Bobby's World

Friday night after work my partner was kind enough to come pick me up from work, later on that day she text me asking if I wanted to go to Jumbo Chinese, I figured why not as I have not been here in many years and what with my partner never going before I thought this would be a nice way to spend the evening.

We parked the car in the NCP car park under Odeon Cinema and arrived at Jumbo's around 9:20pm. Upon entering there was only around 4 people in, not very many for a Friday night but this meant we was able to get a seat straight away. We were seen to by a waiter straight away asking what drinks we would like,  We ordered a coffee and a coke. Altogether with the buffet (being £9.99 per person) and the 2 drinks came to around £25.00

A reasonable price to pay for an all you can eat for 2 we thought, our drinks arrived very quickly and we proceeded to head towards the buffet. We followed the U-Shaped route passing numerous counters of heated trays, basically picking and choosing as we walked round. Due to it being a buffet the dishes were mainly noodle and rice dishes accompanied by a variety of meats, vegetables and curries.

We headed back to our seats and started to eat. With the lack of people there as you can imagine the food had been on display for a while. I wouldn't rate this food as anything special. it was okay at best. The food could be better labeled, I'm not a fan of spicy food and without knowing your Chinese dishes, can easily end up with chilli laden food.

The selection of desserts was very minimal, jelly, macaroons and a marshmallow on a biscuit base (not sure on the name.) There was another option as well which i cannot name or begin to describe it. We took 1 of each of the 4 that was on offer. The macaroons and the marshmallow on a biscuit base was just like what you get out of a packed in the £1 shop, however the other item that I cannot name or describe was horrid, this had like a jelly top and a white base to it, the only words my partner could describe this as was solidified man jizz, I apologize if that has made you cringe but these was the exact words used by her. There was no flavor to this at all.

After leaving this I headed down to the toilets, men's being located in the basement and women's upstairs. The state of these toilets was unbelievable!, Upon entering the toilets my foot went through the floor. there was a thin plastic cover over a hole in the floor, no signs to warn of this danger what so ever, after picking myself off the floor i proceed to do my business and headed to the sinks, stepping over the hole.

There are 2 sinks in the men's toilets, one could not be used at all as the taps was not fixed the the basin at all so i tried to use the second basin. The taps are the ones you find in night clubs and pubs etc you have to place your hand on top and push them down, this seemed impossible to start with having to place all my weight to get the tap on, After a few attempts of this it finally came on, to my surprise water started to spray everywhere! quite simply the seals had gone in the tap.

I quickly washed my hands and stood at the under powered dryer, after several mins of trying to dry my hands i realized the tap was still going and didn't seem to be stopping. I quickly left the bathroom and headed back to our table. When i arrived i told my partner to drink up as we need to leave now.

After we left the restaurant I informed my partner of what had happened. needless to say she nearly wee'ed herself with laughter! I however was not that impressed at all. When this place opened 10yrs ago it was very popular and a nice place to go, Now though we shall not be returning. The place needs a re-model and repairs need to be done.

A disappointed evening for me and my partner, however she did manage to laugh for a long time after we left which at the very least made me smile...... that was until we got back to the NCP car park. According to the machine we had been gone for 1hr 18mins.

For this 1hr 18mins stop we was required to pay £6.00....... this is by far a complete rip off, After arriving home we had noted we spent £31.00 approx that evening, We have decided next time to come home and use our local Chinese called China Dragon.

Every time we have used them the service has been fantastic, the food has been amazing and for the same price can feed a football team!. They have an offer every Monday and Wednesday for £11 you can choose 4 dishes. Well worth every penny.

Back to Jumbo's thought this is how i would rate them now: