If you’re looking to walk away from lunch both feeling full and still having money in your wallet, consider hitting up one of Raleigh’s many local lunch buffets.
However, with so many diverse all-you-can-eat options from which to choose, we rounded up the best, most eclectic, most filling lunch buffets we could find to help you out.
Here they are:
Dharani Express
(3281 Avent Ferry Rd.)
If you’re looking for quality Indian cuisine and normally have a hard time ordering one or two items off of the menu, give Dharani Express’ lunch buffet a shot and try everything. Home to one of the best lunch buffets in The Triangle, Dharani Express serves up a lunch buffet seven days a week, from 11:30am-2:30pm on weekdays and from 11:30am-3pm on weekends.
The eatery offers buffet-goers a medley of appetizers, dosas and breads, paired with chicken, vegetarian, seafood, goat and lamb entrees, as well as tandoor.
A ticket to the restaurant’s all-you-can-eat lunch buffet will cost you $9.99 Monday through Friday and $12.99 on weekends. You can also get the buffet to go, and Dharani Express charges $5.99 per pound.
Imperial Garden Chinese Restaurant
(7713 Lead Mine Rd.)
Every Sunday, there’s a lunch buffet at Imperial Garden Chinese Restaurant from 11:30am-2pm. The restaurant, which opened in 1987, offers eaters a menu of of both authentic and Americanized Chinese cuisine.
During the Sunday lunch rush, nearly every dish — ranging from won ton soup to egg rolls to chicken chow mein to Mongolian beef to hunan shrimp to vegetable fried rice — makes it to the buffet table. It’s up to you to choose what you want to try (and where to seek seconds).
With both indoor and outdoor seating, Imperial Garden’s Sunday lunch buffet fits nicely into your weekend calendar, regardless of the time of year.
Orchid Japanese Restaurant
(7432 Creedmoor Rd.)
When it comes to all you can eat, Orchid Japanese Restaurant knows what it’s doing. The restaurant has a full-service made-to-order buffet both for the lunch and dinner crowd.
Order sheets are distributed at each table, and eaters fill them out with what they want from the menu. To place an order, simply turn on the “tap light” at the table and a staff member will come over and send your selections to a chef. When you’re ready for more, repeat the process.
The restaurant asks that eaters don’t over-order (they have the right to charge you for wasted food), and sharing is only permitted between diners who’ve purchased the all-you-can-eat option.
The lunch and dinner buffet menus are relatively the same; however, the dinner menu includes sashimi, steak and additional specialty roll options. Even if you go to Orchid for lunch, sometimes they’ll let you upgrade to the dinner buffet menu — just ask.
For adults (considered 12 years and older), expect to pay $17.95 for lunch and $25.95 for dinner, and if you’re planning on having five or more people in your party, call ahead to set up a reservation.
Milton’s Pizza & Pasta
(14520 Falls of Neuse Rd. and 8853 Six Forks Rd.)
If you’re into lunch buffets, than Milton’s self-identifying famous lunch buffet is already on your radar.
Actually, Milton's has two Raleigh locations. Regardless of which one you choose, the buffet will cost you $9.79 Mondays through Fridays, when the restaurant are open from 11am-2pm, and $10.29 on weekends and holidays, when Milton’s Pizza & Pasta serves the buffet until 3pm. Gluten-free eaters can request a special menu for an additional $1.99.
Complete with its pastas, calzones, and pizzas, not to mention its salad bar, Milton’s makes for a great place to dine when you have a hungry family to feed.