"All you can EAT!" A regional/state thing?
 

I've been posting and lurking on internet discussion boards for over five years. I've read numerous threads about restaurants. Mostly about favorite ones and recommendations. I've noticed in these threads, that buffets or restaurants that have reputations for cheap large quantities of food are almost never mentioned. Restaurants are usually noted for its superior service, atmosphere, quality of food, and/or creative recipes.

However, the people I know in real life, how much food you get on your plate is a restaurant's biggest selling point. An example, I overheard some people in the mall deciding on where they wanted to go to dinner. The choice was between a fancy lounge with live perfomances and well-prepared food, and a couple of other restaurants in the same area. Well, they decided to go to PONDEROSA! They wanted to get full and not spend too much money. Going by their appearance, mannerisms, and things they purchased in the store...they were NOT poor, though. So that reason was ruled out.

I've interacted with all kinds of people within the last 10 years of my life...people who were financially well off, poor people from the inner city, country people from rural areas, Greeks, hipster kids, people of different races and ethnicities, you name it. They all have one thing in common, they all (well, in general) are fond of Applebee's, Culpepper's, fast food, Ponderosa, Old Country Buffet, Golden Corral...or any other place you get a lot of food for cheap. And most of these people are from Missouri or Illinois.

What I'm trying to say is that I notice there's a HUGE difference in restaurant preferences, between the people I see online (many who are from the east or west coast) and people I see in real life. I just wonder if this is a regional thing. I think so, but I don't really know, since I've never been on either coast.

Speaking as a Washingtonian, we have a lot of fast food and a lot of restaurants in the city. We have a TGIFriday's near GW. But I honestly can't think of any buffets or cafeteria style places with "All you can eat" for one price in the city.

In the suburbs, sure.

I don't think I am high fallutin. I know if given the choice between the inexpensive buffet 20-30 minutes away, and the pretty good sit-down restaurant with the jazz quartet that's only ten minutes away, I am gonna choose the latter. (Unless I am specifically in the mood for fast food)

HOWEVER, we do have places in DC that are cafeteria style but NOT all you can eat. You pay based on the weight of the meal. I'm sure those are everywhere. We have Sizzling Express and Epicurean & Co.

I am in New England, and I have to say that there are few buffet style restaurants in my area. Chinese restaurants aside, I have only seen one Old Country Buffet, and maybe years ago, a Ponderosa. As far as eating at Crapplebees...ick.

I admit to an annual hankering for a Chili's fajita and Molten Chocolate Cake, but usually go the mom and pop places if we eat out. Of course, that's much less often than it used to be, thanks to the economy. If I am famished and at the mall, I usually get chicken teryaki with white rice from Sarku. If I am on the road, Subway or fast-food chicken sandwiches are my choices.

When I visit my inlaws in Arkansas, there are buffets everywhere. This one place I went to, Monteney (sp) Chicken, had what I think was all-you-can-eat. Although I love (LOVE) fried chicken, my health situation now dictates what I can eat, so my admission price was kind of wasted. When I was younger, I was always able to eat in large quantities, in fact due to my health, I HAD to eat a lot of food to keep me going. Nowadays, I can't even get through half my meal. Thank goodness doggy bags are acceptable!

We used to go to Ponderosa and Old Country Buffet a lot because we could feed the kids cheap with their pricing structure. The kids only wanted the buffet. Now, they really like those two places because of a few favorite foods. We went to a few buffets on vacation because they were considerably cheaper than the sit down places. I especially like breakfast buffets because for breakfast I'd like ONE pancake or piece of french toast, plus eggs, plus some meat and maybe some hash browns, etc. I don't want a full serving of pancakes or one huge omelet.. just my breakfast preferences I guess. When I do eat at a buffet, I generally just eat a meat and a couple sides anyway, so it doesn't really matter anymore. What I found funny was that at the buffets where we went on vacation, they all had signs on them that said "Take all you want but please eat all you take"

This has been my experience as well. There are a few nicer restaurants that do lunch buffets (a couple of Indian restaurants, and a Brazilian place), but other than that, all-you-can-eats are rare. They were much rarer in the Boston area than in CT, where you see one in almost every town.

The rural area where I lived in Tenn. was BIG on buffets - as my father said, they liked good eatin', not fine dining. I found the food to be mediocre at best.
Here in Houston, there is Pancho's Mexican Buffet - you can raise a little Mexican flag at your table to get more food. My high school students used to love CiCi's pizza - blech. Luby's cafeteria is not all-you-can-eat - in fact, most of the old-timey Southern cafeterias (Luby's, Furr's, Morrison's, Picadilly) are NOT all you can eat. And in my experience, the food is good.
I hate all-you-can-eat because I can't eat much - that, and the quality is just not good.

These kinds of places are usually in suburban areas where there are a lot of overweight/obese people who love getting full for a cheap price.

Not too many of these where I'm at, although there is a Picadilly's near my house (cafeteria style but not "all you can eat").

All the Ponderosas in Miami are closed by now. There's a Golden Corral about 15 minutes from my house in a very suburban suburb and sure enough the few times I've visited most of the people there are of the *larger* crowd.

Just speaking the truth.

I don't think there's too many all-you-can-eat buffet places around here. The only ones I can think of are a Chinese buffet, an Old Country Buffet, and a Japanese buffet. I go to the Japanese buffet once in a while. I prefer going to regular Japanese restaurants (better sashimi, more special rolls) but it can get quite pricey.

I don't go to the Old Country Buffet. And I've only been to the Chinese buffet once. The food was meh.

I love KFC buffet.

you should hang out with less fat people

your internet friends are cooler than your real life ones

I miss Pancho's!! I used to love lifting the flag, and the song they used to play on your Birthday! lol.

Your Furr's is NOT all you can eat? We have at least 3 here, and they are all, "all-you-can-eat."

We have A LOT of all you can eat buffets. I would definitely NOT call Applebee's, Chili's etc. "all-you-can-eat."

The "all-you-can-eat" places we have are: a few Chinese buffets, Furr's, a few Mexican buffets, Golden Corral, Cici's Pizza. That's all i can think of at the moment.

It has been so long since I have been to Furr's - I noticed they still have one in San Marcos - that I may well be mistaken, and they are all-you-can-eat.

When I was living in Missouri (back in the late 1980s), I came home to Dallas for a visit. My friends took me to Panchos (I love me some Panchos - it's nasty but in a good way) for lunch and asked the manager if they could have the flag. He said yes, and they gave it to me. It's been 20 years -- I still have the flag; I keep it in my guest bedroom.

While they have the usual Chinese buffet on every corner her in Connecticut, they don't have cafeterias -- like Furrs, Picadilly or Luby's -- up here. My mom came up from New Ulm (Texas) to visit and she was floored that we didn't have cafeterias. I guess it's a Southern thing.

I never knew that KFC had a buffet until I saw one in Arkansas. I have to say, that KFC there is tastier than around here. Even at the one here, there's something about that secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices that makes my mouth water...:p