Chopsticks/Chinese/Didcot

Sorry followers, no food photos for this blog due to technical issues (i.e. forgetting camera!!)

We fancied a Chinese meal while in Oxfordshire, and this buffet style restaurant was suggested.

No private parking, but on an evening you can get parked on the street outside.

The price on the website on a Sunday evening was £12.95, but once in it was actually £14.95.

Nice & clean inside with some lovely decos and a water fountain, along with a huge fish tank. Quite pleasant surroundings.

The buffet states you can have two starters per person, or 5 starters between 4 of you.

A selection was ordered including some Vegetarian Won Tons. These were the worst thing I have ever been served in a restaurant. They had one half of a cashew nut in the parcel (I checked each one, and one half of a nut in each!!) and they were so over cooked and burnt they just crumbled. However the seaweed was lovely. We asked for a sweet & sour sauce for dipping the starters in and was told we would have to pay £1.00 extra for each pot !!! So much for all you can eat!

For a second course there was a choice of 5 options, but you could only order two between four people. Once the Satay Mushrooms was ordered for the fussy vegetarian (me) there was just one option left for the other three. Although there was plenty of food, and the mushrooms were really nice.

When the second course plates were removed I put my fork on the empty plates to go to the kitchen, the waitress took it off, holding it by the prongs, and dropped it on the tablecloth in front of me. Obviously I was supposed to keep it for my main course, but once she had had her fingers all over the bit that was to go in my mouth, it kinda put me off a bit, so I put it back on the plate. She promptly picked it back up, again by the prongs, and again dropped it in front of me on the tablecloth, without a word.

The main course orders were taken after we had finished the second course. The waiter took the order, went into the kitchen and brought it all straight back out with him. It was unbelievable, and frankly concerning.

I had ordered Vegetable Curry without onions or peppers, and it was colder than luke warm and gritty, like the curry mix had not been mixed in properly.

I had to re-order rice and noodles as they all came with onions, this time they took ages to arrive as obviously they had to cook them from fresh, but the noodles were chewy - never had chewy noodles before, they were not very nice.

Hubby said his food was nothing better than mediocre.

The staff were a pain in the bum, you don't mind being asked once or twice if everything is ok, but we were asked constantly, while we were having starters we were asked four times by four different serving staff, and this pattern continued throughout the meal.

So, would I go back? No, food was poor, service poor. Certainly not worth the money.

In case you want to try, here are the details:

Chopsticks

126, Broadway,

Didcot,

Oxon

OX11 8AB

Tel: 01235 813333

http://www.chopsticks-restaurant.co.uk/didcot/home.html