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Original poster

When is a buffet not a buffet?

95 replies

Henrietta75 · 24/08/2020 16:54

So family member invites me for a buffet breakfast
to a pub type place which we haven't visited before so
they can speak privately about an issue.

The blurb on the doors and advert hoardings is
"Buffet breakfast 7am - 11am" come and enjoy blah..

Anyway we sanitise our hands at this empty place (9am saturday morning) and we're told yes its a buffet but
the servers pour your breakfast choices in the plate, here is your seat. Unlimited tea included.

So we go over to the counter and one by one server pours our food and we take it back to the table. Sausages are a bit cardboardy but thats another story, rest is fine.

I feel like another hash brown and a few mushrooms, FM wants a couple of slices of bacon. Eventually server appears and says sorry, you only get one plate that's it.

Is this a buffet? Nothing other than prices on the disposable paper menu for veg or non veg and reads clearly buffet - Is this normal?

When is a buffet not a buffet?
OP posts:
Grapewrath · 24/08/2020 21:07

Sounds crap tbh buffet or not.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 24/08/2020 21:09

A buffet only in the sense that you get a choice . . . but they should make it clear that you don't get to go back, s that you can say - "7slices of bacon please, and 4 hash browns" A buffet, by definition, surely means that you take as much as you want (because normally you are serving yourself, and if you know you can't go back, you will take extra just to make sure you get enough - 'tis human nature). Okay - you may end up leaving half of it, but that's their fault for not letting you go back.

If they serve you, and you can't chose how much you want, it isn't a buffet, it's just a breakfast.

I would have been thoroughly pee'd with this.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 24/08/2020 21:11

yes that's a buffet, it's just not an "all you can eat" buffet
No it's not.

A buffet, is where food is set out for people to SERVE THEMSELVES WITH AS MUCH AS THEY WANT!

Otherwise it's just a BREAKFAST!

Iamthewombat · 24/08/2020 21:13

Christ on a cracker. You can still get the tinned breakfast. Features ‘egg nuggets’ and ‘cereal’!

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/275206221

honeygirlz · 24/08/2020 21:13

AH, I missed that it's pay by plate. They should warn you that you only get 1 bite of the cherry. What a shit buffet.

honeygirlz · 24/08/2020 21:17

Breakfast in a can review

'a disturbing amount of scrotum and labia'.

InDeoEstMeaFiducia · 24/08/2020 21:18

Sounds shit. Fucking hate all this covid regulations crap. Hope it doesn't become like flying, which used to be fun. None of the restrictions ever rolled back.

rosesandcashmere · 24/08/2020 21:20

It's 'buffet style' and sounds awful to be honest. Next time ask for the hash brown up front

SpangleBug · 24/08/2020 21:21

A buffet only in the sense that you get a choice . . . but they should make it clear that you don't get to go back, s that you can say - "7slices of bacon please, and 4 hash browns"

Surely the three different plate sizes and prices make it clear? All you can eat buffets aren't the only type of buffet, even if they are the most common form.

CatteStreet · 24/08/2020 21:21

Wondering about 'pour' being a regionalism for 'serve'?

yolio · 24/08/2020 21:23

FFS.

bridgetreilly · 24/08/2020 21:25

A buffet, is where food is set out for people to SERVE THEMSELVES WITH AS MUCH AS THEY WANT!

No, it isn't. It is where food is all set out in a central location, rather than served at your table on individual plates. It's very common for buffets at weddings, for example, to be served by staff and only to get one go at them. And it's extremely common for buffets where there are different plate options to insist on that. Like at a salad bar.

The key feature of the buffet is being able to choose what mix of things you want on your plate from a wide range of dishes at a central location. It is not being able to stuff yourself silly as often as you want.

InDeoEstMeaFiducia · 24/08/2020 21:27

The OP's first language might not be English; hence the word 'pour' for 'serve'.

formerbabe · 24/08/2020 21:27

I've been on holiday and we had buffet breakfasts and dinner...we couldn't serve ourselves but they had servers to do it for you. We could go up multiple times and have anything we wanted. I considered that to be a proper buffet.

TatianaBis · 24/08/2020 21:30

Or autocorrect for ‘put’?

Pebblexox · 24/08/2020 21:30

It's a buffet. That is the definition of a buffet. However it isn't an all you can eat buffet.

KatherineJaneway · 24/08/2020 21:34

Yes it is a buffet in that you can go up and choose what you want for a set price. They did say bottomless tea etc but not bottomless visits to the breakfast bar.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe · 24/08/2020 21:42

You're not wrong, OP. I'm not surprised at the number of posters tripping over themselves to call you greedy-by-default. What's the point of a buffet if you don't get to choose the items you want? Most people don't overload their plates but they get to pick and that's as it should be.

Otherwise it's just table-service and you get to tell the waiting staff how many of whatever item, in Harvester and similar places it's table service - and they ask you what you want and how much/many - and they'll come back again for you to re-order.

Don't go to this pub again, find a place that does proper breakfasts and... and this the important bit - NEVER, ever post about it on mumsnet, don't even allude to it...

Knotaknitter · 24/08/2020 22:38

I had my breakfast from this menu last week. You can have what you want, as much as you want but just the once. Pre Covid you walked along and served yourself but now the staff member puts your items on the plate. The carvery works the same way.

thenightsky · 25/08/2020 00:41

@TeaForTara

Are there any other Yorkshire folks on here wanting to answer "When is a buffet not a buffet?" with "When it's a stool."

No? Just me then.

Aye. We had two yellow buffets in our kitchen for the kids to sit on.
YinuCeatleAyru · 25/08/2020 06:16

I would rather go to a breakfast place with this kind of set up now. 6 months ago pre-covid I loved an all-you-can-eat breakfast and would very much enjoy all the options (and would then not need to eat again till dinner time) but a hotel all-you-can-eat breakfast is usually £15-£25 depending how posh the hotel is, and since lockdown I have been really good about reducing what I eat and losing weight. if I went out to breakfast now I would probably only eat like one egg, one sausage and some mushrooms or something, whereas previously I would have gone for 2 or 3 of everything I liked. I think I would find it difficult to pay an all-you-can-eat price and then only have a modest breakfast, I would hate the feeling that I wasn't getting my money's worth.

HeronLanyon · 25/08/2020 06:51

teafortara thenightsky thanks for Yorkshire buffet info. Never knew !

vanillandhoney · 25/08/2020 07:07

A buffet, is where food is set out for people to SERVE THEMSELVES WITH AS MUCH AS THEY WANT!

Again, no, that's an all you can eat buffet.
A buffet is just a style of serving food. The fact that you pay by plate size makes it pretty clear it's not an all you can eat type scenario!

healthylifestylee · 25/08/2020 07:10

There's a pandemic

SpangleBug · 25/08/2020 07:28

There's a pandemic

Really? You'd think they'd try to advertise the fact. I had no idea.

Also WTF has this got to do with the post, besides the OP not being able to serve her own food?

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