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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:
HemanOrSheRa · 15/08/2015 19:01

I quite like Cosmo. But I only eat the chinese food. Like stay, I like the variety of veggie stir fries, egg foo yung and tofu. DS likes it too as he can try different bits and pieces. We tend to go at lunchtime when it's a bit cheaper. I get 10% discount too.

Original poster
TaylorQuifft · 15/08/2015 19:01

The thing that concerns me is the monosodium glutamate that some buffets/all you can eat restaurants add.

OP posts:
BooYouWhore · 15/08/2015 19:06

Bleugh bleugh bleugh. Buffets give me the heebie jeebies.

I went to a well known all you can eat restaurant once for a work leaving do where there were several long black hairs draped over the vegetable spring rolls.

Never again.

unlucky83 · 15/08/2015 19:16

We have stopped going out to eat as much. Struggling to find something that suits us all.
We used to go to AYCE buffets a lot (Chinese and Indian). Mainly cos DP has an enormous appetite (still thin though!) - he could happily eat two main courses in a 'normal' restaurant with a starter and a pudding. We could order him two main courses but he thinks that would be embarrassing (but going to the buffet and piling your plate 3 times isn't Confused) and it would also be expensive.
But I don't think they are actually good value for money...especially now DD1 (14) has to pay adult price.

She isn't keen on the main courses in either restaurant and tends to eat very little and things like plain rice/chips/lettuce (but two puds!). DD2(8) on child rate will eat more and more varied things but still only a small amount.

And I have started skipping the puddings as I don't like 'cheap' cakes etc... I feel like it is a waste of money -I've paid for one Hmm but I don't enjoy them...they are a waste of calories. (In a 'better' restaurant though I would have a pudding if I thought it would be half decent.)
Then again I guess we balance out DPs excessive eating...
If we do go to a normal restaurant - to even something like a chain pub type place which have large portions* - DP will come home hungry and cook and omelette or something.
(*actually I've noticed these type of restaurants seem to now be doing smaller portions - thankfully for the health of the nation -they were at one point ridiculous. I ordered a steamed syrup sponge pudding once and it was the larger than one of the tinned ones you could buy- easily 2.5x a normal portion - I could only eat a third of it. I started ordering children's puddings after that -and they were still huge!)

DidoTheDodo · 15/08/2015 19:25

Our local Indian restaurant does one on a Sunday lunchtime and its fab. So there!!

DrHarleenFrancesQuinzel · 15/08/2015 19:25

Cosmo is one of my favourite places to eat.

We also go to Big Lukes when we visit the Metro Centre.

Love Pizza Hut lunch on a weekday too.

Each to their own though. I like them as do others, but lots of people dont. We are not all going to like the same thing. If you dont like them then dont avoid if possible. Just like I avoid going places I dont like such as carveries or places that only serve Sunday lunches on Sundays.

DrHarleenFrancesQuinzel · 15/08/2015 19:27

If you dont like them then dont avoid if possible
Sorry I was writing dont go, but decided to change to avoid. It's meant to say if you dont like them then avoid if possible.

ouryve · 15/08/2015 19:29

The big one up here is Big Lukes. So many different shades of brown!

LynetteScavo · 15/08/2015 19:35

I've never realised Cosmo was a chain...I always thought it was something special only to be found in Coventry.

Emochild · 15/08/2015 19:38

We go to the Red Hot buffet for the variety -I know it's not the best food in the world but when you are feeding one veggie, one dairy free and one dustbin it means everyone gets a choice

Last time we went though the amount if gluttony we witnessed was shocking -it was definitely eating for the sake of eating rather than because they were hungry

The people next to us had 10 trips to the buffet and LOADED their plates -then had the cheek to complain at the end, saying some of the food was cold and they weren't prepared to pay full price

OwlinaTree · 15/08/2015 19:41

They are good when it's a big group, there's something for everyone and no arguing over the bill. They are no good for a couple, you never get to chat because one of you is always away from the table!

OwlinaTree · 15/08/2015 19:43

it was eating for the sake of eating

Isn't that the point of eating out?

mumeeee · 15/08/2015 19:51

YABU. I love buffet type restaurants. It means there is something for everyone.
We go out to eat for a treat not because we are particularly hungry I thought that was the b point of eating out. Although of course we wouldn't go to a restuant if we were already full.

FindoGask · 15/08/2015 19:57

I dunno, when I was visiting my brother in Bristol recently he took us all out to a world buffet place on the water front and it was bloody lovely! I hadn't known what to expect but was very surprised. As well as lots of pre-cooked food there was loads of stuff being made to order. At the Indian station the meat curries and dahls were some of the nicest I've had and you could watch naans being baked in a tandoor, at the Asian stand you could make your own bowls of pho out of a choice of two broths, or assemble your own chow mein ingredients and watch it be cooked in front of you, there was a pizza oven, and loads of other stuff I can't now remember. Lunch was £8.99 per head and although I ate a disgusting amount I had a thoroughly lovely time.

nbee84 · 15/08/2015 20:01

I actually love eating buffet style. I'm a bit of a picky eater so it's quite nice that I'm not ordering off the menu and asking for something to be left off my dish. I like having a little bit of this and a little bit of that - sometimes it's so hard to choose off a menu when the choices all look good. It's also meant that I've tried foods that I haven't eaten before or thought I didn't like and wouldn't have ordered a whole dish of.

If you want to do buffet style in a posh way then here is a must! Bit pricey though Grin

Skeppers · 15/08/2015 20:03

I never go to this kind of place for the quality of the food, you get what you pay for, frankly...we generally just tend to go for work lunches from time to time when we're desperate to escape; the highlight is the self-serve Mr. Whippy machine with ALL OF THE TOPPINGS (gummy bears, chunks of chocolate brownie, jelly beans, etc.) which is worth the £7.99 alone!

FindoGask · 15/08/2015 20:08

oh yeah, people were going apeshit for the Mr Whippy machine when I was there. The queue was immense. There was also a chocolate fountain that the children loved and was the first time I ever had a go on one - I had great fun coating marshmallows for various small people and no-one got food poisoning.

Happy36 · 15/08/2015 20:13

Isn't it "Eat as much as you like " ? (Rather than as much as you can ?)

We used to have a pan Asian buffet near our house which offered only this type of menu. I think we went there twice. You could choose fish, meat and veg. for them to cook for you, which was nice, and they were also making the sushi on the spot. We didn't see anyone being overly greedy, and the owners had made the effort to make it look like a restaurant rather than a cattle trough. It was nice for our children to try out lots of different things.

As far as I can remember, we haven't been to any other of this type of restaurant. They're not that common here (we live in Spain).

lighteningirl · 15/08/2015 20:21

There is the most amazing tiny all you can eat vegetarian Indian in Brighton it is gorgeous cheap and totally lush

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 15/08/2015 20:32

Have never been to a buffet-style one, but a local Nepalese and a Chinese do all-you-can-eat where you order off the menu (smaller portions), again with dire warnings about over-ordering. Both are lovely.

FindoGask can you remember the name of the restaurant? That sounds great and we aren't far from Bristol.

ohtheholidays · 15/08/2015 20:41

We have a Cosmos in the nearest town,but that one's really nice,the food always tastes good,the place is really clean and tidy and the staff are all really friendly.

The Pizza hut in the town has just been completely re-fitted and the buffet in there is always good as well.

Where we live though there are so many Restaurants to choose from that I think most of them have all had to up they're game to make sure they stay in buisness.

travellinglighter · 15/08/2015 20:42

All terrible in my experience. Along with most all inclusive hotels.

FindoGask · 15/08/2015 20:48

Boulevard it was called Za Za Bazaar. You should def go, it was fab.

cremedecacao · 15/08/2015 21:00

YANBU. Awful! Went to many as a child on holiday in America. Even then I hated them!

We have a new Brazilian meat place locally. They boast 20-something kinds of meat to try. They all tasted the fucking same but I kept trying them when they came round, hoping the next one would be less dry/less tasteless, but it never was! I left feeling completely over full and miserable as I didn't enjoy any of it.

What I don't get is, I never leave a normal restaurant hungry, so why the need for AYCE?

AuntyMag10 · 15/08/2015 21:03

The 9 pound price alone will tell you that you're not paying for quality. I avoid these types of places.