JinZun — Restaurant in Fareham

VEGETARIANS/VEGANS - Avoid. Awful. In every way from the moment you get in. Rude manners from the lady at reception, no till roll to print a receipt so you don’t really know how much you pay per person unless you get a calculator and do it yourself or ask, but they really should tell you. I really hate to leave reviews, I barely leave any but I felt really bad today and I left upset. You pay £12.95 per person at lunch for there to be hardly any options but apart from that, up until I had paid and I was holding a plate I didn’t know I wasn’t going to be able to eat. I asked one of the waitresses what was vegetarian as nothing had a label on it and she didn’t know so she pass on the question to someone that didn’t know either. This second lady said “we don’t really have many options for vegetarians” at which point I was like ok so why did I pay £13 for. She then asked the cook who was in the room at that time. So the noodles that had to be checked twice if they were vegetarian and they weren’t. Even though there was no meat on them, they were made with oyster sauce. Using oyster sauce to make noodles is a choice so they choose to not make stuff vegetarian really. So she said there’s rice and chips and obviously fried stuff like cheese balls. Oh! And plenty of desserts. So why would I go to a Chinese restaurant to eat just egg fried rice, chips and desserts???? So I had to sit down while my other two friends were eating from not a great range of food either to be honest. Then a lady approaches the table and says that she thinks I am eating??? To which I said no, sadly I am not, I am looking at my friends eat because you don’t have options for me and she has the guts to say “there was a few options” (which contradicted what her colleague said!) What, egg fried rice and chips for £13 in a Chinese buffet? No thanks. I felt bad through all the experience, we will never be returning. Absolutely appalled that on a newly opened restaurant in England, they don’t have vegetarian options. Like I...

Went to Jin Zun in Fareham for an “all you can eat” buffet. The supposed fine print should really read: all you can eat… if you enjoy waiting around for empty trays, chewing through food that’s been sunbathing under heat lamps for hours, or celebrating when you find the last shrivelled prawn cracker like it’s buried treasure.

Some of the food, when it finally appeared, was actually decent. The problem? Getting hold of it before it vanished again. Most of our time there was spent staring at empty trays and wondering if we’d accidentally bought tickets to a waiting room instead of a buffet.

Then came the desserts. When I asked, I was told the staff were “on lunch” (an hour after opening — impressive stamina). When I asked again, I got an Olympic-level shrug. Eventually the puddings arrived: still frozen. Meanwhile, the ice cream had melted into a sad puddle. Bravo.

The cherry on this very underwhelming sundae was the staff’s attitude. When I politely asked for a refund, I wasn’t just refused — I was met with rudeness and dismissiveness, as if it was my fault for expecting food at an all you can eat restaurant.

Our eating experience did indeed last longer than we anticipated as majority of the time was spent waiting for food or discussing this with staff (as I'm sure the CCTV will show). After raising these concerns on leaving, vouchers were indeed discussed to which we declined as we had no intention on returning. Our biggest complaint was the attitude that we were met with, despite our attempts to remain polite.

So yes, Jin Zun is technically “all you can eat.” In reality, it’s more like “all you can wait.” Would I go back? Only if I’m training for a patience competition.

Avoid...

When we got there the chef was outside smoking and as you have to go up the escalator to the restaurant the smoke had filled the foyer. When you go in at the desk you order your drinks and the girl said "that's £87.50", after Id picked myself up off the floor she eventually told me after not being able to answer my questions or hear her that it's for the buffet, 3 adults and 1 child. The waiting staff didn't speak English or know what vegetarian or vegan was. They had to say they'd find their manager. So I was given a book to look through (the lady on the desk was very helpful) with every meal in it which told me if there was gluten or dairy in it but they werent allowed to tell me. Then go and find that meal in the buffet. So for vegan I could have sushi or chips and melon for pudding. I queried this at the desk, they said I should have come in and spoken to the staff and view the menu before I book a table. Bit impractical as it was someones surprise party. The table top spun around and rocked, the table, sofa was sticky and the cutlery was dirty. I thought it was a rip off but if you like piling your plate with unhealthy food and don't have a budget then it's right up...