Pizza Hut $6 Buffet

This offer's been available for years, but until last week it escaped me. A recent drive to Yucca Valley convinced me to change my mind, especially since it was over 100 degrees outside and my car's A/C fan stopped working. I needed to stay indoors awhile. And come on, it's Pizza Hut!

The basic propostion is simple. $6 covers unlimited access to all the pizza, salad, pasta, dessert (pudding and pizza) you could want. A drink is included so it's a great deal. It's a better bargain than KFC's $10 buffet in Banning though there you have more options overall and way more protein.

As far as pizza quality goes, my gut feeling is the buffet stuff is only slightly less tasty than the usual made to order pies. I detected two types of crust: thin and dusted with oil, and a thicker buttery crust. Both were enjoyable though the thinner crust would allow you to eat a lot more in one sitting.

They have 8 pizzas sitting in the station at one time. They alternate between 6 different types of pizza, it felt like, depending on customer request and actual demand. The only downside to this type of buffet are the slow moments when people aren't eating much and the food on the tray is getting old and cold. In terms of taste, I'd compare the Pizza Hut lunch buffet to Cici's Pizza. I prefer Cici's because they have more pies available at one time, more dessert pizzas, and their offer for all-you-can eat stands all day.

20 slices of pizza for $6 is an unbeatable deal. That seems to equate about two medium pizzas, and that more than sufficed for my food needs for the whole rest of the day. It also provided great fodder for my blog, which has gone lonely lately. It's nice to have something new to write about.

Sushi For Dessert

Haven't blogged at all this month, so here we go. Asian Palace Buffet in La Mirada, CA offers AYCE weekend dinner for $12.99 plus tax and tip.

The sushi was above average for the price range. I also appreciated the availability of crab items.

I'm possibly the only person who could mix sushi with a dessert plate. Well worth the price and I'd go back if I was in the area.

AYCE Chicken Done Right

KFC still operates a few locations as self-serve all you can eat restaurants. The nearest one to me is in Banning, just a few miles from Casino Morongo. You pay $9 for a meal and drink that supposedly never ends.

They have all the options on the table. Grilled and fried chicken, sides like macaroni, biscuits, mashed potatoes, and cole slaw, and desserts like banana pudding.

My visit was in October 2011, on a day after work. Unfortunately they ran out of grilled chicken as I went during meal hour. The rest of the fare was pretty good. Definitely worth the price and another visit soon.

Sushi in the High Desert

  

Daikoku Japanese Steak House in Victorville offers an incredible promotion for all-you-can-eat sushi and hand rolls. Some people may object to eating raw fish so far from a water source... but you'd be missing out on a bargain. $12 for lunch, $15 for dinner. I ate 12 rolls and survived. The hardest part was exercising right afterward.

 Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sample everything on the menu. Yet.

New China Buffet

This is unofficially my 100th post, but that includes a few edits. It's the 90th. Either way I decided to put up a post with lots of photos and less writing.

Last October I stopped by New China Buffet, another inexpensive all-you-can-eat establishment in San Bernardino. Lunch runs for $6.99 including soft drinks, tea, and coffee.

The wasabi was creamier than usual. I wouldn't go here for the sushi in any case.

At this point the wait staff became irritated with me and stopped collecting my empty plates. 

Some may debate the quality, but the quantity's certainly abundant.

Local Competiton

Matt Stonie and I have this ongoing conversation about the relative value of buffets. He thinks I should avoid Hometown Buffet. When a new Asian buffet recently opened in Colton, I decided to take the Megatoad's advice.

This place is a bit on the small side physically. Given the local restaurant scene, they have their work cut out for them. Located off the Washington St-Mt Vernon Ave exit on the 215 freeway, they're smack dab in the middle of about 20 fast-food joints, sit-down establishments, Starbucks Coffee, Walmart, and about a block away from an established all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.

Three miles east in San Bernardino you'll hit Hospitality Lane, where you'll see about 35 restaurants including the infamous King Buffet. Buffet Star needs to make an impression around here.

I spent about an hour dining here. My visit occurred on the first Saturday they were in operation, two days after their grand opening on March 24. Weekend meals are priced at $10.95, weekday lunch is $6.95, and weekday dinners run $9.95. Given the neighborhood, the prices seem reasonable.

As per my typical habit at Asian buffets, I started with sushi.


This was better than I expected. Most $10-12 buffets that I've frequented don't put out much raw fish. They typically dole out mostly California rolls, but here they were rolling out tuna and salmon in addition to imitation crab. They were fresh too. As far as value went, this was probably my best sushi haul since discovering Daikoku Japanese Steak House in Victorville with its $15 all-you-can-eat sushi roll special.

The Caterpillar Rolls were excellent. The nigiri was very fresh. Some of the sashimi strips more closely resembled large insects than pieces of sushi. Their wasabi was nice and strong. The avocado was plentiful.


A crowded plate with some 24 pieces. They were large portions.


At this point, the sushi chef noticed that I had been to the serving station several times. He wanted to make sure I liked the food! Well, I was honest.


The salt-and-pepper shrimp was a bit greasy but well done.

And more.


The egg roll, sesame balls, and cream cheese wantons were all fresh. There's also one piece of nigiri on this plate. Couldn't resist one final raw parting gift.


The requisite fruit plate. Watermelon was my favorite selection.


My evil sugar habit finally asserts itself. Coconut macaroons, chocolate pudding, banana creme pudding, brownie, and cake square. "Sweet Tooth" would have been proud of this plate - and the two following.

Instead of the standard soft serve machine, this place has a deep freezer with huge canisters of real ice cream and serving scoops. I appreciated the difference.


No better way to end a meal than with 8 scoops of ice cream, a pile of cookies, a brownie, and vanilla pudding. Those last two plates were awesome.

Honestly, I had no idea no much I'd eaten at that point. Buffets should install scales at their tables. Sometimes it's best to play it safe, so I stopped here and finished my glass of water.

This place needs to stick around. It's got some good stuff. All 11 plates' worth.

Matt was right... avoiding the $5 breakfast paid off big time.