For Pete's sake ......................... I didn't say "the norm".

Why don't you loosen up a little. I'm sure people will still come to the do's. Stop fretting.

For the record ..... I've only attended one "do". There were three organised meals. All three were buffets.

Rarely enough to justify it, which is why I tend to avoid them. Sometimes we'll go as a family to the brunch buffet at the country club near us and I will usually get an omelet, something from the carving station with a side, some shrimp and dessert. I tended to do the same when staying at the Las Vegas Hilton too.

I did go to the Carnival World Buffet at the Rio in Vegas a few years back (and paid like $39 to do so) and I had a bunch of crab legs, some carved meat and sides, some random things (sushi maybe?) and a little dessert and that was it. I can't eat like I used to when I was in my teens so I don't really enjoy buffets much. I'd rather have a good eggs Benedict any day.

I've slowed down as well..

Usually before I could pack it in.. nowadays I eat for fuel, and make sure I try not to overeat..

I've done the simply lunch buffets to Four Season seafood grill and sushi type dos.. Fairmont Breakfast Buffet are somewhat common for us when travelling..

Although as previously stated - a complete buffet aversion .... we have two Sundays when we're in Singapore and I'm tempted to research and find the best Sunday hotel buffets which seem to be a bit of an institution ...... and might be a bit more civilised ....

I love the buffets of Bangkok luxury hotels, such as the Four Seasons and the Peninsula. I usually try to select a few items I want, so as not to overeat, but I usually succumb to temptation and eat quite a lot...

Here in Tokyo some of the big Japanese hotels have buffets that are not bad, but they're not nearly as good as they are in South East Asia. I tend to avoid them.

It's been years since I went, but the Shangri-La was fairly decent there. And the Shangri-La in Malaysia was the only one I've been to that I've really rated.

It was fairly refined, calm atmosphere. Though I suppose it depends on how many families with screaming kids decide to attend.

I've probably been to more buffet and/or private room DOs than any other kind so it's not just your personal experience. Often it's been a set menu or limited menu and not a buffet, but pre-negotiated, yes. Those seem to be very common for the larger events.


I think Sweet Willie is more used to the type that he typically organizes where a smaller group of people go to a restaurant and dine together at a table (on or off the menu).

Moonwalking from incendiary tone in Post #1?!!

I am not the biggest buffet fan - I generally find 90% boring / bland at best, inedible at worst, and 10% edible, sometimes good. I despise seeing people using their hands, or children grabbing and putting back! Ew! I also like my hot food hot, not lukewarm.

However, we recently attended an engagement brunch at a small restaurant (for clarification it was a group of tables in a set aside area, but the food was the standard sunday brunch menu, along with other guests) and it was lovely! Salad and seafood bars, fresh cook to order brick oven pizza, 8 different entrees prepared by a chef as you waited (everything from gnocci to prime rib), yummy puddings, and free flowing champagne, bucks fizz and kir royals They did the full range of breakfast items as well. Really lovely food, all very fresh, very clean, I guess the patrons (well mannered) helped too. I am tempted to go again!

Sunday brunches are the best shows.. and still a standard fare for many countries around the world..

BI Mauna Kea was excellent Sunday Brunch.. Banff Springs put on one of the nicest in Western Canada imo

The stations are a nice option to get hot, fresh and custom order.. Done right, the brunches can be a good fare..

We like the Empire Brunch at Hotel MacDonald in Edmonton.. We attend this brunch whenever we are in YEG..

I can only do about two large plates myself without killing myself. But as others have said, if we go, it's more about the variety than the "all you can eat" aspect of it. Usually won't get our money's worth per se. (Hence, why we're more drawn to small plate dining such as tapas, dim sum, food cart hopping, etc.) While quality is always a concern, we do consider things such as items that usually work well & don't in a buffet setting, turnover, and "action" stations that do made to order.

The difference between all-you-can-eat and a buffet seems to be lost to many people. Those plates stacked to overflowing are ludicrous. Neither all-you-can-eat nor buffets limit one to a single trip to the food trough.

Brunch buffet is the worst of the lot (unless it's free, in which case it's okay but I'd rather pay $5-7 for two fresh-cooked eggs and toast I don't have to toast.)

This sounds like that last few weddings and company Christmas parties I've attended. Being polite (er.. drinking) we usually wait until the truly starving have cleared out and invariably discover there is no food left or the main courses are gone and dessert is being put out.

But those events are not really buffets with a large variety of food, they are a cheap (for the venue, not the people footing the bill) and easy way to serve crowds a limited choice of sub-par food.

And what is a buffet? The restaurant putting out a bunch of stuff so they don't have to take orders and deliver food and charging about 3x what anyone would pay to order off a menu. Sometimes variety isn't the spice of life.

I don't even want to think about the sanitation, the sneeze screens, the restaurant dumping old product .....

But if you have teen-age boys an all-you-can-eat buffet can be a very good family night out until they learn better

I agree.. the waste seems incredible..

but the breakfast buffets we frequent at Fairmont hotels is first class..

currently at the Mayakoba.. each day is a breakfast buffet.. but the best we've ever had, as there are spanish dishes and 7 variety tables as well as cook to order stations.. so best we've ever had in terms of breakfast.. for brunch, supper.. different story..

the Four Seasons Surf Sand and Stars Hualalai.. incredible supper buffet of all you can eat lobster tails, sushi, sashimi, ribs, steaks, seafood.. you name it.. The best meal we've ever had..

So some high quality buffets out there.. but then there are the bottom feeder types too.. that is gross and inedible..

Granted, we're all a parcel of paunchy piglets, but ...

One can easily "dissagree" with that. By the way, I'll
consistently disagree with anyone who starts a sentence
with the word but followed by a comma. Especially when
what follows is an idiotcy.

You seem to have found a universe where one of the infinite
number of monkeys typed the word "buffet" and have decided
to run around shouting "here's Act II of the Comedy of
Errors."

P. K. B.

Im a quantity guy when it comes to buffets.
I like to pound food until I get so stuffed I need a nap.

Buffets are a big reason why I like being elite in with hotel chains.

Also my favorite thing to do in Vegas is eat buffets.