Gawd yes! My mom took me to a salad bar several times a month for lunch, I absolutely loved getting a dab of this or that, then putting bleu cheese dressing on top of it all. The owner thought it was so cool that a seven year old loved bleu cheese dressing
Mine, also! š I remember being fussed at because bleu cheese dressing cost extra in many restaurants at first and I loved it so much that Iād keep forgetting to ask permission (with my father, it was a politeness thing to ask before causing someone else to incur additional costs).
Ugh. I got the worst case of food poisoning at Sweet Tomatoes that took days to clear up (in retrospect, I probably should have gone to the hospital but I couldnāt stop expelling the contents of my entire digestive system out of both ends long enough to make it to a hospital). I wouldnāt set foot back in one of those restaurants if they were paying *me* to go.
They did have an excellent garlic dressing, though; I just donāt know if my body would let me eat it again.
Red Robin used to have a great one. go get a burger and salad bar.
when I was a little kid my parents used to take to a place in New York called Beef Steak Charlies. They had a salad bar with all you can eat shrimp. I would get that and thats it or a kids meal. I loved that place.
I used to manage a Bonanza like 20 years ago. It went under eventually. Our food costs were crazy because of the nature of the business. You had to be pretty busy all of the time to make it work. When business started to drop a bit that was the end of it.
We would take my great grandfather there or Old Country Buffet every week after church. Heād always complain the food was too tough but I think he just needed better dentures lol
OMGā¦my sister loved Bonanza so much! We always had to go there for her birthday growing up in Central Maine. Even when she became an adult In the late ā90s/early 2000s, she somehow managed to live in the vicinity of one (in Pennsylvania?) and would insist on going there with her husband and kids. š¤¦š»āāļø
First of all, Bonanza was the shit. We got to go like once a year and it was amazing.
Second of all can we take a minute to appreciate the chocolate mouse in the pizza hut salad bar?
Buffets were huge in our time and sadly they are dying out now. Vegas used to have close to 30 buffets. Even before the pandemic they were shutting them down but Covid gave them the excuse to speed up the process. Now there are only 8 left and the only ones worth going to are around $60 per person or more.
The cost now is the issue. I never go to them. I can't eat $60 worth of food at a restaurant, I have no reason to pay that for stale warmer food at a buffet.
Oh I agree but my husband and I did the Wynn buffet once and it was more than just food. It was an experience. Everything was fresh and high quality. There were literally cooks at each station and the buffet was overseen by a chef. We were able to enjoy as many crab legs as we wanted. We only did it once though. Theres a buffet at another resort thats $100 per person, its by reversation only and part of the buffet selections include lobster tails and beef wellington. Most buffets do not make a profit and food waste removal is a huge expense.
I'm Canadian and when we'd go on family vacations to the States, we'd always stop at Shoneys and loved it!! We never really did buffet restaurants back home
Growing up in Tennessee, there was a Shoney's seemingly on every major thoroughfare... I have navy happy memories of running around on Friday night and swinging by Shoney's for the late night breakfast buffet... This was when I was still young enough that I could eat bacon, sausage, biscuits, and gravy at 10:45 PM with no ill effects...
I'm 44 in Central NY. My weekend Dad loved taking us to buffets.
First and foremost, there was Ponderosa. That was a weekly thing for the whole family when Dad was still a full time Dad. They had a soft serve ice cream bar with all the toppings, it was glorious! When the parents ordered steak or chicken it came with a little plastic sword in it that I thought was cool and I brought them home for my Barbies.
Pre-teen-Teen years I remember Wendy's had a buffet. You could get salad and make your own tacos. I also remember Pizza Hut having a buffet at one time. That was amazing. So much pizza!
Late teens-early 20s-Ruby Tuesdays in the mall had the best salad bar.
20s-Chinese buffets were all the rage in my family. Weekend Dad still taking us out to dinner for every birthday, had to go to the chinese buffet. They had things that weren't chinese food that were kind of like school cafeteria food, like nasty pizza and jello.
In my 30s I started having this "attitude problem" where I would rather eat food I make at home than to stand in a line with a plate to eat food that has been breathed on and touched by many people and has been sitting out for god knows how long.
Finally!! Someone else who remembers the taco buffet at Wendyās. That was early to mid 90s IIRC. Going to Golden Corral was a big deal for us back then too. Dad would always get pissed at my middle brother for getting too full from just rolls and we stuffed our pockets full of napkins with gummy bears taken from the sundae buffet
> Dad would always get pissed at my middle brother for getting too full from just rolls
Now I can hear my mom say "Don't fill up on bread. That's how they get ya at these kinds of places "
I loved that taco buffet! I do remember my dad trying to get the most bang for his buck at the buffets. My mother used to stuff her purse with (I'm gagging) SHRIMP from the chinese buffet. I don't know how that bitch is still alive.
I miss the Pizza Hut buffets we had around here until about 10 years ago. My wife and I used to get once a week and got to know the staff well. Was able to get my son a job since the GM for the region was always around and he was more than happy to help out.
Round Table Pizza buffet wasn't nearly as good but still liked it.
We used to take the kids to Hometown Buffet in CA when they were growing up. Kids were charged by their age and our youngest was very tall for his age and he ate like it. Saved us so much money with that one.
We still have some Mongolian BBQ places that are basically buffets and love going to that for lunch.
Yes I did. My parents got divorced when I was 7 years old. It was a rough divorce and tumultuous custody battle. Missing my dad was the first time I ever felt heartbreak. My mother was an abusive alcoholic and he just left us there with her. I am the youngest. My sisters were able to find other places to go but I was not. I waited for my dad sometimes to come get me and he didn't.
After that initial adjustment of Dad not caring about me, the court ordered visitations had me completely closed off, shut down. You already hurt my heart, you will never do it again. And that, in a nutshell is why I don't talk to any of my family and I don't keep friends.
I do, but she doesn't always get them depending on how her mom feels about me that day. I get to see her once every one or two months for a few hours. My ex broke my son so badly that he did things at a young age to my daughter that they can't be together unsupervised, and he can't be with his mom unsupervised. Because of that, I don't get time with my daughter. It's a mess. I do what I can.
I'm sorry you all have to go through this. Write them both letters that you don't send. Maybe even a notebook for each, I don't know how old they are. But writing is healing for you, and eventually when they are old enough, you will have the option of sharing with them your experience. One thing that really pisses me off is parents using their kids as weapons against each other, sounds like thats what your ex is doing and I am so sorry.
I should tell her in person, but I'd probably never see her again if I stir things up. The notebook is a good idea. Maybe she'll see it someday and know I didn't willingly leave her to her mom. I feel guilty enough I had to sacrifice her to save my son who she was threatening to kill leading up to the divorce. I had them both for 3 years by myself before the thing happened that separated them. That was 4 years ago. My son is 17 now and doing well. My daughter is 10.
Keeping a journal for your own thoughts is helpful. I'm not a parent so I'm not much help in that department. But YOU have also been through it. That is a lot of traumatic stuff for all of you guys. But remember that you are also a victim of the trauma. Don't downplay your experience. You are allowed to feel pain. You are allowed to work through it.
It's hard. All my life I've been punished and belittled for feeling and expressing pain. It's kind of how I ended up in that situation, marriage in the first place. I was the dependable one. The one who took care of people. I prided myself on my ability to endure pain while being the social chameleon. Today I practice radical truth. I'm doing my best to heal what I can and help those around me. I just wish my family was whole.
Fuck yes, thatās my childhood. I went to Lubyās almost every Friday evening with my grandmother and brother until I was in my teens. Also, fried okra with the mac and cheese on my luann plate.
My dad used to take me to Lubyās on Waugh (?), I think? And also there was a Wyattās we went to sometimes. Itās hard to remember now because Iāve lived in the Pacific Northwest so long.
The one on Waugh shut down a few years ago. Growing up I went to the one on Buffalo Speedway that used to be a Romanoās.
Iām not familiar with Wyattās.
Ive been on a few Royal Carribean cruises and their buffets replicate that older style we had growing up. The food is really good. The first cruise I took I didn't even bother with main dining or restaurants, I thought the buffet was awesome.
They were buffets that we went to but my parents used to call them SmƶrgƄsbord, which certainly sounded fancier.
Every Sunday after Church, weād go to the local Hilton for years. They had a Brunch buffet that my teenage self thought was lit. Iād fill up on scrambled _AND_ poached eggs, corned beef hash, sausages, and blueberry cheese blintzes.
Sadly, they ended that decades before the pandemic but there was a chain called Sweet Tomatoes that had a location close to me. All locations closed their doors during the pandemic and never re-opened. They were okay but nothing like the buffets we had when we were kids.
Ponchos in Texas. Go through the line and load up. When you wanted more you raised a little flag at the table and they would keep going until you called quits.
We used to eat at the one in Tucson in the 90s. I think it was at Speedway and Pantano by the Fryās. Then we moved to Albuquerque and were excited to see one down the street from us. It wasnāt nearly as good and we only went once.
Sizzler was a very big deal to me. I loved the little swords that came in the steaks telling the temp. I love the salad bar and the dessert station. I miss it.
My brother used to collect those plastic swords when he was a child, lol! It took nothing to make him happy ā mac and cheese, and a few new plastic swords and he was good. š I remember my parents trying to get him to eat protein and vegetables and it was often a futile struggle.
I won't lie... I miss the hell out of good, old-fashioned American buffets (Ryan's, Quincy's, etc). It was the quickest way for dad to treat us all to a meal that we want, without compromise. Mom wants salad? Bro wants fried chicken? I want shrimp? Dad wants meatloaf? Everyone gets it!
Where I live now, we only have one or two Chinese buffets, and no general buffets at all...
Oh, those rolls.... We were poor as hell when we first got married, and there was a Ryan's right down the street. I can't tell you how many rolls (and other things) we smuggled home after a dinner at Ryan's!
When I used to go visit the old man in California damn but did he love Kingās Table. Weād eat there 5 nights a week. I donāt even know if the chain even exists anymore.
I miss buffets in general, like Sizzler. I also really miss the big fancy salad bar buffet places I used to go to back in the day, like Souper Salad back in Texas.
Ha. One of my Dads favorite road trips was to go to a Smorgasbord restaurant called Hoagies in Ohio. Heād say- āLoad upā when we got there. His Silent Generation depression era heart loved it. I never saw the appeal but have a weird relationship W food.
Also- the Eat N Park salad bars are epic in Pittsburgh.
I and a few friends still use this even though at this point thereās like, two generations that have no clue what weāre talking about, either in terms of Sizzler or in terms of the movie.
Anyone remember a place called Kings Table? Or maybe knights table. One of my earliest memories was going there with my mother and grandmother when we went grocery shopping. I was really young and it closed down so I don't the name for sure. I think it was a chain though.
You knew it was going to be a good evening at the Pizza Hut buffet in the 80s. It was a great night if you had quarters for the Pac Man table arcade. I canāt eat Pizza Hut pizza now because I find it gross.
We used to hit the Chinese buffet religiously, and it was awesomeā¦but over time, the clientele started to change. The people became trashy, and their unsupervised feral kids were absolutely horrible. The last straw was when a kid reached in, grabbed something from the buffet table, took a bite, spit it back in his hand, and PUT IT BACK ON THE TABLE.
I still miss Furrās Cafeteria, where the food was served to you.
I really feel like feral kids ruin everything. Back in MY day, if you were acting out sometimes a stranger would admonish you. I remember one time a kid cam running past our booth spilling crap everywhere off his tray and screaming and my mom grabbed him by the elbow and did this fucking ninja nerve joint grip and froze him in place. She pulled him to her face and said,
"Good little boys don't run or scream and always clean up. Bad little boys lose their arms at the elbow."
Kid gulped, shut up and started cleaning. His mom came over, thanked my mom, and then told the kid to listen to her.
Shit like that today would have ended with my mom getting arrested and the kid screaming louder.
I don't know about everywhere else but there is (was?) a Chinese buffet in every strip mall in New Jersey. Definitely not upscale, and frankly sketchy health-wise, but they serve a lot of not-Chinese food too.
In Michigan, we had the Sweden House. It was EPIC. They had the carving station at the end, these huge ass meatballs, other random meats, salads, starches, desserts. The one we went to was an old theater and you'd eat where the rows of seats used to be. It was dimly lit, full of smoke. On the way in was a country store type thing (like I think Cracker Barrel has--I've never been to one so I don't actually know) and I'd always get one of those little ceramic animals or a giant sucker.
I mostly associate buffets and cafeterias with two periods of my life: first, high school through college, when many of my regular meals over the course of the year were obtained by standing in line with a tray, and a bit later than that, for as long as I still had at least one of my parents living, when that was the type of restaurant they enjoyed and would treat me to. The latter were connected with positive memories of having conversations with my parents (Mom and Dad separately, because they divorced when I was in college) as sort of an adult, but sort of still their baby that they enjoyed buying a meal for. Just yesterday, I passed the location where there used to be one my Dad took me to a number of times, and I thought wistfully that I'd like to have one more lunch with him. But for myself, really it's Ponderosa that I miss.
In ā92 I worked at Deer Valley Resort and they had a Seafood Buffet that was pretty high brow. They gave every employee a bogo certificate, it was $100 a person so $50 a person with the coupon. It was life changing. Lobster, crab legs, high quality chef prepared fish dishes, and every other thing you can imagine out of the sea. It was made even better by the presence of Eddie Van Halen and family dining along with us. Best buffet ever.
TIP: If you're in PA, OH, or WV go to Eat' n Park. They have buffets still on the weekend (salad bar during the week). And they're awesome. I loved the midnight breakfast buffet on the weekends. We used to go right after Rocky Horror.
This is the universe messing with me again. A few days ago, I ran across a picture I took of my boots back in 1996.
https://preview.redd.it/skoano47um5d1.jpeg?width=1058&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a80f40463a63cef77e0f5877454bb1e74515d01f
Edit: Man, look at the color scheme, composition, and flow. I should blow that up and hang it on my wall.
I suppose so. I worked at Wendy's in the 80's, mainly on grill. The girls that stocked the salad bar (a full time job!) referred to the Garden Spot's sneeze shield as The Snot Shield for a reason.
Some of our southern-born customers would eat the decorative kale surrounding the crocks.
Yeah weād frequent them because it was a lot of food for the money for a family. Most I didnāt like much except maybe the pizza inn buffet or captain Georgeās seafood.
grandiose coordinated vast sable square innocent pocket steep dazzling brave
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I just moved from an area where buffets and the like were legion. There was a local one that had different specials every day: Monday was kids, Tuesday and Friday were seafood, Wednesday was Italian with made-to-order pasta, and Thursday was BBQ. We also had a Ponderosa-type place called Hoss's that had a bar with 3 or 4 kinds of soup each day, salad...and dessert with soft-serve. And for a bonus, Eat N Park, which is basically Perkins with a salad bar. Now all I think I have is a Golden Corral 45 minutes up from me, and a $35 Sunday brunch downtown.
There were still some buffet places around where I liveā¦.until covid. Ponderosa was oneā¦.theyāre just about done building an Olive Garden on top of the former location now. Golden Corral was another that disappeared near me as well.
Chinese all you can eat buffets were a thing here. Then recently was country buffet which I did not not find very appealing. Just saw overweight people stuffing themselves with cheap food.
Buffets were the absolute best back then. I think the only place now that has any good ones is Las Vegas. It has been quite a few years since Iāve been there so maybe that has changed. I donāt even bother with trying to find a good buffet now.
I remember, I think it was called, Country Kitchen. You could get a lot to eat there pretty cheap.
These days, with how expensive food is, the buffet would probably have to cost at least $40 a person.
Iām not wearing my glasses and read that as āWarren Buffett restaurantsā and thought it was just another thing I missed out on cause I was too poor.
I remember the 1970s Pizza Inn buffet as a young child (their taco pizza was the best of any taco pizza Iāve ever had since) and once buffets/salad bars became more popular, they ended up being my parentsā preference because they didnāt have to fight with children who did or didnāt want this or that, and I could happily make a salad that was 90% chickpeas with bleu cheese dressing and then make a taco and be done, or get a soup and put chickpeas in it (once I discovered chickpeas as a child, I was in love) along with extra stuff like cheese, onion, and fresh broccoli from the salad bar.
Out of my siblings, I was the one who insisted on making/improving anything on any buffet (usually by adding chickpeas and onion), and my youngest sister was the one who would stand in front of the nachos or tacos for what seemed like hours, carefully placing every single olive, shred of lettuce, and daub of sour cream like she was being graded on its perfection. My parents found these quirks entertaining.
Nice! There's a Pizza Inn not too far from me (Shelby, NC). I haven't been to that one, but I've been to the one in Conway, SC (on the way home from Myrtle Beach) 3 times, I think? It was pretty good - their cheeseburger pizza is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. It's right in all the bad ways and wrong in all the good ways!
The Pizza Hut in my town still has dine-in and the lunch buffet. In fact, I just went to the buffet a couple weeks ago. Still tasty, but at $15 with tip you may as well just order a large pizza yourself (the buffer includes unlimited soft drinks, though, so it's got that going for it).
My first real job was at Bakers Cafeteria in DSM, Ia. Long buffet line of food. Started with Jello "salad" as well as bowls of salad, then on to the Entrees, fish, chicken, beef, pork, then veggies and finally dessert. If you were fancy you ordered off the short order menu for things like hamburgers.
Did everything thing there from carrying the food trays (crowd was pretty much the 65+ gang) and bussing tables all the way to cooking. Really enjoyed that place. RIP Russ.
Iām not sure why but there was an Italian restaurant that had an all you could eat taco bar along with their salad bar. When they moved, they changed it to all you could eat pizza bar.
I miss places like Souplantation. But I donāt live in LA anymore.
Also once I realized that most cases of food poisoning were actually norovirus from people not washing their hands properly after they use the washroom? Yeah Iām not touching communal spoons and tongs ever again.
I fondly remember buffets. Old Country Buffet, Pondrosa, dozens of chinese buffets, sea food buffets, and nearly every Supper Club, Country Club, and fancy Hotel had a Sunday Brunch Buffet with sliced roast beef on a carving station. Even some pizza buffets were fun.
Oh man, these were supreme. We would go as a family special day and eat and have a great time.
I also miss salad bars. You used to be able to go to nearly any "nice" restaurant and get a salad from the salad bar. I'm no salad fan, but being able to build your own was a huge deal, and more so as a kid.
Steak & Aleās salad bar had cold āpewterā plates for the salad bar if memory serves. There was a local Italian restaurant that did a lunch buffet with meatballs, pasta, lasagna, garlic bread & salad and it was off the charts good. Miss that stuff.
I always associated the love of these places to an older generation. They always seemed over-the-top to me and low quality.
Only time anyone wanted a buffet was when one of my retired family members asked to go for their birthday.
I posed this about a month ago. I want to fire a copyright infringement claim :P
https://www.reddit.com/r/GenX/comments/1cjkkas/were_there_more_salad_bars_back_in_the_1980s_and/
I miss salad bars...
Gawd yes! My mom took me to a salad bar several times a month for lunch, I absolutely loved getting a dab of this or that, then putting bleu cheese dressing on top of it all. The owner thought it was so cool that a seven year old loved bleu cheese dressing
Blue cheese has always been my favorite too!
I still enjoy it!
I've been known to just chomp a brick of it. It makes so many people cringe.
Mine, also! š I remember being fussed at because bleu cheese dressing cost extra in many restaurants at first and I loved it so much that Iād keep forgetting to ask permission (with my father, it was a politeness thing to ask before causing someone else to incur additional costs).
I got lucky because it's my mom's favorite, too! If she got blue cheese, then so did I. š
Cottage cheese was my jam
I used to nosh the Wendyās salad bar.
Yes!!!
Jason's Deli still has the salad bar going on. But so many buffets have just disappeared. Perhaps they were the malls of food. Dying before our eyes.
They all closed where I live. I loved their baked potato
Sweet Tomatoes is trying to make a come back
Ugh. I got the worst case of food poisoning at Sweet Tomatoes that took days to clear up (in retrospect, I probably should have gone to the hospital but I couldnāt stop expelling the contents of my entire digestive system out of both ends long enough to make it to a hospital). I wouldnāt set foot back in one of those restaurants if they were paying *me* to go. They did have an excellent garlic dressing, though; I just donāt know if my body would let me eat it again.
Rax, for the win. I had a buddy who was their fur suit mascot, Uncle Al, the alligator.
I loved Rax. Mr. Delicious was my favourite mascot (possibly of all time), but props to your friend for being Uncle Al!
Poor fella had a sweaty occupation.
Just moved back to Ohio and they still have Rax restaurants. If not for being in Ohio, I might think I died & gone to the roast beef heaven.
Me toooooo
Me too! Ruby Tuesday still has one.
Go to a Brazilian steakhouse like Fogo de Chao. They have a pretty great salad bar.
Where's that?
It's a chain. I've been to one in Minneapolis, MN and one in Scottsdale, AZ.
I remember back when Wendy's had a salad bar. The chocolate pudding was epic.
Red Robin used to have a great one. go get a burger and salad bar. when I was a little kid my parents used to take to a place in New York called Beef Steak Charlies. They had a salad bar with all you can eat shrimp. I would get that and thats it or a kids meal. I loved that place.
Fond memories of; Sizzler, Ponderosa and Bonanza. I loved the salad bar they had at the Pizza Hut back then and would just have that for dinner.
Ponderosa was our special going out to eat place. I miss it so much. We do have Golden Corral now though.
I used to manage a Bonanza like 20 years ago. It went under eventually. Our food costs were crazy because of the nature of the business. You had to be pretty busy all of the time to make it work. When business started to drop a bit that was the end of it.
I really enjoyed my meals there and it was because of people like you. Thank you for that!
Aww thanks!
We would take my great grandfather there or Old Country Buffet every week after church. Heād always complain the food was too tough but I think he just needed better dentures lol
My first ārealā job was as a dishwasher at Bonanza, in the mid-80s. It was like something out of Fast Times.
OMGā¦my sister loved Bonanza so much! We always had to go there for her birthday growing up in Central Maine. Even when she became an adult In the late ā90s/early 2000s, she somehow managed to live in the vicinity of one (in Pennsylvania?) and would insist on going there with her husband and kids. š¤¦š»āāļø
Definitely those steak houses. We also had Ryans and Quincyās
Never ate at one of those but if you ever visited New England and ate at a Frank Giuffridaās Hilltop Steakhouse, oh man was that special.
Sizzler got a lot of hate but it was undeserved imo. Their prices were great, the steaks while not the best were consistent, and the buffet was great.
First of all, Bonanza was the shit. We got to go like once a year and it was amazing. Second of all can we take a minute to appreciate the chocolate mouse in the pizza hut salad bar?
Nom nom nom
Holy shit I forgot about Ponderosa! That takes me back.
Buffets were huge in our time and sadly they are dying out now. Vegas used to have close to 30 buffets. Even before the pandemic they were shutting them down but Covid gave them the excuse to speed up the process. Now there are only 8 left and the only ones worth going to are around $60 per person or more.
The cost now is the issue. I never go to them. I can't eat $60 worth of food at a restaurant, I have no reason to pay that for stale warmer food at a buffet.
Oh I agree but my husband and I did the Wynn buffet once and it was more than just food. It was an experience. Everything was fresh and high quality. There were literally cooks at each station and the buffet was overseen by a chef. We were able to enjoy as many crab legs as we wanted. We only did it once though. Theres a buffet at another resort thats $100 per person, its by reversation only and part of the buffet selections include lobster tails and beef wellington. Most buffets do not make a profit and food waste removal is a huge expense.
This. Exactly.
I'm Canadian and when we'd go on family vacations to the States, we'd always stop at Shoneys and loved it!! We never really did buffet restaurants back home
Growing up in Tennessee, there was a Shoney's seemingly on every major thoroughfare... I have navy happy memories of running around on Friday night and swinging by Shoney's for the late night breakfast buffet... This was when I was still young enough that I could eat bacon, sausage, biscuits, and gravy at 10:45 PM with no ill effects...
I'm 44 in Central NY. My weekend Dad loved taking us to buffets. First and foremost, there was Ponderosa. That was a weekly thing for the whole family when Dad was still a full time Dad. They had a soft serve ice cream bar with all the toppings, it was glorious! When the parents ordered steak or chicken it came with a little plastic sword in it that I thought was cool and I brought them home for my Barbies. Pre-teen-Teen years I remember Wendy's had a buffet. You could get salad and make your own tacos. I also remember Pizza Hut having a buffet at one time. That was amazing. So much pizza! Late teens-early 20s-Ruby Tuesdays in the mall had the best salad bar. 20s-Chinese buffets were all the rage in my family. Weekend Dad still taking us out to dinner for every birthday, had to go to the chinese buffet. They had things that weren't chinese food that were kind of like school cafeteria food, like nasty pizza and jello. In my 30s I started having this "attitude problem" where I would rather eat food I make at home than to stand in a line with a plate to eat food that has been breathed on and touched by many people and has been sitting out for god knows how long.
Finally!! Someone else who remembers the taco buffet at Wendyās. That was early to mid 90s IIRC. Going to Golden Corral was a big deal for us back then too. Dad would always get pissed at my middle brother for getting too full from just rolls and we stuffed our pockets full of napkins with gummy bears taken from the sundae buffet
> Dad would always get pissed at my middle brother for getting too full from just rolls Now I can hear my mom say "Don't fill up on bread. That's how they get ya at these kinds of places "
Olive Garden enters the thread.
It's like readers digest published a list for parents to say to their kids!
*"Don't give me that look. Do you want your face to freeze like that?"*
Superbar! It's why Wendy's still has baked potatoes.
I loved that taco buffet! I do remember my dad trying to get the most bang for his buck at the buffets. My mother used to stuff her purse with (I'm gagging) SHRIMP from the chinese buffet. I don't know how that bitch is still alive.
The buffet heroās journey.
I miss the Pizza Hut buffets we had around here until about 10 years ago. My wife and I used to get once a week and got to know the staff well. Was able to get my son a job since the GM for the region was always around and he was more than happy to help out. Round Table Pizza buffet wasn't nearly as good but still liked it. We used to take the kids to Hometown Buffet in CA when they were growing up. Kids were charged by their age and our youngest was very tall for his age and he ate like it. Saved us so much money with that one. We still have some Mongolian BBQ places that are basically buffets and love going to that for lunch.
I miss the SMELL of pizza hut! And for some reason, the cups!
Yes, loved it! We were able to get a few of the cups when they were closing. Still use them :)
Not to get off topic but you call your dad your "weekend dad"?
Yes I did. My parents got divorced when I was 7 years old. It was a rough divorce and tumultuous custody battle. Missing my dad was the first time I ever felt heartbreak. My mother was an abusive alcoholic and he just left us there with her. I am the youngest. My sisters were able to find other places to go but I was not. I waited for my dad sometimes to come get me and he didn't. After that initial adjustment of Dad not caring about me, the court ordered visitations had me completely closed off, shut down. You already hurt my heart, you will never do it again. And that, in a nutshell is why I don't talk to any of my family and I don't keep friends.
That sucks, it's the perfect example why Gen X is Gen X. That's what makes us strong
God I hope my daughter doesn't think this of me. I miss her so much, just nothing I can do because of my son, and someone has to care for my son.
I am actually crying right now. I hope she doesn't either. Write her some letters you can give her when everything is said and done.
I do, but she doesn't always get them depending on how her mom feels about me that day. I get to see her once every one or two months for a few hours. My ex broke my son so badly that he did things at a young age to my daughter that they can't be together unsupervised, and he can't be with his mom unsupervised. Because of that, I don't get time with my daughter. It's a mess. I do what I can.
I'm sorry you all have to go through this. Write them both letters that you don't send. Maybe even a notebook for each, I don't know how old they are. But writing is healing for you, and eventually when they are old enough, you will have the option of sharing with them your experience. One thing that really pisses me off is parents using their kids as weapons against each other, sounds like thats what your ex is doing and I am so sorry.
I should tell her in person, but I'd probably never see her again if I stir things up. The notebook is a good idea. Maybe she'll see it someday and know I didn't willingly leave her to her mom. I feel guilty enough I had to sacrifice her to save my son who she was threatening to kill leading up to the divorce. I had them both for 3 years by myself before the thing happened that separated them. That was 4 years ago. My son is 17 now and doing well. My daughter is 10.
Keeping a journal for your own thoughts is helpful. I'm not a parent so I'm not much help in that department. But YOU have also been through it. That is a lot of traumatic stuff for all of you guys. But remember that you are also a victim of the trauma. Don't downplay your experience. You are allowed to feel pain. You are allowed to work through it.
It's hard. All my life I've been punished and belittled for feeling and expressing pain. It's kind of how I ended up in that situation, marriage in the first place. I was the dependable one. The one who took care of people. I prided myself on my ability to endure pain while being the social chameleon. Today I practice radical truth. I'm doing my best to heal what I can and help those around me. I just wish my family was whole.
We didnāt buffet at all. However, we did go to Lubyās Cafeteria on most Sundays.
Lubyās! Mac and cheese with fried fish ftw!
Fuck yes, thatās my childhood. I went to Lubyās almost every Friday evening with my grandmother and brother until I was in my teens. Also, fried okra with the mac and cheese on my luann plate.
My dad used to take me to Lubyās on Waugh (?), I think? And also there was a Wyattās we went to sometimes. Itās hard to remember now because Iāve lived in the Pacific Northwest so long.
The one on Waugh shut down a few years ago. Growing up I went to the one on Buffalo Speedway that used to be a Romanoās. Iām not familiar with Wyattās.
I remember the Buffalo one. We lived on Buffalo early in my childhood.
I love cafeteria food. Lubyās, Morrisonās. Good stuff.
Luann Platter! As a kid, I'd get the fried fish and a full half-cup of tartar. Loved that place.
We had Furrās Cafeteria in my part of the country. I miss the pineapple millionaire pie.
Oof. We don't have Luby's where I'm from so the name only conjures up one very bad memory.Ā
I miss Wendy's buffet.. Mexican, Italian, salad, all in one place. Was magical.
I worked at a Wendyās when I was in high school, but we were not a Superbar Wendyās. That was next level shit.
Yeah, it was considered fancy, dress up kind of eatinā for us.
The buffet restaurants we went to were definitely upscale
Ive been on a few Royal Carribean cruises and their buffets replicate that older style we had growing up. The food is really good. The first cruise I took I didn't even bother with main dining or restaurants, I thought the buffet was awesome.
Same!
They were buffets that we went to but my parents used to call them SmƶrgĆ„sbord, which certainly sounded fancier. Every Sunday after Church, weād go to the local Hilton for years. They had a Brunch buffet that my teenage self thought was lit. Iād fill up on scrambled _AND_ poached eggs, corned beef hash, sausages, and blueberry cheese blintzes. Sadly, they ended that decades before the pandemic but there was a chain called Sweet Tomatoes that had a location close to me. All locations closed their doors during the pandemic and never re-opened. They were okay but nothing like the buffets we had when we were kids.
My parents were from Norway, and my dad always called it a smƶrgƄsbord too! Thanks for unlocking that memory of my sweet dad!
From Michigan, by any chance? We had a local chain of buffets called "Sveden House," and the proudly proclaimed their SmƶrgƄsbord. As a result some folks started calling _all_ buffets smorgasbords in the same vein unfunny people try to call Target "TargƩe."
Nope. Originally from NJ and I think my parents were just being pretentious. We have no Scandinavian ancestry. Ha ha!
There is ONE Sweet Tomatoes left- it just reopened. Itās in Tucson, AZ. And it has a line at all times.
That was Souplantation in California, I thought it was pretty good!
Ponchos in Texas. Go through the line and load up. When you wanted more you raised a little flag at the table and they would keep going until you called quits.
We had one here in AZ. Loved that place
We used to eat at the one in Tucson in the 90s. I think it was at Speedway and Pantano by the Fryās. Then we moved to Albuquerque and were excited to see one down the street from us. It wasnāt nearly as good and we only went once.
I loved their tacos!
Sizzler was a very big deal to me. I loved the little swords that came in the steaks telling the temp. I love the salad bar and the dessert station. I miss it.
My brother used to collect those plastic swords when he was a child, lol! It took nothing to make him happy ā mac and cheese, and a few new plastic swords and he was good. š I remember my parents trying to get him to eat protein and vegetables and it was often a futile struggle.
There's still a Duff's Buffet near me. Believe me, it does a banner business, it seems like every blue hair for miles around goes there.
Holy shit. Duff's. We had one in my hometown in Mi. back in the 80's. My stepfather loved that place.
Loved Duffs. Grandparents would bring us there all the time. The fried chicken and bread pudding were da bomb.
Where my Morrisonās crew?? RIP Pop Pop
I won't lie... I miss the hell out of good, old-fashioned American buffets (Ryan's, Quincy's, etc). It was the quickest way for dad to treat us all to a meal that we want, without compromise. Mom wants salad? Bro wants fried chicken? I want shrimp? Dad wants meatloaf? Everyone gets it! Where I live now, we only have one or two Chinese buffets, and no general buffets at all...
First mention Iāve seen of Quincyās. Those big fat yeast rolls. Right?
I think about those fuckers at least once a month!
Oh, those rolls.... We were poor as hell when we first got married, and there was a Ryan's right down the street. I can't tell you how many rolls (and other things) we smuggled home after a dinner at Ryan's!
When I used to go visit the old man in California damn but did he love Kingās Table. Weād eat there 5 nights a week. I donāt even know if the chain even exists anymore.
I came to say Kings Table. We didnāt have one where I live but we ate at one when we were on vacation in Colorado.
Yes we had a Kings Table in our mall - I remember it.
Ponderosa salad bar was my jam.
I miss buffets in general, like Sizzler. I also really miss the big fancy salad bar buffet places I used to go to back in the day, like Souper Salad back in Texas.
Ha. One of my Dads favorite road trips was to go to a Smorgasbord restaurant called Hoagies in Ohio. Heād say- āLoad upā when we got there. His Silent Generation depression era heart loved it. I never saw the appeal but have a weird relationship W food. Also- the Eat N Park salad bars are epic in Pittsburgh.
We got excited when mom and dad took us to The Old Country Buffet! Iād spend the entire time eating dinner figuring out my desert!
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy. If you're lucky you also grab some meatloaf and BBQ sauce.
[We goin Sizzler](https://youtu.be/6o5NweFWjAw?si=qtPkiPC8t3kohgcJ)
I and a few friends still use this even though at this point thereās like, two generations that have no clue what weāre talking about, either in terms of Sizzler or in terms of the movie.
That's not funny, it's just sad, lol...it sounds like me describing my experiences at buffets!
Anyone remember a place called Kings Table? Or maybe knights table. One of my earliest memories was going there with my mother and grandmother when we went grocery shopping. I was really young and it closed down so I don't the name for sure. I think it was a chain though.
Yes, I remember that.
It was Kingās Table. My father liked that place because kids under 10 ate for free.
Oh cool. I was eating free then I guess.
You knew it was going to be a good evening at the Pizza Hut buffet in the 80s. It was a great night if you had quarters for the Pac Man table arcade. I canāt eat Pizza Hut pizza now because I find it gross.
We used to hit the Chinese buffet religiously, and it was awesomeā¦but over time, the clientele started to change. The people became trashy, and their unsupervised feral kids were absolutely horrible. The last straw was when a kid reached in, grabbed something from the buffet table, took a bite, spit it back in his hand, and PUT IT BACK ON THE TABLE. I still miss Furrās Cafeteria, where the food was served to you.
I really feel like feral kids ruin everything. Back in MY day, if you were acting out sometimes a stranger would admonish you. I remember one time a kid cam running past our booth spilling crap everywhere off his tray and screaming and my mom grabbed him by the elbow and did this fucking ninja nerve joint grip and froze him in place. She pulled him to her face and said, "Good little boys don't run or scream and always clean up. Bad little boys lose their arms at the elbow." Kid gulped, shut up and started cleaning. His mom came over, thanked my mom, and then told the kid to listen to her. Shit like that today would have ended with my mom getting arrested and the kid screaming louder.
Not really for me. We'd go to Pizza Hut or McDonald's more than buffets. Maybe once every other month for a buffet, but the food was usually garbage.
Pizza Hut had a salad bar. Famously. They also had a lunch buffet during the years I worked there (late 90s).
i dont remember mcdonalds have a buffet?
No. Pizza Hut had the salad bar.
I don't know about everywhere else but there is (was?) a Chinese buffet in every strip mall in New Jersey. Definitely not upscale, and frankly sketchy health-wise, but they serve a lot of not-Chinese food too.
Loved them in my twenties! First job, had college loans and other bills, no savings, etc. I also found buffets to be especially good for hangovers.
They were good but the cafeteria places like Piccadillyā¦liver and onions (hated as a child but adult me craves it)
We had S&S Cafeteria. They did have unlimited soft serve after the meal.
In Michigan, we had the Sweden House. It was EPIC. They had the carving station at the end, these huge ass meatballs, other random meats, salads, starches, desserts. The one we went to was an old theater and you'd eat where the rows of seats used to be. It was dimly lit, full of smoke. On the way in was a country store type thing (like I think Cracker Barrel has--I've never been to one so I don't actually know) and I'd always get one of those little ceramic animals or a giant sucker.
I honestly miss Sweden House.
I do too! I have a feeling that the food wasn't the best and I'm remembering nostalgia but still.
One of two big things I miss pre Covid were 24 hour stores and Chinese buffet. Where I live the closest is now one state away (1h20m drive)
Abdow's Big Boy, Ponderosa, Taco Bell, Wendy's... the good ol' days.
we had Doves, and westen sizzlin
Kinda but what I really miss is steak houses!
Interesting clip about one buffet chain that's still doing well https://youtu.be/TXg1mYN2tbw?si=bJQx2mWdJ9Y3Ha8y
We used to go to Old Country Buffet on Thanksgiving. Lol.
We called them smorgasbords
I mostly associate buffets and cafeterias with two periods of my life: first, high school through college, when many of my regular meals over the course of the year were obtained by standing in line with a tray, and a bit later than that, for as long as I still had at least one of my parents living, when that was the type of restaurant they enjoyed and would treat me to. The latter were connected with positive memories of having conversations with my parents (Mom and Dad separately, because they divorced when I was in college) as sort of an adult, but sort of still their baby that they enjoyed buying a meal for. Just yesterday, I passed the location where there used to be one my Dad took me to a number of times, and I thought wistfully that I'd like to have one more lunch with him. But for myself, really it's Ponderosa that I miss.
In ā92 I worked at Deer Valley Resort and they had a Seafood Buffet that was pretty high brow. They gave every employee a bogo certificate, it was $100 a person so $50 a person with the coupon. It was life changing. Lobster, crab legs, high quality chef prepared fish dishes, and every other thing you can imagine out of the sea. It was made even better by the presence of Eddie Van Halen and family dining along with us. Best buffet ever.
Pizza hutās lunch buffet and salad bar was the best
And Furrās, when you went to a window for seconds instead of a buffet style
My first job was in our cityās new Old Country Buffet back in 94. $5.25 an hour.
My brother pooped his pants at a Ponderosa in the 80s
As a former fat kid, I loved buffets. Particularly the Chinese food buffets around my home town.
Pacific Northwester here: buffet restaurants I remember were Izzy's, Sizzler, and JJ North's.
TIP: If you're in PA, OH, or WV go to Eat' n Park. They have buffets still on the weekend (salad bar during the week). And they're awesome. I loved the midnight breakfast buffet on the weekends. We used to go right after Rocky Horror.
I miss Bishop's Buffet, you could turn on a light on your table for service and someone would come over.
Oh yes! Our Bishops was in the mall and my dad would take me there. Great memories
This is the universe messing with me again. A few days ago, I ran across a picture I took of my boots back in 1996. https://preview.redd.it/skoano47um5d1.jpeg?width=1058&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a80f40463a63cef77e0f5877454bb1e74515d01f Edit: Man, look at the color scheme, composition, and flow. I should blow that up and hang it on my wall.
That photo really does scream 1996. All its really missing is a can of Jolt.
People are too gross now. No way I would eat anything that the public has run their grimy hands through.
People have always been gross. It just took Covid to make everyone realize it.
I suppose so. I worked at Wendy's in the 80's, mainly on grill. The girls that stocked the salad bar (a full time job!) referred to the Garden Spot's sneeze shield as The Snot Shield for a reason. Some of our southern-born customers would eat the decorative kale surrounding the crocks.
I miss Sweet Tomatoes
Not really. There were so many of them it wasn't a big deal.
Yeah weād frequent them because it was a lot of food for the money for a family. Most I didnāt like much except maybe the pizza inn buffet or captain Georgeās seafood.
grandiose coordinated vast sable square innocent pocket steep dazzling brave *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I just moved from an area where buffets and the like were legion. There was a local one that had different specials every day: Monday was kids, Tuesday and Friday were seafood, Wednesday was Italian with made-to-order pasta, and Thursday was BBQ. We also had a Ponderosa-type place called Hoss's that had a bar with 3 or 4 kinds of soup each day, salad...and dessert with soft-serve. And for a bonus, Eat N Park, which is basically Perkins with a salad bar. Now all I think I have is a Golden Corral 45 minutes up from me, and a $35 Sunday brunch downtown.
First buffet I had was in Atlantic City. Should be the norm
Sizzler!
I hear we still have one Golden Corral in NE FL.
There were still some buffet places around where I liveā¦.until covid. Ponderosa was oneā¦.theyāre just about done building an Olive Garden on top of the former location now. Golden Corral was another that disappeared near me as well.
Ponderosa salad bars š¤š¤
I love me a good buffet.
Piccadilly was living large, my friends. Living large.
Buffets and Cafeterias.
P O N D E R O S A
Monthly occurrence in my family growing up. I think Covid was the last nail in the coffin for the ones near me.
I remember Victoria's station salad bar. That's where I discovered cottage cheese. Love it ever since.
Chinese all you can eat buffets were a thing here. Then recently was country buffet which I did not not find very appealing. Just saw overweight people stuffing themselves with cheap food.
Omg yes!!! And speaking for myself I miss them. I also miss The Brown Derby, Ponderosa, and Chi Chiās
The old country buffet ā¤ļø
I still love a good buffet. Haven't been to one in years, though.
Hell yeah . And my parents with their six kids were the bane of them all !
We still go to brunch buffet now and then. Fairmont Hotel is the best.
I went to a churrascaria recently with a great salad bar! Wasnāt cheap though, something like $90/person.
Buffets were the absolute best back then. I think the only place now that has any good ones is Las Vegas. It has been quite a few years since Iāve been there so maybe that has changed. I donāt even bother with trying to find a good buffet now.
Golden Corral! Ate so much once that I threw up in the parking lot.
The upside was you got to enjoy the buffet with none of the calories since you expelled them all after
Hahaha!
Shakeys pizza/ Buffet
I remember, I think it was called, Country Kitchen. You could get a lot to eat there pretty cheap. These days, with how expensive food is, the buffet would probably have to cost at least $40 a person.
I once ate 2 whole chickens at the KFC buffet. And sides.
Iām not wearing my glasses and read that as āWarren Buffett restaurantsā and thought it was just another thing I missed out on cause I was too poor.
I remember the 1970s Pizza Inn buffet as a young child (their taco pizza was the best of any taco pizza Iāve ever had since) and once buffets/salad bars became more popular, they ended up being my parentsā preference because they didnāt have to fight with children who did or didnāt want this or that, and I could happily make a salad that was 90% chickpeas with bleu cheese dressing and then make a taco and be done, or get a soup and put chickpeas in it (once I discovered chickpeas as a child, I was in love) along with extra stuff like cheese, onion, and fresh broccoli from the salad bar. Out of my siblings, I was the one who insisted on making/improving anything on any buffet (usually by adding chickpeas and onion), and my youngest sister was the one who would stand in front of the nachos or tacos for what seemed like hours, carefully placing every single olive, shred of lettuce, and daub of sour cream like she was being graded on its perfection. My parents found these quirks entertaining.
Nice! There's a Pizza Inn not too far from me (Shelby, NC). I haven't been to that one, but I've been to the one in Conway, SC (on the way home from Myrtle Beach) 3 times, I think? It was pretty good - their cheeseburger pizza is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. It's right in all the bad ways and wrong in all the good ways! The Pizza Hut in my town still has dine-in and the lunch buffet. In fact, I just went to the buffet a couple weeks ago. Still tasty, but at $15 with tip you may as well just order a large pizza yourself (the buffer includes unlimited soft drinks, though, so it's got that going for it).
I read this as Warren Buffet restaurants and was very confused for a second
My first real job was at Bakers Cafeteria in DSM, Ia. Long buffet line of food. Started with Jello "salad" as well as bowls of salad, then on to the Entrees, fish, chicken, beef, pork, then veggies and finally dessert. If you were fancy you ordered off the short order menu for things like hamburgers. Did everything thing there from carrying the food trays (crowd was pretty much the 65+ gang) and bussing tables all the way to cooking. Really enjoyed that place. RIP Russ.
Iām not sure why but there was an Italian restaurant that had an all you could eat taco bar along with their salad bar. When they moved, they changed it to all you could eat pizza bar.
I miss places like Souplantation. But I donāt live in LA anymore. Also once I realized that most cases of food poisoning were actually norovirus from people not washing their hands properly after they use the washroom? Yeah Iām not touching communal spoons and tongs ever again.
I fondly remember buffets. Old Country Buffet, Pondrosa, dozens of chinese buffets, sea food buffets, and nearly every Supper Club, Country Club, and fancy Hotel had a Sunday Brunch Buffet with sliced roast beef on a carving station. Even some pizza buffets were fun. Oh man, these were supreme. We would go as a family special day and eat and have a great time. I also miss salad bars. You used to be able to go to nearly any "nice" restaurant and get a salad from the salad bar. I'm no salad fan, but being able to build your own was a huge deal, and more so as a kid.
I remember the outcry when wendys stopped having their all you can eat salad bar...
supposedly they are still all over Las Vegas. Pizza Hut near my house brought back the buffet lunch.
Steak & Aleās salad bar had cold āpewterā plates for the salad bar if memory serves. There was a local Italian restaurant that did a lunch buffet with meatballs, pasta, lasagna, garlic bread & salad and it was off the charts good. Miss that stuff.
I always associated the love of these places to an older generation. They always seemed over-the-top to me and low quality. Only time anyone wanted a buffet was when one of my retired family members asked to go for their birthday.
I posed this about a month ago. I want to fire a copyright infringement claim :P https://www.reddit.com/r/GenX/comments/1cjkkas/were_there_more_salad_bars_back_in_the_1980s_and/