Saturday, March 8, 2008

Happy Buffet

Asian buffet restaurants abound in the Bay Area. One of the most popular and successful ones is Happy Buffet in Milpitas. I find the success of this place to be quite remarkable. Especially since I remember not too long ago another restaurant stood in the exact same location - a Chinese restaurant with so-so Dim Sum. That restaurant got only modest customer traffic at best, and eventually became history. Enter Happy Buffet, and a dramatically different story unfolded! Happy Buffet quickly gained huge popularity, garnering awards and recognition in major publications like the San Jose Mercury News. This place gets very crowded during peak hours - especially during weekends - with throngs of people lining up outside. I am amazed how two restaurants, operating in the exact location, could get such radically different results. One can still see traces of the previous restaurant's name on the facade:


I thought about the ingredients that make up Happy Buffet's success (and the corresponding lack thereof that caused the previous place's demise):

-Good food (this is Number 1. Without it, nothing else matters).

-Lots of variety - Happy Buffet basically offers Chinese food, with plenty of choices of seafood, meat, vegetables, soup, noodles, and more. In addition, one can get sushi, Hawaiian-style barbecue, salads, and a wide array of fruits and sweets for dessert.

-Clean, well lit, and attractive interiors (in contrast, the previous place looked kind of old and run down inside).

I enjoy whipping up my own tasty concoctions at Happy Buffet, like this one:


Happy Buffet
24 S Abbott Ave
Milpitas CA 95035

Happy Buffet on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

Donald O'Donovan said...

Wow! What a page. I have to pop along to work now, but I'll be back. I'm crazy about pho. I'm more in LA than in SF. Pho 79 is my favorite pho restaurant in LA (Chinatown).

Cheers!
Donaldo

AsianFoodFanatic said...

Thanks Donaldo!

I'd love to hear more about Pho 79 (maybe you'd care to write a review?) I'll put it on my list of places to visit next time I'm in LA.

cheers
AsianFoodFanatic