Garden Restaurant Buffet — Restaurant in Christchurch

The reason for our visit to the Garden Restaurant Buffet was for Christmas Lunch. This is the first time we have gone out for Christmas Lunch so was a bit dubious about it all and having read some of the reviews (mostly to be honest from just the normal buffet service) wasn't sure we had made the right decision. After getting more nervous by the day as Christmas Day came we arrived at 11.30am for our allocated 2 hour dining experience. It was busy as can be expected for Christmas Lunch. We were shown where our table was, given our drinks vouchers (one glass of bubbly or non alcoholic per person with the cost of the dining experience) Tickets for the Lunch were (I think) $180 per person and we dined with 4 adults and one child. The tables were nicely laid out with Christmas Crackers, candles and a chocolate for after per person. As it was busy (we thought booking at 11.30 would be a good time) we all decided to have a quick look through the buffet and decide what we wanted to try first. Initially we were disappointed as most of the more popular dishes were almost gone and had not been replenished but it only took a request to some of the staff for these to be quickly replenished or as quick as the chefs could get them prepared. To be honest the selection of food was more than anyone could expect for a Christmas Lunch, so many choices (food stations) and the food had their individual flavours and didn't taste like a buffet sometimes can. It was faultless and not to mention the salad station and the dessert station (if you could cram it in after the selection of mains) also available was tea and coffee and a selection of Christmas baking. I would like to thank the Garden Restaurant and Buffet for their efforts on Christmas Day, and for the staff taking time out from their families to work to feed all the people that turned up on the day. I was impressed and so were our other guests especially being first time Christmas Day buffet goers. Just thinking if we would go again, and yes we probably would. $180 per person is quite pricey but given that it's Christmas Day, the selection of food and the amount of staff that were on I considered it to be well worth. Only thing we would do next time is arrive a lot earlier or at least for the first time slot of the day....

We had a dinner reservation for Sunday 11 June at 5.30pm. Our table was available until 7pm, which is more than enough time to make your dinner, dessert, coffee, tea, cheese & cracker selections etc.

I would highly recommend making a reservation online, as this seems to speed up the process of getting into the restaurant.

There's plenty of parking there. I would recommend turning up 15 minutes early as this is a really popular place, so there can be long queues to wait in (at times). You pay at the counter before you go into the restaurant.

There's so much food selection there. They cater to lots of people's tastes (see my photos to get a basic idea).

The restaurant staff are always friendly & they frequently clear plates from your table. If you want second or more helpings then just get a clean plate & utensils etc. & help yourself.

Free bottles of water can be collected from the bar. You can order & pay for soft drinks, alcohol etc. from the bar or at your table.

My family think that this is the best buffet in Christchurch. I've had some good/average visits here in the past. However, on this occasion all of the food that we selected was delicious & the service was great!

The pork crackle was really popular & everyone seemed to have swarmed in at the whole salmon within 10 minutes of opening. The steam pudding was in what appeared to be a caramel sauce. With a scoop of custard & ice cream it was the dish of the night for me - absolutely delicious!

I would definitely recommend a visit to...

Went during the week table booked for 5.30' haven't been for over a year as wasn't that great the last time but decided to try again for a birthday dinner, $42 dollars is expensive but especially when the food is not up to standard, the garlic bread was hard & tasted stale/ old, garlic butter was very dry, couldn't taste it, the lasagna pasta was rubbery so didn't taste fresh & the macaroni tasteless, my 10yr old Gson loves pasta which is his favorite food but he didn't like either as also no flavor, are you cutting back on ingredients? as they were so bland & not cheesy at all also have to wonder but are the last night's end of dishes being reheated for the beginning of the next night? The potatoes & pumpkin were hard and dry in-fact the only good dishes was the chicken n corn soup, some of the chinese, the salads & the apple pie, sticky date pudding & custard, we didn't get to try any other sweet stuff as the bain marie's were empty for some time so missed out and that was same with the other dishes also, took ages for food to come out yet it wasn't busy, seems this place has gone backwards yet charging more for lesser quality' hmmmmm maybe need to replace your cooks#chefs. On the plus side the guy who looked after our table was quick with clearing the plates & was lovely & friendly hence the stars but we came for the food so not...