Swindon Rendezvous

Their menu boasts, «Eat All You Can!» but this isn’t your average Chinese buffet. Located near the Wyvern Theatre there is a car park a short walk away. When you enter… mind the step (also when you exit or you could trip onto the sidewalk like me). There is a small lounge and bar area for waiting for the rest of your party or to enjoy a drink before dinner. Since a lot of restaurants are closed on Monday night, we anticipated that the place would not be that busy, however, we were wrong… dead wrong. We were greeted by lots of conversation, laughing, and could see down the stairs to lots of large groups. We thought we would have a long wait or need to go somewhere else for dinner, but surprisingly the host seated us right away.
Monday night is Ladies Night, meaning ladies get a discounted buffet price. So the reason this isn’t the average Chinese buffet is that you don’t go to a serving table to help yourself to a number of different dishes just waiting there for you. They provide you a menu and while some of the items are not marked and not available if you choose the buffet option, most of the items that are on the menu are available making for some tough choices. We noticed a lot of people were having birthday dinners and as we were taking a look through the menu, the lights were dimmed and the birthday song was cued up on the overhead system. Some people brought cakes and the staff gladly brought those out or they would bring a little something (it looked like a pink mousse of some sort) with a candle. One man even got a flaming shot instead of cake! This seems to be the place for birthdays!
Anyway, we ordered our starters: Aromatic Crispy Duck (¼) and Mini Veggie Spring Rolls. The waitress asked if we would like to order our mains at the same time and to be honest, we really weren’t sure what the procedure was, but when the waitress noticed that we had not decided on the mains, she said that she could bring the menus back after the starter. The wait staff were really buzzing about and I noticed that there were a couple of tables trying to get the staff’s attention. Our starters came out in a reasonable time and the Aromatic Crispy Duck was wonderful. It was perfect as a starter for the two of us, without being super filling. Mr. Snarky found the Mini Veggie Spring Rolls quite greasy.
After the starter, our waitress came back, cleared off the table, then brought us some warm wet wipes to wipe our hands. She set up the bowls (you don’t eat off of a plate, you use a bowl, which is much more conducive when using chopsticks) on the warmer, but didn’t bring menus back. We didn’t say anything at that moment as we she did have her hands full and thought that she would be back in a bit. We saw our waitress pop back out of the kitchen and start waiting on other tables, but never came back to our table with the menus. We had to flag her down eventually and that’s where I agree with one of the reviews regarding service times as sometimes they are extremely attentive and other times it is like you don’t exist.
Since this is a buffet, we decided to go a little easy on the first order and if still hungry, would order again. However, after we had our first round of mains, another waitress came over to clear off the table and offered us coffee/​tea and desserts (which by the way are not included with the buffet price). We explained that we wanted to order more, so she reset our table and brought us the menus again. Of the dishes we ordered our favourites were:
Deep Fried Chicken in Honey and Butter Sauce
Mixed Vegetables in Garlic Sauce
Prawns in Mandarin Sauce
Lemon Chicken
The dishes that were ok, but were not that great:
Special Fried Rice
Special Fried Noodles
And the dish that we didn’t really enjoy because it was pretty salty: Beef and Green Peppers in Black Bean Sauce. It took us awhile to get our bill as well, however, I will say that the host, who was also making impressive Banana Split Sundaes, noticed that our glasses were nearly empty and asked if he could bring us some water. A very short time later we each had a pint of ice water. He was quite attentive for being the host.
Overall, while the waiting was a bit annoying, the food was really good and when the staff were waiting on us, they were very friendly. It is a bit on the pricey side, but I like the fact that they cook to order. The dishes that came out were not huge, so great for sharing and for ordering a few items rather than just one. Mr. Snarky and I were wondering if the dish sizes change if you only order a la carte versus the buffet, but something tells me we will never find out as we would like to go back and try more of the dishes on the menu!

I’ve only ever visited once but I long to go back! My partner proposed to me in this restaurant, the manager gave us a free bottle of wine, the staff were very attentive, the décor is beautiful and relaxing, the atmosphere is wonderful. Looking forward to the day we can find an babysitter so we can visit again.

Fab food and service. One of our fave places to go on special occasions

The BEST Chinese restaurant (including takeaway & delivery) in Swindon. They also offer «as much as you can eat» buffets. YIPPEE!

This is one of the nicest chinese restaurants I have ever been to. We went for my mum’s birthday and there was a big group of us. They were more than helpful and gave us a couple of bottles of wine free with the meal! Anything you want you can have! I really would recommend this place for anyone who loves chinese food. Also for people who think they can eat a lot! You will not go hungry here! Thinking about it makes me want to go back! I loved it

If you want to eat Chinese food this is the only place to go in Swindon! The staff are so friendly and when celebrating a birthday here the service is excellent, they are very attentive.

Swindon’s most expensive Chinese. A nice venue, with a small bar upstairs and a huge dining area down in a basement. Food can be good, service varies from good to diabolical (40 minutes to get to a starter, and downhill from there). If you strike the right time to go, you’ll enjoy it.

If you are feeling really hungry and fancy good Chinese food, this is great place in Swindon to visit. The ‘All you can eat option’ is really good value for money and is what attracts a lot of people (including Chinese) into this restaurant.
Their foods are quite healthy as they use little or no oil for cooking. Warm and relaxing atmosphere with helpful staff. From time to time, the restaurant provide some really good special offers like buy 1 set meal and get a second meal for free or half the cost so its worthwhile to check their website before visiting if they are doing any special offers at the time. Does get busy due to its popularity and excellent Chinese food so worth going early.

One Saturday evening myself and my partner turned up to Rendezvous to find out they didn’t have any tables However they offered to drive us down to their other restaurant in town Le Rendezvous. We hadn’t realised they had another restaurant but were pleasently surprised when we arrived. The food was yummy and service was good. We opted to pick from the menu having had all you can eat before and overindulging a little bit too much. All in all, food lovely, good service and not overly expensive for a nice meal out with friends or family They even drove us back up to old town once we had finished, don’t know of many restaurants that would do that!

I‘m a frequent visitor to Swindon Rendezvous. It is in my opinion the best Chinese/​Thai buffet in Swindon. All the dishes are cooked to order and there are many prawn dishes to choose from– surprising for a chinese buffet. My favourite dish is the Thai green curry– yum! Drinks are priced reasonably and the atmosphere is good. It does get busy at the weekends so it’s worth reserving a table in advanced.