Vancouver Restaurant: The Buffet at the River Rock Casino Resort

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#NaBloPoMo Day 28 - The Buffet at the River Rock Casino

When we first planned the River Rock Casino Resort staycation, i did not have The Buffet on my list even though I had a casino card which means a small discount.  Instead I was thinking of fancy dinners at restaurants and it was Carolyn who said "I want to go eat at the buffet one night."  Of course I wasn't going to stop that idea because I do love all you can eat buffets.  

The best part was our timing for eating at The Buffet on a Saturday night.  We shopped at Richmond Centre all afternoon to work up an appetite.  I specifically starved myself knowing that the Surf and Turf at the Buffet was coming up!  Surf and Turf of sea and land and that is definitely what the Buffet had.  We returned to the hotel at 4:30pm, dropped off our packages and then went downstairs to the Buffet even though it didn't open until 5pm. 

Boy that was the best decision ever.  There was already a line up and large groups ahead of us.  We made it through the line and were brought into the dining area.  The Surf and Turf weekend buffet had such an assortment of food.  Now the maximum dining time is 90 minutes and believe me, you'll need it.  By the way when we were all done and left the Buffet the line up was even longer and along the hallway so who knows how long those folks had to wait.  

There was the Turf part with prime rib, turkey, chicken with roasted potatoes (I wouldn't dare try the mashed), gravy, toppings, and perogies.  There was an unexciting salad bar.  The Surf part had prawns withe seafood sauce, and the big ticket item were the crab legs!  They had a table filled with sushi rolls and sashimi and another area with hot items such as rice, vegetables, asian noodles.  If you prefer dessert, there was an entire dessert table and a freezer full of ice cream.  So many options, it was hard to choose and eat it all.  

Feel free to check out their prices at The Buffet at the River Rock website here:  http://www.riverrock.com/dining/buffet/  

Japanese All You Can Eat (AYCE) Restaurant - Kawawa Japanese Restaurant

Dear Vancity Girlfriends,

If you like Japanese food, there is an "All You Can Eat" at Kawawa Japanese Restaurant at Metrotown.  

My experience at Kawawa was during the Christmas rush so it was super busy at the mall.  When we walked in the servers were madly seating the people who had been waiting and I knew that if I waited we would be seated next.  I stood patiently until they were done and when I told them how many were in the party, we were seated right away.  Kawawa is a comfortable sit down restaurant where you go if you want a meal and time to catch up with friends.  The service is poor, obviously the servers were run off their feet, so I don't hold that against them.  They did their job well and got our orders in and brought the food out.  Even better is that they didn't rush us at all and let us stay and chat.  We didn't really order well with our first round of ordering, but did better with our second.  With all you can eat, you can try a lot of different food.  We enjoyed the sushi rolls, sashimi, yakitori and my only advice is to order a LOT of food (the portion sizes are small).  Just go crazy and order lots of different things to try.  At $25 per person that is a reasonable price for all you can eat.  

First order of sushi and sashimi (one sashimi each is not enough)

My favourite:  Yakitori

Chicken Udon with Teriyaki (Veggie, Chicken, Beef)

BC Roll and Alaska Roll

More Sashimi

Kawawa Japanese Restaurant Menu:  http://www.kawawa.ca/menu5.html#dinner