The Buffet's Improvement

It has been a few months, almost a year, since The Buffet, an all-you-can-eat-and-drink restaurant was opened in Ciputra Mall, Grogol. It was the second branch of the first one in Semanggi Plaza. The Buffet is not the first famous buffet restaurant. There were some similar kinds like Hartz Buffet (was Hartz Chicken Buffet), Country Kitchen (already collapsed now), Samudera, Sizzler, and many more. The Buffet was firstly impressing everyone with its 300 various menus available, including Japanese (katsu, fried shrimps, teriyaki, teppanyaki, etc), Chinese (noodles, sour-sweet-sauced fried fish, boiled vegetables,etc), Western (french fries, beef steak, hamburgers,etc), and Indonesian foods. The price was reasonable too, less than 100.000 rupiahs per person, tax and service included.

I like to eat much and these kinds of restaurant are some of my favorites. So I and my family tried it. But guess what? A huge disappointment. The food varieties were less than 80 menus (some of them were out of service and lack of ingredients). Well they said there would always be a rotation everyday of the 300 menus (approx. 80-100 a day). Don’t know the facts, coz I would not eat in or check them everyday. The foods were not taste-friendly with our tongues. Some of them were not really fresh, and some favorite menus were hardly served, although the restaurant was not really crowded. The all-you-can-drink beverages were limited, ice tea and soft drinks only. Even the services were slow and inefficient. I did not enjoy my first experience. The price felt unworthy. After that, I promised myself I would never eat there again.

Last week, Thursday, December 20 2007, my church booked some seats (approx.70 seats) in The Buffet for lunch, after a children Christmas celebration in the morning. I was one of the members. Well it was free for me so I didn’t have any reason to refuse the invitation. In fact we got a direct 25% discount (for at least 25 booked-seats). The price was still the same. But all I saw, some improvements from The Buffet. There was a small stove and gas in every table. Oh, I see, some shabu-shabu, various uncooked meats including beef, chicken, shrimp, fish, squid, and many more that we could take freely and cook them by ourselves. The beverages were including iced lemon tea, lime juice, orange juice, and chocolate milk now. The services were more efficient and faster now, favorite menus such as tempura (fried shrimp with flour), teppanyaki, chicken katsu, macaroni, and others were faster and fresher, and honestly, the tastes were much more friendly! So complete and much!

Wow I did enjoy my second experience that day. I did calculate, I ate more than 100.000 rupiahs (lots of laugh). Really, The Buffet is improving day by day. So finally, I think there would be the third, fourth, or fifth time for me in that restaurant. Let’s hope so..!!