Dinner buffet restaurants.
Discussion
Following on from the breakfast buffet thread. What are your views on these places? A bit council? Decent place to try a bit of everything?
Strategies?
They seem to have taken off massively over the past decade or so. Maybe it's the downturn in the economy? Somewhere a family of four can get their fill for under £50?
I live in Manchester and we have Tops and Red Hot Buffet which offer Indian, Chinese and English food. We've also got various Chinese buffets. On the outskirts of town are Indian buffets.
Strategies?
They seem to have taken off massively over the past decade or so. Maybe it's the downturn in the economy? Somewhere a family of four can get their fill for under £50?
I live in Manchester and we have Tops and Red Hot Buffet which offer Indian, Chinese and English food. We've also got various Chinese buffets. On the outskirts of town are Indian buffets.
This is likely to set off a torrent of "fat council people stuffing their faces" type responses..
I am not really a fan, because it tends to be large quantities of cheap food. I do think they have a place ,especially for people with a bunch of kids, or also for people who like to take their time and eat over a period. Frequently these are older people.
I am not really a fan, because it tends to be large quantities of cheap food. I do think they have a place ,especially for people with a bunch of kids, or also for people who like to take their time and eat over a period. Frequently these are older people.
I don't mind them. Quick, cheap and fast.
The Chinese buffet I go to in Chinatown has steamed dim sum, sushi, fresh roasted duck and char siu pork, a teppanyaki hotplate plus all the usual stuff you get.
There is also a decent indian buffet on the outskirts of Manchester (Nawaab) if anyone knows it. Lots of choice and grill chefs who will do lamb chops, kebabs and fresh breads while you wait.
The Chinese buffet I go to in Chinatown has steamed dim sum, sushi, fresh roasted duck and char siu pork, a teppanyaki hotplate plus all the usual stuff you get.
There is also a decent indian buffet on the outskirts of Manchester (Nawaab) if anyone knows it. Lots of choice and grill chefs who will do lamb chops, kebabs and fresh breads while you wait.
This was on TV recently - gave an interesting insight into the world of the buffet.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-2000000-cal...
UK ones do tend to be "eat as much as you can"
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-2000000-cal...
UK ones do tend to be "eat as much as you can"
RBH58 said:
Most of them are "quantity over quality" and designed to appeal to the gluttonous rather than the gourmand. I avoid them like the plague.
But sometimes, gluttonous is what you want...I wouldn't take a customer to one, but there's no denying that the occasional pig-out makes the world a better place.
I've been to some very nasty Chinese buffets where the food looks a day or two old, rice all dried up and flies! I've also been to great ones with fresh food, duck, dim sum etc... I prefer a Chinese buffet to a full meal a bit of everything rather than loads of the same single dish works very well.
These do seem to be a real mixed bag, saw a bit of that program on Channel 4, some of the clientele were interesting and weren't happy if they'd thought they'd left the restaurant without eating them out of profit.
We used to go to quite a nice Chinese near Oldbury, the food there was really good and quite authentic. We used to reserve it as a special treat for when our financial advisor had been round as he was very dull, had a strong brummie accent, and went on and on and on (we don't see him anymore!).
Want to try one of the ones of the Channel 4 program as it's local to us.
On the whole though they are a bit council but sometimes you just have to.....
We used to go to quite a nice Chinese near Oldbury, the food there was really good and quite authentic. We used to reserve it as a special treat for when our financial advisor had been round as he was very dull, had a strong brummie accent, and went on and on and on (we don't see him anymore!).
Want to try one of the ones of the Channel 4 program as it's local to us.
On the whole though they are a bit council but sometimes you just have to.....
I tend to stay away from buffets for many reasons: usually the variety of food is way too vast and it results in there being about 50 terribly mediocre dishes. The atmosphere in most is usually chaotic. The starters are usually better than the mains (especially at Indian buffets). The main reason, around here they're not particularly cheap. About £18 per person is the going rate. I can dine out somewhere with much nicer food for a combined £40 for two people.
I think buffets can be great, if they chose their specialities and focused on them. There's an Indian one which is pretty good. However the rest seem to have taken a world buffet type approach.
I think buffets can be great, if they chose their specialities and focused on them. There's an Indian one which is pretty good. However the rest seem to have taken a world buffet type approach.
I've been to this place in Staines:
http://jimmysrestaurants.com
Given the location, I'm sure you can imagine what the clientele are like.
Only used it as an alternative to the hotel restaurant when we had an office in Staines.
http://jimmysrestaurants.com
Given the location, I'm sure you can imagine what the clientele are like.
Only used it as an alternative to the hotel restaurant when we had an office in Staines.
Trabi601 said:
I've been to this place in Staines:
http://jimmysrestaurants.com
Given the location, I'm sure you can imagine what the clientele are like.
Only used it as an alternative to the hotel restaurant when we had an office in Staines.
That place did a moonlight flit in Brighton, turned out they owed the council 200k in tax.http://jimmysrestaurants.com
Given the location, I'm sure you can imagine what the clientele are like.
Only used it as an alternative to the hotel restaurant when we had an office in Staines.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/14666515.Revealed__...
ETA: Seems it owes money all over the place.
https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/368370/restaur...
Edited by Edwin Strohacker on Tuesday 28th March 09:48
Been to a few buffet places in Vegas. Even one touted as "the best brunch in town". $40 to stuff your face with a mad variety of food. Fried chicken, sushi, roast rib, seafood, bbq, pasta, sandwiches, waffles, cakes, ice creams apple pie etc etc
Perhaps it was being in Vegas, but no matter how classy they tried to make it, it still felt like a full on council experience. People barging into each other to get the fresh prawns, long queues, awful table manners, and horrendous waste when people pile their plates up and leave half to get something else.
Perhaps it was being in Vegas, but no matter how classy they tried to make it, it still felt like a full on council experience. People barging into each other to get the fresh prawns, long queues, awful table manners, and horrendous waste when people pile their plates up and leave half to get something else.
Moominho said:
I was waiting for this thread 
I love a hotel buffet breakfast as discussed in the last thread, but dinner buffet restaurants are the lowest of the low. Definitely fodder for the council thread.
I am in favour of neither , but it amazes me you can extol the virtues of breakfast buffet yet call dinner buffet the lowest of the low.I love a hotel buffet breakfast as discussed in the last thread, but dinner buffet restaurants are the lowest of the low. Definitely fodder for the council thread.
I didn't reply to the breakfast buffet because it was not asking for opinions, but if you think luke warm bacon glued together by cooling fat, sausages coagulating as you watch, hard done fried eggs siting in a lake of grease, scrambled eggs of rubber sitting in a piss pool of water, a toasting machine that burns one side whilst hardly touching the other, if you think this is worthy of praise then you are not qualified to comment on what and what isn't 'low'.
I quite like going to buffets occasionally. It means you can get a sampler of different kinds of food you perhaps would never order. I mostly go in America.
My pet hate though is those that fill their plate as full as possible and then leave half of it. Go and take small portions of things and if you want more, well, you can go back ....
My pet hate though is those that fill their plate as full as possible and then leave half of it. Go and take small portions of things and if you want more, well, you can go back ....
Like anything, there are good 'uns and not so good 'uns.
A few years ago before the boom in buffet dining we went out of our way to make a half hour journey to a Taybarns place north of Sheffield. It was easily the worst food I've ever bought. If you ever wondered what happened to all the turkey twizzlers left over after Jamie Oliver got them banned form school menus, wonder no more. Horrendous.
There is a chain around this neck of the woods (don't know if they're nationwide) called Cosmo which does attract its fair share of councilists and the food is of varying quality but on the three or four occasions I've been in it's easy enough to make a decent fist of it by sticking to things like duck, tandoori chicken/lamb chops, shish kebabs etc.
There is (or was a couple of years back, dunno if it's still there) a cracking Chinese buffet place in Plymouth. I went in with a colleague when we were down that way and had a great feed. I think it was called "Pan Asia".
Vegas is typical of America. Quantity over quality generally speaking. Not particularly cheap but if you choose the right place it's worth having a go while you're there. The Mirage and the Wynn do decent lunch buffets. I am rather partial to king crab.
A few years ago before the boom in buffet dining we went out of our way to make a half hour journey to a Taybarns place north of Sheffield. It was easily the worst food I've ever bought. If you ever wondered what happened to all the turkey twizzlers left over after Jamie Oliver got them banned form school menus, wonder no more. Horrendous.
There is a chain around this neck of the woods (don't know if they're nationwide) called Cosmo which does attract its fair share of councilists and the food is of varying quality but on the three or four occasions I've been in it's easy enough to make a decent fist of it by sticking to things like duck, tandoori chicken/lamb chops, shish kebabs etc.
There is (or was a couple of years back, dunno if it's still there) a cracking Chinese buffet place in Plymouth. I went in with a colleague when we were down that way and had a great feed. I think it was called "Pan Asia".
Vegas is typical of America. Quantity over quality generally speaking. Not particularly cheap but if you choose the right place it's worth having a go while you're there. The Mirage and the Wynn do decent lunch buffets. I am rather partial to king crab.
Edited by DRFC1879 on Tuesday 28th March 10:04
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