weltfrieden

on my local evening news earlier, they did a story about two men who were
asked to leave after they "ate too much" at a Chinese seafood all-you-can-eat
buffet restaurant. They apparently sat down when the restaurant opened at
5:30pm and continued eating until 8pm, at which time, the restaurant owner/
manager asked them to stop and leave. When they refused, the waitresses
and the manager started using bad language to insult them.(about their weight
which was just south of 250 pounds)

I'm no lawyer, but can restaurants actually do this? The definition of all-you-
can-eat is all-you-can-eat, right? On the other hand, I feel a little pain for
the restaurant owners. Those two guys reported at 17 and 22 1-pound lobsters
each, plus tons of sushi, steamed snow crabs, fried oysters, and of course other
Chinese dishes.

The seafood buffet was $32 per person. I checked out the restaurant's own
website and it clearly stated "ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT" with no disclaimer or fine
print.

In the end, cops showed up and the two guys paid their bills and left. I'm not
really sure if they left willingly or they just had enough.

Any lawyers out there who can tell me who was in the wrong in that incident?

On the other hand, I wonder if it was staged. The news report showed the
buffet and it looked great.. in fact, I think I'll take my family there for dinner
sometime next week. The negative publicity actually works in their favor if
I actually end up going there, no?

Mauibaby2008

I never go to all you can eat restaurants, I can never eat enough. I don't understand people that can eat plate after plate after plate, that is just gross.

My best friend always tells me when her boyfriend and her order Chinese they spend $50-80 for just themselves, when I first met them, I said, wow that must be some quality Chinese !! Nope!! They just eat that much. And she is always complaining of how they're always clogging the toilet.

weltfrieden

2 people eating $50 to $80 for Chinese food sounds about right..
at least in some cities. Actually, that's quite cheap for some of
the fancy Chinese restaurants in Washington, DC area. I once
ordered a Peking Duck and was shocked that it was $40.

mikew99

As someone who is not a businessman, I don't understand why businesses offer unlimited anything and then complain that people use too much. I just see this as another case where companies want to attract business by advertising something, yet don't want actually want to deliver what they promise.

One example is the "unlimited" data plans that AT&T used to offer; AT&T complained that a subset of users were abusing the service. Now, I was never one of the supposed offenders, but AT&T's complaints never made much sense to me. To me, "unlimited" data means that I can be downloading stuff 24/7 if I want to.

Same thing goes for "all-you-can-eat" restaurants. If they don't want people to eat as much as they want, then why offer it? Instead, it sounds like they want to get people to come in by offering something that sounds good ("All you can eat!"), yet then, after they get their money, place limits on what people eat. I have no sympathy for such places.

satman40

20% will try to eat to excess, 80% will eat 2 plates and leave.

Nothing wrong with telling the pigs to give others a chance to eat, and not be hogs...

cirqueboy

Same thing with 50% off bottled wine. Come in with a group and once we have ordered 6 or so bottles of the $100 a bottle at half price and then they magically have run out of everything except the cheap stuff...

FirstInFlight

Can you ask someone to leave your business - yes. Can you refuse to serve someone - yes. There are limitations on that - you can't refuse to serve people based on race etc. But so long as the person is not a member of a protected group you can refuse them.

Can you make them pay if they aren't done eating... harder question.

And the reference above - if you haven't seen the old John Pinette comedy video on this topic ypu should watch it. You go now - hilarious - not PC but still hilarious.

Mrp Alert

Fwiw att is offering unlimited data once again.

Here in Las Vegas, buffets used to be loss leaders. Nowadays, retail cost approximately matches wholesale cost with the exception of a few local casinos. The Sterling Brunch at Ballys carries a $90 price point and I felt it was a fair value considering the menu and unlimited champagne. $32 is the price point of the Rio Seafood Buffet.

Tolarian Wind

I had once read that the only way a restaurant that offered all you can eat could stop you from eating and ask you to leave was to either not charge you or at closing time.

TW

maverick17

Buffet restaurants can and do, saying it's not all-u-can eat just because it's a buffet.

If they advertise all-u-can eat, harder question I suppose. Interesting if they have any terms somewhere using the ambiguous "reasonable" language.

weltfrieden

I forgot if it was the Ritz-Carlton or some other hotel that had a sunday
brunch buffet with pretty decent caviar. IIRC, it was $52 per person.
I once went there with friends and I stuffed myself with just 3 things:
champagne, caviar and smoked salmon. Sure got my money's worth
because I was so full that I had to unbuckle my belt.

747FC

This reminds me of a time many years ago: While young college students, we got kicked out of a pizza joint because we were putting too much Parmesan cheese on our slices. Oh those great college memories!

weltfrieden

same here! we didn't get kicked out, but the owner came over and took away
the cheese bottles from our table. we were so drunk, we didn't care. in fact
we were so wasted, someone went next door and bought a quart of ice cream
and dumped it over the entire pizza. ah... the good old days.

Jaimito Cartero

I had an uncle who would go to a local buffet (Sir George's?) in the 60's or 70's, and stay all day long. He did smoke a lot of weed, so I'm sure that contributed.

If they kicked me out of a buffet, I'd expect it for free, or at least half price.

I did get an AYCE dim sum place in Jakarta ($6 for lunch), that started adding in extra rules after I started eating there frequently. It soon became minimum 2 people. And not long afterwards, they sold the restaurant after 30+ years of ownership. I wonder...

747FC

LOL.