Chain Restaurants With The Best All-You-Can-Eat Deals

All-you-can-eat deals have many diehard fans, and it's easy to see why. Endless buffets can offer a huge range of choices, allowing food enthusiasts to indulge in different flavors without committing to one specific dish. Plus, with so many options, you're pretty much guaranteed to find something you like. Another reason why these deals are so popular is their value. The freedom to eat your fill at a fixed price makes people feel like they're getting a great deal, especially if they arrive hungry or have a big appetite.

Given so much demand, it's not surprising that many chain restaurants offer bottomless dining deals. While some establishments focus on huge buffets, others offer specials as an addition to their standard menu. These promotions can vary greatly, ranging from unlimited helpings of a particular dish to bottomless drink refills. In addition, some are permanent fixtures on the menu while others are limited-time offers designed to attract customers during quieter periods of the year.

Feeling peckish? Take a look at our roundup of some of the best chain restaurant all-you-can-eat deals around.

The All-You-Can-Eat pancake promo at IHOP is a limited-time, dine-in deal that has recently been brought back due to popular demand. While it may not last forever, we recommend keeping an eye on IHOP's promotions in case it's reintroduced in the future. This time around, the $5 promo has been brought in for the back-to-school season, as explained by an IHOP representative in an interview with Fox News. "Historically, IHOP's 'All You Can Eat' offer was positioned at the beginning of the year. In 2024, the brand has strategically situated All You Can Eat around back-to-school to help families when schedules are tight and wallets are pinched from shopping," they said.

Available at participating restaurants, the All-You-Can-Eat pancake deal includes a stack of five buttermilk pancakes. Once diners plow their way through the dish, they are free to enjoy additional flapjacks, which are brought to the table in short stacks of two hotcakes at a time. Patrons who order any of the chain's breakfast combos that come with a short stack of pancakes can also enjoy additional flapjacks for free.

If you want to enjoy Applebee's All-You-Can-Eat Boneless Wings, Riblets, and Double Crunch Shrimp to the fullest, be sure to arrive at the restaurant hungry. This time around, the limited-time promo is priced at $15.99, a dollar more than when it ran in January 2024. Despite the slight price increase, Applebee's chief marketing officer, Joel Yashinsky, emphasized in a statement that the deal is "the perfect way for our guests to fill up on food and save money" (via The Spokesman-Review).

As its name suggests, the deal includes breaded boneless chicken wings drenched in one of six delicious sauces including Honey BBQ, Garlic Parmesan, Classic Buffalo, Extra Hot Buffalo, Honey Pepper, or Sweet Asian Chile. The pork riblets are slow-cooked and covered in Honey BBQ or Sweet Asian Chile sauce. Meanwhile, the battered shrimp are deep-fried to golden perfection. The all-you-can-eat promo also comes with coleslaw and bottomless french fries.

Sizzler is a West Coast-based casual dining restaurant, with the largest number of locations in California, Utah, and Puerto Rico. Boasting around 75 outlets, the chain is known for its affordable and varied menu that features hand-cut steaks, seafood, burgers, and slow-cooked ribs and chicken.

Despite its numerous menu options, Sizzler is often associated with its unlimited salad bar, which can be ordered with an entree or on its own. One reason for its popularity is the fact that the chain's salad bar is about much more than just salads. Aside from greens and prepared salads, Sizzler's unlimited buffet includes a hot bar with wings, tacos, a range of pastas, and a dessert bar complete with soft serve ice cream.

In 2023, Sizzler began revamping its restaurants to give them a more modern and uniform feel. This includes the chain's famous salad bar, which Robert Clark, chief growth officer for Sizzler USA, has referred to as "the centerpiece of our restaurant" (via Fast Company). The salad bar received a makeover to maximize white surfaces, increase space above the food bar, and install spotlight pendant lamps.

With every entree ordered at the Olive Garden, guests can enjoy the chain's Never-Ending First Course of soup or salad and breadsticks. Made from scratch daily, the soups include Chicken & Gnocchi, Pasta e Fagioli, Minestrone, and Zuppa Toscana. Meanwhile, the restaurant's garden-fresh salad is drizzled with Olive Garden's Signature Italian dressing and comes served with breadsticks.

Olive Garden's all-you-can-eat deal has confused some diners, who thought that it entitled them to unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks, as exemplified by one Reddit member who asked: "If I'm ordering an entree that includes the endless first course, am I allowed to switch between salad and soup? Or would there be a charge for that?" In fact, diners are entitled to either unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks, with another Reddit user clarifying, "If you order a meal they will ask you if you want one or the other. If you want both, there will be an add on charge."

Olive Garden also offers a recurring Never-Ending Pasta Bowl deal, which lets diners enjoy unlimited pasta and a range of sauces. Patrons start by selecting the pasta type from fettuccine, spaghetti, angel hair, and rigatoni. Next, they can pick between Alfredo, Traditional Marinara, Five Cheese Marinara, Creamy Mushroom, and Meat Sauce. Those wishing to know the date of the chain's next pasta promo can check out the chain's "Never-Ending Pasta Bowl Countdown Clock."

Shoney's has grown since first opening its doors back in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1947. Known for its casual American fare, today the chain operates more than 80 restaurants throughout the Eastern U.S., with the greatest number of outlets in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama.

Shoney's offers a Fresh Food Bar alongside its a la carte menu, with offerings inspired by recipes the chain's "team of culinary experts" creates. These include a range of entrees, soups, vegetables, seafood, salads, fresh fruit, and side dishes. This culinary smorgasbord also counts a Breakfast Bar. Billed as the "best breakfast in town," the buffet has recently been revamped with a range of new items. One of these is Bacon and Cheddar Cheese Grits, a dish described by David Davoudpour, Shoney's CEO and chairman, as "magnificent" and "a classy Southern dish that you can't ignore" (via Nation's Restaurant News). Some of the chain's other new buffet items include Blueberry Muffins, Crispy Chicken Biscuits with Hot Honey Sauce, and Churro Donuts.

Cicis Pizza has grown by leaps and bounds since first opening its doors in 1985 in Plano, Texas. After declaring bankruptcy in 2021 due to COVID-19, the restaurant chain was purchased by D&G Investors, a move that gave the brand a new lease on life. Today, Cicis Pizza has 277 restaurants across the U.S., with almost half of these outlets located in Texas.

With the tagline, "Anything is Pizzable," Cicis Pizza is one of the country's only all-you-can-eat pizza buffets. From deep dish to thin crust flatbreads, the chain's open table usually features around 20 pizza options at a time. Diners can select from classic toppings such as pepperoni, veggie, or sausage, or go for more elaborate creations like Mac & Cheese or Pepperoni & Jalapeño. Aside from pizza slices, the buffet at Cicis Pizza also features pastas, salads, and side dishes, as well as bone-in and boneless wings. Some of the items on offer include Pasta with Marinara Sauce, Pepperoni Poppers, Garlic Cheesy Bread, and Chicken Soup. Cicis Pizza also offers endless desserts, such as Fudge Brownies, Cinnamon Rolls, and Apple Dessert Pizza.

Golden Corral wasn't always centered around a buffet. The family restaurant opened as a steakhouse in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1973. The iconic all-you-can-eat buffet wasn't introduced until the mid-'80s, once the chain had already achieved notable growth. Today, Golden Corral boasts around 400 locations across the U.S., with the largest foothold in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina.

Golden Corral's Endless Buffet features a huge range of dishes, which change depending on the time of the day. Some of the breakfast options include Sausage Links, French Toast, and Grilled Corned Beef Hash. For lunch, patrons can enjoy dishes such as Fried Chicken, Meatloaf, and Dumplings. Finally, the chain's extensive dinner options include favorites such as the Signature Sirloin Steak, Fried Fish, and Bone-in Turkey. The restaurant also offers around 20 different side dishes, a salad bar, and more than 20 desserts. In addition, Golden Corral caters to diners on different diets, including low-carb, gluten-free, keto, vegan, and paleo.

Unless you live in Texas, it's unlikely that you would have heard about Pancho's Mexican Buffet. Featuring only a handful of locations in the Lone Star State, the mini chain is a relic of buffet style Tex-Mex dining. At the height of its popularity, Pancho's Mexican Buffet operated around 140 restaurants in southwestern states including Texas and Louisiana. While the number of Pancho's Mexican Buffet locations may have declined drastically, the chain still offers lunch and dinner smorgasbords of Tex-Mex dishes, plus several a la carte entrees, salads, and burgers.

Today, Pancho's Mexican Buffet serves a lineup of Tex-Mex specialties such as Fajitas, Chile Rellenos, Enchiladas, Flautas, Taquitos, and Sopaipillas. The home-made style dishes are a testament to the culinary vision of the restaurant's founder, Jesse Arrambide, Jr. Having learned to cook Mexican dishes from his mother, the founder is said to have perfected his buffet-style, large-quantity cooking while serving in the kitchen of a World War II naval troopship.

Fogo de Chão is a popular Brazilian churrascaria, with around 70 locations across the U.S. The all-you-can eat restaurant is well-known for its gaucho servers who circle the floor wielding oversized skewers of grilled meat. Diners are given discs that are green on one side and red on the other. A green disc indicates the diner is ready for more meat, while a red one signals to the gauchos that the patron is taking a break or has finished their meal. When given the go-ahead, the servers carve meat directly onto diners' plates. The fire-roasted meats include filet mignon, picanha, ribeye, and lamb.

Fogo de Chão's Full Churrasco Experience includes the chain's Market Table and Feijoada Bar, which diners can visit as much as they want through their meal. The endless buffet features fresh veggies, salads, soups, and other side dishes such as the Brazilian specialty pão de queijo or warm cheese bread. Also paying homage to tradition, the chain's Feijoada Bar offers patrons the chance to try Brazil's iconic traditional black bean stew served with rice.

Red Robin's bottomless deal counts more than 30 different items including fries, side dishes, and drink refills. While many of the unlimited dishes can be included in the price of your meal, some come with a small upcharge.

So what's on offer? Red Robin has three types of bottomless fries: Steak Fries, Garlic Fries, and Sweet Potato Fries. Some of the chain's other unlimited items include Garlic Parmesan Broccoli, Coleslaw, a House Salad with your choice of dressing, and Yukon Chips. There's also bottomless Macaroni and Cheese, which should keep young diners happy. And for health-conscious parents, Red Robin serves all-you-can-eat Kids Carrot Sticks and Kids Mandarin Oranges.

Aside from the sides, Red Robin offers an extensive range of drink refills. With over 20 beverages, patrons can enjoy a variety of simple and more elaborate concoctions. On the basic end of the spectrum, customers can order classic soft drinks like Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, and Dr. Pepper. Meanwhile, those in the mood for something a little fancier can opt for the chain's Root Beer Float with soft serve, Raspberry Cream Soda topped with whipped cream, or Fresh-Brewed Gold Peak Tea flavored with raspberry, peach, or honey mango.

With only three locations in Texas, Souper Salad is a regional chain that has experienced a significant decline over the past few years. Having opened its first restaurant in Houston in 1978, the chain hit its heyday in the early 2000s when it had more than 150 outlets in southwestern U.S. states. At its peak, Souper Salad offered around 60 different salad bar options, four homemade soups, hot cornbread, and honey butter.

While we can't guarantee that the remaining Souper Salad locations still offer the same endless buffet choices as they did in the past, we do know that the mini-chain has decent options for diners seeking lighter and healthier fare. While the food changes daily, the buffet features a range of around 30 veggies and dressings that diners can turn into salads, as well as ready-made salads, and fresh fruit. There are also made-from-scratch soups like Broccoli Cheese and Vegetable Beef. The freshly-baked bread encompasses options such as Cornbread, Garlic Breadsticks, Blueberry Bread, and Gingerbread. Last but not least, Souper Salad's buffet serves flatbread pizzas, a baked potato bar, and a range of desserts.

Red Lobster is well known for its daily deals. Perhaps the most famous amongst them is the "Unlimited Endless Shrimp" promotion, which lets diners enjoy as many of the crustaceans as they can handle. Seafood enthusiasts can order three shrimp dishes at a time, picking from a variety of flavors such as Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp Scampi, and Popcorn Shrimp. Once they devour the initial trio, diners can continue to order more shrimp until they have had their fill.

Interestingly, in 2023, Red Lobster's unlimited shrimp deal proved so popular that it led to an $11 million loss for the chain in the third quarter. To prevent further losses, Red Lobster has now raised the price of the deal from $20 to $25. Ludovic Garnier, CFO of Red Lobster's parent company, Thai Union, explained that even with this price hike, the deal still doesn't make the chain a lot of money and is primarily designed to attract more customers to the restaurant (via CNN).

Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse are both owned by the same parent company — Homestyle Dining LLC. As such, they offer similar dining concepts focused around steak entrees and an all-you-can-eat buffet. Founded in 1963 by actor Dan Blocker, who starred as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright on "Bonanza," the chain once had more than 300 locations in the U.S. Today, this number has dwindled to around 20.

Promoted as "three-course meals at a one-course price tag," the buffet at Ponderosa Steakhouse is pretty extensive. It also doesn't hurt that it's priced at $16.99 for dinner and $13.99 for lunch. While the unlimited lunch and dinner offerings are slightly different, both feature popular items such as Fried Chicken Wings, Fried Fish, Meatloaf, and Fried Pork Tenderloin. There are also plenty of sides to choose from, including Mashed Potatoes, Cauliflower with Cheese, and Steamed Broccoli. For those who like to end their dining experience on a sweet note, the chain offers a plethora of desserts like Bread Pudding, Blackberry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, and Ice Cream.

For many diners, all-you-can eat deals represent the ultimate culinary treat. Not only do they allow them to eat to their heart's content, but they typically offer plenty of choice. This, in turn, lets customers explore a variety of dishes they might not normally order at a restaurant. Just as popular, other bottomless promos focus on one dish, giving diners the opportunity to feast on their favorite food without worrying about the price.

To bring our readers the best all-you-can-eat deals at chain restaurants, we considered a variety of factors. Firstly, we only highlighted buffets and recurring (rather than one-off) promos. We also looked at each deal's popularity and value for money. After all, a great all-you-can-eat deal is about more than just quantity — it's about striking the right balance between food quality and bang for your buck.