Rant: The Best Type Of All-You-Can Eat Buffet!

When restaurants began to reopen after the pandemic, many which once offered all-you-can-eat buffets decided not to reopen those buffets. Such buffets were seen as a health hazard, too risky to justify reopening. Some felt that this might have sounded the death knell for buffets but that proved not to be the case. For example, in 2022, buffets were a $5.5 billion industry, up 9% from 2021.

The returning buffets have tried to take measures to make them more hygienic, with sneeze-guards and more. That won't assuage the worries of everyone, but it seems clear that plenty of people are willing to take the risk. Some restaurants will never bring back their buffets, but other restaurants will fill that gap. Buffets are returning and in a major way. This may be partially due to the commonly low prices for these all-you-can-eat spots, especially when inflation is such a major issue currently and restaurant prices have generally risen significantly. 

Not all all-you-can-eat buffets are the same. There is one type which provides plenty of health safety (as much as any restaurant), lots of delicious food, and the hot food is truly hot and not merely luke-warm. Yesterday, I dined, with five friends, at one of those restaurants, and we enjoyed an excellent dining experience. All of us had dined at this restaurant before, and we were all eager to return once again. 

We visited Endless Hibachi & Sushi in Peabody, an all-you-can-eat spot which includes a wide range of Sushi, Japanese Appetizers, and a Hibachi meal. Rather than select options from a large buffet table, you order off a menu! Then, your server will bring you your selected dishes, and the hot dishes are properly hot, rather than luke-warm, which often happens to a pan of food on a traditional buffet. You also get your choices for Hibachi, which is then cooked in front of you. And, you can continue ordering more food off the menu if you so desire. 

The all-you-can-eat lunch, which is available Monday to Friday (11:30am-3pm) only costs $15.95 while the all-you-can-eat dinner is $34.95 (but includes a larger menu of options). This has to be one of the best value options, especially for Lunch, in the area, and it seems crazy you can get so much food for such a low price. Just consider how little Sushi you can purchase for $15.95 at any other Japanese restaurant. At Endless Hibachi, the food is tasty and plentiful, and the tempura is especially delicious. 

 

Maki Maki, in Woburn, is a similar type of all-you-can-eat buffet but they don't have Hibachi. So, you can order plenty of Sushi and Japanese appetizers from a menu, which then gets delivered to your table. And you can keep ordering off the menu until you are sated. Lunch prices range (dependent on the day) from $21.99-$23.99 and dinner prices range from $33.99-$35.99. 

This type of all-you-can-eat buffet, where the food is cooked to order, avoids the health risks of the normal buffet tables. If you order a hot dish, the food is delivered to you properly hot. On normal buffet tables, the food sits and over time, hot dishes become luke warm or worse. There's plenty of food options available on the menu, catering to many preferences. What's not to like?

Maybe other restaurants, who already have traditional all-you-can-eat buffets, or are considering opening one, might reconsider the matter and opt for one where patrons order off a menu. It avoids many of the problems associated with traditional buffets, and might then garner even more customers. 

Have you dined at endless Hibachi & Sushi, Maki Maki, or a similar restaurant? Your thoughts?

Mohegan Sun Seasons Buffet: A New Start

Eating at a buffet requires proper strategy, or you might get overwhelmed by salad and bread, failing to later enjoy the diverse and delicious entrees that are offered. As commedian John Pinette says, "Salad is the promissory note that food will come." With 100-200 items available on a buffet, you must be very selective as you certainly won't be able to taste everything. And there is little sense on bulking up on any single item, and thus missing out on so much more.  

Last week, I attended the private ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly expanded and renovated Seasons Buffet at the Mohegan Sun Casino. After that event, the Seasons Buffet opened on July 1 to the public, after having been closed for about six months.  At a cost of about $10 million, the renovations involved removing basically everything that had once been at the restaurant, replacing it with more state-of-the-art equipment.  The space was also enlarged, so that it now covers about 26,000 square feet and seats almost 800 people. Thirty employees were added to the staff and it will now be the only buffet at Mohegan Sun.

Prior to the ribbon cutting, as we sipped Champagne, a couple members of the Mohegan tribe spoke about the new changes. A good luck ceremony was also performed, which they conduct before all new endeavors, involving the burning of sage and a prayer in both English and Mohegan. As it is a smoke-free restaurant, the sage burning is the only time smoking will be permitted there. 

The comedian John Pinette, well known for his jokes involving buffets, also entertained the crowd, providing his own rules for attending a buffet. For example, he stated that skinny people browse at a buffet, and that is just wrong. The proper action is "grab and move," and if you later find you don't like what you took, just spit it out and get something else. One of the funniest bits was unintentional though, as John mistakenly said he was at Foxwoods rather than Mohegan.

Then the ribbon was cut, and the media and VIPs were permitted into the restaurant, to partake of the buffet. These guests seemed to fill less than half the restaurant, so though there was an initial crowd swelling at the buffet stations, it soon lessened and there was nearly no wait at any of the stations.
 

The buffet room is quite stunning, with a brightly colored ceiling, wolf head sculptures, and multi-shaded colored tiled columns. It is still a casual restaurant, but visually very appealing which adds a little elegance to the destination.  The 250-linear-foot serving line can display over 200 different items. The buffet is open seven days a week, for breakfast ($11.75), lunch ($19.75) and dinner ($23.50).  I believe these are reasonable prices for the amount of food available at the buffet, and the prices are certainly less than many other similar buffets.

The buffet is divided into various stations, offering different cuisines, and there will be a live cooking element present at many of the stations. The stations will include Soup & Bread, Italian & Mediterranean (with pizza, pasta, salad, hummus, tabouli, and more), The Carvery (rotisserie with roasted meats for carving), Asian (stir fry, General Tso Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Lo Mein, Fried Rice, Sushi, etc.), New England (raw bar with oysters and clams, Yankee Pot Roast, local Baked Cod, Crab Boil Potatoes, Boston Baked Beans, etc), BBQ (BBQ Brisket, Smoked St Louis Ribs, Carolina Pulled Pork, etc.) and a Dessert Station (Cobblers, Bread Puddings, Cookies, Pies, Mousse, and a hand dipped Ice Cream station).  Plenty of variety is obviously available.  

There will also be a soda system which will eventually offer 100 plus beverage flavors, though it will likely start out with only about 20 different flavors, continually adding new flavors over time.  Beer and wine will be available though I am unsure whether spirits and cocktails will also be available.

For this event, it does not appear that the buffet was up and running as completely as it would be normally. Not all of the buffet space was being used, and servers were also walking around the dining area offering samples of some foods which were not on the buffet, including clam chowder, pepperoni frittata and meatballs. Thus, my experience was but a glimpse into the potential of this buffet, and may not be indicative of how the buffet will usually operate. I'll have to return to get a better idea of how the buffet normally runs.

Overall, most of the food was tasty and fresh, and they did especially well with their BBQ dishes. There was plenty of diversity, so every diner could find plenty of food they would enjoy. No one is going to leave the buffet hungry. My primary complaint, which is a common problem at many buffets, is that much of the food was only luke warm. For example, the fried clams and scallops were kept in large pans and were almost room temperature. Supposedly, when the buffet is operating normally, they will offer small portions of all their dishes so that the food will remain hotter longer.  I hope that does occur. Plus, with normal crowds at the buffet, the pans and trays should empty quicker.

The dessert section was quite extensive, and included plenty of sugar free treats too. The chocolate bread pudding was compelling, and there were two large bowls of fresh whipped cream next to a bowl of strawberries in sauce. So, try to save a little room after dinner to partake of a couple desserts.

The new Seasons Buffet has potential, but it remains to be seen whether it lives up to it or not. I expect that after all the costly renovations, the Mohegan Sun will endeavor to make the restaurant succeed. Probably the primary issue they will face is keeping the food hot enough.  I will try to check it out again so see how it goes, and will of course report back when I do.  If any of my readers visit the buffet, I would love to hear your feedback as well.