What is the longest reasonable amount of time you can spend at an all you can eat buffet?

Question

At a chinese all you can eat buffet. What is the maximum amount of time you can stay assuming you are only eating what most people would normally eat at a buffet at one time. For example, if you get there at 11am, eat small bit, study, and continue to snack on your originaly plate till 4pm. Would this be acceptable. Would they ask you to leave? Could they ask you to leave?

Assuming its a slow day, and you are not taking tips away from anyone... what is the longest time you would feel comfortable staying?

Answer 1

If you dine at lunch/dinner hour, I think the acceptable time to leave would be when most people start to leave and when the restaurant starts to get kind of empty. Staying from 11am-4pm would be a bit much I would say!

Answer 2

the old joke goes "You been here 4 whole hours fat boy, go home , this is an all you can eat for ONE meal not all DAY!"

Yes i am fat, no , a buffett never said that to me, nor a Buffet

Answer 3

Haha....that is funny. I have often wondered that myself being that I am a fan of buffet's. Technically it is "all you can eat" right? So you should be able to stay until you can't eat anymore. But notice how they start giving you looks after about the third or fourth time you go back to the foo bar. My boyfirend and I recently went to a Cjinese Buffet and after baout 45 minutes after it looked like we were slowing down with stuffing ourselves they brought of us the bill and layed it on the table. I think this might have been a subtle hint "alright you fatties, time for you to go!" I really don't know how to answer that but test it ourt sometime. Make it an all day thing and then tell us what happened, lol.

Answer 4

You ask a very interesting question. Since it's a slow day and they don't need your table, then you might be able to get away with three hours without any problems. You could tell them when you walk in that you have a lot of studying to do and ask for a table in a back corner where you can take your time. It might also help to tip your "server" in advance so they don't pester you.

I wouldn't, however, plan on getting one huge plate of food and eating off of it for several hours. Get small plates when you feel the urge to nibble. Without the heat of the steam table, the food on your plate would quickly develop bacteria and you'd get one heck of a tummy ache!

Answer 5

Most often I beleive it depends on the class of the restaurant.  Just because they lay the ticket on the table doesn't mean that you have to leave. When an establishment is mediocre, the time limit is not as long as those restaurants are more upper class. Those restaurants are more concerned with service than how much you have eaten. They also know that you are more likely to leave a ;arger tip. So next time you are at your favorite buffet, relax and eat up!

Answer 6

I stayed at an all you can eat riblets buffet at Applebee's once for approximately 7 hours - the trick is to tell them to hold the fries and to not be shy about taking as many dumps as need be - enjoy!

PS - They won't throw you out but it's not worth doing if you're not comfortable doing it.