Reacting to: Fox News: Buffets Make Old-School Comeback as Americans Hunt for Dining Value

The Numbers Are Real. The Behavior Often Isn't.

Yelp released its 2026 Trends Forecast and found that searches for "all-you-can-eat buffet near me" surged 252%. The bump is real. Californians and Inland Empire diners are hunting for buffets as a hedge against eating out at an inexpensive restaurant costing $16.50 in California, versus $4.27 to eat in. A buffet pencils out only if it beats both: home prices and à la carte plate prices. Fair calculation. But here's what the data doesn't capture: millions of new searchers have never eaten at a buffet, don't understand the format, and arrive with zero etiquette training.

Why Buffet Etiquette Isn't Just Politeness. It's How the Format Survives.

A buffet isn't a free-for-all where you win by eating the most. That's a misunderstanding that ruins it for everyone. Many people lose their sense of manners at a buffet. Queueing etiquette is as much of a thing at buffets as it is anywhere else, and when you interrupt by jumping the queue or shoving past people, not only is it rude, but you also risk food spillages and more mess. The restaurant staff then has to spend labor cleaning and resetting, which raises costs. Those costs eventually come out of either the buffet price or, worse, the buffet disappears.

The real problem is simpler than rudeness. It's thoughtlessness. If you see a serving platter only has a few pieces of an item left, don't empty it. Putting a lot of one food item on your plate may end up hurting you in the long run. If your plate is full of appetizers before you get to the main course, you may be too full to enjoy later rounds. Scoping out the buffet before getting in line is a great way to avoid this situation and gauge what you want to eat with what you are capable of eating.

Three Things Most First-Time Buffet Diners Get Wrong

First: Treating the buffet like a sprint. The first rule of buffet etiquette is to keep things moving and not hold up the other diners. To avoid this, do a quick sweep of all the dishes on offer before joining the line, so that you have a much clearer idea of what you want to add to your plate. You are not the only person who paid. The couple behind you wants to load their plate too.

Second: Taking more than you can eat. A buffet is all you can eat, but it shouldn't be "all you can throw away." Food waste is not only bad for the planet, it's bad for the bottom line of the restaurant, which may have to raise prices if people keep throwing away tons of food. Some restaurants enforce a waste-plate fee. The real cost of rudeness comes later: the buffet closes or raises prices to $25, $30, or out of your budget entirely.

Third: Misusing serving utensils or eating at the line. It's tempting to snatch a cherry tomato from the salad bar or pop a chicken nugget in your mouth from your plate while standing in line, but don't do it. Eating can cause saliva to fly, even if you don't see it, contaminating the food. Each item needs its own spoon or tongs, and you use them once per trip.

What This Means for You in Montclair and the Inland Empire

Paradise Buffet and other all-you-can-eat spots in your region stay alive because of two things: (1) enough traffic to cover labor and restocking costs, and (2) customers who treat the format with respect. The buffet surge is your signal to try one if you haven't. But it's also a warning: if the format breaks down because of poor behavior, these restaurants will either close or pivot to table-service-only and raise prices 50 percent. You lose the value math entirely.

Go with a clear game plan. Walk the line once before you load your plate. Don't empty the last bowl of prime rib or Mongolian BBQ protein. Don't let your kids wander. Don't eat at the line. Respect the queue. Take what you intend to eat. Do that, and the buffet survives for you. Do anything else, and it dies.

The buffet's comeback isn't guaranteed. It depends on you showing up as a thinking adult, not a tourist at a trough.

Check the menu before your visit, and make a reservation if your group is large. For questions, contact the restaurant.

Written with AI assistance and checked against the public sources linked above. Independent info, not affiliated with the restaurant. Verify hours and prices with the restaurant.