Being a glutton may not fit well in Miami where cage-free, gluten-free, vegan-friendly, and lactose-intolerant eaters flout their eating habits like fashion statements, but all foodies have their places. For binge eaters or those who are just really hungry, these are buffets.
We're not talking about Shoney's, but rather Brazilian steakhouses, upscale Sunday brunches and all-you-can-eat sushi. Feeling hungry? Drop by one of these places and gorge yourself.
10. Sandbar Lounge
A complimentary buffet is available to paying customers. Each day they have something different: Mondays are sandwiches and potato salad, Tuesdays are fried chicken, Wednesdays are taco nights, Thursdays they serve calzones and on Fridays they serve hot dogs. Sundays are all-you-can-eat chili, served during NFL football games. You can't beat it with a stick. And during Thanksgiving, they serve a free turkey dinner buffet for locals.
9. Prana Health Food and Restaurant
Just because you're a vegetarian, that doesn't mean you can't throw caution to the wind when it comes to binge eating. For $9, it's all-you-can-eat, healthy vegetarian, and vegan dishes like eggplant lasagna and butternut squash soup. They also have a variety of fruit juice blends and smoothies. Does eating too much of a healthy thing kind of defeat the purpose?
7. Sweet Tomatoes
Sometimes you just want a huge freakin' salad, sometimes two or three, and there is nothing wrong with that. Besides a variety of prepared raw vegetables, they have a variety of soups, focaccia bread and ice cream machines. Lunch buffet is under $8 and the dinner buffet is under $10, drinks are extra. There's also a pasta bar, a bakery, and a small fruit bar. This place can get packed. Be prepared.
7. Master's Italian Restaurant
Master's has a lunch buffet everyday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. that includes the whole menu and goes for around $8. Salads, spaghetti, fried chicken, roasted chicken, pizza, lasagna, chicken parmesan, grilled salmon and blackened snapper are all part of their spread.
6. Shinju Japanese Buffet
If you like all-you-can-eat sushi, Shinju Japanese Buffet is the place to go. The attentiveness of the staff ensures that the food is always fresh. For $10 at lunch, or $20 at dinner, you get unlimited crab rangoon, sesame seed chicken, barbequed pork ribs, chicken wings, sushi and much more. Bottom line: don't mess with Shinju.
5. Area Code 55
Other than being a decent Brazilian steakhouse, we hear they have a pretty kick-ass rodizio. In other words, all you can eat meat and salad. Drinks and desserts are extra. Kids eat for $12.95, adults go for $30, but it's worth it.
3. Bengal Modern Indian Cuisine
The lunch buffet here is seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and includes all of the standard Indian fare: tandoori chicken, naan bread, big vegetable samosas and tikka masala, all for about $12, drinks are extra. For parties of two or more, they automatically tack on 17 percent gratuity.
2. David's Cafe Cuban Cuisine Lunch Buffet
David's Cafe lunch buffet is $8.95 and you get ropa vieja, black beans and rice, churrasco, maduros, pollo asado, tostones, yucca, and killer cafecitos available from a 24-hour walk-up bar. Legendary.
1. Edge Steak and Bar Sunday Brunch
The Edge Steak and Bar Sunday brunch at the Four Seasons Hotel is a no-holds barred buffet of epic magnitude. A whopping $75 gets you entry into a palace of decadence. The menu items are too many to list but here are a few: roast suckling pig, ahi tuna tartare, crab claws, key lime panna cotta, farm house cheeses, tropical fruit salad, etc. Drop the cash and eat like a king, or a pig, for a day.
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