Best and Worst Buffets

Excuse me, can you pass the monocular?

Is that the beginning over there? Waaaay over there? Oh my gosh! The site of the actual buffet got me over the irritation of the cashier. Or wait, I can’t complain about a cashier, there wasn’t one! I guess I’m old fashioned, but the only place I like ‘self checkout’ is in WalMart, and even that irritates me sometimes.  I’m sure the designer thought themselves terribly clever, and were probably expecting to receive a raving memo from the financing department when they put in a ‘self cashier.’ It’s practically an ATM, but takes your money. The idea, I’m sure, was to simplify paying for your dinner, but much like the WalMart self check out, you have masses of people staring at the robot trying to figure out where to put their cards or cash. It jingles and rings when you’ve done a good job, and even displays a giant green checkmark to indicate that it’s happy with you.  At least here someone seats you, actually walks you to a table. Guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

I usually try to taste a little bit of everything in order to offer a more rounded opinion, but this was impossible. The buffet was so long I could only sample a few things from each station. They should have those people mover things in there to get you from one end to the other. And, of course, the plates are tiny, pretty little things. I took my newest reviewer, my 3 year old daughter. She was delighted! As a special treat I told her she could have anything she wanted, and as much of it. Unfortunately, we were sat near the desert buffet. Once she noticed that, she looked at her plate and all of five bites she’d eaten and said, ‘I’m full of this, I’m ready for dessert.’ Of course.  The food was very good, just about everything I tried I was pleased with. There’s an Asian section, and a plentiful variety of dishes. I must admit however, The French Market’s sweet and sour chicken kicked Carnival World’s behind. It was still good mind you, but The French Market has the ultimate secret recipe.

 I was amazed by my ‘magical’ changing drink. I ordered tea, as usual, and while the first glass was tea, I was then served sprite, then soda water and then water. I wondered if the tables around us knew we were playing ‘musical drinks’ and if they were pining for their soda waters and sprites. Ah well, the little guy was pleasant enough, even though our language barrier caused some problems.

Bottom Line  Past the automated cashier you’ll find a very clean attractive buffet that serves up some tasty dishes. It’s worth the price, which is midrange (I think I paid $24). Take a healthy appetite and some good walking shoes!