Buffet Restaurant in Cardiff - Red Hot World Buffet and Bar Review

Red Hot World Buffet does exactly what it says on the tin! It is a world cuisine buffet. It has a similar feel to Cosmo's in the Bay if you have been there yet. Although it has more choice than Cosmo, to me it is of a lower quality. But I think if you are going to a buffet of this price (around £7 in the day and £13 in the evening) you can't expect amazing quality food.

They have a few of these dotted around the country, so check out the website at the bottom to see if there is one close to you. This is a review of the Cardiff restaurant.

Mon - Thur: Lunch 12-4 Dinner 5-10:30

Fri - Sat: Lunch 12-4 Dinner5-11

Sun: All day

3-6 Hills Street

St David's

Cardiff

CF10 2 LE

02920 342499

This place is huge! The outside doesn't really show it all off as it is built into the St Davids Shopping Centre so only the front part of it is on show. The exterior looks lovely, big windows and lots of black tiling, although you can see the big bowls, stands and plastic type food in the window of the food area as a kind of display - not great really.

It has a shiny new interior, but it could be described as a little claustraphobic as there is a split level seating to allow an extra floor of seating above. It all looks very nice and glitzy, but again the quality of the chairs and tables is a little basic (think ikea furniture).

My husband actually said he finds the food area a little harsh on the eyes as the main food dishes are spaced in an up and down, zig zagged way around the room making it difficult to view everything. Plus all in separate lidded dishes, so you need to keep opening them, although they are labeled with little signs.

There are lots of mirrors and spotlights, probably to brighten the food area as there are no windows in that section, but they also make it a bit glarey and a little tacky looking.

Overall it's not very posh or classy looking really, but it is what I expect of big buffet restaurants like this one. Its always clean usually and it looks tidy (no damaged furniture or cracked tiles or anything like that).

I can't really say you have a lot of contact with staff as you serve your self really. But the staff are usually polite and helpful and smartly dressed. I have been in the evening on 3 occasions now and it has always been full, be advised you do need to book for any evening or risk being turned away or having to wait 30mins-1hr minimum to be seated. The day time is a little quieter so you will usually be seated immediately, although on a weekend or at peak season you may have to wait 10-15mins. But as with Cosmo, the selection of food in the day time is only about 50% of that in the evening.

Staff are fast to clean up used plates, clear tables and serve you drinks. If it is very busy you may have to wait a little for your bill to be bought but they are usually great.

The live cooks are sometimes a little miserable, but most are ok and very quick at what they do. You can kinda understand when they are repeating the same thing for hours and probably getting little gratitude from the people queuing. So always be nice and say thank you!

Food ranges from chinese, indian and sushi to pizza, risotto, Pasta and english cuisine, and a lovely salad type area at the start. There is an italian station, making fresh pasta and risotto, a stirfry station, an icecream station, a waffle station (amazing!!!) and a few other little things. Plus a huge dessert area. The food is lovely but nothing majorly special, Cosmo in Cardiff Bay (if you have been there) is much better quality but the location of Red Hot is more convenient to most people as it is the centre of town.

It would be a great venue for a party or large group as everyone is bound to find something they like. That is kind of the huge benefit of the place, no matter how picky people are, everyone will be able to eat something here.

My big problem is that in the day time the food doesn't always stay that hot as it is left sitting for a while. Although they are in heated, lidded dishes they just don't seem to keep the heat that well. In the evening this is much less of an issue as the dishes are used up and refiled with fresh food numerous times throughout the evening, so it is kept hot long enough to be eaten.

Good for the value and brilliant for large groups or fussy eaters as something for everyone. Conveniently located in the centre of Cardiff. Food quality isn't great but selection of food is.