Having spent the afternoon out walking around, we decided on staying in the Hotel Mercure and having the dinner at the restaurant. Interesting concept as I am still not sure if it is part of the hotel or not, but it is located on the "second floor" sort of. Difficult to explain, but it seemed like the hotel was built first and then someone thought they should add a restaurant on the side. Not a problem, just seemed like an odd set up.
Restaurant itself is very nice and very comfortable. The comfort may be intentional as the concept is an all you can eat buffet based on a 2 hour or 3 hour meal period. However, they do have an A La Carte Menu (ALCM) that is quite limited in choice, but sufficient. No one in our group was interested in the buffet, which seemed quite expensive*. The ALCM offered choices of mostly Asian, which suited everyone fine at our table (mostly as one person ordered the 6 euro pizza and then was left ordering something else as it was not bigger than a side plate). However, the food that came (aside from the pizza) was plentiful and very good. I am fearful that if I state it was just right, I may have to adopt a nickname of Goldielocks, but it was very good. Two had the Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Chicken, two had the Thai Shrimp Curry, I had the Indonesian Garlic Beef and of course the dude had the pizza (PD). All of us ordered side dishes of mini spring rolls....perfect...but really, I am not certain anyone can mess these up as I think they are all made in the same plant somewhere in central Asia and sold around the world...they taste the same everywhere (which is a good thing). Everyone except PD were very pleased with what they ordered and spent too much time passing forks around for my liking (no, I did not participate). The serving staff were good, but it was sporadic; my guess is because they really want you to take the Buffet and not order from the ACLM. In fact, when we heard the price and said, "No thank you, we were not looking for a buffet like that" they did not offer the ACLM, we had to ask if they had one.
While I was eating I was thinking that this was a Yelp 2 star joint, but then dessert and coffee came; that on its own earned a star and elevated the place. There was no choice from the ALCM as it was a "Trio of Mini Desserts" but wow, they were fantastic. One was a Mocha/Tiramisu, one a Strawberry Mousse and the other a Cream Brulee - not too big, not too small....(you can finish this one yourself) - perfect.
So, the food was quite good all in all, the atmosphere was neither inspiring nor annoying, the staff seemed at times to be confused (we were never really sure who was serving us), the buffet concept was completely lost on our group - not to say it was not good, just not what we wanted.
*The price of the Buffet turned me off from the moment I read the English version of the "Buffet Rules" which were proudly displayed on the bar in at least six languages. The concept is that you have two hours to feed at the trough and if for some reason you fail to eat one of the portions, they add 3 euro for each uneaten portion you take (not sure how they would deal with someone who just "does not like something"). The price is the big turn off for me, because apparently you are more hungry on a Saturday at dinner than you are any other day of the week as it is 25 on the other six days and 30 on the Saturday for the two hour trough time. The three hour gorge will set you back and extra 5 each day ...regardless.
The Buffet includes endless non- alcoholic beverages. If you want anything with alcohol, you will pay by the unit on top of the hefty food price tag.
Our group spent 25 Euro per person, but got exactly what we wanted and left pleased. read more
