Burgers, Dogs, & Pizza, Oh My!

Posts Tagged ‘Buffet’

Village Pizza & Pub has two locations in the NW suburbs of Chicago, one in Elgin, and one in Carpentersville, not terribly far from each other. Both feature extensive menus (below) for dine in, carry out, catering, and delivery, and the Elgin location has an all you can eat buffet at midday, Monday through Friday. The buffet includes a variety of kinds of pizza, an extensive salad bar, fried chicken, wings, and soup. Each day of the week has an additional special, like fish, ribs, or pasta.

We paid around $10, which includes a soft drink, and I was quite surprised at a few things about the buffet. First was the depth of the offerings, second was the freshness of the food, and finally the fact that they are very diligent about keeping the supply replenished. You’re not going to be standing around waiting for another pizza or be staring at a tray of dried out pasta.

I’m happy with it, and I’ll do it again. We went on Thursday, which is “rib day,” and I’m not a rib eater, but my dining mate said they were just fine.  The Carpentersville location does not have the buffet, offering daily lunch specials, instead.

Plates from the buffet

Village Pizza & Pub Review
Village Pizza & Pub Review

(From our travel archives) I am in buffet heaven, if there is such a thing. I’ve previously written about a couple; I hit the other two “main attractions” in the past few weeks.

Number one, in all manners of speaking, was the House of Seafood Buffet, at 81790 Highway 21, in Bush. Like most restaurants in these parts, they are open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and they live up to their name. There used to be a restaurant in my hometown whose slogan was “If It Swims, We Have It,” and I think the same could be said for the House of Seafood. In addition to the usual fried entrees you will find at any indigenous restaurant, locally, the HOS has their boiling pots a brewing, and you will find ample boiled selections to go along with your other choices. They also have very respectable beef dishes, delectable fried chicken, and a whole host of salads and sides, as well as the traditional desserts in the area.

The second stop was the Ole South Seafood and Buffet, at 15273 Highway 21 South, in . Boasting similar opening days and hours as the HOS (but I believe Ole South is open on Sundays, call first), and a cavernous three room dining hall, the Ole South runs a distant second to HOS in my opinion – for selection, at least, but not for quality. Both restaurants prepare their food fresh, and Ole South also has a carving station with ham and beef, which HOS did not. Ole South has probably half the serving table size as HOS, but has accompanying prices which are less.

I’ve never been much of a buffet person, but I like these places, and there should be some of these in the city. We seem to have dozens of Asian buffets in (the best, by far, is Oki Naga in ), but none of these “local dish” places. I’m curious as to why. It may well be the cost of rent, because these places in the hinterlands are huge.

I didn’t ask the prices before I went in, and since waitresses at both restaurants asked if we wanted the “buffet” I assume menu items are available as well. Seems like if you deduct the price of your beverage (HOS has pitchers of tea on the table, Ole South has waitresses pouring, but they get busy), I would guess that HOS runs about $15 per person, and Ole South about $12. Both are good values, but I would return to HOS, and probably not to Ole South. Just personal preference.

Sidebar: Another recent stop was in Angie, at Stuart’s Café, which is open from 5:30AM til 9PM daily. I don’t know when they get to rest with those hours, and we could certainly use a place with similar hours in Mayberry, where most restaurants aren’t open early in the week. I had the “double meat cheeseburger” at $4.00, and for one of the very few times in my life, I couldn’t finish it – it was huge.

But I was intrigued by another menu item, which I’ll have to check out next time: “meat on toast.” Doesn’t that just set your mouth a’waterin’?