Signatures Buffet — Restaurant in Sydney

We came with three people on a Saturday night without a booking. The place was absolutely flat out! It was super busy. The website says that they don't take bookings for groups with fewer than six people, so I thought that we were going to have to wait ages for a table but we were seated within about 15 mins of making our payment. I thought that was pretty good considering the number of people there. The service at the front desk and in the main bar is great. All staff a very professional and quick. I liked the food. It's good quality and good value. Because it's so busy, the food is really fresh and hot. The turnover is high and nothing sits out for long. They have a carvery section, pizza, pasta, a salad bar, sushi, fish, prawns, chicken curry, beef stir-fry, hokkien noodles, rice dishes and more that I have forgotten. It is a wide variety. They have a dessert bar too. The apple crumble pie in the dessert bar is excellent. I could eat that all day. They have chocolate cake, red velvet cake, vanilla sponge, cheesecake squares, Chocolate tarts, Portuguese tarts and soft serve ice cream. They also have a chocolate fountain!! OMG! I will say that some of the plates were still wet when they were returned to the dining area for reuse. I don't think they were dirty but they were wet. Also, I couldn't find a spoon for my dessert. I could only find a wooden paddle-pop...

Everyone has their bad days, but for two people in client facing positions to both have a sour attitude on a busy day? Now that’s something you don’t often see.

The receptionist, F, at the base level of the RSL was embarrassing, completely disorganised and ordering her employees around which made patrons uncomfortable. It didn’t seem like she really knew what was going on and was distant from the day-to-day process; which was further disappointing because it seemed she was a manager. She had lost around 4 receipts of membership renewals and forced us to get new cards and take new photos. This took a lot of time and frankly was a poor start; I kindly suggest this person take additional training to know how to act in front of patrons and develop people management skills.

The older lady, M, at the front desk to the buffet was a bit bossy. There was no one behind us but she was still pushing us to finalise the purchase when she had asked for ID — we asked her to be patient. It wasn’t a warm welcome. Generally you’d think welcomers would be trained on soft skills such as empathy and compassion but this wasn’t found here.

Food was generally good but the atmosphere was ruined by the unwelcoming service. The one piece of good service was the bartender who was younger but clearly had more experience with being around people; she was lovely and extremely patient despite...

Let’s wet the loins with some inspiration for your next uncomfortable waistline.

Signatures at Merrylands is at the top end of what I feel is a Sydney niche lane of AYCE – the RSL/Sports Club (“Sporties”) Buffet. The lure of the Merrylands branch of Signatures Buffet chain is the variety x perceived quickness of turnover, ala freshness, over others in town. There’s a solid carvery that boasts marinated cuts as well as classic roast fare. The saucy selections of meat are always key as there’s a 1/3 chance that the straight up meat is dry a a nursing home. The fresh seafood is a free for all, and with this variety, really makes you feel like you’re in one of those banquet scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean.

The kids are kept well occupied with deep fried cuts ala chicken nuggets, chips and a chocolate fondue fountain in the dessert section. There’s also a surprisingly good sushi selection for those after lighter yet filling fare all the same. Everything is a little Asian tinged, but not overpowering, catering perfectly to the Pan Asian, Polynesian and Middle Eastern key demographic alike.

Growing up closer to Western Sydney, the under $35 AYCE was an absolute treat as a child and it’s why I’ve been happily fighting my genetic disposition ever since. If you’re an out of towner and meet a true local – this...