TravelSpeedX: Vikings Buffet

Buffet restaurants are all the rage these days. Suddenly, buffet is affordable and forming long waiting lines. Vikings is one of the first ones to solidify buffet restaurants' popularity. Each day, lunch and dinner hours have reservations and walk-in filled lists.

Vikings Buffet Rates posted by the entrance.

Adult Weekday Lunch 688+ 5% SC = Php722+

Adult Weekday Dinner 888 + 5% SC = Php932+

Adult Weekend or Holiday (Lunch / Dinner) 1088+ 5% SC = Php1142+

Lunch Hours: 11AM to 2:30PM

Dinner Hours: 5:30Pm to 10PM

They have separate lists for guests with reservations and walk-ins. Around 10AM (for Lunch Buffet), guests will start arriving and pile around the entrance. If you called ahead to reserve, you will have priority when they open their doors. Still, depending on the time you arrive and check your name in, you will be assigned a number. When your number is called, you can come in, given a table, then start to chow..

After all the reserved guests have gotten in, the walk-in list will be accommodated. Might as well come in around 12:30. Reserved guests are advised to arrive 10:30AM to secure their slots.

You can even switch tables if you prefer a different location, provided it's not occupied. And it will get filled. We were a bit surprised that in almost all tables, parties were seated.

Usually they have a special location for "birthday celebrants". Vikings is best known for their Birthday Promo which means Free Buffet if it's your birthday, just show an ID with your birth date on it, and provided you tag along a full-paying adult. So it's like paying Php722+ for 2 pax (Weekday Lunch).

Anyway, we noticed that one area had these celebrants' tables next to each other. They give free mini b-day cakes, but this is also how they distinguish who they'll approach later to sing their Viking birthday song to, and then plop the viking helmet on your head hehehe...

Anyway, it was my birthday and we hid our cake so they didn't sing me any cheeky song and was not bothered with the helmet. It seemed fun, but perhaps not as much amusing if it's just you and your mom.

Vikings have impressive interiors. First thing we noticed were the reflective aluminum containers, clean beige table tops, and flecks of golden shading from the ceiling lights.

The spotlights on food offerings made each dish enticing.

Tips for eating buffet: Make one round on every table first to inspect all the food so you can calculate which ones to prioritize. Your first plate could be filled with your favorites, or the ones you most want to try to taste.

Other people try to get a sampling of each dish to get to try everything. Although I do that in hotel buffets, Vikings is just too big of a buffet to challenge this. But, it is possible and you would probably fill 5 or more plates to sample each one- so you can really decide which dishes you want to attack thoroughly, if by then you're not already full.

Vikings have several stations: Japanese (sushi), Asian Fusion, Chinese (dimsum), Desserts (sweets and ice creams), Beverages, Salads, Meats, Cheeses, Grilled, Fruits, Fresh (to cook), Pastas, Seafood, Appetizers (shooters, spoonfuls) and more