A beloved restaurant in Alabama's state capital, Martha's Place has fed celebrities from Whoopi Goldberg to Sissy Spacek. It's owned and operated by Martha Hawkins, a Montgomery-born woman who fell on hard times, but didn't surrender her dream of opening a restaurant. More than three decades later, the homely spot still dishes up a daily lunch and dinner buffet, including classics such as fried chicken and Salisbury steak, and comforting sides like fried okra, candied yams and black-eyed peas.
Alaska has a bountiful supply of seafood and this Anchorage restaurant makes the most of it with a tasty lunchtime sushi buffet. Feast on sushi staples such as California rolls and rainbow rolls, as well as tempura vegetables, grilled shrimp and spicy noodle and fried-rice dishes. Kobe is also a teppanyaki restaurant so, if you prefer, you can watch one of the skilled chefs show off their tricks as they cook filet mignon or teriyaki chicken right before your eyes.
Committed to nourishing the people of Tucson (the USA's first UNESCO City of Gastronomy), Govinda's Natural Foods Buffet has been running since 1992. All the delicious food is vegetarian, with the 19-item salad bar straining under the weight of curried and baked vegetables, pasta dishes and homemade bread. Plump for a trip to the salad bar alone or opt for the 'full buffet' option at lunch or dinner with specials including curried vegetable and lentil croquettes and vegan lasagne. The restaurant is closed on Mondays.
Brown's Country Store in Benton, with its colourful façade and quirky gift shop, is as much a tourist attraction as it is a decent buffet-style restaurant. Brown's proudly touts its 100-foot (30m) buffet, which is piled high on weekdays with "country lovin' food", from southern fried chicken and tender roast beef to macaroni cheese. Evenings and weekends give way to a seafood buffet offering shrimp, fried white fish and more. Finish off your meal with a round of fruit cobbler and banana pudding.
Cafe Sierra's Seafood and Prime Rib Buffet is the stuff of legend. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening, Cafe Sierra, a swish restaurant at Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, lays on an indulgent spread heavy with seafood and fine cuts of meat. Choose between oysters, lobster thermidor and Alaskan king crab or visit one of the "Action Stations" where you can watch chefs whip up fresh tacos or stir-fried dishes. Finish off with a sweet crêpe or some generous scoops of ice cream.
This Indian, Nepalese and Tibetan joint now has four locations in Colorado, including one right in the Mile High City itself. Timings vary between locations, but each restaurant offers a delicious lunch and dinner buffet throughout the week, where you can try a range of classic Asian dishes. Crowd-pleasers include the sweet potato masala and the kicking chilli chicken, plus sides and starters like crisp samosas and saag. Craft beer is also brewed at Yak and Yeti's Arvada location.
A popular resort in southern Connecticut, near the town of Essex, Water's Edge is often tipped as having the state's best brunch buffet. Served in the resort's Dattilo Fine Italian restaurant, the lauded Sunday Brunch menu changes weekly, though consistent favourites include the "ice sculpture" raw bar, laden with sushi and sashimi, oysters and shrimp. You can also opt for made-to-order crêpes or omelettes, plus entrées like beef stroganoff or grilled chicken curry. The views across the Long Island Sound are another reason to visit.
One for carnivores, Churrascaria Saudades is committed to bringing the glorious Brazilian tradition of "churrasco" barbecue to the people of Newark. Here chefs roast meats over an open flame, then carve them from large metal skewers and plate them up table-side. Diners pay a fixed price to eat as much meat as they can manage, with the 15 cuts available ranging from lamb chops and pork ribs to garlic sirloin and filet mignon. Bottomless side options include crispy polenta and Brazilian pão de queijo (a kind of cheesy roll).
With locations in Coral Gables and Weston, both near Miami, POC American Fusion Buffet and Sushi describes itself as a "non-traditional buffet-style dining restaurant". Some highly regarded chefs are behind this South Florida offering, including sushi chef Kevin Z, who has worked in the kitchens of both Nobu and SushiSamba. Each location boasts a popular buffet of more than 100 items including nigiri sushi and sashimi and entrées such as salmon teriyaki, saffron clams and veal stew.
This sleek New American spot in Atlanta puts on a mean weekend brunch buffet. "Eat as much as you like, have fun and pig out" orders the menu, which is crammed with American brunch classics enlivened by creative twists. Choose between breakfast favourites like soft scrambled eggs or buttermilk pancakes, or fill up on shrimp and grits with cajun spices, baby kale and red onion. For an indulgent sweet treat, try the banana bread with caramel and candied pecans.
Visit the Reef Bar and Market Grill for a "farm-to-beach" breakfast buffet that champions local produce. The restaurant enjoys a prime position on Waikiki Beach, and its all-you-can-eat buffet offers favourites such as French toast or crêpes served with fresh fruit and syrup. You can also try local delicacies such as Kālua pork, and wash it all down with a Bloody Mary and a stunning view of the ocean.
Priding itself on "refined yet creative" Indian cooking, this traditional restaurant is well-loved in Boise. While the à la carte menu is delicious, it's the venue's lunchtime buffet that really draws in the crowds. A very reasonable $10.49 (£8) will grant you your fill of curries and rice dishes, from goat biriyani to butter chicken, plus naan bread and spicy vegetable samosas. Pair your meal with a refreshing lassi, a yoghurt drink popular in India.
Chicago's Red Apple Buffet is no stranger to awards and accolades, having been named the best buffet in Illinois on numerous occasions. The food here, described as "European fusion", has a strong Polish influence and the owners are committed to "the habits and traditions of the old world", meaning they rely upon organic, free-range produce and homemade goods. The all-you-can-eat menus change daily, but you can expect such delicacies as pierogi, stuffed cabbage, Polish schnitzel and potato pancakes.
One of the top Indian restaurants in Bloomington, India Garden has a sizeable à la carte menu and a tempting lunch buffet favoured among locals. The changing all-you-can-eat menu often includes tempting vegan options such as gobi manchurian, a spicy fried cauliflower dish, and moreish spinach pakoras. Tandoori chicken, goat curry and paneer tikka masala often make an appearance too. Accompany your Indian feast with a masala chai or a sweet mango lassi.
Still a relatively new kid on the block, Kathmandu Restaurant opened in 2016 and, despite its unassuming façade, has been impressing locals ever since. The restaurant focuses on Indian and Nepalese cuisine and the lunchtime buffet gives you a chance to sample a great swathe of the menu. Typical buffet items include banana pakoras, warming daals and classic Indian curries. The Nepalese-style dumplings (momos) are well worth a try too.
Wichita's Los Compadres Mexican Grill has built up a solid reputation for its friendly service and its flavour-packed Mexican cuisine. Come by and you'll find a popular roster of lunchtime specials and a much-hyped Sunday breakfast buffet. From the all-you-can-eat buffet, expect a generous array of Mexican staples, from chilaquiles (a breakfast dish made with corn tortillas) to menudo (a kind of soup), plus rice, beans, eggs and more.
A long-standing restaurant in Owensboro, the self-proclaimed barbecue capital of the world, the Moonlite Bar-B-Que Inn has been running for more than half a century. It's consistently held up as one of the best barbecue joints in the state, with its barbecued mutton a favourite among punters. A lunchtime and evening buffet runs from Monday through to Saturday (a brunch buffet is offered on Sunday), with hickory smoked meats from pork to beef on offer everyday. There's also shrimp and catfish fiddlers on select evenings.
The Court of Two Sisters is one of the Big Easy's most unique restaurants, serving its Cajun and Creole cuisine with a side of jazz. The restaurant has a long history, and is named for two women (Bertha Angaud and Emma Camors) who opened a shop on the premises in the 1880s, and sometimes served tea and snacks from the courtyard. Today a form of this tradition continues with a buffet brunch served daily in the courtyard, with made-to-order omelettes, shrimp cocktail, creole jambalaya and more. A jazz trio adds to the atmosphere.
It may seem an odd concept, but the Oceanview Dining Hall – tucked away in the campus of Southern Maine Community College, yet open to the paying public – consistently ranks among Maine's top all-you-can-eat restaurants. Not only does the dining hall have wonderful waterside views, it also has a fine selection of food for bargain prices. The offering changes daily but favourites include the tacos, the comforting pasta plates, fresh fish dishes and a heap of veggies from the salad bar.
Phillips Seafood now has multiple locations, including venues in New Jersey's Atlantic City and Washington DC – but Maryland is where it all began. The first venue opened in 1956 in Ocean City and over the past six decades, Phillips Seafood has become synonymous with melt-in-the-mouth Maryland crab cakes. The Baltimore location now offers a Sunday buffet brunch with options ranging from oysters to applewood smoked bacon and made-to-order omelettes. There's also a bottomless Bloody Mary bar and, of course, a chance to try those famous crab cakes.
All you can eat pasta may sound like a dream, but it's a reality at Mida's Mangia Mondays. A modern Italian spot with a focus on seasonal produce, Mida allows diners to eat as many pasta dishes as they can manage (plus salad and bread) for $35 (£26). Servers will bring you your chosen fresh pasta dishes one by one until you've had your fill. Example plates include mouthwatering linguine with lobster scampi, basil and shrimp butter.
You'll find this buffet restaurant, whose name is a nod to Detroit's car manufacturing history, in the MotorCity Casino. It's won awards for its delicious offering, which includes classic American comfort food as well as international cuisine, from sushi to tamales. Special themed evenings include Seafood Mondays with all-you-can-eat crab legs and Italian Saturdays with a belly-busting array of pasta and pizza. Come for lunch or dinner any day of the week, or for a mighty breakfast at weekends.
With a location uptown in Minneapolis (pictured) and several spots in the suburbs, India Palace is revered for its lunchtime buffet, which operates seven days per week in every venue. Frequently tipped as one of the best Indian restaurants in the city, India Palace lays on both North and South Indian cuisine and prides itself on its vegetarian specials, from matar paneer to mushroom masala. Come for the buffet and sample everything from murgh makhani (butter chicken) to lamb saag (lamb and spinach in a mild curry sauce).
"Endless options from around the world" are available at this all-you-can-eat buffet in Biloxi's Palace Casino Resort. The restaurant is carved up into delicious zones, from "Flames", where you can pick up prime rib or steak, to "Wok", the Mongolian barbecue area, where you can watch a chef toss up noodles with your choice of meat, veggies, sauces and spice. You can also gorge on indulgent desserts made by the buffet's award-winning pastry chef. Lunch and dinner is served daily and breakfast is available on weekends.
Something of a Kansas City institution, the Peach Tree Buffet dishes up traditional soul food in bountiful portions. The buffet, centred around home-style Southern cooking, is open from Tuesday through to Sunday, with a menu that changes by the day. Southern-fried chicken is doled out daily, alongside other warming classics like meatloaf with tomato sauce, fried catfish, beef brisket and heaps of sides. There's peach cobbler for dessert and, on Sunday, the brunch buffet includes a buttermilk-waffle station.
Home-style Indian cooking is the order of the day at this family-owned Indian restaurant in the city of Billings. Mirch Masala offers a lunch and dinnertime buffet with plenty of specials to keep regulars coming back for more. Expect heaps of appetisers like corn pakoras, plus oodles of curries to choose from. Past specials have included green bean sabzi (pictured) and chana masala with pineapples.
This sleek Italian restaurant, all dark wood, plush booths and low lighting, has been a favourite among Omaha residents since it opened in 2004. And while the menu filled with Italian staples is a sure bet all week, the Sunday brunch buffet is something special. You'll have home-baked muffins, fresh bread and cinnamon rolls piled on your table, then you can load up your plate with everything from parmesan-and-prosciutto-baked hashbrowns to pot roast. Specials include such dishes as crab Benedict (pictured).
When it comes to all-you-can-eat spots in Sin City, you're spoiled for choice – but the legendary Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace really is the mother of them all. The Bacchanal Buffet opened in 2012 to the tune of $100 million (£76.4m) with a lavish dining room and an endless supply of fine food. Savour plates of king crab legs and seafood laska, or plump for some handmade dim sum or green-applewood-smoked wagyu. And don't leave without sinking your teeth into a made-to-order chocolate lava cake.
The Portsmouth Gas Light Company building plays host to multiple venues including a grill, a deck with live music and a nightclub on its third floor. But it's the family-oriented Pizza Pub that has a tasty all-you-can-eat deal. Come at lunchtime from Monday through to Friday and you'll be met with a heaving buffet of wood-fired pizzas. While you'll want to try every one, start with a slice of the venue's flagship Gas Light pizza: it includes Gaslight's signature sauce, plus sweet Italian sausage, pepperoni, ricotta and mozarella.
This vegetarian Indian restaurant in Jersey City offers a breakfast buffet at weekends, a lunchtime buffet on Wednesdays and Thursdays and a popular dinner buffet on Tuesdays. The spot excels at South Indian breakfast delicacies like idli (a kind of dense rice cake) and pongal (a rice dish cooked here with lentils, nuts and spices). Come lunch and dinnertime, you can also fill up on veg-based curries such as gobi (cauliflower) masala curry and palak paneer (a dish with spinach and paneer).
A no-frills Italian spot in Albuquerque, Mimmo's is named after co-owner Cosimo, nicknamed "Mimmo", who moved to New Mexico from Italy in 1984. The venue operates a well-loved all-you-can-eat buffet with a lunchtime menu served all week and a dinner menu served from Mondays to Thursdays. Expect dishes such as oozing cheese-filled ravioli and spaghetti with marinara sauce, plus a range of pizzas and a fresh salad bar.
You'll not have to look hard to find an all-you-can-eat restaurant in New York City – but not all buffets were created equal, and Brasserie 8 1/2's offering is a cut above the rest. An elegant French brasserie in Midtown, this restaurant lays on a celebrated Sunday brunch, with made-to-order omelette and crêpe stations and a hot buffet. The changing menu features warming treats such as seafood paella and pasta primavera with pesto, plus a range of desserts from banana cream pie to petit fours.
It's the stunning view across the mountains that draws diners to the Blue Ridge Artisanal Buffet at The Omni Grove Park Inn – but the food is well worth sticking around for too. Each day, the restaurant runs the "Art of Breakfast" buffet, featuring elevated versions of Southern classics like shrimp and grits. There's also a Sunday champagne brunch, a decadent Friday night seafood buffet and a prime-rib buffet on Saturdays.
Opened in 2005, this traditional Indian spot offers a lunchtime buffet from Tuesday to Sunday (the restaurant is closed on Monday). More than 20 tempting options make up the buffet, from spicy vegetable dishes to melt-in-the-mouth meat curries. A typical lunchtime spread may include dishes such as goat vindaloo, malabar fish curry and chicken tikka, with accompaniments like pakoras and idli. It's often finished off with a sweet banana pudding too.
Described as "delicious Amish Country Food", Mrs Yoder's Kitchen is located under an hour and a half from Cleveland, in the heart of Ohio's Amish Country. The food, from the down-home dinners to the belly-busting buffet breakfasts, is well worth travelling for and that's exactly what people do. Come at lunch or dinner and chow down on fried chicken, grilled pork chops, fried shrimp and more. Finish off with a generous slice of pie, from apple or cherry to the seasonal favourite of pumpkin pie.
Portland is known for its diverse food scene and this Iraqi restaurant downtown doesn't disappoint. A popular lunchtime buffet runs from Monday to Friday, giving hungry punters a chance to try a range of Iraqi dishes. The buffet menu includes lighter bites, such as tilapia, eggplant stew and shredded chicken, as well as more filling options such as beef shank with vegetables and coconut shrimp. If you're craving dessert, the kanafeh (a kind of sweet pastry dish made with cheese) is a winner.
Billing itself "the seafood experience of the Grand Strand", Captain George's offers a daily dinner buffet. The restaurant is famed for its high-quality seafood spread and it has four locations (including two in Virginia and one in North Carolina). The Captain George's in Myrtle Beach is a stone's thrown from the sea, and its buffet items include snow crab legs, steamed crawfish, oysters Rockefeller and the catch of the day. Pair your seafood feast with green beans and corn, and home-baked bread.
Today Fogo de Chão has locations dotted across North and South America, but the Dallas location was where it all kicked off. Diners can fill up on vegetables and pulses from the Market Table, then await the arrival of succulent skewered meats at this traditional Brazilian barbecue. Crowd favourites include the picanha, a prime cut of beef and the venue's signature steak, and the tender beef ribs.
Now with several venues across the state and two in Idaho, this small regional chain began in Salt Lake City back in 1966 and had a steady stream of customers right from the beginning. The buffet has burgeoned over the decades, but has remained a local favourite, serving global and American cuisine every day of the week. Visit on Mexican Day (Thursday) and you'll be met with chicken enchiladas and beef-and-bean burritos, or stop by on Italian Day (Saturday) for lasagne and pasta alfredo.
This down-to-earth spot serves up Nepalese and Himalayan Sherpa cuisine, and it showcases the best it has to offer at its "Sunday Special" brunch buffet, running from 11am–3pm each week. Be sure to try the steamed Nepalese dumplings (momos) stuffed with chicken, beef or veg, and the Sherpa-style chow mein with meat or veggies too. Other dishes range from punchy lamb curries to creamier veg-packed options.
All-you-can-eat fiends will have little trouble finding a great buffet spot in Washington, but this venue is particularly special. Salty's grants diners stunning views over Elliott Bay with Seattle's skyscrapers winking from across the water. It's not all about the vistas though. The weekend buffet brunch menu draws in the crowds with its hot dishes (think biscuits and gravy or blackened salmon) and its teetering sweet-treats table. There's a lengthy list of cocktails to try too.
Among Milwaukee's top-rated restaurants, Alem Ethiopian Village, as its apt name suggests, dishes up a bounty of traditional Ethiopian food. From Tuesday through to Friday, guests can enjoy a vegetarian lunch buffet featuring many of the venue's top dishes. If dished up on the day you visit, be sure to sample the yemisir wot (a thick and richly spiced lentil stew) and the Ethiopian-style collard greens with garlic and pepper.
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Indian-style buffets are often a winner and this relaxed Casper venue is no exception. Serving honest Indian and Nepalese food, the restaurant runs a lunchtime buffet Monday through to Saturday. Familiar favourites may well appear in the buffet, including chicken saag, tarka daal and lamb rogan josh, with plenty of rice and naan bread too. If you're hankering after something sweet, give the mango or pistachio kulfi a try.
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