View Full Version : All You Can Eat places
saimyoji
03-06-2005, 20:08
I guess many times we really enjoy/regret the AYCE places. What/where are the ones you enjoyed/regret most? What were the circumstances?
DMA, 2000
03-06-2005, 20:28
I regretted it when the manager came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder and 86ed me by saying,
"Son. That's ALL you can eat."
Lone Wolf
03-06-2005, 22:18
The best? Shaw's of course. Meat, taters, bread, dessert and milk. Lots of it. When and if you get there from Georgia, you're friggin HUNGRY! Thanks Pat.
The worst? I ain't never met a bad AYCE. :D
Sleepy the Arab
03-06-2005, 22:58
I'd like to nominate the AYCE at the Fontana Peppercorn dining room for worst. Flat out terrible (and those who know me will tell you I ain't picky) and overpriced. All things considered, I'd rather eat what Baltimore Jack found in his pack during Trail Days 2000.
jackiebolen
03-06-2005, 23:25
I always regretted Pizza Hut AYCE's. The unpleasant after effects of the one in Marion lasted a good 5 days...not happy times.
Mountain Dew
03-06-2005, 23:29
In 2003 B. Jack had told me to get ready for the best AYCE on the trail once we got to Wayneboro, but I had no idea. We walked in and the young asian girl said something to Jack and I swear I think she said his name. I stood in amasement of the amount of food they had out for the buffet. Rows and rows of it all for us to eat. First thing Jack did after we sat down was yell at me for eating rice and pasta because we can eat that on the trail. That changed the entire AYCE game plan that day. Goodtimes..... :sun
RagingHampster
03-06-2005, 23:37
Not being a thru-hiker, I try to avoid AYCE spots! :D
Up the street from me is a AYCE chinese restaurant. I have a weakness for General Tso's chicken...
DMA 2000: I would love to be able to say I was shut-down at an AYCE buffet. That is something to brag about! :p
I've only been to one AYCE place on the AT, and that was a truly awful pizza place next to the supermarket in Pearisburg. I did much better later in the day at the sports pub, particularly as the waitress there was especially cute and the cook exceptionally skilled.
The best AYCE place in existence has to be the Caesar's buffet in South Lake Tahoe, one of my favorite PCT town stops. I still have dreams about that place.
Mountain Dew
03-08-2005, 03:11
Chris, how did you hike most of the AT and only eat at an AYCE ONCE ? My God man !
steve hiker
03-08-2005, 04:51
Resist the temptation to abuse God's bounty. A servant of the Lord should eat only to sustain the temple of his soul, not to become engrossed in the wickedness of the flesh. For it is written:
For if a man becomes fat and a great eater, and rolls himself about, that fool, like a hog fed on grains, is born again and again.
...like a hog fed on grains... I LIKE THAT!
Chris, how did you hike most of the AT and only eat at an AYCE ONCE ? My God man !
Yeah, I know that this is freakish. But, try this one on: On the GDT, on two occasions (there are only 5 trail towns), I declined to eat in a restaurant and instead sat in the parking lot things like cheetos and chocolate milk.
First off, I hate (tired of actually) Pizza. Have had so much of it over the last 50 years to last me another 50 years.
However, the AYCE Pizza bar at "The pizza place" in Erwin absolutly ROCKS!
You must try the vegitarian Pizza. Limited selection at the salad bar, but so what.
Doctari.
bulldog49
03-08-2005, 17:41
You must try the vegitarian Pizza.
Doctari.
UH, no I don't.
There is (or at least used to be) an AYCE Chinese buffet in Franklin NC in the same shopping center as the Ingles Super Market that I thought was superb. Anyone know if it's still there? It's not listed in the latest Companion.
Not a buffet, but AYCE eat nevertheless, is the Home Place Restaurant in Catawba, VA. Not to be missed...get there Thurs.-Sun.
smokymtnsteve
03-09-2005, 00:42
There is (or at least used to be) an AYCE Chinese buffet in Franklin NC in the same shopping center as the Ingles Super Market that I thought was superb. Anyone know if it's still there? It's not listed in the latest Companion.
Not a buffet, but AYCE eat nevertheless, is the Home Place Restaurant in Catawba, VA. Not to be missed...get there Thurs.-Sun.
the Chinese buffet was open in Franklin last spring ..don't know about this year.
saimyoji
03-09-2005, 22:17
The problem I always have with Chinese buffets is: no matter how much I eat, 30 minutes later, I'm hungry again. Does anyone else have this problem?:-?
RagingHampster
03-09-2005, 22:34
The problem I always have with Chinese buffets is: no matter how much I eat, 30 minutes later, I'm hungry again. Does anyone else have this problem?
Only when I eat rice and lo mein. If I stick to meat and veggies I tend to stay full longer... Maybe this requires some more research... :D
saimyoji
03-10-2005, 00:39
Synchronize watches......eat!!:D
It is not quite an AYCE story, but one of the few time I was dissapointed with food was at a pizza place in Millinocket, ME.
It was the worse pizza I've ever had. And this was the day I finished my thru-hike...you'd think it would be manna from heaven! Nope...bleccchhh! And, I am NOT a picky eater off-trail..never mind after 5 mos of thru-hiking. Still, I did eat the whole large pizza by myself, I wasn't THAT picky. :)
Jack Tarlin
03-10-2005, 17:43
Well, Wolf, Dew, and some other folks have beaten me to it:
The best on the Trail:
*Breakfast at Shaw's in Monson
*Dinner at the Homeplace in Catawba
*Lunch OR Diner at the Ming Garden next to the Kroger's
in the midle of Waynesboro
And thanx to the indefatigable WillK for providing the biblical admonition against gluttony.
However, I prefer the directive from Genesis 3:19, which clearly says "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground...." which seems to me divine commandment to eat til you drop dead, which is the way most hikers act at All You Can Eat establishments.
Nice to know they're merely following God's plan and directive. "Eat Til You Die!" says the scriptures. Fascinating, isn't it? The same book that tells you that it's not cool to EAT pig also tells you that it's perfectly all right to BE one!
The marvelous thing about the Good Book, Will, is that it's open to all sorts of interpretation!
Lone Wolf
03-10-2005, 18:03
Yup. And to you vegetarian/vegan types, it also says in the Bible in so many words, that God gave animals to Man so he could whack, stack and eat em! After you do that get Nugent's "Kill It And Grill It" cookbook for yummy flesh recipes. :D
smokymtnsteve
03-10-2005, 18:08
the bible also tells U not to eat shrimp...or pork...and also not to eat chesseburgers...
Jack Tarlin
03-10-2005, 18:20
Specifically, Wolf, in Genesis 9:3, we see this:
"Everything that lives and moves will be food for you."
And in Exodus 16:8:
"You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening...."
And on that note, it's time to get the ribs in the oven before Janet gets back from Johnson City. In any case, I like it here on top of the food chain. And Wolf, think about joining us for dinner on Friday or Saturday. Give a call if you think you might make it.
No cheese will be served!
Lone Wolf
03-10-2005, 19:14
Friday may work. Saturday morning I'm leaving for a golf trip at Myrtle Beach. Gotta get some golf in before heading to Springer on the 21st. I'll call y'all.
Nevertheless, these shall ye not eat, of them that chew the cud or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel and the hare, and the coney; for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass.
Deut. 14:7,8
Whatever..that book is full of self-contradictions.
I'm voting for the Shaw's meals, although Honey and Bear made some wicked corned beef and cabbage when I was there and I didn't stop eating until it hurt. Only seven more days until another boiled dinner and stout beer!
smokymtnsteve
03-10-2005, 20:26
well LINT I can't believe your quoting the Bible eithier as a matter of fact according to Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses 6-10 the bible instructs believers to STONE you...
so lets go get stoned! ;)
In 1972 I had read shelter logs about an AYCE buffet in Hanover when I was still in Virginia. I think it was called something like the "Green Lantern". For a thousand miles I read more entries about that buffet. I guess that my imagination ran away with me. When I finally got there, in the rain, the food wasn't that good and the place was way too high class for me. You talk about feeling like hiker trash. I ate my single serving and quietly left.
RagingHampster
03-10-2005, 21:44
from Nugget 5:24
"Yea shall not dippith thou nugget twice, nor thrice in the sauce, for I shall strike thee down with great vengeance who double dippith".