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Yes it was replaced by sunrise records. I remember that. Don't know what it is now as I avoid TEC.

I remember going there when I was younger - it was considered better in terms of "authenticity" (as much as buffet can be authentic) than Mandarin. That was in the mid-90s - but I think they over-extended with too many branches and the quality suffered.

AoD
 
Please do share. I think we as consumers should have some insight into this.

A few things that come to mind..

The bread basket. I remember working in an Italian restaurant and the owners would take the uneaten bread off the tables, stick it in the microwave and recycle them to the next customers. Voilà! "Freshly baked bread" God knows how many times that bread was coughed or sneezed on.

Some kitchens are really dirty, which means they attract pests. Don't be fooled by the opulent dinning room! Some owners spend more time and money cleaning the dining room than the kitchen. Even the cleanest kitchens I've worked in have had problems with pests, (bugs, rats, mice) For most restaurants, especially the ones downtown in older buildings, fighting pests is a never ending battle. Don't be surprised if you see a mouse scurrying around next time you eat out.

Not everyone has good hygiene either. I have seen servers and chefs come back from the bathroom or a cigarette break, not wash their hands, and go back to handling food. I have seen food fall on the floor and end up on peoples plates. I have seen cooks use the same rag to wipe their heads, cutting boards and dirty counter tops. I have seen cooks smoke cigarettes, weed and even snort cocaine in the kitchen!

Don't order steak welldone. That $40 striplion steak you want well done, could be an expired piece of meat or a crappy cut of meat that should be in the garbage. I remember one cook on a busy night got a steak sent back to him because it was still a little pink in the middle. That made him angry so he took a dirty rag, wrapped it around the steak to dry all the juice out of it, so it cooked faster.

Be careful of seafood. I wouldn't touch it with a stick if it was on a buffet. If the fish is starting to go bad, cooks have little tricks to cover up the taste and smell, like lots of salt.

Mislabeling. So many restaurants make bogus claims on their menus which is illegal but nearly impossible to police. They use words like "fresh", "local" or "hand-made" " dishes. Those locally organic grown vegetables may have come from Chinatown or the nearest Food Basics, usually grown in some foreign country. Expensive fishes like snapper could be a cheaper fish like tilapia. When you have sauce and spices on the fish you can't taste the difference. Freshly squeezed orange juice is Tropicana with pulp. And don't order the Kobe beef burgers or sliders, you might as well just throw your money out the window. It's a scam. Send the burger for testing. you wont find any traces of Kobe beef in the burger!!

Don't send your food back more than once! Kitchens are full of cooks and chefs with big ego's who think they are 3-star Michelin chefs. You send your plate back two or three times you may end up with some bodily fluids mixed into your chicken carbonara.

It's a tough industry to work in. Long hours, lousy pay, high stress working conditions, cooks with big ego's. I know a few chefs that make Gordan Ramsey look like Mother Teresa. I have worked with some amazing chefs and cooks, but i have also worked with a lot of sketchy people who shouldn't be anywhere near a kitchen. Drug and alcohol abuse is rampant in the industry. Rarely does a restaurant do a background check. It's one of the few industries where ex-cons, drug addicts, and people with mental health issues can find stable work. Restaurants in a city like Toronto are desperate for workers. You got two arms and two legs you're hired!

I can't name the restaurants i worked in. They change staff and management on a regular basis in the restaurant business.
 
Wow... I thought I was off my rocker thinking there used to be a Chinese buffet in the Eaton Centre called Abacus, way back when, that had really good strawberry ice cream.

I'm digging into my childhood here, but at least I wasn't wrong!

You remember correctly - it was roughly where the clothing store Garage is now, right? But I have a fonder memory of the restaurant that preceded it at the same location, and that was called Swensen's. They specialized in ice-cream based desserts, but I would often go there after work for a club sandwich.
 
I remember Swenson's too. They were there when the Eaton Centre opened.

The Hot House at Front and Church have a buffet Wednesdays and Sundays. Not bad. Like better hotel dining room quality.
 
Everyone:

Buffets - especially the AYCE (all-you-can-eat) for one price variety - are an interesting subject.

I have eaten at buffets - both Chinese (which have become very popular in the last 25 years) and general
and do like the idea of one price for all - but economics are the largest factor when and how buffets stay
in business. Cities and areas with higher costs of living and higher rents being a prime example buffets
are less common. Long Island/NYC and Toronto have this factor in common. There is a Chinese buffet in
a local shopping center no more then a mile from where I live on LI as a local AYCE example.

There are chain buffet restraunts in the US - Old Country Buffet and Golden Corral are two I can think of
off hand and I also am aware that other chain venues such as Pizza Hut and KFC sometimes offer a buffet
option that is either limited time wise (for example a Pizza Hut I know only offers the all-you-can-eat for
a very limited lunch time of 11am to 1pm on weekdays) or hard to find unless you know where they are.

Old Country Buffet once had two locations on Long Island - Levittown in Nassau County and Bay Shore
in Suffolk County - they both closed in 2015 as a result of corporate restructuring and it turns out that
one of the only remaining NY OCB locations now is in the Buffalo area located at 4401 Transit Road 14221
(716)634-1893 with hours: Mon-Thu 11a-8:30pm; Friday until 9pm; Sat-Sun 8am-9pm Sat; 8:30pm Sun.
www.oldcountrybuffet.com
www.oldcountrybuffet.com/locator
www.goldencorral.net

There are sometimes a place that offers a buffet that is so good that you would go out of your way to
make a visit worthwhile - this is how I feel about Landis Buffet in the Landis Supermarkets in the far
northern suburbs of Philadelphia near where relatives of mine live. An example of what they offer
can be found at the bottom of page 2 of their weekly circular:
https://www.landismarket.com/weekly-savings/next-week-circular/#page2
One example of two constants I can think of is that their fried chicken and make-your-own hoagies with
all of the necessities needed stand out as being two of their best everyday offerings on their menu...

Yes - AYCE Buffets can be good if one knows where to find them and not overindulge...LI Mike
 
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*Bump* 4 years later, a pandemic comes along and forces various buffets to close. RIP Frankie Tomatoes & Tucker's Market Place.
Such a shame. They were good restaurants.

Mandarin is only Buffet on week ends and holidays currently.
Dragon Pearl is still around.
Scarborough Buffet has officially closed, but not because of the pandemic. The land was sold to become a condo. (so I am told)
Scarborough Buffet's new home will be on Kingston Road some place in the near future.

Toronto could do with a Seafood buffet or Italian buffet.
 
*Bump* 4 years later, a pandemic comes along and forces various buffets to close. RIP Frankie Tomatoes & Tucker's Market Place.
Such a shame. They were good restaurants.

Mandarin is only Buffet on week ends and holidays currently.
Dragon Pearl is still around.
Scarborough Buffet has officially closed, but not because of the pandemic. The land was sold to become a condo. (so I am told)
Scarborough Buffet's new home will be on Kingston Road some place in the near future.

Toronto could do with a Seafood buffet or Italian buffet.

I actually went to Mandarin in Niagara Falls in August. It seemed particularly satisfying!
 
Yes, it's basically the same Mandarin in terms of style/offerings. I think they're gone by the mid-2000s. In terms of "class" - the clientele for Chinese/Asian buffets is very, very different from typical western "brunch" buffets, esp. those at
Off the top of my head, there was one at Eaton Centre, one at Fairview Mall and another at Erin Mills Town Centre. The Eaton outlet was on Level B2, right where the escalators were (I think about where the EDIT - Garage is now).

AoD
Eaton's Centre Abacas was my favourite place on a Saturday afternoon, get the paper, sit down and watch the American tourist ravage the buffet. Interestingly one of the bus boys was an architect from Hong Kong, he was so charming and interesting to talk to.
 
*Bump* 4 years later, a pandemic comes along and forces various buffets to close. RIP Frankie Tomatoes & Tucker's Market Place.
Such a shame. They were good restaurants.

I never knew Tucker's Marketplace closed down! That's such a shame. I remember fond memories going to the Burlington location with my families. I live in Germany now and due to the pandemic haven't been to Canada in 2 years (and for several years before that was only there once a year for a few weeks)... aside from the buildings and infrastructure changing dramatically so is the retail and gastro landscape. I feel like I am a time traveller when I visit Canada because things there are always changing so rapidly in my absence - which is a stark contrast to Germany where change is slow and rare in comparison.
 
I never knew Tucker's Marketplace closed down! That's such a shame. I remember fond memories going to the Burlington location with my families. I live in Germany now and due to the pandemic haven't been to Canada in 2 years (and for several years before that was only there once a year for a few weeks)... aside from the buildings and infrastructure changing dramatically so is the retail and gastro landscape. I feel like I am a time traveller when I visit Canada because things there are always changing so rapidly in my absence - which is a stark contrast to Germany where change is slow and rare in comparison.
Unfortunately, the whole company vanished. Not just the buffet restaurants. The Smith Brothers Steak house also. Covid left the parent company Newgen inc bankrupt.
"Toronto, June 26, 2020 – On June 26, 2020, Newgen Restaurant Services Inc., formerly operating as Tucker’s Marketplace and Smith Bros. Steakhouse Tavern, filed an Assignment in Bankruptcy..."
More info here: https://rsmcanada.com/what-we-do/se...gagements/newgen-restaurant-services-inc.html
 
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