Favorite AYCE restaurant? And what do they serve?

There’s no Brazilian AYCE steakhouse anywhere near me, either. I don’t think that’s relevant to the question. But I hear ya on the multiple trips.

There used to be a German steakhouse chain with good quality Argentinian beef, and a very good salad bar, for which you could choose to do AYCE along with your steak choice. I was addicted to their garlic & herb dressing. My record was 5 plates of salad. No more, no way, no how.

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But then at a Brazilian steak house you would, um, be eating (gulp!) yourself.

Would that be cownnibalism ?

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Los Moles is a three-location mini-chain here in the East Bay, CA. They have an AYCE buffet on weekends, with eight varieties of mole to go with several kinds of meats, and posole. I think the buffet was suspended during the quarantine time, but it seems to be back now.

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Oh man–the breakfast buffet at the Four Seasons Berlin was just eye-popping. It was really hard not to stuff myself silly.

The buffets at my smaller hotel in Berlin and the Stockholm hotel I stayed at years ago were no slouches either.

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All my faves are gone.

The brunch buffet at the Molly Pitcher Inn in Red Bank, NJ.
The brunch buffet at the Rainbow Room in NYC.
The Mother’s Day buffet at Ricciardella’s in Phoenecia, NY.

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First thought on this topic is we don’t really do AYCE, though the complimentary East/West breakfasts buffets at many Asian hotels are a nice prelude to a day of real eating.

Then, an outstanding seafood feast in Chengdu popped into mind. Fittingly, restaurant is named Seafood Feast. This was in December 2019, weeks before the world changed as we know it. Can’t wait for China to reopen again, so much more to explore. and EAT.

Copy from post in December 2019. Seafood Feast. Chengdu, Sichuan.


Seafood Feast Restaurant served up one of our most memorable and delicious dining experiences, ever. An upscale AYCE seafood buffet venue. Optional table service in private booths with additional special items, for a slight up charge. Here, our orders are prepared ala minute. The all you care to drink wine selection is also supposedly better.

First course was a dramatic Sashimi tower with Lobster, Prawns, Salmon and a couple of other fish. Dished out on an ice sculpture with cascading dry ice fog. A second platter with Langostino, Octopus, Oysters.

Geoduck, our favorite. We scarfed 4 orders. Live Uni. Clams so fresh, they were throbbing.

Buddha Jumping over the Wall, a “special” item. First time for me. Delicious!!! Rich broth with a mini Sea Cucumber, Shark Fin and other surely costly ingredients.

Another special, warm Papaya with Bird’s Nest. Wife had a Hasma Coconut concoction. Hasma is the dried tissue from a certain part of a frog that I won’t get into. :wink: Weird but tasty.

Fois Gras on Toast. Grilled Steak. Pan Fried Venison Tongue!! Deep Fried Chicken Knees.

Each diner has choice of Hot Pot broth. Tom Yum for she, more subtle Mushroom for me. Fish Maw? Four orders please. To start.

An ice mountain of hot pot fixin’s. Abalone(live), Prawns(three types), Lobster Tail, Alaskan King Crab and a Korean Crab.

Fantastic service! A server shelled the prawns tableside. Lovely.

Steak Tartare. Sea Cucumber. Scallop Sashimi topped w/Ikara. Toro.

Never had Starfish before, never understood how/why eat Starfish. Our server gave me a lesson. Dip in hot broth for 3 minutes. Carve open and scoop out roe. Fun, done it, no mas.

The buffet is huge, every option looked super fresh. The buffet line is beautiful with am almost bewildering amount of choices. I’m not a fan of AYCE at all. I tagged along cause the wife is a raw SEAFOOD LOVER. We are loving Chengdu, and Seafood Feast will be a strong enticement for a quick revisit.

Btw, this meal, all in including drinks, tax and serve. USD$150. For the both of us.

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I haven’t done any buffets since Jan 2020, where my hotel in Hakuba, Japan had a breakfast buffet and dinner buffet. I liked trying the Japanese specialties. Japanese curry at breakfast, baked bananas, come to mind.

My favourite buffets are the hotel breakfast buffets in Europe. The most memorable for me are the Platzl Hotel in Munich, which has weisswurst, Hotel Torbräu in Munich, St George Lycabettus Hotel in Athens (with a view of the Acropolis, amazing selection ), Elektra Palace in Athens, my hotel in Santorini (warm loukamades), Fifteen Keys hotel in Rome.

A few AYCE places serving Thai food near me have the cook to order option, with a checklist as one would find at AYCE sushi or non-cart dim sum, instead of a buffet with a sneeze guard , which I like better in concept.

I did enjoy the buffets in Vegas and in Tahoe , ages ago.

You make a valid point.

We used to go the Molly Pitcher Inn for Mother’s Day brunch.

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Smoked fish arranged on a mirror! The classiest thing I’d ever seen, as a kid.

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I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise last month. My first cruise ever!
Now I wasn’t expecting 5 star dining, but I have to say everything I had was delicious.

Hands down my favorite was the poolside taco bar, El Loco Fresh. The carnitas were excellent. I may have had an extra plate or three.
The Windjammer buffet was pretty good too. Seems like they served similar food to what was in the main dining room in a much more casual AYCE atmosphere.
Even the main dining room is sort of AYCE. They will bring you multiple entrees/apps etc. if you request them.

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In addition to most of what has already been mentioned, I love a good Indian buffet. There are several in Jackson Heights (Queens) that we love, although we haven’t been since Covid so not sure which of them has survived.

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We have a decent Indian in town that has a lunch buffet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have that food midday without wanting to nap the rest of the afternoon :wink:

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Co-sign on this.

Why are most Indian buffets during the day? (rhetorical question, I know the answer)

It’s like the culinary gods are taunting me.

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Same. Even though I go light on naan and rice, it’s strictly a lazy Sunday afternoon experience for me, just in case!

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When Indian foods were new to me about 30 years ago, an Aussie friend with an Indian wife took me to a buffet and showed me the ropes and explained stuff. He and I were coworkers and we’d take lunch out fairly often and at least twice a month I’d say “let’s get Indian”.

It was like a culinary wonderland to me, being able to try everything they had available at the one, then trying another with different styles and dishes, etc., and then another, and all so new to me then. I kept thinking, “Why haven’t I tried this before?”

Yowza. There’s nowhere to go but down after this… That looks amazing and for $75pp?

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https://reidogado.net/

As I get older, I find I cannot adequately take advantage of an AYCE place to a degree that makes it worthwhile. My exception to this rule is Rei Do Gado in San Diego. We have been dinner guests there for several years now. For $60 (not including beverages), you get the never ending parade of meats, plus the hot and cold buffets. Even the Brazilian place in my town now is pay by the weight of each plate you take (which, to be fair, is generally more than enough). I can’t express how much I look forward to our yearly visit. I found it to be far better than Fogo de Chao (to be fair, I’ve only been to the Boston one). The meats were fresher and more likely to have a range of doneness to choose from.

For a while, we had an AYCE sushi place we used to be able to walk to for about $25/person. It closed and turned into a dumpling/noodle place. AYCE sushi is a young person’s game. The rice just gets on top of me now.

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I’d love to know where. We were in JH last week and couldn’t find Indian food we wanted to eat.

There was Jackson Diner, still going, but I haven’t eaten there in 20 years probably, and a small place on the road behind (37th Ave).

The rest were Nepali, Tibetan, or Bangladeshi.

We concluded that for Indian food we likely need to venture to Jersey City or Edison next time, which is unfortunately twice or more the distance from Manhattan.

We had a great Indian place near one of my offices office that did a really good buffet.

If we were planning to eat in, it could only ever be on a Friday, when it was okay to be in a food coma the rest of the afternoon.

However they also did a takeout box, which was a great deal in itself. You could fill up a large, divided, circular container from the buffet, and they’d give you fresh naan and rice to go separately. Many of my younger colleagues would strategically fill the box to provide both lunch and dinner for the bargain price of the buffet — better value and more productivity than stuffing their faces at a single meal :joy:

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