Buffet King — Restaurant in Gateshead

I recently went to this place, we were greeted at the door,,I was with my daughter, daughter in law, and 3 grandkids ages 14, 8, 17months, I was told it was £22.50 per adult, £9 50 each for the kids, and £3.50 for baby, we agreed on the prices,and entered the place, first. I was disappointed in the souo, the hot and sour soup wasn't nice at all[ when I go to Chinese restaurant I always have this soup, ) that was was the worst, I couldn't eat it, the kids had salad, and noodle, as the choice for them was very poor....I went back for main course, no prawn crackers, whats all this about I thought ,Chinese with no prawn crackers humm... I had noodles, chicken and red cabbage, the chicken was cold, I could now understand why the kids wouldn't eat the noodles, absolutely tasteless...we all tried different things ,but left the food, as it was terrible...we had Pepsi, and english teas...im not usual a Coke drinker...but it was OK...nxt was the bill, I thought in my head, it would come to approximately £120 ...I went to pay, and they said £133.50....I paid the bill, I read the receipts they charged me full price for the 14 year old, I challenge the bill, she said we go on height, if that was the case,im daughter was under 4ft 11, even thou she a adult she only small, and they charged full.price for her lol...I explained to the girl on till, that the meet and greet girl, has told us that the 14 year old would be £9.50 ...she basically called me a lier, it's not the extra money I paid, was the issue really, it's the facts they all lied to me, while we were in the place, we were there an hour, in that time, we were stared at by staff, making us feel really uncomfortable, we felt that they wanted our table for other customers.. it not that we ate loads either, infact after we left, the kids wanted macdonalds as they said they hungry, after that huge bill for very little food, I would definitely say not value for money, this is how the experience of this place was for us...not recommended, I definitely wouldn't return, they got our money this time, but enjoy it, cos we are not going to be a...

1 starWhere to start, out for a meal with my man and my 2 boys aged 12 and 8. Been here many times in the past and also for a family birthday ( group of 12 ). After today, you could not pay ME to eat here again. My youngest son hardly touched a thing as it was not the usual quality, neither did I. My partner and eldest son ate, but agreed quality has slipped. Went to the till to pay after finding a lump of jelly like substance in my meal ( complete put off ) I offered to pay for my the rest of my family but refused to pay mine. At this point, the deputy manager became hostile and very very arrogant. I had explained that I had been here a 100 x before and the quality is now poor, the deputy went on to say " well why don't I recognise you face then ". At this point 2 other customers where leaving and over heard what was going on at the till and agreed that quality has slipped badly. He then went on to accuse me of not wanting to pay for our meal !!! So I marched out off the store, with this man chasing me, he caught up just outside the restaurant asking me to pay for the 3 off us, but by this time he had gone to far. He was so rude that a passer by had stepped in to inform him that he should not talk to woman like this and that he was very rude, this was just after him threatening with the police which reduced my youngest son to hysteria ( my youngest son has learning disabilities ).. I pointed this out as he did not seem to be taking notice of the scene he was making, the reply I got was him yelling he did not care. Well security came, police came. After a little chat with the boys in blue, I was informed that this was not a 1st for the restaurant treating customers badly ( bad enough to get the police involved more than once ) and he would be taking it up with the manager when he comes in tomorrow. I did pay for the 3 meals and drinks, but why the huge scene to get what I offered in the 1st place ? Needless to say, I will never return to this restaurant again, yeah the food was bad, but by god, the service has brought a whole new level to poor...

Normally I don't review unless it's been excellent or extremely bad but I feel some clarity and transparency is needed here.

Location is great for starters. We got a warm welcome and was showed to our table. The prices seem quite steep compared to Cosmo, but hey ho we was there.

Allergy wise it took about 3 people who couldn't understand my language of English before they produced the allergy guide. With a dairy allergy I could eat most things available.

Food - it stated on previous reviews this was fresh, it certainly wasn't the chicken was like rubber, very very chewy and dry. Everything except the Chicken Curry was extremely bland, I'm not sure if the chef is tasting the food but some of it was inedible, I like a bit of MSG but this took it to a whole new level. In comparison to Cosmo, the food in Cosmo is of a much better quality and fresh and actually has flavour. Cosmo is much cheaper than this restaurant.

Service - The Staff are clearly being pressured to upsell drinks. There's being attentive and then there's asking us if we would like a drink 5 times by 3 different people within the space of 2 minutes. We wasn't having a great experience but this really ruined it. We was trying to have a conversation over dinner and literally every 2 minutes we was being pestered for a drink and we had barely touched the ones we had. The waiting staff doesn't seem to be assigned to certain tables / areas so it's just a free for all, multiple waiting staff hounding you for more drinks.

We went to pay, and we was asked if we wanted to tip. Personally I didn't think the service was worthy of a tip after the experience we had. The lady behind the bar, huffed at me when I said no I'm alright thankyou.

Overall, a very poor meal, poor quality food and very intrusive pushy service.

A recommendation for the manager/ staff, if we want a drink we will either ask or flag you down. You don't need to be pressuring every 2 minutes.

Word of advice. Honestly go to Cosmo. Don't waste...