When Chemists Attack

If you’re ever passing through Florence, SC on your way to Myrtle Beach (lots of Ohio folks do this), here’s a bit of advice. You might drive past a restaurant called International Buffet. An inviting sign like this may lure you in to eat.

Snow!! Crab Legg’s
(What … you mean you didn’t want to eat pantyhose for dinner?)

Whatever you do, do not stop! Drive on, and eat somewhere far away. You have been warned.

Should you decide to ignore my warning, you will come face-to-face with strange foods like “Cheese Cnabmeaf” which actually taste worse than they sound. Don’t believe me? See for yourself.

Cheese Cnabmeaf

For my money, there’s nothing like a good Chinese buffet. Unfortunately, International Buffet is nothing like a good Chinese buffet. The little card I picked up advertises “over 300 items” on the buffet. You might get to 300 if you count each piece of cnabmeaf as a separate item. Otherwise, you’ll fall about 225 items short. To be fair to International Buffet, this might be because they’re obviously a new restaurant.

Newness might excuse a lack of variety, but it does not excuse lousy food. We went at dinnertime – when you’d expect for there to be piping hot food on the buffet. International Buffet’s food had apparently sat on the bar for hours and was only lukewarm. By the time I managed to get back to my table with a plate of food, it had cooled to only slightly above room temperature. Politeness prevented me from doing this, but I briefly considered asking the waitress for a microwave. Cold Tso chicken is not very good. Cold cnabmeaf in melted-then-resolidified cheese is inedible.

International Buffet is located at 260 West Palmetto Street in Florence, SC. I advise planning your dining well clear of this address.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 18th, 2006 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.