To not want to go to an all you can eat buffet?

Is the host paying for it OP? I'd assume yes

If so, then I'd go and get a plate of food you fancy. And then just get different (little because they're usually little) desserts and just keep getting different ones? So a spoonful of coconut jelly, some fruit, some ice creams. All in little bits so it looks like you're getting loads

We are clearly very different people though. I LOVE all you can eat and 'save myself' for the day so I can really enjoy it. My local one is a Spoons chain

We were at one like that a few years ago too, it’s difficult not to miss the people in front of you piling plates high with food or the people behind you breathing down your neck while your trying to get a serving of something. It was even worse watching people picking things like chicken wings up with fingers, licking fingers and going to pick something else up. Some were literally eating while collecting food. Utter pigs.

Children were running all over the place too and so much food was left on plates. We ended up paying anyway, leaving and going elsewhere, I’ve seen animals with better manners.

If I’m invited out to one I normally decline these days unless it’s one that has freshly cooked food stations.

Our local one has lots of different global cuisines, you can have pizza and the meat from a roast dinner, cheese and biscuits, cooked to order Chinese dishes, a spoon of Indian curry etc. No need to stuff yourself silly, have a good look if it’s one of the big ones and only take tiny bits of what you want.

They come in varying degrees of horrendousness. I’ve been to a couple of nice Chinese ones, a reasonable mixed Asian one and an absolutely awful ‘everything’ one. Horrible food hygiene with grubby kids picking things up with their hands and replacing them, screaming babies, screaming teenagers, screaming parents. Yuck yuck yuck. I wouldn’t go back to that one if you paid me but some of them are ok especially if they cook the food fresh in front of you.

I quite like them. Its a good way of trying little bits of lots of things that I probably wouldn't order a full portion of. I don't want to overeat so I don't.

I'm not really bothered about other people. They would probably stuff themselves wherever they went anyway.

Probably won’t be the best food you’ve ever eaten but just take a plate of the food that you’d most like to eat and eat it? I don’t think anyone is force fed at these buffets.

Did the people you were with all sit and watch others in disgust, or did any of you actually talk to each other?

Just look round carefully at everything before choosing what you want, and only take a little of each thing. Of course it's fine to only have one plate. I've found the food often salty, fatty, poor quality. But some Indian buffets I've been to have been OK. The drinks are often really overpriced as well. Just go along for the novelty and for the company. One other thing is it can be really noisy at buffets.

I usually go for a small starter such as a small salad, then I make my main course similar to a meal I’d have at home such as fish, rice and veg or more salad. For pudding I’ll pick a couple of mini cakes etc.
I absolutely hate Chinese buffets, I feel ill and really thirsty afterwards. I don’t like Chinese takeaways either.

Don’t really get folks who go and can’t control themselves or spend their time watching other people. It’s very easy to just serve your own portions and manage control, most of us do it every single day when we make dinner.

I went to one I think it was in Iceland, and it was seafood, absolutely fabulous. The price was not for the faint hearted though.

our local Chinese does one, I don’t really see it as a personal challenge,more a buffet and we can manage to control ourselves and not sit and stare in disgust at what others are doing.

I should add our local one includes several stations where they cook to order, I tend to just eat these, never do understand tge people with sweet and sour pork, a hotdog, a samosa and some roast potatoes for instance when you can have freshly cooked noodles with prawns or lamb dosa

I can't overeat and usually these places are wasted on me. However, there's one locally which does food from round the world and they cook constantly, rarely is anything left out under hot lamps. It suits us because the DC can have a little bit of a few dishes they like and I rather enjoy not having to pick one thing. My niece is autistic and it suits her perfectly. She can have lots of different seafood, a Yorkshire pudding, noodles, lychees and jelly. She asks to go for every birthday because her perfect dinner is a weird mix that she can't get anywhere else.

They vary quite a bit, some are pretty good others not so much! Not my first choice of meal but useful if you are short of time (pre theatre dining for instance) or paying for young adults who are (a) fussy and (b) have big appetites - everyone gets the food they like and I know it's £17.99 a head.

Some are great. Some are not. The great ones are awesome

The only good ones I have had have been Chinese ones. The one in a town I used to live in was excellent, if you went on a Friday or Saturday they would have peking duck. Never quite got the point of all you can eat, can't eat a lot in one go despite being fat.

I didn't know these were still a thing! If you're likely to overeat to the point of being uncomfortable, don't go. If you have a normal relationship with food and will just stop eating when you're full AND if you will not get the willies if you perceive other people to be overeating, then go and just eat as much or as little as you like

There's a Chinese buffet-style restaurant near us and I like it because there's so much choice and you can have a small amount of about a dozen different dishes if you want to, which is nicer than just ordering one or two dishes from the takeaway. I like a variety. Works out about the same price, too.

I can't imagine going to a restaurant and paying so much attention to other people's plates tbh!

They're handy when you've got a group with a mix of ages/tastes - mostly you can find something that suits everyone. Usually an informal atmosphere which works well for kids too.

They usually have a big range of salads and vegetable dishes so I'd just eat those if you don't want to eat too much.

I just eat the freshly cooked meat and fish with veggies. Then have fruit for desert. It's not somewhere I particularly like to go but my lads love going, they have enormous appetites and it works out cheaper for us as a family.

I'd say it's probably for growing male appetites, not middle aged female 😄

I worked at one - that REALLY puts you off. People really are disgusting!

I went to one once many years ago and it was awful.

Parents gorging on massive platefuls of food and allowing their children to run around and fill up their plates with food they had no intention of eating.

I believe there was a later setting for adults only but we were invited to an early time.

It was horrendous.

We used to visit a Chinese all you can eat regularly, the food was really good and everything was fresh and regularly replenished. It was great for me as I'm quite fussy and they had a station that you could choose your raw ingredients and they would cook them and you could choose the sauce.
Yes, some people played food jenga and towered their plates, but most people don't go silly.