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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think all you can eat restaurants are just awful

96 replies

TaylorQuifft · 15/08/2015 18:35

I was out with dc today and we went to get lunch/early dinner, every other restaurant was packed and full apart from this enormous buffet all you can eat place.

I paid £9 per person for each of us and tried a little bit of every cuisine in the restaurant but could not taste the difference between the pizza and chow mein. Everything was full of salt and just shit.

Aibu to say all you can eat is awful.

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 15/08/2015 18:36

Cosmos?

YANBU. I think people see the words 'All you can eat' and take it as a personal challenge.

nikki1978 · 15/08/2015 18:37

They are usually crap but I dislike even the nice ones. There is only so much I can eat comfortably and i am a fatty! I never seem to eat as much as it costs iyswim and i don't want to force it down to get my moneys worth!

Original poster
TaylorQuifft · 15/08/2015 18:37

Worra yeah cosmos.

OP posts:
Feline9 · 15/08/2015 18:38

Buffets in general are gross. I can't help imagining all the dirty fingers and double dipping of spoons

esiotrot2015 · 15/08/2015 18:38

How can pizza and chow mein taste the same ?? Ones noodles !
But I agree
I hate Pizza Hut & harvester for this very reason
People piling up their plates at the salad bar always makes me feel ill !

ArendelleQueen · 15/08/2015 18:38

I don't mind the all-you-can-eat but I hate the ones you describe where they mix lots of cuisines.

meglet · 15/08/2015 18:39

I'll say yanbu but tbh I've never been to one because they seem like such an awful idea.

I went to an AYCE breakfast in Vegas once. managed some cereal and toast. total waste of money.

Notgoodwithwords · 15/08/2015 18:40

Yanbu.. I am tight so I eat way too much & feel ill just to get my money's worth & get cross when the kids eat so little!!.. Hmm

Lurkedforever1 · 15/08/2015 18:41

Depends on the place, there's a good few in the nearest city that charge more, and drinks are really expensive, but for me people who like their food it's cheaper and same quality as bottom end kid friendly restaurants.

CJCreggsmyhero · 15/08/2015 18:44

In West Midlands there is Wing Wah Chinese chain. Some of the food is salt & sugar heavy, but they also do fresh sushi, tepinyaki (sp) and Chinese dumplings, dim sum etc and it's all you can eat.

However, they also have Taybarns which is an all you can eat restaurant featuring world cusine salt, sugar, bland mechanically recovered shite

VulcanWoman · 15/08/2015 18:44

I like Cosmo. Las Vegas have the ultimate IMO.

mrsdavidbowie · 15/08/2015 18:45

Yes they are shit.

catsrus · 15/08/2015 18:45

I always liked them when the DC were little - everyone could have what they actually wanted and no moans. The ones I've been to usually have some good healthy options too. You don't have to eat pizza! My friend's ds was a very picky eater - by taking him to one of these places we got him to try all sorts of food. There was a lot he didn't like but he did discover he had a real taste for hot spicey food - which his DM had not given him because she doesn't like it! For us it was about variety and freedom, not volume.

Original poster
TaylorQuifft · 15/08/2015 18:46

The texture of the pizza and chow mein was different but they both left the same taste in the mouth. Must of been the Monosodium glutamate.

OP posts:
Sausages123 · 15/08/2015 18:46

They are grim

CatsandCrumble · 15/08/2015 18:50

Went to Cosmos recently and found it awful. The mains were quite tasteless and the puddings were just incredibly sweet. I'd always prefer to go to a single cuisine place, so you can get one style of cooking done well.

stayanotherday · 15/08/2015 18:52

Cosmo is my fave place to eat. It's cheap with lots of veggie food. I like helping myself to everything instead of having a set meal and then wanting what the next table's having!

Bunbaker · 15/08/2015 18:53

I usually avoid buffet style places to eat because I once had awful food poisoning from a Chinese all you can eat restaurant. Environmental Health shut it down shortly afterwards. Also the quality of the food is questionable. I would far rather pay more and have a freshly cooked, higher quality meal.

However, the Thai buffet place in Meadowhall is great, and I would happily eat there again and again.

RepeatAdNauseum · 15/08/2015 18:54

There is a few good all-you-can-eat places around me, but they are reasonably priced and they charge you if they feel you've eaten too much or wasted food (or at least the menu says they will) so nobody eats crazily.

They tend to be one cuisine, too, and properly made, so it's nice food.

WorraLiberty · 15/08/2015 18:55

I normally avoid them because it brings out the worst greed in some people, and also because the waste makes me feel uncomfortable.

Repeated trips to the buffet if you're still hungry is one thing, but so many people do it and then leave a ton of food uneaten.

RepeatAdNauseum · 15/08/2015 18:55

Ahhh our all-you-can-eat places aren't buffet style. You order normally from a menu and then eat, one thing at a time, and order again if you want too.

SpringBreaker · 15/08/2015 18:56

The only decent buffets are in Vegas

CloserToFiftyThanTwenty · 15/08/2015 18:56

I don't understand the problem with overloading plates at a salad bar - that's good thing surely?!

I like all you can eats when you order from a menu rather than just having a buffet or there's a big group of you and you don't then need to get into the "I had a small plain pasta and you had a starter, steak and dessert" issue over the bill. And the Brazilian rodizio places springing up all over south London are brilliant for meat eaters

WorraLiberty · 15/08/2015 18:57

That's not a bad idea Repeat. If people actually have to keep ordering, they might do it less if they're not really hungry any more.

FuzzyWizard · 15/08/2015 18:57

AYCE Brazilian churrascerias are fab. Cosmo is pretty pants but my veggie cousin (young teenager) loves it so we sometimes go for a treat for her.