I know some people who would always rather go to a buffet when we are trying to decide where to eat. They consider doing so the best way to "get your money's worth." For me, it really depends. I'm not really that big on buffets (although I do like a nice salad bar). I think most people tend to over eat at buffets, and I see so much waste as well. The time I am most likely to choose a buffet is if it's a type of food I'm not very familiar with or don't particularly like. That way, I'm not stuck with a plate of food I can't eat. I can try a couple of different things to see if there is something that I like, or I can get salad, if the buffet includes salad.
Buffets are good when you are in a party of people and you know splitting the bill will be a nightmare. Sometimes they are good value. I used to go to a vegan lunch buffet and it was great value and even non-vegans would go. It depends on the quality of the food too and those that do junk food aren't worth it. I do like Pizza Hut's buffet as it does include salad and also pizza and pasta, all are my favorite foods.
If you plan on eating a lot of food but don't want to pay too large a price for it, I think you will end up saving money eating at buffets. If your intention of passing by a buffet is to just eat a plate, then you're not really getting your moneys worth and likely overpaying for some food that you can get at your nearest, favorite takeout. Buffets are for people that love to pack in whatever they are capable of managing.
A buffet is one meal, so good luck turning that into a day's worth of sustenance. What you might save on that one meal for what you get you wind up paying exponentially more in your long-term health, considering buffets are notoriously unhealthy in every way, especially by eating that much food.
Some buffets are more worth it than others in my opinion. I don't know that they really save anyone any money, though. Maybe if that person regularly ate tons of food it would. Normally I prefer not to do buffets, but there are exceptions. It's a good choice when you have large groups and are uncertain what type of foods everyone likes. And I suppose every town probably has at least one buffet place that almost everyone just loves. My one buffet love in town is a little Chinese place. I try not to overdo just because it's all you can eat, but I like to get just a dibble of one thing and a dabble of another and end up tasting a lot of different things.
I like buffets because I can taste test a few bites of each item. BUT I find that we spend more at buffets and eat more food/calories than if we had gone to a normal restaurant. The price of a buffet is usually MORE than I would have paid for a single meal at a different restaurant. With a normal restaurant, if the meal is over-sized, you can take it home to eat the next day for lunch, saving money. With a buffet, leftovers are weighed and charged extra for.
@Zyni: As you said, there is a lot of food wastage in a buffet. Secondly, people tend to overeat, as there are lots of varieties on offer. You would want to taste every pudding that seems alluring. However, a buffet may be cheaper than a normal course of food in a similar restaurant. A restaurateur stands to gain on total customers, as food is not served individually and hence can afford to reduce individual price.
I personally don't see it as being that much more practical or economic than just eating out at a cheaper venue. If I'm trying to save I'd much rather just use the money on a restaurant that serves a good amount of food at a good quality even though it's more limited than a buffet because more often than not I usually eat just enough at a buffet in a way that I don't think I'm getting much more than what I would have gotten had I used the money on just buying individual dishes somewhere else. The only advantage I see on eating at buffets is that you get a little more variety, but often buffets are a lot less quality so I think there is a trade off to be made there that I don't think is too appealing to me.
Buffets are kind of expensive here in my place so if you are going to ask me, I would say they are not really ideal specially if you are on a tight budget. I am not even a heavy eater so I am fine with value meals.
I’ve never been much of a buffet fan. Most of the ones around here don’t offer many options I can eat, so that means they’re typically not a good value for me. There was a holiday buffet last year I was mildly interested in, but I balked at the price; there was no way I could have eaten enough to justify that. Would have been better if I’d gone in a group, which wasn’t an option at the time.
I never do well at a buffet, even when I'm hungry. Like you, I don't eat very much. The buffets that I have been to are ones that I try a variety of different foods and this is pretty hard because I am a vegetarian. I rather just order plates at a cafe and just relax. At a buffet you have to move around to get your own food and this can disrupt a good conversation as well.
I don't mind a buffet but it does kind of force you to eat more than you want. You feel like you're not getting your money's worth unless you get that third plate & whatever they'll let you take out the door (ice cream, cotton candy, etc). I'm not a fan of having that feeling. I will take children there. It's a nice way to give them some freedom (SOME) concerning what they eat.
I also think it really depends on the establishment; some are reasonable and work out affordable, while others not so much I used to have a really good Chinese one where you could work your work through a 3 course meal, all provided in the buffet and at £9.99, it was a bargain! The food and service were out of this world, too.
If the quality of the food is good, I may be up for it, but places like Golden Corral - no thanks. Even many Chinese Buffets have poor quality junk food too. It's not really worth it to me in those instances, because most of the food they are offering is all cheap, and meant to get you stuffed right away so you don't eat too much of the more expensive ingredients. So there is often lots of breaded and fried stuff, that's swimming in grease and butter. Plus the more expensive ingredients like chicken or steak tend to be way overcooked and dried out. However when I am in Vegas, I will hit up some of the more expensive buffets there as a treat. In particular, I really like the one at the Wynn - they have incredible Prime Rib, but the buffet as a whole is top notch and the food is very high in quality and super fresh. You can tell real chefs prepared it, not some minimum wage line cook.
I think depending on how much you are going to eat makes a big difference. If you go to a buffet and eat one plate than it would have been cheaper to go else where and get a meal but if you go in and have more than one plate plus dessert that it is definitely cheaper.
Good point, Ohio. I've been to some very nice buffets. I used to work in a good restaurant that offered a variety of buffets, including seafood Friday, prime rib Saturday, and a brunch on Sunday. They were high quality, with fresh, delicious, professionally prepared foods. Of course, you're going to spend more for a quality offering like this than you would for typical buffet fare. It's worth it, in my opinion. The seafood and prime were actually comparable in price to similar meals from the menu. The brunch one was quite a bit more than a standard breakfast, but it was nice and offered a lot of choices, so it wasn't a bad deal in my opinion.
Yes, I think buffet saves money compared to buying the same type of food individually. For example, Chinese buffet will save money compare to buying Chinese food individually. In my place, the price of individual Chinese food meal is only about 2/3 of a regular Chinese buffet. Same thing with Sushi or Indian buffet. In general, for guys with big appetite, buying those food individually will end up more expensive than going to a buffet. However, it is not a way to save money in general like cooking at home.
I don't think that buffets are really all that much of a money saver, well for me anyways. Where I am the average buffet costs $15-$20 for lunch and $20-$30 for dinner. So say my girl and I go out for dinner that's around $60 without ordering a drink. We are both smaller people though (i'm 150 lbs she's 120) and we don't typically eat large portions. Eating at home is obviously way cheaper than this. But even going to a restaurant we will either split an app/entree or get our own entree's and then have some leftover for the next day. We can have a nice drink or two and it evens out. Thing is if we are going out it's a treat, and we will have a nicer meal and make an evening out of it, instead of just filling our faces at the trough of mediocre food.
Chinese is probably the main food I prefer in buffet form. I'm not a big Chinese food person, so I like to be able to pick and choose. I don't even know what I'd order off the menu, so I get the buffet. If nothing else, I can have an egg roll and maybe some soup or salad (the place by us has a small salad bar with it). It works if I can't find anything else I like. I do usually manage to find one or two things though.
I was such a buffet fan a few years back because of the thought of getting to eat different kinds of food as much as you want. But then I realized how expensive they are and how it's not that worth it if you don't even eat a lot. It'll be worth it if the buffet has this promo of the person who has a birthday can get to dine free or if the people eating at the buffet are huge eaters but other than that, I don't think it's worth it at all.
