Pacific Buffet on BC Ferries

Address: BC Ferries main passenger deck
Price: $20-30
Notes: Worth it for breakfast or dinner, not so much for lunch.



As I have mentioned before, if I can possible afford it I will nearly always opt for the buffet instead of the cafe on the ferry, especially for dinner. The food is usually top-notch, and you get such a better selection and quality than anything else on the ferry. Plus, you get to sit in your spot for as long as you want, the seats are quite comfy!

I'm not sure the "lunch" menu was worth the nearly $25 unless you skip breakfast. However, if you get there early enough to eat breakfast the buffet is pretty fantastic.


Service
Considering this is buffet, there's not much service but they have lovely people that will show you to a table.  The refilling was a little slow, but there was a full college basket ball team ahead of me in line so I can't really blame them too much there. This isn't a problem I've run into before.


Food
February 20, 2011 ("Lite Dinner" aka lunch)
First impression is, I think Chef Omar had a hand in the signage. Gems like "authentic cuisine, honestly prepared." So ridiculous! However, I do generally like the selection of things on offer. Plus, if all else fails there is always either the salad bar, or the dessert bar, to fall back on to fill you up!

We ended up on the 11 AM ferry on a Sunday and I thought for sure that there would be a mostly brunch menu, but there was really only a little bit of brunch - french toast and sausage or ham and pre-made three-cheese omelet that was actually quite delicious. Otherwise, there was quite a few savoury items. There is always a lot of "ethnic" diversity in the food. There's usually curry at dinner, and there was a delicious steamed shrimp dim sum dumpling today (I had about 5 instead of dessert... so good!).

I have a confession - I don't really like chocolate all that much, although I have to say I know I'm weird for it. This made the dessert bar disappointing, as all but one of the day's selections involved some form of chocolate. Usually there's a little bit of flan or something. Oh well - I had more steamed shrimp dumplings instead!