Today I’m just having a bit of fun with the observations I made whilst eating at a buffet style restaurant  recently. I’m talking about Food Fantasy at Jupiter’s Casino. It’s quite ‘famous’ for it’s food. Locals (who aren’t staying at the Casino) come to eat there too. You always have to book. It’s fits hundreds of people in it. The food is truly good. They have an omelette man for breakfast (which is my husband’s favourite thing ever). I’ve eaten there many times, but this time I decided to take note of the human behaviour that was going on inside this arena. It made me laugh and cringe…

Amie (+ her family) and I (+ my family) thought we’d sit back and do some people watching… I had my iphone ready and frantically typed some notes in to it. We had ourselves in stitches and also disbelief whilst observing the characters (I’m being polite here, because some are clearly animals).

Oh, and in our house we don’t call it a gourmet buffet – we say gor-met buff-et.

Here are our quotes:

1. It should say on a sign as you walk in “Welcome to the Feeding Frenzy – hope you haven’t eaten this week!”.

2. People are like Piranhas in a fish tank.

3. Are people stockpiling food? Are people grabbing extra just in case?

4. There are 24 desserts, why do we choose 8? Why can’t we be happy with 2?

5. Is someone wrapping stuff in a napkin over there?

6. Imagine the waste as people only grab it because it’s there. They can’t possibly eat it all.

7. Do you wonder what the staff say about you once they’ve cleared your table for the 5th time? They probably go back and say “table 32 are such pigs, look at all the food they grabbed and haven’t eaten half of it, they took 1 bite out of everything…”

8. The place is always so loud. You can’t have a conversation. People are swiftly moving through the place, clanging cutlery and glasses and pushing to get to the seafood and hot lamb.

9. The drink choices are totally unnecessary for children. Fancy putting in a soft drink machine where you can choose what you want. So we topped up the soft drink glasses 3 times with a different flavour. Kids are bouncing off the walls. Not to mention the dessert bar just for children!

10. People get a new plate every time they don’t like something. Filling it with yet another round of something they’ll only eat 3 mouthfuls of.

11. Husband said “this is like watching a couple of sardines being dropped in a tank of sharks…”

12. It’s like people may never eat again – do they know something we don’t know?

13. If this place is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, have they eaten here already today?

14. Do you wait for the staff to top stuff up before you pounce? Do you ask “is there more hot potato coming?” Oh yes, yes, people do ask. I’ve seen it.

15. I almost grabbed a handful of marshmallows on the way out because I thought I was entitled to it – I’d paid for it anyway.

Love or hate the buffet style dining, no matter what, it brought an evening of good laughter. It’s funnier inside that restaurant than any public place I’ve ever been.

I’ll go back, because when you’re hungry you can pig out as much as you want and no one is judging. We’re ALL there to eat until we split our pants…