WHY???

Sometimes in life we all take a minute to stop and think WHY? Why did I bother getting out of bed today? Why did I wear these pants? Why is that person talking to themself? Why does transit seem to go slower when your in a rush? Why, Why, Why? Who really knows. I sure don't. Sometimes the answers come quickly, 'I wore the pants becuase they were clean' or ' That person is using a bluetooth' and sometimes they either come slowly or not at all.
So I want to ask questions about buffets! Maybe someone will have the answers, maybe they won't and they will go unaswered for a lifetime, or unitl I can figure them out.

Here are my qustions, if anyone knows the answer leave a post to enlighten the world.

• Why is it called a buffet?
• How do they figure out how much each person will eat?
• Why does everyone at the Mandarin say 'Welcome to Mandrin' as I walk by
• Who is responsible for putting the labels over each dish?
• And why do they get it wrong sometime?
• What do they do with the food at the end of the night?

Trying Something New..Review..

Finally a new buffet has opened up. It was previously a Tuckers Marketplace, and for whatever reason it failed, and was recently transformed into T Grillhouse buffet. It's a western themed buffet, which rings near and dear to my inner cowboy. They haven't really changed much of the decor but T Grillhouse has something that I have never seen before in a buffet. The restaurant doesn't really have a host/hostess stand, but a cash. After the cashier/hostess asks how many in your party they also ask what you would like to drink. Because you order your drink straight off the bat. Which in my opinion is a good idea because they hit you right away for cash. Then insted of showing you to your, table they give you the number for your table tell you where it is. A little different, but kind of interesting none the less that could catch on at other buffets.

I've complied all of the things that were said about the restaurant from my best friends and my girlfriend and combined it all together into one, sort of review sort of social commentary. Enjoy!

Before we had really dived into the food we all wondered if we had to leave a tip? At most places you get the bill at the end of your meal, and toss in the tip there. But since we had already paid, what do we do? Well one of my friends just asked a server, and they said to just leave a tip on the table. But after some carful oberservation, we noticed that some people weren't leaving tips (Cheap bastards)In the end, we left a tip!
After we had all dug into the food, the reviews were comming in fast and furious from everyone. People that had the grilled steak, really enjoyed it because they were able to get it to there personal liking, which is nice to find, because at most places it's usally rare or well done. The faijate station was really good, except there was no chicken availible. Only variations of beef. on the mention of chicken, there were 2 kinds, roasted and teriakyi. Both tasted the same! Why bother putting 2 different kinds when the both taste the same? I personally enjoyed the roasted pork, the warm apple sauce completed it for me.
There seemed to be a few more negitive comments then postive. The big thing that everyone agreed on was that the dessert bar sucked. There were only 5 differnts items, none of which stood out from the rest. The rice krispy squares weren't all that bad. But they had no good jello. It was only some orange gooey thing on a plate, insted of the nice firm squares that I know and love.
Overall it was an interesting experience. And I'm glad I was able to share it with my nearest and dearest friends. Will I go back? Sure I'll go back, they have steak and eggs on Saturday and Sunday for $9. I will also give lunch a whirl sometime soon to see if it's any better or worse.

Food: 7/10 Service: 6/10 Number of trips# 9

Happy Eating

Out with the boys....

I was able to get together with my two best friends for a day out. With out schedules now a days it's hard for the three of us to hang out. But on this lucky day we were able to get together and have a great time. We saw Ghost Rider(Not bad movie, really cool bike) and then decided to grab some dinner. And surprise surprise it was a buffet. We ended up at Super Buffet. Which over the past 10 years or so has been everything from a Chi Chi's to an Indian restaurant. They've all failed, until Super Buffet came along to our rescue. On my very first trip I was very impressed with the place. Not only did it have very good food, but it also had a open wok. Where you select your meat or fish, your noodles, veggies and then what ever sauce your in the mood for. You pass it over to the chef you then cooks it for you right in front of your eyes.

I realized today that if you can sit down and have the sever come over to your table and know your drink order before you say anything, then you might be going to that buffet a little to much! (Or not, because it's a really good place) One of my friends was away from the table and the server asked if the guy missing wanted his usual warm sake, but we laughed and said that he wasn't with us today. The server seemed slighltly disapointed.

As we were eating I started to notice how rude and/or ignorant some of the diners were. I saw people leaving there kids un-attended to roam freely and cause trouble. Two kids started tossing little pebles at my friends. One of them got up and told the kids to stop throwing stuff. But they paid no attention, until 2 minutes later when the parents figured out there kids weren't nearby and told them to come back to the table. I could only shake my head in wonder. So to all parents watch your damn kids! I also noticed customers bumping into the staff with full plates of food. The staff was wearing bright red and yellow vest's, how could you miss something so bright! It makes me wonder how some of them manage to drive. Overall I think that the majority of the guests forgot there manners and common sense at home when they went out for dinner, or maybe I just noticed how rude some people can be.

Just to add a little note to forgetting a few things at home, the person who put the lables over each item at the buffet tables must have forgot there glasses because the majority of the lables were wrong. Luckily for my friends and I we had our commen sense sandwhich's for lunch amd could figure out what everything was.

So what have we learned class? Always bring along your manners and common sense with you when you leave the house. Don't let your kids roam free to cause trouble. And watch out for the people in the BRIGHTLY colored clothing because they're probably working!


Food: 8/10 Service: 8/10 Number of trips# 8

Happy Eating

Just Wingin' It.

On Sunday I ventured out to the great blue yonder and went to my favourite all you can eat wing restaurantm, Winston Shagwell's with my beautiful girlfriend, . Yes that's actually there name. For $9.99 plus any drink you can eat as many wings as your body can take. And this week my body was able to take 7lbs of wings. And there's about 6-8 wings per pound. Some people might think "6lbs isn't that much". Well if you think like that, I want to eat with you. Shagwell's offers about 20 different flavors ranging from mild to suicide, with a lot of other tasty treats along the way such as; bbq, jalpeno cheddar, honey garlic, teriaki to name a few . They offer there wings with suace or with a dry rub. I have never personsally tasted a dry rub wing, but most of the people that have said they weren't bad. The dry rub flavors include garlic parm, hot roasted red pepper, and lemon pepper.

When ever you go to Shagwell's for all you can eat wings, expect to wait. If your lucky you'll get a table right away, but if you go during any major sporting event the place will be pretty packed. Once you've order your wings they take atleast 10 minutes to get to your table. But it's always worth the wait when you get your first pound, becuase they're hot and fresh plus, they come with fries and dill dipping sauce. The fries only come with the first round, but there its only about $2.50 for another full basket. As well the soft drinks are unlimited, which helps out when you get into the hotter wings.

One thing that I've learnt to get the most out of a all you can eat wing place, is after your first order of fries don't order any more because they will only fill you up. Then you won't be able to eat as many wings, but if someone else has an order grab a few from them to break of the taste. As well be sure to order a dipping sauce with each pound, either blue cheese or dill. They help with taste of the wings.

Food: 8/10 Service: 6/10 Number of pounds: 7

Happy Eating

Town and Country

On my last day before having to go back to work, my girlfriend suggested going out to a buffet to make the blog more interesting.(I Love Her for that) With a smile on my face I quickly agreed. So I called up my best friend who loves buffets almost as much as I do. So after a quick little chat with his fiance, we decided to go out. But where??? An all you can eat wing place was suggested, but since they're both on diets wings would really mess up there points. We eventually ended up at Town and Country buffet, where you eat inside of old box cars.

As I made my way up to the buffet I quickly realized that we were the only customers in the whole place. So I asked the manager if February was a slow time. He said yes of course! January and February are generally slow months for them, so slow that they aren't open Monday or Tuesday's during those months.

So being that we were the only people in the place, nothing was really being replenished. I saw the cook bobbing away in the back listening to music not doing much work. Overall I found that the majority of the food was somewhat cold, including the soft taco shells, the fried chicken and the sauages to name a few. As well the serivce of the 1 waiter was somewhat slow. It's not like he was run off his feet or anything. I would come back to the table and my previous plate would still be on the table. Continuing on with some of the negitive points, there was no RED JELLO! They only had green, I personally am not a big fan of green jello, I like red. But what buffet doesn't have red jello? As well my girlfriend mentioned that there wasn't as many veggies availble. Not cool in my opinion. I stayed away from all the fish on the tables becuase it smelt to fishy for me, good fish shouldn't smell overly fishy. The 4 or 5 fish dishes didn't seem to fresh to me at all.

I've been told that after you say something bad about someone you should always tell them something good, to make them feel better. So hear I go. Town and Country has a do it your self poutine station, ok so it's fries and cheese from the taco staion with some of the gravey for the roast beef but it still is great for me. As well they have mac n cheese, which is my all time favourite food. Next to baked ham witch they also had today, so every trip up to the buffet I had my mac n cheese and my ham. 'Great minds think alike or fools never differ' This statement is very true for my best friend and I, because on our first couple of trips to the buffet we had almost the exact same plates. Freaky? No way just really good friends!

Food: 6/10 Service: 5/10 # trips to the buffet:6

Happy Eating!

Enter the Dragon...Roll

Today my girlfriend and I went to our favourite all you can eat sushi restaurant, Sushi on 7. A place orginally recommended from a friend of mine. We returned today with empty stomachs and a song in our heart, or maybe that was the heartburn from being hungry? We sat down and our tea quickly arrived. We eat at Sushi on 7 almost every Monday, which is the best time to go because on weekends it's packed and the service is slow. Like most 'all you can eat' sushi restaurants, we order off menu's given to us. Becuase we eat there so often we don't usually need to look at the menu, which has over 190 items, and including the dinner only items.

I always have my miso soup, mixed seaweed salad to start and my girlfriend varries depending on her mood. What I've learnt from eating here is that if you enjoy eating rolls and sushi more than appitizers go for the rolls first. My last two trips I've order my regular rolls and sushi first, and end up eating more rolls then appitizers. This is a very helpful when you want to get the bang for your buck. Sushi on 7 is a very good value for the food that you get, for two people for lunch the bill comes to $30.07 with tax AND tip included. Dinner is roughly $50, again with tax and tip, plus they have more items for dinner.

A few helpful hints when eating at all you can eat sushi restaurants; Order a glass of water, it gives your taste buds a break from the soya. Only order what you can eat, or else the sushi police come after you and charge you more! Practice with chopsticks, even though some places have diagrams on how to use them, it isn't always as easy as it looks. Try to avoid wearing white, becuase if you sit around a person who is learning to use chopsticks your gonna get covered in soya. Ask questions and try something new (unless your fluent in Japanese, you probably don't know what everything is), so ask and you might come across something amazing.

Food: 8/10, Service: 7/10, Number of trips made to buffet tables: Since it wasn't a buffet stlye it doesn't apply. But I had 24pc pc sushi/handroll, plus lots of apps.

Happy Eating

Pick and Move!!!!

"Pick and move people! Don't stop and look at the food, grab and go! Then when you sit down you can say 'Oh look they have ribs' " John Pinette, comedian.

These words ring very true for me when at a buffet. Because like most people I used to get in one line up at the buffet, then slowly move along the line until you found something you liked. But not now, I move like a ninja! I'm 6'4 and 227lbs not really a small person but I move with stealth, I see what looks good and grab it! Jumping in and out of line all the time. I don't usually care what way the line is going either. This idea works even better if you are smaller and can move even quicker to get in and out of the lines.

While sitting down with my friend at the Mandarin,we began talking about buffets in general. And the types of people you see at buffets. After some semi deep conversation and a few trips to the buffet tables here's some of the people we came across:

1. Old people: They often hit the ealry bird seatings, but when they venture out to normal dinning hours look out. They move slow and often travel in 2's . Stay away from them, becuase they tend to move slow and look at every item.


2. Kids: Of course kids will be at buffet's, it's cheap for there parents to feed them. BUT, you often find 'lil buggers who will stick there fingers, or elbows in the food, then end up eating only french fries! And where's the parents? Yeah, I don't know either.


3. Read and lookers: These people will slowly make there way down the line of food. They stop at each item and read the label, look down to the food, THEN decide if it's the right thing or not.


4. Teenagers: Again you would expect them to be there with there parents. But you over hear some of them say "I'm not eating that, just look at it" or "That smells funny!" Fine you don't wanna eat it, then don't! But I don't want to hear what you have to say on the subject.


5. Large groups: These groups are great for business, but you must time your own personal visits to the buffet tables to make sure you get the good stuff. Watching a table of 6 mid 20ties people have dinner together?? A fun little game is to time the akward silence between the people that either didn't know or like someone at the table.

These are just some of the things you'll find at a buffet. I will add more social commentary as I see it.

Happy eating

The Mandarin

On Saturaday one of my best friends and I decided to go out for dinner. When we get the chance to go out for dinner we usally end up at a buffet. After much deliberation we picked the Mandarin. As we walked through the doors I saw that the place was decked out for Chinese New Years(Feb 18th) I also saw that there was a very long line up. By the time I made it to the hostest I was informened that it was a 1 hour wait. We were both very hungery and didn't want to wait, but I knew of another Mandarin about 1/2 hrs drive away. On our way we made a phone call to make reservations, so as soon as we walked in the door we could sit down and eat!
At the Mandarin on any given day you are greeted by every staff member with a cheerful but fake "Welcome to Mandarin" and after the 4th or 5th person it gets old. On our way to our table we were told that becuase of Chinese New Years they were having a dumpling festival. The standard chinese buffet fare was avalible and fresh, due to the busy Saturday night. I went about pilling my plate full of my usual favs; pepper beef, shanghi noodles, peking pork, and chicken wings to name a few. I was surprised at the jumbo shrimp(8/12 for the chefs, or not so jumbo shrimp) and sugar pea's to be on the buffet table, so I loaded up and sat down to eat.

Rating: Food; 7/10, Service; 6/10, Number of trips made to the buffet tables; 8