I’m not sure I’ll ever make it back to a buffet restaurant.
I thought if the pandemic had any silver linings it would be that things would be more hygienic going forward.
Now I know it’s been proven that sharing surfaces is unlikely for Covid spread, but there are still other germs and there will still be people who go straight from the toilets to the sharing utensils without having washed their hands. Not to mention the ones that sneeze and run.
I honestly thought that because they got rid of all these risks by not having buffets during the pandemic that the whole concept would be reimagined going forward.
I’m not just talking about Disney buffets. I used to love our local carvery restaurant, but I can’t imagine me going back.
Maybe I’ll get over it one day, but right now I don’t want to.
I was also hoping that buffets would not come back as in serve yourself. A CM standing behind a glass partition placing food on your plate was what I was hoping to see.
Once I was at a buffet when I saw a little boy, old enough to know better, put his chin on the buffet counter and stick his tongue into the container of chocolate pudding.
Similar experience in the decorate your own cookie corner at the MK dessert party - unsupervised kid used icing bag to decorate cookie, then sucked icing out of bag 
I told a CM and they moved the bag behind the counter, but I’m not convinced it didn’t get put back out when I was out of sight 
The thing about Buffets for me is that I can pick what I want and as much as I want. I don’t have to flag a waiter down to get him to bring what and how much I want. So your worried about germs from all the people grazing. What do you think happens before the waiter bring the food to you. How about him/her taking the amount of food you want and then bringing it to your table. It is still buffet style you just don’t see it in the back room. I will get my own food personally and that way it has been handled by me. As far as chuffing people or kids how many have you seen do this? Most that can afford to take themselves and kids to WDW have manners.
Well they don’t finger-push mashed potatoes onto their plate, lick their fingers clean, and then immediately paw something else I’m supposed to handle with my hands.
Gonna have to agree to disagree there
I assume this is meant to say sneezing??
I’ve seen that twice (once over food, once over communal utensils). I’ve seen a lady be considerate by coughing into a tissue, but then balling the tissue up in her hand while using the serving spoon so the tissue was touching that. I’ve seen a teenager at a supermarket deli lick the spoon and put it back. I’ve seen spoons being dropped on the floor and then being put back in.
This is all pre pandemic as it’s not somewhere I would go now. I didn’t used to be so adverse to the idea of buffets, but now I list the things I’ve seen (that I can remember offhand), I’m judging my own sanity.
And this is far too kind. People be crazy!!
I also don’t think manners come from money. I’ve seen plenty of well-mannered and ill-mannered people from a spectrum of backgrounds. Humans are just humans.
I am not germaphobic at all, I’m delighted by the return of buffets. At the buffet restaurant last week it was all being served by staff and it was frankly annoying. I want to get the amount I want!
I’m not a germaphobe either. I just think the general understanding that people aren’t at home and they are in a communal serving area has been lost. People think the disgusting habits they get away with at home are acceptable out in public.
And they’re not.
You wanna taste whatever’s on the spoon and immediately plunge it back into the pot at home, go nuts. But maybe be a little more hygienic when you’re scooping out scrambled eggs at Boma.
I worked food service jobs from age 16 till 34, I would worry more what happens behind the scenes.
THIS! … My job occasionally takes into the “back of the house” for several major restaurant chains and you would be shocked at what goes on there.
Someone’s never worked in a restaurant befor:rofl:
Not my personal story, but from a family member:
A fast- food fried chicken restaurant was almost ready to close. Customer walks in and orders chicken, but the kitchen staff have already cleaned the counters. So they prepared the chicken on the floor. End story.
The moral is, whatever people do at a buffet with people watching is much better than what happens in the kitchen.
I worked in a restaurant when I was in high school. Every table got a basket of warm rolls. When we cleared the table, if there were rolls left in the basket, we were told to put them back in the warmer 
Now let’s talk about the salsa at Mexican restaurants where they pour leftovers back into the bowl
These are both health code violations, right? Not that it would prevent some restaurants from doing this sort of thing, but it’s against the rules, right?
This thread is making me so glad that we have a condo with a kitchen during our upcoming vacation! Eating in never sounded so good 
Where is the CP breakfast buffet? Their breakfast lasagna is half of the ammunition I use to get my husband to WDW.
Hey, is it OK if I sneeze inside my mask? I was in the grocery store yesterday afternoon and needed to sneeze. Tried to walk-run to the ladies’ room but it was too far away. Ended up sneezing inside my mask while still burying my nose in my elbow. WAS THAT THE RIGHT THING TO DO??? I don’t know. I’m so worried.
Washed the mask when I got home. Still feel weird about it. 