Recommended Buffet Restaurants???

[cjc]

Hi
We are staying onsite at Universal in May, and interested if anyone can recommend some great buffet restaurants nearby e.g along Interndational Drive, and any cuisine - Chinese, Italian?

thanks in advance

CJC

[JohnnySharp2]

Ponderosa and Golden Corral are the 2 that spring to mind, the Ponderosa one on the south end of I drive is the nicest one I have been in.

There are italian/chinese restaurants too , haven't been in any of them though as they don't serve 'pie & chips' !

see....
http://orlando.diningguide.com/dl1ir.htm#ita

[Haworthfamily]

Ponderosa is one of our family favourites.
It's good value for money and you can just fill up after a long day on the buffet and refillable drinks.

[tashasmum]

We always have a trip to Sweet Red Tomatoes. It has a good selection of salads, pizza, pasta, jacket potatoes, soups and desserts.

[loadsapixiedust]

Sweet Tomatoes, Sizzler, Golden Corral

[wayneg]

Sweet Tomatoes is our favourite, for a cheap meal DS and I like CiCi's Piza but DW is not thrilled with pizza. All 3 of ate and drank there for $16.

[Soprano]

Ponderosa is one of our family favourites.
It's good value for money and you can just fill up after a long day on the buffet and refillable drinks.

Yeah, it’s a decent place if you have impatient kids. Go in, fill up, leave. They have a decent range of buffet food.

We went here almost every morning before hitting an attraction. I always had a big cooked breakfast, then fruit and about 3 cups of coffee. Usually no need for lunch.

It's nothing fancy, but it serves a good purpose!

[Allisonjane]

Ponderosa was my families favourite until we tried Golden Corral a couple of years ago and now we prefer that, i think there's only one on I-Drive, its about midway down near the junction of sand lake road. We have the free dining plan this year but we still want to make a couple of trip to Golden Corral for breakfast

[magicgirl]

We went to The Mongolian Grill ( at least I think it was called that ) on I Drive, brilliant chinese food.

[Vizeman]

Bill Wong's chinese buffet on International Drive, but I have to say it has gone downhill over the last few years....

[BRobson]

We always have a trip to Sweet Red Tomatoes. It has a good selection of salads, pizza, pasta, jacket potatoes, soups and desserts.

We love Sweet Red Tomatos - even the kids were impressed :scared1:

[sharon78]

Another vote for;

http://www.sweettomatoes.com/

Our family love this place, my DH and one of my DD's are vegetarian and they also love this place.Theres something for everyone here. It's a great place to go for lunch if you need a break from the parks. Its a very casual place you wont feel out of place wearing shorts & T-Shirts.

[hogwartsdropout]

Ponderosa is great, we tried Golden Corral last time but I didn't like the food so much.

[wicket2005]

Ponderosa and Golden Corral great for all you can eat breakfast buffets. Though sausages and eggs taste different from home, we tried our hotel's buffet one day last year (Rosen Centre) and the difference in the quality of the food was amazing. Eggs (like home) and sausages (didn't eat these but the lads and hubbie said they were a world apart from what you get in Ponderosa). Though hotel breakfast was more expensive you could taste the difference in all the food, Ponderosa is excellent way for a cheap way to fill up. I usually had oats with sultanas followed by fruit.

Would really like to try Sweet Tomatoes, have wanted to the last 2 years but have not been in its vicinity when we were hungry. I have heard nothing but good reports about this restaurant.

[wayneg]

Anyone going to Sweet Toms make sure you pick up this leaflet, I know its in in visitor centre at Prime outlets(formerly Belz) but should be available elsewhere. It has 2 x 15% discount vouchers (or did last year I still have a few to use at Easter, they expire end April) inside.
http://www.iridetrolley.com/hotDeals/index.asp

Also 3 or 4 pages of printable vouchers here. http://www.iridetrolley.com/hotDeals/popup.asp

[JohnnySharp2]

Though sausages and eggs taste different from home, we tried our hotel's buffet one day last year (Rosen Centre) and the difference in the quality of the food was amazing. Eggs (like home) and sausages (didn't eat these but the lads and hubbie said they were a world apart from what you get in Ponderosa). Though hotel breakfast was more expensive you could taste the difference in all the food, Ponderosa is excellent way for a cheap way to fill up.

Agree completely, great value for money at Ponderosa but breakfast at the Rosen Center was something to really look forward to, Joshua was just a baby last time we were there.

[GarryK]

Lots of votes for Ponderosa here but our family much prefer Sizzler !! Both the same theme but Sizzler's always comes across as cleaner.

Garry

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Not a buffet, but the Waffle House Cheese N eggs is to die for!
there is also a super Chinese all you can eat buffet restarant on the 192 towards the now defunct Splendid China.

[JennyTigger]

I would have to say the whole of my family loved Sweet Tomatoes, even my sister who does not like salad, she just filled herself on pizza and pudding. Each time we went she managed to eat her body weight in icecream!!! :scared1:

[SimonV]

We definitely rate Sweet Tomatoes very highly; it seems to go down well with everyone, and we try to go there regularly when we need a good, cheap feed! The other one to look out for on I-Drive is the Whistle Junction Buffet & Grill (just north on Kirkman Rd on the right), which has a very impressive range of food, although it is a tad more expensive than Ponderosa, Golden Corral and Co. For a really good Chinese, we rate the Dragon Court at Lake Buena Vista one of the best. Just go past the Crossroads plaza (on the right) and it is the next on the left, behind the IHOP, at the junction of Vineland Rd and Palm Parkway. There is also a good new counter-service Mexican restaurant here, Qdobe, which serves some nice fresh food (infinitely superior to Taco Bell).