Get a plate. The table forms at three.
Buffet is an app for meeting people in real life. Pick a spot, invite someone, or get a plate at a table — one-to-one or in groups of six or less.
Here is the whole thing, in the order you will meet it.
Five things, in order
A short list, every week
Around six places and nights in Los Angeles, Thursday to Sunday, chosen by hand. Each one has an address, a time and a price. It is a list you can read in a minute, not a feed.
Get a plate
Pick one and claim your seat. That is the entire act of saying yes. No message to compose, no suggestion to float, nobody to wait on.
The table forms at three
When three people have a plate at the same pick, the table is real and the group chat opens. You say hi there first, so walking in is not the hard part.
It stops at six
A table never grows past six, because six is the number where everyone still talks to everyone. A popular pick becomes several tables, not a crowd.
Show up
A place, a time, and people who chose the same night you did. Go alone. Stay twenty minutes longer than you meant to. Then next week, do it again.
This week, Thursday
On the list right now: a hangout at Manhattan Beach Post, Thursday at 7 PM, 1142 Manhattan Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266. Get a plate on it and you are one of up to six. When the third person does, the chat opens and the three of you decide where to stand when you walk in. The rest of this week’s list is here.
Ballot, invites, reliability
The ballot. Every Monday the app asks the city what to add. Members vote on a short slate of hangouts; the winner is promoted onto a future week’s list. It is how the list stays something people asked for rather than something handed down.
Invites. Tables are the default, but you can invite one person directly to a pick for a one-to-one. Free accounts get one invite a day; Buffet+ gets fifty.
Reliability. Everyone starts with a reliability score of 80. It measures one thing: whether you show up when you said you would. Buffet+ members can see it on the people at their table; it is the app’s way of making “I’ll be there” mean something.
The price. Free is the whole product with limits: one plate a month, five profiles a day, one invite a day. Buffet+ removes the plate limit for $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year. The venue charges what it charges.
Things people ask
What is a plate?
A plate is your seat at one of the week’s picks. Getting a plate is how you say yes to a night. On the free tier you can get one plate a month; Buffet+ makes them unlimited.
What happens when I get a plate?
You are in the group for that pick. Nothing else happens until two more people get a plate at the same one. At three, the table forms and a group chat opens with the people in it.
Why three? Why six?
Three is the smallest number that is unmistakably a group rather than a date. Six is the largest number of people who can all talk to each other at one table. Buffet opens the chat at three and stops adding people at six; a busy pick becomes several tables of six rather than one crowd.
What if nobody else gets a plate?
Then no table forms, and you are not expected anywhere. Nobody is left waiting at a bar for a group that never arrived; a table only exists once three people are in it. Pick another night, or the same pick next week.
Who picks the places?
The Buffet team in Los Angeles, every week: around six things from Thursday to Sunday, each with an address, a time and a price. Members also vote in a Monday ballot on hangouts they want added, and the winner goes on a future week’s list.
Is it a dating app?
No. Buffet is for meeting people in real life, in small groups, around a plan. You can also invite one person directly for a one-to-one, but the table, not the match, is the unit.
Does it cost anything?
Buffet is free: one plate a month, five profiles a day, one invite a day. Buffet+ is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year with a 7-day trial: unlimited plates, 20 profiles and 50 invites a day. The venue or event charges whatever it charges; Buffet adds nothing on top.
Where does it work?
Los Angeles, on iPhone (iOS 17 or later). Picks run from the Westside to Downtown, with most weeks concentrated in a few neighborhoods so the people at a table live near each other.