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

[wizarddry]

I've only ever been to once once about 10 years ago. Have they got better? There's just something about the piles of food on people's places and the thought that if they do that many types of food then none of them can be done well. Are my preconceptions wrong? What is your strategy for tackling them? If I say I'll go is it acceptable for me to just have one plate of food or will my hosts be annoyed at me?

I’m not a fan however if invited and I wanted to spend time with the people I would go
I feel bloated if I overeat so I’d take my time and be last up to the buffet
I’d get a few things including vegetables and space them out a bit. I’d likely do this 2-3 times to be polite to my hosts

If you think that they are all bad, try this place: https://www.thegrove.co.uk/dining/the-glasshouse/

Eat how much you want. They usually have starters and mains and desserts, so if you don't want to only go up once, maybe try a small amount of starters or desserts and a small amount of mains.

I'm my experience they tend to have plates that are smaller than a normal dinner plate, so it's easy to not eat too much.

Did it once, never again.

Cheap food that’s been kept hot for hours on end over loaded onto plates for people to be gluttons.

I watched a program on it once were the owner of a large ‘all you can eat’ restaurant said they bank on people filling up on carbs (chips, garlic bread etc).

We have a Chinese were I live - £15.99 (mid week for ‘all you can eat’).

Personally- I would much rather have a decent al a carte main meal with portion control.

That's a good idea thank you! So I'd just go and get a small salad first say then a few nibbly bits throughout the evening. Thanks.

Some of them are ok. I haven't been to one for a couple of years. You don't have to stuff yourself silly. I find they are a good way to try different things and good if you're with kids or fussy adults.

I'd usually get a plate of starters with salad, then a plate of mains but just have a bit of what I wanted, then dessert.

The plates are usually small and you can just have e a bit of everything.

I uses to love our local Chinese buffet, it was £6.99 for lunch back in 2008. Fast forward to now and it's £17.99 for lunch and there are notices all over the place about how "food waste is not permitted, if you do you will be charged £5 per plate"
So obviously some greedy wasteful arseholes have ruined it for everyone.

Ahh yeah that sounds the sort of thing I went too. It did make me feel a little queasy at the piles of food some people had been piling up and then going back for more.

That looks like nice food bur I don't understand why it has to be all you can eat buffet style. They could just order a roast and noodles if that's what they really wanted

I'm not a great lover of them but there's one near me that does dishes from around the world, Chinese, Indian, sushi, Thai, English roast etc.
It's fabulous, I go by myself at lunch time when I'm in town and have a pick at what I fancy, basically a bit of everything but I don't overload my plate because it would put me off, I go up a couple of times and choose a little, I'm a great lover of mushrooms so one plate will just be mushrooms.
The deserts are to die for.
Try it, you may like it

I hate an all you can eat buffet. Piled high plates of things not " going together " gross

Depends where.

Zuma do a fabulous all you can eat brunch/lunch, but I’m sure there are other places that are not great.

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.

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.

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

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 😄

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

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 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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.