Hot Flame World Banquet in West Lothian

Kids still love it but the food quality has taken a hit in recent years.

Loved it and food was great plenty choice and staff pleasant

Food was good as always but my wee boybhad a fall due to a uneven floor between the toilets and restaurant 4 members of staff just walked past him lay crying on the floor complained and jeezo you would think I was 12 the way I was spoken to!

Visited the restaurant last night and wasn’t overly impressed at all with the standard of food. We don’t tend to leave food on our plates and hate wasting food but I felt there was a lot of uneaten because it wasn’t up to scratch at all. The chicken was overcooked and dry, salad from the salad bar wasn’t fresh at all and turning yellow. I got a steak cooked at the grill part and my plate was just dripping with oil. Cheap chocolate in the chocolate fountain with gritty pieces through it. I felt I wasted £60 for myself and my two kids not to eat much at all. And what I have eaten I’ve been woken up during the night with the sorest of tummies and the worst case of the runs. Would not recommend this place for food however the staff were lovely and obviously quick service.

1st time visitor here great food and service highly recommended

Always nice staff, the food is always hot and excellent, plenty vegan and vegetarian options, also different cousines, Chinese, Italian, Indian, European, the only thing I missed is fresh basic fruits, like grapes, apples, bananas etc, but there were some fresh melon and tin pineapples and tin pears. The layout is great, even if is super busy, you don't feel crowded. Our food was tasy and we enjoyed it very much.

Disappointing Buffet Experience – Not Worth the Price Me and my husband recently had a very disappointing experience at the buffet dinner. From the moment we arrived, the atmosphere was uncomfortable, especially in the grill and live cooking section. The staff seemed unfriendly and stared at customers, which made the experience very awkward and uncomfortable. The food selection was extremely limited, with only a small variety of dishes to choose from. Many of the items appeared overly colored, which was off-putting. Even the garlic naan bread was oddly spread with green color and tasted raw. The chicken dishes were tough and didn’t seem fresh at all, as if they hadn’t been prepared on the same day. To top it off, the hot chocolate from the fountain was of very low quality, tasting powdered and cheap. For the price charged, the overall experience felt completely overpriced and underwhelming. I would not recommend this buffet, especially considering the lack of quality in both the food and service.

Love this place! We came to Livingston 3 times over the summer just so we can eat here. It's Greta because it has something for everyone. Sushi, mixed grill, carvery, Indian, Asian, Mexican, fried foods, desserts and ice cream. Plus plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. As a tip, if you book a reservation online I believe they offer a slight discount (might apply to weekdays only).

It was a wonderful experience ❤️

Amazing selection of food, everything tastes brilliant and for the price you can't beat it.

Food was good, didn't have anything that wasn't edible, good variety of different things and nothing was empty. Would try it again

Brilliant food selection, friendly staff. Would definitely recommend.

We have been coming to Hot Flame for years now every time we travel through to Livingstone or Edinburgh way! A fantastic range of Chinese, Indian, Italian and live cooking food to choose from. My absolute favourite is the Teppanyaki Bar where my favourite chef puts on a fantastic show juggling his knives and spice bottle, finishing with a spectacular fire show. Brilliant. Sushi is also amazing. Definitely recommended (but bring back the Zinfandel Rose wine as I miss it!)

A great place to have a meal and the amount of different foods is so good to provide for many tastes on what you like i would go back to it sometime,the staff dont say anything it would be better if they could talk more to the customers a nice chat goes a long way.

Clean tidy. Excellent staff. Good food, plenty of it. Loads of choice. Chefs were very good. No pressure.

Really good with an amazing variety of food so something for everyone

My first visit to this buffet. I tried 2 different ones before, and so far this one is the best. I came around 2pm on Saturday, place was almost full but that was actually a good thing because everytime you go for another plate, you can expect hot and fresh food. I wasn't expecting that, but I'm surprised how good the food was, especially chicken pakora.

It was a nice stay to eat and it was delicious

I never thought I would be writing this. I was in on 14/9/24 at 12.45pm. The starters of haggis vegetable and chicken pakora were burnt to a crisp. I ate what I could then took my plate up to waitress behind bar who then showed Zuzanna Bakalarova. No one came back to me to apologise. Disgusted and not sure if or when I will go back. Very poor. Your happy to take the money but ignore a complaint. Shocking.

Was there in Sunday for 5 of us. Great food, plenty of choice and lovely atmosphere. Couldn’t fault it to be honest.

Please train your staff, mostly the young girl with bleach blonde hair, to say excuse me and not push/barge past disabled and pregnant customers and then basically say “shut up” under her breath when they ask her to be careful, very inconsiderate and unprofessional, other than the miserable female staff at the bar also meal was alright enjoyable but probably won’t return as don’t feel safe or welcome after my last experience

I really like the place because you van eat a lot of different food and have as much as you want

amazing meal, great staff, fab food, good day out for all x

Visited tonight for dinner. A little disappointed by the limited choice of starters but this was certainly not the case with main dishes. The grill provided lovely lamb chops and the teppinyaki grill was delicious. The chef was good and informative and gave great customer service. His knife juggling and fire showmanship certainly made my son smile. Thanks Chef!!!! Overall a satisfying experience.

We have been Hot Flame buffet today for dinner we paid bill but didn't eat. Because food was very bad and not fresh at all ' chicken was like rubber and weird smell was coming from the food . Seems like not eatable we complain to manager but he denied. So we paid bill and left without eat.

There is a very good variety. And most of them were ok. However I do have to say that they have cut the deserts so freaking small that 3 or 4 pieces of brownie would actually equal a normal prownie slice that one would take. I really liked their pakora chicken though

If you like Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Carvery, or Pizza, they have it all! Too bad all of it is just bad. Badly cooked, badly flavoured, cheap food. Not worth the cost. You'd be much better going to literally any of the other food places in the food court or across the road. In response to owner's reply: regardless of so-called ingredient quality, the food was still awful in flavour and badly cooked. The chicken was tough and dry in every meal I tried, the beef in black bean sauce was disgusting in flavour, the fish had a texture like watery jelly, the pizzas looked and tasted like store-bought frozen pizzas (it would be hard to convince me that they aren't). It certainly came across as cheap quality, even though it cost around £15 per head (excluding drinks). That £15 would have been better spent in literally any other food place nearby. Left a buffet still hungry because neither me nor my partner could stomach any more of your extremely subpar food. You may have plenty of satisfied customers, but you also have plenty of dissatisfied ones, judging from the many other reviews saying the same thing. Perhaps instead of replying to negative reviews with just outright denial, you should actually take onboard some feedback and use it as an opportunity to improve. Says a lot about the attitude of management.

Great meal. Fantastic choice. Great value for money and lovely attentive staff. Will go again without a doubt!

All the different types of food was beautiful! Go hungry!

I was excited for this place after all the hype. Unfortunately, hype is all it was. All the staff looked miserable. The pizza was reminiscent of a cook at home pizza from the supermarket. All the meat was unbelievable dry and chewy. All that food and not one quality item. I've been to several different buffet places that cost a lot less with much higher quality. A complete dissapointment. Further to the reply from Hot Flame. There is no exaggeration here. Every pice of food I put in my mouth was sub standard vs the cost. Every piece of meat was dry and chewy. This review is to help possible customers make an informed choice. Also notice how your main focus was on my review of the food and nothing mentioned about the sub par customer service. Kudos.

Owner and staff very helpful and nice food was amazing

The food was delicious, service was pleasant. Everything was stocked up. Will be coming back.

Great service! Would to recommend to anyone 😁

I been on 6/8/24 at 6pm i had worst experience ever in my life 100% avoid this restaurant 2 point I just mention you 1) if your baby leave food they will come and tell you don’t take food if you need to leave two chicken pakora 2) you only allowed to have 1 chop stick per person in my case between me, my mrs and 3 sons had only allowed one chop stick And after all this when I decided to leave they asked me to pay otherwise they will call police My friend who was my guest from England he doesn’t want any hassle he negotiated n then pay half when all of us couldn’t even finish our starter We didn’t have main course & deserts and we paid half price which is really unfair It’s very poor service rude and food was ok not great but you won’t find smile on any staff faces AVOID AVOID AVOID 100% after reading your reply i added more 1) you refused to give a single chop to me that's why I left because if I can't have food there why would I stay there, I felt insulted which I mentioned to you guys repeatedly and offered you guys to come and see my table how many chops we had. I ask you two times to give me chops and you told me comeback in 5 minutes then I send my son to get it you said to him you going to bring on table then you did not . 2) you admitted we were having lamb chops which is starter I believe so, we have not even started a main course or desert so how come we had substantial amount of food. that's a lie 3) It was staff or manager who ever he approached my friend and said if you cant finish food, don't take it, you could see I had over 10, under 10 boy and 1 baby under 3 plus my friend who was my guest he had 5 years 3 years and 1 year old kids if kids don't want to eat your chicken nuggets we cant force them to eat an extra 2 chicken nuggets and it was an extra two nuggets. 4) About settling a bill, if this would be my restaurant I would apologize and offer free meal due to insulting behaviour with customers 5) your reply to this review are all just stories your side I wrote what I felt and aware others to avoid

Good food but a bit too expensive.

Good choice of plenty wonderful food, always a top favourite when celebrating a birthday or even a quick spot of lunch

Great selection of food, can't wait till we come again in November

STAY AWAY TERRIBLE FOOD! Terrible food and i mean terrible. Been a while back over a yesr ago and didn't like it. Went today to give it another chance was worst. Stale pizza, macaroni was like something you would get from £1 microwave meals. The food screamed iceland/farmfoods was absolutely terrible. Tried the chilli con carne I physically spat it out into a tissue. Never in my life have i done that. Very very bad even the chips were terrible and how can you go wrong with chips. Hot world cuisine in glasgow is where you want to go, if you want a good buffet with good quality fresh food. If you want overpriced frozen foods go to farmfoods and cook it yourself would save you alot of money. Will never attend again even if it was free for a whole year I would absolutely not go. Edited this as it doesn't let me reply: I absolutely do not work for your competitor. I dont think they need to leave reviews on your page. I wrote an honest review. This is really poor standard and food with regards to staff what was i supposed to say this its absolutely revolting and make a scene. With regards to staff not one smiled or were approachable so i don't think they will be disheartened by this. Your robbing the public for awful iceland food.

Never been before...good choice of food, clean and tidy, and staff very friendly. Not too bad a price either

Food not very hot, chicken was old and chewy

Honestly didn't enjoy this place at all. The curries were watered down tasting and there was very little flavour to anything else. I can say my partner liked the cooked prawns from the live cooking but not worth the visit. Felt like there was to many chairs and tables, felt like the table next to us were right on us. Feels like no quality and no space.

I love the food especially the desert section and the welcoming stuff the teppanyaki chef I didn't get his name but he is very friendly and he's food I do recommend I also do love the selections of food and I would definitely recommend to go there with family or friends

Always come here when visiting friends in Livingston. Good selection of food, tables are cleared quickly and staff are friendly. And I could watch this guy all night.

Very interesting and unique restaurant. Being able to have some garlic nan bread, beef in blackbean sauce and some pizza is something I never knew I wanted 😅 decently priced as well.

It's not a world-class buffet, but at this price, it is worth! Food is decent with plenty of choices! Staff are so helpful! Environment is comfortable, but honestly, it is very hot in summertime.

Have always liked this restaurant, but their prices keep going up. Now approx £20 for lunch

Truly excellent, probably the best buffet I have had, the teppenaki was superb. Highly recommended.

I will avoid buffet restaurants in the future. The food did not meet my expectations, despite the variety of options. However, the staff were readily available to assist at any time. The dessert was limited options. It’s 19£ for the dinner and 16£ for the lunch.

Food lovely plenty of choices couldn't mention 👌👍👍

Food not the worst (typical buffet), ice machine broken, our table was in the middle of a busy walk way, place was overcrowded and the audacity to ask for a tip at the end is crazy. For what? We literally done all the leg work and even had to go to the till to pay, then the thing at the till tries to shame us for it. Not worth waiting in a queue for and certainly not value for money. Wouldn't recommend to people that want a nice quiet family meal.

The selection of food was relatively limited beyond stewed items such as curries or chilli's, although the quality was decent. The staff were friendly and helpful, but tables felt crowded together too densely. I loved the cat robot however. A really cool touch! If I felt more comfortable, the review scorer would be higher

Stay away from this place. Food is absolutely terrible. Poor quality of food.

The food was great but the service of a particular manager is POOR. My wife was waiting me outside the restaurant while I am queuing to pay. The manager asked if my wife was queuing then my wife said “No, I am not queuing”. Then the manager said to his staff that my wife is “Enjoying her life here”. Not expecting the manager would remember we are his customer but we will remember such irrespective speech

Good wee place. Loads to pick from.

Quality food, good selection not very busy on week days,recommended.

We recently dined at Hot Flame and unfortunately, our experience was quite disappointing. Specifically, the lamb chop we ordered was served completely burnt, and the sushi was excessively salty. It was very disheartening to encounter such issues. While the overall atmosphere of the restaurant is nice, mistakes like this are unacceptable and also some of staf were really rude and with no smile on their face which doesn't make you feel comfortable. Apart from these issues other meals were good especiallay teppanyaki prawns.I hope they pay more attention to some foods

Really enjoyed this place. Quality of food was better than I expected. The fresh Teppanyaki was especially good. Lots and lots of things to choose from.

Incredibly rude staff. The owner wouldn't let you look at any of the food before deciding whether to stay and pay which as a veggie would have been great as i'd see what they had on offer and whether it was worth it. He was highly aggressive and kept telling us to buy a drink then we could look. Avoid this place EDIT: Just rebutting the owners comments - he never once mentioned the website, even still fairly outrageous

Was here last night for a family meal there was 10 of us, great choice & selection of food something for everyone! Staff were friendly & efficient when it came to clearing tables!

Would definitely recommend food is very good

A variety of food for all tastes and all fresh as the location is really popular. The open kitchen they have serve really tasty dishes and the chef does a bit of a show for presentation . Service is also great as they move really quick. A bit noisy as lots of people are there. Anyway, worth the visit. I definitely am gonna visit again.

Amazing food, well worth the value, really good different food choice.

One of the better places, compared to Cosmo, Hot Flame wins in every respect. Cosmo is terribly dirty, the food is limited and the quality at Hotflame does the job

I've not been in the buffet since covid time and it was my first time in Hot Flame. I have to say that I really enjoyed that. All the food I tried was delicious. I've been for lunch and can say that I don't need any dinner 😃 Only thing is that the place is quite big it was Saturday so quite busy and still tables available but I can understand that considering the day, time and weather. Definitely coming back .

Mass produced rubbish, run by Asian manager and chefs yet every piece of food is bland and on par with micro meals. Cost nearly £60 for 2 adults and a toddler

I have been this place but completely disappointed no taste at all dry rice over cooked and burn grill completely tasteless food owner must change his chef I would say

I was there yesterday Wednesday 15th May it was far too warm in the building I was very over heated in there the sweet and sour chicken was very hard and I was actually sick last night and my partner is also suffering with sickness it's fair to say I will not be visiting again

Really enjoyed it here. Went with my family and another family. Great selection of different foods. Even with such a choice all the things that I had tasted very good. The chicken pakora starter was as good as a stand alone Indian restaurant’s and the beef in black bean sauce and noodles from the main course could have been from a Chinese restaurant. Highly recommend this place. My daughter loves a buffet so no doubt we will be back.

Was there at the weekend, decent service as usual and the food did taste good, however myself and my husband got food poisoning from it and have been sick in bed the past 2 day, It could only have been here as we hadn’t eaten anything else! Sad to say but we won’t be back.

Good quality food, and it's reasonably cheap only 16 pound per person

Food was Barry White. I am not impressed, I thought after all these years of this place being open it would be good, it is terrible to say the least. Avoid at all costs, if you want to retain your sanity then please get a mc donalds your wallet will thank you and Sidd wont get richer from your misfortune!

Good food, very clean and a great atmosphere. Love the Tepanyaki section.

Best place to eat in Livingston. Me and my family come here often as the food is always great and loads of variety us and for the kids. Staff are always lovely and friendly too. My kids also love the kitty robot that delivers the drinks 🤣

Everything fresh. And lots of variety. Friendly and efficient staff. Will definitely be going back for more.

Always busy and buzzing. And food very good. To not speak about the staff : very friendly and helpful

Food was bland, dried out, soggy. Staff weren't very helpful. Won't return

Definitely down hill since last visit, food all very samey, sauces all very thin no live pasta station, irn bru tasted like soda water, charged us full adult price for a 10 year old as its under 10s so fair play. Tables tiny nowhere to place used plates, I went to Mr Basria in Edinburgh about a month ago cheaper and at least 3 times the amount of choice, sad to say this will be our last visit as it is handy but lunch £80 for 2 adults and two kids (10 & 4) for bland food and no Irn bru is just not cricket. First time in my life I left a buffet restaurant feeling hungry

Great friendly welcoming, all explained in detail for first timers. Great food, very tasty and satisfying. Went on Easter Sunday for lunch with my wife & our two teenagers before going to the cinema. Visited every counter, but never got stuffed & bloated, there was a constant flow of freshly prepared food. Great selection, China, India, Japan, Mexico, Uk, Italy & well, exactly a world banquet with a carvery to boot! Happy friendly staff, your plates are immediately cleared between every course/visit. Bottomless soft drinks are a plus. Left Happy & very satisfied. Will definitely visit once a month. Money well spent.

Floor staff(whos cleaned a tables) is maked our feeling to eat fast and go..we had 2times last few days and had some experience sadly. But rest of the staff was friendly and nice. Food its okay but not best.

Beyond busy, far too many tables squeezed in. The food was pretty good. Love the fact they have their own robot member of staff

Food was okay the ribs where just all fat barely any meet. There was fatty gritty bits in the Chillie and the cakes and truffles made me boke but the staff make you feel so uncomfortable they all just stand there and stare at you while you get your food or while you’re eating it. It definitely makes us not want to go back when 3 waiters are just standing aside staring at us while we eat. We both noticed it and agreed it was uncomfortable. Not hard just train your staff to not stare people down as they eat it’s disturbing. NOT WORTH £27 EACH!!!

absolutely disgusting, was served raw chicken and when brought to the managers attention he was rude, dismissive and told me it was a ‘’fatty bit’’ when the chicken was clearly raw, he did not attempt to resolve this issue at all. this had been reported!! do not eat here!!!!!

This place is absolute chaos! I have gone up 3 seperate occasions and come back with an almost empty plate. There's barely anything left, you can hardly move for the people. I thought I'd grab something from the hot grill section and got steak slices asked for medium rare and couldn't finish the meat because it was so tough. Almost had a panic attack while waiting due to the crowd. I'm usually a big lover of sushi but I was really unimpressed by the strange selection available. Didn't try Indian food as I didn't fancy curry, almost everything in the Chinese section has been finished both times I attempted to get something. I ended up with a couple of slices of crispy pork and a spoonful of rice, a little overcooked steak meat and a few pieces of sushi I didn't like. I didn't even go near the dessert bar. I'm usually quite positive in my reviews but this is crazy.

One of the best places I have been too all the food you can imagine

Food really nice would recommend

Visited at lunchtime place was very busy. An all you can eat buffet offered plenty of choice. Some of the dishes were only luke warm and this spoilt what could have been an enjoyable lunch.

Brilliant atmosphere, Brilliant service they have a robot that comes around with your glasses or drinks, u can get a refill juice for 3.50 n u can go up as much as you like food amazing.

Food variety was good Staff lurked around waiting on you finishing plate to take away which was off putting Robot that brings drinks was a nice touch

Amazing variety of food and quick service... money well spent... !! Kids enjoyed watching Bella, doing rounds in the restaurant... !! Keep up the good work!

Disappointed! It looks like loads of options but quite limited in taste and quality vs other similar buffet type restaurants. Soft drinks aren't cheap and great + it can take a while before an empty one is refilled - even tho multiple people ask for it. Same with desserts. Staff talking together in different languages while taking payment is rude and a red customer service flag for me. Same with card payments that pre-fill tips % and you have to swipe pages to not tip if you don't want to. Wouldn't recommend.

Food ok but not much choice for vegetarian meals.

Excellent choice of food which is also of the highest quality. An empty plate won't sit on your table for long as staff are constantly clearing tables. All you can eat and drink for about £26 per person....don't get full too quickly 😄.

I love everything about my sister always treats me once in a while to go there.

Great place to eat, great choice, and variety of world cuisines, all cooked to perfection, could not fault it 😋

Food is really fresh, good quality and hot. Staff super efficient. Usually dont like these places but this one is very good at a very good price.

Has everything you could want even a robot that serves your drinks! The kids loved that! Food is fresh and good choice of items. Get the freshly made naans they are great! Dessert bar has a chocolate fountain and a ice cream soft serve machine. If they only made fresh steaks on the grill would I rate the food higher. Only thing I was disappointed with are the teppanyaki steaks and scallops. Scallops were tiny and overcooked, as well as the teppanyaki steak.

I want to share my experience yesterday myself and my partner went for some lunch yesterday to same we were disappointed was an understatement I got my starters and was eating away happily to my shock I went to eat a bit of chicken and had to spit this out it was fish I cannot eat fish When I went up to check the fish is right beside the chicken not good for people with allergies we left I spoke to the girl on the till her face said it all did not give a dam bored look on her face I told her how dangerous this could be with seafood again nothing from her I paid my £50 and left disappointed I used to go to the same restaurant in udingston it was amazing food and great service I will never return to this restaurant

Eat all you want buffet banquet cuisine. Lots of choice of hot and cold food. From Indian Chinese, continental, traditional Sunday ham and Yorkshire puds. Delicious deserts, apple crumble, sponge cakes, custard and lashings of ice cream. Reasonably priced to pricey. 4 people about £100 all in. 24hr in advance booking required or turn up to be seated on quieter evenings.

Apparently they close at 3.30 on a Saturday! Really??

Range of cuisine to suit everyone. Food well cooked. Would go again