Laughing Buddha — Restaurant in North Island

It is not possible to review the food nor the service because we did not receive either. We made a booking for 8pm Sat 9 Aug 2025. We arrive to be met with a large number of patrons crowding the entry. We stood there for 20 minutes and not a single staff member greeting us. Having to make our way through the crowd to ask for our table. We were shown a table and waited another 20 minutes with absolutely no service. We went to ask for menus and glasses and water. Perusing two menus between 7 people, we found that we had only three options. We got up and asked if we can also order from the same menu as the table next to us. We were told to please make up our minds and order quickly because the kitchen will be closing in a few minutes. We got up and left with other patrons complaining about the non-existing service. The staff did not even notice us leaving. This morning, I am presented with, "We hope you enjoyed your dining experience at Laughing Buddah". No. No, we did not. It was uninviting and unengaging. We went around the corner to another restaurant and had a wonderful experience with great food.

Further to my review, I was contacted by Hannah from Laughing Buddah offering to redeem themselves, which I have to say, they certainly did in-part. We were invited again and this time the service was significantly better, albeit it was a quieter time. The food was really good, and we enjoyed every bite. I would recommend not to take a late table unless you are already familiar with the menu and know what...

This is an update to my previous positive review I left some time ago.

Although the food is still of a reasonably good standard, full of the right tastes and aromas, unfortunately portion size has taken a turn for the worse. We expect over time, and certainly in turbulent times we currently find ourselves in for prices to go up. That's reasonable. But to find the portion sizes also getting smaller is disappointing. But my main criticism from all the recent visits we have had is the service from the front desk. The gentleman possesses very little emotion and warmth when greeting you, and doesn't get any better when telling us to where to sit. He doesn't engage with you at all, quite the opposite, but whatever he does do he manages to do it with an air of arrogance. In fact the last time we visited we conducted a little experiment; I walked up to the desk to pay, he handed me the bill, I payed and my family and I left, all without the gentleman saying a single word to us! Quite astounding!! And for anyone wondering, no we havent given him any reason to be like this. We're very normal, polite customers that don't like a fuss, and from our observations he's just generally like this. Unfortunately it's starting to leave a bad taste on the whole dining experience, which is a shame as the food is nice. But the good thing about dining in New Plymouth is there are always plenty of other...

Delicious food. Atrocious service/no service So loud we could not have a conversation. Cold draft coming up the stairs

We have eaten at Laughing Budda in the past, and it's been great. But I'm sad to say it was not a pleasurable experience this time.

We had 8x people at our party, and dinner was booked for 6.30 pm. We arrived slightly early and were directed to our table. It was so noisy we could not converse with one another; the restaurant was full. It was cold, and a draft was coming up the stairs. We sat for 40 minutes with no wait staff offering us to order a drink or to take our order. The two teenage males continually passed our table while cleaning and setting up tables without stopping. We were going to get up and leave, but we didn’t as it was a birthday celebration, and we were sure we would not get a table for 8x at short notice elsewhere. After one of our party got up and asked at the counter for some service, We were offered a drinks order and food order after 40 minutes of waiting, only to receive the wrong drinks order, and they were taken back. The food arrived quickly after ordering , which was delicious, and we could not fault the food. Drinks arrived 70 minutes after arrival. We ate and left quickly, everyone of us had tge same feeling It was so sad that we couldn’t enjoy our birthday...