'All you can eat' Buffets

Fletch123

There seems to be more and more all you can eat buffets popping up around Dublin, and probably around other parts of the country.

I'm intrigued by it, when I see the ones in the Epicurean Food Hall (when picking up a fantastic burrito!) I do consider just going for it, but I chicken out when I think of how long the food has been sitting there. And also I think 9.50 is expensive for food that might not be good quality... But then again it's probably the same quality you get at your local Chinese takeaway.


What's your opinions on them? Good value? The future for quick dinners? And do you go back for seconds?

spiderbeast

Personally I would avoid food buffets at all costs. As you say the food could be sitting there for ages and also the quality isn't always the best. Another thing is a human isn't meant to eat all they can until they are stuffed.

Without sounding like a food snob I'd prefer to go for quality over quantity.

astroguy

Strangely enough, I just tried one of the all you can eat buffets in the epicurean food hall today for the first time- the italian one. It was really nice and the good thing is that you get to try a little bit of everything, although you do feel stuffed and I certainly wouldn't make a habit out of it. As regards seconds, I'm not sure if you can do that, at least in the italian place, as he didn't give me a receipt for it to go back again or anything but maybe the other places are different.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Them burritos are getting damn expensive. Never used one of the all you can eat places but I have eaten mass produced food like Govindas. Hit and miss, sometimes it's cold and awful other times it's bland and too hot.

fatal

I'd definitely give open buffets a miss. Most,if not all, of the ones that i've seen recently have consisted of 1 or 2 half decent dishes followed by a ton of cheap filler-chips,roast potatoes,lettuce etc.Also, depending on how popular a dish is, it may remain there for,in some cases, a couple of days before its replaced and the cycle continues again.

For example, lets look at the "italian" in the epicurean food hall.It consists of 3 pasta dishes followed by chips,fried chicken, sausages(the breakfast type) and roasted stuffed tomatoes. I've never been to Italy but im pretty sure that,apart from the 3 pasta dishes, there is nothing italian about the food served in there. The same applies to the other two open buffets in that place, and probably to most open buffet outlets now dotted around the city.

Before spending a tener or, in most cases, less for these open buffets,I'd always ask myself why the price is so cheap. If you worked in the kitchens you'd know exactly why...

Cormac2791

where can you find these restaurants??

Red Sleeping Beauty

They're not restaurants but there's a few around Liffey Street in Dublin.

Brimmy

Don't really like the ones in the Epicurean. Have to say though that Jimmy Chungs on Eden Quay usually has food of a nice standard that isn't just full of filler crap and you regularly see them changing the dishes when you're eating.

Plus the desert is all you can eat too and they let you pull your own ice cream

kida

Brimmy wrote: »

Don't really like the ones in the Epicurean. Have to say though that Jimmy Chungs on Eden Quay usually has food of a nice standard that isn't just full of filler crap and you regularly see them changing the dishes when you're eating.

Plus the desert is all you can eat too and they let you pull your own ice cream

same chain in edinburgh
http://www.urbanspoon.com/recent-comments/f/342/37104/Chinese.html

MSG hits you from everywhere you look and all the dishes taste exactly the same.

most chinese buffets are laced with MSG

Red Sleeping Beauty

Is there any chinese food produced outside China that doesn't have MSG ?

Amalgam

I have avoided the Epicurean all-you-can-eat, once your nostrils adjust to the MSG onslaught, the underlying aroma of some of the tubs with meat in them is enough to make you keep walking.

Alan Rouge wrote: »

Them burritos are getting damn expensive. Never used one of the all you can eat places but I have eaten mass produced food like Govindas. Hit and miss, sometimes it's cold and awful other times it's bland and too hot.

Alan Rouge, I don't get your comment about Govinda's, they produce food, but there's no comparing them with some of the other all-you-can-eat outlets.

I haven't gone to M-

---

s in years since I stumbled across Govinda's. Nothing like a good nose picking session (through the gloves), by the person over at the fries station to get you to change..

kcb

Pizza Hut have the buffet for €6.99.

Not bad in fairness although the salad is rough enough and the pasta is terrible stuff like you'd get out of a packet.

A few slices of pizza for €7 though - you cant complain.

petethebrick

I don't see the point in them unless you have a massive appetite and/or are just looking to get stuffed. This is regardless of the quality of the food at these places which I'm sure is hit and miss. Most of them cost 8-10euro or so I think right?
Well for that price or less I can just get a freshly cooked Chinese/Indian etc. And as for quantity - I'm generally stuffed after getting a normal Chinese or Indian dish like this, what would be the point in eating more??