Buffets: Good or Bad?

[SplashJacket]

With the announcement of Trail's End closing at Wilderness Lodge, some replies discussed their views on buffets.

Personally, I am not a huge fan of buffets. I can enjoy a buffet but generally prefer table service. I feel pressured to "get my money's worth" at a buffet, which, to me, encourages unhealthy eating, even if it is an isolated splurge, I very much dislike bloatedness after a large meal, but I've gotten substantially better with this recently.

That said, Boma's is fantastic, and surprisingly, I revisited Biergarten's Buffet in Epcot and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Chi84]

I don't go to buffets outside of WDW, but we really like the ones we've gone to there. Boma is our favorite, but Tusker House, Cape May and Biergarten were also pretty good.

I know what you're saying about splurging, but I don't measure worth in terms of quantity at WDW (food or rides lol). I don't eat much meat and buffets seem to the best way to get a lot of variety without getting too much of a "main" protein.

 

[Figgy1]

I'm one of the few that gets my money's worth without trying because my boys eat like an entire football team. Over the years some at Disney have been good and some awful but for the most part the kids have enjoyed themselves

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Like most questions, it depends, and has changed over time.

At WDW, our favorite buffet has been Tusker House for the variety.

We’ve done Crystal Palace once just to see Tigger on my bday lol. Didn’t expect much from the food, which is probably why it was better than expected.

Biergarten - once in the 90’s and never again. That is not my kind of food.

Haven’t done Boma; for the price we’ve always chosen Jiko. I’d hate to miss a Jiko meal for even an above average buffet.

We mostly choose nicer restaurants at WDW now, but not always.

I do not love touching all the serving spoons touched by so many other people (since long before covid.)

Outside Disney, we used to go to Sweet Tomatoes buffet and a handful of others, but not so much lately.

So, I’m not strongly for or against. I’ll go to one if it sounds good, or if it’s cheap and if that matters at that moment lol.

 

[DryerLintFan]

1900 park fair is amazing

Tusker house (pre Covid) is amazing

Honestly not a huge fan of buffets but Disney does a great job. I really enjoy being about to fill up on things i loved after trying a ton of options there

 

[celluloid]

Boma used to be fantastic. I felt that took a hit this last time I went. The Boma Coma post breakfast we used to call it.

 

[buckeyegator]

like many others loved trails end, liked cape may before the return of characters, but iy comes with the territory. crystal palace is ok, especially if the prime rib is good, only done chef mickey for breakfast, nothing special.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I lost my interest in buffets after the time I saw two little kids in line in front of me touching every single finger food (bread, cookies, etc) before deciding which ones they wanted. I’m sure that’s not the first or last time that happened.

 

[NelleBelle]

We used to like doing the buffets at WDW. If we're staying at AKL, would absolutely do Boma for breakfast or dinner. When our boys were younger and into characters, we'd do breakfast at Chrystal Palace and Chef Mickeys (although I though Chef Mickeys was terrible, loud, and would totally do a different "Mickey" breakfast, like Ohana's). As a vegetarian, we've typically avoided all buffets outside of breakfast as there really isn't a whole lot to eat. When 1900 Park Fare was running, we'd go just for the unique character offerings when our kids were younger. But I don't know that'd we'd pay to do a buffet now. Not worth it and as mentioned above, would much rather spend it on TS. I think the quality of food is better and we're not huge eaters to begin with.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Also, worth a read….

20 Foods You Should Never Get From A Buffet - Tasting Table

Eating at a buffet is a great experience when you consider the value of your money. But not all foods available are worth it. Avoid these 20 for the best meal.

www.tastingtable.com

 

[UNCgolf]

Breakfast buffets are fantastic -- the one at Boma being the absolute best.

Lunch and dinner buffets are a hard no.

 

[gobstoper27]

I don't go to buffets outside of WDW, but we really like the ones we've gone to there. Boma is our favorite, but Tusker House, Cape May and Biergarten were also pretty good.

I know what you're saying about splurging, but I don't measure worth in terms of quantity at WDW (food or rides lol). I don't eat much meat and buffets seem to the best way to get a lot of variety without getting too much of a "main" protein.

Same here, I'll only do disney buffets. Years and years ago at Golden Corral, I saw a kid lick the A1 sauce bottle and put the cap back on. Scarred me for life.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Personally, I am not a huge fan of buffets. I can enjoy a buffet but generally prefer table service. I feel pressured to "get my money's worth" at a buffet, which, to me, encourages unhealthy eating, even if it is an isolated splurge, I very much dislike bloatedness after a large meal, but I've gotten substantially better with this recently.

I'm also not a huge fan for the portion reason. I don't feel the pressure to get my money's worth so much, but I feel like buffets are a variation on the the theme of "if you want to lose weight, buy smaller plates." If you put large amounts of different foods in front of people, I think it's kind of natural to want to try as much as possible and to over-estimate how much you really want to eat. For that reason, I'd rather go to a restaurant where I order a dish that isn't going to be overwhelming and leave feeling satisfied but not over-stuffed.

 

[vikescaper]

Pre-pandemic, we loved doing the Crystal Palace breakfast buffet but after going there in December, we don’t know if we will go back. The quality just didn’t seem as good and we didn’t enjoy it as much as we used to.

 

[thomas998]

Best part of a buffet is you can usually find something that is edible while table service can result in you getting big plate of crap. I know my family as suffered from the big plate of crap at several places where either the kids or myself would end up needing to get food an hour after we left because the food was such crap that we didn't get enough to eat. At least at a buffet you can normally find at least one thing worth eating and if you have to pig out on it to at least get full.

 

[Lilofan]

If I eat in a buffet in the parks I make sure I don't ride the attractions for a few hours afterwards or else my lunch will be part of the landscape after exiting the ride.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I’ve enjoyed the buffets. How much depends on the variety/ selection of food items put out. I’ve been selective depending on what I’ve seen listed on the menu sites that warn me of what’s there and what’s not there. I’ve mostly had good results for food being kept warm and buffet pans being restocked. The CMs generally keep the food areas cleaned up and sanitary. Always had courteous servers who kept my drinks filled. They can be costly and value comes with how much you eat and revisit for more.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Breakfast buffets are fantastic -- the one at Boma being the absolute best.

Lunch and dinner buffets are a hard no.

We tried Tusker House for the first time this trip and it was great. Almost like a Boma Lite, only way easier to get to if you don't have a car and aren't staying at DAKL. We scheduled right at the end of the breakfast window so we were very hungry and we were able to knock out both breakfast and lunch with one meal.

 

[networkpro]

Crystal Palace buffet for Lunch or Dinner is currently good (for us) for cleanliness, food selection, Blue Moon, and characters. We have yet to return to the Biergarten as the family-style offering put us off as simply dreadful. Germanic offerings are our comfort food of choice Kaltsalat, Rouladen, Gravlax, and Wiesen-Hendl will always have a place on our plates when available.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Depends.

Most buffets have a high % of cheap-filler-foods. Foods that tend to be unhealthy, high carb, high fat, high salt/sugar, and inexpensive to make. Filler foods include foods like pasta (mac n cheese), hot dogs/sausages, breads, bread pudding, biscuits, potato, jello, croutons, When they have produce, it tends to be the cheapest vegetables: iceberg lettuce, whole bananas, melon, maybe raw broccoli, mealy apples, industrial oranges, and industrial tomatoes.

When they have more expensive produce it tends to be...hard to access. It will be at the far end of the buffet (from where diners start) and served from a small serving container.

One that made me laugh out loud was a buffet at the Grand Floridian. At a buffet that was supposed to feed 300+ people, they had blueberries, but the 'serving' bowl was the size of a teacup, and the serving utensil was a teaspoon. That = each person is only supposed to take 1 blueberry!?!?!

Buffets are very often set up using psychological tricks like that, where the serving bowl/utensil size indicates an idea of how much of each item they are supposed to take. In the above blueberry example, most people are hard wired to feel guilty if they take all the blueberries, even if that only =1/4 cup of fruit.

I worked at such a restaurant (ages ago) and was sometimes tasked with setting up the buffet.

The WDW buffets are better than many buffets, but the pricing is often absurdly high.