I just got back from one of those Chinese buffet places...

[Reverend_Smitty]

I love the food but I am soooooooo stuffed. I do that every time I go, and every time I totally regret it afterwards...the MSG is kicking in and I just want to go and lay down which is the worst possible thing I could do. I guess I'm just a glutton...for well...um...gluttony!

[CatBoreal]

1. The sad thing is....

...you'll be hungry again in an hour.

Did you have any General Tso's Chicken?? That's my favorite.

[Reverend_Smitty]

3. It wouldn't be a proper visit without the General...

one of my favorite dishes!

[CatBoreal]

4. My kind of glutton!

[njdemocrat106]

22. General Tso is China's answer to Colonel Sanders

General Tso's chicken, lemon chicken, vegetable lo mein, fried dumplings, cheese wontons, shrimp toast, can you tell I'm hungry? A trip to the buffet might be in my plans soon

[mcscajun]

8. Eat Rice...Eat Noodles...You won't be hungry later.

General Tso's Chicken. YUM.

[Allenberg]

25. Don't be fooled

General Tso's is definitely an American Chinese dish..I've been to three chinese owned restaurants here in Japan, and its not on any of the menus.

[mcscajun]

28. Who Said Anything About Authenticity or Being Fooled?

I just care that it tastes good. Like any dish in a Chinese restaurant in this country...the General's chicken it varies widely from sublime to purely disgusting.

Hell, what we call good pizza here is nothing like what gets served in Naples. That's a whole other discussion.

[Allenberg]

30. Don't get me wrong

I love General Tso's chicken. I found out it wasn't really Chinese until I asked for it at three different places, and got two very strange looks, and a comment to go back home.

[mcscajun]

32. Wow! "Go back home"

Sheesh. now that's cold.

[Merrick]

2. I used to go to one...

by my old work that had a soft serve ice cream machine (both chocolate, vanilla, and chocolate vanilla swirl). Neat!

[Reverend_Smitty]

7. they had one of those too...

I always get a little dish of vanilla, to what my aunt and I termed "cool the burn" in your stomach!

[HeyManThatsCool]

5. In the Timeless words of the sparks...

Your gonna eat a bowl of chow mein & be hungry real soon. I predict

[bigwillq]

6. I love Chinese Buffet

I love any kind of Buffet place!

[No Mandate Here.]

9. Those Buffet places are popping up all over the place.

The two new ones within a forty minute drive (in a relatively rural area in PA, BTW) each represent at least half a million dollars in construction costs. There is talk that these are a way to bring dollars back to the US.

What do you think?

[Reverend_Smitty]

12. There are a zillion of them around me too...

within the last 5 or 6 years, it's rare to find a strip-mall without one. Construction is one thing you can't outsource

[No Mandate Here.]

24. As the owner of a small construction company,

I can make two points...

Yes, a good bit of the money for construction can end up in the community, but who is doing the sctual building and how do they pay could be a mystery. Are the people doing the work possible illegals, as well? (see the other post above)

If, indeed, all of these places are as elaborate as the new one in Somerset, PA, then where is all that money coming from? We have a population base of about 20,000 people. If this is worth construction costs of $ 500,000 (my estimate) and these are everywhere, then this is a lot of money.

[thatgemguy]

20. I've always wondered

about the large passenger vans I've seen parked outside Chinese Buffets. Could they be used to shuttle the help between the dorms and work?

I wonder how many of the workers in these places are illegals, or hold student visas. Slavery, could be a good way to pay off a debt for getting smuggled into this country.

You notice that only a few of the workers (mostly management or supervisors)have anything but a very basic command of the English language.

The way these places are spreading around here... something to think about.

[JVS]

10. "I'm a glutton for food" sounds like something Yogi Berra would say

[Reverend_Smitty]

11. I've always had a way with words...

[vixengrl]

13. There's something about a buffet--

we have *two* Chinese buffets right across the street and go maybe a little less than once a week. I've learned to load myself on egg drop soup and fruit so I don't completely wreck myself in there--why it is I can't go and be satisfied without feeling like an overinflated tire I'll never know!

[Reverend_Smitty]

16. Are all you can eat places an American invention?

because if they are not, they should be...we are paying $6.95 and dammit I am not leaving until I've eaten all I could eat!

[vixengrl]

19. Old as Thanksgiving--which was an early colonial buffet--

I picture a dour pilgrim in the advertisement: "Do not waste thy time on the corn and pumpkin--gettest thou the turkey legs--t'would be sinful not to get thy money's worth!"

[name not needed]

14. I could have sworn I've eaten at this place.

[Reverend_Smitty]

15. oh thats just wrong!

but maybe thats the reason why I eat around the mystery meat found inside of steamed wantons!

[Amaya]

17. Hey, I ate there once

Didn't feel right for a week.

[name not needed]

18. I think there's more than one place that looks like that.

[Biased Liberal Media]

21. I avoid buffet places, particularly chinese ones like the plague

we had a BAD experience several years ago at a Chinese bufet place. Let's just put it this way- we were sure we were eating cat. The meat was very fatty and just tasted...wrong.

[mcscajun]

29. I don't do the 'buffet scene' either...

...I pick sit down restaurants where (I hope) they're making the dish I ordered after I order it!

Nothing much wrong with the occasional take-out, either. In those places you can at least Watch them make your food. Still no guarantees, though.

[BikeWriter]

23. I can relate...

We have those here, too.

[Dees]

26. I used to

when we lived in Missouri. There were two excellent buffets in our community. Both featured the REAL Cashew Chicken. I have not found one in Maryland yet. We went to a buffet place called The Panda Express. So so bad. You know the infamous "rat on a stick"? It was the real deal.

[peacefreak]

27. We had one in Maine

that was closed down about a year ago. Inspectors found a box labeled "beach chicken". Oh the horror, Think of the Sea Gulls!

[El Fuego]

31. The one near my office

There is a buffet near my office which not only has a chinese buffet but also all you can eat sushi. And we're talking REAL sushi, not tiny rolls. In addition to the sashimi, they have platters of tuna and salmon, just fish, where you can get all you want.

AND, they have a hibachi grill in the back where you can pick you own ingredients (steak, shrimp, vegetables) and hand them to the chef and they'll grill em up for you right there.

Talk about being stuffed! It is so amazing I had to write about it.

[ThorsHammer]

33. I love the ones with the Hibachi grills

[The Revolution]

34. We had this Chinese buffet place in my town...

One day nearby residents called the police because of a horrible smell coming from the restaurant (they feared they might find someone dead inside). Turned out the owners had simply locked the doors and left (the country) without cleaning up. So all the food and everything just sat out for a looong time (I don't remember how long...I think it was several weeks).

They ended up tearing the building down...I don't think they could get rid of the smell.

We do have one other buffet place in town...I don't go there very often but its pretty good.