"Fun poll questions. Thanks for running them."
The previous poll on buffet etiquette garnered a lot of votes, nearly 9,000, plus 58 email responses, the most in a long time. Apparently, we touched a particular nerve on a popular topic, as the above quote indicates.
We received so many comments that we couldn't fit them all in the poll-analysis space under the poll itself that ran Saturday, so here we are.
To see the poll, click here.
You'll see that most people are buffet-line-sensitive: walking around first; trying to keep lines moving, or waiting for one to move, or consciously looking for the shortest ones; arriving early to avoid them altogether.
Most people, as well, don't like to see others eating in line, though a brave 39 voters admitted to it.
And fully 349 people admitted to taking food out of buffets.
Here are the representative comments we received on this poll.
To start, as we were researching the survey, most of the buffet etiquette tips we found were for single-serving-line smorgies. We addressed this in one of the questions: "Most Las Vegas buffets are so big, with so many serving stations and islands, that the normal etiquette for single buffet lines doesn’t apply," which placed #4, with 10% of the votes. Many respondents noticed this distinction, such as our regular correspondent Al.
"It is a paid buffet. It is not a polite serving line at a seminar/convention where everyone stands politely in line discussing the next program to see. I'm there to eat my meal and get back to gambling. I chose the buffet because it should be faster than a restaurant. It is okay to go around. In fact, please do. Don't rush me and I won't rush you."
Here are a few more: "Life is too short to stress about buffet lines."
"Most casino buffets don't want lines formed (it's inefficient), they are designed to get you back to gambling sooner not later. When people form a line for one station and block all the others, that is being rude. A lot of casinos try to solve the busy station issue by suggesting a line just for that particular one (pasta, omelet, carving, etc.)."
"I thought that is why they call them ‘scatter buffets,’ no use standing in line for something that you don't want. You just get what you want and move on."
"I remember my first buffet experience in Vegas in 2000, at the Excalibur. The line, which had only formed on one side of the main serving station (this was before the era of multiple stations) was plodding. So I realized there was no reason not to serve myself from the other side. It wasn't like I was going behind the counter at McDonald’s. But a guy in front of me didn't like it and yelled out, "Hey!" I didn't care and a bunch of people did the same after me. I don't think I breached any social manners. Since then, I've always seen people serve themselves from both sides of a buffet when it's accessible."
Many respondents had comments about acceptable behavior when there are lines.
"There are lines within lines! There are usually several serving stations (Mex, Chinese, Ital) and as you walk by each you wait if there is a line for the tacos and then skip to the enchilada area if that line is shorter. I don't cut in front of anybody, but if someone is filing a plate at for one thing, I will go around them if it is not something I want and go to the next thing. Keeps all the lines moving."
"Since the "lines" seem to be moving from right to left from one end of the buffet, and from left to right at the other, going around and cutting in front of someone who is dithering doesn't seem to me to be impolite."
"If I am going for seconds and there is a gap in the line I always move up to that area. I don't think it makes sense to be in the line while others are just starting and deciding what they want. If it bothers someone then sorry about that, it doesn't bother me when others do the same thing in front of me as they will not run out of food."
"About asking a person ahead of me in a buffet line, who's taking a long time, if I may go around: I don't ask them, I just go around them. Why do we need their permission to go around? (We don't.) It would be inconsiderate for them to decide that we have to wait until they're finished before we can move forward, so why even invite that possibility?"
"Cut in line? Never. Move around a traffic jam? Sure. If there are people at a certain group of items that I am not interested in, and there's an opening beyond them, why not go around? Doing so actually improves the speed of the buffet line. This applies not just to the huge continuous displays of a casino buffet, but to island type displays at the local Chinese buffet, and even to the small salad bar at some places."
"If there is a crowd around a certain item, I eat my way around it and come back when it's less crowded. If the buffet is a good one, there should be plenty of other things to eat while waiting."
"In a buffet line, as in any other line situations (retail, grocery, etc.), I don't mind the time it takes to get to my serving station and I will take the time necessary to get the food I want while expecting the people behind me to be as patient as I was while they wait their turn."
"If a person is taking too long, I just go around without asking if they mind. Let's be honest, buffets are nothing but human troughs. So just get in there, get your damn food, and move it along!"
That last comment is our segue into the numerous responses we received about why people don’t like buffets.
"For most of the reasons above, I don't eat at the buffets."
"I don't go to buffets. I'm too old to stand in line for food, and with these prices, I should be waited on."
"I don't do buffets. For the most part, I find the food substandard. Quantity does not compensate for quality. I will not pay sit-down restaurant prices for a buffet in any case."
"I'm a lite eater so I shy away from buffets. With the drastic price increases over the past few years I can no longer justify spending those amounts for the little that I eat."
Of course, there were more specific complaints from people who do frequent AYCE spreads.
"I will turn in people that put food on their plate, then return that food to the buffet line warming tray."
"I don't like it when some people allow their small children to serve themselves at the buffet."
"The worst buffet buffoon shows a total lack of class when reaching around in front of another person to grab food."
"My biggest gripe: people who have to look for the perfect piece of bacon, rib, chicken, etc. Don't dawdle...just grab one and take an addition one if first one has too much fat or too small! Quit wasting everybody's time."
"I have found people hit the buffet in the same manner that they drive around here: me first, cutting in wherever they want to and forget everything else. I've had my food spill from having to stop quickly as someone darted in front of me. No manners. And if parents would stop letting their kids try to serve themselves and muck up the servings spoons, that would be swell."
"There should be no eating while you are in line at the buffet, if you get caught, you should be asked to leave, that's why they seat you first, so you know where to go to eat!"
Then there were the good buffet stories.
"A few months ago I made the mistake of going to a buffet in Tunica and it happened to be seafood night (crab legs). Never again. The setup was totally wrong. There was such a horde of people waiting for the crab legs that they blocked being able to get to the non-seafood. I had more than one dirty look as I politely said excuse me when I was trying to get to the veggies as though they thought I was trying to break line. I felt like I spent my time apologizing every time I went to get food."
"A very very, long time ago, I tried to go around the salad portion of the line at the Spice Market Buffet as I was only getting more crab legs, and it was all one long line. I got shoved out by a tall fat patron and then almost ejected by the management for ‘taking cuts.’ I haven't been back there since."
"I had an experience at the Baccchanal buffet which has caused me to alter my buffet behavior. I accidentally cut in line at the beef carvery station. The carver told me I had cut in line and the man behind me was there first. That was when I noticed the line. The man was very gracious and told the carver to serve me. I turned to thank him and apologize for cutting when I realized the man must be a famous basketball star--I don't follow basketball so I have no idea who he was--but by his height and muscle I knew he must play basketball! I smiled and apologized and he smiled back. I now try to check for a line before I reach for the serving spoon and I also try to be polite others like the sports star was to me."
As for sneaking out food, cookies seem to be acceptable, if not, perhaps, universal.
"When I say I sneak food out of a buffet, I mean things like cookies or portable sweets. I'm not one to load up my purse with surf & turf. I'm not an animal!"
"I usually take a few cookies with me as I'm leaving the buffet."
"I will sometimes take 2-3 cookies to eat later. A friend of mine actually takes small plastic bags to buffets, which she uses to take enough food for a whole second meal. I think that's way over the line of what's acceptable."
"I don't load my plate with the intention of "sneaking food out", but I may (discretely) wrap a left over (too full to eat it) cookie or slice of bread in a napkin and take it."
"I've been known to slip a couple of cookies into my purse if I've taken them from the line with the intention of eating them and find that my eyes are bigger than my stomach. After all, they would be disposed of if I left them."
"The only food I have ever taken out of a buffet was a piece of fruit or a cookie or two for an afternoon snack. And the server was always aware. They would give me an extra napkin to wrap them. I have seen on more than a few occasions, people with zip-lock bags taking enough food for a small army."
"One time at a buffet (not in Vegas), I was eating a half-peeled banana on my way out the exit. A hostess came running after me, yelling, 'Sir! Sir! Come back! Come back!' I stopped, turned, and asked, 'Why? She said, "You can't take food out of the buffet!' As I was walking back to her, eating, I asked, 'Why not?' She said, "Hotel policy!" When I reached where she was standing, I'd pretty much finished the banana. I said, 'So sorry,' and handed her the peel."
A couple of comments concerned frugality.
"I try to arrive 15-20 minutes before the dinner price kicks in. That way I pay the lunch price, go in, take my time, and wait for the dinner entrees to come out. Isn't being frugal smart? That extra 10 bucks or so can go to my gaming bankroll."
"We always use LVA coupons to try out new buffets. Without the coupons we would never have ventured to off-Strip places like Fremont Paradise Buffet, Green Valley Ranch, Red Rock, Texas Station, Aliante, Orleans.... and now we like some of those properties in general, and we go there to gamble and eat without coupons. The businesses that give us an introductory discount are smart - they build their customer base."
We were a little surprised by the level of concern over omelets.
"What really makes me crazy are the people hanging around the omelet station. Sure, wait in line to give the cook your order, but then stand and wait for it? Why not go to the other areas to load up on the side dishes while your item is cooking? After all, one of the key features of the omelet station is that it's delivered hot. To then walk it all over the buffet to get your fixings, while the omelet gets cold is just nuts."
"The most irritating thing for us for many breakfast buffets is the line for omelets. Many buffets are designed poorly and the line blocks several other breakfast items, so you have to ask people to move to get to them. Since omelets are so easy to make at home, we seldom, if ever, actually get an omelet at a buffet."
"If there is a line for something made special, like omelets, and I don't want an omelet, I don't feel bad about going around the line to get food at the other side. Or if people are waiting to get slices of meat, I will ask if I can cut in long enough to take a potato or something else being blocked by the line."
"At a huge breakfast buffet in a Strip casino, I am always amazed to see everyone standing in line waiting to get an omelet. There are literally hundreds of other items ready and waiting. Get something else!"
Finally, one wag (there’s always at least one) told us: "I like buffets, but my wife doesn't. So I need a date for the buffet line."
Any takers?
