Rhode Island has Some Tasty and Interesting Buffets

A personal favorite of mine and for good reason. For the price, what’s offered is a deal. First, this large restaurant offers a lot of seating and the food selection is wide. The place is always clean, especially with cleaners often going around wiping down various parts of the buffet area.

The service is attentive by keeping your table clean and the buffet food fresh and refilled. Any time anything starts to look like it’ll be running out, a staff member can usually be seen hurrying to refill. In terms of friendliness, I never received anything explicit as it seems like servers are often too busy to make conversation.

Food, especially the range of options, is huge. From typical American-based foods to sushi and even a dedicated Hibachi where you can pick your own ingredients and watch them cook it, there’s an option for everyone. You can also pick from their crazy dessert experience which included different tasty cakes, ice creams, puddings, fruits, and more. The overall quality is great in terms of a buffet as food is often replaced quickly and fresh. Long story short, it’s a high-quality Asian based buffet.

When you wanted all of momma’s cookin’ and more. Hong Kong Buffet advertises itself as a typical Asian buffet but there’s so much more beneath the surface. This small, clean shop deviates from the large Asian buffet by offering a more homey experience with specific pieces of homecooked food to choose from and a service that cannot be matched. However, it’s a tad more expensive than its advertised counterparts, but oh so worth it!

Service is often friendly and willing to make small talk if you desire. They also wear mics and are constantly talking to the kitchen about food that’s running low or needs replacing. The entire restaurant is also kept immaculately clean.

There’s no denying it, all or most of the food is homemade. Sure, the selection isn’t that extensive, but what they offer is quality that can’t be matched. Whenever I go, there are small deviations of what’s offered which keeps the experience different every time you go. Typically, it’s a selection of American and Asian-based foods along with crafty desserts and hand-picked sushi. In all, Hong Kong Buffet is so much more than an Asian buffet, it’s a home.

Goodbye, my buffet breakfast love. At least at the time of this writing, they posted on their Facebook in 2020 that they would temporarily close due to state COVID regulations but haven’t opened since. This now-closed large buffet had an amazing breakfast buffet followed by a lunch and dinner one. While I only attended their breakfast one, I nonetheless have only good things to say. From the price to the food, it was an experience.

The service and atmosphere was that of a typical restaurant but the food and quality was not. I vividly remember chowing down on their various stuffed French toasts, loaded pancakes, and so much more.

Are Korean BBQs technically buffets? In a sense, yes, although you aren’t serving yourself, you’re instead doing the cooking with however much food you can muster. There are many Korean BBQs that have come and gone in this state and so far, each one I’ve visited was decent enough to recommend.

Here are two recommendations of mine: Sura and Lekker.

India is a normal Indian-based restaurant that doesn’t specialize in buffets but instead offers one during specific times during the week. The price for the service and quality is pretty decent, and the location itself isn’t too shabby either.

The food during the buffet isn’t as extensive as most others, offering just a handful of options from their menu including chicken-based recipes to vegetable and even soups. To sum it up, it’s a nice place to visit if you want something other than the typical Asian-style buffet.

You can find their offerings and prices here.

I can only speak so much about the Nordic Lodge as I’ve never been and have only heard about it. From my observations, the price has gone up quite a bit in the past few years, likely due to inflation and rising food costs. However, the price may warrant.

To even enter, proper attire is required to enter this esteemed estate. Indeed, the location looks amazing, offering picture-worthy photos. The food inside the buffet are of the apparent highest quality. Expensive seafoods such as lobster are one of their signatures, all the way down to custom-made desserts that would normally fetch a pretty penny at any bakery. The reviews are also flattering for the location, offering close to a perfect score. So, if you’re in the mood to put on your dress shoes and empty your wallet, this may be your place.

Not to be confused with the Warwick location, this hibachi buffet needs help. While the price is fairly average for an Asian buffet, everything else is nothing but. The service, food–everything, just reeks of low quality and a complete lack of care and consideration.

The service will start to rush you out an hour or two before their closing time. Food will no longer be refilled, staff will be running around vacuuming and cleaning, etc. It’s clear their closing time is absolute, and that includes the kitchen and all staff are out around that time. With this, food selection is scarce, and empty trays often litter the buffet. Quality and cleanliness aren’t the best either.