What if you get something and discover it is bad or that you simply don’t like it? Especially if you only took a relatively small amount to try it? Their absolutest statements seem a bit soup nazi.
I’ve been to several buffets where they claim they’ll charge extra if you take more than you eat, but generally give leniency to people who just discover that something isn’t to their taste. The rule is only applied to gross offenders. It’s really not that exceptional, unless the enforcement is simply too strict.
I really think I’d have to see what was on the buffet first. I’m not that adventurous food wise so I usually stick to the basics, but then again if I actually went here it would be on vacation, so it’s not like I’m gonna care about a $6(usd) charge. Buffets can be nice, but I rarely eat enough to make it worth while anyway.
I’m living in Switzerland right now and the average price for any sit-down lunch is going to be 17 francs, so their buffet is a real bargain. The fine isn’t even really a “penalty,” really, by that standard. I’m impressed that there is a buffet restaurant that serves anything that cheap, in fact!
There is a Japanese all you can eat buffet on Ventura Blvd in LA that does something similar if you just eat the toppings off the sushi and leave the rice.
Or if you find something you can’t eat in what you intended to eat?
There’s an all-you-can eat japanese buffet not too far from me (downtown Toronto) that will charge you the a-la-carte price if you order it and don’t eat it. It keeps groups from ordering a ton of different plates just to try stuff/disregard. I’ve gotten into heated arguments about this practice with them from time to time 
I too thought this was typical practice for any buffet restaurant. And the typical buffet restaurant tend to don’t last very long. They have low margins, don’t make much to cover their typical costs.
This very common practice throughout Japan. The key difference is that the tabehodai (all you can eat) experience is typically one where you pay a flat fee for two hours of unfettered access to the regular menu. Every item has a regular a la carte price which makes it easier to assess how much food has been wasted.
Sometimes we would stuff extra food into used napkins, atomize dishes and spread them out over empty plates, “accidentally” drop it, or in some cases just stuff it in our pockets. I am fairly sure that on at least one occasion takoyaki ended up in the tea pot. We were kind of terrible people, I guess.
They do this in Jimmy Chungs, the chinese buffet chain in Scotland & Ireland. Didn’t think it was odd. Probably because I’m Scottish.
I enjoyed your conversation with yourself there. 
You: What if you get something and discover it is bad or that you simply don’t like it? Especially if you only took a relatively small amount to try it? Their absolutest statements seem a bit soup nazi.
Your response to yourself: I’ve been to several buffets where they claim they’ll charge extra if you take more than you eat, but generally give leniency to people who just discover that something isn’t to their taste. The rule is only applied to gross offenders. It’s really not that exceptional, unless the enforcement is simply too strict.
And, that should have been the end of this thread right there.
Following in the footsteps of a lot of Chinese restaurants, I’d say -
This is a pretty common practice at buffets in my experience. Though when we’ve had something nobody can finish places have always been happy to say “That’s fine.” They just don’t want people who waste a LOT of food.
Most tabehodai places don’t allow foreigners. I thought it was just because we ate too much, but you have given a few more reasons
They should go ahead and take your picture, ban you for life and then pre-charge you $500 if you ever think of coming back.
Edit: Isn’t the point of any buffet/all you can eat/tabehodai to waste food?
Man, I miss Japan so much.
I’m calling bullshit on this one. I’m 6’4" and as white as they get; in five years of living in Japan I have never been turned away from a tabehodai place, and I’ve eaten at more than I can count. Sure you’re not getting your tabehodai and your yarihodai mixed up? 
This would only be news if it happened in Texas.
That was twenty years ago. Maybe it has changed since. You are right, it
might have only been places that were also nomihodai
There was a short story by Audrey and Harvey Bilker called “All you can eat” about an alien from a planet who similarly takes advantage of a buffet, though he has a transporter in the back of his throat, to send food back to his hungry planet.
