Weekday lunch at Buffet 101, SM by the Bay

Truth be told, I wasn't too keen to try Buffet 101. I've read reviews comparing it to a similar buffet place and in most of these reviews, Buffet 101 came out second in ranking. I also learned that it is owned by the same people that own Yakimix, and having been to Yakimix several times already, I assumed that there wouldn't be much difference between the two.

Buffet 101, SM by the Bay

However, I'm not one to pass up a good deal, either. So when I saw that Buffet 101 lunch vouchers were being sold at a discount on an online buying site, I purchased a few, intending to use them for hubby's office staff lunch out. As it turned out, we dined there twice, once with hubby's staff, and second with my sister who spent her short vacation with us.

Buffet 101 rates
(Photo downloaded from the web)

Reserving a table is quite easy, as it can be done via their Facebook fan page. The first time we got there, there seemed to be some confusion with the reservation as my name wasn't on the list, but I had a text message confirming my reservation, so the staff hurriedly ushered us to a couch table near the dimsum/Chinese section. We were a bit cramped as there were four of us plus the little boss who was given a high chair at one end. The second time, we got a table beside the wide glass windows facing SMX Convention Center which was good for six, and there were just three of us plus the little boss. But that was fine since the little boss fell asleep about thirty minutes into our lunch so I was able to lie him on the long couch beside me.

As expected, I saw quite a number of dishes that I would normally see in Yakimix, plus a whole lot more. Here are some of the photos that we took during our visits:

Salads and appetizers

  

Sausages and roast meat at the Chinese section

Assorted makis

A whole lot of cooked dishes

Barbequed ribs at the Meat section. Not as good as it looks, though.

Seafood for grilling. These are display items only as the seafood
to be grilled are already inside the kitchen.

Seafood chowder with pastry puff.
I wanted to try this but was discouraged by the large serving.

I honestly don't know what section this was, although it was beside
chafing dishes of pasta, spinach with cheese and baked oysters.

As it is really quite impossible to sample everything in a large buffet, I would focus on the good and not so good things at Buffet 101.

First: The Good.

A lot of people say that Buffet 101 has the best tempura. Well, I wouldn't say it is the best, but it could be one of the better-tasting tempura around. The batter is not oily, as is the problem with some tempura, and the shrimp inside is perfectly cooked. Downside is the serving dish is almost always empty, and diners are always waiting for the next batch. It seemed that as soon as the tempura is served, it's all gone within a couple of minutes.

I also liked the shrimp on stick that was buried in a mound of warm sea salt. I initially though it would be too salty, but it wasn't. My guess is that it was cooked by dry heat then buried in sea salt, but then I might be wrong. Just the same, I liked this better than the tempura. Didn't get a picture of it, though.

Spinach with cheese on top. Very, very good. Spinach is one of the few vegetables that I actually enjoy eating. Pair it with cheese and you've got me hooked. Again, no picture. Sorry!

The buffet had a lot of cooked dishes that I think I lost count of how many there are. Although I did not get a lot from this section, my companions said that most of those that they tried were good.

Another hit with the diners were the live swahe which you can ask the chef to cook for you. However, we were seated beside the aquarium where the swahe were swimming, and it was just a tad uncomfortable to see the cute shrimps get scooped up in a net, dumped in a pot of boiling water then served to waiting diners. It reminded me of an inasal restaurant that was so famous in one part of the Visayas region where the decor were live chicken inside glass cases embedded into the walls beside the diners' tables. But that's another story.

I also like the fact that they have a shake station that offers about three or four different fruit shakes. During our visits, they had pineapple, watermelon and grape. What I didn't like, though, is that the shakes were too sweet. I thought they just made a mistake of putting too much sugar in my shake during our first visit, but it was still too sweet on the second visit. I asked my companions, and we all agreed that the fruit shakes were too sweet. It was even sweeter than the iced tea and lemonade.

The Not So Good:

All of us were quite disappointed with the steaks that they served. They had prime rib on both our visits, but I have to say it didn't taste like prime rib at all. The meat was quite tough and bland. They also had tenderloin which is cooked upon order, and we asked that ours be cooked medium well. Upon serving, the steak was very well done that it was a bit tough, and the meat was marinated so that all I can taste was the sweetish marinade that they used. I did not ask for it on our next visit.

The prime rib. Taste and quality is below par.

The desserts -- Although they had a wide array of desserts, I cannot really say that I enjoyed them, except for the dark chocolate mousse that I had on our second visit. It was designed to look like a plant pot and was really nice, although I got a nagging suspicion that they copied the presentation from a "Cooking Like Heston" episode which was shown a few weeks prior. The rest of the desserts were so-so.

Red ribbon cakes

The smallest chocolate fountain I've seen in a buffet. 

  

The only dessert that stood out: dark chocolate mousse

Hubby's dessert plate. He didn't like the creme brulee and
that mango something with cherry on top.

The only good thing on my dessert plate is the chocolate mousse.

The Chinese/dimsum section had no hakao. They got a lot of other dimsum items like chicken feet and siomai but no hakao.

One thing that we particularly didn't like was an incident during our first visit. Halfway into our lunch, the smell of something getting burned suddenly permeated the air, and we saw a bit of smoke from the stove inside the Chinese section. The staff quickly put out whatever it was that got burnt, but not before a Korean chef, who was obviously one of the bosses, got wind of the incident. For more than 15 minutes he was shouting and berating the staff responsible for the incident, repeatedly making threatening gestures like he was going to hit the poor guy. The Filipino chef who seemed to be the one in charge of that section had to put himself between the two when the Korean starting pushing the staff on the chest. A lot of diners couldn't help but stare at them as the shouting seemed to go on and on. I guess the Korean got mad because the incident could have caused a fire, but the humiliation he inflicted on the staff was totally uncalled for. The proper thing would have been to call the staff to the back kitchen and give him a stern warning, not humiliate and threaten to hurt him in full view of everyone including the guests. That incident left a bad taste, and hubby really didn't want to dine again at Buffet 101 after that, only we still had a few vouchers left from my purchase.

Buffet 101 certainly has a lot going for it. Although it cannot boast of having the best buffet, their selection is quite good given the prices that they charge. It can certainly attract a lot of the buffet-going crowd. However, an incident like the one that we witnessed can turn off potential patrons. It not only shows lack of professionalism on the part of the Korean, but lack of respect for the staff concerned. I sincerely hope that such is not a preview of how the management treats its employees, particularly those who hold lower positions.