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By Jon McPhedran Waltzer

By appearances alone, Los Insaciables would appear to be simply one more among the myriad restaurant/bars with aspirations to trendiness that can be found dotting yuppie-speckled Providencia. However, this seemingly innocuous restaurant hides a gimmick with the power not only to lure you in for a first visit, but to keep you coming back for more.

When the seductive promise of affordable, unlimited pizza was first whispered into my ear I was enthusiastic, but guardedly so. Hearing this siren's song of 60 varieties of gourmet pizza available in an unending stream of platters brought to your table by charming and speedy wait staff, I was naturally dubious.

I feared a catch, the kind of flaw that one comes to expect from restaurants offering up such attractive novelties. I conjured an image of the affordable but chintzy mega-buffet restaurants with which any good North American is familiar: unfettered gluttony, poor food quality, a surly waiter named "Grelch." Of course I made plans to go, but held resolutely to my low expectations as a pre-emptive defense against very possible culinary disappointment.

Almost immediately upon my arrival, I sensed something was not quite as it should be. Instead of Grelch and her friends hovering morosely around the bowl of cheap mints by the cash register, this place was bustling with a young, energetic, and extremely friendly wait staff crew. With my faith in the great North American buffet equation (ample food plus low prices equals bad quality and service) shaken but still intact, I proceeded to consult the menu. A prodigious selection of pizzas at one very affordable price assured me - or so I thought - that I had nothing further to fear from this place.

Almost as soon as I had regained my air of comfortable cynicism, however, a charming waitress swooped down upon our table carrying a thin-crusted, deliciously crispy masterpiece garnished with ricotta cheese and basil - not at all the soggy slice of mediocrity I had been anticipating. As the evening wore on, I was gradually forced to surrender myself to the fact that somehow (perhaps via the same mysterious force that allows toilets here to flush clockwise), Los Insaciables was offering up a buffet dining experience that flew in the face of the great buffet equation on which I had relied for so long as a restaurant choice rule of thumb.

The food was indeed unlimited and affordable, but was also delicious and served by a wait staff so efficient and kind as to turn out a new pizza every minute for the duration of the night, and address my entire family by name. The mandatory drink order that accompanied the meal was both reasonably priced and satisfying, and the 10 varieties of dessert pizza that emerged towards the end of the evening were a surprising and fantastic twist. Having managed to transcend the typical handicaps of both all-you-can-eat buffets and gimmick-based restaurants, Los Insaciables is a true find and worth visiting as many times as you are willing to allow yourself the indulgence.

One drink order required per all-you-can-eat customer.