''Too much of a good thing can be wonderful,'' Mae West once declared. She would have had a great time at Broward's many gut-busting buffets, all-you-can-eat spreads that now stretch from salad to sushi bars, snow crabs to grilled steaks, pizza to pastries.

Bigger is better seems to be the philosophy as restaurants aim to outdo each other, boasting buffets of 100- and 200-plus items that trot the globe. A newcomer, Kyojin, which expanded from Boca Raton to North Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale two months ago, is a more upscale version of the family-style buffet, more focused than many of this ilk.

The emphasis is on Japanese and Chinese dishes with a few concessions to help bring in the whole family -- pizza, shrimp cocktail, pastries and ice cream. But there are no stations for turkey or prime rib, no trays of pasta or mac-and-cheese.

While Kyojin's owner, Raymond Lee, is from Taiwan, the restaurant offers about 50 Japanese items, among them edamame, vegetable and shrimp tempura, chicken katsu, gyoza (dumplings), udon and seafood soup -- plus a huge, 60-item sushi-sashimi bar and hibachi grill. The food is cooked in vegetable oil and is less greasy and fatty than most choices at the typical buffet, which, incidentally, has also grown in popularity in Japan. ''Viking,'' as the Japanese like to call American-style buffets, have become more common since the mid-'90s.

Buffets do have advantages. You can indulge your gluttony -- after all, everyone else is pigging out as well. You can sample dishes you haven't tried before. You can decide your own portions (often dangerous). And if you've been forced to dine with meddlesome in-laws, you can time your meal so you don't even have to converse.

But there's a downside to those tablefuls of hot and cold plates and rows of desserts. It's tough to match the quality and temperature of dishes prepared to order with mass-produced food. And there's no getting around it: You eat too much. So take your time, pace yourself. Sip a little sake, try bite-size servings and enjoy.

While the sushi and sashimi here isn't as outstanding as what you'll find at some local sushi bars, it's good and there's plenty of it. Among the many choices are salmon, tuna, sea urchin, eel and jellyfish. Some diners will spend all their time here. And some will be trying sushi for the first time.

My daughter, who usually sticks with California rolls, also sampled ''spinach salad'' rolls, a Japanese 'omelet' with a slice of scrambled egg atop rice, plus a tuna roll. ''Not too bad,'' she said, wincing. We got her friend to at least sample a California roll. But the jellyfish and eel rolls? ``No way!''

Buffets are a good way to get kids to try something different without forking out a big tab for the experience. My daughter added healthy edamame (soybeans) -- and liked it -- to a plate that included lightly battered tempura vegetables, fried chicken cutlets or katsu, dumplings, spare ribs and red Jell-O.

The hibachi grill had the biggest appeal. The grill is always a good show, even at a buffet when a row of people is waiting. The chef clicked spice shakers, tossed utensils, made the girls giggle. Plus, this is the place to get made-to-order, hot-off-the-grill teriyaki chicken, steak, shrimp and pork, juicy and tender, tossed with sizzling onions and mushrooms and zucchini.

Among starters, you can load up on Alaskan snow crabs and shrimp cocktail, even crawfish. Or try Japanese-style spring rolls filled with vegetables, fried dumplings, soup (usually hot and sour, miso, udon and seafood). Among Chinese dishes are entrées of chicken with vegetables and pepper steak, spare ribs, steamed flounder with ginger and onions.

Most of the fruit wasn't ripe enough, but we managed to squeeze in bites of cheese cake, brownies and bowls of green tea and red bean ice cream (among other choices).

Despite several trips to the buffet table, we missed many dishes, all the more reason we'd be happy to come back.