Customers queue early so they can be the first ones to enter the restaurant.
If you ever find yourself at Raffles City around lunch or dinner time, you might have seen snaking queues in front of Buffet Town—a budget restaurant located at the corner of the mall’s basement. There are actually two lines at the entrance, one is for those who made reservations and the other one is for walk-ins. Based on the number of people waiting in line on a Saturday night, we recommend that you make reservations via phone or email. Thankfully, that’s what we did so we didn’t have to wait forever to get in.
Since there were a lot of people mostly made up of friends and families, the staff told us that they would only hold our dinner reservation for 15 minutes before they give it to walk-in customers. We arrived there at 5:45pm, but were only allowed to enter at exactly 6pm. Before we could go inside, we had to our make payment first by cash, nets, or credit card—most probably to prevent the cases of “eat and run”.
To fully enjoy the seafood section, it's best to visit Buffet Town for a weekend dinner.
The first thing that grabbed our attention was the fresh seafood selection. Yes, they had almost everything from fresh oysters, prawns, mussels, white clams, and other seafood choices. We recommend you start with these first for this section is the most popular. It was still early at night but diners were already stacking mounds of seafood items on their plates, which they claimed were for sharing.
To be fair to Buffet Town, it really had fresh seafood selection and even had a variety of condiments to pair with them–soya sauce, ginger, tabasco, fresh lemon slices, and more. Despite people who kept on coming back, it also never seemed to run out of stock… even the oysters and crayfish which were a big hit.
Opposite this area is the Japanese section. It has quite a few choices of sushi and sashimi, but what seemed to be the most requested were the tuna and salmon sashimi. The good thing about this place was the staff didn’t limit us to a few slices on first serving. So, if you want more, you can always ask them to put more on your plate—provided that you can eat everything. FYI for those who want to binge: the restaurant has a “no wastage” policy so just take what you can finish and just come back for more.
Speaking of more—there was more food as we went deeper into the restaurant. With a seating capacity of 450, it was like a big maze we could get lost in any time. Each section, there was something to look forward to. Our next stop was the Italian Pasta and Pizza, and boy, there were some delicious offerings of Seafood Galore, Meat Lover’s, and Mushroom pizzas. We all liked the pizzas for the crust was neither too thick nor thin. There were also generous toppings of ingredients, especially cheese! These are always prepared by the minute, and as soon as the pizza runs out, there’s someone who would take a new batch straight from the oven.
Buffet Town has over 300 items, so one visit won't really be enough to try everything.
For those who prefer local favourites, there were also a number of choices such as the Chicken Rice, Herbal Soup, and Rojak; but the item which caught our eyes were the Chilli Crab served with warm and toasty bread rolls. The sauce had the right amount of sweetness and spiciness and the crab was very meaty! So far, so good.
Eating all these items on the buffet made us thirsty, so we headed to the drinks section on the far corner of the restaurant. The selection was quite varied: sodas, juice, and the hot drinks. Well after eating quite a lot, we refreshed ourselves with some Hot Teh. The uncle was quite an expert in mixing the drinks. It was quite entertaining to watch him pour the drink from one pitcher to another!
You can’t really leave a buffet without trying out the desserts. But with Buffet Town, the selection was just average. There really wasn’t something which excited us! It was your usual cakes and ice cream. So, you can skip this part and just stuff yourselves with the mains.
There's even a cosy corner for friends to have a private conversation at Buffet Town!
Overall, we think that Buffet Town is worth trying out. How can you say no to unlimited food and drinks for less than 50 bucks, right? With dim lights and soothing music, the ambience is there if you want to have a relaxing lunch or dinner with your family and friends. Each dining section of the restaurant also has a theme to make it more fun. We were seated in the anime area, which is near the Kiddie Playground. Yes, they have a place where your kids can be entertained while you enjoy your meal.
We Rate it: 4/5 Stars
See Also:
Explore more buffets at these fine dining restaurants
More seafood options for you