I notice a lot of Chinese buffets are opening up now. I like Chinese food but have never been to one of these. What do people think of them? Are they any good and are they good value for money?

On the whole the quality of the food is not up to what you'd get in a decent chinese restaurant or even a good takeaway, but they are fine if you're just after a bit of cheap and cheerful grub in town.

Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed!

definately gives u alternatives to pizzahut, subway, kfc, macdonalds and bugger ming!

not a fan of chinese food but Jumbo's do a nice lemon chicken :P

The food is generally better quality in the evening rather than during the day when the choice is more limited.

Jumbo - i find it a bit hit and miss, I've had good visits and bad visits...

Marble Court which is rockingham way (i think) down t'moor does a good buffet which is order all you like - so at least you know the food has been cooked fresh just for you...

As for value for money - depends how much you eat! If you eat a prawn cracker and a noodle - probably not!

go, eat, enjoy!:thumbsup:

There's a new one opening up on west street that has a very catchy jingle on it's radio advertising that I've been singing all day...

eat, drink, party.... WOK-MANIA!!!

I've also fiound Jumbo hit and miss -been and its luvly , been other times and it aint been.

Still going though!!

I'd recommend these kinda places if you are starving hungry and want somewhere cheap to go with a load of ppl.

NOT somewhere to take a lass though (took a date to Jumbo once. Bad idea ). Also not summat I'd go before a night out as you'll be too full on sweet n sour to get the beers in.

Jumbo gave mrs and me guts trouble next day. In fairness tho' people tend to go beserk, as its buffet , and give system a right hammering!!!

I don't mind the chinese buffet places but if you are looking to go for an evening meal then i'll never turn down the zing vaa restaurant. In the afternoon i'll go to the buffet places like Jumbo, I have had a bad gut a few times after visiting the no 1 opposite ponds forge.

I walked past Wokmania on Wednesday night, and they were just doing the finishing touches before it opened Thursday lunchtime. I picked up a leaflet with their details.

Buffet prices are £4.99 (12pm - 5pm), £6.99 (5pm - 7pm) and £8.99 (7pm - 12am).

It looks very nice - a bit posher inside than the Jumbo. Can't compare it with No 1 as I haven't been there.

Their phone number is 0114 275 5885 if anyone is interested. It's licensed and their maximum stay is 2 hours (I think Jumbo is 1½ hours).

I'd highly recommend both and i always stuff my face silly at Jumbo and Number 1. I think they are very similar in what they serve and the quality.

Will look forward to tring Wokmania. Wsan't sure if we needed another Chinese buffet although i'm guessing this serves the West St area

Depends what you like eating. If you want to stuff your face with crap MSG laiden food then chinese buffet's are the way forward! If your the sort of person who eats crap most of the time then you will probably think the food is very good. It's better than a pot noodle anyway.

I guess they are good value, but I've never eaten much more than if I'd been for a 'sit-down' Chinese meal. There is usually a reasonable variety of food, but it obviously suffers from being put under hotlamps. Seems very little atmosphere in the No1, feels a bit like a school dinner hall!

Makes me laugh that Jumbo have the cheek to charge for tap water! :hihi:

wok mania is well worth going, there is one in leeds and its great value for money.
:clap: :clap: :clap:

Chinese buffets are taking over the world - boycott them now!!

I went to Wokmania this lunchtime............the food is great, the staff are very polite and it's a bargain meal...............just beware of the 10% service charge they don't mention in their leaflets................still great value though

there's one opening soon on staniforth rd, attercliffe, chinese, thai and indian under 1 roof...perfect for me! now if it were uphill from where i live i could go, eat and just roll down the hill home!:clap:

Has anyone else been to Wokmania yet? Just wondering if the choice of food in the evenings is as good as Jumbo's.

is it better for veggies?

I realised last week, that I end up feeling crap everytime I go to Jumbos!

Originally posted by neeeeeeeeeek
Depends what you like eating. If you want to stuff your face with crap MSG laiden food then chinese buffet's are the way forward! If your the sort of person who eats crap most of the time then you will probably think the food is very good. It's better than a pot noodle anyway.

Surely even a dead rat is better than a pot noodle??

Is this MSG stuff really bad for you? (slight hi-jacking of the thread :D ) I always have a really bad headache after eating chinese (and maccy d's actually) I think I'm allergic to tasty food :D

Me and some mates went to WokMania on Friday evening.

The setting was a lot nicer than Jumbo - lots more space and generally seemed bigger and a more plush.

The choice of food seemed quite a lot smaller than Jumbo though. The dishes seemed similar to what you might find at Jumbo with their "lunch" menu - they did serve duck though. I would make a guess and say that they seemed to have around 30-50% fewer dishes.

Given that it was only the second night I might cut them some slack and go again to try it, but we paid 8.99 for it and I certainly wouldn't say it was as good as Jumbo on that visit.

the chinese oriental buffet is fab the food is great & theres plenty to choose from..... best nights are friday & saturday.:thumbsup:

Wow, how many folk have mentioned being poorly after going to a Chinese buffet? I am ill every time without fail that I go to either Jumbo or No 1! I thought it was just me!

Originally posted by Kristian
Wow, how many folk have mentioned being poorly after going to a Chinese buffet? I am ill every time without fail that I go to either Jumbo or No 1! I thought it was just me!
There's no wonder really, the food is sat around under heat lamps for ages etc also perfect for people to cough/sneeze on.

Plus it wouldn't suprise me if the stuff that wasn't eaten just got re-heated the next day.

Personally ive only been to 1 chinese buffet and that was in birmingham.

Is this MSG stuff really bad for you? (slight hi-jacking of the thread ) I always have a really bad headache after eating chinese (and maccy d's actually) I think I'm allergic to tasty food

It's not very nice stuff!

http://www.msgmyth.com/


Any in case that does not traumatise you, check this out!

http://www.notoriousmsg.com/

:D

Originally posted by neeeeeeeeeek
It's not very nice stuff!

http://www.msgmyth.com/


Any in case that does not traumatise you, check this out!

http://www.notoriousmsg.com/

:D

wow, am I glad that I don't seem to be allergic to MSG.

Let me tell you a story:

I went to a chinese buffet (lau's in durham) with my parents for my 24th birthday. It tasted nice. The next day I got on a flight to cyprus for my holidays. This was fine because the salmonella bacteria that had lodged in my gut have at least a 24 hour incubation period so I felt fine till I arrived on my holiday. I spent two days of my holiday in hospital with unimaginable things happening to my bowels. The rest I spent feeling rather ill and not really being able to get much further than the toilet.
This annoyed me a lot.

I got home and discovered that I was not the only one, 120 people had received the same poisoning from the same restaurant. Obviously with such overwhelming evidence against the restaurant we all filed lawsuits demanding compensation. This took while to come through but when it did I received nearly 5000 quid.

So the answer is, YES eat at chinese buffets all the time you might get lucky! :D 5000 is a lot of money for a little bit of suffering...

Originally posted by TimmyR
I got home and discovered that I was not the only one, 120 people had received the same poisoning from the same restaurant. Obviously with such overwhelming evidence against the restaurant we all filed lawsuits demanding compensation. This took while to come through but when it did I received nearly 5000 quid.

So the answer is, YES eat at chinese buffets all the time you might get lucky! :D 5000 is a lot of money for a little bit of suffering...

What did you order?
What's the address?
and when is the next bus?

seriously though rice dishes can be very dodgy, certain bacteria love it and heat doesn't kill the bacteria, i can't be more specific, i read it somewhere a while ago but i think it is cooked rice allowed to stand which is the culprit.

I've got a friend who refers to the one opposite Ponds Forge as 'The Great Dining Hall of the People' which always makes me chuckle...

Originally posted by 40summat
What did you order?
What's the address?
and when is the next bus?

seriously though rice dishes can be very dodgy, certain bacteria love it and heat doesn't kill the bacteria, i can't be more specific, i read it somewhere a while ago but i think it is cooked rice allowed to stand which is the culprit.

fried rice is generally made from yesterdays boiled rice though, has been for centuries. And it doesn't generally make us ill, so there must be more too it than that.

I've had fried rice the same way all my life without problem, but you can read a Centers for Disease Control report here (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/cereus.html) which says:

Fried rice is a leading cause of 1B. cereus emetic-type food poisoning in the United States (1,4). B. cereus is frequently present in uncooked rice, and heat-resistant spores may survive cooking. If cooked rice is subsequently held at room temperature, vegetative forms multiply, and heat-stable toxin is produced that can survive brief heating, such as stir frying (4). In the outbreak described in this report, vegetative forms of the organism probably multiplied at the restaurant and the day care centers while the rice was held at room temperature.

I think that the key words are "can survive brief heating".

The longer that you fry your rice, the safer it should be!

Just been to Jumbo's for the second time.

Large selection of dishes, food was very tasty. Menu said it charged for a jug of water (£3.00) but when the bill actually came, no charges were made for the water.

All in all, very nice and exceptional value for money. Definitely be visting again.

I went to Wokmania last week. It was pretty good.

Wokmania - awful

see thread below

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60282

I went to Jumbo last week and the food was ok, not brilliant and definately not worth £9.99 per person.

Oh, and they only had XXXX lager - bleugh !

their are great candy town comes highly recommended.:thumbsup:

Walked past 'Wokmania' last night and there was a HUGE queue to get in! Is it not just a glorified bargin basement all you can eat buffet but its just placed in the 'trendy' district with a bit of laminate flooring and neon lights?

They are students

They are young - but they will learn

go to York. i know a bit far but theres a gorgeous chinese buffet place there i forget where it is but its near the train station and its all you can eat for 6.99 which is pretty gud. even comes with a sweet after!!

mmmmm................:D

I went to Jumbo last weekend, it was very busy for a saturday teatime and the food was okay and all was hot.

Have been there a few times now and found it fine each time i`ve been. :)

I've been to about 3 different ones on several occasions and I find that the savoury food is ok but the deserts are tac and pap!