Why do people like seafood buffets?

[SweetPhyl]

I live in a beautiful coastal area and we havea wealth of fresh seafood available at all of our restaurants and even in the local grocery store. However, visitors to our resort area are ALWAYS asking about the best seafood buffet. I answer that I honestly don't know...I don't eat at the seafood buffets and neither do any of the locals that I know. I then suggest the visitor check out the local seafood market...they'll steam the seafood for you and for the price you pay for the frozen dreck you get at the the buffet, you could have a fresh FEAST of delicious seafood. Or, hit the raw bar, if you simply prefer to eat out. But it amazes me that folks will eagerly drop $35.00 a person to eat frozen mush sitting on a steam table for God knows how long.

Can someone PLEASE educate me on why so many people LOVE a seafood buffet?

[designerboy01]

Maybe a seafood buffet is lower in calories than eating at a place like the Golden Corral?

[Brian S]

Maybe it's old old family tradition and wisdom passed down for generations. 150 years ago the oyster restaurants of New York -- where you could get all you could eat for six cents!! -- were famed the world over. "In no part of the world have I ever seen places of refreshment so attractive" said Charles Dickens. I've read though that in some of the shadier places if you ate too much they'd slip something to make you nauseous in your oyster. Hopefully they don't do that today at buffets!

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/23/features/mark.php

http://events.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/books/01grim.html

http://www.nysun.com/article/28413

[nathanac]

I know exactly what you mean!! I work at a hotel in VA Beach and guests are constantly asking me where the best seafood buffet is. We actually have directions that we just print out. I can't stand buffets. Rubbery seafood and over cooked meat. Blah! Plus if I'm dining out I don't want to serve myself. Might as well go to the grocery store.

[Richard 16]

I'm guessing that when some people go to an area known for seafood they assume that the buffets will be good as well.

[Bostonbob3]

While I generally agree with your anti-seafood-buffet thought, I must say that there ARE good ones (at least here in New England). Fresh, beautifully prepared fish and shellfish done in a wide variety of ways. Expensive, but wonderful.

That said, if I hear one more tourist ask me why Boston doesn't have a Red Lobster...

[flourgirl]

"if I hear one more tourist ask me why Boston doesn't have a Red Lobster..."

People really can be hilarious - but I guess some people just can't get out of a certain comfort zone.

[coney with everything]

Red Lobster in Boston? That's sad. People do like their comfort zone, as flourgirl says. When I was a teenager (and dinosaurs roamed the earth), I went to London with a youth group and ended up eating at a Kentucky Fried Chicken because my friends insisted. YUCK.

[Tom Steele]

Don't feel too bad, Coney. I went to London when dinosaurs roamed the earth and ALL the food was absolutely TERRIBLE!! (except *some* Indian)

[Hooda_Guest]

Ok, a Chow confession. When I go to England or Germany, I always seek out McDonalds for an afternoon snack because it is the only time I can get fried apple pies!

[swsidejim]

I dont like buffets at all, but sometimes in a moment of weakeness, I can be talked into going to a seafood buffet that offers crab legs. I love crab legs, and any chance to crack 3+ pounds of crab, and drink some cold beer, is sometimes a temptation I cant pass up.. Steamed frozen crab legs are pretty hard to mess up. I typically will not even try any of the other dishes on the beffet, I just focus on sweet, sweet crab.

[Bob W]

That's a pretty big category. Are you referring to unlimited raw bar stuff, or to huge piles of previously frozen crab legs, or to endless fried crap like you'd get at Calabash-style places in Myrtle Beach? I'm going to guess that most Chowhounds in fact can't stand such places, because the quality generally sucks.

[markabauman]

Probably for the same reasons that so many people like buffets. They "see food" and they pig out. Quantity over quality. There might be some good ones out there, just don't know.