This is a list of notable buffet restaurants. A
buffet
A buffet can be either a sideboard (a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve ...
is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s and many social events. Buffets usually have some hot dishes, so the term "cold buffet" (see
Smörgåsbord
Smörgåsbord () is a buffet-style meal of Swedish origin. It is served with various hot and cold dishes.
Smörgåsbord became internationally known at the 1939 New York World's Fair when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion "Three Crowns R ...
) has been developed to describe formats lacking hot food.
Buffet restaurants
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America's Incredible Pizza Company
America's Incredible Pizza Company (AIPC) is an American restaurant chain based in Springfield, Missouri. The restaurants are pizza buffets and entertainment centers. The first restaurant opened in Springfield in 2002. The company has 1,200 emp ...
– an American
restaurant chain
A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
based in Springfield, Missouri, the restaurants are pizza buffets and entertainment centers
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The Attic (defunct) – a former 1,200 seat Smörgåsbord restaurant in West Vancouver, British Columbia that was open from 1968 to 1981
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Cabalen – a Philippine buffet restaurant chain primarily serving traditional Filipino entrees
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Chi-Chi's
Chi-Chi's can either refer to a Mexican food restaurant chain founded in the United States in 1975, which continued in Europe only (as a Tex-Mex restaurant, under different ownership) after the North American owner declared bankruptcy and fol ...
– a Mexican-restaurant chain operating in Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait
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Chuck-A-Rama
Chuck-A-Rama is a chain of buffet restaurants based in Salt Lake City, Utah; as of January 2022, the company operates nine restaurants in Utah and two in Idaho. Fare includes American comfort food. Main entrées include meats such as baked and f ...
– a chain of buffet restaurants based in Salt Lake City, Utah
with a focus upon American
comfort food
Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual, or it may app ...
and meat entrees.
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Cicis – an American buffet restaurant chain based in Irving, Texas specializing in pizza
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Cosmo
Cosmo may refer to:
Business and media
* Cosmopolitan (magazine), ''Cosmopolitan'' (magazine), a magazine for women, sometimes referred to as "Cosmo"
* ''Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure'', a 1992 video game
* Cosmo On-Line, a Brazilian generic Intern ...
– a chain of 19 buffet restaurants in the United Kingdom
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Fresh Choice
Fresh Choice was a chain of buffet-style restaurants which operated in California, Washington, and Texas under the names ''Fresh Choice'', ''Fresh Plus'', ''Fresh Choice Express'', and ''Zoopa''.
History
The first restaurant was opened in S ...
(defunct) – a former chain of buffet-style restaurants which operated in California, Washington, and Texas under the names Fresh Choice, Fresh Plus, Fresh Choice Express, and Zoopa
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Furr's
Furr's (also known as Furr's Cafeteria, Furr's Family Dining, Furr's Fresh Buffet, and Furr's All-You-Can-Eat Marketplace) was a chain of family restaurants in the United States started by Roy Furr. The first location opened in 1946 in Hobbs, New ...
(defunct) – a chain of family restaurants in the United States. For many decades Furr's was known for
cafeteria-style dining, but has since redeveloped into buffet-style dining.
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Gatti's Pizza – a Southeastern United States pizza-buffet chain
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Godfather's Pizza
Godfather's Pizza is an American privately owned restaurant chain headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, that operates fast casual Italian franchises and Pizza Express locations.
History
Godfather's Pizza was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1973. Wil ...
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Golden Corral
Golden Corral is an American restaurant chain which offers an all-you-can-eat buffet and grill. It is a privately held company headquartered in the U.S. city of Raleigh, North Carolina, with locations in 43 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
History ...
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Happy Joe's
Happy Joe's is an American pizza parlor chain based in Bettendorf, Iowa. The restaurant chain was founded in 1972 by Lawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty, a former Shakey's Pizza manager. Their United States locations are spread out across the Uppe ...
– some locations have a buffet
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Hoss's Steak and Sea House
Hoss's Family Steak and Sea (commonly known as Hoss's) is a restaurant chain based in Duncansville, Pennsylvania. As of March 2022, the company operates 29 locations in Pennsylvania and single West Virginia location. The restaurant is a well-kno ...
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HuHot Mongolian Grill
HuHot Mongolian Grill is an American restaurant chain
A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail an ...
– an American restaurant chain specializing in a create-your-own
stir fry cuisine
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KFC
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...
– some locations include a buffet
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Mandarin Restaurant
Mandarin Restaurant Franchise Corporation is a chain of all-you-can-eat Chinese-Canadian buffet restaurants. It was founded in 1979 and currently has its headquarters in Brampton, Ontario. The chain consists of licensed restaurants across Sout ...
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Moo Moo Restaurant
Moo-Moo (russian: Му-Му) is a chain of buffet restaurants in Moscow, Russia.
Moo-Moo operates as a cafeteria-style restaurant and as such can be considered a fast food restaurant. The entire menu is self-service, and includes a wide variety ...
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Ovation Brands
VitaNova Brands, based in San Antonio, Texas, was an operator of a number of American national buffet chain restaurants including subsidiary company Furr's.
All of their Old Country Buffet, HomeTown Buffet, Ryan's Buffet, and Curry House locatio ...
(defunct) – owned several American national chains of buffet restaurants, including Ryan's Grill, Buffet and Bakery, HomeTown Buffet and Old Country Buffet
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Pancho's Mexican Buffet
Pancho's Mexican Buffet is a chain of Tex-Mex restaurants (5 as of 2015) in the United States. In 2017, the owners began closing stores due to poor performance, and developed a small store concept named "Cuban Cafe". There are currently 2 locatio ...
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Peter Piper Pizza
Peter Piper Pizza (stylized as peter piper pizza) is an Arizona-based pizza and entertainment company with locations in Arizona, California, Mexico, New Mexico and Texas. Restaurants have a large dining area and a game room.
History
Anthony "To ...
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Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
– full-size restaurants have a lunch buffet
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Pizza Inn
Pizza Inn is a Dallas-based restaurant chain and international food franchise, specializing in American-style pan pizza, pasta, and side dishes.
The company is based in the Dallas suburb of The Colony, Texas. At its peak, Pizza Inn had over 500 ...
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Pizza Ranch
Pizza Ranch, Inc., founded in 1981, is a Midwestern fast casual restaurant chain. Pizza Ranch offers pizza, chicken, a salad bar and a pizza and chicken buffet. Pizza Ranch has over 200 locations in Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Mi ...
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Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse
Ponderosa may refer to:
Places
* Ponderosa, California, a census-designated place in Tulare County, California, United States
* Ponderosa, New Mexico, a census-designated place in Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States
* Village of Ponderosa, ...
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Round Table Pizza
Round Table Pizza is a chain and franchise of pizza parlours in the Western United States. The first Round Table Pizza restaurant was opened in 1959, and the company has over 400 restaurants. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ove ...
– some locations have a buffet
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Shakey's Pizza
Shakey's Pizza is a pizza restaurant chain based in the United States. Founded in 1954, it was the first franchise pizza chain in the United States. In 1968, the chain had 342 locations. The chain had about 500 stores globally, and 58 in the Un ...
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Shoney's
Shoney's is an American restaurant chain headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It operates restaurants in 17 states, primarily in the South with additional locations in the Midwest and lower Mid-Atlantic states.
Founder Alex Schoenbaum opene ...
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Sirloin Stockade
Sirloin Stockade is an American family-style all-you-can-eat buffet steakhouse, restaurant chain and franchisor that was founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1966. In June 2016, the parent company, Stockade Companies, operated over 80 restaurants ...
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Sizzler
Sizzler USA Restaurants, Inc., doing business as Sizzler, is a United States-based restaurant chain with headquarters in Mission Viejo, California, with locations mainly in California, plus some in the nearby states of Washington, Arizona, Neva ...
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Souper Salad
Souper Salad (stylized as Souper!Salad!) is an American restaurant chain based in Dallas, Texas. It is an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant serving fresh salads, made-from-scratch soups, homemade breads, and more. All locations are in the Sou ...
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Souplantation
Sweet Tomatoes, operating as Souplantation in southern California, was a United States–based chain of all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurants. The first location opened in 1978 in San Diego, California, where the company was headquartered. ...
, also known as Sweet Tomatoes (defunct)
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Swagman Restaurant
The Swagman Restaurant was a restaurant in Ferntree Gully, Melbourne, Australia, which opened in 1972 and was destroyed by fire in 1991. The restaurant was famous in Melbourne for its long-running television commercials, cabaret shows, and smorg ...
(defunct) – a former restaurant in Ferntree Gully, Melbourne, Australia, which opened in 1972 and burnt down in 1991
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Tahoe Joe's
Tahoe Joe's is a chain of three steakhouse restaurants based in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of California. The first restaurant opened in Fresno in 1995 by Dave Fansler with restaurants in Roseville, California, Roseville and Fo ...
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Taybarns (defunct) – a former British low cost all-you-can-eat restaurant chain owned by
Whitbread
Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England.
The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s.
Its largest division ...
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Valentino's
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Western Sizzlin'
Western Sizzlin’, stylized as WesterN SizzliN, is a chain of privately held and publicly held retail buffet restaurants and steakhouses, with its headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia. The company has 46 franchise establishments located across 13 U. ...
– previously known as Austin's Steaks & Saloon
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Za Za Bazaar
See also
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Buffet
A buffet can be either a sideboard (a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve ...
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Cafeteria
A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school ...
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Conveyor belt sushi
, also called rotation sushi, is a type of sushi restaurant common in Japan. In Australasia, it is also known as a sushi train.
Plates serving the sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past eve ...
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Dim sum
Dim sum () is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuis ...
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List of cafeterias
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List of casual dining restaurant chains
This is a list of casual dining restaurant chains around the world, arranged in alphabetical order. A casual dining restaurant is a restaurant that serves moderately priced food in a casual atmosphere. Except for buffet-style restaurants and, mor ...
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Lists of restaurants
This is an index of restaurant-related lists. A restaurant is a business establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money, either paid before the meal, after the meal, or with a running tab. Meals are generall ...
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Mongolian barbecue
Mongolian barbecue () is a stir fried dish that was developed by Wu Zhaonan in Taiwan in 1951. Meat and vegetables are cooked on large, round, solid iron griddles at temperatures of up to 300 °C (572 °F). Despite its name, the dis ...
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Salad bar
A salad bar is a buffet-style table or counter at a restaurant or food market on which salad components are provided for customers to assemble their own salad plates. Most salad bars provide lettuce, chopped tomatoes, assorted raw, sliced vegeta ...
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Types of restaurant
Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the USA, while catego ...
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffet restaurants
Lists of restaurants