A Restaurant Not To Remember

I hadn't planned on using my blog as a space to review eating out experiences, and it won't be a regular event here, but I had to make an exception after visiting the recently opened Chopstix Noodle Bar on New Street in Birmingham. If you live locally you may have seen it on the news a few weeks ago, as it was once one of the buildings destroyed in the Birmingham pub bombings of 1974.

Outside there isn't much to go on apart from a large sign advertising their cheap £4.99 all day all you can eat buffet, which may seem good value but is actually not that much different to others in the area. They also offer a takeaway box for £3.00.

Photo of Chopstix logo on Flyer


Now after working in the customer service industry for several years I know how to give good customer service - it is drummed into you from day one that the customer comes first and this eventually just becomes part of your ethos. The customer service in Chopstix is really REALLY bad. I am not exaggerating when I say this.

Usually when you walk into a restaurant or even a cafe, you receive some sort of greeting or acknowledgement from the members of staff, and they'll usually ask questions, such as how many would you like a table for or what would you like to eat/drink? No. This is not the protocol in Chopstix. Instead you receive a gormless expression and end up having to tentatively ask the questions yourself, and if it weren't for the bright yellow staff t-shirts, you may think you had asked another customer by mistake. Eventually you come to the understanding that you are expected to pay upfront for your food, and from there you are more or less on your own.

Whilst bad customer service does annoy me, I can quite easily ignore it and not let it ruin my day. If only that were the biggest problem.

The food. Wow.

For an all you can eat buffet at £4.99 there is very little choice or variety in the food and don't expect a dessert as offered by most other buffet style restaurants. I am a fussy eater I admit and my first choice was pretty basic, the Lemon Chicken. All I can describe this as is strong Lemon Jelly watered down with soggy bread and a hint of meat. Undeterred, I went for something different...let me say it only got worse with the left over stodgy gravy roast dinner complete with battered chicken pieces and vegetables masquerading as 'BBQ Chicken'. Needless to say I didn't take advantage of the 'all you can eat' offer.

Overall Chopstix was a huge let down - I expected a lot more from a new restaurant in the city centre and whilst the price is attractive, the choice of less than 20 dishes that are basic and inadequate is enough to put me off for the foreseeable future. The staff need to spend less time staring into space and could benefit from a few lessons in how to treat the paying customer.

If you are looking for an all you can eat buffet restaurants in Birmingham, I would instead recommend Big Wok in Chinatown, who offer much more choice and diversity for a cheap price, or the slightly more expensive Dragon BBQ near Five Ways, who not only have variety but also for a small additional cost allow you to cook food at your own BBQ table, so that you can cook to your taste and enjoy this unusual novelty.


I'll be back to my usual art related posts again in the near future; I've started work on a pen and ink drawing of a dragon moray eel - bit more complex than my other drawings so I'll see how that turns out and upload photos of my progress soon!


Caroline