Return to the Festival Buffet, Foxwoods Casino Resort, CT PART II

PART II

The problem here is that it all looks so good - and most of it is quite different from what I see at the usual buffet offerings. It is hard here not to see something and take it - and this buffet requires some - perhaps a lot of - willpower. One way that I deal with this is I try to take just a little bit. It looked good - and most of it was good.

I will start with the really good. The beef brisket in barbecue sauce was good. The meat was tender and the sauce was mild with a nice flavor and not too sweet. The sweet potato fries were good. The manicotti was nice - not the best that I have had, but probably one of the best that I have had at a buffet - and the tomato sauce was nice as well. The sausage was Italian hot sausage - meaning it is spiced with peppers. It was in the server with peppers and onions all together in tomato sauce and the sausages were cut in half. The sausages were nicely thick. The taste was good - authentic - and while I prefer what is known as Italian sweet sausage (with no peppers), this was good. The Japanese noodles with seafood were pan fried broad noodles (likely rice noodles) stir-fried with small shrimp, red and green pepper, onion, bean sprouts and some other oriental vegetables. These were very good! What was not as good as I had hoped? The stir-fry string beans were in a red oil, spicy sauce. They may have been good if you like spicy oriental food, but I was not taking any chances with the long ride home that would eventually follow this meal, as spicy and my stomach do not always get along. I did not finish the green beans after a taste. That leaves the St. Louis ribs. I had very much enjoyed the ribs here on my last two visits. These ribs were cut short and with three bones side by side. There was little to no meat and what meat there was, was not coming off without a struggle. I worked at them for a while to get more than just a taste. I gave up. The rest in the serving tray had looked pretty much the same as these, and I did not go back to try those again. Too bad, too. I really like barbecue ribs - and like them best when the meat just falls off the bones. Not these. But there is so much more to eat here that it was a minor loss.

I went back up to try some more. At the seafood station there were cold peel and eat shrimp - nice large shrimp (I passed those by as I can always get shrimp at a buffet). There were also broiled cod, fried cod, fried clams, french fries, and two types of rice. There were also hot mussels and also jambalaya.

Cod. Before the "evil" talapia became the inexpensive fish to serve, there was cod. There was a time when every menu - at least in the Middle Atlantic and Northeast - had cod. (Now the "new" cod is talapia. Talapia more resembles flounder fillet. The problem with talapia as most is farm raised and it is a fact that farm raised talapia takes away from your body the good Omega nutrients that other fish put in. Why is it so popular? It is cheap.) It set these statements off because I don't want you to think that there is any talapia served here. It is COD. And cod is good and good for you. Cod is a fish of New England and it is no wonder it is still served at this buffet.

I took one piece of the fried cod (I really like fried fish!). I also took a few of the fried clams. The cod was very good. It was thick and pure white. The batter was a beer batter which is a light fried batter. With a bit of tartar sauce, it more than satisfied my taste for fried fish. The fried clams were also good. They were sweet and the batter was a breaded coating. I have probably said this before, but I always compare fried clams to the best fried clams that I have ever had and those were the ones you got at the Howard Johnson's Restaurants of my youth (not the frozen in the supermarket ones that had the Howard Johnson name on them). I have not really found ones to compare. But these were good - not like those, but good.

There was so much that was good that I am losing track of what I had with which trip up. The Italian station had individual bowls of meat lasagna. I did not take that but it looked good. There were three pasta dishes including one that had a pesto sauce, one that had marinara sauce, and a third, that I tried that were little ear shaped macaroni with a bolognese sauce. This was good. They also had meatballs in tomato sauce. I took one of these meatballs on the same plate that I took one of the Swedish meatballs that were in the general section. The meatballs were exactly the same - the sauce was different, of course. The meatball with the tomato sauce was actually better than the Swedish meatball, though that was fine too.

The big mistake that I made - and I always seem to make this same mistake - was to go up to the carving station and get a slice of the Prime Rib that they were carving. The mistake was not that there was anything wrong with meat. The meat was very good. The mistake was that the serving that is given fills a plate. This is like a slice of Prime Rib that you get in a menu restaurant. And asking for a "thin" slice or a "small" slice does not really make any difference. The carver sliced down a nice, large portion of the meat and placed it on my plate. That could have sufficed for dinner all on its own. I decided that I would eat as much as I felt comfortable eating, and leave over what I did not want. And I did exactly that.

Also on what I am calling the general station, as American food station does not really describe everything that was there, was a baked chicken in mushroom gravy. My wife tried this and she said it was very good. There was also fried chicken that looked good. Mixed in with the meat dishes were plain broccoli, macaroni and cheese, the Swedish meatballs that I mentioned before, another rice dish, and carved ham. My wife also tried the ham and she said that was good also.

The Chinese/Oriental station had several spicy dishes including the string beans that I spoke about, as well as fried rice, the Japanese noodles with seafood talked about earlier, and a tray of a thin soup with chicken dumplings in it. There were bowls above the counter. I decided that I would like to try one of the dumplings and took a bowl, scooped one out and drained the soup back into the serving tray with the ladle before I brought the ladle near the bowl. The chicken dumpling was mildly seasoned. It was nice.

There were a lot of side dishes though other than the broccoli, they were carbohydrate based - potatoes of various types - mashed, french fries, sweet potato fries - plus four or so different rice dishes, and then a number of macaroni dishes. There was also kernel corn. I can't say why I feel that there needed to be something different, but my wife took more salad as a vegetable side dish, and at one point, rather than take broccoli, I opted for a slice of half-sour pickle from the salad bar.

Even with tasting sized portions - and the more than plentiful Prime Rib - I was overfull. This is not something that I let happen at most buffets, but this buffet, perhaps because it is different and we get here so rarely, draws me to that.

There there is dessert which takes up a long counter in the front entrance of the buffet. There was a lot of very tempting desserts and a wide variety from hot cobblers, hot bread pudding, an assortment of puddings including tapioca, rice pudding, etc. There were many different cakes. The apple cake caught my eye. It was a large slice of brown cake with apples very visible in the slice. There was coconut cake - yellow cake with white frosting super-filled with coconut. As I stood next to the serving counter, I could smell the sweet coconut call to me. There were brownies, chocolate mousse, soft serve ice cream, sundae fixings, and an area where crepes were cooked and filled to order. There is also a section of sugar-free desserts - mostly cakes. (Understand that sugar-free cakes and desserts have just as many and sometimes more carbohydrates as their non-sugar twins. So calling them sugar-free really does not make them any better.) This was a special occasion for me and I had decided before dinner that I would have a small dessert. I looked from cake to cookie to cupcake and all along the counters and cases deciding what to take. I was like a kid in a candy shop with just enough money in his hand for one treat. And I picked a small chocolate cupcake with a light chocolate swirl of frosting on the top. Why? I am not sure but it was a small portion and easier to choose than the apple cake which I could not eat all of or that wonderfully tempting slice of coconut cake. The baking is pretty good here. I tasted some of the frosting and it was very nice. I then removed the rest of the frosting and set it aside and ate the little chocolate cupcake. It tasted just like chocolate cake should - it was good. Was it spectacular? Not really, but it was to me. And if you are fortunate enough to be able to eat spectacular desserts there were those there to have.

The server that we had was excellent. She was very attentive to her tables. At the table next to us, the people must have asked her to make them chocolate egg cream drinks (this is soda water mixed with just the right amount of milk and chocolate syrup). I would have never imagined requesting such a thing. It certainly can be made on your own at any buffet with a self-serve beverage bar, but to ask the server to make one - well, she did and seemed very happy about doing it. They were discussing how good they were at the next table with her and she had a lot of pride in having made a good one. For us, she refilled out beverages promptly, brought my wife tea when she no longer wanted soda at the end of the meal, and removed all of our soiled plates immediately. She was one of the best servers that I have ever had at any buffet, and I tipped her accordingly.

The Festival Buffet is at Foxwoods Resort Casino. The address is 350 Trolley Line Boulevard,
Mashantucket, CT 06338-3777. The phone number is 1-800-369-9663. There is a website with directions, etc. and that is listed at the side of this page. As I talked about in my article last year, use a GPS to find the casino. It is in the middle of the woods - as a good Native American casino should be.

Mommy, I Want Plain Spaghetti

"Mommy, I want plain spaghetti!" That is something often heard from children at buffets and at most "American" food buffets that is certainly something that can be easily complied with - unless you go to Old Country Buffet.

Several months ago, OCB changed much of its menu offerings. One of the items eliminated was the plain spaghetti that could always be found on the buffet along with a serving tray of tomato sauce - often along with meat sauce. What they put in its place are changing pasta dishes - all mixed with some type of sauce and other ingredients. No longer can you just get plain spaghetti.

This was a big mistake for OCB along with several other changes that took place at the same time. This is not only a disappointment now for children - many of which like things "plain" but also many adult diners. In the past, the plain spaghetti could be taken with tomato or meat sauce, it could be taken just as it was - plain, it could be have brown gravy or chicken gravy poured on top like noodles, or it could be mixed with butter and cheese. There were a lot of possibilities with plain spaghetti. I also found that the server of tomato sauce was good to have on the buffet as well. I have added it to the OCB pizza when it has come out of the kitchen dry. It could be placed on top of any of the meat dishes to create other dishes - all at your choice. But not any more.

One of the difficulties in serving plain spaghetti on a buffet is keeping it from drying out and not clumping. OCB was actually one of the best of the buffets in being able to do this. It would be kept moist in a small amount of liquid and just a small quantity of oil - which did not overwhelm the pasta, add a taste, or be too oily. They did a better jog of this that many buffets.

I am not sure why they decided to make this change. It certainly could not be a financial decision. There are still pasta dishes put out with each buffet, but the pasta that is placed out now is always mixed with cheese - lactose-intolerant people beware.

Other changes took place at the same time - and none of them good. And these changes were universal to the chain - not just at some locations. Gone are the beef ribs that were a OCB staple on Thursday and Saturday nights. Many plain vegetable dishes have been replaced with seasoned vegetables. The green beans now are often mixed with ham - forget about those if you are a vegetarian or observe religious practices. Also, new metal serving dishes that are placed into the buffet steam tables have changed. Many of the deeper dishes that kept the food hot as it sat lower down into the steam table have been replaced with shallower dishes. The meatloaf that is now placed into those shallow trays is now always cold on the top and just warm on the bottom. Not good!

I have been spending some time observing the Old Country Buffet Facebook page. I am not the only one who finds these changes to be a problem. There are a number of posts daily from upset customers about the lack of the spaghetti, beef ribs, etc. There are pleads to bring them back. I know that OCB monitors their own Facebook page but they never seem to comment back to those customers just asking to have what they enjoyed about the restaurants brought back.

So - OCB - or perhaps I should address this to the parent company, Buffets, Inc. - please bring back the plain spaghetti and get rid of those shallow serving dishes. There are lots of kids out there - and their parents who will thank you for it.

SEASONS BUFFET - MOHEGAN SUN CASINO, Uncasville, CT

This past June I published an article on this site about the Sunburst Buffet at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. What has made Mohegan Sun stand apart from most non-Las Vegas casinos is that it has had two buffet restaurants - Sunburst Buffet and Seasons Buffet. Before I go further let me say that since my visit this past summer, the Sunburst Buffet has closed. There is now only one buffet at Mohegan Sun and from what we could learn while there, the Sunburst Buffet will remain closed. It is no more...

While this was a surprise, it was not a disappointment, as you will understand if you read that article here from last June. We were heading for Connecticut again and the plan this trip was to have dinner at the Seasons Buffet at Mohegan Sun. Many of you must wonder why, when I place so much on value at buffets - do I go to so many casinos. Well, it is not for the gambling. I do not gamble. It is for the food - specifically for the buffet. Seasons has been at Mohegan Sun since the casino/resort complex first opened. It was always considered the lower priced buffet. It was considered the more basic buffet. Now that this is the only buffet at Mohegan Sun, it has borrowed a little of what had been at the Sunburst Buffet- a sample selection of items from the various menu restaurants in the complex. Let me start from the beginning so that you get the full flavor of this buffet.

The buffet is located just off of the floor of the Wolf Den casino - there are several casinos in the complex that closely resembles what a Native American theme park for adults would look like. You pay at the entrance way. The price of the buffet is $16.99 every day for lunch and dinner. There is also a breakfast buffet. Once you have paid you are directed down a short corridor where you are greeted by a hostess who escorts you to your table. The dinner room is large and the buffet serving area fills around the rear wall. The buffet is set up with two sides - both a mirror image of the other and when in full operation both sides serving the same things to accommodate the crowd. Since we were there in November on a weeknight, only half was in operation with the exception of the dessert area which was doubled (and serving the same desserts on both sides.

As always we start with soup and there were two soups. One was Manhattan Clam Chowder (the red clam chowder and interestingly unusual to find in a New England state). The other was something labeled Persian Meatball soup. Of course, I had to try that. As I was ladling it into my cup it looked very much like mushroom barley soup. When I got it back to the table and really could get a good look at it, it looked even more like mushroom barley soup. And that is exactly what it was. No meatballs - nothing Persian. I was minor-ly disappointed, but I do like mushroom barley soup and this one was good. I also went back for a cup of the clam chowder. The clam chowder was full of clam pieces with potatoes and peppers and onions in a thin red broth. The soup was spicy to the taste - the proper Manhattan Clam Chowder spices and herbs but perhaps a bit more seasoned than necessary - yet, again it was good even if my lips burned a bit.

We moved on to the salad bar. The salad bar was small, both in size and what it had to offer. It is split in half by a new cook to order pasta station in the middle of the two salad bar sides. There were three types of lettuce/greens. There were several toppings. The dressings were not labeled except for the Ranch and that was with a serving spoon that said "Ranch" on it. You could guess what the others were - orange color equals French, but then there were several cream color ones and one that may or may not have been creamy Caesar. My intention had been to create a Caesar Salad - but I was taking no chances and the only one to ask was the pasta chef who was very involved with a skillet making pasta dishes to order. So I took the Ranch and moved on. The other side of the pasta station, the salad bar continued with a few prepared salads which included cole slaw, pasta salad, and a very good mozzarella cheese salad with Mediterranean olives. I took some of the cheese and olive salad. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Greek black olives were pitted. The cheese consisted of small braided balls of mozzarella and were nicely fresh. I came back for more of that later on.

Before selecting my first entrees I took a walk along the buffet servers to see what there was. The first server was a flat grill and there were hotdogs cooking. A sign said Nathan's hot dogs. Those from the Northeast - and others with these hot dogs now sold in supermarkets - know that Nathan's Famous is the original Coney Island hot dog. It made the hot dog famous. The hot dogs being grilled at this buffet were the commercial variety of Nathans - in other words - what you find in the supermarkets - which are slightly different than the "real" Nathans sold at their restaurants. For $17, many do not want to eat hot dogs but I was not the only person getting a hot dog - complete with toppings for you to add yourself and served on a bun. I skipped the bun - I like hot dogs. During the meal I had two. Along the line there were buffalo wings, a carving station with roast loin of pork, a large steamship round of beef, and turkey breast, an area with Chinese dishes including sweet and sour chicken, shrimp and vegetable lo mein, and fried rice, an area with two large, square, thick pizzas - one cheese pizza and a white and spinach pizza, and then there were a row of hot chafing servers. Here there was garlic mashed potatoes, a Sicilian vegetable stew, fish Florentine, Pasta Carbonara, vegetables, macaroni and cheese, and more. Along the way there were baked beans, sauteed onions, and sauteed mushrooms. There was also an area with a variety of gravies to top the carvings. Of course, as mentioned, there was also the Pasta Station where you select the type of pasta and sauce and could add a variety of meats such as chicken and ham to your pasta dish. A chef was there cooking to your order. As everything here was made to your specification there was a short line leading up to the chef. On a crowded night this line could be much longer - though there is a second pasta station when the whole buffet serving area is open.

There was plenty to eat and it was good, solid food to choose from. At first it did not give the appearance that there was a lot to choose from. In fact I heard several people when first walking through make a comment that there was not a lot being offered for $17.00, but really there was and what is more - and what I could not say about the former Sunburst Buffet - the food was really good.

I always do a tasting selection - a little of everything of what I like and then go back for more of what I really enjoyed. The steamship round of beef is a large roast beef that has been cooked to offer a variety of doneness to the beef. I wanted rare and the carver carved me a slice from a section that was rare. Others asked for well done and medium and that was there too. The portions were generous and my wife had to tell the carver to give her less turkey than he was offering.

I tried the fish Florentine - what must have been flounder in a cream sauce with spinach garnish. The fish was a bit dry and while the sauce was tasty it did not add enough to the fish. This was the only dish that I passed up on when I returned. I also tried the Pasta Carbonara which was good. This is Pasta coal miners style. When I have had it in the past it usually is pasta in tomato sauce with bacon tossed with beaten eggs and cheese. Here it was not bacon but a chopped meat finding its way into the ear-shaped pasta in a thickened red sauce which did have cheese mixed in and I am sure beaten egg as well. The taste was good and it tempted me back for more.

The one dish that both my picky eater wife and I enjoyed a lot was the Sicilian Vegetable Stew. What looked like chunks of potatoes were actually yellow squash. There was also green squash, onions, and peppers in a spicy red sauce. The sauce was wonderful and we kept trying to guess what was in it (my wife thought she would like to try making this at home - it was that good). We both enjoyed this dish very much.

Over at the dessert area there were also biscuits and rolls to have with your meal. The dessert area was extensive and there was also a section with sugar free cakes, pies, and muffins. Of the regular desserts there were fresh strawberries with whipped cream near by to mound on top, puddings, bread pudding, jello, cakes, pies, cheesecake, and vanilla and chocolate soft-serve frozen yogurt. Over by the salad bar there were also trays of fresh fruits. Everything was tempting.

We both had a filling and satisfying meal. There was nothing that I would say that was missing from this buffet. It was not "fancy" as some casino buffets try to be, nor was it plain.

The meal includes soft drinks (which are refilled by your server) and you are offered coffee or tea with dessert (or more soft drinks if you prefer). We had a very good server who cleared dishes each time we left the table to get more and she offered refills of our drinks without our looking for her to ask for them. This was very different from our server at Sunburst.

What we were able to learn is that Sunburst will not reopen BUT this buffet - Seasons - will temporarily move into the space that Sunburst had been in - along with all of the Seasons staff, menu, and chefs, while the Seasons room gets some renovation, particularly the addition of rest rooms inside the dining room (now you have to leave the restaurant and use the restrooms near the casino. Once complete, Seasons Buffet will move back to where it is now. We could not find out when this will happen other than "soon".

It is important to note for those with children that there is a children's price - $9.43 - and that this casino complex is laid out so that children can move around all of the complex without entering a casino area. There is no problem bringing a child to get to the buffet. The complex includes a shopping mall and a children's game area. (Plus a crystal glass mountain and waterfall, and a wall of water.

I very much recommend Seasons Buffet at the Mohegan Sun Casino/Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut. Go and enjoy. If you gamble, you will enjoy that too - and there are FREE concerts in the middle of the Wolf Den casino with some big names on Friday and Saturday nights. There are free concerts every night but the names were not as big.

There is a web page listed at the side of this page for Seasons Buffet.

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.

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!

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).

La Piazza - Buffet at Caesars Casino in Atlantic City, NJ

The second day that we were in Atlantic City we spent part of the day checking out the buffets in each casino to decide which we would have dinner in that evening - the quest is a story in itself, and perhaps in the future I will tell it. The buffet that we did decide on is called La Piazza located at Caesars Casino on the boardwalk of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

La Piazza goes along with the theme of the rest of Caesars hotel and casino - ancient Rome. The menu only partially reflects this them but the decor puts you in a Roman courtyard. To start out I want to say that the food was excellent, but I wish I could say that the rest of the experience was the same.

The wait on a Monday night in early August was one hour of standing on line to get in. This buffet has three lines to get in. The long line is for us common people - those who are paying cash or have a "gold card", the lowest of the casino's promotions and comp cards. With that card you can earn points by gambling (for an excessive amount of time) and you can use those points for a free buffet (or whatever else is offered). There is a much shorter line for "platinum" card holders. This is the same as the gold card, but these cards are earned by gambling a lot and for this you wait on line much shorter. Both of these lines fed into the same seating line after you paid and the platinum folks and the common folks were taken to tables from the same line. There was also the "diamond" card holders line which was very short and these people were taken to their own short, seating line and were seated first.

While we were waiting they temporarily closed the gold and platinum cashiers to allow the seating line to get shorter - and to allow the "diamond" people to all get to their tables as quickly as possible. Wasn't that nice! In about ten minutes the cashiers were opened again and we continued to advance up the line. We paid and went to the seating line which had about four tables ahead of us. When we were finally taken in to the dining room we were walked through the quaintly Roman decor dining room with columns and a fountain and brought into a dining room that looked lime a catering hall dining room - plain cream color walls and plain decor. This room adjoined the main dining room but it clearly was an overflow room. We were seated and our soft drink orders were taken. Later we found that walking past that pretty fountain was a problem if more than one person wanted to get through - and when someone in a wheelchair came through they could barely pass around it.

Ah yes, let me get the details out of the way before I continue. The price for the buffet is $23.99. (The website lists the price at a dollar less.) With sales tax dinner for two comes to just about $52. Add a tip to that and you come out to $60 or more. This includes soft drinks. There is also a breakfast buffet and a lunch buffet. This price is for weeknights. Saturday and Sunday the price is higher. If you are a gambler, get one of the gold promotions cards and play all day at Caesars and you will probably eat for free. Either way you are giving your money to Caesar.

So... we went up to the buffet to start our meal. The buffet is laid out in a long continuous line. At the far end the line breaks to two stations. What this means is that people interpret this to be a cafeteria. They start a line (a long line) at the salad end and work their way across filling plates to the brim. (No one this night had read the "Rules".) If you made an attempt to reach in and grab a plate and then move around you were met with angry and dangerous looks. This line snaked all along the buffet server. It was such that it was impossible to just walk around and see what there was to offer. Not only this but there was an atmosphere of confusion and tension throughout. This dining experience was far from relaxing as a result - and at theses prices this is not good. We got on the end of the line and moved along slowly until it was our turns at the salad area. One thing that I can not speak about this buffet in terms of section by section or area by area because as we later learned things were scattered all over the place with no reasoning to their placement. There were mixed salad greens and the fixings for Chicken Caesar salad along with other salad toppings and dressings at the start of the serving counter and moving past that there were several prepared Italian salads. The best of these was grape tomatoes with balls of fresh mozzarella cheese in an oil and vinegar dressing and a salad of olives, peppers and other vegetables in an oil dressing. At this point there were no other salads, but three quarters of the way down the counter there were more salads and at the seafood station there were other salads. As you could not walk down the line, look, and choose without waiting for everyone to get what they were taking along the way you would not know about these other salads. After the Italian prepared salads there was a soup server - just one. It had Creme of Broccoli soup - not my favorite choice, but I took some to try and it was very good. Later I found another soup server - half way down the counter - next to a variety of carafes of cold juices. This soup was a spicy Mexican chicken and noodle. I wound up trying this mid-meal. It was tasty but you have to like spice. We returned to our table with salads - and I took the broccoli soup so as not to get back on line. Back at the table my wife commented that some of the serving dishes were so far back in the server that they were almost impossible to reach if you are short.

I had ordered an ice tea and it came to the table with a large sprig of mint in it. It made a nice presentation and was very refreshing. The second glass that I received had smaller sprig of mint. After that there was no more mint in my glasses of tea (they were not large glasses) - yet others were getting ice tea with mint.

Going back up after soup and salad, we decided to forget the line, ignore the stares and attitude and make our way along the outside of the line of people and try to see what there was to offer. I made my way over to the end of the buffet area where there is a pasta station and a seafood station. At the seafood station I tried the seafood salad and the large peel and eat shrimp. The shrimp were big and good. Larger and nicer than most most peel and eat shrimp that you get a buffets. The seafood salad looked like crab, but it was not real crab. I tried it but it was not worth finishing. It was a disappointment - looks are deceiving.

I next went to the Pasta Station. Here there were small meatballs Parmesan, pasta Bolognese (pasta in oil and garlic with finely chopped broccoli and peppers, small cap shaped pasta in tomato sauce backed with mozzarella cheese, and mussels cooked in tomato sauce. There was also small whole sausages and peppers. I took the two pasta dishes and a sausage. All were very good. The pastas were excellent.

I was ready to find the entrees. I got a plate and walked away from the line of people and explored as best as I could for the choices. As the side dishes were mixed in to the entrees I will present them to you as I came upon them. There was a rice pilaf (that my wife thought was Chinese fried rice and was not very much pilaf). There was zucchini grilled with mushrooms that were too salty. The first of the entrees came next - fried chicken. There was mashed potatoes with the skins mashed in. This was good. They had a thin brown gravy to go on top of the potatoes. Finally, I came to the meats. There was slices of turkey that had been grilled - perhaps patties of boneless turkey breast. These looked dry with heavy charred grill marks. My wife, who was looking for turkey, did not take any. I passed it by. Next there was pieces of sirloin steak, also grilled. Next to the sirloin there was a chef slicing flank steak. I opted for the flank steak over the sirloin (I could have had both) because it seemed to me that it had not been sitting and was inclined to be juicier. The flank steak was good. It would have been better rarer, but that is just my taste. Between the two kinds of steak there were carrots in a sweet glaze. There was also a large leg of pork- they called it a steamship round of pork with a leg sticking straight up above the area that a chef was carving. At first glance I though it was a whole turkey with one leg - but it was pork. I took a slice of the pork and was offered pork gravy. The gravy was very good. The pork was good, but had more of ham flavor than a fresh pork flavor. The meat was white like roast pork and not pink like ham. Following the pork was a tray of bluefish in a sauce. Mixed in between there was steamed broccoli (they like broccoli at this buffet). The meats ended here and the counter turned a corner, and then there was a server of red potatoes which led to where there were three or four oriental dishes. One was a chicken in spicy orange sauce, dumplings, Thai pineapple rice (which was pleasantly not spicy and not overly pineapple tasting), and a dish of spicy pork with peppers.

The counter made another turn and here we found the other soup - the Mexican chicken soup. There were bowls here for the soup but no soup spoons. It was necessary to go back to the beginning of the counter where the other soup was to get a spoon. (There was no container for the spoons so it was not that they had all been taken.) As I said earlier, next to the soup were a number of cold carafes of fruit juices including tomato, orange, cranberry, grapefruit, apple, V-8, and others. It would have been nice to have these as an appetizer if you knew they were all the way down the line. The counter took another turn and you come upon fresh fruit - whole oranges, apples, prune, canned peaches, mandarin orange slices and cut up melons. There were also containers of yogurt. You have to wonder if this is a hold over from the breakfast buffet. Here in the fruit section there was also the only butter and margarine. Rolls had been mixed along before and after this.

What followed in two separate counters was the seafood station and the pasta station. I have not yet mentioned a dessert area. This took some looking for. Tucked into the corner of the room behind a short partition was the dessert counter. The dessert counter was an L. The short leg of the L had some very tempting cakes - which were all labeled sugar free. There was also pound cake mixed in with a hot fudge sauce and another hot sauce to put on top. This was not labeled sugar free - BUT it led off the sugar free section. All of the sugar desserts were around the corner of the L. The dessert server was labeled as to what each cake that was out should be - BUT no cake matched its label. The carrot cake was under the cheese cake label. I am not sure which one was the actual cheesecake. There was no label for Tiramisu but one of the cakes looked like it - and they were supposed to have it somewhere. There were two hot desserts - one a chocolate cake (which was very good) and the other was Danish bread pudding. There were tiny cream puffs in a bowl (labeled eclairs). Usually these are accompanied by a dipping sauce - maybe chocolate. These were not, but despite no sauce they were very good. At the end of the counter was an ice cream sundae area, but this was not a make it yourself sundae. There were two people making soft serve sundaes to your order. This sounds like a good idea, but you have not control really of your portion. I would have liked a small amount of ice cream but watching them they were filling the bowls with more ice cream that you really want after a full buffet meal - plus you were again waiting on a line to take your turn to get your sundae - a line at the pace of these two people together making them one at a time.

So how was the service? Service was JUST fair. Dishes were cleared away by the three people moving about this dining room. Drink refills took a long time to arrive. And the ultimate buffet serving problem occured. When we went up to get our dessert we came back to find our table completely cleaned off. Now, we both had caps with us that we had worn while we were out walking around this day. We put the hats on the table - right in the middle at the side. When the server came and cleared off the table of our silverware and half finished drinks, and saw no evidence of dessert having been eaten, what was he thinking when he cleaned off the table. We arrived back at the table - there were our caps where we left them and nothing else. I stood next to the table until the server saw me. He came over surprised. "Oh, not a problem. What do you want?" is what he said. Not a problem for him maybe but a nuisance for me - especially with all of the rest of confusion that this buffet exuded. I looked at him and said that we needed drinks and silverware. Again it took the drinks a while to arrive - as it did the silverware. Also to note, my wife watched an employee refill a serving dish at the buffet and just add the new on top of the old - leaving what is at the bottom to forever stay at the bottom if this continues to be done. The standard is to take take out the old, spoon in the new, and then add the old on top - so it is taken and does not go bad.

Overall, the food is good - some excellent. The set up of the buffet is the worst that I have ever encountered. As I said, it was confusing and tense. The layout seemed to have no forethought. In the world of buffets there are scatter buffets and there are cafeteria style buffets. I have been to both. This one is a cafeteria-style with no organization. There is no problem bringing children here. It is located away from the casino, but there is not much in kid food here. If your kids are picky eaters and fried chicken is not enough, this is not the place to come.

Would I go back? I was hoping for a new favorite. If you have read my recent article on the Virginia City Buffet at the Wild, Wild West Casino, you know that it was my favorite, but has changed slightly - not for the worse, but it has changed. After La Piazza at Caesars Casino, the Virginia City Buffet remains my first choice. It is in the casino next door - go there instead.

The casino has a website and there is a short write up about the buffet. There is a link to there at the side of this article.

Virginia City Buffet - Wild, Wild West Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey

It has been quite some time since I have been to a casino buffet. I am not much of a gambler despite a rich fantasy life of playing against foreign spies in a Monte Carlo casino. I find myself in Atlantic City for two days and an opportunity to try two of the casino buffets. The first that I will tell you about is one that I have written about before. This has been my favorite Atlantic City casino buffet – the buffet at The Wild, Wild West Casino, one of the Bally casinos and it is called The Virginia City Buffet. The theme here is – you guessed it – the wild, Wild West and the theme throughout the casino and the buffet is just that.

This is an unusual buffet in one way. It is an adult only buffet. Yes, no children allowed in this buffet restaurant. In fact no one under twenty one is allowed in this buffet. Why? Because the only access to the restaurant is directly through the casino – and unlike other casinos, there is no public space other than the lobby and one must walk across the casino floor to get to the escalator that leads you up to the restaurant.

It has been several years since I have been to the Wild, Wild West’s buffet and some things have changed while others have stayed the same. The most evident change is where you pay to get into the buffet. Like most casino buffets you pay as you enter. In the past you took the escalator up to the restaurant where you were guided along to a cashier line. Now the cashier is on the casino level just to the left of the escalator. There are three lines – which is not evident unless you know to look for the signs above the alcove that holds the cashier area. Two lines are for the general public – regular folks like you and me. The third line is for Diamond Card holders. These are the casino’s high rollers and not only do they get their own line – and probably free eats – they have their own dining room separated by a fence from the rest of us regular folk. Another change that may just be evidenced by the Sunday night that I went to the buffet is that it was not crowded, there was no line to get in, and no need to make advanced (in person) reservations. Years back when I would come here more often there was always a need to get to the restaurant early – sometimes mid-afternoon to make a reservation for dinner and then you would be reserving a spot on a line no earlier than 8:30 pm. We anticipated this and when we arrived at 6 we were told there was no wait. We did not want to eat that early and went back and hour later at 7:00 pm and walked right in. Sign of the times and the economy? The factor may be Sunday night because on Monday casino buffets were jammed.

The hours of the buffet seem to be earlier as well with the buffet closing now at 9:00 pm Sunday through Friday and 10 pm on Saturday night. Dinner is now $21.99 per person. This is not that far off from the better buffets and certainly worth the money for you get. Soft drinks are included and they serve Pepsi products. Some casino buffets are more expensive on Saturday nights and expand their menu. This buffet is the same price every night and the menu is not expanded. You will get the same great meal no matter what evening you go.

The buffet is laid out in counter stations with different themes at each. The first that you come upon is a large counter of soup tureens with a choice of five soups including both red and white clam chowders, cabbage soup, mushroom barley, and chicken noodle. Here there is another change from the past. There used to be won tons and matzo balls to put into the chicken soup. Now it is just chicken noodle soup.

Follow the soup area around and you come to a selection of rolls and breads. Keep going and you come to the salad area. There is a variety of prepared, mixed, and tossed salad here. You can have plain mixed lettuces that you create a salad with from the many toppings and dressings. You could also pick a mixed Greek salad or a Caesar salad. For the side there were tuna salad and chicken salad. I tried the chicken salad which was very good with tender small chunks of chicken. I also tried the Caesar salad which was as good as “fancy” restaurant Caesar salads that I have had. At the end of the salad area just before the dressings, there is a large bowl on ice of large peel and eat shrimp. These shrimp were very good and what you would expect in a good shrimp cocktail.

Next to the salad area is a counter with Italian specialties. Here, on this night, there were stuffed baked shells, shrimp parmesan, pasta with oil and garlic, bow tie pasta in an alfredo sauce with peas and ham, sausage and peppers, and mixed Italian vegetables. At the side of the counter was pizza. It was all good – between us we sampled it all. (This is the best part of a buffet – you can sample. Take small amounts of many things that you would like to try and then if you are still wanting more – go back and take some more of what you liked best. Now, don’t mush it all on your plate at once. Remember the rules – you can go back!) This is not you usual stainless buffet server. This is all inset into a stone – marble or granite – counter, and behind, there is a chef who is cooking the sauté items and replenishing the dishes. The Italian area is just as I remember it. There are no changes here since I was last at the buffet.

Move along from the Italian station and you come to the biggest change in what is offered since I was here last. This area USED TO be a deli counter with hot pastrami and hot corned beef, and a variety of hot delicatessen dishes. NOW, this station is called “New Frontiers” and the selection here changes on a schedule each time to a different theme. This theme was Barbecue and apparently, according to a nearby sign, this is the second incarnation of the barbecue offerings because they call this Barbecue II. There was an interesting selection of barbecue here. A chef was carving beef brisket and basting it in a sauce that a sign proclaimed as Bo Diddly barbecue brisket. Along the line there was pulled pork that was in a mild red sauce, fried fish, barbecued chicken in sauce, smoked sausages (they called it “grilled Milwaukee bratwurst”) in sauerkraut, and several other barbecue dishes. There was also corn on the cob. I tried the beef, the pork, and the sausage – all good.

Move past the Barbecue station and you will be at the Chinese station. Here there are woks full of oriental dishes. Each is being made just behind the counter by a chef who replenishes woks as they need be. The dishes are good and make both entrees and serve as good side dishes to go with items from other stations.

At this point in the buffet area you take a jump back to the beginning and cross to the other side. The whole buffet area is shaped like a horseshoe. By moving across to the opposite side of the front you come to the carving stations and meats. Included here is steak and Prime Rib, along with carved turkey and chicken. The steak and Prime Rib require a ticket and with each meal you are given one ticket. This is done to put a one steak or Prime Rib limit per person. Read my last article about the Wild, Wild West Casino buffet and you will see that I go on about how wonderful this steak is (was). Here is another change. The steaks USED to be large, thick sirloin steaks. They were cooked over a flame grill and were like good steakhouse steaks. There always seemed to be the same lady cooking the steaks and she always got the requested doneness perfect. Well, she appears to be gone and the steak that is served NOW is a Strip Steak. The steak is thin and the cut of meat is not as tender as it once was. The taste was good, but nowhere as good as it was. My requested rare steak was more like medium well and seemed to continue to cook on my plate because it was well done as I finished it. Frankly, it had been the steak that made this particular buffet my favorite casino buffet (years back we would make this trip often as a one day diversion – I like walking on the Boardwalk – and then there is that casino fantasy thing (from the first paragraph). We would try a lot of the buffets and this one wound up on top of the list). With that fabulous steak a thing of the past this buffet (for me) is not what it had been. It is still good but what I liked best is just not the same.

Past the meats is a serving counter with side dishes and these include sweet potato fries, fried potato pancakes, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with garlic, carrots, and a few more assorted vegetables. Side dishes here are good but the least of everything else that is served and for me, I would rather go over the Chinese station or the Italian station and take some of those dishes to serve as sides. I must say that the mashed sweet potatoes were very good.

Ready for dessert? Go back to the buffet area and head for the center of the horseshoe. There you will find a rectangular serving station with a serving person in the inside. On one side of the rectangle are regular desserts – the other side is all sugar free. There are a number of cakes to pick from and real cheesecake. There is a sundae bar in the middle and the serving person is scooping hard ice cream for you. Put hot fudge, strawberries and a variety of other toppings with whipped cream on your sundae. Still want something else- there are hot cobblers. On a diet? There are a number of sugar free desserts – some of which look more tempting than the sugar desserts. Here is just a small warning about “sugar-free” – some sugar free items, especially commercial ones, are sweetened with an artificial sweetener that is actually a laxative. These sugar-alcohol sweeteners are very common and if you look at any sugar free item in your grocery store and read the ingredients you are going to find a word that ends in “tol”. It might be sorbitol or malitol or a large number of other “tols”. These are not something that you really want to put into your system. Not much of it will make you need to make a quick trip to the nearest restroom. Now I am not saying that this buffet is using this to sweeten their sugar free desserts, but I never take that risk and I always avoid the sugar free. In actuality, they are just as high in carbohydrates as their sugar equivalents. So much for the science lesson. Back to the buffet.

Service is excellent. A server is assigned to your table and he/she will bring your soft drinks and coffee with dessert, as well as pick up your plates regularly.

You are getting plenty and there is plenty of variety. The quality is a cut above many of the buffets that I have written about. Here the casinos have buffets and menu restaurants – some which cater to the “elite”. What you are getting at the buffet is not much different (it at all) than the food being served in those “fancy” restaurants.

If you are going to Atlantic City and you want to try a good buffet, try the Virginia City Buffet at Wild, Wild West Casino – but as I said, leave the kids at home.

There is a website link at the side of this page to the casino which will lead you to a brief description of the buffet.