Buffet Time Restaurant & Karaoke — Restaurant in Eastbourne

If there was an option to give this place zero stars I would. We attended here one evening for dinner. The first strange encounter was the service staff they were polite enough however you are asked to pay before you have any food or drink. At first neither of us question this part from it's slightly odd. Now however I understand why they do this so if they are at fault you cannot get a refund as you have paid upfront. We both had roughly the same things from the buffet which seemed ok nothing special. However some of the meats we had pork and chicken we questions the temperature of as they seemed to be to cold upon the first bite. So there for stayed well away from for the rest of the time this particularly put me off eat anything else. Within under an hour I started to not feel to well then shortly after was violently sick. Low and behold I wasn't the only one we both were then extremely unwell we both had food poisoning and continue to be violently unwell for 3 days after attending this restaurant. I contacted the restaurant once we had both recovered over the phone to report the issue I was met with you can't speak to a manager they don't come in here and that wasn't us that made you sick. Eventually I managed to make some email correspondence with the manager of the restaurant I was met with an extremely rude and in fact discriminatory response. Stating things such as I know the person who dealt with your table you stated you were unwell to them which we didn't. You looked like there was a problem and you were sick when you walked in our restaurant. It's not are food it's you that's the problem. When I responded to this email stating that you cannot make assumptions about people and the way they look because you do not know what is going on in their lives and you do not know if they have a disability or medical conditions that may cause them to look a certain way. No surprise I was met with no response. It is extremely concerning to me that no further investigation was taken place unfortunately after reading further into details I also know I am not the first person to experience this. So please do...

I used to only dine at this restaurant with my family, and I have dined tonight, with guests ,6:30PM with high expectations from what I new it was like, sat at our table, then the waitress came over SHOUTING AT US loudly..asking us our drinks, instantly made us annoyed, all my guest and children ordered drinks, my husband ordered refill and I said I was fine, as being a buffet I didn't want to have a drink to fill me up I would've had water. waitress SHOUTING AT US AGAIN "oh you can't share a drink you know you can't have refill and then you drink from it" just to shut her up my husband asked for a sparkling water. NEVER EVER HAVE I FELT SO ASHAMED AT A RESTAURANT AND EMBARRASSED!!!!! I felt so bad that I brought my guesr from abroad at this restaurant. we were all ready to leave and go to nandos instead just because of the disgusting attitude of the waitress. I am never returning to this restaurant. I felt so uncomfortable in that restaurant. to top it off no one attended to our table to clear plates until we finished our meals. which was annoying as we had no room if we wanted to try other foods. The food, has gone WAY down in quality. the only thing I enjoyed of this whole experience was the hot and sour soup. Paid a lot of money and hated every minute. I never leave reviews but I needed to voice my opinion after my experience today.

the previous management was so much better, friendly, accommodating and used to remember us as we were frequent customers every time we visit England and even after moving here to live.

very...

I was very impressed with how Buffet Time has handled reopening after they had to shut down due to COVID. We used to frequent there a lot and were really upset when they decided to switch to a cafe style- so we're glad they are now back as buffet time again.

They have implemented one way systems around the buffet, provided gloves for when you self serve (and new gloves every time you refill your plate) and a temperature check upon arrival.

One of my favourite things about the new buffet time is the drinks machine. It's contact free and you get unlimited refills for 3.29- this is a huge improvement as you used to only get one drink for the same price.

They have a range of desserts included, with a chocolate fountain, ice creams, small cakes and puddings. The hot food is amazing and there's a lot of choice, and things like chips and chicken nuggets for picky eaters. Everything is labelled too.

They also allow guests to write a name and phone number at the door rather than forcing the NHS track and trace app- Many people have privacy concerns or old phones so this was really helpful.

The server we had was lovely and understanding- they didn't scold us for leaving food on the plate and she was very quick to clean up and help when someone else dropped a plate full of food.

We were made to feel welcomed (as we always have been) and will definitely go again- it's our favourite place to eat and definitely one to visit if you're...