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Buffets and cafeterias offering everything from Chinese and Brazilian fare to Southern comfort dishes and sushi
Not all cafeteria restaurants and all-you-can-eat buffets are crowded with people scrambling to assemble a mostly mediocre meal from a collection of hot chafing dishes and a wilting salad bar. Atlanta includes a few buffets and cafeterias that are actually good, offering everything from Chinese and Brazilian fare to Southern comfort dishes and sushi. Here are just a few restaurants in which to pile up your plate and enjoy a good meal with an affordable price tag, too.
Please note that some previously listed Atlanta restaurants on this map have closed or ceased offering buffet service during the pandemic.
Don’t see a favorite buffet or cafeteria-style restaurant on this list? Send a quick email to atlanta@eater.com.
Tassa’s Roti Shop offers Trinidad and Tobago cuisine in Marietta, including combo plates like oxtail or goat with cabbage, creamed spinach, plantains, and rice and platters of curried potatoes and chickpeas served atop roti with a choice of meat. But regulars come for the budget-friendly 12-dish buffet filled with jerk chicken, peas and rice, roti, and even macaroni pie. Grab a plate, fill up, and take a seat or get it to go. The to-go buffet is priced by-the-pound.
Located on Delk Road, Mina’s Grill and Emporium is a cornerstone restaurant and market for Atlanta’s Brazilian community. Head in for a traditional Brazilian buffet as well as churrasco cut to order, and other fried street foods, including pastéis stuffed with ground meat or cheese, pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese puffs), and coxinhas (croquettes shaped like tear drops). It’s not unusual to find people camped out at tables dining while watching soccer at Mina’s, especially when Brazil is playing.
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This Brazilian bakery and market also includes a small buffet serving picanha (sirloin cap), churrasco, feijoada (black bean stew with beef and pork), rice and beans, and salad fixings.
The Beautiful Restaurant has been providing cafeteria-style Southern food on Cascade Road since 1979. And it continues to draw crowds, especially after church on Sundays. Think super crispy fried chicken, beef tips, and fried catfish with mac and cheese, cornbread dressing, and turnip greens.
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The all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch buffet in the kitchen at Local Three is back. Simply head to the kitchen and grab whatever plates strike your fancy, including smoked salmon avocado toast, fresh buttermilk biscuits, shrimp and grits, French toast, and even a smoked brisket patty melt. Hit the buffet as many times as you want, but the rule here is eat what you take. The restaurant reserves the right to charge an extra 20 percent to the final bill for excessive food waste. Sunday brunch buffet, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. $49.93 per adult and $19.93 per kid.
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Q Time is a Southern cafeteria in West End serving up soul-soothing comfort dishes like baked chicken and gravy with collard greens and turkey wings or Salisbury steak with green beans and rice. Don’t skip the peach cobbler for dessert. It’s open for breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning.
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Nori Nori serves a wide variety of good sushi, but with a slight twist — everything is served buffet style.
Atlanta has plenty of Chinese buffet restaurants, but Hibachi Buffet is one of the most popular, and includes multiple locations throughout the metropolitan area. Here folks can partake in everything from egg rolls, dumplings, fried rice, and a variety of seafood like blue crab, snow crab legs, and shrimp to hibachi dishes, sushi, egg drop soup, and crab rangoon.
Ruchi offers Bangladeshi and Indian fare on its menu, including dishes like butter chicken, lamb sheek kebabs, and sag paneer. The lunch buffet is typically filled with options such as chicken curry, dal makhni, a variety of naan, chicken 65, biriyani, and basmati rice.
The daily lunch buffet at Meherwan Irani’s popular Decatur restaurant features some of the Indian street food spot’s most popular dishes, including kale pakoras, saag paneer, bhel puri, and butter chicken. There’s also plenty of naan to choose from on the buffet, as well as an assortment of chutneys and hot chai. Served daily, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
This restaurant located in the Clarkston Village shopping complex serves Nepalese cuisine on its menu, and it includes an all-you-can-eat buffet at lunch. The buffet typically features dishes like goat curry, tandoori chicken, dal, chicken 65, pakora (fritters), and sadheko (noodles) as well as rice.
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Matthew’s Cafeteria in Tucker has been slinging Southern favorites since 1955. It rarely disappoints with its Southern comfort favorites like fried chicken, country ham, and barbecue ribs and sides of mac and cheese, stewed tomatoes, and squash casserole. Diners travel from around metro Atlanta to eat at this old school cafeteria.
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For folks seeking a variety of pizzas, or to satisfy everyone in the dining party, Stevi B’s offers a buffet full of slices to try. There’s even a pasta and dessert bar. Stevi B’s also includes locations in Fayetteville, Stockbridge, Douglasville, and Snellville.
It’s best to follow this restaurant on social media to check out the daily dishes served on the buffet here, which range from barbecue pork, mac and cheese, and baked chicken to fried chicken livers, Southern-style green beans, and peach cobbler for dessert. Look for fried fish on Fridays, too.
Tassa’s Roti Shop offers Trinidad and Tobago cuisine in Marietta, including combo plates like oxtail or goat with cabbage, creamed spinach, plantains, and rice and platters of curried potatoes and chickpeas served atop roti with a choice of meat. But regulars come for the budget-friendly 12-dish buffet filled with jerk chicken, peas and rice, roti, and even macaroni pie. Grab a plate, fill up, and take a seat or get it to go. The to-go buffet is priced by-the-pound.
Located on Delk Road, Mina’s Grill and Emporium is a cornerstone restaurant and market for Atlanta’s Brazilian community. Head in for a traditional Brazilian buffet as well as churrasco cut to order, and other fried street foods, including pastéis stuffed with ground meat or cheese, pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese puffs), and coxinhas (croquettes shaped like tear drops). It’s not unusual to find people camped out at tables dining while watching soccer at Mina’s, especially when Brazil is playing.
This Brazilian bakery and market also includes a small buffet serving picanha (sirloin cap), churrasco, feijoada (black bean stew with beef and pork), rice and beans, and salad fixings.
The Beautiful Restaurant has been providing cafeteria-style Southern food on Cascade Road since 1979. And it continues to draw crowds, especially after church on Sundays. Think super crispy fried chicken, beef tips, and fried catfish with mac and cheese, cornbread dressing, and turnip greens.
The all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch buffet in the kitchen at Local Three is back. Simply head to the kitchen and grab whatever plates strike your fancy, including smoked salmon avocado toast, fresh buttermilk biscuits, shrimp and grits, French toast, and even a smoked brisket patty melt. Hit the buffet as many times as you want, but the rule here is eat what you take. The restaurant reserves the right to charge an extra 20 percent to the final bill for excessive food waste. Sunday brunch buffet, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. $49.93 per adult and $19.93 per kid.
Q Time is a Southern cafeteria in West End serving up soul-soothing comfort dishes like baked chicken and gravy with collard greens and turkey wings or Salisbury steak with green beans and rice. Don’t skip the peach cobbler for dessert. It’s open for breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning.
Nori Nori serves a wide variety of good sushi, but with a slight twist — everything is served buffet style.
Atlanta has plenty of Chinese buffet restaurants, but Hibachi Buffet is one of the most popular, and includes multiple locations throughout the metropolitan area. Here folks can partake in everything from egg rolls, dumplings, fried rice, and a variety of seafood like blue crab, snow crab legs, and shrimp to hibachi dishes, sushi, egg drop soup, and crab rangoon.
Ruchi offers Bangladeshi and Indian fare on its menu, including dishes like butter chicken, lamb sheek kebabs, and sag paneer. The lunch buffet is typically filled with options such as chicken curry, dal makhni, a variety of naan, chicken 65, biriyani, and basmati rice.
The daily lunch buffet at Meherwan Irani’s popular Decatur restaurant features some of the Indian street food spot’s most popular dishes, including kale pakoras, saag paneer, bhel puri, and butter chicken. There’s also plenty of naan to choose from on the buffet, as well as an assortment of chutneys and hot chai. Served daily, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
This restaurant located in the Clarkston Village shopping complex serves Nepalese cuisine on its menu, and it includes an all-you-can-eat buffet at lunch. The buffet typically features dishes like goat curry, tandoori chicken, dal, chicken 65, pakora (fritters), and sadheko (noodles) as well as rice.
Matthew’s Cafeteria in Tucker has been slinging Southern favorites since 1955. It rarely disappoints with its Southern comfort favorites like fried chicken, country ham, and barbecue ribs and sides of mac and cheese, stewed tomatoes, and squash casserole. Diners travel from around metro Atlanta to eat at this old school cafeteria.
For folks seeking a variety of pizzas, or to satisfy everyone in the dining party, Stevi B’s offers a buffet full of slices to try. There’s even a pasta and dessert bar. Stevi B’s also includes locations in Fayetteville, Stockbridge, Douglasville, and Snellville.
Outdoor Non Stick Cookware Set It’s best to follow this restaurant on social media to check out the daily dishes served on the buffet here, which range from barbecue pork, mac and cheese, and baked chicken to fried chicken livers, Southern-style green beans, and peach cobbler for dessert. Look for fried fish on Fridays, too.