Does anybody still eat at Cafaterias?

[roadman]

Brothers Deli Restaurant in Wakefield (MA) serves their food cafeteria-style.  It also is one of the best home-food restaurants in Eastern Massachusetts (especially for breakfast), with good portions at reasonable prices.

[hbelkins]

I remember restaurants in Kmart. I also remember them in the old Grant's department stores. The Grant's in Richmond, Ky. used to occasionally have an all-you-can-eat fish night or fried clams night. We would occasionally go there to partake when I was very young.

[huskeroadgeek]

Back in the 80's-early 90's, my parents both loved to eat at cafeterias; it was the only type of resteraunt that my mother would take us to. Now, they are all gone (in my area, anyway).
In Texas, we would eat at Luby's and Furr's
in Florida, my father would take us to Morrison's

There was also Bishop's in the Midwest, where my mother worked for a few years when I was growing up. They had over 30 cafeterias in the mid-1980s but their last two -- in Dubuque, IA, and Moline, IL -- closed in 2012. (However, some supermarkets in Iowa now sell their pies, including their signature chocolate ambrosia pies.)

We had Bishop's here too. My grandparents loved to eat there. I ate there when I was little-last time I remember eating there was probably the mid 80s. Ours closed sometime around the early 90s I think. I didn't know they had survived until just 2 years ago in other places.

[agentsteel53]

Cafeterias give you pre-measured items, you select them as you go through the line, and you pay for each one individually. Everything is a la carte. Say you get a bowl of cole slaw, a meat, two vegetables and a dessert. You'll pay a certain amount. The person with you gets a bowl of cole slaw, a meat, three vegetables and a dessert. He will pay more because he got an extra side. If he only got one vegetable, he would pay less than you did.

Buffets are typically pay one price and eat as much of whatever you want. The person who will only get a salad, one entree and a couple of vegetables is charged the same as a person who gets three meats, six veggies and three different desserts. And you typically serve yourself and make as many trips to the food bar(s) as you want.

thanks for the info!

based on those definitions - the last time I ate at a cafeteria was at a hospital in Tijuana.  (LASIK followup visit.)  a cafeteria independent of a hospital or school?  nope; can't remember having done so.

[OracleUsr]

Statesville has a K&W that is often pretty busy.  My fiancee and I like to eat there from time to time.

[roadman65]

quote from roadman65:

Self serve is much appreciated over waiting for a server to finally get to you.

Agreed .especially when it comes to drinks. Wait staff does not give you enough attention, and lets your drink run dry. Then you have to stop eating for at least 5 minutes before they bring you a refill. It's really annoying.

Also, wasn't there a Morrison's on SR 50 near Downtown Orlando?

We have Golden Corral Here in Texas, too. I consider it a buffet, not a cafeteria. I really don't care for their food. Also, there seems to be a lot of very overweight people in there.

I think Morrison's did have one on FL 50.

Golden Corral is known as Olden Corral by one member here as many seniors go there in the South- West Florida area.  As far as overweight people go, yes I think you are right.  You pay one price so many out there overstuff themselves just  for the sake of eating the most for their dollar.

[Brian556]

We always called Golden Corral the "Golden Hog Trough".

[formulanone]

I've found Golden Corral to have rather bland food. It's okay when my kids have no idea what they'd like to eat.

[Pete from Boston]

Golden Corral just makes me think that a lack of consequences is what's going to finally kill us off.   At least a price proportional to amount of food limits intake. A ridiculously cheap all-you-can-eat insulates people from either the true cost of that food or the fact that eating everything you feel like eating is not a good way to live long.  There should be a health insurance waiver required before eating in those places. 

[Brandon]

Golden Corral just makes me think that a lack of consequences is what's going to finally kill us off.   At least a price proportional to amount of food limits intake. A ridiculously cheap all-you-can-eat insulates people from either the true cost of that food or the fact that eating everything you feel like eating is not a good way to live long.  There should be a health insurance waiver required before eating in those places. 

Tell that to the sports team that just finished a game.  Sometimes personal responsibility, not waivers, not laws, and certainly not dictates from a bunch of know-nothings at the top of the government, is the way to go.

[Pete from Boston]

Golden Corral just makes me think that a lack of consequences is what's going to finally kill us off.   At least a price proportional to amount of food limits intake. A ridiculously cheap all-you-can-eat insulates people from either the true cost of that food or the fact that eating everything you feel like eating is not a good way to live long.  There should be a health insurance waiver required before eating in those places. 

Tell that to the sports team that just finished a game.  Sometimes personal responsibility, not waivers, not laws, and certainly not dictates from a bunch of know-nothings at the top of the government, is the way to go.

I'm right there with you, as long as that includes the government stepping out of the way of insurance companies soaking policyholders who destroy their own health willfully.  The market can do wonderful things with (a lack of) personal responsibility. 

[jeffandnicole]

At least a price proportional to amount of food limits intake.

I'm not sure what you mean there.  Does that mean someone eating a $4 Big Mac will eat more or less than someone eating a $15 burger?  Or someone eating $10 of pasta will eat heathier than someone eating $30 of steak? Or does that mean a more expensive buffet will produce better eating habits than a cheaper buffet?

Either way: I don't see how price has anything to do with how one may destroy their health.

[Scott5114]

Golden Corral just makes me think that a lack of consequences is what's going to finally kill us off.

Oh, no, there are consequences to eating at Golden Corral. Chief among them: you have to taste the food on offer at Golden Corral.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

There is a truck stop in Hagerstown, MD that has a cafeteria-style eating establishment.  The AC&T at exit 5A off I-81, across from the Pilot.  Ate there once, they had good food.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

Also: Hy-Vee grocery stores, the larger ones, generally have a good cafeteria.  The small ones in small towns lack this.

[pctech]

My grandparents were pretty much weekly patrons of Piccadilly's. Fond memories from when I was young, but they have slipped a few notches since then. It appears they no longer use cloth napkins. The food is cheaper and blander than I remember (ate there last week for the first time in a couple years). Maybe it's just an issue limited to that specific restaurant (one of the oldest in the chain, though it has been remodeled since I was last through there).

Piccadilly is not nearly good as when when I was young. We used to go on Sundays about once a month or so.  It would be packed with people coming in after church. The years of mergers,buyouts and bankruptcy issues have taken their toll.

[hbelkins]

I've found that the quality of food at Golden Corrals can vary greatly from location to location. The one closest to me is at Winchester, Ky. I ate there a couple of weeks ago for the first time in a couple of years and it was very good. This is in contrast to one I visited in Evansville a few years ago that was awful, and one in Chillicothe, Mo., (or whatever town along US 36 it was that both Brian Reynolds and I ended up spending the night in after the Lawrence, Kan. meeting) that was decidedly average.

[cpzilliacus]

I'd say IKEA is the last bastion of true cafeterias inside retail stores.

Reasonably genuine Swedish food, too.

[formulanone]

Not half-bad, either. Naturally, they call it a "restaurant".

[roadman]

Not half-bad, either. Naturally, they call it a "restaurant".

Shortly after they first opened, the IKEA in Randolph, Massachusetts (just south of Boston) actually petitioned MassHighway for Food LOGO signs on Route 24 on the basis they were a ful service restaurant.  Fortunately for the traveling public, their request was denied.

[Laura]

At least a price proportional to amount of food limits intake.

I'm not sure what you mean there.  Does that mean someone eating a $4 Big Mac will eat more or less than someone eating a $15 burger?  Or someone eating $10 of pasta will eat heathier than someone eating $30 of steak? Or does that mean a more expensive buffet will produce better eating habits than a cheaper buffet?

Either way: I don't see how price has anything to do with how one may destroy their health.

I think Pete means that there should be a scale there so that you pay by the pound?

There is a truck stop in Hagerstown, MD that has a cafeteria-style eating establishment.  The AC&T at exit 5A off I-81, across from the Pilot.  Ate there once, they had good food.

I will keep this in mind next time I am out that way.

The only cafeteria styled restaurant that I've been to (other than ones in schools and hospitals) is the K&W in Roanoke, Virginia.

[roadman]

Several years ago, there was a "mom and pop" deli-style restaurant (the exact name escapes me right now) in the food court on the ground floor of the State Transportation Buliding in Boston.  The food was self-serve, make your own portions format.  The rub was that you paid by the ounce, even for sandwiches.  I ate there once with a friend, who loaded up his plate with salad and was flabergasted at the final bill - $23.85.

[formulanone]

La Guardia has a salad bar with a "pay by weight" concept. (Don't know how it fares...had the pay-by-the-slice pizza instead.)

[1995hoo]

There's a chain of restaurants in the DC area called Soho Cafe Market (or something like that....we always just said Soho) where the sandwiches have fixed prices but the "hot food bar," "cold food bar," and "Mongolian Wok" areas are priced by how much you buy (you place the container on a scale at the register). As roadman suggests, newcomers are often quite surprised by the price. The sandwiches can be a decent deal, especially the cheeseburger whose price includes fries, but it's very easy to run up a big bill on the self-serve stuff. I stopped going to Soho after having too many problems getting my sandwiches made the way I wanted due to the employees not speaking English very well or being argumentative (e.g., I asked for a burger without lettuce, tomato, or mayo and the woman behind the counter started arguing with me because she couldn't understand why I didn't want a salad on my burger).

[hbelkins]

La Guardia has a salad bar with a "pay by weight" concept. (Don't know how it fares...had the pay-by-the-slice pizza instead.)

That's how Golden Corral handles carry-outs. You can eat as much as you want as long as you stay in the restaurant, but if you take it with you, you pay by the ounce.