cruise all you can eat buffet

Buffet breakdown: Which cruise lines have self-serve buffets, and which ones don't?

It's time to pick up the tongs. Nearly a year since big-ship cruising restarted for U.S. passengers, a few things have changed with regard to onboard protocols — capacity is increasing , social distancing is practically nonexistent and masks are optional . But perhaps none of the changes is as disturbing to me as the return of self-service buffets, with six of the industry's eight major lines allowing passengers to, once again, serve themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good buffet setup. What I don't love, however, is the blatant disregard of buffet etiquette by some passengers. I've seen people sneeze and then touch the communal serving utensils without washing up or — worse — simply forgo said utensils and grab food with their bare hands . Gross!

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That's why I was so excited when, as an initial COVID-19 precaution, several cruise lines decided to make their buffets crew-served. Sure, it takes additional staff, and it can be annoying when someone else is in charge of your portions. But it's more sanitary — since some viruses (though not COVID-19) spread via contaminated surfaces — and it also helps to control waste. You can always go back for seconds (or thirds or fourths) if you want more.

But now that protocols are being relaxed, several lines have reverted to self-service. Others never offered a different option in the first place. Here, I'll run down a list of brands that have the serving spoons on the passengers' side of the sneeze guards, as well as the ones that are still holding out.

Carnival Cruise Line

Unlike several other cruise lines, Carnival 's buffets were always of the self-serve variety , even immediately after the line's July 2021 post-shutdown restart. Passengers on all Carnival vessels are able to serve themselves in the onboard buffets.

"Because the crew are all vaccinated, and because 95% of guests are [vaccinated] as well, and after all the professional advice we have taken, the buffets … are going to be exactly as they were, meaning you will serve yourself," Carnival brand ambassador John Heald said of the decision in a June 2021 Facebook post.

Celebrity Cruises

Along with sister brand Royal Caribbean, Celebrity was one of the first lines to say it would temporarily scrap self-service buffets. But the move might not be so temporary after all.

"For the foreseeable future, our buffets will be crew-served and not self-serve," the line told The Points Guy.

Disney Cruise Line

When Disney first brought its ships back into service, it employed crew-served buffets to help minimize the risk of germ spread. Effective April 1, 2022, its vessels' buffets are back to being self-serve.

Holland America Line

Because of its slightly older clientele, Holland America has always been cautious when it comes to buffets. Even before "coronavirus" became a household word, cruise lines had to contend with norovirus.

HAL ships switched to crew-served buffets several years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, partially in an effort to combat potential outbreaks of norovirus, which is easily spread via contaminated surfaces. The line continues to employ the practice on all of its vessels.

"We made the switch to align with premium [cruising] and our goals for service," a representative from the line told TPG.

MSC Cruises

The first mainstream cruise line to restart operations with Mediterranean voyages in December of 2021, MSC Cruises initially began sailings with crew-served buffets. Effective April 1, 2022, it is back to allowing passengers to serve themselves.

Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian has been one of the most stringent cruise lines in terms of COVID-19 precautions. In the beginning, it was the first — and one of the only — lines to require full vaccination for all passengers, as well as crew members. That has since been relaxed.

As part of NCL's initial return to service, the line had the crew serve cruisers at its buffets, but it has since reverted to self-serve.

Princess Cruises

Princess ' cruise ships currently allow for self-service, with passengers able to pick up their own plates and utensils and scoop their own fare in most areas at the onboard buffets. Some stations are still served by crew members, however.

Royal Caribbean International

As one of the trailblazers in the crew-served buffet arena, Royal Caribbean required passengers to ask the crew for what they wanted when the line's sailings first returned in 2021. Starting April 2, 2022, the brand brought back self-service and issued the following statement:

"Royal Caribbean International will bring back self-service dining in ... the Windjammer Marketplace, Solarium Bistro and at private destinations. Grab-and-go dishes and single-serving portions will continue as a permanent offering."

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The 8 Best All-You-Can-Eat Cruise Ship Buffets Slideshow

Cruise ship cuisine has seen a major upgrade in recent years – esteemed chefs craft select menus three months in advance, buffets offer options like fresh seafood and homemade ice cream, and there is even waiter service at buffets on some ships. As career foodies and Instagram hashtags become more the norm,  cruise ships  are revealing fancy dining rooms and more all-you-can-eat options than ever before.

In order to assemble our list, we built a short-list from existing rankings, considering oceanic cruises only, and then judged them according to food selection, décor, and hours of operation. When you're considering your next trip with a seaward view, take these smorgasbords into account.

#8. Regent Seven Seas Cruises

La Veranda  is a  breakfast  and lunch buffet on board select ships, offering global cuisine. Dine indoors or with an ocean view or out on the shaded veranda. The buffet includes a  pizzeria . (La Veranda transforms into an upscale Italian restaurant for dinner.)

#7. Seabourn Cruise Line

This luxury cruise line's buffet option for select ships is called the  Colonnade , offering ocean views, indoor and outdoor seating, and buffets for breakfast and  lunch . For dinner, the restaurant serves regionally-themed table-service dinners with menu options like pan-seared grouper and caramelized guava  cheesecake . 

#6. Carnival Cruise Lines

Sit indoors or outdoors at the Lido Restaurant , a seafaring buffet with options like a salad bar, deli, and Asian food. It's open for lunch and dinner and is included in the ticket price for all Carnival ships. Added plus: the pizza station and soft serve and frozen yogurt stations are available 24/7. 

#5. Royal Caribbean International

The Windjammer Café is an all-day buffet on board select Royal Caribbean ships. The eatery offers options like made-to-order omelettes , pastas, salads, soups, sandwiches , and a carving station. 

#4. Norwegian Cruise Line

The Garden Café is the buffet on board most Norwegian Cruise Line ships, and it serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner alongside floor-to-ceiling windows. Popular choices include a pasta station, a carving station, and made-to-order omelettes and waffles .

#3. Oceania Cruises

The Terrace Café serves three meals a day complete with indoor and outdoor dining. Lunch options with international inspiration include bouillabaisse and homemade vegetarian spring rolls . The dinner menu offers choices like fresh hand-cut sushi and made-to-order lobster tails and lamb chops . 

#2. Azamara Club Cruises

Azamara's answer for snacks and casual cuisine, the Windows Café is part of an all-inclusive dining experience on board select ships. The buffet's choices change daily, but some examples are fresh sushi , fish, pastas, desserts, and a carving station. The Café also offers Indian, Spanish, Italian , Mexican, and other global cuisine.

#1. Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises modeled their Oceanview Café after an international marketplace, complete with a variety of cuisine options inspired by the world's countries. The buffet is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner , and late at night, and options include pizza, sushi, stir-fry , and made-to-order pasta. 

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The 8 Best All-You-Can-Eat Cruise Ship Buffets

By Hayden Field

Cruise ship cuisine has seen a major upgrade in recent years – esteemed chefs craft select menus three months in advance, buffets offer options like fresh seafood and homemade ice cream, and there is even waiter service at buffets on some ships. As career foodies and Instagram hashtags become more the norm, cruise ships are revealing fancy dining rooms and more all-you-can-eat options than ever before.

As cruise ships try to cater to customers who don’t want to keep signing bills once on board, all-inclusive buffets are on the rise. Don’t forget, though, that there are unofficial rules for cruise ship buffet etiquette – like stay in line, don’t mess up the traffic flow, and use a new plate each time.

In order to assemble our list, we built a short-list from existing rankings, considering oceanic cruises only, and then judged them according to food selection, décor, and hours of operation. When you’re considering your next trip with a seaward view, take these smorgasbords into account.

#8. Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Photo Modified: Flickr / Gary Bembridge / CC BY 4.0

La Veranda is a breakfast and lunch buffet onboard select ships, offering global cuisine. Dine indoors or with an ocean view or out on the shaded veranda. The buffet includes a pizzeria. (La Veranda transforms into an upscale Italian restaurant for dinner.)

#7. Seabourn Cruise Line

This luxury cruise line’s buffet option for select ships is called the Colonnade , offering ocean views, indoor and outdoor seating, and buffets for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, the restaurant serves regionally themed table-service dinners with menu options such as pan-seared grouper and caramelized guava cheesecake.

Related: Envelope Please … the Best Cruise Lines of 2015

#6. Carnival Cruise Lines

Photo Modified: Flickr / Kim / CC BY-SA 4.0

Sit indoors or outdoors at Lido Restaurant , a seafaring buffet with options such as a salad bar, deli, and Asian food. It’s open for lunch and dinner and is included in the ticket price for all Carnival ships. An added plus: the pizza station and soft serve and frozen yogurt stations are available 24/7.

#5. Royal Caribbean International

Photo Modified: Flickr / Quinn Dombrowski / CC BY-SA 4.0

The Windjammer Café is an all-day buffet onboard select Royal Caribbean ships. The eatery offers made-to-order omelettes, pastas, salads, soups, sandwiches, and a carving station.

#4. Norwegian Cruise Line

Photo: Norwegian Cruise Line / Facebook

The Garden Café is the buffet on board most Norwegian Cruise Line ships, and it serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner alongside floor-to-ceiling windows. Popular choices include a pasta station, a carving station, and made-to-order omelettes and waffles.

#3. Oceania Cruises

Photo Modified: Flickr / Ralph Grizzle / CC BY-SA 4.0

The Terrace Café serves three meals a day complete with indoor and outdoor dining. Lunch options with international inspiration include bouillabaisse and homemade vegetarian spring rolls. The dinner menu offers choices like fresh hand-cut sushi and made-to-order lobster tails and lamb chops.

#2. Azamara Club Cruises

Photo Modified: Flickr / Chris Owen / CC BY 4.0

Azamara’s answer for snacks and casual cuisine, the Windows Café is part of an all-inclusive dining experience onboard select ships. The buffet’s choices change daily, but some examples are fresh sushi, fish, pastas, desserts, and a carving station. The Café also offers Indian, Spanish, Italian, Mexican, and other global cuisine.

#1. Celebrity Cruises

Photo Modified: Flickr / Heather Cowper / CC BY 4.0

Celebrity Cruises modeled their Oceanview Café after an international marketplace, complete with a variety of cuisine options inspired by the world’s countries. The buffet is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late at night, and options include pizza, sushi, stir-fry, and made-to-order pasta.

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9 cruise lines with the best food.

Set sail with one of these cruise lines for an epicurean adventure at sea.

Cruise Lines With the Best Food

Courtesy of Holland America Line

Holland America Line's Tamarind restaurant offers delicious Pan-Asian cuisine.

Taking a cruise vacation transports you to coveted destinations in places around the world. For many people, though, it's all about the culinary experience, especially for those who return time and again to dine at their favorite onboard venues – many of which rival the best restaurants you'll find on land. While most cruise lines still offer all-you-can-eat buffet-style venues, some also feature next-level culinary experiences with world-renowned chefs at the helm, menus curated by Michelin-starred chefs, and immersive food and beverage programs.

If you're a foodie looking for the cruise lines with the best food, U.S. News has compiled this list of cruise lines focused on delivering an extraordinary dining experience, based on expert opinion and reviews. We've also highlighted two of the venues on each line that receive accolades for outstanding food and service.

Luxury cruise lines

Mainstream cruise lines.

Find your perfect cruise

Oceania Cruises

Courtesy of Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises' culinary program has long been regarded as one of the best of any cruise line – and the company has even trademarked the term "The Finest Cuisine at Sea." Jacques Pépin, the renowned French master chef, has been the executive culinary director since 2003; he has inspired the menus and cuisine on board the line's seven small luxury ships since that time, including the newest vessel, Vista . Oceania is also committed to sourcing the best ingredients from destinations around the world. In addition, the line has a high ratio of culinary staff to guests, and the ship's galleys are outfitted with equipment you'd typically see in Michelin-starred restaurants.

Guests can book exclusive Culinary Discovery Tours on two of the ships, Marina and Riviera . Hone your culinary skills or learn to prepare new types of cuisine at The Culinary Center, found on Marina, Riviera and Vista. You'll also find special wine-tasting and Champagne events in partnership with La Reserve by Wine Spectator. In addition, the line has just announced its first Culinary Masters' Cruise featuring Oceania's two French master chefs aboard Marina in October 2024.

Most of the dining venues are complimentary on Oceania Cruises (except for Privée and La Reserve), and options run the gamut from French and Asian cuisine to Italian fare and steakhouse specialties. There are also new culinary concepts on board Vista – including Ember, which features American classics, as well as Aquamar Kitchen, a venue focused on healthy Mediterranean-inspired cuisine.

Here are two of Oceania's best restaurants:

• Red Ginger: Red Ginger's colorful red and gold interiors, designed with feng shui in mind, draw guests in when they enter the restaurant, but it's the bold Asian flavors that keep them coming back for more. With Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese specialties to choose from, diners will enjoy selections such as caramelized tiger prawns, crispy ginger calamari, red and green curries, and bulgogi rib-eye steak. Red Ginger is available on Marina, Riviera, Sirena and Vista.
• Toscana: The hearty cuisine inspired by Tuscan and northern Italian flavors at Toscana is served on Versace china that's custom designed for the restaurant. Diners should come with an appetite to enjoy several courses before the main event, including a hot or cold antipasti or soup, a selection of pastas, and a classic version of Caesar salad prepared tableside. Traditional main dish favorites include osso buco alla Milanese, veal scaloppini, lobster fra diavolo and Dover sole. Toscana is available on Regatta, Insignia, Nautica, Marina, Riviera and Vista.

Book an  Oceania Cruises  itinerary on GoToSea, a service of U.S. News.

Silversea Cruises

Courtesy of Silversea Cruises

Silversea is another cruise line known for its culinary excellence. Guests will find a selection of international venues featuring Italian, Asian and French cuisine on board the line's fleet of 12 ships.

S.A.L.T., an immersive dining experience that stands for "Sea and Land Taste," is available on Silver Nova , Silver Moon and Silver Dawn . The S.A.L.T. program was created by Adam Sachs, former editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine and three-time James Beard journalism award winner. The innovative program invites guests to experience the destination and local food culture through on-board hands-on activities, including making local recipes in the S.A.L.T. Lab. You can also attend cooking demonstrations and lectures, or book in-depth culinary excursions to working organic farms, Sicilian pasticcerias (where you'll learn how to make pastries) and vineyards in destinations around the world.

The all-inclusive luxury line's restaurant venues are complimentary with the following exceptions: French fine dining restaurant La Dame; the S.A.L.T. Chef's Table experience available on Silver Nova; Seishin Restaurant, which serves Asian fusion dishes on Silver Spirit; and Kaiseki, the Japanese, sushi and teppanyaki venue available on five Silversea ships.

These are two standout dining venues on Silversea:

• S.A.L.T. Kitchen: S.A.L.T. Kitchen's menu changes daily inspired by the destination, but diners will also find a "Voyage" menu that reflects the influences from the overall region of the itinerary. The daily "Terrain" menu in Italy might include dishes likes prawns cooked in a cherry tomato sauce with garlic, white wine and parsley or a classic risotto with clams topped with a pan-fried filet of sole. The "Voyage" menu on an Eastern Mediterranean sailing would feature dishes from Greece, Croatia and Italy. The immersive dining experience is available on Silver Ray, Moon, Dawn and Nova.
• La Dame: The curated menu at La Dame was created by Silversea's top chefs and is served in an elegant contemporary space with white-glove table service. The cuisine pays homage to classic French gastronomy along with modern techniques and flair. Guests can expect to dine on traditional French dishes such as seared duck foie gras, French onion soup, lobster bisque, Dover sole and souffles for dessert. La Dame is available on all the line's ships, except for Silver Origin.

Find a  Silversea Cruise  on GoToSea.

Explora Journeys

Courtesy of Explora Journeys

MSC Group's new luxury brand, Explora Journeys, features a top-notch culinary program with a team of international chefs at the helm. Acclaimed chef Franck Garanger, the line's head of culinary, has been recognized as a French master chef since 2008; he has also overseen the culinary programs for both Silversea and Oceania cruises before joining Explora.

According to Garanger, Explora Journeys has one of the highest chef-to-guest ratios and food costs of any cruise line, which is why you'll see offerings like freshly shucked oysters on the half shell, ceviche, free range and organic chicken, made-to-order grilled fish, and other freshly prepared items in Emporium Marketplace, Explora's globally inspired all-day dining venue. There's also a large focus on plant-based dishes, wellness and healthy menu selections in venues across the ship.

The first of six 922-guest superyacht-style vessels, Explora I, offers guests a choice of six restaurant venues, including the French-inspired Fil Rouge; Marble & Co. Grill, an elegant European steakhouse; and Med Yacht Club, which features delightful Mediterranean cuisine. Guests will also enjoy boutique international and regional wines; try a glass of Moët & Chandon, Explora's "house" Champagne.

During your "journey," you can also attend cooking classes at the Chef's Kitchen, a private dining and culinary school with lead enrichment chef Jean-Louis Dumonet at the helm. Another world-class chef, Dumonet received the distinction of becoming a French master chef in 1994 and has had a very successful culinary career, including achieving his first Michelin star at age 28.

Explore these standouts in Explora's culinary program:

• Sakura: This beautiful Pan-Asian restaurant is open for lunch and dinner. The bright and airy design features cherry blossoms suspended from the ceilings and Asian-inspired decor. The authentic dining experience also boasts an open kitchen and a sushi bar with many ingredients sourced from Japan, and the venue has outdoor seating and indoor tables with floor-to-ceiling ocean views. Begin your evening with an Asian-inspired cocktail and a starter of crispy duck leg confit, wagyu beef tataki or soft-shell crab tempura. Main dish highlights include a miso black cod fillet, 72-hour slow-cooked short rib beef panang and an addictive lobster pad Thai.
• Anthology: The innovative concept at Anthology "is imagined as a unique culinary stage showcasing global cooking talents and cuisines, provenance and rare ingredients along with wines by highly coveted winemakers." The tasting menus are curated by a rotation of top chefs that changes throughout the year. The first chef who opened the new ship, Mauro Uliassi, has a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the coastal town of Senigallia, Italy. The second chef (through April 2024) is Swedish-born Emma Bengtsson, executive chef at the two-Michelin-starred Aquavit in New York. Anthology is the only dining venue on Explora I that comes at an additional cost. There's also an optional wine pairing.

Compare  Explora Journeys  cruises on GoToSea.

Regent Seven Seas

Regent Seven Seas' culinary program, "Epicurean Indulgence," features top-notch dining experiences on board the luxury line's six ships. Guests will also find educational hands-on cooking classes in the Culinary Arts Kitchen and Epicurean Explorer tours focused on the wines, spirits and regional foods in destinations around the world. Regents' all-inclusive cruise fares include as many as seven dining venues (depending on the ship), that feature French, Italian, Pan-Asian and steakhouse restaurants as well as 24-hour in-suite room service. You can also enjoy fine wines and spirits in all the restaurants, bar and lounges.

Regent Seven Seas boasts a variety of excellent restaurants, but here are two top options:

• Pacific Rim: The entrance to Pacific Rim is just as impressive as its food with the floor-to-ceiling bronze Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheel that sits just outside the venue. Inside, your evening experience in this beautiful zen-like space begins with a signature cocktail and a difficult decision of which Thai, Japanese, Korean, Chinese or Vietnamese dishes to order for dinner. Begin your meal with a selection of sushi and sashimi, then sample pork and shrimp siu mai or thom kha gai soup. For a main dish, don't miss elevated dishes like miso black cod, Canadian lobster tempura or aromatic duck.
• Compass Rose: Compass Rose is the largest specialty restaurant on Regent's ships, and you'll find the elegant venue across the fleet. The menu features classic favorites and dishes that are always available, including foie gras, escargot, Alaskan crab salad, black Angus cuts of beef, New Zealand lamb chops and a daily choice of pasta. The additional chef's gourmet menu changes daily. If you prefer lighter fare, choose one of the healthy Serene Spa & Wellness selections. Guests can also customize their dining preferences and order from any of the menus.

Explore  Regent Seven Seas  deals on GoToSea.

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Courtesy of Viking

Viking's nine 930-guest and adults-only ocean-going ships offer destination-focused dining highlighting regional cuisine and local specialties. In addition, cruisers will find their favorite classic dishes (some with a twist), such as a Norwegian baby shrimp cocktail, beef tenderloin and linguine with clams in The Restaurant, Viking's main dining venue.

Other dining options include an open kitchen and international fare at World Café, which also has a large alfresco dining area called Aquavit Terrace. For more casual fare, head to Mamsen's, a favorite spot for Norwegian specialties, or stop by the Pool Grill, where you'll find made-to-order burgers and light bites. All of these venues – plus two specialty restaurants, Manfredi's and The Chef's Table – are included in the cruise fare.

Guests on board Viking's ships are also treated to a daily afternoon tea in the Wintergarden, a Scandinavian-inspired, light-filled space located next to the main pool. If you're interested in learning more about destination-focused cuisine, reserve a spot in one of the hands-on cooking classes at The Kitchen Table to learn how to prepare some of the local dishes. These special excursions and culinary classes begin with a visit to a local market and end with an evening of cooking (or watching the dinner preparation) – plus multiple courses of food and wine pairings. There is a fee for the class.

The two specialty restaurants provide an exceptional experience with Viking :

• Manfredi's: Plan to make a reservation at Manfredi's, Viking's Italian restaurant. It features an impressive menu of Italian specialties, including dishes with influence from Tuscany and Rome. Start the evening with a selection of antipasti for two and pasta e fagioli or crème of porcini soup. Then, choose between traditional offerings like osso bucco alla Milanese, rosemary parmesan-crusted lamb or the Tuscan favorite dish bistecca Fiorentina (Florentine-style steak). There are also wonderful fresh pasta dishes and several types of risotto.
• The Chef's Table: The Chef's Table menu changes several times throughout the cruise, allowing guests to sample a variety of multicourse tasting menus that highlight international and regional specialties. The beautiful venue is perfect for a special evening and a "food journey" where you'll savor a selection of Asian, Norwegian, French or other cuisines paired with wines by the ship's master sommelier.

Book a  Viking Ocean Cruises  itinerary on GoToSea.

Holland America Line

Holland America's master chef and creative culinary artist, Rudi Sodamin, has been with the line for around 20 years. He also heads up the Culinary Council, a group of well-known chefs who will be on board for culinary cruises scheduled throughout the year. During these special voyages, guests can attend cooking demonstrations and coffee chats and make reservations for exclusive chef-hosted dinners and events throughout the cruise.

Holland America also has a new initiative with Fresh Fish Ambassador, chef and TV personality Masaharu Morimoto (you'll recognize him from "Iron Chef"). The Global Fresh Fish program affords the line the ability to source more than 80 varieties of fresh fish in destinations around the world. In addition, you'll find certified sustainable Alaskan seafood on the menu during Alaska cruises .

Wine aficionados can look for wine tastings and wine blending sessions on board the ship and excursions to wine regions ashore, some in partnership with Food & Wine magazine. Rudi's Sel De Mer is an excellent choice for a fine dining evening, but the French brasserie-inspired venue is only available on three ships.

Here are two of Holland America's top specialty restaurants:

• Pinnacle Grill: Pinnacle Grill, an upscale steakhouse, is a specialty restaurant (with an additional fee) that's available on all of the line's 11 ships. It's a favorite spot for couples to enjoy a romantic evening and features classic dishes like shrimp cocktail, jumbo lump crab cakes, lobster bisque, filet mignon, surf and turf, and grilled lamb chops. Seafood lovers will also find Alaskan king salmon and halibut. Be sure to save room for a twist on a timeless dessert – the not-so-classic baked Alaska with Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream.
• Tamarind: Tamarind's elegant atmosphere and flavorful Pan-Asian cuisine make this another top pick for Holland American cruisers. The specialty restaurant is available on four ships (for an additional fee) and features dishes from Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and other Asian countries. Appetizers include specialties like crispy duck with a steamed bao bun, shrimp tempura and Chinese five-spice baby back ribs. For the main course, choose from several types of curries, sample Mongolian barbecue lamb chops, or feast on wok-seared shrimp and lobster. Plan to come early to Tamarind Bar to enjoy a cocktail such as a saketini while watching the sunset over the ocean.

Find a  Holland America  cruise on GoToSea.

Disney Cruise Line

Mark Ashman | Courtesy of Disney Cruise Line

Disney Cruise Line offers excellent family-friendly dining options with over-the-top Disney- and movie-themed venues with live character performances and shows. The ships also have upscale adults-only lounges, bars and restaurants that are perfect for a romantic date night. Disney Cruise Line 's unique rotational family dining concept allows guests to experience three different restaurants while having the same dedicated servers every one of those evenings, so the service is personalized throughout your voyage.

Guests on board Disney Wish can dine in the fictional kingdom of Arendelle at Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure. The "Frozen"-themed evening includes Nordic-inspired dishes, musical performances by the characters and even singalongs for the audience. On Disney Wonder , guests are treated to a night filled with New Orleans-style jazz and street parties plus Southern-influenced fare at Tiana's Place. You can also meet Princess Tiana from Disney's animated feature "The Princess and the Frog."

Other top dining venues on Disney Cruise Line include:

Palo: This adults-only Venetian-inspired venue is an upscale spot ideal for a quiet evening without the kids (who will be very happy to spend time at the onboard kids club). The fine dining experience features northern Italian cuisine and floor-to-ceiling windows offering views from nearly every perspective. The specialty restaurant also serves brunch on longer cruises. The prix fixe (or "prezzo fisso") menu includes four courses, or you can opt to choose from the regular menu with a selection of appetizers, salads, pizza, pasta and main dishes that are individually priced. Guests will find Palo on Disney Magic, Wonder, Dream and Fantasy.

On Disney Wish, there's an updated version of the dining concept, Palo Steakhouse. The modern steakhouse and Italian restaurant – inspired by Cogsworth, the enchanted clock from "Beauty and the Beast" – offers cuts of Australian wagyu, Japanese Kobe and Miyazaki beef as well as delightful Italian cuisine and spectacular ocean views. Be sure to splurge on a cocktail at The Rose before dinner if you're dining at Palo Steakhouse. Note that meals at Palo and Palo Steakhouse come with an additional charge.

Remy: The exquisite dining experience at Remy is a collaboration between French chef Arnaud Lallement from l'Assiette Champenoise (a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in France) and Walt Disney World Resort 's chef Scott Hunnel from the renowned restaurant Victoria & Albert's. Your leisurely evening of fine wines and a tasting menu of French fare begins with a signature Taittinger Champagne cocktail prepared tableside.

Special touches in the "Ratatouille"-inspired venue include Frette linens, Christofle silverware, exclusive Bernadaud china made for Remy, Riedel glassware, tableside international cheese service and decanting stations for wines. A Champagne brunch is served on sea days and select port days. There is an additional charge to dine at the restaurant, which is available on Disney Dream and Fantasy.

Explore  Disney Cruise Line  deals on GoToSea.

Virgin Voyages

Courtesy of Virgin Voyages

Virgin Voyages' creative approach to cruising can be found in nearly every aspect of the line's three ships, including its adults-only vibe and fresh approach to dining. Virgin Voyages does not have a traditional main dining room – and there's no onboard buffet or large dining halls. What you will find is more than 20 eateries with menus created by Michelin-starred chefs that are included in the cruise fare. These smaller and more intimate venues include The Galley, a food court-style spot for casual and grab-and-go fare like bento boxes, tacos, salads, sushi, burgers, noodle bowls and desserts.

Meat lovers and vegetarians will love the veggie-forward dishes and indulgent pork or chicken specialties at boldly designed Razzle Dazzle. At Extra Virgin, sample trattoria-style Italian fare like crispy artichokes, seafood pasta, grilled Mediterranean sea bass and a special tableside preparation of affogato for dessert. For a Korean barbecue experience, head over to Gunbae, a fun spot where your evening begins with a shot of soju – Korea's national drink and the best-selling liquor in the world. The Wake is the largest venue on board and the closest restaurant to a main dining room; it sits at the back of the ship and features a raw bar in addition to a selection of steaks and seafood (some offerings come with an upcharge).

There are many excellent options for dinner, but these are two cruiser-favorite venues:

• The Test Kitchen: Inspired by Auguste Escoffier's "Ma Cuisine," The Test Kitchen is a favorite spot for its laboratory-like eatery and cooking school. The interior decor features metal furniture, beakers and test tubes to get diners in the mood for the exploratory culinary evening. Menus at this innovative venue are presented as a list of ingredients, and guests get to watch the chef combine the selected ingredients of the day for the six-course tasting menu. The upscale experience takes about 2.5 hours. Wine, beer or cocktail pairings come at an additional fee.
• Pink Agave: Virgin's stylish Mexican dining venue, Pink Agave, was inspired by the vibrant streets of Mexico City – and the restaurant features what the line calls the most extensive selection of mezcal and tequila at sea. The menu offerings include small, medium and large plates plus desserts. To begin the evening, order a few small bites to share, including esquites (a grilled corn dish) and aguachile, which is a ceviche made with raw tuna, avocado and jicama. Then, for the main course, choose between options like roasted duck or chicken, achiote marinated pork, or a vegetarian stuffed poblano pepper.

Compare  Virgin Voyages  cruises on GoToSea.

Celebrity Cruises

Courtesy of Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity's selection and quality of restaurant venues – and attentive service – have made the line a favorite for food-focused cruisers for many years. If you're sailing on one of the Celebrity Edge-class ships ( Ascent , Beyond , Apex or Edge ), you'll have up to 32 restaurants to choose from with globally inspired menus created by Michelin-starred chef Cornelius Gallagher.

You can also look for special culinary cruises and onboard events designed in partnership with renowned Michelin-star French chef Daniel Boulud, the line's global culinary brand ambassador. Some of the onboard programs include wine-blending classes, whiskey and scotch tastings, mixology classes, and food and wine pairing workshops.

With so many complimentary dining and specialty options on Celebrity ships (making it hard to choose where to dine), here are two of the unique experiences not to be missed:

• Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud: Daniel Boulud's first signature restaurant at sea is inspired by the chef's global travels. The interior of the specialty restaurant, designed by the Parisian architect-design team of Jouin Manku, is as much of an experience as the meal with its intimate decor and banquette seating. Guests can choose between a standard dinner menu, a regular five-course tasting menu or a plant-based tasting menu. Le Voyage is available on the new Celebrity Ascent and Celebrity Beyond and costs an additional fee.
• Le Petit Chef: The innovative and fantastical 3D dining experience at Le Petit Chef is one of the most unique ways to spend an evening at sea. The immersive meal, which is either served in the quirky Qsine restaurant or Le Grand Bistro, depending on the ship, will delight cruisers of all ages, especially younger children. The tiny, animated chef (think about the size of your hand) entertains guests while preparing each dish. You may see him firing up a grill to sear a steak, picking fresh vegetables from a garden or even going on a fishing adventure in search of lobster. After each dish is prepared by "the chef," waiters will arrive with the actual dish. The 1.5-hour-long experience is an additional cost.

Explore  Celebrity Cruises  deals on GoToSea.

Why Trust U.S. News Travel

Gwen Pratesi has been an avid cruiser since her early 20s. She has sailed on nearly every type of cruise ship built, including the newest megaships, paddle-wheelers on the Mississippi River, and an 18-stateroom river ship on the Mekong River in Vietnam and Cambodia. She has also cruised on a traditional masted sailing ship and on a small luxury expedition vessel in Antarctica crossing the notorious Drake Passage twice. She covers the travel and culinary industries for major publications including U.S. News & World Report.

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10 Cruise Buffet Rules Every Passenger Should Follow

Cruise ships have often been famously referred to as floating buffets at sea – and for good reason. With all-you-can-eat pizza, cake, steak, and lobster, the options truly are endless.

But we often see the same mistakes made when it comes to dining on a cruise ship.  A little cruise buffet etiquette can go a long way to ensure everyone on the ship has a pleasant vacation.

Almost all major cruise ships have at least one buffet on board, which is included in your cruise fare. What’s also included is the 10 pounds you’re sure to gain from sampling all these culinary delights.

Although cruise dining has an overall laid back vibe, there are some unwritten rules you should know before you belly up to the bar – or the buffet that is. Read on to learn about these 10 golden rules every cruiser should follow.

1. Don’t Cut the Unofficial Line (You Know It’s There)

While the buffets on cruise ships are known for being more fun and easy-going compared to its counterparts (looking at you, Main Dining Room), it goes without saying that there is some form of structure and order. A prime example of this would be the lines of hungry people snaked throughout the room.

Cutting people off at the store wouldn’t fly on land, and it isn’t permissible (nor polite) onboard. Instead, exercising your patience and waiting your turn is not only encouraged, but required here.

In the instance you approach a selection of food you’d rather skip all together, you can either wait patiently, or ask the passenger ahead of you in line if you may kindly pass them by. The key here is to ask, as they did arrive before you.

Read more: 12 biggest cruise dining mistakes to avoid

2. Always Wash Your Hands First

The saying may go that your eyes eat before your stomach, but your hands get washed before you do any anything else.

Cruise ships have an overabundance of restrooms, hand-washing stations, and now, hand sanitizer pumps dispersed throughout the vessel. These sanitizer pumps are typically stationed at the entrance of all dining rooms to encourage all guests to wash up before eating.

Even though you will not be touching the food directly (right?), you will be handling those serving utensils that everyone else also touched. You wouldn’t want the person in line ahead of you to have dirty hands, so wash yours too.

3. Use the Tongs (Not Your Hands)

This one isn’t just for the kids (though they are the biggest offenders) – adults are just as guilty.

While it can be tempting to grab that last slice of cheese, sitting all alone with your fingers, just don’t do it. There are food handling utensils for a good reason, and the cruise line expects that everyone uses them.

Related: 10 reasons to eat dinner at the buffet on a cruise

4. Watch Your Children

Speaking of children – watch and accompany your children at all times in the buffet and seating area. Period.

The buffet area commonly stores hot plates, foods, glassware and other items that can pose harm to children and others if not handled properly. As a parent, it is your responsibility to watch, and escort them to and throughout the buffet.

Children also need gentle reminders on buffet etiquette such as not cutting others in line, not grabbing food with tiny fingers, or running around in inappropriate areas.

5. Always Use a New Plate

One of the unwritten golden rules of buffet dining is that there will be more than one plate of food consumed per person. It goes without saying.

With that in mind, it should be noted that when you go back for seconds (or thirds, nobody is judging on a cruise), leave your used plate on your table and grab a new, clean one.

Buffet dining halls have plenty of staff members rounding the tables to take away dirty plates, silver wear, cups and napkins. This is to avoid the serving spoons and tongs coming into contact with your personal dishes, so please be respectful.

6. Do Not Move the Serving Utensils

Each buffet station has its own set of tongs, spoons, forks, or knifes for a reason – to avoid cross-contamination of different food products. This is primarily for allergy, or dietary reasons but is also to avoid mixing unwanted flavors (because nobody wants French fries in their chocolate cake).

Should you transfer the utensils from one station to another, you are risking serious consequences for other passengers. Some are allergic to shellfish, or peanuts, while some may be following a vegetarian, kosher, or gluten free diet. Keeping the utensils in their proper places allows all guests to dine comfortably.

If you are dining on a cruise ship and have dietary concerns, all cruise lines encourage you to speak directly to the maître d. They can modify dishes, or even prepare special dishes for you without risk.

Read more: 25 cruise cabin hacks to make your stateroom more livable

7. Don’t Take All of the Cookies

Make sure to pack your courteous pants with you when you board because you’ll certainly need them in line at the buffet.

You’ll encounter many a station where you’re presented with the last couple items, and as respect to the hungry passengers in line behind you: don’t take all of them. Even if you have a table of 4 waiting for you across the room. That’s right – just don’t do it.

The right thing to do here is to take one, leave some behind and alert the chef who’s probably standing behind the station, that the supply is running low and needs to be replenished. They’ll know what to do from there.

And if you really, really (like really ) need to take that last cookie, definitely make sure to let a chef know so that everyone else can have one, too.

8. Do Not Eat in Line

With endless, mouthwatering options, eating while standing in line (that seems to move at a snail’s pace) can be painfully tempting, but don’t do it.

The food on your plate, nor at the buffet, isn’t going anywhere and this may be a good opportunity to practice patience (and to teach little ones about this virtue as well).

Eating in line is unsanitary and defeats the purpose of rule number 2 – washing your hands first. As in, before you eat and touch the utensils you’re using as a vehicle to put the food on your plate. It’s just rude and sends the wrong message to other guests.

Related: 15 most popular dining venues on cruise ships

9. Don’t Overload Your Plate

Again – cruise food makes you salivate, so loading up your plate can happen before you even realize it. Why should you have to choose between nachos, and French fries? Here’s the thing though: you don’t.

There are tactics to avoid overloading one plate and appearing gluttonous to other passengers. You can eat in shifts by taking one plate at a time. Start with a salad, then your entrée, and then move onto dessert(s).

Or, if you’d rather make one trip, you can take a little bit of everything instead of normal-sized portions of each item. Think: Thanksgiving-style, cruise ship edition.

10. Be Kind to All Staff Members

Above all, expressing your kindness, sincerity and appreciation to staff members throughout the buffet dining hall, and within the dining room should go without saying, but is certainly worth mentioning.

While all cruise staff members are there to serve you (and certainly go above and beyond to make your experience memorable and exceptionable), passengers need keep in mind that they are deserving of respect.

Make sure to always say please, thank you, or no thank you, to smile and wave and let them know when they have made a difference in your dining experience!

Read more: 10 biggest things that can ruin your cruise

Final Thoughts

Cruises are the best vacation you can take if you’re looking to sample the flavors of the world in a single sitting. This truly all-you-can-eat experience coupled with a casual environment is not to be missed.

Before you embark on your next cruise buffet dining experience, please keep in mind the unwritten rules of the dining hall to ensure the best experience for both you and everyone else on board.

Remembering to practice best etiquette such as:

• Ensuring your hands are washed.
• Not handling food with your hands
• Don’t cut the line!
• And being respectful of staff members

These key points will help maintain the laid back, comfortable dining experience that every passenger comes for, and ultimately is why they stay around.

Read more: Cruise dining regrets: 10 foods these travelers say they avoid on every cruise

6 Things I Won’t Buy on a Cruise Ship

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When it comes to cruise dining, every dish has a tale to tell, best cruises for food lovers.

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It begins in a little village. Or a big city. Or a tropical island. Our chefs travel from their homes to our ships, bringing family recipes and enthusiasm along with them. They create dishes served by crew members who love to tell stories of their own, about where they’re from and where they’ve been, and hear your stories too. Because food brings people together, especially here.

Dine when, how and where you like

Princess offers Personalized Dining so you're in control. Fit in a formal dinner before a show. Explore the possibilities of our casual eateries whenever works for you. Use OceanNow® to order a burger and beer that finds you while watching Movies Under the Stars®. Make reservations so you can make the most of mealtime with more options to enjoy and less waiting.

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So many cruise dining options at no extra cost

If you’re hungry, you have options. Lots of them. Feeling fancy-ish? Our main dining rooms offer multicourse meals helmed by a waitstaff who makes sure your glasses are full and your taste buds are happy. Prefer a more casual setting? World Fresh Marketplace outshines any cruise buffet – with regional fare, chef specialty stations and familiar favorites. And don’t forget our International Café with sandwiches, soups and – you guessed it! – sweet treats.

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Relaxed yet rewarding

These sit-down restaurants and pop-ups may not be fancy, but the food is lip-smacking good, and there’s something for everyone: meat lovers, seafood aficionados, wine connoisseurs, pub-goers, you name it. Enjoy them all for only a small fee. (Worth it.)

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A cruise dining experience you won’t want to miss

Make any night a special occasion at our award-winning restaurants. Explore them all: treasured Italian recipes at Sabatini’s, next-level surf and turf at Crown Grill and Sterling Steakhouse or the Cajun-infused menu of the Bayou Café. Or dine an extravagant multicourse dinner complete with wine pairings at Chef's Table. 

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Prefer to dine on your balcony or while catching a sunset on the top deck? It’s easy with OceanNow®. Order your favorite food and drinks on your smart device or directly through a crew member, and we’ll bring them right to you! Guests with the Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages enjoy OceanNow and room service delivery with no charge. Sit back, relax and enjoy not having to stand in line or deal with crowds.​

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It’s bread baked fresh 24-7. Pastries made with only the best ingredients (because you can taste the difference). Steaks aged and cut on board. Homemade pasta rolled and shaped every day. We carefully craft every dish as though we were having you for a meal in our home because, come to think of it, we are.

Dine like a local

There’s no better way to experience a place than through its food. So you’ll find regional flavors all around you on board, favorite recipes chefs brought from home or discovered along the way. Think curries from India and homemade pasta from Italy. Seafood in Alaska and street tacos in Mexico. We don’t just say "authentic" we serve it.

Explore beverages, wine, & more on board

Craft cocktails, the finest wines from around the world, premium coffee and more await you on your voyage. Discover what expert Mixologist Rob Floyd and our Food and Beverage team have created with Princess just for you, including our award-winning wine list. Drink in the possibilities with our Princess Plus Package℠ (Trip tip: It includes the Plus Beverage Package and a whole lot more at a big value!)

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Enjoy a four-course meal and a great bottle of wine. Or grab a burger hot off the grill. Dress up. Dress down. Sit with your friends or make new ones. Dine inside or Oceanside along The Waterfront. Only Norwegian offers the freedom and flexibility of Freestyle Dining, which means no fixed dining times or pre-assigned seating. So follow your mood, not a timetable .

Enjoy a Wide Variety of COMPLIMENTARY DINING

All of our ships offer beautifully crafted menus in up to three Main Dining Rooms, a Buffet and a variety of casual eateries. With our chef's original dishes made with the finest ingredients, your dining can be as fine or as fun as you want.

Main Dining Rooms

Choose from up to three main dining rooms serving a wide variety of delicious cuisine. Enjoy specially curated modern and classic dishes made with the freshest ingredients.

Beyond Buffets

Our quintessential buffet is a crowd favourite for a reason. Available during breakfast, lunch and dinner, feel free to enjoy our meat carving station, made-to-order omelettes, pasta and more. Best part, it's complimentary.

24 Hour Eatery

Classic pub fare offered in a relaxed atmosphere. With popular dishes like the Reuben Sandwich and Fish n' Chips, this eatery has all your favourite comfort foods!

Indulge in Norwegian Exclusive SPECIALITY DINING

When you want a unique culinary experience, our speciality restaurants offer a variety of tastes for every palate. Now through The Norwegian Edge we are bringing an even higher standard of excellence to our dining with upgraded menus and new exciting venues. Whether you're indulging in succulent meats at Moderno Churrascaria, savouring French cuisine in Le Bistro, or enjoying fresh Mexican flavours at Los Lobos, you'll be sure to discover menus as fresh as the ingredients and cuisine that looks almost too good to eat.

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Dig into some authentic Texas BBQ at Q Texas Smokehouse. All our smoked meats are infused with delicious flavours and come with all the traditional sides.

Our authentic Brazilian steakhouse is a must. Start with an impressive salad bar, but save room for skewers of slow-roasted meats carved tableside by our Pasadores.

A contemporary take on classic French cuisine. Surround yourself in chic décor and rich fare plates. Perfect for a romantic night out for the deux of you.

This delicious Asian-Latin fusion cuisine served tapas style is perfect for sharing. Food Republic is open for lunch on sea days and dinner nightly.

Dine on Italian classics prepared using the finest ingredients at La Cucina. Or explore a new wave of flavour with a fresh take on old-world fare at Onda by Scarpetta.

Gather around a shared table as a skillful chef perfectly prepares steak, chicken and seafood on a large steel grill at Teppanyaki. In the mood for sushi? Pull up a chair at any one of our sushi bars for some traditional Japanese fare, including Nama, our new contemporary sushi house offering upscale sushi and sashimi prepared by master chefs.

Bienvenido a Los Lobos, a premium Mexican restaurant celebrating traditional flavours with a modern twist. Chefs serve up new favourites like Carne Asada marinated in guajillo chiles and tequila or Tres Leches Cake with Coconut Cream.

Indulge in our newest seafood concept, Palomar, featuring flavourful Mediterranean inspired dishes and an exclusive eco-friendly wine list. Dive into an ocean of flavour with other incredible seafood options like Ocean Blue, Bayamo and The Raw Bar, serving some of the finest and freshest ingredients at sea with perfectly paired wine selections and cocktails.

Enjoy a taste of Spain's cuisine at this lively tapas bar. Sip on delicious sangria as you savour an array of small plates, like Manchego Cheese and Iberico Ham, or Cod Croquettes and Garlic Shrimp.

An American-style steakhouse where succulent choice cuts of Angus beef are incredibly flavourful and perfectly prepared. Make sure to order our famous Parmesan truffle fries.

Indulge your sweet tooth with decadent treats such as French macarons, chocolate bonbons and gourmet cupcakes at Coco's, Dolce Gelato, or The Bake Shop.

See What We Offer for FAMILY DINING

Freestyle Dining provides dining choices that satisfy even the pickiest eater in the family. Grab a burger hot off the grill or sit down for a four-course meal. Dress up. Dress down. You'll find more dining options than days of your cruise, and you're free to enjoy them all on your own timetable .

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Why you should always avoid the cruise buffet as soon as you board – and where you should go instead

• Published : 4:39 ET, Mar 31 2024
• Updated : 10:25 ET, Mar 31 2024
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BRITS have been warned to avoid the buffet when holidaying on a cruise ship.

The convenience of an all-inclusive buffet draws most of the passengers on the first day of their trip - but it's not the only option. 

Most of the time the cruise ship's buffet will be the boat's most popular restaurant as it's usually included in guest packages.

And on embarkation day - when passengers first board the cruise ship - it can be the first place guests go.

After spending hours upon hours travelling to the port, checking in luggage and going through any other processes, the first thing holidaymakers want is a plate full of food.

But because it's the first day, the buffet restaurant isn't always the best option because it's full of other guests chowing down on what's on offer, reports the  Express .

To avoid a busy, loud and potentially lower-quality meal, soon-to-be boarding Brits should check out what else the ship has to offer.

Most of them will have more than just a buffet restaurant - with different cuisines, tastes and prices throughout - and are often more peaceful than busy buffet stations.

But if you do decide that the buffet is the best option available, cruise experts have listed some foods that are best to be avoided.

Travel experts Ashley Kosciolek and Katherine Alex Beaven put the helpful list together and it could help you dodge a funny tummy for the first few days of your trip.

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They recommend avoiding something that could have been left out for a while, in favour of something that has been made fresh right in front of you.

The list includes pre-prepared sushi, ice cream, scrambled eggs, pizza and communal condiments. 

They told  Cruise Critic : "If there's sushi at the cruise ship buffet and you don't know how long it's been there, consider giving it a pass for something you can see being made right in front of you."

The same goes for pizza, while eggs are best eaten in the form of omelettes at a made-to-order station.

And because ice cream is usually offered at a self-service station, lots of other hands will have touched the dispenser, and the cones, so they recommended always using a bowl and a napkin to dispense the dessert. 

The same issue is present with condiments, lots of other people use them and they'll be left out for a while - making them a hotbed for germs. 

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The Hottest Restaurant in France Is an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet

By Lauren Collins

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My friend Guillaume is always telling me interesting things. Like: there’s a dance called the Madison that many French people think is a regular feature of parties in the United States. Guillaume recently alerted me that a man who was fired for not being fun enough at work got his job back, winning five hundred thousand euros in a landmark case. Last summer, I went to dinner at Guillaume’s, and he mentioned a restaurant, an all-you-can-eat buffet not far from his home town in the South of France. He had just celebrated his birthday there. There was talk of flaming duck and a chocolate fountain. Guillaume showed me a picture of the crystal-curtained lobster tower—seven layers of vermillion crustaceans, topped by an upright specimen thrusting its claws to the sky, as though it had just slayed a halftime show, amid a cloud of mist.

The restaurant is called Les Grands Buffets. A week or so later, I went to its Web site, and entered my e-mail address to receive a secure link to make a reservation online. It was late July. The next available table was for a Wednesday in December, at 8:45 p . m . “We remind you that this reservation is non-modifiable, you cannot change the number of guests, the date of the meal, the hour of the meal, or the name of the beneficiary,” the confirmation e-mail read. If I wanted to bring children under ten years of age, I needed to submit their names at least three days in advance. (They eat at discounted rates.) I would be refused entry if I showed up in sweatpants, an undershirt, a bathing suit, a sports jersey, flip-flops, a ball cap, or any of three kinds of shorts. The toughest reservation in France, it turns out, is not at a Michelin-starred destination like Mirazur or Septime. It’s at an all-you-can-eat buffet situated in a municipal rec center in the smallish city of Narbonne.

Last year, more than three hundred and eighty thousand people paid fifty-two euros and ninety centimes for the pleasure of visiting Les Grands Buffets. Drinks cost extra, but they are sold at a minimal markup, so a bottle of Mercier champagne costs twenty-five euros, about the same as it does in the supermarket. Everything else is unlimited, from caviar to stewed tripe. There are nine kinds of foie gras on offer, and five pâtés en croûte, including one known as Sleeping Beauty’s Pillow, which involves a panoply of meats (chicken, duck, wild boar, hare, quail, sweetbreads, ground pork) and is considered by connoisseurs to be “charcuterie’s holy grail.” The chef Michel Guérard has called Les Grands Buffets “the greatest culinary theater in the world.” Guinness has certified its cheese platter, featuring a hundred and eleven varieties, as the largest known to restaurant-going man. It’s more of a cheese room.

All-you-can-eat buffets are usually associated with a catholic array of foods: California rolls and king-crab legs, baby back ribs alongside pasta bakes and hot-fudge sundaes. However, Les Grands Buffets serves only what it considers to be traditional French food. You will find chorizo at the charcuterie station, but there is no pizza, paella, or couscous, no nems or thiéboudiène, even though more than a tenth of people living in France were born elsewhere. Les Grands Buffets takes a panoramic view of the French classics, ranging from the palace-hotel repertoire (lièvre à la royale, peach Melba) to bourgeois cooking (veal blanquette, bœuf bourguignonne), regional specialties (quenelles de brochet, pissaladière), and rustic dishes (snails, frogs’ legs). “More than a gargantuan orgy,” Le Journal du Dimanche reports, the restaurant represents “a sort of conservatory of the nation’s gastronomy.” The effect is something like a Golden Corral by Auguste Escoffier.

Les Grands Buffets has four dining rooms, sumptuously decorated in different styles. One has an Art Deco theme. Another is a tented room, paying tribute to Louis XIV, complete with an original 1697 map by the King’s engraver. Chandeliers made by the craftsmen who light the Château de Chambord cast a lush glow over lemon trees planted in wooden boxes originally designed for the gardens at Versailles. Tables throughout are set in a grand style, down to the fish knives. Waiters clear plates and serve drinks, instead of leaving guests to a soda fountain, squirting cherry Coke into the same paper cup as Tropicana and Sprite.

Louis Privat, the restaurant’s proprietor, believes that gastronomy is suffering from globalization: everything is the same everywhere, and even some of the most creative cuisine, he says, “has lost its national identity.” In his view, French people, especially the young, need reintroduction to the culture of the table and its associated arts. He sees his restaurant as something like a “Louvre of dishes,” with a pedagogic mission as well as an epicurean one. “Why would you put a tarte Tatin in a shot glass?” he said to me recently, a cloud of despair passing over his face. The bistronomy movement, which in the past thirty years has whisked the cloths off French tables and consigned silver to drawers, is, Privat thinks, a cost-cutting crusade masquerading as a trend. “Our golden rule is that, if it’s complicated, then that’s a good reason to do it,” he said.

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Pascal Lardellier, an anthropologist at the University of Burgundy, calls Les Grands Buffets “the site of all the superlatives.” Last year, it brought in twenty-four million euros in revenue, which reportedly makes it the highest-grossing restaurant in France. The Sybarites of ancient Greece issued invitations to guests up to a year in advance, so that they would have time to prepare their outfits and jewelry. Fans of Les Grands Buffets also book up to a year in advance, and spend the intervening months dreaming of how they’ll fill their plates. “My husband and I can’t dine out often,” one repeat customer wrote on Facebook, “so we prefer to reserve our leisure budget exclusively for Les Grands Buffets.”

When December came around, I caught a train from Paris and rode south for five hours before arriving in Narbonne, less than seventy miles north of the border with Spain. The city center, with Roman ruins and a fantastically old-school market hall, was within walking distance, but I took a cab toward the outskirts of town. Bypassing gas stations and a KFC, we circled a roundabout, where an inflatable snowman bobbed in the wind. Finally, we arrived at a massive leisure complex built by the local government in the nineteen-eighties. Inside, gray light streamed through a pyramidal skylight, accentuating turquoise exposed pipes. From the lobby, you could enter a bowling alley, an ice rink, a swimming pool, or Les Grands Buffets. The restaurant’s entrance, in cherry wood and gleaming brass, brought to mind the cabin of an ocean liner, plunked down on the set of “Saved by the Bell.”

In the vestibule, floor-to-ceiling cabinets displayed a collection of silver serving dishes. Nearby, what was supposedly the world’s biggest silver fork was mounted on a wall. While waiting for the maître d’, a customer could step on an antique scale the size of a grandfather clock. Lest that put him in an abstemious mood, a golden plaque displayed a quote in Middle French, from Rabelais’s “Gargantua”: “ Fay ce que vouldras ,” it commanded—“Do as you wish.”

It was nearly the end of lunchtime. Guests clustered around the dessert bar, where chocolate flowed down the famous fountain in glossy sheets. They ladled chocolate onto strawberries, pineapple chunks, financiers, and canelés from separate vats offering a choice of white, dark, and milk. As Roy Strong writes in “Feast: A History of Grand Eating,” fountains have dazzled diners for centuries, disgorging rose water and eau de muscade. One attendee of a banquet in Lille in 1454 recalled a statue of a naked girl, guarded by a real lion, who sprayed mulled wine from her right breast.

An employee led me to the tented room, where Louis Privat was finishing up a meal with a pair of V.I.P.s. Privat is seventy, with cornflower-blue eyes and a meringue of gray hair. He was wearing a black cashmere turtleneck, and bemoaning chefs’ attempts to pass off bastardized forms of classic dishes on an unsuspecting public. “It’s tomfoolery,” he said. Imagine: serving a Mont Blanc without chestnuts, or calling a plate of beans a cassoulet. He continued, “That’s the main fight we’re leading today, not to let these dishes be corrupted, even if the recipes aren’t patented.” At another table, a corps of waiters wheeled out a gramophone that played André Claveau crooning “ Bon anniversaire. ” Out the window, one could glimpse a five-story waterslide.

Privat ordered tulip-shaped glasses of raspberry eau de vie—an eight-euro-and-fifty-centime supplement—for his guests. In the restaurant’s gilded ice-cream parlor, diners availed themselves of eleven flavors, along with Irish coffee and lemon ice doused in vodka. Also on offer was the trou normand, or Norman hole—a shot of Calvados served over apple sorbet, which is said to counteract the sensation of a full stomach. The restaurant serves about a hundred and fifty trous normands during each service of five hundred diners. Some guests take more than one. They are welcome to. “Our job is to rid people of their inhibitions,” Privat said.

Like all buffets, Les Grands Buffets is a volume business. About eighty-five per cent of the restaurant’s patrons are French; others come in large numbers from Belgium and Spain, notwithstanding a decision by Les Grands Buffets to prohibit tour buses. Hardly a year passes without Privat dreaming up a new enticement or entertainment. “We add things all the time, but we hardly ever take things away,” he said. (A fancy version of mashed potatoes, he admitted, had not been a success.) Irène Derose, a retired bank employee who lives in a village in the Hérault, has been to Les Grands Buffets eighteen times, most recently for her birthday, which she celebrated by eating both lunch and dinner at the restaurant. “And I still haven’t tasted everything,” she told me.

Restaurateurs typically adhere to a three-hundred-per-cent markup, so that a hanger steak that costs five euros appears on the menu at fifteen, and a filet that costs ten goes for thirty. Because Privat’s costs are relatively flat—he serves the same thing every day to a consistent number of diners and receives bulk discounts—he chooses to earn his margin as a stable rate, rather than as a multiple. “It’s the same supplier, the same refrigerator, the same cook,” he said. “What justifies taking ten euros on one dish and twenty on the other? Here, if you want to eat something better, I take the same amount.”

Some buffets jack up their prices on weekends or charge customers for uneaten food. At Shady Maple Smorgasbord, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which bills itself as America’s largest all-you-can-eat buffet, the vibe is almost prosecutorial. “Don’t Risk It for a Biscuit,” the restaurant admonishes diners, warning that anybody who pockets a roll will be treated as a shoplifter. (I couldn’t help but think of the “Simpsons” episode in which Homer is dragged out of the Frying Dutchman by the armpits after helping himself to a whole steam tray of shrimp.)

By contrast, Privat practices a sort of gastronomic prosperity gospel. He believes that the client who feels that he is not being taken advantage of will relax; the client who is relaxed will have another glass of wine; the client who enjoys his wine will go home with a case (rendering the bottle drunk at the table gratis); the client who savors his case at home will come back. “I prefer to get away from this logic of rationing,” Privat said. “If you give, you will receive.”

He suggested that we sample the restaurant’s russe: a striated dessert of sponge cake and praline cream. It was concocted by a French baker in the nineteen-twenties, but was named either for its main ingredient, almonds sourced from Crimea, or for the sprinkling of powdered sugar on top that recalls the snowy Siberian steppes. The russe was a touch sweet for my liking, so I went back to the dessert station, trying to think of a French delicacy that wasn’t represented. But they were all there, from technical feats like île flottante to spoonable goops like chocolate mousse. In a nook, an employee was flambéing crêpes on a silver chariot that originally belonged to Le Negresco hotel, in Nice. Despite the foreign-food ban, a brownie had sneaked into the offering. (The French pronounce it “broonie,” by the way.) I took a slice of opéra cake—almond sponge, buttercream, coffee syrup, chocolate ganache—and thought of le droit à l’erreur . The principle, enshrined in a 2018 French law, minimizes punishment for people who screw up their taxes in good faith. I added a dollop of prunes stewed in red wine to my plate. Like few things in life, the all-you-can-eat buffet guarantees the right to make mistakes.

The writer André Borel d’Hauterive once attempted a taxonomy of eaters: the gastronome (appreciates good food and wine and partakes reasonably), the gourmand (prefers quantity to quality), the friand (has a sweet tooth), the goinfre (eats enthusiastically to excess), the ventru (“makes a God of his stomach”), the glouton (dessert comes and he has no idea what he’s eaten), the goulu (dessert comes and he has no idea how much he’s eaten).

Buffet-goers might fall into any of these categories, but their chosen pursuit requires a logistical edge. There are competitors to be assessed, maneuvers to be considered, routes to be mapped. I was reminded of a football playbook as I studied a brochure that featured a bird’s-eye view of Les Grands Buffets, with arrows indicating various counters (“Ice Cream Shop,” “9 Kinds of Ham”). If a day at Disneyland is all about beating the lines, a meal at Les Grands Buffets is an exercise in optimizing calories. Some expert buffet-goers swear by starting with the most expensive stuff, or by assembling an “introductory taster plate.” Others warn against maxing out on carbs. One Reddit tactician writes, “ NEVER take a single piece of food until you do a preliminary reconnaissance sweep of the entire buffet. No use filling up on fried chicken breasts when there’s a prime rib carvery station at the end.”

Les Grands Buffets prides itself on never running out of anything. At the same time, the restaurant claims to produce little waste. “We know down to the gram how much to allot for each client,” Pierre Cavalier, the general manager, told me. “The foie gras, for example—it’s not fifty or fifty-one, it’s precisely forty-eight grams!” The average customer, he continued, goes through 1.3 oysters and 7.4 plates. (He added that leftovers go toward staff meals for the restaurant’s two hundred employees.) Once, as the stock of shrimp dipped perilously low, Cavalier jumped into his car and sped to the local fishmonger to get more. “Without looking at the price, I bought everything they had,” he recalled. “The diners were lucky that day.”

The atmosphere at Les Grands Buffets is calm and even reverent. Still, stratagems abound. I saw one multigenerational family gathered around a table loaded with plates, each containing a single foodstuff: rillettes, saucisson, pâté en croûte, œufs mimosa, organic crudités. Their postures were relaxed and the conversation was flowing, as was the twenty-five-euro champagne. I realized that they had decided to set up an apéro —the French equivalent of cocktail hour, except that it often lasts much longer—just as they would have at home. Every so often, someone would pop a cherry tomato into his mouth.

Cavalier showed me around the main floor. That morning, staff members had prepared each station according to specifications laid out on laminated pages in a binder. “Obviously, the notion is subjective, but everything needs to look appetizing,” Cavalier said. He adjusted the claw of a crab: “They’re all supposed to point in the same direction.” The cheese room emitted a farmyard odor, but he was unbothered. “Some clients who don’t like cheese complain that it stinks, but we own it,” he said. (A new ventilation system has apparently helped.)

Cavalier noted with satisfaction that many patrons were following the classic sequence of hors d’œuvre, fish, meat, salad, cheese, and dessert. Some people think that there is a correlation between price and abandon: the cheaper the buffet, the higher the customers stack their plates. If Shoney’s inspires teetering skyscrapers of meat loaf and onion rings, Les Grands Buffets encourages horizontality, with stuffed quails and leeks vinaigrette and babas au rhum stretching neatly into the distance, an endless suburb of plates.

There is just one rule at Les Grands Buffets: at the stations where diners place orders instead of helping themselves, they can take only one dish at a time. This creates a minor barrier to marquee food while insuring that customers can get it hot. At the rotisserie, a short line had formed in front of a stylish open kitchen, where cooks in toques bustled around, wielding copper pots. Privat sees the restaurant as a preserve not only of hard-to-find dishes but also of disappearing métiers: rôtisseur , écailler , saucier . A sign bore a list of twenty-six specialties that customers could have prepared in front of them. A man stepped up to the counter and ordered an omelette with cèpes.

The orders went out over a microphone. “ Oui, chef!  ” the underlings called. (Privat had warned them in a staff meeting that morning that just “ oui ” or “ ouais ” would not suffice.) The customer waited with a ticket, which he exchanged for the dish once it appeared. The plates kept coming: marrowbones, tournedos Rossini, andouillette with mustard sauce, a whole roasted turbot. At the back of the kitchen, a cook stood on a raised platform, basting a suckling pig.

Food historians trace the origins of the modern buffet to the seventeenth century, when Louis XIV entertained at impromptus and soirées d’appartement , his servants quickly dressing tables with silver torches, pyramids of flowers, and filigreed baskets heaving with oranges, lemons, and candied fruits. This aristocratic habit was eventually codified as service à la française , distinguished by the practice of putting multiple dishes on the table at once. “The buffet, historically, c’est chic ,” Madame Figaro recently declared, in an article about the resurgence of all-you-can-eat restaurants.

The first commercial buffets likely originated in gaming houses and at ticketed balls. In the nineteenth century, Parisians frequented buffets such as one that stood at 10 Boulevard Montmartre, offering a choice of dishes at sixty centimes, seventy-five centimes, and one franc. “No table, no utensils, no garçon ,” one journalist noted. “Some people talk about these places as the first fast food in France,” Loïc Bienassis, of the European Institute for the History of Culture and Food, said. “That’s debatable, but it’s certain that they were intended for eaters in a hurry.”

With the advent of railroads, buffets gained widespread popularity in France. They were a particularly convenient format for train stations, where hungry passengers came and went throughout the day. As the pace of travel accelerated, these “station buffets” suffered. Le Monde reported in 1955 that only about four hundred were left. At the same time, though, buffets were enjoying success at all-inclusive holiday destinations such as Club Med. The generation that had survived the Second World War “knew what it was to lack,” Kilien Stengel, of the University of Tours, told Madame Figaro . Bienassis sees buffets as the gastronomic manifestation of postwar economic prosperity, reflecting “a society that no longer measured, that had stopped counting, that believed in infinite growth.”

Swedes popularized the buffet in America with a revolving smorgasbord at the 1939 World’s Fair. In the mid-forties, the El Rancho Hotel opened Las Vegas’s first all-you-can-eat buffet, luring deal-seeking gamblers to the Buckaroo Buffet “chuck wagon.” The concept caught on, with Sin City becoming the historic home of an exuberant strain of gluttony. “The South has fried chicken, Texas has barbecue, Chicago has hot dogs, New York has pizza and Las Vegas has them all,” C. Moon Reed, of Las Vegas Weekly , writes. “That is to say, our regional cuisine is the buffet.”

I have loved buffets since childhood—if my dad was working late, my mom sometimes took us to a “steak house” chain called Quincy’s. It may have served sirloins and filets, but I never saw them, loading up instead on yeast rolls and ice cream from a soft-serve machine. Call them tacky, or repulsive, but buffets elicit a hopeful, almost juvenile feeling of possibility. As with a scavenger hunt, there is a satisfaction in checking things off your list. As with a yard sale, you never know what kinds of treasure you’ll find, nestled amid the junk.

One person’s plenty, however, is another’s overkill. Even in the first century, Petronius was satirizing the culinary excesses of wealthy Romans, envisioning a banquet at which slaves trimmed guests’ toenails and the belly of a gutted pig disgorged sausages and puddings. In the 1973 film “La Grande Bouffe,” a group of friends retreat to a villa and stuff themselves to death on meats, sweets, and the decadence of a consumerist society in which everyone has to have everything all at once.

Covid was supposed to kill buffets, which have long been associated in the public imagination with dubious hygiene. The fear is sometimes warranted: a 1987 study of customers in self-service restaurants observed nearly a dozen “problem behaviors” in salad bars alone, reporting that “licking fingers was noted 45 times and most frequently associated with salad dressings.” At Les Grands Buffets, most of the cold offerings are presented on specially designed refrigerated slabs, and Cavalier told me that the restaurant works with an independent lab to develop its hygiene protocols. “If they tell us that something lasts five days, then we give it two,” he said. “The idea, as I’m sure you can understand, is never to take a risk.”

According to IBISWorld, a market-research company, several mid-range chains folded in 2020 and 2021. But both budget-conscious and high-end buffets have partially recovered since the pandemic, aided by inflation, social media, and the pent-up desire for communal fun. “We’re the comeback kids,” the C.E.O. of Golden Corral told the Times . The Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace charges up to $84.99 a head for a mind-boggling spread (Filipino congee, red-velvet waffles, an omelette bar, birria tacos). In College Point, New York, the Buffet recently augmented its pan-Asian offerings (sushi, hibachi, dim sum, teppanyaki) with a Brazilian Churrasco Experience.

In France, elaborate buffets featuring attractions such as koi ponds and karaoke have lately become popular. According to Le Monde , around seventy per cent are run by people of Chinese descent, many with roots in Wenzhou. “An essential element of peri-urban civilization, with its housing estates and warehouses, maxibuffets, most of which are halal, attract a middle class who want to taste chic without emptying their wallets,” the article notes. Les Grands Buffets strives to set itself apart from its anything-goes peers, calling itself, for example, an “eat-what-you-wish” rather than an “all-you-can-eat” buffet.

At one point, Privat griped that a certain Hong Kong restaurant had plagiarized his concept. I went to its Web site and wasn’t too convinced. For one thing, the place serves abalone and curries. Yet the success of Les Grands Buffets has led to imitators elsewhere in France. Customers at one restaurant in the southwest, for instance, can visit a familiar-looking array of stations, right down to a rotisserie with a raised platform for basting meats.

In the evening, I dined with Privat in the newly constructed Salon Doré Jean de la Fontaine. It is decorated in a neoclassical style and pays tribute to the seventeenth-century fabulist, immortalized in a series of murals featuring his crafty foxes and unsuspecting crows. “I wanted to reopen in a flamboyant fashion after the pandemic,” Privat explained. He looked around the dining room. To his satisfaction, many people were dressed for the occasion. There were several women wearing sequins. A toddler sucked on a pacifier clipped to his shirt with a spiffy gold chain.

Privat was born in Narbonne. His father was a doctor, with a thriving clinic, which his mother helped run. They hoped that Privat would work at the clinic one day. He pursued acting instead, joining a theatre troupe in Toulouse. Later, he studied international commerce and became a certified accountant. In his thirties, Privat and his soon-to-be wife, Jane, took over a dusty restaurant at the seaside near Narbonne. (Jane is now the purchasing manager at Les Grands Buffets.) They renovated everything in a blue-and-white scheme and replaced the frozen food and canned sauces with fresh local fish. The restaurant was a success, but by then the Privats had two children, and its seasonal rhythms clashed with their desire for a peaceful family life.

In 1989, Narbonne was looking for someone to handle catering in the new rec center. The Privats decided to put in a bid. “At the time, especially in the provinces, going to a restaurant was hardly the habit that it is today,” Louis Privat once recalled. He knew that in order to flourish they would have to draw people from far beyond the city. So he decided to offer something novel: an all-you-can-eat cafeteria. Little by little, he upgraded the menu and tricked out the décor. The hyper-French concept emerged only gradually—a brand identity as much as a patriotic conviction. “We had sushi,” Cavalier confessed, of the early days, during our tour.

Privat can come off as something of a reactionary, valorizing a national culture that has probably never been as homogeneous as he would like to think. But his politics are less predictable than his tarte-Tatin fetish and his lectures about manners might lead one to believe. Les Grands Buffets offers interest-free loans to help employees pay off debt, and workers participate in a profit-sharing agreement. In 2022, Privat made headlines around the country for raising buffet prices in order to bring up employee income by an average of about thirty per cent. And, for all their talk about French tradition, Privat abstains from alcohol, and Cavalier eats meat at work but “not in my private life,” because of ethical concerns. Over the years, scores of investors have tried to persuade Privat to expand Les Grands Buffets to other locations. He has refused, because he considers the bald pursuit of profit pointless, and the idea of churning out imitations bores him. “Using Les Grands Buffets as an A.T.M. doesn’t interest me at all,” he said, picking at some smoked salmon.

For several years, Privat has threatened to decamp from Narbonne, saying that his public landlords don’t maintain the facilities properly. In 2023, he accelerated this campaign, conducting public auditions for a new site. Le Parisien reported, “The juicy saga of the move of this culinary institution has a million French cuisine enthusiasts in suspense on social networks on both sides of the Pyrenees.” As Privat delivered theatrical ultimatums, local officials sprang into seduction mode. One parliamentary candidate even made retaining Les Grands Buffets part of his platform.

“I completely share Mr. Privat’s vision of being able to continue to develop and innovate,” Bertrand Malquier, the city’s mayor, told me. “We are fighting so that, when he makes his choice, it will be exclusively Narbonne.” Last week, Narbonne and Privat announced that they had come to an agreement: Narbonne would pledge fifteen million euros to renovating the rec center, carving out a separate entrance for Les Grands Buffets, while Privat would commit nearly five million to the creation of new attractions, including a separate tea salon and a shop selling regional products, with a shared goal of increasing the annual number of visitors to eight hundred thousand. Every Narbonnais, Malquier told me fondly, has been to Les Grands Buffets at least once. In fact, his family had just celebrated his son’s eleventh birthday there. Malquier had discovered a delicious new cheese. It was actually from England—Stilton, he thought it was called?

Recently, I was listening to “On Va Déguster,” a popular French radio show, when the host mentioned BOULOM , an all-you-can-eat buffet in the Eighteenth Arrondissement of Paris that was, according to the show, “turning away hundreds of people a weekend.” BOULOM is the venture of Julien Duboué, a classically trained chef (he’s worked at George V and with Daniel Boulud), and it has garnered fantastic reviews in publications such as Le Figaro , which congratulated Duboué for his decision “to lend his nobility to the all-you-can-eat buffet, an exercise in style regularly massacred in the establishments that practice it.”

A friend and I visited the restaurant for lunch the following Tuesday. We entered through a picture-perfect bakery, squeezing past racks loaded with cooling loaves and pastries, and emerged into a back room packed with customers, as though we’d stepped through a magical wardrobe. BOULOM charges between thirty-two and fifty-eight euros per person, depending on the meal and the day of the week. A sign warns that two euros will be added to the bill for every hundred grams of waste, but an employee I spoke to said that she’d never seen it enforced. The idea is more to create a chilling effect, bringing overzealous plate loaders back to reason.

The place is supposed to feel like a village inn of yesteryear, where simple, lovingly made dishes are left to simmer on the stove throughout the day, offering nourishment to all comers. The weekday spread includes roast meats, a dozen desserts, and name-brand ingredients like Joël Dupuch oysters and Eric Ospital charcuterie. I loved the grilled mackerel, and my friend made what amounted to a personal pan pizza of the crème brûlée, nearly emptying the dish in three rounds. Still, it felt like a regular meal. Seafood occupied a few metal bowls, not a tower. I ate no more and no less than usual, took no chances, enrobed no strawberries, commissioned no omelettes, made no mistakes. I missed Les Grands Buffets. The point of all its over-the-top excess might actually be a kind of scarcity: an experience so bonkers that it’s exceedingly rare.

Before I left Narbonne, I returned for a final meal at Les Grands Buffets. Precisely at noon, I dropped my stuff at a table for one in the tent room and went off to fill my first plate. I started with the caviar (technically, it’s just “fish eggs”), simply being greedy. Then I added some stuffed mussels, because someone had recommended them; some leeks mimosa, for health; some Serrano ham, because Les Grands Buffets lets you put on a metal glove and shave your morsel off the leg yourself. In the cheese room, I pushed a button and an automated slicer produced a frilly mop of Tête de Moine. Now I was having fun. Buffets are the culinary version of your wedding day or a big birthday—a bunch of foods that don’t belong together all in the same space, somehow getting along.

I was standing near the rotisserie when, suddenly, a “Welcome, shoppers”-style intercom activated. “Ladies and gentlemen, behold the pressed-duck ritual, just as it was conceived in the nineteenth century,” a suave male voice intoned. “The duck has been roasted on a spit. It is now placed on the table of the master canardier . With the silver duck press, he will crush the carcass to extract the blood and juices, which give the sauce its unique flavor.”

I turned to see a black-aproned employee emerging from backstage, carrying an impaled bird as though it were the Olympic torch. Flames leaped from a cup at the bottom of the spit. She proceeded to the table, where she was joined by the canardier . “Discover le canard au sang, the emblematic dish of French gastronomy,” the voice continued. “Les Grands Buffets is the only restaurant in France to offer this historic recipe every day.” The triumphant chords of “Ride of the Valkyries” filled the room as the canardier lifted the duck off the spit with two forks, raising the carcass up to the gods. ♦

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Culinary trailblazers back in the 1940s found a way to keep gamblers inside the resorts with cheap food, and lots of it. El Rancho Vegas, the Strip’s first resort, came up with the chuck wagon, the earliest version of the modern-day buffet to turn up in Las Vegas. For decades the buffets were loss leaders, with the goal of getting people in the door, to part them with their money on the casino floor.

It’s only in recent years that buffets started to be good — with updated furnishings, thoughtful menus, carving stations, and super fresh seafood. Leading up to 2020, Las Vegas had more than 70 buffets inside casinos, spanning from Aliante to Henderson, Summerlin to the Strip, serving gourmet fare at various stations. Nowadays, options are more limited, though these buffets remain favorites among tourists.

Market Place Buffet

The 12,000-square-foot Market Place Buffet at Rampart Casino has a weekly schedule that includes a $31.99 prime rib dinner on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday from 4 to 8 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday, the popular Champagne brunch is $32.99, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. And there’s a Hawaiian-themed $31.99 Aloha Night Dinner on Saturdays from 4 to 8 p.m. All buffets are discounted for Rampart Plus, Summerlin, Premier, and Elite Card holders.

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Garden Court

The all-you-can-eat Garden Court Buffet at Main Street Station offers daily with brunch from 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., as well as dinner on Friday and Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m.

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Circus Buffet

Build-your-own omelets return for brunch while the buffet’s fried chicken arrives just in time for dinner. Brunch is available on Friday through Sunday, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and dinner is nightly from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Both are $24.95.

Fresh Buffet

Fresh Buffet at Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino features Chinese dishes, fresh seafood specialties, and breakfast classics with service starting at 7 a.m. and lasting through 2 p.m. daily

The Buffet at Wynn

Perhaps the prettiest buffet in Las Vegas features 16 live-action cooking stations with rotisserie grilled steakhouse cuts, coast-to-coast seafood, a new eggs Benedict station, and a Latin Street Food station. In total, you’ll find more than 90 delicious dishes, including a wide range of made-to-order choices. Brunch goes from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and seafood dinner is from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. The popular brunch starts at $54.99 for adults with add-ons like unlimited mimosas, wine and beer starting at $32.99. Lines can get long here — with waits of more than 90 minutes. You can reserve and pre-pay online to avoid waiting.

Imperial Sushi Seafood Buffet

For lots of people, seafood is the main attraction at any buffet. If you’re one of those people, head to Imperial Sushi for a buffet that regularly features fried shrimp, raw clams, crab claws, and rows and rows of sushi. Weekend dinner, which includes snow crab legs and lobster, is $44.99 for adults, and prices throughout the week decrease from there to $27.99 for weekday lunch.

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Bacchanal Buffet

The 25,000-square-foot, 600-seat Bacchanal Buffet reopened with throngs of crowds waiting to explore the nine open, interactive kitchens, with many of its more than 250 dishes already individually prepared, shared, or plated in real-time by staff from behind the counters. The buffet, the largest in Las Vegas, runs from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday and Thursday, from 3:30 p.m. through 10 on Tuesday and Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Weekdays are $79.99 and weekends are $84.99.

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A.Y.C.E Buffet

The Palms’ beloved A.Y.C.E Buffet offers seven food stations featuring dishes from around the world. At the 9,685-square-foot food hall-inspired buffet diners can enjoy weekly specials like lobster and snow crab ($64.99) on Wednesday and Thursday nights, prime rib and snow crab ($42.99) on Friday nights, and a daily brunch buffet ($32.99) with bottomless mimosas. Regular dinner starts at $36.99 .

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The Buffet at Bellagio

The Buffet at Bellagio features live-action cooking stations and seating for 600. The buffet is open daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., starting with a brunch of an omelet station, traditional breakfast items, pasta, pizza, eggs Benedict, fried chicken and waffles, and a toast bar. Seafood brunch starts at 11 a.m. with poached shrimp, smoked salmon, and scallop ceviche. You’ll also find Asian dishes such as Hong Kong barbecue buns and shrimp shu mai. The carving station has marinated flank steak, rotisserie chicken, and St. Louis-style ribs. Brunch starts at $54.99 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 11 a.m on weekends. Seafood brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday is $66.99.

Get To Know The Best Buffets in Las Vegas

Wicked Spoon

Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas reopened in the spring of 2021 with less common menu items such as bone marrow, squid ink pasta, and elote, plus an incredible gelato selection for dessert. All-day brunch is $47 for adults on weekdays and $54 on weekends. Add bottomless mimosas, Champagne, bloody Marys or Bud Light draft packages are available for $25 per person

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MGM Grand Buffet

MGM Grand Buffet features breakfast, lunch, and a weekend brunch. Hot and cold stations offer dishes such as made-to-order omelets, buttermilk pancakes, breakfast sides, and pastries for breakfast, as well as pasta dishes, seafood, barbecue ribs, lasagna, salads, soups, and a dessert bar with cookies, doughnuts, brownies, pies, cheesecakes, and more for lunch. On Mondays through Thursdays, it’s $31.99 and on Fridays through Sundays, it’s $37.99.

The Buffet at Excalibur

The Buffet at Excalibur at the castle-themed resort serves a weekday and weekend brunch at its six hot and cold stations covering American, Asian, Italian, and Latin dishes. Diners can pick up made-to-order omelets, rotisserie chicken, iced shellfish, smoked brisket, sushi, and beef birria, or head to the dessert station with bread pudding, crepes, doughnuts, cakes, frozen custard, and more. Weekday brunch from Monday through Thursday is 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $31.99 and weekend brunch on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $37.99

The Buffet at Luxor

The buffet on the lower level of the Luxor features a 30-foot salad bar, a carving station, an omelet station, a homemade pizza station, and specialties from around the world. Head to the dessert station for baked pastries and sugar-free desserts. The buffet does not require reservations and children under 4 eat free. It goes from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday for $30.99 — or $25.99 for local ID. Weekend brunch is $33.99.

Garden Buffet

Off-Strip, buffet lovers can head to South Point’s Garden Buffet. Six live cooking stations offer Asian, Mexican, Italian, barbecue, Chinese, and seafood dishes, or customize your own bowl at the Mongolian Grill. Breakfast brings eggs and omelets, a healthy breakfast bar, loco moco station, European breakfast counter — and bottomless bloody Marys are included. Lunch includes a soup and salad bar, Mongolian grill, lunchtime carving station, seafood, barbecue, a dessert station, and Chinese, Mexican, and Italian fare. Prime rib dinners on Saturday through Thursday and Champagne brunch on Saturday and Sunday are both $30.95. Breakfast on weekdays is $17.95. Friday seafood nights are $49.95 and include two glasses of wine.

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Wear Loose Pants! This is The Best All-You-Can-Eat Buffet in New Jersey!

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One of the things that sets American culture apart from all the rest is undoubtedly the way we eat. We like to eat. A LOT. And one of the most American experiences you'll ever have is grabbing the family and heading to an all-you-can-eat buffet !

It's the perfect solution when no on can agree on what to get for dinner, because most of the time, buffets have food of all different types of cuisine.

You feeling like prime rib for dinner? Or maybe spaghetti and meatballs? Tacos, dumplings, steamed vegetables, fried chicken, crab legs, pasta salad, chicken lo mein, macaroni and cheese... the list can go on and on and on. By the time you leave the restaurant will have to roll you out!

But one of the biggest downsides to all-you-can-eat buffets? A lot of them are not high-quality, to put it nicely. So it wouldn't be surprising if you're very choosey about which buffets you're willing to visit. (I know I am!)

READ MORE: This is New Jersey's Least-Favorite Fast Food Chain - We're Not Surprised

So here in New Jersey, where can you find the best buffet? Mashed.com has an idea in their list of The Best All-You-Can-Eat- Buffets in Every State , and for New Jersey... we're heading to Atlantic City!

The Borgata Buffet - Atlantic City

The Borgata Buffet inside Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey is the best buffet in the state, according to Mashed .

Here's what Mashed had to say about the Borgata buffet:

"Sitting at the top of the leaderboards is The Borgata Buffet, where the chef says to wear loose pants. Borgata entertains with an immense all-you-can-eat seafood selection, but the wide-ranging spread consists of much more than fried saltwater creatures. You can fill plate after plate with Italian, Asian, and American cuisine and save some room to sample one of the best dessert bars in the city."

There's not much you won't find at the Borgata Buffet! They have a high-quality selection of a variety of pastas, comfort food, fresh seafood, desserts, carving stations and more that are rotated frequently. I've been here once and the food was excellent!

Do you agree? What's your favorite buffet spot in New Jersey?

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Gallery Credit: Eddie Davis

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Modern Dating Is Like An All-You-Can-Eat Buffet ...And That's Not Really A Good Thing

Imagine it's your first time at a new restaurant. The place has great reviews, and everything on the menu looks fantastic. But you have to choose one dish to enjoy for dinner.

Do I want the steak or the pasta? The ribeye or the bacon-wrapped filet? Oh, the salmon sounds good, too. Maybe I want seafood?

Ultimately, you opt for the bacon-wrapped filet — can't go wrong there. Cook it to a perfect medium-rare and pair it with a loaded baked potato and a side salad. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

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The waiter brings your steak, and you cut off the first bite. It's tender, delicious, melts in your mouth. Good choice. But then you start looking around. 

Damn, that pasta does look really good. I wish I had gotten that instead. What's that smell? … Barbecue chicken! How did I miss the barbecue chicken?

There's nothing wrong with your filet. It's exactly what you ordered, it's cooked to perfection, and you have no complaints. Any other time, this is the perfect meal. But it's the presence of these other tempting options that makes you question your decision.

Sure, you're perfectly satisfied. But you can't help wondering what you're missing out on.

That's kind of what modern dating looks like.

The Illusion Of Choice

The Internet and online dating have given us more access to the opposite sex than humans have ever had before. Think of it like an all-you-can-eat buffet — and we're not just talking about the sad, closing-time one at the Golden Corral.

That's not to say you can actually date all of those people. But open up any social media or dating app, and you can scroll through or even talk to an endless number of humans. And that's not necessarily a good thing.

In 2004, psychology professor Barry Schwartz wrote a book called The Paradox of Choice — arguing that an abundance of choices actually leads people to be less satisfied with and less sure of their decisions. Because we are constantly bombarded with alternatives.

Schwartz wrote: "Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard."

Schwartz was talking mostly about consumer goods. But his theory also applies perfectly to the modern dating landscape. And he split people into two categories: satisficers (those who can find satisfaction in what they have) and maximizers (who are constantly seeking something better).

But things like Tinder, social media and rampant pornography have turned modern daters into maximizers — comparing potential partners not just to other potential partners but rather to an idealized fantasy to which no one could actually measure up.

That's not to say you should settle, either. A deal-breaker is still a deal-breaker. But we have to set realistic standards.

Maximizers In The Wild

A few weeks ago, I discussed this concept with Michael Sartain — CEO of Men of Action Mentoring and a seasoned relationship coach. He broke down what "maximizing" looks like for both sexes.

"We have the dilemma of choice. But what's more important than the perceived dilemma of choice," he explained. "Women can't get the men to commit to them that they think they can. 

"And men believe they have this choice with women they see on social media through non-contextualized sexual images — either women in bikinis, women on OnlyFans, a woman in pornography. And their mind thinks that they have options with those women when they do not. And so in both cases, men and women are delusional."

So let's unpack those delusions. And we'll start with the men. 

I have gone on record saying porn destroys real intimacy, and there's no place for it in a healthy relationship. But social media, in a lot of ways, has a similar effect. Because fellas, if you think the Instagram models in Morning Screencaps actually look like that, I have oceanfront property to sell you in Terre Haute, Indiana. And I'll throw a bridge in for free.

That's not to say these women aren't attractive in real life. But once you take away the deliberate posing, the perfect lighting, the skin-smoothing filters, and the FaceTune app to make the waist smaller/booty bigger, they have the same "flaws" that all women do.

Of course, I assume most of you know that. But many men are truly delusional — which is why we still see moronic takes like this one every single day:

Apparently, Scarlett Johansson has a tiny bit of cellulite and sometimes isn't posed perfectly to show off her abs. And because this dude spends so much time diddling himself to fake women on the Internet, even Esquire 's two-time "Sexiest Woman Alive" isn't good enough for him.

This is maximizing at its finest. (By the way, that guy has a podcast where he teaches men how to get women. But as your resident Womansplainer , I can tell you that not a sane woman alive wants Paul the Hypergamy Strategist.)

But I'm not just picking on the guys. Women, too, set unrealistic standards for men. And even if you do everything right, there's always a chance she'll dismiss you for the dumbest reason imaginable.

Take Danielle, for example. She had an incredible first date with a man — went straight to the group chat afterward to tell her girlfriends how much fun she had.

"I could not wait to go on a second date with him," she said.

So the man asked Danielle to brunch the following weekend, and she agreed. His communication was spot-on: He made a plan, offered to come to her side of town, asked her what she liked, confirmed with her the day before, all of that. 

Unfortunately, though, this poor sap didn't text Danielle exactly according to her preferred script. So she made other plans and dumped him.

If Danielle continues to scrutinize and nitpick every single sentence a man types into his phone, she's going to be alone for a long time.

The Grass Isn't Always Greener

"Maximizing" isn't just a problem for picky single people. Many couples in serious relationships deal with it, too. 

A married woman starts replying to thristy DMs because she likes the attention. A non-committal man strings a woman along in a multi-year "situationship" just in case something better comes along. The examples could go on for days.

On the flipside, sometimes the grass is greener. Sometimes you just don't have chemistry with someone. Sometimes you find yourself in a relationship with a manipulator, an abuser or someone who just doesn't want the same things in life as you do.

Being satisfied doesn't mean settling.

And that means holding ourselves accountable, too. That means working to become better versions of ourselves: hitting the gym, putting in the effort at work, doing the romantic things. If we expect the best in our partners, it's only fair to give them the best of us.

Then maybe — just maybe — we can all appreciate what we have.

Because remember: When you do find yourself perusing the options of the sad, closing-time buffet at the Golden Corral, you're sure going to wish you had that bacon-wrapped filet.

Coming Up: Cheating & Open Relationships

Later this week, I'll be chatting with Paul Keable, the chief strategy officer at Ashley Madison — a dating site for married people who are looking for affairs. I want to make very clear that I don't condone infidelity or this website .

But Paul and I are going to talk about what he sees as a generational shift toward non-monogamy and open relationships. Also, he'll share with me some demographics of people who are active on Ashley Madison and the common reasons why these cheaters have stepped out on their marriages.

Probably because they're maximizers.

If you have any questions for Paul OR want to share your own thoughts on cheating, open relationships and monogamy, shoot me a note . (Remember I'm happy to keep you anonymous — just ask.)

Let's open the mailbag.

Wise AJ Leaves The Home Decor To His Wife

Early in my 38-year marriage, I found myself arguing with my new wife over curtains. Curtains! Somehow I woke up in time and said "You have better taste than me, you decide."

That was our first and last argument on decorating. Go to work, support your family, and come home to your beautiful, happy wife and home. Solved.

And this, AJ, is why you've been married 38 years. No notes.

READ: 'Rocking Chair Guy' Sends Women Into A Fury & Guys, Just Let Her Decorate The House

Ryan On Floor Mattresses And Group Dates (Unrelated)

Your husband’s bachelor pad description cracks me up because that’s basically how my house is. Only functioning/decorated rooms are the kitchen, basement, man cave, and gun room (bathrooms, too, but with decorations that would repel nearly every female who does not love the Chiefs or "Lonesome Dove").

I have to agree that group dating with friends is a very effective way to weed them (or yourself) out. I want the girls I date/plan to have a future with to like my friends & family. Maybe not in the same way I do, but it tells you a lot about a person if they value the same people you do.  

It also tells you a lot about them to see/meet their friends. I’ve never wanted to be that guy who’s unwilling to hang out with/restrict his girlfriend’s/SO’s social circle unless the people are just super toxic. But you can quickly discern from a first or second group date whether she has friends you enjoy (or can enjoy) being around and how much that says about her values that the normally more guarded conversations in one-on-one dates won’t reveal for awhile.  

I think all men are guilty of the mattress-on-the-floor thing at some point in their lives. And that's totally OK — as long as you don't make a fuss when she swoops in to make things better.

And to catch anyone up if you missed it, the second part of that email is referring to a column a couple of weeks ago, where a relationship coach told me he recommends group outings over traditional first dates in order to truly get to know someone.

READ: Is Traditional Courting Dead? Dating Coach Says Group Outings Might Be A Better Option

Ryan's point is a good one: We talked a lot about how seeing a person in a group social setting gives you a better idea of that person's character. But we didn't mention the flipside: You can also tell a lot about a person based on the company he keeps. So if she hates your friends, that might be a good indication the relationship isn't going to work.

Lord Of The (Wedding) Rings

Curious to know your feelings on men’s wedding bands? (Or how women in general feel). Because I think this is both hilarious & awesome at the same time.  #nerdalert. But really, would you attempt to murder your husband/fiancé if they wore something like this or does the engagement ring really only matter?

This is so nerdy, and I'm here for it.

I actually had the ring conversation with my husband before we got married. He's never been a jewelry guy, so he wasn't sure he'd like wearing a ring — especially since he works with his hands. He toyed with the idea of getting a small tattoo on his ring finger instead.

I told him I'm cool with either option, but it would bother me if he didn't do anything at all. I'm walking around with a rock on my finger, and — call me territorial if you want — but I want my husband to look unavailable, too.

We got him a gold band, but he wears a silicone one most of the time. He said he's gotten used to it, so he doesn't even notice it's there anymore.

So I can't speak for your lady, Ryan, but if you want to honor your marriage with Gollum's ring, I think that's perfectly fine.

Happy Ending

Meet 89-year-old D'yan Forest. She's on Tinder. And she's an absolute riot.

Womansplaining is a weekly column about dating, marriage, sex and relationships that runs on Wednesdays at noon ET.

Email your thoughts, questions, stories and gripes to  [email protected]  or tweet her  @TheAmberHarding .

10 Things You Should Avoid Eating on a Cruise

E mbarking on a cruise is a thrilling adventure filled with scenic views, exciting activities, and a plethora of culinary delights. However, amidst the buffet of tempting offerings, there are certain foods that cruise-goers might want to steer clear of to ensure a smooth and enjoyable journey. Here, we explore the ten worst things you should avoid eating on a cruise, keeping both your palate and well-being in mind.

Questionable Seafood

While seafood can be a highlight of cruise cuisine (you’re on a boat, after all), it’s crucial to be discerning. Avoid overly fishy odors and opt for freshly prepared options. Be cautious with raw or undercooked seafood, as it may pose a risk of foodborne illnesses.

Excessive Buffet Indulgence

Cruise ship buffets are legendary, but overindulging can lead to discomfort and regret. Be mindful of portion sizes and opt for a balanced array of dishes to avoid the pitfalls of excessive calorie intake.

Dubious Water Sources

Ice-cold drinks and chilled beverages are tempting, but just like airplane water , be wary of ice made from questionable water sources. Stick to bottled or purified water to prevent potential gastrointestinal issues.

Read: 10 Things Cancer Survivors Want You to Know About Chemo

Untamed Street Food Ventures

While exploring ports of call, the allure of local street food can be irresistible. Exercise caution, however, as consuming unregulated street food may expose you to unfamiliar bacteria and viruses.

Dining in Remote or Unregulated Establishments

Venturing beyond the cruise ship for a taste of local cuisine is commendable, but choose your dining establishments wisely. Opt for places with good hygiene practices to minimize the risk of foodborne illnesses.

Unwashed Fruits and Vegetables

Fresh fruits and vegetables are essential for a balanced diet, but unwashed produce can harbor contaminants. Ensure that these items are thoroughly cleaned or opt for cooked varieties to mitigate health risks.

Read: 10 Things To Eliminate For Better Health

Exotic Delicacies without Research

Trying exotic dishes can be an exciting part of a cruise experience. However, it’s wise to do some research beforehand to ensure you’re comfortable with the ingredients and preparation methods, preventing any culinary surprises.

Overly Spicy or Greasy Fare

While many love a bit of spice, overly spicy or greasy foods can lead to digestive discomfort. Moderation is key, and if you have a sensitive stomach, consider opting for milder options.

Unregulated Allergen Awareness

Cruises cater to a diverse range of dietary preferences and restrictions. However, it’s essential to communicate your allergies clearly to avoid accidental consumption of allergens. Confirm with the staff about the preparation methods to ensure a safe dining experience.

Read: 10 Things About You That Will Change When You Lose Your Parents

Disregarding Personal Dietary Limits

Cruises offer an abundance of choices, but it’s crucial to stay within your dietary limits. If you have dietary restrictions or preferences, communicate them to the cruise staff to ensure a seamless dining experience that aligns with your needs.

In conclusion

While cruising provides a feast for the senses, maintaining a cautious approach to your culinary adventures is essential for a healthy and enjoyable journey. By avoiding these ten potential pitfalls, you can savor the delights of cruise cuisine without the unwanted side effects, ensuring a voyage filled with delightful memories and delectable meals.

Keep Reading: Struggling With Mucus? 5 Foods To Help and 4 That Make It Worse

• “ Foods You Should Avoid on a Cruise - and What to Eat Instead .” Yahoo . Stacey Leasca. June 10, 2022
• “ 8 things to avoid at the cruise-ship buffet if you want to keep your stomach ship-shape .” USA Today . Ashley Kosciolek. August 21, 2019

The post 10 Things You Should Avoid Eating on a Cruise appeared first on The Hearty Soul .

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