Driving to Green Olive Buffet & Grill is like entering another world. The restaurant sits about halfway between Old Town Alexandria and Mount Vernon, an area little known to most Washingtonians. A 30 minute drive from downtown D.C., this stretch of Old Richmond Highway is a mix of newly developed shopping centers, chain restaurants, and relic motor lodges advertising vacancies and modern conveniences such as A/C and free HBO. That and the best old-school Chinese/American buffet in the region by far.

Among the numerous options — one long salad bar, four aisles of steam tables, an aisle with dessert, and a wall lined with sushi, specialty grill station, soup, and ice cream — nothing is necessarily great, but many things are good. And with a price that ranges from $7.99 for a weekday lunch to $13.99 for dinner, it’s hard to complain. If you’re predisposed to liking all-you-can-eat buffets, you’ll fall as hard for Green Olive as I have. If not, there’s still plenty to pick and choose from and enjoy. And you’ll probably come out feeling a little less sick from overindulgence than I usually do.