Buffets!

Buffets are my youngest son's favorite place to eat. As he says, "Dad, you don't have to wait to eat!" Given his attention span I can understand this. Luckily in this area we have several different variety of buffets and I'll briefly go over them in this review. Overall I believe one of the keys to a good buffet is that they have to be busy! If they aren't busy the food sits out too long and becomes over-cooked and generally un-appetizing.

Old Country Buffet: This is obviously a national chain and also not located in the Tri-Cities, but down in Aurora by Fox Valley Mall or whatever they call it now :-) This is the buffet that my son asks for a regular occassion and is his favorite. I personally think this is because it is the first one for him, but maybe he really does like it better than Golden Corral. The food here is very basic, but good. The advantage of this Fox Valley location over the one up by Spring Hill Mall in Dundee is that it is always busy! As I said above, the Spring Hill Mall location has been visited once by me and by some friends and the food just wasn't rotated enough to be good. At the Fox Valley location the food is hot and rotated. We also get coupons for this place which is a nice bonus and helps offset the downside of having to drive out to it.

Golden Corral: Another chain buffet, but new to our area with one in Elgin and another being built in Batavia on Randall Road. This is my favorite of the buffets being reviewed. Since I drink water with my meals, a $10 price for an all-you-can-eat dinner is a great bargain and value! The buffet is busy no matter which night we go (have only gone for dinners and one Sunday afternoon). Food is hot and the cook-to-order steak is one of the best values and tastes great also (assuming you don't get the end piece, but just ask for a center cut). This buffet seems to have more choices to me than OCB above which is also nice. Obviously I highly recommend this place and will go here anytime. In fact, we'll really have to watch the budget when the one in Batavia is finished since the extra drive up to Elgin keeps us from going here more.

Fresh Tomatos: This buffet chain is known for the huge salad buffet you start your meal with. While I really like this buffet, why would I pay $10 for this buffet when I can pay the same price and eat at Golden Corral???? Before the Golden Corral opened this was our go-to buffet since Old Country Buffet was too far away. My main gripe with this buffet is the lack of meat in your meal (unless you pay extra). Of course you can get the pizza bread or soup with some meat, but overall I would at least like some chicken, ham, etc included in the price on the salad buffet. Still it's a value for $10, but there are just better values out there in the buffet category.

Chinese Buffet: I'm talking specifically about the one located in the strip center by Rookies and the old St. Charles Post office building, but have had the same experience at others. The main problem is that they don't stay busy, so the food sits or isn't put out. The one in St. Charles looks on paper as a great value since Snow Crab Legs are included. However, in reality it's nearly impossible to actually eat any crab legs at the buffet. When they finally bring some out to the buffet serving area, they bring out about a dozen legs max. These are obviously quickly gone after by the few patrons in the restuarant and then it's on average another half hour before the next dozen legs are brought out. When I say patrons, that usually means my family and the one or two other tables in the restaurant. I have eaten at this place over a dozen times in the last ten years and I don't believe I have ever been in there with more than 6 tables occupied (& not much turn-over either). Since the food sits, it's very hit or miss if any particular item will be tasty. When the food is hot and fresh it's very good and the reason I keep coming back in hopes of getting lucky. However, I can't really recommend the place. In fact, I have no idea how they stay in business since I have never seen enough customers to pay for the operating expenses, but they have for a dozen plus years.

CiCi's Pizza: How can a place that lets you eat all the pizza you want for $5 not be a hit??? I thought the samething when I went to this chain in Florida and wasn't at all surprised when they cam to our area. When this place 1st opened it was standing room only (ie wait times), but now is more moderate and I haven't had to wait the last several times. The place has been busy enough every time we have been there to be constantly rotating the pizzas. Also you have the option of asking for the pizza you want and they'll special order cook it and bring it to the table - great service. The only downside the last two times we went was that they seemed to have cut back on their buspeople and it takes awhile for plates to be cleared. I recommend the place and you can't beat the value of feeding a family of 4 for $24.41 (I believe that is price for our family which is 4 buffets (1 child's), 2 drinks (1 child's) and 2 waters).