Buffet City

The food here is very mediocre and the price has gone up from previous reviews (now £9.50 on Sunday). The only redeeming quality was a great dessert bar. If you come here, don’t waste your time on the food, just eat dessert!

In terms of buffets, this has to be one of the best ones in the city ! Prices vary through the day and through the week but it is great value for money here.
The décor inside is nice and tables are spaced well. You’re not sat on top of each other like in certain buffets !
It is mainly Chinese food available here, with some Thai and a fair selection of sushi. Dishes are fresh and hot. Lots of meat available ! There’s plenty of veggie options available too. The dishes themselves well cooked and actually flavoursome, at some buffets everything tastes a little bland, but variety here is great.
They do lack a couple of personal favourites however, no hoisin duck pancakes for example !
What really sets this buffet apart from the rest is the dessert selection. I don’t know about you, but the buffets I normally go to tend to have pretty disgusting desserts. The ones here are FAB. They actually taste like you expect them to taste ! From vanilla slices, to sticky toffee pudding, mango pudding to french fancies and coconut sponge. There’s even a soft serve ice cream machine with toppings.
Great buffet if you’re after an all you can eat fix :)

This has got to be the best Chinese buffet in town. Upon entering don’t let the hustle and bustle put you off, or the wide open noisy room with crammed in table and chairs.
Have a good look around the buffet area BEFORE you start to taste and serve yourself, don’t let your belly rule your head for a moment at least. Chech out the area at the back of the food area where you will find another set of tureens and a tapenyaki station… Now we are talking. This is a recommend BIG time…
The deserts are also a plus here with lots of tasty choice not usually found in a Chinese buffet.
Enjoy… Trust me, you will !

At Buffet City during the day, there are 60 dishes on offer and they also specialise in Thai food. During the evening, the buffet turns into a Grand Buffet where there are extra dishes such as crispy duck and crispy beef amongst others.
Buffet City is open 7 days a week. The huge 200-​cover open plan restaurant caters for both small and large parties and there is also have a separate function room for up to 50 people.
Buffet City is sotuated on Portland Street in the centre of Manchester, near to Piccadilly Gardens and close to the Palace Theatre.
This is one of the best Chinese/​Thai buffet in Manchester!

Food was good and hot. Staff was friendly. I would recommend if you’re in the area to give this a try this restaurant is not in China town. And it is very good price as well.

This is a buffet. You get exactly what it says on the tin.
I actually came here with a friend who recommended it– we purposely went into town, for a Chinese buffet, due to a two week craving for it that hadn’t gone away. So what could we do, we had to go. After strolling round town for a couple of hours, skipping both breakfast and lunch to make the most of the 60 dishes on offer, we arrived around 4.45pm to start our gorging.
It was perfect timing actually– it’s a bargainous £6.50 before 6pm on a a Saturday providing you’ve eaten and paid before the strike of 6. It’s £7.00 all day on a Sunday too I believe, but a little more expensive on weekday evenings (around £10.00)
Buffet City has a light, airy feel to it. It’s reasonably spacious– as in, you’re not sitting on top of the people next to you. We had a nice little table for two positioned next to the extensive desserts & ice cream machine (Oh yes. Score) The food on offer was more than satisfactory. It has all the standard chinese dishes you would get from a takeaway plus a few more. The ribs are pretty decent too.
Our only problem– which was not related to the venue or the food– was a bunch of drunkards on the table next to us, harassing us us for our phone numbers which penultimately ended up in them pulling down their pants and showing us their arse. On a Saturday it would seem it’s the place to stumble into after a few bevvies– just to let you know.
I’d definitely go back, and that says a lot in itself doesn’t it?

Over 60 dishes to choose from, you order drinks then it’s time to go and attack the buffet. All the food was of a high quality and the staff were very friendly. The cocktails were only £4.20 each and delicious, I recommend the duck and the salt and chilli chicken wings from the main buffet.
They also do a range of deserts and unlimited ice cream so it’s definitely a winner for me!

On occasion, I forget how much I like Chinese food. I put this down to a combination of being a bigger fan of Indian fodder, my mother’s enjoyment in telling me how much salt is in a lot of chinese dishes, and the fact that I like more than one thing ergo making it hard to order without a big group. It is for the latter that I like to believe buffet’s were made.
My companion and I were originally set on dining at Varsity but were told that they had stopped serving food. Hmmph. We then moved on to try out Red Hot Buffet but were told it would be a half an hour wait — people had booked tables! Who books a table for a buffet unless you’re in a huge group? Double hmmph. Finally we moved on to Buffet City and I was pleasantly surprised. A fair size and a fair selection of food, probably better quality than many buffet’s because they actually have less choices than many I have been to.
Unless you are dining in Vegas, when you go to a buffet you shouldn’t expect grandeur. Yes, it is a bit like a canteen; of course it is, you’re serving yourself and, remember, you have chosen to serve yourself! Everything I ate was tasty, the sweet and sour chicken was a touch dry, but I was more than happy to fill up on pork instead. There was a distinct lack of knives when we first arrived but hey, that’s what chopsticks are for! As ever, the best bits were the ‘starter’ items, i.e. prawn crackers, salt and peppers ribs, crispy chicken balls. I didn’t eat anything I physically didn’t like. I managed a total of five plates. My trusty companion and frequenter of many buffet’s assures me that three plates means you’ve got your money worth but five means you’re committing properly.
I had a perfectly nice glass of rose and enjoyed my meal thoroughly, never once having an overly full feeling. Well, maybe once, but that was due to my high waisted shorts and it wasn’t until we’d got on the bus. Oxford Road is bumpy.

Don’t know so many people write such awful reviews about this place. Probably for most of them it’s the first experience of a Chinese buffet. I admit that the food has a bit similar taste, but nevertheless it’s tasty and of a high quality. The staff is always helpful and smiling. We were there at 5pm — at their busiest time of the day. And yes, it was a bit loud with all those teens out there. But when you’re hungry you would notice then. Drinks are normally priced. Beer is cheeper than in the most of the pubs. So it’s a great value for money.

One of the best «all you can eat» buffets I’ve been too.
Lovely food the décor is a bit canteenie but you find that in most «all you can eat» type places.
I never got that greasy belly feeling either.
Would defo recommend to others to try for a quick £10 at must meal.

People in Manchester have a thing about all you can eat buffets. And rightly so, its a stroke of genius on the part of a restaurant (steady service, no dishes cooked to order, no table service) and the customer always feel they are getting their money’s worth — even if the food is poor you’re getting your tummy filled to bursting.
Buffet City is among the better places to go for this kind of dining. Most people (especially students) automatically choose Tai Wu but I think the atmosphere here is a little better and marginally less aggressive. That said, they are really strict about how long you eat for and you aren’t allowed a glass of water. The food is your usual Chinese buffet fare, greasy and sweet, so there is not much to remark on there, but there is a good range of dishes and plenty of stuff for veggies but most things taste kind of the same. Plus the prawn toast is pretty awful.
If you have £8 spare and an empty belly by all means sit down and chow down, but if you have a little more respect for your body or want somewhere with a little class, head into Chinatown and get a proper meal.

Having sampled, by now, most of the all-​you-​can-​eat buffets in central Manchester I can confirm that for me at least Buffet City is the best. It may not have an authentic sounding Chinese name but this seems completely apt given the sort of food you will be eating here is a heavily anglicised version of Chinese cooking (and I mean more heavily anglicised than normal — the prawn toast is like fried bread and the beef with green peppers is as satisfyingly chewy as that carved straight off a roasting joint). This may sound awful and yes the food here isn’t brilliant — it’s not the delicious flavourful Chinese cuisine of The Rice Bowl or Fuzion for example — but it is sticky, sugary-​salty and oddly revitalising. The rice isn’t too soapy in consistency and there are a wide variety of dishes on offer. For under £8 including a drink I would pick this over Wagamama’s any day (although if I actually picked it on any sort of regular basis I would be the size of a house or maybe a city — yeah, geddit? yeah.).
Décor-​wise the place is a little budget — there some framed oriental prints on the walls, the chairs are pleather backed and tables can be a little wobbly. It is, though, meticulously cleaned (although careful as the staff will snatch half-​finished plates of food from under your nose) and attentively waitressed. Remember there is a 10% for students and OAPs and if you come midweek, and earlier in the afternoon, the staff will be in less or a rush to shoo you out of the door as soon as you’ve slurped your last noodle.

Look, I really don’t like giving bad reviews but I’m afraid that if I’m to tell the truth I’m going to have to do so here. This place is horrible.
I like Oriental food and sometimes I get hungry. What can I say, I admit to these two things. What this means is that on the odd occasion I am going to be tempted to go for an all you can eat. On two times I fell prey t this temptation and came to this establishment to abate these cravings.
And I have to say I was not happy on either occasion. They’ve got a huge amount of dishes, and they all taste the same. Once I ate my moneys worth I was too full and greasy to enjoy the rest of my day, so the sign should really read ‘8 quid to waste your day’. Having said that, they wouldn’t get many customers that way. Even more reason to put the sign up, and save us all the woe.

If — like me — you have no willpower, you should probably stay away from this popular Chinese buffet restaurant. After all, handing over just £10 or so (it varies, depending on what time you go) gives you access to an endless stack of tasty Chinese food, from soups and starters, such as Spring Rolls, Prawn Toast and Prawn Crackers, to lovely mains and piles of noodles and rice. If, somehow, you still have a bit of room after your Chinese feast, there’s even unlimited cake, fruit, jelly and ice cream for desert!
As you’ll find in most buffet-​style restaurants, there’s definitely a focus on quantity over quality here. The food is kept on hot plates, which means it can taste a little stodgy and lukewarm at times. I think it’s fair to say that the dishes aren’t as nice as you’ll find in a restaurant in nearby China Town either. However, this place is brilliant value and you get your food much faster than you would in a ‘proper’ restaurant. So it’s great for a quick lunch if you can cope with the bloat all afternoon!
Another thing I should mention is that this is a huge restaurant, and the clattering of plates and roar of chatter can sometimes make you feel like you’re in a school canteen! It’s nearly always busy, too. So if you turn up at peak times, you may have to wait to grab a table.

I remember coming here once with friends and being quietly amazed at the strong quality of the food considering the low pricing and wholesale atmosphere of the place. We didn’t stay very long, and so presumably didn’t contravene any hidden rulings on eating times, but I couldn’t imagine anyone coming to this sort of place to sit back and relax with their meal.
From the garish yellow-​on-​red of the sign to the sheer abundance on food on offer, it’s clear the message is to eat what you want and get out, and the masochistic side of me find some kind of perverse pleasure in a place that has decided that the customer is not always right, just always paying.
And that they should eat up.
And get out.

Haha, I used to come to this place years ago!
Do you know what? It’s alright in here. If you like chinese buffets, you could do a lot worse!
Basically cheap food and cheap drinks and (my favourite part) unlimited ice-​cream. Happy times.
When we were younger we’d head here on birthdays, they’d never ask for ID which meant us getting hammered off two cocktails! That’s all changed now, I actually got asked for ID last time I went there and I was 21!

I’m left a little indifferent to Buffet City myself. I’m not the greatest fan of all you can eat buffets anyway, especially of the Chinese variety, but nevertheless I was dragged here last week by a colleague who wanted and quick and cheap lunch.
Well, quick and cheap it ceartainly is. Grab your plate, grab your food, grab your drink, pay, eat. I have say that the 60 dishes on offer were above average for a buffet of this style — they have all the classics and a range of fresh salads but I found the spring rolls and prawn crackers to be greasy, the desserts to be tasteless and below par. It’s certainly filling but I’d prefer some friendly service and a little more indiviuality. It’s just another Chinese Buffet.

I love Buffet City. shut up.
There’s an adage (well not really, but I say it) that American Chinese food is much better than Chinese food in the UK – for the most part that is true, but this place breaks the mold a bit. Everything is sticky and gorgeous and just great. They’ve got a cheap lunch special that lasts late enough to make it an early tea. I used to bring my then-partner’s picky eating child here and she loved it. Kids liking «different» food is a sign of a great place to go.
Shut up! I know it’s a buffet but holy holy I love it.

If you enjoy eating mounds of various, very-​similar-​tasting courses, accompanied by numerous gaggles of drunken, scantily clad hens and stags, in the middle of a circus, more like a school canteen than a Chinese restaurant, then this is the place for you!
Miserable staff, incredibly busy/​noisy/​uncomfortable, poor food and little variety (especially for vegetarians) all adds up to a very, shabby, dining experience.

They are situated in the heart of Manchester and serve the finest Chinese and Oriental cuisine. You have over sixty dishes from their buffet to choose from and you’re welcome to eat as much as you like.
The most important thing to note when eating in these ‘eat as much as you like’ joints is not to order any fizzy drinks with your meals. That way at least you will make it to taste the desserts and get more than your money’s worth.
Bön appetit!