Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think all you can eat restaurants are just awful

96 replies

TaylorQuifft · 15/08/2015 18:35

I was out with dc today and we went to get lunch/early dinner, every other restaurant was packed and full apart from this enormous buffet all you can eat place.

I paid £9 per person for each of us and tried a little bit of every cuisine in the restaurant but could not taste the difference between the pizza and chow mein. Everything was full of salt and just shit.

Aibu to say all you can eat is awful.

OP posts:
Altinkum · 15/08/2015 21:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sharonthewaspandthewineywall · 15/08/2015 21:17

Love the cosmos in Hastings. The one in Wolverhampton is disappointing though

Sapat · 15/08/2015 21:20

But wonderful if you have kids/fussy eaters/in a rush.

ghostyslovesheep · 15/08/2015 21:26

depends - we have one near is I really like - it's good for getting the kids to try new things - mine can't agree on food one likes chinese, one only like indian and one will only eat pizza Grin

so for a cheap family meal it's fine

BorderWrangler · 15/08/2015 21:34

There's a particular Chinese one in the city near me that I've been to and really like. Never done any other cuisine on an 'all you can eat' basis though.

I liked being able to have bits of the stuff I liked without arsing around with set menus etc., so I could have the noodle dishes I liked the most, soup, crispy seaweed, and try a few other dishes that I wouldn't normally spend money on in case I didn't like them.

TBH though I can only afford to eat out or get take away 3/4 times a year, so I don't know what's considered 'good'. I'm definitely not loosing sleep over monosodium glusomates (I'm not entirely sure what they are, I did look at the wiki page but my eyes glazed over with boredom).

Elledouble · 15/08/2015 21:39

Buffets give me the dry horrors. All that food sitting about warm for god knows how long, at the mercy of people coughing and sneezing over it and not washing their hands. Horrible.

I did once go with a friend to an all you can eat AND DRINK for £20 Greek place up the road from where we lived in north London. That was the kind of place where they bring you lots of fresh dishes rather than a buffet, though. It was a messy night Grin we noticed they no longer did the 'all you can drink' not long after.

DrCoconut · 15/08/2015 21:39

Bun baker, it wasn't jumbo's was it? We once ate there, it was ok but got shut down not long after.

surreygoldfish · 15/08/2015 21:51

Agree - generally try to avoid. Also agree that all incl hotels are generally just as awful for the same reasons. Generally too much very average food just not very appealing...just not into stuffing food for the sake of it and agree warm buffet food with lots of people helping themselves ugh!

VulcanWoman · 15/08/2015 22:06

Lyn, yeah there are 18 Cosmo's in Britain.
People it's Cosmo not Cosmos!

SnozzberryPie · 15/08/2015 22:14

We stayed at an all inclusive hotel when DD was about ten months old and the buffet was amazing for that, she could try tiny bits of everything and we discovered that she loved random things including gazpacho soup Grin

Bunbaker · 15/08/2015 22:42

DrCoconut it was a Chinese/Thai place in Stocksbridge. I had a Thai meal there once where we just ordered off the menu and it was fine. I was ill after the Chinese AYCE buffet.

This was about 7 or 8 years ago.

ShelaghTurner · 15/08/2015 22:47

We have a Jimmy Spice's that is quite good. Fast turnover of food and so it's fresh and lots of choice. And the children love it. However the last time we went there dd1 was sick (she was coming down with something and we hadn't realised, she hardly ate anything) and I haven't dared go back because they must be thinking of us as the pigs who let their child eat so much she was sick Blush

nooka · 15/08/2015 23:26

We have a great all you can eat Japanese restaurant near us. It's not buffet style though, you order up to eight dishes at a time and you can put in five orders. It's relatively pricey and if you order and don't eat you have to pay an additional charge. It's fun for a family meal every now and then with our hungry teenagers.

I agree that buffets, and especially for some reason Chinese buffets seem to be fairly low quality food.

ephemeralfairy · 15/08/2015 23:51

Disgusting places. The waste, the way it all tastes the same, the greedy grabbiness, the idea of dirty hands and double-dipping etc, questionable food safety, food being dried up after standing under hot lamps etc etc.. Urgh. And I don't even think they're good value! We went to Red Hot World Buffet in Cardiff and it was £15 per person. I'd rather go to Wagas and get a freshly cooked main and side for around that price.

cluecu · 16/08/2015 01:06

I absolutely hate them even though I have an unexplained love for buffets at parties/weddings/christenings etc

I hate all you can eat restaurants. Sadly I don't have kids Sad and I get why they make life easier in that sense but for me bleugh.

Would much rather have one decent quality dish than a mix of random cuisines for the sake of it.

Plus everyone is up and down form their seats all the time so the whole point of going for a meal and sitting around a table is redundant.

Hate them. Love buffets at parties Smile

HelenaDove · 16/08/2015 01:10

I havent been to a restaurant in years and have never heard of Cosmo.

Is this what some places are doing now

EmeraldKitten · 16/08/2015 01:12

Creme- Viva Brazil?

If so I was there last week in Cardiff (was it there or is it a chain).

I was really disappointed. We were there over two hours and were only brought 5 types of meat, all of which were fairly shit.

The salad bar was lovely IMO but I don't generally pay £20 for a plate of salad!

MaitlandGirl · 16/08/2015 02:27

All you can eat buffets are really popular here at bowling clubs (lawn bowls). It's very expensive for us (the kids are all adult prices) but the range of food is great.

I go because the fresh prawns are great and I'm the only one who eats prawns and you don't see the piled high plates like you do at the all you can eat carvarys in the UK. The plates are small dinner plates and all the deserts are precut into bite sized pieces.

BsshBosh · 16/08/2015 17:56

I don't mind them - each to their own.

But I never eat in them because I simply can't eat alot in one go and it's cheaper for me to eat off a standard menu. I also worry a bit about hygiene with so many people hovering over all the dishes.

RonaldMcDonald · 16/08/2015 18:05

Like being in prison...all that lining up with your tray to have something slopped on your plate

I've been to great brunch places in Vegas and Mexico and they still make me feel the same way although the quality is amazing and they are 5 star

I'd prefer a greasy spoon

silveroldie2 · 16/08/2015 18:42

Only been to one once - I followed this bloke round who had slices of each of the meats, each of the veg and three yorkshire puds. Using the same plate he then piled on as much salad as the plate would hold, topped with a dollop of mayonnaise and then went back and put 2 ladles of gravy over the whole lot.

It completely put me off my meal. Yuk.

MamaLazarou · 16/08/2015 18:49

YANBU. I generally eat as much as I can/like when I go to a normal restaurant.

Rainicorn · 16/08/2015 18:54

Za Za Bazaar is indeed lovely. It's the only AYCE place I like going to.

KatoPotato · 16/08/2015 18:54

These 'world buffets' are the pits. One opened near us and we went to try it, but the whole place stank of the Indian section so made everything else taste weird. Salt and msg.

sharonthewaspandthewineywall · 16/08/2015 19:15

Cluecu they should totally open a party food style all you can eat I think