I love buffets, all kinds, but a nice breakfast buffet with pastries and fruit is such a treat. Right now, probably not a great idea but there is so much we don't know still. If an effective vaccine is produced, that might make a real difference.

I have not been but I received an email from Pizza Ranch that servers would be giving you your food. I was watching some of the cruise YT videos where people were explaining how some of the ships were planning on handling things. Some were going to plated meals only but others were planning on doing what I recall cafeterias doing. Where you asked for certain things or in my case pointed at what I wanted. Even the drinks on ships were to be filled by staff and given to you.

Other than upscale weekend buffets the only other buffet in this area is Golden Corral and this is what I found on their website. Not certain how they will handle bringing food around to the tables but it should be interesting. Other than a lunch group I seldom use buffets except for holiday meals.

"We have developed new service models to comply with variations in state and local guidelines. We are prepared to temporarily provide our guests an enjoyable Golden Corral experience delivered in new ways, including cafeteria-style, where we serve you on our buffet lines, or family-style, where our servers bring an endless buffet of Golden Corral favorites to your table."

Few buffet restaurants and few chains serve food worth eating, in my opinion. One exception was a SoCal institution named "Souplantation". It also operated under the name Sweet Tomatoes in other parts of the country.

It was a casual restaurant that offered an extensive upscale salad bar (a good one) and a few choices of soup. A good place to go for a low calorie dinner with quality fresh salad ingredients. It announced its permanent closure a few weeks ago.

Buffets will be back after a vaccine is found, I imagine. Until the next pandemic...

A buffet restaurant in my sisters town is going to give each guest a glove to serve themselves with. I wouldn’t rule out buffets forever. It seems the greater danger is sitting in an enclosed area rather than catching something from food. Now the news is saying touching a contaminated surface isn’t as dangerous as once thought.

Hopefully.

Not is SD...again it really depends on the State. Lower population States have had little in the way or restrictions and they do not have the numbers of illness either. Also States that have larger populations of independent thinkers, people who are willing to fight for their independence probably will continue to frequent the eateries they always did. I think it will be RARE the restaurant that survives this. The profit margin was already thin then add months of being closed and now soo reduced in it ability to have customers....eating out will be relegated to fast food where they gave this take out thing cornered.

Buffets. I'm not missing out on anything. I didn't participate much so they won't miss me.

I haven't been to one in decades. We don't eat out that often, so when I do, I like to be served. If I want to get my own food and fill my own plate, I can do that at home.

I enjoy Chinese Buffets that include Mongolian grill style selections of raw foods that they stir fry for you. Not sure what will happen with those but I will miss them if they are history.

Other than that I can take or leave buffets.

Oh, I used to LOVE Sweet Tomatoes when I lived in the city! I'm sorry to hear they're going out of business.

Not a fan of buffets, I always order off the menu. That's not to say I haven't been to any but I prefer not as I'm sort of a germaphobe.

Food that gets left out for hours and has numerous people grabbing at it? Ever since I learned that the plastic shield above a buffet is called a "sneeze guard," I've been grossed out by buffets. In one of his books, Anthony Bourdain wrote about the way food was put out, sat out, was put away and then put out again at a buffet at Top of the Rock, a very upscale restaurant. I suspect most people who've worked in restaurants would eschew buffets.

I'm not a fan of buffets, either. Not because I'm a germaphobe - I'm not - but because I dislike food that's been left sitting around for an extended period, drying out. I prefer my meal fresh and cooked to order. And most places that feature buffets are not places I'd be inclined to spend my dining out dollars anyway.

I do miss salad bars, however. My local grocery had an exceptionally good salad and soup bar that I enjoyed but serve-yourself situations have now been discontinued. Same with the bulk food area. Now everything is prepackaged and usually in sizes I don't want. Especially the herbs and spices, which I purchase as needed. Hope both of these will eventually make a comeback.

I don't care for the idea of them either. On my one and only cruise, I got norovirus only after the strict rules regarding food handling were lifted. They were re-instituted immediately. (It was said the virus came from a town we visited, but the ship had had it the previous week, which I knew because my neighbors coincidentally took that cruise.)

My rule of thumb is I will go (and return) to a buffet restaurant if the food I receive is of such quality that I would have no complaints being served the same food at a traditional restaurant. I'm guessing that this doesn't apply to all of their outlets, but our local Golden Corral meets this standard.

The place is fairly new, and it's clean, well maintained, and usually very busy. This last part is key because as the trays quickly empty, they are constantly being refilled with fresh food, so there is no time for things to dry out. The selection is big, the items are tasty, and I leave feeling like I got my money's worth without stuffing myself with plate after plate just because I can. (and I always leave a little room for the bread pudding at the end)

Picture this. A man enters buffet style restaurant and takes a seat without washing his hands. He orders the buffet and proceeds to play with the facial hair on his way to get a plate and service ware. While he's eating, he plays with facial hair, licks fingers and returns to the tongs and spoons for another helping.

I am not a fan. I have been ill after eating buffets a few times and that's too many. Last one was a buffet only restaurant that specializes in seafood and sushi. I ate only some crab legs and some salad and fruit. I ended up in the hospital with food poisoning. I thought I was going to die.

Often when traveling, the hotel we choose provides a free breakfast, always buffet. I wonder how that will work. I've read that hotels stays are relatively low risk.

My son worked years ago at restaurants and always refers to buffets as "barfets".

Nickel, I'm traveling soon and most of the hotel sites say they will have prepackaged items, that doesn't sound good. I usually order takeout the day before from Cracker Barrel and reheat in the room.

We occasionally eat at a small family owned Italian restaurant that does an after church buffet. They only put out small amounts of food at the time so the staff is there constantly replacing the containers. The place is too small to hold a large crowd, I've never had any issues there. I haven't checked but I suspected they, like the other restaurants here, have gone out of business.

My guess is "new dining" will necessitate driving to a city to eat out because there won't be anything left but fast food in this town.

Thanks Raye. I don't mind microwaving my own breakfast pizza bagel in my hotel room. But making coffee in those little bitty pots they provide, that would take all day, lol. Well, forewarned is forearmed.

But making coffee in those little bitty pots they provide, that would take all day, lol.

Be sure to check the water reservoir for mold and mildew.

mold & mildew ... ewww! Well, those coffee "tea bags" and microwaved water will do in a pinch. Or maybe hotels & other places that serve coffee will figure out a sanitary 'grab and go' method.

Not a buffet fan here. While there are exceptions to the rule, mostly I find them to have mediocre food. I do feel sorry for restaurant owners and workers. I think they are getting hit the hardest because even when they do open up, a lot of people (like me) will still be hesitant to dine out. We were to go with friends to dinner at our club last weekend, but I chickened out. They've removed most of the tables, are only serving outside by reservation only, the staff are all wearing masks and gloves and taking great precautions with sanitizing everything. Our friends went with another couple and said they felt very comfortable. My problem was not with the servers and the cooks, my problem was with my friends. The tables are not that big that the 4 of us could "social distance". I do not know the last time they were in a store or who they might have come in contact with. I'm staying hunkered down until I see the repercussions, if any from Memorial Day weekend.

Arcy, not the first time I've heard the word independence used as a substitution for stupidity.

Nickel - I expect that the coffee urns, sugar and cream would still be available even when regular breakfast isn't. The hotels I use usually keep the coffee available all day. I don't use those individual pots either.

"Arcy, not the first time I've heard the word independence used as a substitution for stupidity."

I wish there were a way to put in 100000 likes for this insightful comment from a healthcare provider.

While it will do nothing for the mold and mildew when I traveled I used a small plastic Melita cone to make what is now called pour over coffee. While I packed a supply of filters and coffee in my bag I have seen filter packs. I found it easier to adjust the coffee to how strong I wanted it when I wanted it.

One hotel chain posted an advertisement that their coffee would be ready for grab and go. However it was already poured coffee in cups.

Another "not a buffet fan" here.

Most hotel free breakfast buffets with hot foods (such as Best Westerns, Fairfield Inn, and other moderate priced places) will be a thing of the past except as noted above - prepackaged ready-to-eat items.

I have been wondering if hotels would be removing the microwaves and refrigerators. While a microwave can be disinfected easily enough cleaning/disinfecting a refrigerator would take much more time.

I can ever forget our neighbor, whose family pest control business had serviced most the the top restaurants in Chicago for decades. He had a list of six that he would patronize. If you're worried about buffets...you don't know the half of it.

With the exception of a Chinese buffet we visit when over on the coast, I tend to avoid buffets mostly due to the bad behavior of the diners. I have seen people taste the food using the serving utensils, people tasting the food using their previously used forks, cross contamination from using the same serving utensil to serve up different dishes, children stickig their fingers in the food and people putting food on their plates and then putting it back. Not to mention, there is no way to know if people have washed their hands prior to serving themselves.

No thanks.

Besides the above average food, one of the reasons we like the Chinese buffet is that they always have staff standing near and supervising the buffet area and they won't hesitate to put an end to bad behavior. Also the restaurant and the bathrooms are spotless which to me is a sign that management cares about their establishment.

We don’t eat buffet style. Mainly because we don’t eat much at meal times. The older we get , just make sure we get nutrients we need . When we were young could keep up with anyone eating. Noticed we were eating less as aging. It would be very overpriced for small amount of food we would consume.

Peter Greenberg, AKA The Travel Detective, has written a fair amount about cleanliness of hotel rooms, and this was BC, before Covid. Among his advice -- always take off the bedspread and throw it in the corner. They don't get laundered between visitors. Do not touch the TV remote without wiping it down. And have you ever seen a rack of freshly washed glasses, or even dish detergent, on the maid's cart? No, because all they do is rinse off those glasses. I think a lot of hotels have stopped having those little coffeemakers in the rooms because they are hard to keep clean. (Also, be generous when you leave a tip for the maid because they work very hard for very little.)