COSMO All You Can Eat World Buffet Restaurant | Silverburn, Glasgow

We came here at the end of February on a Friday because it looked genuinely lovely but things started going downhill pretty quick.

Firstly, the price is extortionate for the service and food that you actually get in here. We paid £20.50 per person which honestly didn’t seem too bad from the way the place looks as the decor is genuinely stunning. It looks fancy and welcoming.

Customer service is extremely lacking and it’s not even the fault of the front of house staff. When we came in it must’ve been around 2pm and it did get very busy very fast and there was only one front of house member of staff. When we arrived at the restaurant we didn’t even get a “Hi” or “Good Afternoon” it was just a “follow me”, that’s literally our entire conversation with the front of house staff member before asking for refill glasses. Like I said, I don’t blame the lack of customer service on the staff but rather the understaffing issue which was prevalent during our visit.

The place smells pretty bad - I’m not seeing this mentioned anywhere else in the reviews for Cosmo Silverburn but the place truly stank when we visited. The best way for me to describe it is old bathroom pipes or a very poorly kept public bathroom. The smell was strong where we were sat (very near to the front of restaurant bar and register) and it only got worse and stronger around the dessert and teppanyaki areas. It was quite uncomfortable and it made the food difficult to eat as all I could smell was that stench but there were no bathrooms in sight anywhere near us so we did find that quite strange.

Seating plans? Never heard of those. I feel like the staff choice of where to sit visitors is quite poor. I’m not sure what their policy or rules are around where to sit guests but we were expecting to have a lovely quiet lunch in this very beautifully decorated establishment until we were quite literally surrounded by couples and families with tons of kids which quickly made the experience go from enjoyable to dreadful. All the noise from the kids and seeing food being handled very poorly and dropped all around us was unpleasant and I feel like, judging by the sheer size of the place, they could have easily sat families with children in a different part of the restaurant. There were only two couples sitting in our area which was myself and my spouse and an elderly couple next to us who looked equally bemused by this poor seating choice.

The food was either brilliant or bland and you could never really tell which it would be. We have both tried a lot of different foods as we are quite adventurous with our tastes and we found that most of the meat dishes that were a variant of chicken or some part of a chicken were extremely dry, bland and the texture didn’t really meet our expectations. There were some exceptionally tasty dishes such as the bao buns, different curries and rices but when it came to noodles - they didn’t even really have a taste despite looking mesmerising. Desserts were alright, nothing really stood out and they all tasted a bit mediocre and maybe even a little bit cheap - especially the mousse.

Food was mostly lukewarm but that wasn’t the fault of the staff. I have seen a lot of reviews mention food temperature in this place and honestly I wholeheartedly agree that most of the things I ate were lukewarm at best but I have observed that most of the food pods are closed until some individuals take some food from them and leave them open instead of closing them. I have watched this happen numerous times during our visit and due to their apparent understaffing I really don’t see how the little staff they have would be able to constantly follow guests and close the pods after them non-stop. The pods don’t seem to close by themselves which I believe is a safety feature but guests should maybe be advised that this is a requirement.

Overall, it was an experience and a half but not a good one due to all the issues outlined in the review. I’d probably try Cosmo again but perhaps not at Silverburn.