Category: Review

Preto Croydon

Date of Visit: 15 August 2018

Address: 38-40 High Street

Croydon

CR0 1YB

 

4 Plates
4 plates out of 5

Price: £19.95

 

How to even begin to describe Preto (also known as Rodrizo Preto) a chain of Brazilian Steakhouses. I am aware so far, so not very buffet sounding but as well as an extensive hot and cold buffet, which includes salads, cheese and Brazilian specialities such as Fried Banana and pão de queijo (Brazilian Cheese balls, which I would recommend). What I like about the options is that the buffet options are seemingly refreshed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the same line up twice and whilst that can occasionally be disappointing it does mean that Preto is rarely a buffet you can be bored by.

The real reason to come to Preto is the meat as passadors come to your table and carve the meat in front of you. You are given a card on one side it encourages the passadors to keep on coming

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If you aren’t as open to food as Buffet Bitch’s good friend Homer Simpson then you do have the option to stop, or at least pause for a bit

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It could easily be cheap cuts but the variety it offers in the form of steak (rump, sirloin etc), chicken, lamb and pork as well as more interesting options such as chicken hearts and even garlic bread. Depending on your preference some meat can be over/under done. I had a concerned passador ask if I was okay with rare meat (I love all meat!) and my partner in buffets complained that the garlic beef was a bit chewy.

There is also an extensive drinks menu, which is not included in the price and the alcoholic drinks are reasonably priced and a dessert menu, which contains Brazilians classics or with a Brazilian twist. As nice as the desserts are we didn’t have them on this occasion as we were too full.

Some terrible photography below but Tripadvisor offers much better pictures

For £19.95 this is already a bargain and the introduction of 2-4-1 Wednesdays and Student Discounts makes this more value for money. Preto has numerous locations and are expanding across the UK.

 

2-4-1 Wednesdays are available until 2 September

25% student discount is available every day until 3 September

 

 

China Royal, Chichester

Date of Visit: 28 July 2018

Address: 

6 Market Avenue, Chichester PO19 1YE

3 plates.jpg
3 plates (out of 5)

 

Price

Mon-Fri Lunch £8.50

Mon-Thur Dinner £17.99

Sat-Sun (Bank Holidays) Lunch: £9.00

Fri-Sun (Bank Holidays) Dinner: £18.99

Children under 8 are half price

This was my first time at this restaurant, whilst it has always offered a buffet service but they brought it to your table (a Lazy Susan remains in place on large tables) now you go up to the hot trays. I went with a group of 7 and whilst there were complaints of small plates from some members of our party I actually found this lunch menu more manageable as a result.

As it was lunchtime you were limited to around 25 dishes, the website claims there are around 100 available for dinner. I stuck with the classics; spring rolls, chicken curry, prawn toast, chips and egg fried rice. The more exotic amongst you have a choice of a less beige option of ribs, mussels, noodles etc. There is nothing exciting here but it is all cooked well, hot and offers a small dessert option of vanilla ice cream and fruit, which compared to lunch options is disappointing, the ice cream is pre scooped into small silver bowls, meaning you cannot add much to it. For the £9 we paid China Royal offered an adequate lunch buffet option.

As with most buffets, there is a mark up on drinks and the service wasn’t as bad as Tripadvisor reviews would suggest; drinks were bought promptly and we were able to pay for the bill at the till with minimal issue.

 

Images and other reviews can be found here 

China Royal’s Resturant website can be found here