Fat Buddha - Newcastle

Service was terrible. Took 20 minutes for my first drink to arrive. Then ordered another when my food came which did not arrive until I had ate and the plates were cleared. Not the first time I have been where there are issues. Don't think I'll be back in a hurry. Restaurant was not busy.

Have been going for a few years and has been excellent but now that it’s been taken over it’s gone downhill, the menu has been stripped back and the cocktails are in smaller glasses, unfortunately we won’t be returning

Very good food. Well worth the money. Went for my grandmas 80th birthday and really enjoyed it

So disappointed with this place ☹️ I booked a table for 8 o'clock for a birthday meal for my husband! We got there early, hoping to have a couple of 'nice' cocktails before the food. Got seated straight away, which was good, but took 35 minutes to get our starter. While we waited we ordered drinks. He got a pint, and I ordered a raspberry Mojito. BIG mistake! It came in a glass and was only filled just over half way. Had about 2 mint leaves in, and looked like something a 5 year old had made. I asked the waitress if I could get it topped up as it wasn't full. She came back and said the drink was designed to look like that! I'm no Tom Cruise, but even I know a Mojito should be made with crushed ice, and not massive ice cubes, plus, if I'm paying £6.50 for a drink, I at least expect the glass to be full!!! She topped it up with lemonade, and that was that. An absolute waste of money! I genuinely believe the hen party having a cocktail making class could have done a better job!
Starters eventually came, and they were OK. Then it was just another half hour wait for the main! By this time, I was starving, so would have ate a scabby horse. Food wasn't anything to rave about either in the end. To me, it seemed the staff were more bothered about catering for the bigger parties (after all, that is where most of the money is!)
I'm gutted that I booked this place as a surprise for the hubby. Its so bad compared to the 1 in Durham. Looking at all the posts it's clear the management need to give the place a good shake up. I won't be returning any time soon ☹️
Save your dosh, and get a nice takeaway. Knock up a cocktail in your kitchen too, I can guarantee it will be a million times better than any you order from this place!

Food was brilliant staff were ok. Didn’t seem to interested. Not much of an atmosphere for 8 at night and didn’t have ingredients for some cocktails

The place could do with a thorough clean, quick service but that was because the peppers and tough beef were thrown into a readymade sauce, the fried rice was akin to cat litter. Dreadful !!!!!!!

Great food and decor. Staff not ‘enthusuastic’ But not in any way rude.

Cocktails are half the size they were before the new menu (yet still the same price) most of the options from the main menu have gone and chefs refuse to make anything not on the menu, not even a Thai green curry!! Used to be really good, now is well below par for their price point. Won't go back until they go back to how it used to be.

Very noticeable that people waiting the table not interested in their jobs.

Food very ordinary

Not rushing back or recommending

Went for date night and was lovely. Staff seemed a little bit stressed but restaurant was empty. Lovely service and very relaxed.

Poor in every respect with crazy loud clubbing soundtrack. Clueless.

The restaurant has a nice ambience and we loved that we were sitting in a booth which was really nice. It was Saturday night and the restaurant had ran out of quite a lot of food so several of the starter dishes were unavailable which was the only downside.

Very disappointed with service, quality’s of food and because of refurbishment limited menu. It was my daughters 30th birthday. We will not rush back

We booked to come here on the night Ed sheeran was playing and there was a set many with very poor choice, this wasnt stated and we werent told that the full menu would not be available to us so we left as the choice was poor, i feel this should have been stated to people booking before hand.

Beautiful food

Booked a table at fat Buddha for my sister's return from America. We had been several times before but not for a while so we were looking forward to it. When we sat down we saw the menu was a limited menu due to kitchen refurbishments. It would have been nice to have been told about this when I booked the table. We then ordered drinks, I asked about whether a particular cocktail was like a dessert as it sounded very sweet and the waitress just said she didn't know. So I ordered a different cocktail just incase but they did not come until after we had finished the starters despite reminding staff. We had to ask 3 different waitresses for tap water, and when it finally did come towards the end of the meal they did not bring any glasses. The crispy beef was not crispy at all, and when we enquired about whether we had been brought the right dish the first waiter said he'd check and then avoided eye contact with us for the rest of the meal, despite serving the table right next to ours. We asked a different waiter as we were concerned we'd been brought the wrong meal but they just shrugged and said they were new so they didn't know but maybe the menu had changed. Very poor service which made what would have been an enjoyable night rather stressful. Do not recommend.

We booked well in advance as it was for a date night meal before Ed Sheeran

My partner and I rarely have a chance to leave the kids with a babysitter and have time to ourselves so we were really looking forward to a lovely meal, so there was to be no expense spared, however all we were offered was the Ed Sheeran menu (attached) which was very disappointing. You had my contact details, so a courtesy call with regards the menu would have been appreciated, at which point I would have cancelled the table and booked elsewhere

As a Hotel Manager, I completely understand the thinking behind this, however I would be very surprised if the strategy worked on this occasion, as at no point was the restaurant anywhere near full during our visit (table booked at 4.30pm) so average spend per head must have been very low, without the covers to boost overall revenue

I must say that the food was very good and we have no complaints about that at all, apart from the lack of choice, however the service wasn’t great - plenty of staff but there didn’t seem to be any real system, there was no check back and no offer of more drinks, very basic service without any smiles.

Incidentally, nobody asked to see our tickets as proof. Thank god Ed did his job, otherwise the evening would have been a washout

I don’t often complain but for us, this really did spoil our dining experience and we have regularly dined at all Fat Buddha restaurants with friends and family and always been happy

I would be interested to hear your thoughts

Thanks

Amazing food and good atmosphere but very slow service

Food is always amazing, service, atmosphere and cleanliness letting it down. Tables were dirty and sticky along with the cutlery and chopsticks. Not much atmosphere and it was awkward at times. Food is great though and you get good portions

Great food, wine , service, decor and atmosphere. Thoroughly enjoyed our whole meal. Definitely would recommend to friends.

Love eating out here, has to be my all time favourite place to eat in Newcastle. Great place to come with friends as well coming with your partner.

Always try to eat here when visiting Newcastle. Wasn’t as busy as usual...very quiet for Friday evening. Food was very good as usual new additions to menu welcomed.

Myself and my partner booked a table as she wanted to go to Newcastle for the day but we live in Leeds. We have heard a lot about fat Buddha but we didn't get the best experience. Staff were nice and friendly but didnt know much about the menu or prices and it took a long time to be served even though there was only one more couple in at the time. The starter of chicken skewers was very nice but main was very average and didn't match the price we paid.

Figured it was time to try the restaurant after many a recommendation, went for a late lunch rather than evening meal with the family (place was far quieter than expected so probably didn't need to make a reservation)
Upon walking in we were greeted warmly and asked if we'd like to sit inside or out, it was a warm day but thought better to sit inside away from city sights/smells. When it came to ordering from the lunchtime menu all the items looked appetizing and there looked to be a nice, yet limited, selection for children. The waitress arrived and took our order but it would've been nice to have had a similar 'welcoming' feeling - can appreciate that with being a nice warm day, being inside may not be where you want to be.
Also to note is that due to being a warm day the restaurant had doors propped open out into outdoor area for some ventilation, unfortunately it meant that we were in direct line of smoke being blown back indoors from those enjoying the sun.
Our food, when it came (considering the quietness it did feel a little long waiting) was nice and tasty and a good portion size, would like to see some more sauce based children's meals as fried noodles and chicken is only appetizing for so long.
I'd imagine going in evening and with a larger group it would feel different but for lunch/small group it felt more like a bar that served food rather than the restaurant 'experience' I expected.

Food was fab as usual but, service very slow. Waited and waited for drinks and they still didnt arrive

The service here is awful, we waited for around 25 minutes before I had to ask the waitress for a food menu. We were sitting for a good while before I had to ask a waitress if it was table service, absolutely disgusting. We waited far too long, customer service is appalling!

The food was very nice and exactly what I expected. The service was poor however, very slow and not very helpful !

Had an event at the Sage at 7:30 so booked a table for 5:30. There was no one at the front desk when we arrived and we had to find a member of staff. We made our order before 6 and the service was incredibly slow. We didn't get our main until 10 to 7! It would have been okay if the food was amazing but it was not as hot (temperature) as I expected it to be and was just "okay". The menu is varied but unclear as to what you get and with a shellfish allergy this was not pointed out in the menu. Overall a mediocre experience.

Waitresses dressed in knee high boots, and cropped tops?At a first glance we assumed these ladies were customers not staff.
Ignored for 10 minutes upon arrival. We ordered drinks and were seated by a young lady wearing a cropped top and light blue jeans? No uniform?
Within 30 seconds of being seated, waiter dressed in all black tried to take our order, we explained we weren't quite ready. Then waited 15 minutes for anyone to come back.
Starters arrived, they were nice but not as authentic as we expected, we then waited 20 minutes and were given hot plates. Another 20 minutes later they were cold plates and no food had arrived, we called a waitress over and explained we had been given the plates which were now cold but yet to be given our main course. Looking very confused she took them away. We had to call another waitress over (we assumed she was in charged as she was dressed in jeans and knee high boots), and explain our situation. Food was brought out quickly after this.
Main courses, again were nice but nothing to boast about.
Asked for the Bill, which had a service charge already added! There was only two of us on the table!
We would have left gratuity, had the staff known what they were doing!
My partner and I both work in the restaurant trade and were very disappointed by the lack of organisation in the staff. We understand places can get busy, and food may take a little longer but no communication, no offer of more drinks, no eye contact from any waiting staff was not what we expected.
We won't be recommending The Fat Buddha and certainly won't be back!

Rushed to the table as we were told it was busy (half the tables were still empty when we left). Ordered a bottle of wine but the waitress got the order wrong so had to reorder which didn’t bother us, the fact that we didn’t receive the drink for 30 minutes however, did. We were stuck in the corner table and almost felt forgotten about with slow service as well as the waiting for food and cheque. A real shame as it was a restaurant that we were really looking forward to visiting.

We picked Fat Budha as it’s close to the theatre. Thinking 5pm would be a good time to dine (it wasn’t). We were sat in the middle of a very loud hen party and notice all other diners were seated elsewhere. It took a while for anybody to see us. Then while wait for our mains the server came out and said “sorry for your delay but the chef just cut his finger off”!! Not exactly what you tell customers that are eating... we did receive a free 1/2 drink but that was all. Overall I would not recommend this place really.

Everything was OK, but nothing special. The food OK, the service OK , the ambience was nice once we requested a table changed. An OK restaurant but could be so much better.

Our table was booked for 8pm, we arrived at 7pm in order to have a drink and a catch up before eating. We waited 15 minutes for someone to get us a drink. I went in search and found 2 members of staff sitting in a booth putting on their makeup. Now for the food: we ordered 2 sharing starters, one of which was ok, the other was appalling value for money-£12.95- that we sent it back. The mains are quite expensive for what they are and come with no accompaniments. Thai curry comes on its own, rice is an extra. No wonder the restaurant was empty. I would not recommend

Awful from start to finish! Don’t bother eating here. Food was very very slow, so were drinks, food was microwave standard - supposed to be a special occasion for 30th birthday. We left hungry and unhappy.

Usually I’d give 5* on everything, though we did get in early as a group hadn’t arrived that was the main bonus. I’ve been here many times and everything is always top notch, this time round was for a birthday meal for myself with my partner. This time the service wasn’t as good as usual. Took a while for the 2nd lot of drinks to arrive some of the food we asked for wasn’t there which I understand happens sometimes, 3 dishes we were looking forward to were not there, though alternatives were offered yet not the same. The service person we asked about desserts didn’t know one of them, she did go away to ask about them but when she came back it was still with a vague answer. The chocolate fudge cake tasted as though it had been reheated to much with a burnt taste and very dry. I’m sure in the past when I’ve had it it came with the option of cream or ice cream. I’ve always liked this restaurant but I’m in two minds whether to come back as it seems to have gone down hill since the last time I dined there. I was a little disappointed this time round.

I have never been to fat Buddha nor will I be returning.
From one fiasco to another which ruined my sisters birthday meal.

We arrived 15 minutes late but had rang to pre warn, on arrival we were told they’d get us to our table which was meant to be upstairs to then be told actually we’d be sat downstairs (upstairs has a better atmosphere and views we were sold when booking the table) so naturally we were disappointed when sat shoved in a corner away from everyone.
We waited almost two hours for food and drinks to arrive and I was told my sister would get a complimentary birthday desert which never happened.
We complained to management who apologised but didn’t seem at all interested and obviously took no action as the bill was still full price.
So we paid over £100 for shocking service.
When paying for the bill the waitress went to change the card roll, came back and worked out our bill, she then said she’d be back, after waiting we walked to find her, I was about to go to the toilet when I was called after, in front of an audience she perused to tell me
I’d not paid for my food!! I was so embarrassed and raging! I told her I was going to the toiled as I was done sitting waiting for her! So then paid then and just left! The waitress we had was lovely but the series of disappointments ruined the night.
Wouldn’t go back to feel that way again ☺️

Got seated straight away however the place was empty and we were put in a corner next to 2 other couples with the tables close to together. Food was average not sure if the chef has been changed since I was last there but defenitly tasted different and the spring rolls were covered in grease, chips were obviously frozen chips which can be bought in Asda for £1.50 yet you charge like £3-£4 for a handful of them fried in chilli. Overall disappointed

Booked for 16:00hrs, the place was empty apart from us and 2 other tables....yet it took 15 minutes for drinks we’d ordered to arrive in between courses was quite a long wait.

Great service, attentive but not bothersome. Great range of dishes, all beautifully presented.
Nothing was too much trouble!

Lovely food but poor service let it down. Staff were nice however unorganised and no system