Eat all you care to for one price at these eateries, which only represent some of the Asian-style buffet restaurants on Long Island. When planning a family outing, keep in mind that children generally are charged by height; anyone over 4 1/2 feet tall usually is considered an adult.
Queens
East Buffet, 4207 Main St., Flushing, 718-353-6333, Lunch, $10.99
Monday to Thursday, $12.99 Saturday and Sunday (children $7.99);
dinner, $20.99 weekdays, $24.99 weekends (children $11.99 weekdays,
$13.99, weekends).
Nassau
Asian Buffet Restaurant, 276 W. Old Country Rd., Hicksville,
516-433-6688, Lunch, Monday to Friday, $8.99, Saturday and Sunday,
$9.99 (children, $4.99); dinner, Monday to Thursday, $13.99, Friday
to Sunday, $14.99 (children, $6.99).
China Buffet Restaurant, 394 Merrick Ave., East Meadow,
516-489-2525, Lunch, $6.50; dinner, $11.95; Children under 2 free;
children under 7, half price.
Harvest Buffet, 14 Northern Blvd., Great Neck, 516-498-1888, Lunch,
Monday to Friday, $12.95, Saturday and Sunday, 13.95; dinner,
Monday to Thursday, $21.95; Friday to Sunday, $23.95; children eat
at half price.
Minado Japanese Seafood Buffet, 219 Glen Cove Rd., Carle Place,
516-294-9541, www.minado.com, Lunch, Monday to Friday, $13.95,
Saturday and Sunday, $15.95; Dinner Monday to Thursday, 23.95,
Friday to Sunday, 25.95 (children eat at half price).
Suffolk
East
Buffet, 179 Walt Whitman Rd., Huntington Station, 631-385-0800,
www.eastbuffet.com, Lunch, Monday to Friday, $10.99 for adults,
$5.99 for children, Saturday and Sunday, $16.99 adults, $9.99 for
children; dinner, Monday to Thursday, $19.99 for adults, $9.99 for
children, Friday to Sunday, $24.99 adults ($11.99 for
children).
Sushi Park, 6137 Jericho Tpke., Commack, 631-499-1465, -1466,
www.sushipark.net, Lunch, $14.95; dinner, $24.95; children under 3
1/2 feet eat free; half price for children between 3 1/2 and 4 1/2
feet; 15 percent discount for everyone in effect now.
New Grand Buffet, 1704 Veterans Hwy., Islandia, 631-582-3888,
Lunch, $6.45 ($3.75 for children); dinner, $11.99 ($6.49 for
kids).
Eating like there's no tomorrow
Bellying up to the buffet at a restaurant where the food
keeps flowing.
It's 6:30 Friday evening in early August at East Buffet in
Huntington Station. A man wearing the expression of a child in a
candy factory carries two plates piled with pork, shrimp, beef and
crab legs. He takes a seat at Billy Kava's table of 13.
"This is Cousin Peter," said Kava, of Maspeth, as Peter Freeman of
Ridgewood sets down his plates. "He's a 50-year-old buffet
virgin."
That may have been the case half an hour earlier, but no longer -
not since Kava, guru of the groaning board, has shown Freeman all
he's been missing. An apt pupil, Freeman already has mastered
Kava's two-fisted approach to the chafing dishes. He will need to
make only two - at most three - trips to get his $25 worth of food.
"Coming here," Kava said, "is like having a sure winner at the
horse races."
At the buffet, everyone is off and running the moment they're shown
to their tables. The 7-year-old restaurant seats up to 350, and
those smart enough to have made reservations avoid the logjam at
the door. Once seated, the only thing anyone might have to order is
a drink; no need to see a menu or wait between courses. It's as
close to instant gratification as you can get.
"They come from Nassau, from Queens, from Brooklyn and some from
Chinatown," said manager Kevin Kong, who estimates that about 30
percent of his clientele is Asian. East, which is under different
ownership than the Flushing restaurant of the same name, includes
some Italian, American, Korean, Thai and Japanese dishes, such as
sushi and sashimi. And, of course, there's a wealth of Chinese
selections, many of them hard to come by elsewhere.
"Where else can you get quail?" asked Kathleen Scheppke of Ozone
Park, who estimates she and her husband, Irwin, have been to East
20 times.
