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

[PeppyGPhiB]

Buffets usually aren't my thing. The only time I'll really eat at a buffet is breakfast/brunch...they don't make me nervous the way dinner buffets do. We have Old Country Buffet around here, but I've never been to one. Other than that, the only buffets I can think of around here are chinese food and sushi buffets, the sushi buffets being very popular. The one buffet that is AWESOME is weekend brunch at Salty's in Seattle, which is gourmet fancy shmancy (http://www.saltys.com/food_wine/best_brunch.asp)

[ComradesTrue]

As someone who has lived in 2 of the fattest states in the union (TN and TX) and someone who lived in the #2 fattest city in America (Dallas) I have certainly seen a buffet restaurant or two in my time.

Loved reading the stories about Pancho's. Haven't been there since I was a kid, but raising the flag was always a highlight.

I do avoid the Golden Corral type places, but have ventured into some of the "better" (relative term) Chinese buffets. This is not because I want some huge portion, but rather I enjoy a "sampler" platter. Just a few bites of many different menu offerings.

Because I have a toddler, we do find ourselves regularly in a Cici's. Keeps him happy and I have had worse. (the key here is to ask for a specific type of pizza, which they are happy to make special for you. Then no one else has sneezed on it, touched it, etc.)

Dallas had a decent all you can eat Sushi place, and they also had Fogo de Chao which is a nice Brazillian meat fest with locations in larger cities across the US. So I won't paint all buffets/all you can eats with the same brush.

What really makes me ill are watching the people in the all-U-can-eat lines on Cruises... they are a breed all their own and really do personify the "fat and lazy American." Observing those cows is far worse than anything that I have seen at the Chinese buffet or Cici's, and that is saying a LOT!

[EEKappa]

I'm getting all misty-eyed reading about Pancho's! Oh, those sour cream enchiladas, and the sopapillas. Mmm. When I lived in Atlanta there was a restaurant with a salad and dessert buffet that always had a mountain of chocolate mousse. We loved it for chapter functions.

I also live in New England, and the only buffets we see in my area are lunch buffets at Indian and Chinese restaurants. When we travel and eat at a really quality place, my husband always says that we need to open a good restaurant in town. I remind him that there wouldn't be a market for it with all the people lining up outside Olive Garden to wait an hour for unlimited soup and breadsticks.