Some Changes at the China Buffet - East Meadow, NY

In October 2006 I wrote about the China Buffet, located in the village of East Meadow in New York. This is a little neighborhood Chinese restaurant that turned into a buffet a long time back. I would love to love this buffet because it is so close to me.

On the evening that we went back to the China Buffet we had not been able to get into the local OCB as there was a line out the door. This was a Sunday night (Father's Day) and we decided to try the China Buffet once more.

When we arrived the dining room was near empty - does this say something? (OCB line out the door - China Buffet dining room empty) We were seated, ordered sodas (which we later learned are now extra according to a barely legible,handwritten sign, scotched taped to the door (not sure if this is a permanent change or just for "the holiday" - Father's Day)), and went up to the buffet server tables. We could see immediately that there had been some changes. One of the two serving tables was longer. Some items had been moved there and in their place on the other serving table were more dumplings than previously offered. Things looked a bit brighter and cleaner. As we went along there were several other new dishes added. There was a seafood mixture in butter sauce. There were stuffed crabs with "Krab" legs cut up with vegetables. There were whole fried fish. Instead of the usual buffet-style egg rolls there were large Spring rolls that were actually a cross between Spring rolls and egg rolls (tasty and crispy but dripping with oil). There now is also a fourth soup - a noodle soup. On the hot table was a hot apple strussel for dessert that is new.

The Mongolian grill remains in the back of the buffet area. This still makes up for the lack of main dishes - which despite the new additions is still a problem. The advantage of the Mongolian grill is that you can create just about any dish you would like using beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, noodles, and vegetables. When I am at a Mongolian grill I expect to find the meat frozen - a sign that it has not been sitting out long exposed to the air. All of the meat here on this night was not even close to frozen and because of that I did not take the chicken. There was also a lack of serving tongs to take the meat - one in the chicken and one in the beef. I took the beef and used those tongs for the shrimp. But I was not going to take a chance on the pork as surely the chicken tongs had been used to take it earlier by someone.

The added dumplings were nice. There were steamed shrimp dumplings that were actually rather good. There was dim sum. There were two steamed sweet dumplings - a bean paste dumpling that looked like a peach and a steamed cake. This is in addition to the fried meat dumplings that they have always offered. The dumplings were not bad. We tried the steamed cake for dessert and it was good.

One of my complaints in the past at this restaurant was that there were no knives. This night I decided to ask for one and see if they still said they had none. To my surprise - after a bit of translation two knives were brought to our table.

About three-quarters of the way through the meal I started to feel that lightheaded, MSG buzz. Something that I have not encountered in other Chinese buffets. MSG is a food additive that had been heavily used in Chinese cooking to make the meats and vegetables be more tender, be crisper and last longer in storage. I am sure that many Chinese restaurants still use it - menu restaurants always have an option for it to be left out - many do not use it at all any more because many people are sensitive to it and it can result in a headache. If other buffets that I have been to have used it I have not felt its effects. I know that if it is used heavily, I will feel it. I felt it here.

So, as I said at the beginning it would be great if this buffet were great - just minutes away! But sadly, no - not so great. In the front window there was a poster that said TOP in big letters with the name of this restaurant. There was a website listed and the sign told you to go and vote for this restaurant to be one of the "Top One Hundred Chinese Restaurants in the United States". Wishful, aren't they? This is not even close to the top one thousand. Ah, well.

Barnhill's Buffet

Continuing my search for small buffet chains around the country I came across another chain that looks great. It is Barnhill's Buffet and they have locations across the "Deep" South. You will find locations in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Interestingly, other than Florida, they are not in any of the states along the East Coast. The chain is under "new management" and claims to have improved - not knowing about the "old" management I will have to take their word for it.

So what would you expect to find in a buffet chain anchored in the South - real Southern cooking, of course. They feature fried, grilled, and hickory smoked meats along with Southern Style vegetables and casseroles. While Old Country Buffet, Ryans, and Golden Corral tend to center their menus around country cooking - this buffet chain goes several steps further into Southern Cooking.

The main offerings start with a salad and fruit bar. Here you will find salad greens and toppings, prepared salads including tuna, chicken, and seafood as well as the usual macaroni salad and cole slaw. This all is complimented by fresh cut fruits. There is soup on the salad bar as well.

Grilled chicken and catfish are served every day. Some locations offer steak after 4:00pm. And then there are the Southern, hickory smoked favorites being carved such as pork ribs, beef brisket, smoked sausage, turkey, and ham. Then, of course, there has to be golden Southern fried chicken.

There is a vegetable and casserole selection for side dishes including chicken pot pie, macaroni and beef, corn soufflé, and lasagna (Southern-style?). The vegetables include corn, fried okra, limas, candied yams, turnips, as well as the more conventional vegetables.

Desserts here sound great. Cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, hot cobblers, banana pudding, pies, and, of course, ice cream and yogurt with toppings.

Selections of all of the offerings vary daily, but they also have features every weekday night - and a special kid's selection on Saturdays. The Monday night feature is the most unusual of all of the buffet chains. On Monday night, in addition to the usual offerings, you can have Breakfast Buffet! There is an omelet bar, eggs prepared, pancakes, and cinnamon rolls. This sounds so great and different. Usually you have to be an early riser or like to eat a really big breakfast to try the breakfast buffet in most chains. Here it is offered Monday night It is also served at some locations on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The other weeknight features are more or less the usual that you will find. Tuesday night is Taco Tuesday and Kids Night. There are Tex-mex features along with hot dogs, chicken tenders, and mac and cheese. On Wednesday the feature is Southern Style Supper when even more Southern favorites are brought out. Thursday night is Taste of Italy night and there are pasta stations. That is a bit different from the usual buffet Italian offerings. Friday night is, what else, Seafood Extravaganza with shrimp, clam strips, fried oysters, baked fish in several varieties, crayfish, and FROGS LEGS! (Yes, they do taste like chicken.)

The restaurants also do catering. They will do full service catering for an event and they also offer party packs of their menu selections. This also is different for a chain buffet.

The restaurants are open from 10:45 am, seven days a week, until 8:30 pm Sunday – Thursday and until 9:00 pm on Friday and Saturday nights. From Memorial Day through Labor Day they are open until 9:00 pm during the week and on Sundays, and until 9:30 pm on Friday and Saturday nights.

Their website, a link will be found at the side of this site, has special offers including money off coupons. (I love saving money with coupons!) I have not been to a Barnhill's Buffet. My travels has not yet taken me to where there is one located. It really sounds great and I would love to try it - especially on a Monday night!

If any of our readers have eaten at a Barnhill's Buffet please post a comment and tell us all about it. How is the food, the service, the maintenance? As I understand it they are trying hard to be good.

Sweet Tomatoes

There are a number of buffet chains across the United States other than Old Country Buffet (and its various incarnations), Ryans, and Golden Corral. I have made a search to find some of these chains and tell you about them. This week I am going to tell you about Sweet Tomatoes. Interesting name - interesting buffet concept.

Sweet Tomatoes is located across the western United States to the mid-west. There are also locations in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The company, which started in California, operates restaurants under the names of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes. Both are the same. The name Souplantation is much more descriptive of this buffet, because its main offerings are soup, salad, pasta, and dessert.

This is a health conscious buffet, though there is plenty on the menu for anyone to be satisfied. The menu offers an extensive selection of both non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes. Let me start by saying that I have not yet had the pleasure of dining in a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation buffet. What I know I have learned second hand, but I think that you will find out enough to decide if you would like to try this buffet.

When you dine at a Sweet Tomatoes you will find a variety of soups and stews, pre-made tossed salads, prepared salads, hot pastas in a variety of sauces and combinations, breads (Focaccia) and muffins, and desserts. The tossed salads include such interesting offerings as Buffalo chicken salad, chicken tortilla, pesto orzo with pine nuts, spiced pecan & roasted vegetables with bacon, and many others. There are the more common Greek salad, Caesar salad, Cobb salad, and more. There are a number of salad dressings to make your own salad concoction.

There are also prepared salads - though the pre-made salads would seem to come under that same category - though I suppose that the difference is one features greens or lettuce and the other does not. Prepared salads include a selection from a variety (menus seem to change every day) including Ambrosia with Coconut, Chinese Krab, Field Corn & Very Wild Rice, Jalapeño Potato, Old Fashioned Macaroni with Ham, Poppyseed Coleslaw, Southwestern Rice & Beans, Tuna Tarragon, Turkey Chutney Pasta, and Zesty Tortellini. There are many others as well. All very different and not the usual buffet salad bar offerings.

While most buffets offer two or maybe three soups, Sweet Tomatoes offers eight at each meal. Soups also include stews, but you may not find stews included every day - as I said, the menus change daily by location. You may find Albondigas Locas (A Meatball Soup), Beef & Barley Stew, Cheese Stuffed Cappelletti Soup, Chesapeake Corn Chowder, Chicken Pot Pie Stew, Classical Shrimp Bisque, Cream of Mushroom (served every Monday), 8 Vegetable Chicken Stew, Arizona Chili, Creamy Herbed Turkey, Lemon Chicken Orzo, Mulligatawny, Ratatouille Provencale, and many more! There is also the simple (though nothing here seems simple) - chicken noodle, tomato, cream of broccoli, minestrone, vegetable (actual several vegetables), a variety of chili aside from the one included above, French Onion, cream of chicken and more. I am a soup fan and my mouth is watering just listing these! There are soups and stews with meat and there are vegetarian soups and chowders.

There are no entrees or side dishes but there is a variety of pasta dishes. There are eight at every meal. Some of the offerings are as good as entrees such as Beefy Meatball Stroganoff, Linguini with Clam Sauce, Spicy Italian Sausage & Peppers, Smoked Salmon & Dill, Tuscany Sausage with Capers & Olives, among others. Then there are pastas with sauces - Vegetarian Marinara with Basil, Southwestern Alfredo Pasta, Curried Pineapple & Ginger, Fire-Roasted Tomato Basil Alfredo, Cilantro Lime Pesto, Carbonara Pasta with Bacon, and many more. For the non-adventurous there is macaroni and cheese. All sound great!

To go with the soup and pasta you need bread! Here the bread is in the form of muffins and Focaccia (pizza-like breads). There si a long list of unusual muffins - all sweet and different. There is also an assortment of Focaccia - some sweet and some with meats or cheese or vegetables - or a mixture of all three. The muffins and "breads" could easily take the place of dessert - but there are desserts here too!

Desserts are an assortment of fruit cobblers, puddings, cakes, jello, fat free and sugar free desserts, cookies, chocolate frozen yogurt, and vanilla soft-serve. In addition there are sundae toppings to add to your ice cream or yogurt - or anything else that you like.

Hours for each restaurant may vary by location - as may price. I actually have not been able to find the price of the meal listed (but that is not unusual as most of the chains do not list prices except at the restaurant). The restaurants all offer lunch and dinner. Most open at 11am and close at 9:00 pm on Sundays through Thursdays and at 10:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. There is also a take out menu. You can get large portions of all that is offered or this combo -
a reate your own single-serving salad from the salad bar, plus two 8-oz. cups for either soup,
hot pasta, or loaded baked potato, and a bakery bag for your choice of muffins, foccacia and bread - all for the lunch price.

The closest Sweet Tomatoes to the Northeast US is in North Carolina. There is one in Raleigh, and the next time I am in that area I am going to try Sweet Tomatoes. If anyone has eaten at a Sweet Tomatoes please post a comment and tell us all about it. Is it as good as it sounds?

There is a web site and a link will be found at the side of this site. The web site includes extensive nutritional information for all of the menu items and there is a restaurant locater to find a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation near you or near where you are traveling.

Traditional Smorgasbord

We have reviewed many buffet restaurants, but none of them would be considered "true" smörgåsbord in Sweden. The grandfather of all buffets is the traditional smörgåsbord as it is served in Sweden. It has its similarities to the buffet restaurants that we are familiar with, but it is quite formal - and is not approached with the "all you can eat" attitude as many have when they enter a buffet in the United States.

Traditional smörgåsbord is served both in Swedish homes and in restaurants. The word smörgåsbord literally translates to "open sandwich table" but while you may find open sandwiches or food that you create open sandwiches with, the traditional smörgåsbord offers so much more. There is a special smörgåsbord dinner that is served during the Christmas season called julbord. This is an extra festive dinner served in the same manner as smörgåsbord and is eaten in the same way. Smörgåsbord in Sweden goes back to the 1700's when it was served as an appetizer before an even larger meal.

Smörgåsbord is served on a regular table in small platters and dishes. The table is set out with food that is meant to be approached in three or four courses (depending upon whether there is dessert included - which is not always the case). It is definately not the mix everything you can on one plate as high as you can, as some are familiar with.

Dinners come up to the table for "Plate One" or the first course and take selections of cold fish dishes. The "take as much as you want" concept still applies - but it is done with more discretion. After the cold fish is eaten, diners return to the buffet table for other cold dishes which may include salads, cold cuts of meat, cheese, pate, etc. This is "Plate Two" or "the second plate". When this has been eaten, diners come back for the hot entrees, of course, all Swedish delicacies and dishes. This would conclude the meal unless dessert has been included. For the julbord, dessert is almost always included.

Foods found will usually include a number of herring dishes, both hot and cold, and, of course, Swedish meatballs. The cold selections will include fish and meats that can be spread or placed on a piece of bread and eaten as an open sandwich.

What a difference from the buffets that we are accustomed to. ! When I was younger my parents would speak of a traditional smörgåsbord restaurant in New York City, but I am sure in over forty years it is no longer there. Anything that I have been able to find in the U.S.A. that calls itself a smörgåsbord is just a regular buffet restaurant with all that that implies. If anyone knows of any, please share them with us. They certainly do exist in Sweden. In search of one n the U.S., several sources led to a small part of Chicago called Andersonville, which is dubbed, "Little Sweden". While these direct you to where to find the foods to create your own smörgåsbord dinner (especially a julbord for the Christmas season), none have named a restaurant that one can go to for the traditional experience. Cities with significant Swedish populations do seem to have local events that feature a traditional Smorgasbord - as one found in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but these are one time (or perhaps annual) dinners. If you want to taste an approximation of Swedish foods - Swedish meatballs, lingonberries, etc. try an IKEA furniture and home store. This discount warehouse of knockdown furniture is based in Sweden and are now located all over the United States and most of their stores have a restaurant serving Swedish foods - no buffet, all you can eat, or smörgåsbord but you do get to try the food.

Of course, any buffet could be approached like a traditional smörgåsbord, as all of the elements are there. Anyone up for trying the Three Plate approach at Old Country Buffet? It would take a lot of discipline for most buffet lovers.

Old "Friends" Turn Up Everywhere!

Way back I wrote two - or maybe three - articles about a couple that I named, "The Lobster Grabbers". (Check back in the archives for a good read.) These are two actual people, presumably a married couple - older - who would run up to the buffet server in a particular Chinese buffet when they would see the tray of lobster come out from the kitchen and fill multiple plates with every bit of lobster that they could grab. In this particular restaurant the lobster would be served hourly (if the owner decided he wanted it to come out). This would leave ZERO lobster for everyone else - often for the rest of the dinner. Not only is this a blatant breaking of our rules of buffet dining (which I am sure they know nothing about) but is also incredibly RUDE. Obviously, they ticked me off. Week after week they would be at this same restaurant at the same time that we would be there. Week after week the same thing. After a while the restaurant discontinued lobster on the buffet, but this did not stop our "friends". They switched this behavior from lobster to sushi, taking every piece of sushi in the serving tray.

I did not stop going to that restaurant, but I did go there much less often. Not just because of the Lobster and Sushi Grabbers, but that was part of it. We have been going to a nicer Chinese buffet (usually on Friday nights) a bit further away - one that I have written about, but will not name - but if the Turkey Incident comes to mind you have a clue. With the price of gas this is not such a good thing - but the sushi is great (if you get there early enough) and the variety is better than at the closer restaurant - which is not so close (about fifteen miles, one way). Anyway, it seemed far away had the advantage that the Lobster/Sushi Grabbers would not be there - as not many are crazy like me that would drive a distance for a buffet. And besides there is no lobster there.

Well, wrong - last Friday night we are just sitting down to dinner at this farther away buffet, and my wife said to me, "Your friends are here." "What friends?" I asked. "Just at the table behind us - your friends the Lobster Grabbers." "No." "Yes!" And there they were.

We had just stared our soup and I had not gotten up to the Sushi yet - and it was reaching the time that at this restaurant they make the sushi for the rest of the night and put it all out - with no replacement. I finished my soup and headed for the sushi bar, before they could get up there.

Now, I did something that I should not have done and justified it in my head by reasoning that if I wanted sushi tonight I better take what I will want now - and not do the proper and polite thing and take some and go back for more. Yes, I broke a rule! I went to the sushi counter and I filled a plate - taking what I anticipated would be all that I would want. I got back to the table just as the couple descended on the sushi counter. Each filled three plates overflowing.

As they used to do with the lobster - and as they do with everything else that they take - they spread the six plates out on their table and ate from them scattered. Of course, as we have written about before - and not just about the infamous Lobster Grabbers - when people do this they tend not to eat all that they take. This is wasteful to the restaurant besides being terribly unfair to the other people dining at the same time.

Now, I have my own plate full of sushi - much more than I would take at one time - and I, alone, ate every piece - my wife does not eat fish, much less raw fish. Was I correct to do this under the circumstances? Absolutely! When I went past the sushi bar again - most of it was gone.

Through the meal they moved on to filling plates with entrees, side dishes, if it was there they took it and spread the overflowing plates around on their table. A lot was left over and not eaten. It surprises me that the restaurants do not say anything to them - but looking at them they do not look the trouble maker type - so they get away with it. I was so tempted to take out my cell phone camera and sneak a photo of both them and the table full of plates. Including it here like a Wanted poster. My wife advised against it. Well, anyway, they left the turkey alone - which by the way IS worth fighting over as it is the second best turkey that I have ever had in a restaurant.

Will I go back again soon to see if they are there again? I will go back, but when depends on the gas prices (isn't that terrible?).

Ryan's and the Old Country Buffet - Evidence of Takeover

I have not been to a Ryan's Buffet since I found out about the buyout by the investment corporation that owns the Old Country Buffet. I am not local to any Ryan's and I only am able to get to one when I traveling - and at that only when I get further south than usual.

I recently had an opportunity to go to Ryan's in Chambersburg, PA (just on the other side of the Maryland border) and was a bit surprised when I walked in the door and found a large display with the recent feature. This floor sign was the same colors and print as the current feature at the Old Country Buffet and featured the same items. There they were - Rancher's Select Steak, Pork Riblets, and BBQ Ribs. And what is the feature now at OCB? The very same!

I was not at Ryan's on a night when this was being served. It is offered Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. (I actually may go there on one of those nights in the next few days.) One thing that I am certain is that the preparation at Ryan's will be far superior to Old Country Buffet. The main reason - as I have noted in the past - is that Ryan's has a char grill out in the open kitchen in view of the dining room. Steaks are cooked and served to order. At OCB the steak is made in a broiler in the kitchen and brought out in a pan where it continues to cook before it is served - always tough, dry, and overdone.

More important than the steak is the evidence here of the buyout. Never before were the menus linked in any way. Not only are the features now the same, but they are named the same - "Rancher's Select" steak - and the advertising in the restaurants are identical.

If there were going to be any influence of one restaurant over the other, I would have hoped that it would have been Ryan's influencing the OCB and not the other way around. It has always been my opinion that Ryan's is the superior chain. Now, perhaps I am making an incorrect assumption. Maybe the feature came from Ryan's and was sent over to OCB (where they ruined it). This I am not sure. What I am sure of is that there is now a tangible connection.

If I can get back there I will let you know how these dishes are served at Ryan's. I have been to OCB since I saw the sign at Ryans and low and behold - the signs are exactly the same - same printing, different restaurant names!

Vote For Art of the Buffet for BEST FOOD BLOG

See the picture link at the top right of the page that says Bloggers Choice Awards. We have been nominated for Best Food Blog. Please follow that link and when you get to the site enter "Buffet" into the search at the top of the page. You should be taken to the spot where you can vote for us as BEST FOOD BUFFET! Very exciting. Easy to do too!

With my most appreciative and humble thanks!

The Family Cupboard Expands

In February 2006 I reviewed a buffet restaurant in Lancaster, PA that had then moved to a new location. On a visit last week, we were delighted to find that the restaurant expanded its space.

The new expansion is an additional room that opens to the rear of the restaurant. What is so nice about this room is that it is very light and airy. The main room of this restaurant is dark and rustic with wood beam decor. This new room is modern in design with a cathedral ceiling and a large picture window looking out onto the farmlands beyond.

Since its move this restaurant has still offered the same, good food that it has been serving for a number of years. The former location shared a parking lot with a motel and both the motel and restaurant were located on a back farm road in the middle of Amish farm fields. The new location is more centrally located on a main tourist route and though it backs on farmland, it is more on the road than among the farms. The main dining room looks out toward the road from two sides. While you are facing neighboring shops and fields, the road is ever-present in the view. The atmosphere does not reflect in any way on the excellent food, but I have missed that former location. The dining room was more open and bright. (The buffet restaurant that has taken its place at the old location does not compare.) BUT, with this new room this has changed! The room helps not only in more dining area (there is often a short wait to get into this restaurant on or off season), but also in the bright, farmland atmosphere that is once more a part of the restaurant.

The menu here rarely changes. (A good thing.) The feature is rotisserie chicken and it is good! There is also broiled fish, fried chicken, beef chunks in brown gravy, meat loaf or ham loaf, and sliced ham. There are many fresh vegetables and side dishes to choose from. There are two soups. There is a salad bar with tossed salad fixings and a variety of local prepared salads. There is a dessert bar and two varieties of ice cream - soft serve (serve yourself) and hard ice cream brought by your server on request. Cooking has always been done by Amish women and I am sure that has not changed.

This restaurant attracts locals and tourists and it is not uncommon to be dining next to an Amish family with their horse and buggy tied up at a hitching post in the parking lot. Good food, now better atmosphere (let me say here - the main dining room is nice too!).

If you are in the Lancaster, PA area, visiting, or driving through, try the Family Cupboard Restaurant and Buffet. It is located on Route 340 between Bird-In-Hand and Intercourse. (Yes, those are names of REAL towns!) There is a link at the side of the articles to the restaurant's website.

CiCi's Responds!

I would like to first thank Cici's corporate offices for their detailed response to last week's article. The response arrived by email this past Thursday. I applaud CiC's Pizza Buffet for responding. They are the only chain restaurant that I have written about that has taken the time and the concern to reply and answer the concerns that I raised.

I will now present their response as sent and following I will react.
______________

Thank you for your detailed feedback on your visit to CiCi's. We appreciate your comments and suggestions, as we are always open to feedback that will allow us to serve you better.

In answer to some of your concerns, many of our locations do accept credit/debit cards. Most of the stores that do not accept credit/debit cards have ATMs for use. However, there is a nominal fee for their use. It is entirely up to the franchisee which system they use. On the corporate level, we are urging them to move towards the acceptance of credit/debit cards.

The reason we do not label our pizzas is that we offer 16 different varieties and most of our buffets only have room to accommodate 12. They are constantly rotated, with pepperoni being offered at all times. With the rotation process, it is nearly impossible to keep the different pizzas labeled. We always have a server there to answer any questions our guests may have about the pizzas. After several visits, the different varieties are very identifiable and most of our guests don't have any problem finding what they want. You may also order any variety that you would like to have and it will be prepared fresh and delivered to your table in a very short time.

Our goal at CiCi's is to offer our guests exceptional service, beyond what the guest expects, while maintaining a family friendly environment. We are very glad to hear that you enjoyed your visit and hope that you will visit with us again in the near future. It will be our pleasure to have you as our guest.

Sincerely,

Pam Goodgion
CiCi's University
___________________

Now, apparently, I found one of the Cici's that did not take credit cards, and yes, there was a hand-written paper sign that said ATM available. Of course, with independent ATM fees as they are, bring cash... just in case.

I wish it was made known in the restaurant that one could order any variety and have it delivered to the table. This was not evident in this particular restaurant and we saw no one getting pizzas brought to their table. The idea that there are more varieties of pizza than there is room to serve is great - however - as stated in last week's article, there were several of the same pizza's out at once - and though new pizzas kept coming out, they were still the same. There must be a better system so that there is only one or even two of each type out at one time. Five pepperonis out of sixteen possible pizzas is a lot of pepperoni.

There was no response to devising a system of keeping your table while you go up to the buffet. This was one of the most important points made last week and was a problem for us at Cici's. As I wrote, we went up to the buffet together and returned to the table to find it had been completely cleared away including our soda glasses - still full with soda. Other chain buffets have easily solved this problem and Cici's need only visit an Old Country Buffet, etc. to see how it may be done.

Again, thank you Pam Goodgion of Cici's for truly being concerned about your customers. That is a rare thing lately! I recommend that you try Cici's. A friend with a young daughter was recently in North Carolina and visited a Cici's there. We heard this eleven year old telling someone about where she ate. We asked if it was Cici's and with a big grin she said, "Yes!" She loved it! It is a lot of fun for kids and adults alike. If you live near or visit an area with a Cici's Bizza Buffet give it a try. And then come back here and tell us all about your experience.

CiCi's Pizza Buffet - THIS TIME I ATE THERE!

I have been writing about Cici's Pizza Buffet ever since I heard about one on a cable ad. There are none in my area - though they are all over the country. The closest is in Maryland and on my recent trip south I knew before I left that I was going to find that Cici's. The Cici's that I went to is located in Hagerstown, Maryland - and this does seem to be the closest one to the northeast region of the United States.

So was the wait (and the trip) worth it? Well... I have to say a kind of yes. So you ask, what does that mean? Was it good or not? The food was good. The organization of the restaurant was not so good - and this seems to be intrinsic of the general design and not related to the particular location visited. Let me start out with the usual pattern of my buffet reviews and I will get to the high and low points as we go along.

This particular location was in an outdoor shopping center and the restaurant is the size of two deep store fronts. There were two doors near each other. One said "ToGo" on it and the other said buffet. Both doors led to exactly the same place which was the line to the one cashier. At Cici's you pay as you enter. The cost of the buffet - all times - is $4.49 per adult and $2.99 per child. Unlimited soft drinks are extra and cost $1.59 per adult or $0.99 per child. Bring CASH because they DO NOT take credit cards at CiCi's. We visited on a Sunday afternoon and there was a short line to get in, but the restaurant was full. Once up at the register you pay and are given your cups. The cashier line then automatically moves into the buffet line.

The buffet layout consists of one long cafeteria-style counter. Once you pass the cashier you pick up silverware and napkins and then there is a stack of dishes. There are also trays. You take your plate and continue to move on down the line.

You first come to the salad bar. There were two types of lettuce and a variety of the usual salad toppings - mostly raw vegetables along with dry toppings as well. There was a good choice of several salad dressings. The only prepared salad on the salad bar was pasta salad.

Passing the salad bar you come to what seems to be a new addition to the buffet at Cici's - soup. There was chicken noodle soup (which was nice chicken broth with pieces of chicken and carrots with the pasta that is served on the buffet). The soup was good. Not too salty, nice flavor, good pasta. There were plenty of bowls next to the soup along with soup spoons.

You next come to the pasta. This is an odd shaped macaroni. It is a twisted tube. It was nicely cooked - al dente. Next to the hot pasta is a choice of two sauces - a tomato sauce and a white Alfredo sauce. I tried the tomato sauce and it was quite good. (As an Italian American who grew up in a very Italian home I know good tomato sauce. There was (and is) never anything out of a jar in my home.) The tomato sauce at Cici's was not bitter, acidy, or sweet. It was just right.

Past the pasta you come to hot garlic bread (seasoned pizza crust) and then you get to the center of attraction - PIZZA. Pizza pies are 12 inch pies that are being cooked right behind the counter in view in a mechanized pizza oven. The raw pie goes in one side and rolls through as it cooks to come out the other side ready to eat. The pizza is placed on trays with mesh bottoms to keep them crisp. They are cut into ten pieces and there is a serving spatula at each tray. As you go down the line you will find the variety of pizza that you may take. AH - here is one of the problems that I observed immediately. There is no order or organization to how the pizza is put out. As one pie is finished another takes its place - but that new pie is not the same as the one that was finished. That one might have been pepperoni and this new one might be mushroom. As a result there were several of the same type of pizza out at the same time - and this was consistent through the time that we were in the buffet. There are also no labels - except for their specialty macaroni and cheese pizza which has a big sign on the counter in front of that pie - EXCEPT that the first time through the line, the pizza there was definitely not macaroni and cheese. With no labels it is a guess what everything is - you can ask the several people behind the counter, but it would have been nice to have labels - and find all of the variety of pizzas that they have. As pizza's come out of the oven they are placed under the counter until there is a need for another pie to come up. When there are just a few slices left on a tray, they will be combined onto a serving tray - making it even more confusing - as in - there is pepperoni pizza on a tray with beef pizza and also something else.

At the end of the pizza was a dessert pizza - apple. There are also hot brownies and hot cinnamon rolls.

The counter ends and the soda dispenser comes next. You serve yourself from Coke products along with sweet and unsweetened ice tea. There is no coffee (which I do not care about, but some can't survive a meal without coffee).

The dining room is set up like a large fast food restaurant - regimental rows of booths and tables that filled the deep room. At the rear of the room was a three or four arcade machine game room. There were two ceiling televisions playing in the dining room with captions running and no sound. The room was noisy with loud background music and a lot of people. (The music could have been quieter and there really was no need for the televisions playing.)

There you have the basic set up. The restaurant was crowded when we went in and from the cashier area it looked as if there were no more tables so I sent my wife on ahead to grab what she could. You seat yourself at Cici's and she found a table in the front that had been cleaned. Several others were waiting to be cleaned (which they soon were). We placed a tray with our empty drink cups down on the table and went to the buffet. This meant getting into the line which was coming from the cashier. There were lots of dirty looks from people thinking that we were going to get into the middle of the line moving on to the counter. We went to the end and moved along. There were big tie ups at the salad bar. No one wanted to move past those taking salad to go to the pasta, pizza, etc. As a result of this set up, people were taking multiple plates and filling trays with them - and then filling those plates overflowing with pasta and pizza. Any of you who have read our "Rules of the Buffet" know my feelings about filling plates in advance. The design of this restaurant made this a necessity - or you would be getting back at the beginning of the line every time you went back for another slice. This was not good - and then something else happened that made this way of filling plates even more of a need. After our first plate we went up together for more. While we were away from the table, the table was cleared and cleaned - along with our drink cups. When we returned it was all gone. This was a warm day (surprisingly) and we had no jackets to leave at the table to show that it was occupied. There are no little plaques or paper slips to put down, as you get in other buffets, to show that the table is occupied. We had to find the person who cleaned the table, tell her that we were still eating, and ask for new drink cups. We got them, but this was not good. For the rest of the meal we went up separately, leaving someone behind to guard the table. This made the meal even more haphazard, since each time back up, each of us had to get back at the end of the line and we rarely got to eat anything together - unless we gave in and filled plates to the brim on one trip - as others seemed to do to avoid this. This was not a leisurely meal - and very different from other buffets - and as you know, I have been to many.

So about the food. The pizza was nice. This is not the large, fold in half slice of pizza that is common in NY but it is like the "Pizza Hut" small slices of pizza that are common in most of the US. There were some unusual pizzas such as barbecue (actually good), taco pizza, macaroni and cheese (it eventually made its way out and to the marked spot), vegetable pizza and others. Many of the toppings for the pizza seemed to come from the vegetables on the salad bar. The macaroni and cheese pizza disappointed the both of us. We expected it to taste like mac and cheese on pizza - what they do is put the macaroni from the pasta bar on the dough and cover it in cheese which all melts together hard in the oven. It is not creamy like mac and cheese but more like baked ziti without the sauce. I tried a variety of pizzas - some of them I could not taste any difference from one to the other. I could not tell if it was chopped beef, plain, mushroom, even pepperoni, etc. from the taste. It tasted good, but it all tasted the same. One of the slogans on the wall is "You can taste the difference." Well no, I could not taste the difference between most pizzas. Of course they mean taste the difference in freshness, but I had to laugh when I saw the sign.

The desserts were ok. I liked the apple pizza the best of the three desserts. The chocolate brownies were mushy and the cinnamon rolls were small and not very cinnamony. The apple pizza is pizza dough baked with apple and crumbs on top. It takes like apple strussel.

Some questions left unanswered - when we entered there was a sign on the buffet menu on the wall (not the to go menu) that said mega your meal with extra meat and cheese for two dollars more. No one seemed to do this - and there were no special pizzas out that had extra meat or cheese on them. So we have no real understanding of this with the exception that this sign should have been on the To Go menu on the wall which would make perfect sense. Another odd thing was the offer by the cashier of an extra large drink for more money. Since the drinks are unlimited refills (other than cashing in on the idea that you better not leave your table or lose it) why would anyone buy an extra large drink? - again unless it was for the To Go - but the cashier offered it to those going into the buffet.

Staff are friendly. The man who cleans the floors and the tables was diligent in moving his cleaning cart around the restaurant. There are few people to take dirty plates from tables and as a result plates stacked up a bit until they were taken away.

So I have some suggestions -and I hope that someone from Cici's corporate offices is reading this.

First, there needs to be a simple method of marking a table as occupied. A simple plastic coin - face up for occupied, face down when you leave - would solve this problem instantly. Many buffets use a strip of paper with the number of diners written on it placed on the table. This would work too.

Second, separating the serving counters to the typical free standing buffet servers would eliminate the lines and cafeteria approach to taking all that you can carry.

Third, each pizza type should have a place and that pizza should be clearly labeled on the counter. When mushroom is finished, mushroom should replace it. There were several pizzas that we would have loved to try. We saw a spinach and cheese pizza come out once, but when I got there, it was gone and never came out again.

So I traveled about four hundred miles one way (with the price of gas today) to try Cici's Pizza Buffet. Would I go regularly if there was one around the corner? No, not regularly - as this is a cholesterol and carbohydrate watcher's nightmare - that is not a bad thing overall for the restaurant - because, if I could, I would. To eat healthy here means to mostly eat from the salad bar and add a slice or two of pizza (maybe). It can be done, but requires a great deal of will power. The price is right either way - for salad or pizza you cannot beat $4.49 for all you care to eat. The soda is on the high side, but together with the meal price you are set for $6.00 per person - still a bargain for decent food. The system, however, is another thing - and needs a lot of change (in my humble, but experienced, opinion). I like to relax while I eat, take a some things to try, and then go back for more - without feeling like I am getting on the end of the school lunch line each time. We also like to eat together and wait for each other to go up for more - as noted, we could not do that here.

So, if you come across a Cici's Pizza Buffet, give it a try. Take my experience with you and watch your table and try to avoid a crowded time when there are no lines. The hours of the restaurant are extensive - they open at 11 am every day and on Friday and Saturday stay open until 11 pm with other days closing at 10 pm. There is a web link at the side of this page. You can find out where the restaurants are on their website.

Still the BEST Dessert Buffet!

A year ago at the end of April, I wrote about a buffet restaurant with two locations in northwestern Maryland and southcentral Pennsylvania. The restaurants are called The Mountain Gate Family Restaurant and one is in Waynesboro, PA and the other is in Thurmont, MD. Basically they are in the same general vicinity but in two different states adjacent. They are family run restaurants with a strong Christian influence. It is a year later and I am in that area again and went back to the Waynesboro location. A year ago I said that this restaurant has the BEST dessert buffet of any buffet restaurant that I have been to and a year later that has not changed.

The buffet dinner has not changed. This time we visited on a Friday night and there were several seafood entrees in addition to carved ham, roast beef, roast pork, barbecue sausages, and fried chicken. There is an abundance of meat offered here along with a good assortment of vegetables, side dishes, and an extensive salad bar. The Friday and Saturday night price is still $11.99 and includes unlimited soft drinks.

The real star here is the dessert section. An entire room sized area is devoted to desserts. In addition, the server offers to bring hard ice cream in many, many flavors (16 to be exact). The ice cream tastes "homemade" and it is, as it comes from a local dairy. They even had a flavor called cotton candy!

On the dessert servers - there are four large tables - you will find five or six fruit pies, several sugar free pies, almost twenty cream and specialty pies, cakes, puddings, jello, fresh fruit, canned fruit, and more. This is extensive and it is all fresh baked and delicious.

If one was in a mind to overdose on sugar and treats this is the place to do it! After the extensive buffet meal there is just so much that you can want, but it is all there for the taking. There are other buffets that have large dessert assortments but no other is like this. It, alone, makes this a restaurant not to be missed. (And in the small out of the way towns that the two restaurants are located in, they are pretty much only known to the locals.)

The service continues to be excellent. The food- all of the food- is great! Even the ice tea is fresh brewed and you can tell the difference by taste.

For more details about this restaurant see my article of April 30, 2006. There is no website but the phone numbers are Waynesboro 717-765-6772 and Thurmont 301-271-4373. Hours for the dinner buffet are 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm (though the restaurants are open later).

CACTUS WILLIES - REVISITED

On July 28, 2006 I reviewed a chain of buffet restaurants on the recommendation of one of our readers. The chain is called Cactus Willies Steak Buffet and there are locations in Maryland and Pennsylvania. I reviewed their location in Lancaster, PA and at the time I was not totally pleased. I recently commented in an article that I would try the chain again if I ever had the opportunity and give it another chance.

I just had that opportunity and I revisited the same location. This time I was very pleased, and if you read my first review, this time so was my wife. We went on a Sunday evening at about 7:00 pm. The restaurant was busy but there was no wait to get in. The layout and decor is the same as it was a year ago and I will not go into that again. I will say that the decor is pleasant and still tex-mex. Very nice.

There was a greater variety in food than the last time that we dined here. This night there were three soups - a beef minestrone, French onion, and New England Clam Chowder. We both tried the beef minestrone and it was excellent. It was also very, very hot - and that is a good thing. The soup was savory and thick. It was a bit different than minestrone that I have had in a good way. The French onion looked good too and I was tempted to go have a bowl of that too, but I decided to move ahead to the rest of the buffet.

The salad bar has all that is necessary to create your own Caesar salad (except croûtons) and there is also a nice variety of salad greens, salad toppings, and dressings (both regular and fat free). One small point at the salad bar - the mushrooms out for the salad were dark and wet (they may have been pickled mushrooms, but if they were not they had turned).

I moved on next to the steak grill. There was no line at the grill. I asked for a steak rare and the cook at the grill checked a steak, showed it to me, and asked if that was how I wanted it. It was and it was very good. This was definitely a great improvement over the last time. This steak is FAR better than Old Country Buffet, better than some that I have had at Golden Corral, not as good as Ryans, BUT it was GOOD. There is a comment card given to everyone at the end of the meal that asks if the steak was "delicious". I wrote in "Very Good". Delicious is too good. But it was good. (Ok I have said that enough now.)

There were several other good entrees on this night - and one unusual, but good one. There was something that they called "Turkey Pot Roast". It looked like American pot roast - small pieces of meat in a savory gravy with potatoes, carrots, and onions. It looked like beef, BUT it was turkey. And the turkey was brown like beef. It was good. My wife and I, both, are not sure how they got the turkey brown, but it worked and we both enjoyed this.

Barbecue ribs were good. Nicely sauced with barbecue sauce with good meat on the bone. If you have a taste for barbecue these ribs will satisfy that "need".

This restaurant is located in the "Pennsylvania Dutch Country" and a local dish is chicken pot pie, which is not the little pie shell filled with chicken, vegetables, and cream sauce. The dish in this region is pieces of chicken in a broth with dumplings, carrots, and celery. This restaurant serves its own version of this local dish - I am not sure if it is local to this particular location restaurant or if it is chain wide. The chicken pot pie at Cactus Willies is a close approximation of the local favorite. The difference is this dish has pasta squares instead of dumplings. It tasted right and it was satisfying.

There was also grilled chicken on the flame grill. My wife asked if it was marinated or spiced. She was told that it has only chicken broth on it and she said that it was good. It was not spicy and it was appropriately moist. It was not greasy as we experienced a year ago.

On the buffet tables you could also find baked ham (pre-sliced) and fried chicken. The fried chicken was nicely crispy and not greasy. There was a large assortment of potatoes, rice, vegetables, and side dishes. There were plain string beans, creamed spinach, mac and cheese, rice, baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, nice French fries, mashed potatoes, kernel corn in butter sauce (much, too much butter sauce), stewed tomatoes, and other sides. Next to the steak grill were good sauteed mushrooms and fried onions. The hot dog server is still at the grill.

There was fried shrimp and broiled salmon. There are signs that say that on Friday nights they now have unlimited steamed shrimp - as well as other shrimp dishes.

There is a taco bar with all of the fixings to make tacos and nachos. There were both moist flour tortillas and crispy corn tortillas. There was also a pasta bar - which is spaghetti, sauce, and meatballs. My wife gave her approval on the spaghetti and meatballs. Near the desserts was good looking pizza.

The dessert bar is long and has everything from puddings and fruit to cakes, cookies, pies, and good soft serve ice cream and sundae bar. The baking is good. My wife tried the bread pudding (an unusual thing for her) and she liked it.

Service is EXCEPTIONAL. The server paid A LOT of ATTENTION to us - and everyone. She cleared away plates immediately and offered drink refills before the glasses were half empty. Excellent service! This was the vocal comment from all of the tables around us - wonderful service from this young lady!

One more minor complaint - as it was getting later and coming near closing time, the men at the grill started to take down the overhead exhaust fan's cover to clean it. They were doing this over the grill's serving area that was still active and serving. It seems to me that this is not something that you want to do when there is still food AND CUSTOMERS around. Anything could have fallen down from that fan vent and into the food unnoticed! We'll just put this to poor judgment on the part of the employees. (I hope.)

So on this revisit to Cactus Willies we could not be more pleased (except for the vent). I am very glad that I decided to give it another try - and if the opportunity presents itself again we will go back. I wish they would expand their locations. It would be great to have one of these on Long Island.

If you see one, try it. Look at the website link at the side of this page and find out where they are. The particular one reviewed is at 101 Roherstown Road in Lancaster, PA (in the Regency Square Shopping Center). You may call them for information at 717-391-7060. They do close earlier than the other chains - 8:30 pm Weeknights and Sundays and 9:30 pm, Friday and Saturday. Good steaks, good meal.

New Feature at Old Country Buffet

Steak and Ribs is the new special feature at the Old Country Buffet and their affiliated chains. This has replaced the last feature - three kinds of fish. The new feature is - you guessed it! Steak andtwo types of ribs. The feature is offered Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights only.

The steak featured is "new". They are calling it "Rancher's Cut". It is top sirloin, one inch hand cut and marinated. This steak, by the way, is being served Monday through Saturday nights replacing the usual (and usually awful) steak that was served. This steak is an improvement over the previous steak. Maybe. It still is broiled under a broiler and not chargrilled as steak is at the other chains. I have mixed reactions and I will tell you why. The first piece that I took was thick, medium rare, mostly tender, juicy, and very tasty. I was really impressed. This was the best steak that I have ever had AT OLD COUNTRY BUFFET. (Far from the best steak that I ever had - but for OCB it was good.) Later, I went back for another piece. This time, it was more done than it should be and more closely resembled the former OCB steak - but a little thicker. It was no where near as good as the first piece. Still later, I tried again- now we were just about back to typical OCB steak - tough, overdone, and not worth finishing - which I didn't.

The ribs are the other stars of this feature. There are two new types of ribs - honey barbecue rib tips and what they are calling just "barbecue spareribs". The honey ribs were small bits of ribs - more bone than meat. They were sweet, but not much else. They were not worth a second try after the first tasting portion. The barbecue spareribs had potential but the ribs are too big - large bones and the meat that has fallen off of the bones more resembles pork roast than ribs. These ribs were better tasting than the honey rib tips, but not what I had hoped for.

Last summer, OCB included Kansas City ribs in their summer barbecue feature. The year before they had baby back ribs. Those both were GOOD ribs. They had good taste and and the meat properly fell off of the bones as you ate them. I was hoping for those ribs again when I saw this new feature. Unfortunately, the new ribs are not even close.

There were other dishes featured with the steak and ribs. There was pulled pork. This needed a good sauce - which it did not have on it. A new sauce was on the condiments bar called Carolina Barbecue Sauce. I have had a variety of barbecue sauces in North Carolina - none of them were like this, so why Carolina, I am not sure. This sauce is honey mustard based. It was ok. The taste kind of grows on you. There was no regular barbecue sauce out - which would have been much better. There was also barbecue beef which, like the pulled pork, is shredded beef in a barbecue glaze. This was ok, but too chewy. There was also barbecue sausage which has always been good at Old County Buffet. I am not sure that the sausage is part of the new feature or it is part of the new Thursday night line up of entrees. I am not sure how it relates but there were also "Italian" meatballs (part of the new feature?) which, as the night went on, were gone and replaced with plain rice (typical OCB replacement - entree with a nothing side dish!). Topping off the new offerings was "honey" corn bread - which looked just like the regular corn bread served with some honey on top. Oh yes, there were also chocolate cupcakes on the dessert bar - which did look good!

So was I impressed with the new feature - not really. I was hopeful because the "summer" barbecue feature has been really good in years past. Perhaps this is not the summer feature but a Spring pre-barbecue season feature. Time will tell. (Probably not.) As I have written, the three fish feature was pretty good. This one is not as good. And despite claims that the regular entrees are still served along with the feature, there was a lack of anything that was not barbecue or beef. My wife who does not really like barbecue and does not eat much beef wound up eating only chicken fajitas from the taco bar. To be fair, they were carving roast beef and ham.

As an aside, a typical OCB occurrence - as we entered the dining room there were three tables with their chairs proped up against the tables. We figured that they were reserving these for a large group coming in. As the night went on several more adjacent tables were set the same way, but no group ever came. Apparently, the person cleaning the tables decided that since these tables were now clean, they were not going to be used again for the night - this was two hours before closing! Management was aware, because we heard staff talking critically about this - but, of course, no one did anything to put these tables back into service.

Cici's Advertising

Recently there have been a number of Cici's Pizza Buffet radio commercials on a metro NY radio station. There are no Cici's restaurants for at least 4oo miles - and this station does not carry that far south.

I find it interesting that this large company would spend money on local advertising in a market that they are not in. What does this mean? Could it mean that they are coming to the metro NY area some time soon and want to make the public aware of the name in advance? Could it mean that they are trolling for franchisees and are hoping that someone who wants to open a Cici's Pizza Buffet in the metro NY area? Or are they hoping for travel business - Look there is a Cici's over there - I heard about them on the radi0.

I have never been to a Cici's. I am really intrigued and wrote an article here in October 2006. I first learned about them then on a television commercial - but cable and satellite television makes sense for advertising as it covers a very broad and national market. You cover as many places with your restaurants as without. But local radio in a market that you are not in?

Cici's is the cheapest chain buffet that I know of. All the pizza, salad, pasta, soda, and dessert you care to eat for $4.49. That sounds great to me. Of course, with my cholesterol, fat, and carb restrictions I am not sure what I would eat there - other than salad - and that is not what I would want there with all of those other good things right there for the taking. There is a Cici's in Hagerstown, Maryland - where I will be in late April. My wife suggested that we find it for lunch when we are there - but I am still not sure how we would be able to do it and not get into trouble with the doctor. It may be worth it to just chuck the worry out the door and go for the whole thing.

So Cici's advertising has me hooked. If that was what they were after, they got me. But how many other crazy food nuts are there that will seek out this place 400 miles away - especially with the increasing price of gasoline (but do not get me started on gas prices).

There is a link to Cici's website at the side of the page. Check them out and see if they are in your area. They even provide a convenient and highlighted spot on the top of their homepage to put your zipcode and find one near you. With all of this local advertising I eagerly ran there and put my zipcode in - no luck.

All Over a Turkey

I had another article ready for publication tonight and then we went out to a buffet for dinner.

We were at one of the Chinese buffets that I like. It was mid-meal and there was a lot of loud and angry talking at a table about fifteen feet away. Everyone turned to look. There was a man, alone, sitting at a table speaking loudly to the restaurant manager. At first only a few words were coming through clearly. Then the story began to unfold.

The man at the table was talking about turkey! This Chinese buffet offers carved roast turkey on the buffet. I had noticed earlier that where the sign for the turkey is, was not turkey but stuffed crab shells. We now could hear the man saying louder and more angrily that if he knew that there was no turkey he would not have paid for the buffet. Since this is a buffet that you pay for at the end of the meal and not before, he had no argument there - but this was not a guy or the moment to interfere with and point this out.

But the story unfolds further - leading those who were following this encounter ( aka yours truly) to agree that this man had a right to his annoyance - if not his anger and his actions. It seems that when he first went up to the buffet table and saw no turkey he went to one of the women (girls, as he put it) and asked for the turkey. He was told - he claims - that it would be out shortly. A while later he went back to look for the turkey - and still, no turkey! He asked the "girl" again. And he was told again that it would be out shortly. This guy must really like turkey because he went up again a while later and still no turkey. He found the "girl" and asked AGAIN for the turkey. Now he was told that there would be NO MORE TURKEY TONIGHT and that it would be out tomorrow. The kicker was that she also told him - he claims - that he should come tomorrow for turkey. He told her - he claims - that he is eating there tonight - he would not be there tomorrow and he was told that there would be TURKEY and he wanted TURKEY NOW! He expressed all of this angrily to the manager. At one point in his boisterous expression he stood up - he was significantly larger than the Chinese manager. Now, I should add (if for nothing more than the drama) that this guy looked like he should play the role of one of the characters in "The Sopranos". He had the look and the mannerisms - and he was definately a tough looking guy. The manager held his own in the discussion, never raising his voice - apologizing and denying what some of what the guy was saying. Which, of course, fed this guys anger even more.

Then the excitement grew with a little mystery. He was up on his feet and started walking away from the table. He stopped, turned around, looked the manager in the eye and told him to come with him. He was not heading out the door but toward the buffet area. But that is not where he was going either. He went to where the empty private party room entrance is. He told the manager again to "Come here!" The manager smiled (to all of us in the room) and followed him. The room was abuzz. Was he going to punch him out?!? They both disappeared inside the dark room, through the door where no one from the regular dining room could see inside. We listened for screams - crying out -but nothing. One of the chefs saw what was taking place - perhaps gotten by one of the servers- and he went inside the room too. No sounds came out - at least from what we could hear. Perhaps this guy was going to threaten the manager. Or perhaps he realized that he was making a scene and wanted to take it out of the public eye and ear.

Eventually, they came out of the private party room each in one piece, the manager, the chef, and the angry man. The man went up to the buffet tables and filled a plate full of fresh cut fruit and returned to his table. When he got there he felt it necessary to tell the people at the table behind him that he is really a "nice guy". He also told them the story that everyone knew already, and, for whatever reason, he identified his cultural background - which fit exactly with the "Sopranos" persona that I had already attributed to him. He went on for some time explaining and re-explaining to these poor bystanders. At one point the manager approached again, but rather than be drawn in again, perhaps, this time further than he wished, he smiled and walked away.

Eventually, he ate his fruit and faded into the room of diners.

You never do know what is going to happen at a buffet. That is one of the reasons we love 'em!

Super Grand Buffet, Baldwin, NY - REVISITED

I first reviewed this Chinese buffet on January 5, 2007. At that time I called the restaurant "average". Tonight we went back to give this restaurant another try. Tonight I was a little more impressed.

I will not describe the restaurant again. You can read the original article in the archives here. Most, if not all, of the description remains the same.

There were some positive differences tonight. The most important of which is that tonight all of the food was good - not just average. If you ask me why, I cannot really say it is because of this or that. If I had not been there before and I was reviewing this restaurant for the first time I would say that the food here is good.

I was more impressed tonight with the sushi bar. The sushi chef was there all night and continued to make sushi that he placed out on the serving cold table to the side of him. There was a nice assortment including salmon and tuna in various forms and combinations and a spicy salmon roll. There were also several non-fish sushi rolls. There was plenty out so that one did not feel that taking any was going to empty the tray - something I found wrong on my first visit.

There is plenty out to eat - but most of it is in the form of fried Asian appetizer items. There is a lack of variety of Chinese meat entrees aside from the standard chicken and broccoli, beef and peppers, and General Taos chicken. There was a lot of shrimp and chicken, but it was pieces of fried shrimp and fried chicken with and without sauces. The cold, peel and eat shrimp are still big!

I must still say that I avoided the Mongolian grill again for the same reason that I did not have it the first time. The meats were not frozen. They were in pans in a cold table, but the meats were limp in their own raw juices - and again, this concerned me. There was activity at the grill this time and people were having plates of food cooked. There is no large grill or wok, but two fry pans on a burners behind the serving table. The Sushi chef seems to double as the cook. It might be good to try having vegetables cooked here and then add cooked meat or shrimp from the buffet.

I had a closer look at the ice cream freezer tonight and there is an excellent variety of hard ice creams that you serve yourself. There were a number of good flavors including sherbet. This is all real container ice cream and not the sometimes disappointing soft serves that are really ice milk.

The service was excellent. The server came several times without our asking - and still half full glasses of soda - to refill our drinks. This time we asked for knives and without hesitation they were brought to us. Dishes were cleared from the table immediately. The service staff clearly speak and understand English - with no offense intended, this is not always the case in a Chinese buffet. Everyone is friendly and seemed to go out of their way to make one's visit pleasant.

So - if you are in Baldwin, New York in Nassau County on Long Island give the Super Grand Buffet a try. I know that I will be going back again!

Current Buffet Chain Features

The large chain buffets often have a promotional feature menu. These are special items that are added to the general buffet menu and features for a limited period of time. Currently two of the chains - Old Country Buffet (which is also Hometown Buffet and Old Town Buffet) and Golden Corral have special feature menus.

We have written about the current Old Country Buffet feature before. I have tried this one and as OCB features go, this one is not bad. The current feature is called Three from the Sea and includes Butter Crumb Alaska Pollock, Orange Shrimp and Crab Cakes. They also have included fried clam strips and fried shrimp. This feature is only available on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I like the crumb pollock. It is one of the better fish dishes that OCB has served. It is moist and has a good texture and flavor. The crab cakes are tasty, but are not like other crab cakes as they are flat and more like crab pancakes. The orange shrimp was too sweet - what works for their orange chicken does not work with shrimp.

The current feature at Golden Corral is called Applewood Grill. Unlike Old Country Buffet it is offered EVERY night on the dinner menu. The Applewood Grill includes grilled bacon wrapped chicken breast, grilled bacon wrapped sirlion fillet, carved salmon, and grilled bacon wrapped pork loin. The bacon used is called "Applewood" bacon - and evidently, thus the name of the feature. Now, somewhere in the deep recesses of my memory, I want to say that I have had this feature at the Golden Corral - but I cannot recall when. I have checked my articles from the past year to see if I wrote about it - I think I would have. I did not mention it at the Winchester, VA Golden Corral in June. So perhaps not. But I do remember those bacon wrapped steaks - and this would have had to be before my cholesterol encounter with my physician. Anyway, I don't see a reference to it so perhaps I dreamed it. (Do I dream about buffets? I did not think so.) Regardless, Golden Corral steaks vary- they are better than OCB steaks, can be very good, and have been not so great. I did some searching about Applewood bacon to find out what makes it so special as to name a feature around it. Applewood bacon does not seem to be a "brand name" but rather a type of bacon smoked over - you guessed it... apple wood. It is supposed to be the best tasting bacon. The Golden Corral website photos make it look very appealing - take a look at the bacon wrapped around the chicken breasts. Part of this feature is also adding the bacon to a variety of sides including escalloped apples with bacon crumbles and several potato dishes. It all sounds good - even if I am not supposed to eat the bacon.

The feature menus do not show up on either restaurant's nutritional listing. So let the eater beware if fat or calorie counts are important to you.

There is no current feature listed for Ryan's. Their website is not as extensive as the other two chains and tends to remain the same -so there may very well be a feature there - but it is not on the website.

Cactus Willies lists no current feature. Though, like the other chains there are daily features, which tend to stay consistent (unless the menu changes). (I plan to give them a try again the next time I am near one - just to give this chain a second chance.)

Saturday is St. Patrick's Day and you can get your all you care to eat Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner at OCB - it is a one day special included with the regular features.

So there you have it. The chains are all over the United States and you can find one near you by going to the web link for each chain at the side of this site.

Grand Buffet - South Plainfield, New Jersey

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had tried to find this restaurant that evening on a trip to New Jersey. I have known about this restaurant for a few years, passing it on the road while driving through. Tonight, I was back in the area and I finally got to dine at the Grand Buffet in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Was it worth the long wait? Sadly, no.

Let me start off by saying that the restaurant and the food was not bad - it was just fair to OK. I would like to say good, but not spectacular, but I honestly can't.

This Chinese buffet is located at 101 New World Way in South Plainfield, NJ. The restaurant is connected to, but not part of a Best Western hotel and they share a parking lot. You enter the lot by way of the hotel driveway. The restaurant is in a large building. In the interior is a room for the buffet serving tables, two dining rooms, and a large ballroom (maybe once part of the hotel). The sign outside says Since 1995 and it bills itself as Chinese, Italian, and Japanese - in that order.

You pay for all meals as you enter - much like the chain buffets. The prices are both reasonable and not. You decide - dinner from Monday to Thursday nights is $11.99 per person. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday dinner is $13.75. Lunch Monday to Thursday is $8.99. From Friday to Saturday (Sunday was unclear as to a lunch price or dinner price all day) the lunch is $10.99. Now, children's prices are high - under 2 1/2 is free (ok), from 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 is half price, over 4 1/2 is full price. I guess that some five year olds can eat a lot, but charging full price is a bit much. All prices include refillable soft drinks - not bad! They automatically add a tip to your bill when you pay (as you enter) of 9.5% which is fair and probably less than one might leave on their own.

As to hours - the restaurant is open from 11:30 every day and closes at 9:30 pm Sunday to Thursday, and 10:30 pm on Friday and Saturday. We were there on a Saturday night and at 9:00 the restaurant was emptying out. It had been crowded earlier when we entered. You should be aware that the "Ballroom" adjacent to the dining room is used as a night club on Friday nights - and happened also to be on this particular Saturday night (though it might have been a large, private party- but I do not think so. They call it a "Ballroom Dancing Social" at $20. per person which includes dinner. Nice, but the music was very loud and very evident in the dining room. It was nothing unpleasant so it was ok, but at times the music was intrusive.

A good sign in a Chinese restaurant is when many of the guests are Oriental - and that was the case here. Perhaps things were more to their tastes than mine, but I had higher hopes when I walked in.

So to the buffet... There are five double sided buffet tables in a separate room. Along half a wall is a sushi serving area and along a full wall are two buffet serving counters. There is no particular logic to the order that the serving stations are laid out. Soup is along the full wall and also mixed into two other buffet servers. There were six soups, but without looking around the whole room first you see only four soups together. There was a variety in the soups - hot and sour, egg drop, clam chowder, a sweet Chinese soup, wonton soup on another server, and a chicken and pork special soup that was meat with large pieces of vegetables. Real Chinese dinners include sweet soups for dessert and that is why the sweet bean curd soup. The hot and sour soup was on the oily side and I was a little concerned as I was eating it as to how it was going to sit.

There was a cold buffet server with some of the most unusual things that I have ever seen in a buffet. There was cold pork tripe and cold beef tripe. For those who do not know - tripe is stomach. Not to my taste. There was also cuttle fish on the cold buffet along with two cold chicken dishes. The more standard peel and eat shrimp, COLD (on ice) crab legs, and raw shell fish of clams and oysters on the half shell. At one end was lettuce with several dressings. There were tomato salads, and other prepared salads, as well.

Appetizers were scattered all over. There were some unusual and promising appetizers. There were bean curd rolls - thin bean curd rolled around vegetables, a chicken roll - a spring roll with chicken, and fried squares of bean curd among other dishes. There were no traditional egg rolls and no spare ribs (but there were boneless spareribs in a thick, red, sweet sauce). The chicken roll was ok. The fried bean curd was good. The bean curd rolls were fair. Many things that I tried including the bean curd roll were dry when they should have been moist. Fried dumplings were dry, tough, and chewy. Steamed shrimp dumplings had little flavor. When I went up for Sushi there was little out - and all of it were vegetable rolls and California rolls. A while later the whole bar was refilled and raw salmon on rice was added.The salmon was good, but the pieces were sliced much too thick for Sushi.

There were some unusual entrees as well including cooked pigs feet. There was a dish that looked like chicken with a thick GREEN sauce over it - and no sign as to what it was. I have no idea what that might have been and have not seen any food like it before in that shade of green. There were broiled short ribs that were thinly sliced and not bad. There was a steak in a brown sauce that looked too dry and over done (skipped on that). There was Beef in Oyster Sauce that was ok. Stuffed egg plant was good (small slices of small egg plant with a breading stuffed on top and broiled. Some of the usuals like chicken and broccoli were there as well. Pieces of broiled duck looked good but there was little to no meat on the pieces served. Bourbon Chicken was ok but tasted just like terriaki chicken. There were cooked muscles and there was broiled salmon.

There were several non-Oriental dishes that were not bad - actually they were good. My wife tried the Chicken Marsalla and said it was good. I tried the Veal Cacciatore and it was good. It was small tender chunks of veal in a light tomato sauce with peppers and mushrooms. There were stuffed portobello mushrooms that were good - small portobello caps filled with a slice of roasted red pepper and covered with mozzarella cheese all backed together. There was a dish labeled Eggplant Parmesan. I love Eggplant Parmesan. I was disappointed in this one because what it was when I tried it was eggplant rolled around ricotta cheese - which is not Eggplant Parmesan. A ziti with a tomato cheese sauce looked good, but I did not try it. There also was spaghetti with tomato sauce served separately for you to take. The Italian part of this buffet was better than the rest except for the pizza that looked too dried out.

There were several American side dishes including mashed potatoes with brown gravy, corn on the cob, broiled asparagus, and french fries. On the side of the room, next to the soups was a carving station - with no one there. On it was a whole roast turkey. Part of the turkey had been carved into earlier but there were no slices to take. There was no heat lamp over it and it sat that way all night with no one ever being served any. I am sure one could ask - but I am not sure how good it would have been under those conditions. It did look good - BUT...

Overall food could have been hotter. The buffet was "well tended", meaning that dishes were stirred and replaced,but many of the dishes were just warm and not hot. Even items in steamers were not hot, as they should have been.

Desserts - believe it or not, they did not have the usual assortment of Chinese buffet "Little Debbie" cakes. They did have tiny squares of cakes very similar but they were cut into smaller pieces than the usual "Little Debbie's", as if you can get much smaller than that. There was soft serve ice cream but it was in a serving hallway that the dining room accessed, but if you did not notice it - which we didn't until it was too late - you would leave with no ice cream (as we did).

Now, all of that said - the restaurant was clean. The service was good. The staff was friendly. Dishes were removed regularly. Soft drinks were refilled.

I really wanted this one to be good. There is a convention center that hosts trade and retail shows in the area that we have been getting to more often and this would have been a great place to dine afterward. Ah well - not so. It is four hours since dinner and the meal is still repeating on me. (Burp... Arrrp...) There is a diner down the road that was much better and if I pick a diner over a buffet... well, that says something about the buffet. We will have to do some searching. There must be other buffets in this part of New Jersey.

After several hours, I was still reacting to dinner - I must say that this has never happened to me from a buffet before- and I have been to a lot of buffets - Chinese and otherwise.

Buffets Around the World

I have written about "International" buffets in the United States, but what about real international buffets - buffets around the world. Is buffet dining an American phenomenon? Absolutely not. With just a little searching I have found buffets all over the world. I have not been to any of them but this is what I found.

From the number of buffets that I found in Japan, I would say that buffets in that country are very popular. There are Chinese buffets, Japanese buffets, and "International" buffets. I found several buffets in Tokyo. In Utama, Japan, one of the buffets that I have come across is Shogun Japanese Buffet Restaurant. You see that name and expect it to be on some street in the US. Well it is in Japan at 1 Utama in a shopping complex. The buffet is very popular and often crowded. Reservations were required days in advance according to the review that I read. It is a large restaurant that can seat 300. The cuisine is Japanese but items like Seafood Fettuccine are also served. Sushi lovers can get their fill at a large sushi bar that is part of the buffet. Some items - like a special oyster dish - is served to you at your table at one per person. You can see this interesting buffet here - www.hot-screensaver.com/2006/05/16/shogun-japanese-buffet-restaurant-at-1-utama/

In the United Kingdom there are many buffets. The cuisine seems to reflect the mixture of cultures immigrating to the UK and in London I found buffets that serve Chinese, Italian, Thai, Indian all on one buffet. Take a look at Red Hot Buffet Shacks - redhotbuffetshacks.co.uk/
There is even a video to watch about this restaurant. The look is a bit different than what we see here in the US and the food seems to be prepared at "live" stations. Very interesting. This one is located in Nottingham. Also in Nottingham and in Birmingham and Lincoln are Big Wok Chinese Buffet Restaurants. This oriental chain includes Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, and Indonesian cuisines on the buffet. Here is a link to their website - the music reminds me of cheesy movies in the 1960's - www.bigwok.co.uk/

Let's move east again to New Zealand. Here I found a few buffets. There is a buffet chain in New Zealand called Valentine's Licensed Buffet Restaurants. The one in Wellington got great reviews. The food is good, the people are friendly... what else could you ask for? For kids they have birthday balloons and "crazy" cocktails (?). The decor is peppermint green and pink. They serve 120 different hot and cold dishes including salads, seafood, "a carvery", cheeses, and desserts. The one is Wellington is rated 26th of all restaurants in that city. Not bad. Another buffet in Wellington called the Skyline got poor reviews for being expensive and unfriendly.

How about the Philippines? How about a buffet restaurant called Dad's that serves Turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce, roast beef, baby back ribs, lamb, salmon and of course with all this American fare - sushi. The restaurant is popular and has long lines. The description says reasonable prices but one reviewer called it expensive. This is located in Mandaluyong.

The one that surprised me was in St. Petersburg, Russia. Not sure why I was surprised but I grew up during the Cold War. Any way, if you are in St. Petersburg you have to try Sadko. It is Russian cuisine and very popular. The description says that this is the place to try tasting traditional Russian cooking. Sounds good to me.

If I start writing about Sweden, the home of the Smorgasbord, and perhaps the originator of buffet dining, I could be writing for another hour and a half. So I will leave Sweden for its own article at some later date. In Sweden, smorgasbord is both part of the culture and an art. But that is for another time.

So if you are a world traveler and hankering for a buffet just look around most corners and you are likely to find one.

Buffets and Finances

Take a look at this blog article about buffets and finances:

http://www.pricingforprofit.com/blog/blog-view.php?blogid=76&message=1

Yours truly was interviewed, this site is referenced, and there are some interesting findings.

The NOT All You Can Eat Buffet

The NOT All You Can Eat Buffet... what would that be? It is the take out buffet and there are many of them - some part of regular All You Can Eat buffets and some that stand on their own.

So how does it work? You are given a Styrofoam tray container as you enter and you go to the serving tables. You fill the container - which is usually about ten inches square and perhaps three or less inches deep with an equally deep lid. Now, if you could fill that container for one price, you would be close to All You Can Carry Out, but not always so. What happens is that in many places the container is weighed by the cashier and you pay by the pound. Usually, the pound price is less than the "all you can eat buffet" price. Sometimes it is significantly less. Sometimes, specific items are either not included, or are more.

"Hmm..." you may be saying, "I know what a pound is - what it feels like, but how much food is that actually?" Obviously, it all depends on what you take. A pound of cooked meat is pretty substantial. So if you would be happy with a pound of chicken for $7.99, that is not bad. A pound of vegetables for $7.99 is not such a deal. A pound of salad - not good at all. Put it all together and you can get a decent meal, but how much of each do you know you are taking? There are never any scales along the way (get it, way - weigh (bad pun, "what pun?)).

There are some things that people take (when they are not extra) that amount to very little by the pound. Crab legs are very popular at Chinese buffets and many of the Chinese buffets offer a Take Out buffet. Some will not include the crab legs or seafood, some do. You are taking the crab legs which are in the shell. The shell weighs a lot. You are not getting not so much to eat in a pound of crab legs. Yet you see people taking the crab legs to go. Sushi is another example, when you need to take the rice with the fish, you are paying for a lot of rice.

Steamed or cold shrimp is a good deal at the by the pound serving. Despite the thin shells, a pound of cooked shrimp is more in substance than a pound of raw shrimp and at the take out buffet price, this is pretty good. Remember this the next time you are having a party and want to serve shrimp cocktail. Go to the Chinese buffet and get a pound of shrimp on the Take Out buffet - IF they let you.

But can you do this? Often, not. Here is an example of a Chinese Take Out buffet in Maryland. The pricing reads - Buffet-To-Go (At least 3 items per pack). Clever. They figured out that a pound of any one thing is greater than the sum of a collective pound of three items. Here the per pound price is $5.95 at dinner ($3.95 for lunch). Seafood and sushi, however, is $7.95 per pound - still not bad at this particular restaurant. (In case you are wondering where this is - it is the Fortune Star Buffet in Rockville, Maryland. I have never been there and do not attest to anything about this restaurant except what is quoted here. I found it on an Internet search for this article.)

It is required that you fit everything that you are taking into the one tray. You could fill two trays, but they usually will not let you take a separate tray for each item, as stated above in our example. The containers are not sectioned. This means that you are piling everything on top of each other, pretty much mixing them together. Not a big deal for those who regularly pile their buffet plates high with everything together until there is no longer any recognition of what anything is or tastes like on its own. However, for the fussy that like to eat things as they were intended - not mixed together, you are either going to take less or give in and mix it up. You are paying by the pound, though I am not sure they are going to let you pay for less than a pound. You will pay if you take more than a pound - and one buffet in Georgia makes a point of saying that there is a three dollar charge for overfilling the container - meaning that the container will not close easily - evidently you are paying by the container there, not by the pound - or what difference would it make how the container closes. Some buffets offer container prices, but will be restrictive on how the food fits into the container, as this one is.

One of the absolutes - by the pound or by the container = is no eating as you are go along. You will be charged for the sit-down buffet price if you start eating as you are going around the buffet tables filling your container.

Not all Take Out buffets are Chinese, and not all Take Out Buffets have All You Can Eat, eat in buffets. One example is the Sbarro chain which is located in 1,000 locations all over the United States, as well as franchises world wide. This is Italian cuisine. Not all Sbarro's have buffet bars, but they do exist. I have seen them in shopping malls, a casino, and food courts at interstate rest areas all along the East Coast and I am certain they are in other parts of the country as well. Here you fill your container at the food bar with Italian specialties - with salad at the beginning, for those so inclined. At the end of the bar is a cashier and scale. You can close up your container and take it home, or you can sit down at one of the tables and eat. BUT there is no going back for more/

There are supermarkets with buffet-style salad bars that have some hot items and you fill a container and pay by the pound at the check out. There usually is a scale at the bar here for you to see how much you are taking - they want no putting back once you get to the checkout aisles to pay.

For the most part, however, - in my findings - most of the take out buffets are Chinese or "International"/Asian. I have found many Indian buffets, pizza buffets, barbecue buffets, etc. that offer take out - but the take out is on a platter/menu basis packaged for you by the restaurant to the restaurant's portions. Some restaurants talk about buffet catering, but this is something altogether very different.

So next time you want buffet, but don't want to eat at the restaurant, see if you can take the buffet out. Let us know your experiences at the Take Out buffets and comment.

Buffet Pricing

I had hoped to be writing about a Chinese buffet in Piscataway, New Jersey, but in looking for it off the exit at I287, we missed finding it by about a half a mile. Never got to eat there - but I was right, saw it on the way back to the Interstate - there was one there. I should be back in the area in a few weeks - and now I know where it is - if I can find it again.

So, instead, I am writing about buffet pricing. How do buffets make a profit offering "all that you CAN (care) to eat"? I will start by stating that what you are about to read is opinion and not based upon interview, questionnaire, or research. But that would not be any fun, now, would it?

One would think that a buffet should go out of business quickly by offering everything for less than $12 (or less) (or more). Some do. Many don't and make a good profit in the process. How do they do it? It is my theory that they count on people not eating as much as they would if the restaurant put the food out on the plate and sent it to the table. What goes to the table at a sit down restaurant cannot come back to the kitchen. BUT in a buffet - it all comes back to the kitchen. It may be reused in some other way - left over roast beef may becomes beef stew. It may get wrapped, refrigerated (I hope), reheated, and put out for lunch the next day. It is also put out based upon the crowd at the time (if it is put out again, at all - as we have written about). For the average person, this theory holds true from my observation. Many people do not take more than they would eat (or get) at a "regular" restaurant. Many eat less. (I will talk about the exceptions later.) What people may do at a buffet is take a variety of foods but when this is all put together in quantity, it is not much more than (if more) than they would have been served to them by a waiter.

Here are some things that I noticed many times when I dined at "family style" restaurants in Pennsylvania (where you are supposed to be eating like the "Pennsylvania Dutch" farmers who have worked in the field the whole day). In these restaurants a waitress brings platters of food to the table and they are passed around by diners in groups of fifteen or more (never just you and yours at a table - but always families and people seated together in large groups). Everyone takes what they want and as much as they want. When the platter is empty, the waitress will ask if she should bring more. Now - here is the psychology. You have filled your plate. You need to ask for the dish to be passed back to you - by strangers - for you to take more. Hmm - a little social pressure now. Some are bold and ask. Others don't - especially when the comments are made that there will be six kinds of dessert coming.

Another thing that these "family-style" restaurants always do is that the first platters to come to the table are bread and some relishes. They are sure to tell you that this is home-baked bread. (Whose home?) But - "WOW!", people are heard to say, "Home baked bread!" That dish is empty before it goes halfway around the table - and the waitress (no comments - they are always waitresses in these restaurants - it's like mother is giving you dinner) will always bring more bread right away - and again the plate goes around. Everyone (except those "knowing" few of us) have filled up on the bread (one of the cheapest things that they can serve) before any of the chicken, ham, beef, sausages, vegetables, potatoes, etc. ever come to the table. And when the potatoes come out - it is the same story - "These are home made mashed potatoes - not from a box. You have to try them!" And those potatoes go around three times. Starch is filling. When you eat the bread and then the potatoes, you are not going to fill your plate with meat a second time. Especially, when you think that SIX deserts are coming (more starch and certainly less costly than meat). Do these restaurants lose money on a meal? Rarely. I am sure that they are well into their profit margin. Several of these restaurants have been around in Lancaster County, PA for more than forty years.

Chinese buffets make out well too over a served Chinese meal. What is often put out in the trays in a Chinese buffet is about what is put out in two or (maybe) three individual table serving platters. This is there for everyone in the restaurant. Count the patrons and count what is out and it is not equal to what would be out if each person ordered and a platter was brought to them. They also are counting on the attraction of diners to rice and noodles, along with popular dishes that have much less meat than vegetables (which is true of most Chinese restaurants - buffets or not). I was in one last week where a guy had to have the crispy snack noodles and was frantic to find them. (With all that was there - why eat the snack noodles?) Again, you fill up on the starch.

What the diner can do well on at an Asian buffet is the Sushi. Sushi costs a lot at non-buffet restaurants (and at Sushi-only buffets). At the Chinese buffet, Asian buffet, or "International" buffet the Sushi is put out along with all of the other variety of dishes - and the price is (seemingly) not effected by the comparative cost of the Sushi. If you make an entire meal out of Sushi you are more than getting your money's worth. An equivalent meal in a regular restaurant would cost much, much more.

What is put out at other than Chinese buffets is limited in quantity as well. This particularly is true of the carvings. When you go up for steak at a buffet, do you get a whole steak? Rarely. You get a piece of steak. You get one or two thin slices (if the slicer knows what he or she is doing) of turkey, roast beef, etc. Yes, you can go back for more. But as I have written about in the past, many people fill their plate (everything on top of everything else) because they do not want to get up again. In these instances the restaurant is making out. It is also the case at many buffet restaurants is that prices are higher on nights when there are "special" features - seafood nights especially.

Now, there are the exceptions. There are some incredibly large people who frequent buffets because, frankly, they could not get enough to keep themselves satisfied in any other restaurant. (No digs - but it is true - just look around the room at most buffet chains. (Not often the case at Chinese buffets - not sure why not.) These people take much more for their $11.49 than others. (My wife had a cousin, who it was joked about that if he went into an all you can eat restaurant, the owner would faint. - JUST A JOKE - NEVER REALLY HAPPENED!) Conceivably, if all the patrons at a buffet ate as these people do, the restaurant would not be able to get by. It does not seem to be a problem though. (Though it may be a myth, but I have heard stories of buffets telling people - "no more". I do not think that this is true because it would result in a great law suit.) We did have one of our readers comment once that he was told that he could not leave the rice over in his plate after eating the fish of the sushi - and that if he took the sushi he had to eat the rice with the fish. Again - starch fills.

Another thing about buffet dining that leads to profit is turn over of tables. In a regular restaurant the meal is paced by the kitchen and the wait staff. In a buffet, the food is there - you start eating just as soon as you have a table. The meal is usually faster (though it does not have to be, as referenced in our "Rules") at a buffet. The tables turn over more rapidly and the room is usually filled on Friday and Saturday nights - almost the whole night from the moment dinner time starts until closing. Apply this to what I have written above, and the buffets are making a profit.

So there it is. Please remember, "All that you can eat is not a challenge!" Again, these are my theories. Buffet owners are invited to comment (as is everyone else).