COSMO All You Can Eat World Buffet Restaurant | Derby — Restaurant in England

Take this review with a pinch of salt (pun intended).

We were a party of 4 and decided to give this place another visit post COVID.

Now do bare in mind we last came here over 3 years ago so we did expect there to be some changes.

Unfortunately, we set the bar for ourselves too high and ended up rather disappointed.

We booked prior and was not just a walk in so we were only waiting 15 - 20 mins max which was acceptable.

What we felt was not acceptable was what followed.

Being greeted with a stand up sign at your table saying 'Please vacate your table by xyz time' was a bit in your face and I felt quite unnecessary.

We're paying good money for a buffet experience so I don't need a continual reminder when I'm sat eating that I'm on the clock.

Also, they have reduced the eat in time from 2 hours to 1.5. Cheeky if you ask me.

What's more, they bung without warning an additional 3% on the bill BEFORE you go eat mind and when I questioned this I got a shrugged shoulder response from the waitress:

"Oh, that's for staff tips and stuff".

She did state that it can be removed but only for a family member wanting to avoid the awkwardness I declined and said ok.

It seems this establishment like many are riding on the coat tails of COVID, Brexit, cost of living increase bla bla.

Also, it felt very Americanised (tips being added masquerading as a 'Service Charge' and a now reduced time limit).

Sure yes I'll agree entirely, everything has gone up and it's the law of averages that now apply. That being, you the consumer will take the hit and that is by having to go deeper into your pockets.

Sadly and regrettably this dampened the mood and what followed was little improvement.

For a Saturday night at peak time we envisaged far, far more choice in the way of cuisine.

Some foods looked overcooked, drab and quite frankly my left foot would have had more of an affect on my palette.

Due to the fact I was so hungry I settled for whatever space I could find at the stations.

Don't get me started on the queuing system it was weird to tell the truth.

I'm on a time limit and I'm not queuing up like an idiot if there's space at a station further down.

If you're like me and proactive, you'll get funny looks and deemed to be pushing in.

I think the staff were pleasant enough and smiled back and were polite so I can't really knock them it would be unfair and untrue.

I suppose you could say I'm being OTT and this is what buffets are like. However, when you're shelling out nearly £100 and adding in drinks etc it makes you wonder why the food is so lacklustre.

Again and to reiterate they've gotten greedy and complacent. What's worse, it isn't unique and a LOT of eateries are following suit.

Oh word of warning, the deserts (chocolate pudding and sticky pudding) are worse than what I had in primary school.

I have a very sweet tooth I know my deserts and they were terrible.

Anyways, that's enough from me your eyes will be strained now. We won't ever be returning here.

Goodbye Cosmo...

Hi, this is to convey my disappointment on how one of your manager Sid handlling customer concern last Sunday when we visited the Derby branch.

One of my colleague would like to celebrate her birthday in Cosmo Derby. In fact she was from lichfield but we manage to invite her to celebrate it with Cosmo derby because of the good experience we had in the past. She booked a reservation last Friday for Sunday evening celebration. She is not aware of the Free birthday policy but myself since we are frequent customer we are aware that Free birthday policy needs to be booked on Website. However, my friend was also limited on the user journey on the website given there is too much information. I called the hotline however we decided to negotiate it during the actual visit and taking our chance that it will be granted because our stand, so long we have a valid proof to show that there is a birthday celebrant, it should be accepted. Second, I don’t think that the website interface is friendly enough for all the client, please take note that there are some client are not into 100% into online booking.

I believe we are trying to explain this during our conversation with Sid politely but instead of comfort and assistance, the way he approached us is a bit sharp. We are trying to explain the situation but these are remarkable comments in front of my family and friends.

“I don’t think so you read the website I don’t think so you understand the policy because if you read there is no discussion to begin with. “ Note that comments might not 100% the exact words but these was the context we got during the conversation.

I believe, he was trying to explain things on his way but our take away — he was a bit offensive.

Trying to question me back and fort and we felt during the whole conversation , we felt that his judgement we are just after the Free Birthday Meal well in fact we are NOT. We just trying to communicate the gap on the process. There are missing both online and on grounds policy with regards to birthday free meal.

We asked him to end the conversation because it will be pointless if we keep the discussing it but he will just listen to his stand. All we want we want is to eat and celebrate the birthday of our dear friend.

He still offer the Free meal for celebrant but we refused already, right after then he made another comment: “a lot of people are queuing already” so let sort it out? This is another point that we felt that we are causing delay well in fact we decided to end the conversation because we can actually pay for our meals ( total of 7pax).

I am not taking against this with Sid but we are giving feedback because this might cause a huge miscommunication. Perhaps you can also check your booking policy not just on online but also on ground. Provide a better mechanics with compliance consumer...

I attempted to try as many items as possible, I managed to get through 6 plates. It cost £23 and you got 1 hour and 45 minutes. Dinner menu. Didn't manage to try the live made teppianka thing, there was always a queue. Looked good though, only place to get scallops.

Sushi - chicken, spicy fish and two others. It was decent. Chilli - This was pretty good as chilli comes. Roast beef in pepper sauce - one of my favourites, a nice flavour and not too chewy. Gammon - I did not like this, did not like the texture. Char Sui pork - had a good flavour, sweetish, Chinese flavours.

Prawns - put off by the poop chute still being in it. Also hated the weird creamy fishy taste. Hashbrown - great. Roast duck - decent as duck comes. Mussels - two kinds. Bit fishy but ok. Flank steak - grisly, not my favourite but scratches the itch. Stewed pork - decent.

Amritsar fish - it was reasonably flavourful. Falafel - good but not crispy on the outside. Different colours were nice. Green Thai curry - it was not bad. Red Thai curry - not bad. Squid - I liked it. Chinese steamed fish - this was good. Seekh kebab - dry, flavours ok, not good.

Sweet and sour chicken - decent. Sweet and sour not my favourite thing in general. It was battered, good amount of meat in the pieces. Spring roll with veg inside - good as they come. Crab claw thing - it was interesting. BBQ ribs - one of my favourites. Chinese ribs - I did not like these ones. Peri wings - tied as my favourite with the roast beef. Nice flavour and cooked on a grill.

Marshmallow with chocolate form fountain - was good. Blueberry cheesecake - not bad. Not much blueberry flavour but taste like cheesecake. Panacotta - love panacotta. Thin jelly layer on top was an odd choice but I liked it. Stick toffee pudding - bad. Thin, dry. Chocolate pudding - bad, thin and dry also. Jelly - I liked it. Banana in custard - I quite liked this. Interesting budget dessert. Apple pie thing - I don't like apple chunky desserts in general, unfortunately waste most of my cube.

Fruits - fresh and good though limited selection.

Soft serve ice cream - queue of kids built up. Simple but tasty.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It was busy on Saturday at 5pm and only got busier. Reservation highly recommended, there was a queue of people on the lounge waiting. As you might expect, lots of average and below average items mixed in with a couple good things. It's a good opportunity to try lots of stuff you haven't had before. The range of foods is decent in my opinion. There were a couple of items I would have liked to try but felt too full for, I'd like to try the teppianka station thing next time I go because I was interested in trying the scallops. Time allotted...