking lot or the lobby of the restaurant. Once we were seated there were a number of vacant tables. The restaurant was not empty, but other than staggering server assignments, there was no reason to have anyone wait. But the wait was not bad - though one family came in, heard about the wait and left (I am not sure what other restaurant they were going to get to in the fifteen minutes they were told they would have to wait). Any way, we were tyaken into one of the several dining rooms and seated. Very nice, faux-rustic Italain decor. On the table was a special menu and on the front of that was the Never Ending Pasta Bowl and all of the choices for it. They did not hide the special, and while it was not the only thing we saw people at other tables ordering, it was one of the more popular choices. As I said, you order your "first" bowl of whatever combination you would like and also order soup or a salad.

Ok - the pastas - spagetti, whole wheat spagetti, linuini, fettachini, penne, and orechiette (ear-shaped pasta, similar to shells). The sauces - marinara, five cheese marinara, alfredo, meat sauce with beef and sausage within, and two new sauces introduced with this offer - Roasted Portabello Pomadoro and Creamy Parmesean Florentine. You order a pasta and a sauce. When yu want more you order any pasta and any sauce, and you can change as many times as you order another bowl. There are a nice selection of soups and you are ordering these from the standard menu - these include minnestrone, chicken and gnocci, macaroni and beans, and a spicy sausage soup. I have not used the Italian names that these soups have on the menu. If you roder salad you get a very large bowl of greens served family style to all those who order it. If you would like more soup or salad, it will be brought to you.

Together, my wife and I tasted an assortment. We went for the soup instead of the salad. I had the Chicken and Gnocci and she had the Minnestrone. The chicken soup was a cream of chicken soup that contained small chunks of chicken and a few gnocci. Gnocci is potato dumpling pasta - little balls of potato dough that is boiled like pasta to cook. My first experience with gnocci was wwhen my father made it when I was young using my Grandmother's recipe. The gnocci in the soup was not quite like Dad's, but they were not bad - though there were maybe four in the whole bowl. Of course, if I wanted more I could have asked for another bowl - which was offered when we had finished our bowls of soup. The Minnestrone was the usual tomato based, Italian vegtable soup. This one was fine, yet again, not as full of vegetables as some. All in all, the soups were good, We saw salad served on other tables and they bring a VERY large bowl for those who ordered it to share - or a similarly large bowl for one. And again, you can get more if y9u wish.

We did not get more soup - the attraction for the evening is the pasta and why get full on soup or salad - or the breadstick/garlic bread. The waiter brought out two bowls of pasta. The bowls were large in size - perhaps as large as a dinner plate about ten inches. The bowl was full of pasta but not overflowing. The pasta was covered in sauce. All was very hot when it came out - and stayed close to that throughout. I started with the fetticini with the specail roasted portobello pomadoro sauce and my wife had the whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce,. Each pasta was good. The whole wheat pasta was actually too good to be whole wheat - so much so that my wife doubted that it was - though the waiter said that it was when he put it in front of her. The Roasted Portobello Pomodoro was a chunky tomato sauce with regular mushroom slices mixed in and on the top were a few strips of portobello mushrooms. It was tasty. My wife felt that the marinara was spicy. It should not have been. I tried some of hers and did not find it that. It seemed mild to me. It is possible that she was just feeling whatever spice had been in the Minnestrone. When the pasta is served you are offered freshly grated cheese which is ground over your bowl by your server. I enjoyed my first bowl eager to see what was to come. Would the waiter dissappear?

As we were coming to the bottom of our bowls of pasta the waiter appeared. To my pleasant surprise he asked if we wanted then to order the next bowl or would we want to finish our bowls and then order another - as they come out quickly, he said. We said we would wait. When we had finished, in a few minutes the waiter reappeared and asked if we were ready to order more. This time I ordered the little ear pasta and the creamy parmasean florentine sauce adn my wife ordered the penne with meat sauce. True to form for these types of specials in this type of restaurant, when the next bowls were served, gone where the large, dinner plate sized bowls and now the pasta was served in a smaller bowl - perhaps six or seven inches across. Ok, less pasta - or at least the suggestion of less pasta, but you can still ask for more. The creamy parmasean florentine is described as an alfredo sauce with spinich. What they do not say is that this is raw spinach leaves torn up and put over the top of the pasta and alfredo sauce. The taste was nice but I had expected cooked spinach and did care as much as I would have liked. The meat sauce was not heavily loaded with meat but the meat was evident. My wife says that she did not notice if there actually was sausage meat mixed in with the beef. I tasted it and it was not bad.

Let's face it - and this is what Olive Garden is counting on for a $9 all you care to eat dinner - there is just so much pasta one can eat at one meal. By the end of the second bowl my wife was ready to stop and I was not far from it. But, of course, I had to go on to at least one more bowl. Again, the waiter did not dissapoint and appeared in a timely manner to ask if we would like another bowl. I had the penne in five cheese marinara sauce. This sauce was much like an ala vodka sauce with9ut the vodoka - a creamy red tomato sauce that was thick with cheese - which may have been what made it creamy in the first place. It was a very nice sauce. Again, this pasta arrived in the small bowl. I made it through three quartes of the bowl before I had to call it quits. Unlless you intend to marathon eat this meal, there is not much more than three bowls that the average preson is going to eat.

I was full, but I also wanted to see something involving my left over pasta. At every other table, there servers were rushing to bring take out boxes and bags for people to take their left overs hoke with them including the garlic rolls. Would I be offered to take my left over pasta home and the almost full basket of garlic bread breadsticks? The answer is no.

I found the $8.95 Never Ending Pasta Bowl to be a very satisfying meal. The value was great, the food was good, and there was plenty to eat without any real effort to get the refills. If you like pasta and can eat your fill of it - this is the dinner to go for.

Olive Garden restaurants are all over in many states. This offer is for a limited time and in a few months or even less, call first to see if it is still offered (if you are no longer seeing the commercials). If it is gone, it will come back at some point. The hours at the Olive Garden may vary by location but many are open until 10 on weeknights and 11 on Friday and Saturdays.

Gatti's Pizza - A Pizza Buffet

When I think Pizza Buffet, I think Cici's but that is only because that is the chain most local to me - if local is 200 miles. There are other pizza buffet chain restaurants as well. We wrote about a new, small, two location chain in Pennsylvania a year ago. I recently found another chain that is much more wide-spread across the country. That chain is Gatti's Pizza.

Now, as always, I tell you right up front when I am writing about a restaurant or chain that I have not been to and this is another of those. I have not eaten at Gatti's Pizza, but I will share with you all that I have learned.

Gatti's presentation is very much like Cici's - a buffet comprised of pizza, salad bar, pasta, and dessert. There are also chicken wings - though it appears that these are not included on the buffet, . There is a take out option and there is also the ability to internet order from some of the locations, particularly those in Texas.

Locations are across the US as far west as Texas. There are Gatti's Pizza locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Most states listed have several locations with the most in Texas. This is not surprising as this is the state where the chain was founded in 1964 with a pizza restaurant called The Pizza Place. In 1969 the founder moved to Austin, Texas and renamed the restaurant using his wife's maiden name, it the restaurant became Mr. Gatti's. The restaurant prided itself on using all natural ingredients to make the best tasting pizza possible. In the 1980's the restaurant expanded to a chain of game rooms that included a pizza buffet. Interestingly, Cici's also began its pizza buffet restaurants in Texas in 1985. (So, who came first?) There are now 140 + locations of Gatti's Pizza. Locations are franchises.

So what types of pizza will you find on the buffet? This is another of the every combination you can think of assortment of pizzas. There is a Sampler pizza, a Bacon Double Cheeseburger pizza, BBQ Chicken pizza, Meat Market pizza, Vegetarian Sampler pizza, Superoni (pepperoni) pizza, Gatti's Deluxe pizza, Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Veggi Sicilian, and Meat Sicilian. There is a separate list of toppings so we can presume that other combinations are possible. Personally, I like to try the exotic when I go to pizza buffets but I am usually happier when I find basic cheese pizza also available.

The salad bar is what you would expect. Salad greens, tomatoes, and toppings with a variety of dressings. The pasta is spagetti with tomato sauce. There is a mention of macaroni and cheese as well. Most locations have a website and these tend to get a little more specific as to what you might find at that location.

The dessert choices are apple pizza and cinnamon bread sticks (what appears to be pizza dough baked with cinnamon). Of course there are soft drinks and it is stated that these vary by location.

To find prices you need to look at the websites of the individual restaurants which are linked on the locations page. For an example over 12 at the West Virginia location the buffet is $7.99. Not bad, but two to three dollars higher than Cici's. Kids over 6 pay $6.49. Only children under 2 are free and there is a senior discounted price of $6.49.

Each restaurant features a game room and large screen TV's in the dining room. There are larger locations call GattiTown which have party rooms and are listed as "destination" locations. Generally, destination means "shoppertainment" - an attraction location offering entertainment, food, etc. These are stand-alone restaurants meaning that they are not inset into other stores, etc. but a larger facility all on its own.


The food looks good. That is no recommendation. If I am in Virginia, West Virginia, or one of the Carolinas I will try it. The corporate website is linked at the side of this page. It is light on buffet information but if you go to the locations page and click on a location's website you will see much more about the buffet, prices, hours, etc.

If you have been to a Gatti's Pizza please leave a comment and tell us all about it!

I Love CiCi's Pizza Buffet, BUT...

I have written about CiCi's Pizza Buffet many times. I have always recommended it and I still do but I have an ongoing problem with Cici's that I have written about from my first article about the chain a few years back. I know that Cici's corporate is very responsive and they have followed my articles and responded to some in the past. I am hoping that they read this article and maybe make some changes.

My problem - actually two related problems - have to do with the system for table clean up in the restaurant. A cleaning person travels around the restaurant with a cart and picks up dirty dishes from tables and cleans tables when the dinners are finished and leave. In this lies my major problem. This person has no idea if anyone is coming back to the table so any empty table is totally cleared away. I know that my wife and I are not the only ones who will go up together for more food at any buffet that we go to, leaving the table empty. Most buffets have some type of sign or paper saying that the table is occupied. Not Cici's. More than once we have gone up for more pizza only to return to our table to find our cups of soda (half full when we left them) and everything else cleaned away. Once we came back to find people sitting at our table. This has not just happened once but on several visits and at different Cici's.

On this most recent visit my wife had an idea. She wore a sun hat into the buffet and set it down on the table - the idea was that the cleaner would see the hat and then know that we were still occupying that table. I am not going to mention which Cici's we were in but this was one of the most absurd occurences yet. No one had come around to our table for quite some time and the empty dishes were stacking up. We both got up to get more food and the hat was left on the side of the table. We were only gone a few moments when we returned to find - once again - the table was completely cleaned away AND THE HAT WAS GONE. We found the cleaner who said "oh, you are still here." "Were is the hat that was on the table?". we asked. "Oh, its over here by the cash register." We asked why did he clear away the table if the hat was still there showing that we were still there as well. "Huh?", was the reply. Just by coincidence a manager hda come by and asked how everything was going. We told him. His only response was to laugh. (Are you reading this Corporate?) The lesson is quickly leanred just like rats in a Skinner Box, don't get up from the table together and always leave someone behind. Maybe this is fine for others and for those with a lot of people in their family, but it is just the two of us and we like to eat together - not once getting up while the other waits.

So what could Cici's do to fix this? A simple sign that says "occupied" on one side and "open" on the other on each table - a bit of cardboard printed on computer printer would do it. Simple lamination for a few cents would preserve it. Or even more simply, a paper from the cashier that says leave up on table while occupied - just like OCB and so many buffets do. Why is this so hard for Cici's to realize?

My other complaint also has to do with the cleaning cart. The top of the trash bin sits at about face hieght and this cart rolls close to the tables up and down each aisle. As it goes by your nose in in the traah. This is one of the most unappetizing things that any restaurant could do - and it is standard practice at Cici's.

As I state in my title, I love Cici's but the table problem is enough to keep me from going to Cici's. When I dine out I want to relax and I want to be able to pace my meal with my partners. I do not want to be concerned that when we return to our table all will be gone. If this happened once, well, we would chaulk it up to an employee who did not know what he was doing - but this happens 9 out of 10 visits and that is just to much. My wife asked me if it would help if we brought our own sign, but you know, I do not think that would make any difference, because if the system is not changed - and the cleaning staff do not know to be aware if someone is still using the table, nothing is going to work.

So Cici's, I begging you, come up with a system to show a table is occupied. Get over whatever makes you feel that this is not necessary. It is VERY NECESSARY.

A Second Visit to Europa Buffet

In March of this year I wrote an article about a wonderful buffet find in North Brunswick, New Jersey. Since then I have been looking forward to going back again and business happily took us back near enough to travel the extra twenty minutes out of our way to have dinner in this great restaurant. If I can I always like to visit a new buffet find at least twice so that I can report to you all that what I found on my first visit is consistent over time. Europa Buffet did not disappoint the second time around.

I am not going to repeat the layout or details of things that were exactly the same. You can read the first article here and learn all about that. What I will tell you about now are the differences that I found dining there on a different night of the week. My first visit had been on a Friday night which according to the buffet's website is Polish Night. My second visit is on a Saturday night - which is said to be Italian Night. Overall, there were still some Eastern European/Polish dishes included on the buffet on Saturday night - the same as they were on Friday night, but more about that later.

This visit found the restaurant a bit busier than it had been on that cold Friday night in the early Fall when I went there last. I would have expected more people to be here on a Saturday night though there were consistently seven or more tables full through the time we were dining. Everyone but one table were having the buffet. One table that came in toward the end of our meal was ordering off the menu - but it seemed that the salad bar and the drink area were part of their meal (whether they were paying extra for this I do not know). With the buffet you get everything - buffet and soft drinks for $15.99. No coupons are accepted on Saturday night, but the coupons on the website are good for all other nights. I actually hoped to find more people there - perhaps a sign that people read my first article and started filling this gem. That would be great for the people who own and run this restaurant.

As I said in my first article everything in this restaurant is done by two people - the husband and wife who own the restaurant. A quick glance through the kitchen door revealed another man. So in total this is a three person operation and as I understand it all of the cooking is done by the husband and wife. She also takes care of the cash register, greeting and seating guests, making sure the buffet server is full, and clearing away plates from everyone's tables. She also takes your order should you want to order from the menu.

We started again with soup and there were the same two soups that were served on our first visit - chicken noodle and seafood bisque. They were as good as we remembered them to be. The seafood bisque was full of fish - I would say much of it was salmon but there were other seafood in there as well. I am not a big fan of cooked salmon but this was excellent.

The salad bar was just as it had been with one item that had not been there that Friday night. It was a spagetti pasta salad. It was cold spagetti in an oil based dressing and to me there was a taste of anchovy. There is an Italian dish rarely served in general American Italian restaurants that is spagetti or linguine sauteed with anchovies, garlic and olive oil. This cold pasta salad reminded me very much of the taste of that dish. It was very good.

The entrees and side dishes on the hot buffet featured a variety of food some Italian and, as I already said, some Eastern European. Still there were the great potato and onion perogies served next to a cold serving dish of sour cream to add to your liking. There, again, were chicken francaise, sauteed and grilled vegetables, pork spare ribs in barbecue sauce, penne with vodka sauce, kielbasa and fried white fish. This time the fried white fish was cut and fried in small pieces - not the almost whole fish pieces that were here on our first visit. I know that this buffet has read my first article (they now link us to their site for all to read my review). Perhaps my suggestion in that article that the portions of this fish were served too large resulted in this great change. This time I tried the fried whitefish and it was great.

There was more but I will get to that in a moment. As the last time there is a small carving station and this time there was a roast beef to carve and serve yourself, with au jus gravy in a hot server next to the meat. The last time we were here there was a loin of pork roast at the carving board.

Back to the hot foods - I am going to tell you what was not there on this night that we had the first time and then I will tell you what replaced it. Variety is the spice of life and it is good that the menu on the buffet here is varied. In fact, there were regulars here that as they went around the buffet were vocally noting what was different from other nights - and just as delighted with what they found. Gone was the poached fish, the cheese blintzes, the Swedish meatballs, the mashed potatoes (though a sign on the buffet top glass said mashed potatoes), and the stuffed cabbage. Taking the place of these dishes were spagetti alfredo, sliced roast pork, Italian meatballs in tomato sauce, sauteed mushrooms, and rice pilaf. Each of these new found dishes were as good as those that they replaced (though I did miss those wonderful Swedish meatballs that I went on about in my first article). The Italian meatballs were small round meatballs that were about the same size of the Swedish meatballs but they were seasoned differently - Italian - and the tomato sauce that they were in was just right.

I only briefly mentioned the ribs in my first article. I paid a little more attention to them on this night and found them to be nicely meaty without a lot of fat in a pleasant tomato based barbecue sauce. They were fall off the bone tender and good. These are small pieces of ribs served in the sauce. I enjoyed the ribs, but I focused my meal - after tasting everything - more on the European dishes that one does not find at other buffets.

This time I tasted a little of everything - and everything was excellent - as I expected it would be. The problem with eating at a buffet where everything is SO GOOD is that you want to eat more and that was definately happening on this night. I have learned not to stuff myself beyond comfort and I had to hold myself back and not go up for more perogies, which I wanted so much to do. But I am glad that I left a little room because I came upon a dessert that was wonderful.

We went up to the dessert corner and in addition to the variety of pastries and cakes that were here on our first visit there was a tray this night of what definately was Tiramisu. Perhaps the cake I saw and thought was this on our first visit was another cake. This was it. I have never had Tiramisu before. Now I know what all of the fuss is about. It was equisite! It is a yellow cream - very creamy and light with two thin layers of yellow cake inside the cream - and on top a baked, dark brown crust. Often in Italian desserts there is a taste of cheese or liquour. There was none here - which is good. This was just so light and creamy. I stopped myself from getting a second piece because I knew, despite how light it was, it would put me over the top of how much I could eat.

The service, as it was on the first visit, was exceptional. The restaurant is spotless. Every dish is cleared away quickly. As tables are emptied they are washed and sanitized and set for the next guests. The buffet is well tended. Nothing goes empty for any longer than it takes to carry out a new tray of hot food to refill it. And all of this done by these same two people - and mostly by the very nice lady who is so well handling the whole dining room on her own!

There seemed to be several regulars dining here this evening. I am happy that there is a small following. I want to see this buffet get more business. These people deserve it for their efforts! I said this in my first article about Europa Buffet - this buffet is looking more and more to becoming our Best Buffet Restauant of 2009. Watch this site in early January 2010 to find out!

Again, as I recommended in March- you must go to Europa Buffet. I highly recommend it. This is worth a trip. The food - all of the food - is way beyond what you will get in most other buffets. Some say "home cooking" - this is really and truly European home cooking. Everything is fresh. Everything is as you would expect in what are considered "fine dining restaurants". This is so much more than a cut above the usual mass-cooked buffet food that is served at so many other buffets.

Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page. Remember that they close at 9:00 pm and they are not opened on Sundays (unless you want to book the whole restaurant for a party).

Italian Buffet Nights at Saporito, Wantagh, New York

In my never ending quest to find buffet restaurants of different cuisines, I got very excited when I saw an advertisement in a community newspaper for the grand opening of an Italian pizzeria restaurant named Saporito in the village of Wantagh on Long Island in New York. At the top of the ad was a box that said "Dinner Buffet" on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and for the unbelievable price of $7.95. On the other side of the page was a box that said "Lunch Buffet" weekdays for $6.95. This ad was a page of specials and they appeared to be "grand opening specials". I had to find out more. A quick web search came up with a number of restauants around the country with the same name, though they did not appear to be part of a chain. Apparently this is a common name for Italian pizzeria restaurants. Translated saporito in Italian means "tasty". I did find a web site but it mentions everything about the restaurant but a buffet. Before it was gone I had to go and try it for myself.

This is a newly opened Italian take out restauant with booths and tables set up in the front of the restauant. Its main buisness seems to be pizza and some very nice looking pizza was being served at the counter to the number of people who were coming in for take out orders. There is a small parking lot in front of the restaurant with enough spaces to accomodate the few tables inside. The windows of the restaurant are covered in signs about their specials. Not one mentions "buffet". We went in and walked to one of the empty tables and sat down. There were a few tables occupied around the restaurant with more people at the counter ordering take out. In a short instant we were acknowledged and in a minute or two later we were asked if we needed menus or were we ordering the buffet. The buffet was located at the side of the restaurant between two soda cold cases on a shelf. There were five countertop hot servers and a soup server on the shelf. Small, but adequate. Drinks are from the soda fountain or bottles from the cases. Drinks are not unlimited and are not included with the buffet. There is a sign that says that they are waiting for their license to serve wine.

We went up to the buffet. There we found chicken soup, spagetti, tomato sauce (seperated from the spagetti in its own tray in the spagetti hot server), chicken francias, chicken with brocolli, meatballs, and sausage with peppers and onions. In front of the soup server there were short stacks of china plates, bowls, and silverware rolled in paper dinner napkins. There are also napkin dispensers on each table. The server brought a basket of garlic bread and very nice rolls to our table.

Of course, I tried everything. The food is what is expected at local Italian restauants. One of the best ways to judge an Italian restaurant is the tomato sauce. Is it too sharp? Is it to sweet? This tomato sauce was just right. The spagetti was kept in a light oil so that it would not stick together. You put the sauce on the spagetti yourself as you like. The chicken francias was good. The batter was not overly eggy and the sauce did not have a sharp taste of wine. The taste was good. I have had the dish made better in other restauants but it was good. The chicken mixed with brocolli was a sauteed dish of small chunks of chicken with sauteed down brocolli with a light garlic and oil sauce. This was another tasty dish. The pork sausage with peppers and onions was cooked in oil. There were both red and green pepper slices and these were cooked with strips of onion. The sausage was sliced into thin pieces and the dish was well cooked. It tasted very good. It is served with the oil that it is suateed in and there was a bit too much oil that the food sat in. This was fine for the taste, but I would have preferred that it had been less oily. The meat balls were the usual Italian take out restauant meatballs. They were served in tomato sauce and the perfect and quintessential complement to the spagetti. They were as good as any meatballs that I have had at similar restauants or in real Italian meatball hero sandwiches. (Hero sandwich = hoagie, poorboy, sub. In NY they are hero sandwiches.) There is no pizza on the buffet. Too bad because their pizza was very tempting. This was the Wednesday night buffet. On Thursday night the dishes will change - for example pasta ala vodka.

There is no dessert included with the buffet. I don't need it but if you have to have it there is a dessert menu that you can order from to supplement your buffet (at additional cost). There is also no salad bar - again, I did not need or miss that.

Keep in mind the price of this meal. It is $7.95 each - for all. Compare this to any other buffet price. Compare this to Cici's at $5.99 to which this excels for what you are getting. This is a small restaurant and they are new. By the size and the number of items, this is not what the average buffet goer is going to expect - but that is ok. For the money, you are getting a great meal. I have paid more for lunch at some menu restaurants.

The restaurant was very clean. The serving trays were kept an eye on. They were tended, refilled, and stirred. Dishes were eventually cleared from the table, but they seem to just be getting used to the idea of the buffet (and they are new). I think that a crowd of typical buffet diners would throw them. I have two suggestions to the management. One is that they need to make sure that more clean dishes need to be kept out next to the buffet 0r replaced more regularly. The other suggestion is that when new food is placed into a serving tray it cannot be poured on top of what is there or just be mixed into (which is what they did) but that the proper way to do this is to take what is in the current tray and put it on top of the new food that is going in.

I was very happy with my find. But the big question - is this just a special offer or will it remain? It will remain - every Wednesday and Thursday night. And weekdays for lunch! Wonderful!

I do not understand why - other than the ad in the community paper - that the buffet is a big secret. Why no sign? Why nothing inside the restauarant about it? Why nothing on the website? I can never understand why a restauant looking to bring in business in these difficult times does not make their great features well known. Yes, they ran an ad, but had I not seen the ad - and I am sure many have not - if I drove past the restaurant nothing outside (or inside for that matter) would say "BUFFET". To the observer, outside, it is just another pizza restaurant, of which, in this area there are many.

I will definitely be back! I recommend that you try Saporito Pizzeria Restaurant's buffet (either lunch everyday during the week or dinner on Wednesdays and Thursdays) if you are on Long Island or traveling through Long Island. (This is on the way to the Hamptons - not nearly as far east, but on the way!) Take note that the hours of the dinner buffet are from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm and hte lunch buffet is served from 11 am to 3 pm. The restaurant's address is 1378 Wantagh Avenue, Wantagh, New York. Their phone number is 516-221-7773. They have a website with no mention of the buffet but photos of the restauant and take out menus. The website is linked on the side of this page.

Finally, an Italian Buffet I can get too! Mangia!

Buffet Europa, North Brunswick, New Jersy - A Hidden Treasure

I am always looking for unique buffets and buffets that feature international cuisines that are not primarily Asian. I recently did an internet search for buffets in a particular area of New Jersey that I would be visiting. Usually when I do these searches I find little to nothing. On this one occasion a name caught my attention - Buffet Europa. I went to the website to find the description of a buffet featuring European cuisine. I poked around the website and the more that I saw and read the more intrigued I became. I even found a coupon good from Monday to Friday. There was no hesitation to decide that this buffet was getting a visit.

Finding Buffet Europa, located in the town of North Brunswick, New Jersey, was not difficult but it is hidden from the main road that it is nearest to - US Route One. The restaurant is located in a very small shopping area of just a few stores. The shopping center is called Aaron Plaza and it is located just off Route 1 on Aaron Road. You cannot see this shopping center from US 1 and if you ride this road everyday it is likely that you have past this restaurant many times and never know it is there. Cross streets are well labeled on US 1 so when you get to Aaron Road - coming from the north it is just a few miles south of where Route 18 crosses US 1 - you turn right and then immediately left into the shopping center. The best landmark - as if it will help - is an Exxon Station on the corner. If you have a GPS in your car put in the address and it will take you right to the door - which is how I found it.

In the parking lot and driving up to the restaurant what you will see is a single storefront with a large sign above - Buffet Europa. From the outside this is nothing that you might expect if you are a frequent buffet goer. Once inside the restaurant is not much bigger. But let me say right now, that big things come in small packages. We were greeted enthusiastically as we walked in by a young woman who welcomed us as if we were coming to a party at her home and told us that we may sit at any table we wished. The restaurant is small - there are just 16 tables total. Five of those tables are booths and the rest are tables and chairs with two of the tables able to seat large groups and all of the tables for four able to be moved together to accommodate any number. The room is very nicely decorated with crystal lighting fixtures on the walls, a crystal chandelier hanging in the middle of the dining room and very simple but elegant European decor. It is also nicely carpeted. Each table has a white table cloth covered by a clear plastic cover. On each table is a very nice flower arrangement in a vase. There is soft background music playing in the dining room. Its opera instrumentals and it fits so perfectly with the atmosphere. At the end of the room is one double buffet server - half hot and half cold, with a counter behind that with soup, a soda dispenser, a dessert area, a single carving station, and plates and extra utensils. Each table is set with silverware and plenty of paper napkins nicely arranged in a holder. (It is evident that at one time in the past this was a Chinese restaurant - perhaps even a Chinese buffet - as there is an oriental, etched glass window set into the front wall.)

We visited on a Friday night at about 6:30. There were five tables full at the time. Through the night other tables filled as diners came and went. I think this restaurant is not well known, because if it was it should certainly have had many more diners. The price is a bit high compared to the "chain" buffets but there really is no comparison. The food that is served here is - how should I put it? - real restaurant food, and not the mass cooked buffet fare that is often encountered. The price of the buffet dinner is $15.99 per person, six nights per week. There is a children's price but I do not know what it is. Families with children are welcome. Dress is casual. The restaurant is open from 11 am to 9 pm, Monday to Saturday, and is closed on Sundays for private parties and catering. There is also a menu to order from and if you would like to take the buffet out, it costs $5.99 per pound (which is a very good price for a takeout buffet). The price of the buffet is all inclusive and there is no additional charge for beverages which include Pepsi products and real ice tea.

When I see one buffet server, I have apprehension. Here this one double server held more than enough variety to please anyone. The cuisine as the name implies is European and all of the dishes are from different countries in Europe with an emphasis on Polish and Italian. According to the website, Friday is Polish Night and Saturday is Italian Night. On this Friday night there were several Polish dishes and there was Italian there as well, along with other European dishes.

As we usually do, we started with the soup. There were two soups offered. One was a chicken rice soup and the other was seafood bisque. My wife tried the chicken rice and I tried the bisque. I tasted her soup before I tasted mine. This is chicken rice soup with a the taste of chicken rice soup in a fine restaurant. This was nicely flavored soup and not just chicken broth with rice tossed in. I am going to use this word a lot in this review - excellent! The fish bisque was wonderful as well. It was a thin bisque but it was loaded with large chunks of fish. The taste again was excellent. Right from the start of this meal we were both very impressed.

About a third of the buffet server is a salad bar. There was a variety of greens to choose from or mix together and very fine toppings to create a salad including several types of hot peppers, pickled vegetables, Greek olives, black olives, grape tomatoes and more. There were a variety of dressings. There were also prepared salads including coleslaw, cucumbers in cream (I have had this in German restaurants), and tuna salad. There was a tray of dinner rolls here as well. There was enough to make a wonderful salad. There was also a cut up melon assortment.

When I visit a new restaurant (new to me) I have a small salad selection so that I can try more of the entrees. I am glad that I left room. There were a number of entrees and side dishes. Each tray that was out was a half tray so there was plenty of room for a variety to be put out - and it was. Each item is clearly labeled. I will go through what was there and then tell you about what we tried. There was potato and cheese perogies (with sour cream on the side), chicken francaise, cheese blintzes,rice with vegetables, grilled vegetables, fried whiting fish, poached whole fish (perhaps blue fish or sea bass), vodka penne, mashed potatoes, BBQ small spareribs, stuffed cabbage with beef and rice, Swedish meatballs, and kielbasi. At the carving station was a roast pork loin.

I tried everything except the fried whiting fish and the only reason that I did not try that was that the portions were so large that taking one would have prevented me from be able to have room in my stomach to eat other things that I wanted to try. Each piece of fish was a fried triangle that would fill half a plate. I was very tempted though because it looked real good. Again, each item served was fine dining quality. Every tray of food was properly kept at the correct temperature and nothing was allowed to dry out. When trays came just close to needing to be refilled more came out. In fact, there was one whole poached fish and soon two more were in the tray. I liked everything that I tasted. The chicken francaise was better than we both have had at any restaurant in a long time. This is chicken that is coated and fried in an egg batter and then sauteed in wine and butter. Wonderful! The perogies were moist and light with a great taste. The cheese blintzes were not the rolls that are found in the supermarket freezer but light little, light pancakes folded flat around a layer of cottage-like cheese and covered with powder sugar - in the tray with a light butter sauce that was just enough to keep these little sweet treats moist. The grilled vegetables, which were different types of squash, onion, and zucchini, were nicely grilled, charred yet moist and in a light sauce that seemed to have a soy sauce base. The taste was very, very good. The rice was equally good with a mixture of chopped vegetables mixed in and nicely seasoned. The poached fish was very nice. I am not much of a whole fish eater and I there are a limited number of types of fish that I personally enjoy. This fish was not one that I have tried before. Someone who is a more enthusiastic fish eater than I will love this fish. The vodka penne was in a thick cream vodka sauce. There was not an overpowering taste of the vodka which is just right for this dish. The mashed potatoes were freshly mashed potatoes with a good flavor. The BBQ ribs were small chunks of ribs in a rich, tomato barbecue sauce. The meat was tender and came easily off the bones. The stuffed cabbage were small rolls of cabbage leaves filled with chopped beef and rice. They were good. I have not had kielbasi in many years - I once had a Polish girlfriend many years ago. The kielbasi here was just as I remember her mother serving.

You may have noticed that I did not tell you about the Swedish meatballs. They deserve their own paragraph. Swedish meatballs are small meatballs that are cooked in a brown cream sauce. Swedish meatballs at Buffet Europa were excellent! The sauce is what makes them special. It is a piquant sauce that enticed you to eat more of it. After the meatballs were gone from my plate I was scooping up the sauce. We more than enjoyed everything that we ate - we both commented to each other about the Swedish meatballs - and the sauce (and remember, my picky eater wife does not generally eat things covered in sauces).

As I said earlier, the carving this night was roast pork. It was a large roasted piece of meat. It is out with a carving knife and serving fork for you to carve yourself. The meat was tender and moist. There was not much fat, but enough to give flavor. There was a thin au jus gravy in an gravy server next to the meat. Again, this was roast pork that you would expect to be served in a fine restaurant.

I tried not to overeat, but everything was just too tempting and the flavor of each dish tried was such that I wanted to have more. I managed to save a little room for dessert.

The dessert area is small but there is a nice assortment of very fine baked goods. There was what I believe was tiramisu - large pieces, pre-cut on dessert plates. (This is one of their specialties so I am pretty certain that is what this cake was.) My wife tried a chocolate and yellow, marbled pound cake and brownies with chocolate frosting. I tried a square of crumb cake that was thick with crumbs over a nice yellow cake. I also tried the rice pudding with cinnamon sprinkled on top which was very good. There was also cheese cake. Scattered around the counter were Hershey's chocolate kisses. I had a long drive ahead of me to get home so I was not going to over do dessert. Dessert was not disappointing.

As we were eating it became apparent that there are just two people working at this restaurant - both I believe are the owners. The young lady who greeted us at the door was also the person clearing our dishes from our table, tending the buffet server, and interacting with the tables around the room. A gentleman came out from the back who looked equally in charge and he, and the young lady, are doing the cooking. According to a review of this restaurant, they cook all day to get ready for dinner. And they are cooking continually to make sure everything that is put out is fresh. Everything is homemade. There was no drawback to there being just the two of them. The food was continually put out. Our empty dishes were whisked away from our table each time we went back up to the buffet server for more. On top of everything this restaurant is spotless - everywhere.

The restaurant opened 15 months ago. It should be better known. The food is excellent, the atmosphere is excellent, and this buffet is truly unique in a buffet world of Asian cuisine and American country cooking. They seem to be trying to get the word out with increased advertising and they do offer coupons to bring the meal price down. We saved 20% off the check with the internet coupon from their website. When this hidden treasure gets noticed, it may be hard to get in the next time - and for me, there will definitely be a next time (though I am almost two hours from where this restaurant is located with two large bridge tolls to pay).

I highly recommend Buffet Europa. You will not be sorry. If you live in New Jersey or are traveling through the Brunswick area of New Jersey (not far from Manhattan) this unique buffet is a must. This is a buffet of European home-style cooking at its finest! In fact, this little buffet may become our Best Buffet of 2009. I was that impressed.

Buffet Europa is located at 1000 Arron Road, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. Their telephone number is 732-940-1122. They do have a website and the link is listed at the side of this page. Remember that they close at 9:00 pm and they are not opened on Sundays (unless you want to book the whole restaurant for a party).