We spent nearly a week in Myrtle Beach on our family vacation. The first night we went out to dinner and the next four we traded making dinners in our rooms for each other. Then, Bridgette & I went on a little double-date with my sister and her husband. Well, we'd planned to go on a little dinner double-date, but we had to deal with an unruly child (Brennan), which meant we got out much later than we'd originally planned. Well, we went driving looking for something to eat. While Bridgette isn't much for seafood, the rest of us were interested, especially being right on the ocean, we thought it was almost a waste not to get some local seafood. Unfortunately, we made what proved to be a poor decision - we chose Original Benjamin's Calabash Seafood. Here's how it went:host: "Do you have a coupon?" (red flag)
Me: "no"
host: "Have you dined with us before?"
Me: "no"
host: [says nothing, hands us hush puppies as we walk past buffet] - "Our buffet is here..." (red flag)
Me: (as we're seated) "How much is the buffet?"
host: "$27.99" (red flag)
Me: (trying hard to find a way out) "uhhh... thanks"
Here's what I re-learned from that dinner experience:
1) You can NEVER get your "money's worth" at a buffet, because you simply can't eat enough.
2) The Quantity of the food you consume is NEVER equal to the QUALITY that you could get if you paid the same amount at a non-buffet restaurant
3) No matter how many times I try to tell myself "you've still got room, you're not over-eating" - I still end up over-eating, a lot!
4) Aside from breakfast/brunch buffets and the occasional Chinese food buffet - I'm done with the buffet!
That anchor pictured above is a fairly good representation of what my stomach felt like after I was done...
3 comments:
Years ago on a college spring break trip, a buddy and I went down to Myrtle Beach to visit another friend (who went to Coastal Carolina University). I, like Bridgette, am NOT a fan of seafood, but my friend Steve felt the same way as the rest of you -- we're on the ocean, I need fresh seafood, especially crab legs.
We spent the entire week trying to find a buffet that included crab legs. We eventually found a super out-of-the-way and super-cheap joint that did. But the rest of our experience was the same... us sitting down, seeing prices, then casually getting up and leaving before our waiter ever showed up.
I was able to get the buffet without crab legs ($5 cheaper) but it was still probably more than my budget really allowed.
Also, in general, Myrtle Beach is an enormous tourist trap. Although, some time you should ask me about the ghost we saw when we were there...
Don...for all the reasons you mentioned, I love the buffet! But, then again, I'm fatty-douche-blad, right?
Thanks for keeping the Chinese buffet option open in your life. You kept a door open in our relationship that must never be closed! :)
That place had you right where they wanted you - rushed, tired, hungry and desperate for anything (including an almost $30 buffet).
You experienced another example of how margin can help you in life. We are not always able to carve out that margin with young children though and your situation didn't give you many options... except a sick stomach in the end!
Post a Comment