The Royal Grand Daddy Buffet of Chicago

The Royal Buffet! -- Now repeat that again…the grand daddy of all buffet, a place where us feeble pheasants can become royal.  You can find this monstrous place in the burbs of Hoffman Estates about 40mins NW of Chicago.   

The place is so humongous that I was surprised I didn't see a Boeing 747 parked inside. It has corridors, hallways, sectors, multiplex and VIP rooms. The friendly hostess greeted my friends and me on our first visit with kindness; before whisking us away like a celebrities from one room to another.  I kinda was expecting David Bowie to be our waiter after winding through this amazing culinary labyrinth.  I would say you can scrunch about a thousand hungry human beings in here.

The minute we got our table, we made ready and prepared for our delightful indulgence.  Like kids in a candy store, we rushed up from our table with great anticipation to the glorious food sector.  The array of dishes that lay before our retina was absolutely unbelievable! There was s o much food and so many varieties that we were literally awed and stupefied momentarily - didn't know what do, where to go or what to eat! We just stood rooted perpendicular to the ground; looking up, down, left and right in disbelief  for a good few seconds before the animalistic instincts hits our brain cells and made a beeline towards the most expensive dish within our grasp; without even knowing if we like the food or not.

I usually don't always wait in line but when I do I'm locked and loaded at the array of seafood.  The line can get very long - so plan your attack accordingly.  Don't wait in line for something you want 10 stalls down, just go up there and grab it.  Considering how big this facility is, one must imagine how big the selection is yea?  Well let's see, you can find dishes such as stone crab, snow crab, blue crab, ribs, salmon, goat stew, snails, oysters, clams, flounders, dim sum, Tom yum, foo young, pig feet, chicken feet, cow feet and yes you can also get happy feet!  Heck, it even has different styles of dining such as mongolian bbq, hibachi, sushi, tepanyaki, Kawasaki, maki ohhh sweet fancy Moses you name it they got it!  Oh did I mention for dessert they have cotton candy and yes even an everlasting gobstopper. Haha jk, might as well right since they got everything.  Each sector will have its own food preparatory; so you'll get to witness everything that needs to be done to get your food at the ready.  It's behind the scenes but brought right in front of your face! There's no such thing as the "let me check the back room" concept at this place.  I won't get into specifics about what the food taste like because I can't describe it all so you would have to go find out for yourself.  

In the end your bill per person with tip will come out on avg. $25 which isn't bad at all if you ask me.    This place has everything except for one thing - that my friend is - time.  It doesn't has a time limit whatsoever so chi-town chowdown yourself away to your next pants level.  Nevertheless you'll have a great dining experience at the Royal Buffet but keep this in mind, this certainly isn't a place for vegans so shoo shoo, stay away; this isn't your playground.  We don't need you blaring at the top of your lungs advertising to the whole planet you want your alfalfa's and tofu cooked medium rare.

This is by far the best buffet I've ever been too in my whole life, it would be extremely ludicrous to think otherwise.  Oh by the way, let me let you in on a secret, a little birdie once told me Wednesday and Friday is all you can stuff your fat face lobster night but don't quote me on that, I'm merely just a messenger.  So remember this, 'grace' socially can not exist in a place like this.Royal buffet official website