Community Chat

[haddon9]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@homedecor1    We have a great Sweet Tomatoes too.  It was a favorite place to eat when my parents were alive.  I can't see that type of restaurant continuing.

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I used to go to Sweet Tomatoes years ago with my parents (back in the 1990s) when my dad was alive in south Florida. The kids were in elementarty school then and loved Sweet Tomatoes!   We never had one near us in PA.   

[Sooner]

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@manny2 wrote:

I think going forward they will not be a help yourself, but rather have someone serving you. McDonald's eliminated self serve soda. The will have an employee doing that for you. 

Life will be different now. 

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@manny2 Well thank goodness.  I hate those nasty self serve things.  

[Pearlee]

@SouthernBee. You have mentioned one positive on your post that has come from thos pandemic which is bringing silverware (or plastic ware) and drinks to the table. I have hated bi s of unwrapped plastic utensils where to take one a person touches many. That and self serve drinks are so unsanitary. I'll be happy to see the end of that.

Oh I love Sweet Tomatoes (but always ate too much there). We don't have them but I'd go in Sarasota FL and always enjoyed them. And such a deal!

[jeanlake]

Grocery store salad and soup buffets may not return, either. We have a popular Manchurian restaurant where you select protein and spices and walk to the grill master. I can't imagine that would be appropriate now, either.  

[SouthernBee]

@Pearlee : Noticed the napkin dispenser was cleaner, very clean salt and pepper shakers, ketchup and steak bottles clean. Flatware cleaner and in paper . Children had to be with adult and not allowed to touch the counter space, manager firmly but polite reminded parent of this and some one immediately sanitized the area. While there, noticed that no other parent let the children go to the counter with them for food. Much needed improvements and hope they will continue. Southern Bee

[germanshepherdlove]

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@manny2 wrote:

I think going forward they will not be a help yourself, but rather have someone serving you. McDonald's eliminated self serve soda. The will have an employee doing that for you. 

Life will be different now. 

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@manny2 which is how it should have always been done! I never liked touching the same serving spoon as 100's of other people.. Main reason why I stayed away from buffets but now may actually go to one.  

[bikerbabe]

Souplantation in SoCal I believe will not reopen.

You couldn’t pay me to eat in a buffet restaurant and that was before the virus.

Also predicted to be gone:
Table condiments like salt and pepper - individual packets instead.
Plastic menus - might be paper single use
Self serve soda machines.
Salad bars

[Amelia98]

If you watch that YouTube video about "This is how quickly coronavirus can spread"(Hong Kong black light study) you can see why you'd never want to eat at a buffet ever. 

Also makes it clear how that Dr Joseph Fair probably got it on his flight a couple of weeks ago.  He thinks he got it (airborn) through his eyes, but airplane surface spread is probably similar to buffets, since such a tight environment.

[Tinkerbell3]

Buffet restaurants are gross anyway! 

They will open... No one seems to be very concerned about distancing in this country! It's really pathetic. 

[golding76]

I've never liked buffets, anyway, but I feel sad that they might not be around any longer for those who enjoy them.  

A few of you mentioned cafeterias, and a good cafeteria is so satisfying.  How I miss them.  When I was a young woman working in downtown D.C., I remember eating at Sholl's Cafeteria, a fine establishment that served excellent food to every echelon of the government bureaucracy as well as society.  Ah, I do miss that place.