Upon walking in, tops looks like your average buffet, and of course in hindsight - it is. However, I have been to a few different buffet places and although in a similar ball park, Tops smashes each and every one. Here is why: The food - although cooked in bulk - is always hot, fresh and full of flavour. They even have tepinyaki, sushi and much to my delight - steak!!! Cooked just how you like it right there in front of you. As I am not a fan of spicy foods i didnt try alot of the curries but there was a very wide selwction to choose from for those of you who are not as wimpy as I. The service - staff are very polite and helpful and VERY attentive! We had no longer finished our food and dirty plates were almost immediately taken away to be cleaned and allow for the next course. Water is available at the bar as a self service option so that you dont have to wait in a queue just for the sake of washing down your food. Price - the price for an adult is around 15-16 pounds which gives you all you can eat (within an allocated time slot which changes depending on day of the week but can be up to 3 hours if im not mistaken) Also, student discount at 15% takes the price down to £11.90 which is fantasic for those of you poor students who aim to get your money's worth. read more

This place truly deserves three stars to me because there were certain aspects of it that were really good and others that were not so good. My first impression when I walked into it was that it was a really beautifully designed restaurant. I'm used to buffets in the states being very rundown and basic looking, but I will say this place was actually quite beautiful and you can tell there was intentionality placed into how they decorated it. However, I have been depending on Wi-Fi during my UK trip and everywhere that I've gone, they've always had Wi-Fi, but this is the first restaurant that I've seen after almost a two week trip where they do not have Wi-Fi for customers so that to me was a bit of an issue. They also didn't have the best customer service. I won't say the workers were rude, but I just felt like they could've been a little friendlier, especially with some of the logistics of things at the restaurant...Things could've been a little bit more customer friendly. The food was pretty good definitely not amazing but I generally enjoy buffets so it didn't disappoint but for sure it wasn't the most amazing food or buffet food I've ever had so again this place truly deserves three stars to me. read more

I've been here countless times, its ok. But hygiene needs improvement as the sushi section has flies everywhere, the service is ok but they rush you if you're time limit has ran out. Overall I'm giving this restaurant 3 stars read more

I know... I'm giving 5 stars to an all you can eat gluttony hall... but I just can't help it! It might be down to the fact that we only end up here when we can't decide between cuisines or have fussy eaters... but I always have a great time and you can just turn up without booking and get a seat on a Saturday night without waiting an hour. The food is what you would expect, lots of sweet sticky sauces and meats, a selection of currys, sushi, BBQ, crispy duck, and some veggie options too, but for the amount of food this place is churning out each hour they don't do a bad job and the food is tasty. But what I love about this place isn't the good (for an all you can eat) quality food... it's the experience! I love getting up with friends, plate in hand and having uber choice! You start to discuss tactics, what's the best dish to start on... the don't eat any carbs ones... the let's get one of everything... the let's put these guys out of business troopers! You instantly feel relaxed and laugh at how ridiculous your food strategy is! That's why this place deserves a 5 stars review! And the staff aren't half bad either quickly clearing any used plates and offering help to the un-inniciated. All I can finish with is give it a go... look past the glutinous consumer gone mad attitudes and get your food tactics right! Let eat all their food and put them out of business ; ) read more

Tops - Num num - Buffets Near Me - Manchester, XGM

As far as buffets go, its one of the more expensive ones. It cost £14.99. This is the same price of Red Hot World buffet is for a Saturday - although Red Hot World buffet at lunch time is £9.99. Its similar to Red Hot in that that is food from around the world and also chefs cooking food fresh in front of you. All sorts of different foods including Chinese, Indian, Pizza, Sushi, Thai, Teppenyaki etc plus lots of desserts. The quality was pretty good but you could argue you are paying for it. I am more stuffed because I just wanted to try different things rather than the food was "amazing". It was overall good - very good for a buffet. However, there are some negative things: The Teppanyaki - it took ages!! I was waiting for about 15-20 minute and there only about 4 people in front of me. The problem was the chef was really slow and he also just cooked one person's order at a time. He also had a spend time slicing the meat - really it should have been prepared especially since hes so slow. Instead of getting a few peoples order and basically multi-tasking, he just focussed on one person - which was a maximum of 2 items. The items available included sirloin steak, calamari, lamb chop, scallops, prawns. I had steak and calamari. The pieces of steak were tiny! Both were OK but can be the problem with teppenyaki, it can be too salty. By the time I had got my food, the queue was much bigger. This meant the queue extended back into the food "stall" next door - which was for Wonton soup. And that one had a long wait too. As well as the waiting, next door to the teppenyaki was some dim sum. If you wanted some, it meant jumping in-between people in the queue. I tried most of the different cuisines. Sushi was nice - had about 3 plates - they didn't have wasabi though. Curry was tasty - meat was a bit tough but nice flavour. Poppadoms were actually some of the tastiest and crispiest I have ever had. Nice selection of Chinese starters/mains which were decent. The only dessert I had was an ice cream in a cone. Not much of a dessert person but also was very full. It was just from one of those machines you help yourself and it was as you expect - pretty good but very sweet. Another negative was the breaded crab claws. Now we all know these are never 100% proper crab but you expect it to taste like crab and have some crab in it. This tasted just like potato - and very bland potato! I am tempted to knock it down to 3/5 but the service was very good. (Although saying that, the guy at the front sent us to the wrong side of the desk to pay by credit card but no major issue but it could have potentially put as to the back of a queue and basically queue twice). The woman who showed us to table was very friendly and the plates were cleared up efficiently by the staff. Tops has been open less than a week - grand opening was 17th June - so maybe the minor issues to iron out???? I would actually give it 3.5/5 if I could but Yelp doesn't allow half marks. read more

Tops - Buffets Near Me - Manchester, XGM

Pros: Tons of food from different cuisines you won't know where to start from. The taste is great for most dishes. My fav were the food straight off the grills. Cons: Only 2 types of sushi rolls. Drinks are not included. The Italian section was poor, maybe a few types of pizza. read more

Tops - Buffets Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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I have to say I'm with James G on this- I love world buffets! You never have to wait that long even on a saturday, without booking a table! The staff are always trying to be helpful, even if they speak english that well and are ALWAYS and forever topping up the food! This is always a good bet when you can't decide whether you want, pizza, chinese or Indian.... why not have ALL of them?! I get that some people dislike this place as they don't like stuffing themselves but maybe don't come to an all you can eat.............? Just a thought! They really have everything here! Amazing meat and veggie curries, rices, starters- including chicken nuggets, chips, calamari, prawn toasts, samosas, onion rings, kebabs, MAINS include pizza, thai curries, chicken chow mein, vegetable chow mein, BBQ sections with sweet sticky ribs, Sushi, massive pudding section and popcorn machine they've got pizzas coming out their eye balls, teppenaki where they will cook anything you desire as well as a..................CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! Does life get any better than this? Well yes it actually does as they have gone to the next level and acquired a robot that cuts noodles- yep you heard it here! They have chefs all day cooking bits and bobs up for you in sauces of your choice! This includes steak, seafood, ribs and much more! On Saturdays it is around £16 for an all you can eat and drinks are separate but it really is worth it! Drink aren't too exspensive either and they have a range of soft drinks, juices, beers on tap, spirits, wines and ciders though not a massive range it does suffice! Basically I love this place! read more

Of the three (that I can think of) buffet places in Manchester, this one is my favourite. In case you've never made it to Tops, it's a simple land, full of delicious, tasty food, which you can eat. Lots of. All of the food in fact. The cuisine is mostly oriental, with some Indian and, in what I can only assume is a concession to the fact that they call themselves a 'world buffet', pizza. The selection of pre-prepared dishes is pretty varied. To give you a few examples (without hopefully going too overboard), you can load your plate up with... Prawn toast, chicken satay, lemon chicken, salt and pepper prawns, sushi, hot and sour soup, chips, nan bread, korma, chicken tikka, thai green curry, fragrant thai rice... *deep breath* ... shredded duck, pizza, sweet and sour chicken, Mongolian lamb (great!), noodles, rice, char shui pork and beef in black bean sauce. You know, just to name a few. Where the real fun comes in is the live cooking. In the evenings they have a teppenyaki style grill (the squid is brilliant!) a BBQ grill (great lamb skewers) fresh roast duck and lamb and fresh sea food. If you're thirsty, you get table service for drink (having paid for food on the way in) but you have to pay per round, and there's a pretty reasonable selection of drinks available. The only disappointment are the desserts. If you like fairly plain cake, or ice cream (ice cream mountain, mmmm), you'll be fine. Of you want something which will satisfy your more refined palate, you might be out of luck. That said, they do usually have chocolate fountains (yes, plural). If you've got an appetite for something good, you could do much worse than tops. read more

Move over Red Hot Buffet World ! At around the same price as the above Tops felt more intimate & not as noisy. Same amount of food same kind of food but with tops being more central in the city centre, this will now be my preferred choice if wanting a all you can eat "world style" read more

I'd say it's a bit pricey but the variety of food and sweeties makes it worth, it's my second time I've been there and as usual, had a lot of food! It's the type of place I'd recommend to go in a large group, as everyone can make their own menu unless they're very picky. Regarding drinks, whether alcoholic or not, I think there should be more options, that's a weak area from my point of view. I liked overall the music and the volume at which is played, yes, that's important to me the place not being a hell of noise. The staff always helpful, we happened to deal with an Italian waiter and my French friend started joking with the other staff members, very funny, one of the fewest time I've been laughing so much in a place just to have dinner! read more

Yum, that's some good buffet food! I've had buffets. I've had Vegas buffets, I've had Los Angeles buffets. This, however, is good buffet food. What they lack in extravagance (i.e. Vegas serving lobster and crab legs) they make up for in variety catering to Asian-style foods. There's a sushi bar with rotating options of cut rolls - you can ask them for sashimi and you might get lucky. Several curries to choose from, all the go-to fried "Asian" food that you never actually see in Asia, and more realistic duck and pork choices. Loads of desserts, plus beers if you feel like paying for them. I've been here a couple times for dinner, and have always left satisfied. The staff is nice and accommodating to large groups. I wish some of the food options were a bit higher quality, but for the price I think it's definitely fair. When I get all you can eat, I can't help but think of the AYCE Korean bbq or Japanese sushi that some places offer, but that comes with a hefty price tag. I've been here a couple times so far, and no doubt I'll be returning again. You get your money's worth with each trip. read more

Tops exceeded my expectations. £6.99 for a lunch buffet seems to be standard fair in the Manchester area but this building is SO pretty inside - they have really glammed up the buffet experience! You pay at a till then get your barcoded ticket then you get seated, a process i'm sure is worthwhile when it's busy but on this slow lunchtime it felt like it could have been avoided. We got shown to our seats and you get a fun gold wand placed at your table so the servers know that your table will need cleaning at some point. If they had given us a gold wand each they would have a 5 star rating. Starting with the starters (ahem) I quickly plated spring rolls, lemon chicken, chicken satay, salt and pepper chicken wings (good thing I like chicken...), and sweet and sour pork. As I am not a lover of fish in any sense of the term the start selection was cut in half for me but that is what you expect. I also picked up some broccoli from the main station as I was trying to make sure I got some veggies onto each plate. Everything was warm and tasty, with the satay and lemon chickens having help yourself sauce, so everything was balanced as I like it. I really enjoyed the salt and pepper wings and went back for more later. Second plate for me was green thai curry which I added egg fried rice and green beans to and it was lovely, nice and spicy. The chicken did feel like it had been sat there a while but, in all honesty, it had, it's a buffet, you can't expect it to be fresh for your pickin's. It was at this point we realised that many of the stations were closed off until dinner time, something we were slightly suprised hadn't been explained to us, but, when we had finished, we decided that those stations would have been our downfall as the lunchtime selection was wide enough. Sweet and sour chicken, more green beans, broccolli, a small salad from the sushi bar, more spring rolls and salt and pepper wings, thai fried pork, and cashew chicken all came later on two more plates. The stand out dish for me was the vegetarian 'peanut vegetables' - there sadly wasn't much left of the dish but it involved mangetout, baby corn, and some absolutely delicious celery. So nice to find some vegetables amongst an otherwise heftily sauced and fried selection! Now, dessert. DESSERT. THEY HAVE SWEETS AND WHIPPY ICE CREAM PEOPLE. If that is the only thing of this review you take away, take it now and run with it. It was like having a flash back to Pizza Hut many a year ago. I had some lovely pineapple and watermelon too, but whippy ice cream laden with jelly tots, marshmallows AND chocolate peanuts? I know which I prefer. Attentive service and some stand out dishes. Some were below par but I often think that's the fun of buffet's - and there has to be something they're bad at! I now fancy a night where I visit both Tops and Taps in a night, just because. Oh the life of the unemployed. read more

Tops - the dessert of kings! - Buffets Near Me - Manchester, XGM

Oh my god. I'd forgotten about this place until now. Gavin L and I ate here a few months ago and totally regretted it. If you want to stuff your face with as much low quality food as possible while sitting almost elbow to elbow with the best of the city's oxygen thieves, you've come to the right place. Otherwise, run in the opposite direction right now! Tops promotes everything I despise about today's world: false happiness, crap food, bad health, obesity, freely exhibited and acceptable greed, shit music and a rubbish choice of alcohol. We left the restaurant feeling really dirty (and not in a good way), like we'd just eaten a load of food we didn't even really want / need, followed by "I feel so full, I don't think I can walk" and of course, a large dollop of guilt. Don't do it, people! Go to a nice restaurant and order something you genuinely want. Don't eat for the sake of eating or be lured by a sign outside promising all you can scoff for a silly price. There are so many better places in Manchester! read more

This is not a bad place if you are going with a group of people and want to keep the cost down but still enjoy a variety of dishes which are mostly oriental with a few indian curry dishes and pizza on the side row. The plates are medium size so i had no trouble filling them with a selection of starter and main then they have a dessert section ,drinks are seperate from the upfront cost i had a variety of spring rolls for starters and for main i opted to try both chinese and indian dishes all very good and nothing greasy or vile to the mouth.cant actuallly remember all the dishes i tasted as to busy talking but in total i tried around seven tasty dishes and two homemade desserts all good value for money and speaking of money lunchtime cost till around four is around £8 each excluding drinks then a think its around £14 each excluding drinks its a very busy place and staff came and took each old plate away as soon as you had finished the good thing about this place its very busy you dont seem to have to queue up at the self service bar and dishes were very full . read more

I'm so full. It's the day after my visit and I had to skip breakfast, which is very unlike me. £13.99 for all you can eat is a great price. Especially when you consider the epic selection on offer. You also get 15% off with a student card! I filled myself with incredibly juicy satay chicken, various other starters, a mountain of crispy duck pancakes, dumplings and a pile of mini cakes and icecream. This place is ideal for groups. There were 12 of us and we didn't book ahead, but it's probably best to at the weekend. We were sat quickly and then you just help yourself. You can pick from the huge hot buffet or get something made fresh at the side grills. One friend had baby squid compete with little wiggly legs!! The area for improvement for me would be the staff. The staff on the bar were OK but the reception ladirs were thoroughly miserable and didn't even say hello. As it's self service these were the only staff we reaslly talked too, so they really need to pull out the stops. Otherwise a great recommendation. read more

I would give 3.5 stars but can not give halves on here. It is pretty good for a buffet, I enjoyed it more than Red Hot. Great variety of food when you go in the evening. Really liked the choice of sushi, and teppanyaki counter where chef would cook 2 of your meat/sea food options on grill. However, the queue for it was long and it took absolutely ages to get to the teppanyaki counter, maybe they should consider to get one more chef for teppanyaki counter. The bar can get a bit busy and you would have to wait quite a long time to order drinks. read more

The seafood here is fine. It is randomly fresh. Good luck, guys!~ But highly recommend the Chinese fish(水煮鱼?) at the corner, which is suppppppper delicious. And the robert noodle is also interesting. The lobster festival is in these days. read more

Im not a massive fan of all you can eat buffets generally, however if you have a large group of people and want to keep the eve relatively cheap they are a great option. Buffet on a Thursday eve here was £13 and you could buy and pay for your drinks at the bar area so perfect for a big group where you don't want any bill surprises at the end of the evening! There was about 25 of us so a normal restaurant would have been a bit of a nightmare to organise and co-ordinate. Tops is based on Portland Street and doesn't look all that big from the entrance but it is really quite large once you get inside. It was busy too and that's good for these buffet places as it meant the food will be refreshed often not left to fester (which is one of the reasons why I'm not normally keen!) They have your usual Chinese and Asian food which you can help yourself to, but here they also have a grill section where you can have your meat, veg or prawns freshly cooked in front of you which is nice and an option I went for. Also randomly have Italian and Mexican. Dessert wise they have a a Mr whippy type ice cream machine a various toppings as well as cakes and other sweet treats Food was OK nothing to write home about but for £13 I can't really grumble. If you are a large group book in advance for some table surprises :) we had a lobster dish and some cakes delivered to our table. read more

Best time to go is Lunch because it is not congested and it is reasonable. Some staff are accommodating and friendly. Could be one of best fusion diners in Manchester considering the price and selections of food they serve except the number of people when it really gets busy. I say when you are new in town and just up for a quick heavy lunch. This is a good place:) read more

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Fucking vile Everything was so salty sweet and sour was under cooked, Chicken was very wet and soggy couldn't eat hardly anything because it made me sick. Tried to have some deserts but there was hardly anything ,the chocolate cake was dried up and tasted like dog shit. The mini chocolate eclars were yellow inside and tasted out of date! WONT be recommending this place to anyone !!! Absolute waste of £15 !!! read more

A good place to get food poisoning... place is not very clean and with outdated interior. Food variety is quite big, but sushi taste horrible, food cooked in front of you is also not tasty and dessert and fruit choice is also boring and limited. Not impressed when seen kid sick all over the table were their been eating... read more

Great variety at a great price with good quality food.. Student discount available Indian phone is good, Thai is good even Chinese is good But the best is by the grill.. read more

Tops is by far one of the best buffets in town. The lunchtime service costs (At the time of this writing) £6.99 which is a pretty good deal for unlimited lunch. You pay to get in and then receive a ticket; that is your 'food bill' and entry pass. They then scan the ticket just as you come in to 'check-in'. You then get shown to a table and the table is then marked with a pretty gold star wand! It's to say the table is in use. Then you are free to get whatever you like. However do note there is a drinks bill so don't forget! They ask for what drinks you want when you get shown to your table. The selection of food is alright, it ranges from noodles to Indian curries or from chips to sweet and sour pork/chicken! There are also side 'stalls' which have things like sushi or seafood. Desert is amazingly good; unlimited ice-cream? Hell yeah! Also a variety of cakes and fruit salads available. The overall feeling of the restaurant feels good as it is clean and sleek. The addition of the side stations adds to the atmosphere of stuff happening around you. Overall nice and affordable place for lunch. read more

buffet for lunch is reasonable for 7.99. There are many kinds of food, most of the Chinese food are nice. Or maybe it's because I Miss them so much. We had a great time there. read more

Overall, this is a great place. Food was good and i definetly are too much. My only complaint was that since if the chefs didn't care too much. I have a severe shrimp allergy to the point where if i eat something that has been in contact with any sort of shrimp, I'll get hives all over my body. I tried telling the cook who was making my chicken skewer that i had the aforementioned allergy and to not use the same marinade brush/area of the grill that had been in contact with any shrimp. He just shrugged, said ok, and proceeded to do those things. I tried to tell him again but he wasn't listening and was talking to another customer. This whole place is very nice and I'd definetly come again. Hopefully this is a one-time occurrence. PS Don't sleep on the desserts read more

Visited this restaurant last sunday for the evening menu, the building is nicely decorated and well laid out, the staff were efficient and professional, the range of foods avail is extensive and covers many types, the place was busy with easy access to the majority of foods avail, slight queues for the freshly prepared, but thats to ber expected and well worth the wait, Children are well catered for also. Overall a nice place, very enjoyable and I would recommend it read more

So I actually didn't get to go in the resteraunt but it had some of the worst managing in the world. Me and my family wait for about 15 minutes because it was lunch time. Fair enough. But we get to the front of the line and we get told our booking is cancelled and the security guard tells us to go to the back of the line and then he says he'll let some more people in and he'll see what he can do. Again fair enough. But nearly 2 hours of my family standing in the pouring rain (also one of my family members was a 1 year old toddler who wouldn't stop crying) the manager decides to come out and tell us "it's booking or nothing" wich I wouldn't mind if we weren't told this 2 hours ago when we first got here. And then as i'm talking to the manager he just walks off. Everyone was mad and it was a shame because they were 4 lads infront of us and it was one their birthday. So imagine standing in a long line in the pouring rain for hours on your birthday and then only just being told you can't get in a restaurant. Yes, that would feel awful, right?. That's what they felt. We had to go to McDonald's which was much better. So 1 star. read more

Was just at Tops and the service was horrific!!! we had made a reservation I asked a member of staff a question in Cantonese and he turned around and said he don't speak the language in Mandarin and walked off! I then asked the reception then they told me to queue outside and wait at the end of the queue when we were the 1st one their but the security guy said it was alrite to wait there as i have a 8mth old baby with me!! I have never been to a restaurant where the staff was so rude and argumentative!!! They treat people as tho they were tramps and begging them for food as we are the ones who pay them, we just walked out and ended up in Tai Wu where they actually have customer service!!! I do not recommend any of my friends and would also warn them about the staff and their attitude!!! read more

Tops was a horrible place to eat. Their drinks and food were overpriced and nasty, their food had been siting out there for god knows how long, even with some of the food pans sitting there empty without it being topped up. I am vegetarian so i have trouble finding good vegetarian food in restaurants. Their vegetarian selection was poor. I've been there 3 times, and every time it has been worse, to the point where i refuse to go there any more. And besides their chocolate fondue, the rest of their desserts were also unappealing. All their staff is concerned about is getting your money before even welcoming you in. It's in such bad taste. Save your money and run away elsewhere!!! read more

Food was not how it used to be very disappointed it also said carvery THEY DONT HAVE ONE day light robbery . The staff are very friendly apart from a chef who was serving food touching his face and hair I asked him to wash his hands he refused (food hygiene) (food safety) for the same price go to COSMO who serve many different and do a real carvery ! read more

good selection/variety, pretty much something for everyone. service is clean, fast and organised. big fan of the ice cream machine and loved that all the food was nice and hot every time read more