The Taste Lincoln — Restaurant in Lincoln

We have been regulars here since before it was even The Taste, we’ve never ever had a problem and always enjoy our visits during which we always spend an excessive amount because the cocktails are beautiful. We regularly recommend to friends and family and have organised multiple festive work meals here.

Well no more. After the way your manager spoke to me this evening, I will strongly be recommending that no one visits this establishment as the standards have dropped so drastically.

Tonight, I made a complaint because I did not believe that it was acceptable for the staff member on the door to be actively turning away patrons when the restaurant was half full, simply because they could not keep up with cleaning the tables. They had offered us a table that we could not fit our pram next too without blocking other diners, directly in the path of the kitchen and within full earshot of the bar which is too loud for our daughter and actively upsets her, when I asked if we could have one of the other multiple available tables. We were told no, we couldn’t because they needed cleaning and to find elsewhere to eat.

That is poor service and turning away customers is obviously negative to a business especially when you really weren’t busy in the first place. We would have happily waited for a table but instead of telling customers to wait a moment whilst a table was prepared, the staff member told us to either use the table that was unsuitable for our needs or leave.

I approached the man behind the bar and calmly voiced my complaint, explaining that it was very poor customer service to be actively telling people to eat elsewhere instead of inside your establishment. I explained that I had been coming for years and had never experienced a staff member actively turning away a customer before.

The staff member behind the bar then told me that because he didn’t recognise me it must be a lie that my family and I visit regularly because he’s worked there for 5 years and that I must be lying about the staff member turning us away. I explained to him that I had absolutely no reason to lie about the situation and if the situation hadn’t occurred then I would not be making a complaint to which he responded why are you lying then and told me that the other staff member had not said that. To which I responded with ‘you were not present so how would you know, I have absolutely no reason to lie about it’.

At this point he became very rude and arrogant, rolling his eyes and sighing at me so I asked to speak to a manager.

He told me that he was the manager so I then asked him why he was not listening or dealing with what I had said in a professional manner.

At this point he became verbally aggressive. Repeatedly calling me a liar despite the fact that I was not lying. He then called the staff member in question over where that staff member admitted to the manager that he had asked us to leave exactly as I had described, he then expanded on that and gave an explanation that he had done it because some tables were dirty and he did not want to seat a table of three on a larger table. (Which we would have understood and we would have returned later had this been explained to us in this way but it was not)

Despite the staff members admittance which was heard by multiple other customers. The manager still continued to call me a liar and verbally insult me until he just walked away because ‘I was distracting him and he was bored’.

I have honestly never ever encountered such poor service before in my life and especially here. This situation could have been resolved with an apology and a quick word with your staff member about turning custom away without explanation but due to the actions of a manager that is incapable of dealing with a situation without acting like a petulant child you have lost multiple customers that have supported you for a long time.

It’s a shame because you really were one of my favourite places to eat but I do not go into a restaurant to be insulted and spoken to so rudely. There is absolutely no...

My friends and I go for a meal here every other week because we just love the generally unhindered and relaxed atmosphere and feel of the place.

There is a small variety of tasty dishes that we are all accustomed to in British-oriental takeouts with a few 'safe' extra's thrown in for the fussy kids. (sausage, nuggets and chips). It is 'all you can eat', so, obviously it's great value for money when you compare it to any regular oriental takeout... assuming you have a good plate full... or two... or three ... or as many as you like. The staff always greet with a smile before seating you and are usually quick to clean up any used plates and bowls from your table.

The food is usually good and well stocked up, but certain days, times and the amount of customers present really does make a difference to the food quality. (Obviously food wastage and profits are taken into account which often has an effect on this too).

We find that Friday and Saturday evening between 5pm and 7pm to be best time for food quality. It's a little more expensive and busy/noisy, but the buffet has more dishes on offer and also because its at peak time, they keep all the trays well stocked up and freshened.

Unfortunately 'The Taste' is let down by the constant carelessness behind the bar and their frequent LOUD crashing of discarded bottles. Also the slow mid-afternoon (3pm to 5pm) dregs of food on the buffet can be very disappointing and spoiled in quality at times. But the worst thing as always has to be the ignorant parents of the general public letting their unsupervised children run a muck with sticky fingers. Generally we find there aren't many children eating here, especially in the evenings, but you do get the occasional party that can be chaotic, messy and loud.

At the end of the day it is a open buffet restaurant and you have to expect certain quirks and issues with both the general public and food supply. No one can predict how many customers will be present at any given time or how much they will eat, so trying to cook and keep the buffet stocked is a battle against demand and wastage. But for a good full belly of tasty food in a chilled out environment, this is the place to be at meal times! We will keep going back...

Having become a regular here with the limited about of buffets available in Lincoln this has become my favourite by a mile I regularly visit other big named named places and always find they are overpriced in comparison or you get a really short time to eat hr 1:30 to sit and that timer starts the minute you pay nevermind drinking eating or dessert it always feels rushed and sometimes the other places don't actually offer anything better in terms of food quality

The Taste certainly tick all the boxes with no time limits giving you time to eat talk and relax unlike others

I'm a bodybuilder in training so I'm constantly choosing foods that aren't just pure fat or deep fried and I can gladly say The taste cater to this brilliantly,the food selection is fantastic from vegetables to Curry's ribs,king prawns, grilled or crispy chicken ,pork, duck lamb I could go on forever

the desserts are all within my personal limit which is difficult for somebody like me but plenty of Low carb or low sugar choices along with fruits and other foods

( even better if you aren't on a low carb diet as there is plenty of naughty savoury and sweet treats )

My Conclusion and Future Feedback to the owner

The Taste is a brilliant place which offers fantastic value along with brilliant staff and food even a Loyalty program which is very generous and much appreciated

my only reason for not giving a full 5 stars is because with all the food choices they have to offer I feel the salad selection is definitely lacking behind and would be great addition if more choices were available

I also feel the toilet area could maybe do with alittle work, the door leading to toilets is stiff and the handle is broken the loft board directly above the door is also missing so there is just a big hole in the sealing it's just these little things that pull down the place as the food and seating area is spotless and very...