Little Fat Buddha in Darlington

Ordered food for our son’s birthday. It Was lovely. Plenty of it for the money. We loved the red thai curry and the honey chilli chicken. We will definitely be back.

Absolutely disgusting £53 paid for food that is unfit for human consumption.Meal for 4 people ordered & each person refused to eat it,all went in bin.I didn't phone to complain as they would most likely offer free meal or discount of next order and we would never ever order or eat from here again.I ordered Duck fried rice,I will add photos of the raw duck fleshy skin,it made me want to be physically sick.The rice was slimey.The chicken in my sons meal looked unfair for consumption.How this place is being able to send food out like we received and still be in buisness is beyond words.I wish I'd read the reviews before I made my order.I felt compelled to do this review to give any other person considering a meal order from here.Its at ones own risk.Take a look at the Duck skin photos I will add to this review and you decide 🤮

Joke orderd at 5.30pm. Still not arrived at 8:30 Rang numerous times…excuse after excuse. AVOID..AVOID …AVOID..,AVOID

I would give this place a 0 if I could ! If you have a nut allergy then please AVOID at all costs! As they only display this on their website and not in the takeaway!

Great variety of dishes,never eaten from here before,up visiting so we had a delivery.Had a large order ,food arrived in an hour,hot,lots of it and all very tasty.Noticed this morning that the reviews are not that good,maybe we dropped lucky??,On the strength of last night we would definitely order again.

Cold food and driver needs lessons on counting money because always gives rong change and his escuse ISI I THOUGHT I GIVE YOU TWO POUND COINS NOT ONES ALWAYS CHECK CHANGE AND IF FOODS Hot it's a real same because the place used to be one of the best. I serpose you just can't get the staff

We like the food when it arrives hot but I would not call it exceptional especially at their prices. You expect a Friday night to be busy but having to wait a couple of hours is not good enough.

Nearly 3 hours so far and no food. 2 telephone calls, 2 different excuses. Will never ever use again .. .

Poor quality food, even with the basics like vegetable spring rolls and the sauce. The shredded duck was pretty terrible. Order was quick to be prepared

Order at 6:30, delivery scheduled for 7:45. Waited till 8:00pm to ring to be told it's left . 8:20 still not here despite it been less than 10 mins away . Rings them again to be told it's just left, I said you told me that 20 mins ago , they said the girl should not have said that (yeah it was the same girl this time too). So waited till 9:00pm, still not arrived some 2 and a half hours later . What a shocking place and to lie about the order too, dont take the order if you cant deliver it what an absolute disgrace this place is

waiting over two hours i said ill wait ten mins then 36 mins later i call again to cancel and staff say i can not cancel i said i think u will find i can , she then slambs phone down very shocking service for the prices they charge . i will never order again used to be amazing place but its gone to dogs , my biggest regret was not to look at reviews b4 i ordered

I hate writing bad reviews but feel I have to write this in the hope they try and resolve the problem. My husband and I ordered food at 5:00pm this evening and after numerous calls with no answer we presumed we weren’t getting our food. We decided to order a dominoes instead as we were so hungry. Almost 3 hours later we get a knock at the door with our fat Buddha delivery. The delivery guy was very apologetic and we actually felt sorry for the guy as he inevitably has to take the complaints but seriously 3 hours for a meal?! I appreciate it’s a difficult time and you’ll be inundated with orders as no one has anything to do, but hire some staff to answer your calls! If you had told us there was going to be a delay we would have understood. Such a shame, would hate to this this business fall apart just because of poor organisation. Fingers crossed you get this resolved for future orders. Unfortunately we won’t be in a rush to order anytime soon.

No idea what the food is like....placed an online order at 4.35pm delivery is timed at 60 min so i waited expectantly....and waited.....and waited....and waited...at 7.25 (some 2 hours and 50 minutes later) i finally got in the car and went to see if it was a delivery issue...no the food just wasnt ready. If it had been we would have just collected it and hang the delivery charge... However it wasnt even ready for the delivery guy to take ...they were just putting it up....whatever that means...so i guess it would have been at least another half an hour. Gave up waiting....asked for a refund and had beans on toast instead. Dont let this place ruin you Saturday night... There are plenty of great takeaways in Darlington and Cockerton has some of the best, so dont waste your evening waiting for this one. During lockdown we've had a great delivered curry from Spice4you, tasty Chinese from Captain Wok and our usual and favourite takeaway the Parmesan House. All of these managed to get the food delivered hot and in a reasonable timescale.

Extremely poor service. An unbelievably long wait. Uncooked food, the duck rolls came frozen. Completely disorganised when we came to collect.

Would recommend for food as quality above the average takeaway. NB collection only However this business should not be taking online orders or delivery service as they cannot fulfil within an acceptable time ...5.10 pm order with Eta 6 10 ..after a visit at 7 to the premises by me we got our food at 7 40 barely warm and incomplete when my wife collected it ...clearly struggling with demand

Ordered online at 5.10pm, have confirmation email at 5.11pm, 7.53pm after numerous calls, which I have proof of we have had to ask for a refund, each call we were told it would be with us within the next twenty minutes. From putting the order in to numerous calls where we were fobbed off it has been two hours and 43 minutes. Absolutely disgusting. We won't be using again and I hope that others think twice.

Tried to order on line and would not accept order, rang order in, turned up they don’t accept cards (nowhere tells you this), closest cash point not working eventually got cash, I suggested that website should let you know about needing cash especially in covid days, you would think I’ve personally insulted the staff and was on a different planet for even suggesting it! Really think just a bit of customer service would help. Food was ok, nothing special but will be looking elsewhere in the future!

Wide menu choice. Cash payments only. Food was not great. Expected more for the price & comparing it to branches elsewhere.

Ordered a home delivery tonight for 7:30pm at 8:30 it hadn’t turned up so we called them, they said it was on the way. We live quarter of a mile from the restaurant (yes lazy I know not to collect!). 30 mins later -Despite paying £68 for a family feast they have still not arrived. Apparently it’s still on it’s way. We asked for a refund. They hung up. DO NOT USE THIS RESTAURANT!!

Definitely recommend. Food is amazing and staff are always helpful. Affordable prices and speedy delivery.

always order from fat buddha and have never been disappointed. Short waiting times in the shop. Food is lovely with decent prices and friendly staff.

My partner had a severe allergic reaction to her meal after being told by the employee no meals we ordered have nuts. Not only did we not receive one of the meals we paid for but they cooked my partners meal with nuts and she had a reaction. Disgraceful practice, the food wasn't great anyway but to see my partner have reaction it was awful. Do not to this establishment, I'll be contacting the local council tomorrow to take it further.

We revisited the Fat Buddha again after a poor first visit. This time the food was good particularly the pad thai adish which I get to ascertain whether they can make a basic Thai dish. I was not disappointed. The other dishes were also very good Now worth a vist

Decent enough and tasty however I do think it is quite pricey for the amount of food you get. Also they did once get the order wrong, ordered chicken and I got prawns but didn't realise until I got home.

Ordered takeaway for delivery and arrived well within estimated time and was piping hot. Would definitely recommend the pan pan chicken but never had a bad meal from here

This is probably the worst take way ever, every time I order from here and ask if it will be ready by a certain time I am always reassured it will be as I travel quite away to get it only to be told it’ll be 2 minutes 10 minutes later to be told it’ll be 10 minutes, absolute joke never enough staff and everyone running around like headless chickens still taking orders even though they can’t fulfill the ones they have. When I spoke to the young girl about this her reply was “well whatvcan I do “ ridiculous

Only went in for chips. Staff walking around with earphones in and messing about on their phones. Chip bloke scooped frozen chips out of a bag with his hand and put in fryer. Very unhygienic. Certainly weren’t in for long enough as undercooked. Won’t be going again

I purchased a gateway to be delivered from them. I had some dumplings and roast duck Malaysian curry with rice. The food was awful. I ate some of it but left most. I had symptoms of food poisoning for the next two days which was very unpleasant and interfered with my working life. Definitely to be missed.

This is a take away place in cockerton, Darlington England, we love Aisian food and order all the time all over the place, we thought we would try this one as it was near where we had just been shopping, so we stopped andordered from their Take Out menu, it was watery, bland and very unappetizeing, will never order from there again and never had to this day.

Came here as our usual was closed. Won’t return. Ordered two portions of noodles which were tiny, didn’t even fill 2/3 of the tub. Cantonese sweet and sour chicken was so tough it was inedible. House special in oyster sauce was bland. Definitely won’t return. The majority got thrown out. Terrible

Waited a hour for my food which was what they said but when it turned up it was cold and over cooked. Didn't think was good value for money. Have had some very nice meals from here in the past. Hope tonight was a one off

I am absolutely shocked at what I seen while waiting to collect my order.

Ordered their deluxe combo to start which was very nice. Mains were their salt and pepper king prawns which would have been more aptly named salt and salt king prawns - very salty and little other flavors. We then had their sweet chilli chicken - not sure where the chill got to as it was simply a poor sweet and sour chicken. Very disappointed. Delivery was a lot quicker than told over phone but was charged a bit more than expected!

Awful - ordered delivery, how much is that please including delivery charge? Driver turns up, it’s more than I’d agreed on the phone but I paid. Contacted shop to question the cost. The manager came to my house to refund what the extra money the delivery driver obviously took for himself.

Considering the other reviews I’ve seen this place should be a gem , lettuce gem perhaps but that’s as far as it goes

A gem of a takeaway-such a delight to visit, premises clean and smells wonderful. Equally, food is always a joy to eat.

Most of the food wasn’t warm the curry that I ordered without no veg came with veg salt and chill chips were just normal. I don’t recommend eating from here.

Food is good and always hot, only complaint is that on my last visit I ordered yaki ramen noodles and was given yaki udon noodles. No major disappointment but I was "in the mood" for Ramen. All in all a decent takeaway that offers a pan Asian choice of dishes.

Got delivered wrong items. Rang to tell them. The woman was extremely rude stating it was my fault when husband had heard me put order in. Such a shame because food was lovely but will never give them our business again. We were dubious to start with because of previous hygiene problems but prior to them had enjoyed food from there. Never again purely based on customer service.

The pan pan chicken is delicious. Everything made fresh to order and very generous portions. Do deliveries as well as collection. Excellent value for money

Great service - was told meal would be with us in 30 minutes and doorbell rang after 20! Lovely, hot food. Very reasonably priced.

Honey chilli chicken is a family favourite along with dumplings and special rice. Go there every Friday and it's great.

Order came too quick to be cooked fresh..rubbery chicken and huge chunks of peppers in the Thai red curry, frozen chips and dry rice....not cheap but tasted it!!!

Large take away order place tonight. I ordered a pad thai, tasted like it has been cooked in dirty smelly fish water. Full of grease. Won't be having from here again

Second meal from here to try something different. Food was very average for what it costs. Chips were quiet scrappy too. Probably stick to a Chinese next time.

Very nice food i was there on Sunday and i had Signapore curry chicken was lovely , also if you want something spicy you should try salt and peper king prawn ..

Pedí un pollo miel chili desde aquí y 10 minutos más tarde estaba listo para recoger. La comida era precioso, creo que es la comida más popular en el menú. Sin duda será tener de nuevo.

Carne en salsa de frijol - sabroso volver pero inconstante en lo que reciben aquí, nunca tuvimos amarillo en lugar de verde pimienta pimienta en alubias negras antes, eso es lo que me dieron hoy! Crackers de gambas y huevo frito arroz ya empacados en un horno caliente en el momento de la compra de huevos muy seco arroz frito y galletas saladas. En general, no vale la pena el costo, fresco arroz sería precioso, con el que normalmente pimientos ternera y presentes en frijol negro!

Using the toilet as a staff office ....unhygienic it's in the local paper for being dirty council already closed it then opened again but now council found it to be filthy again

I do not regularly use here and most definitely will not be now...I ordered a small take way for myself at 6.53pm and asked them to calculate the amount so I could have it ready for them which they stated was £11, this seemed to be excessive and I recalculated it myself and telephoned back to suggest calculation wrong however they stated they had forgotten to inform me that delivery is £2! Next they had informed me that it would be delivered within the hour, I rang back at 8.10pm a few attempts only to find that was permanently engaged (conveniently or purposely?!) When I eventually spoke to someone she went to check and stated was on its way....however, I am still waiting at this time 8.36!!! Soooo nearly two hours for starter, chips and rice!!! This food better be good when it arrives...I however feel that I should receive a refund for my ridiculous wait time?

Have had lots of takeaways from here and we are never disappointed. Never had a bad meal. Definitely recommend.

Food is really fresh and tasty. The chef is very accommodating and made us a special request which was excellent. Third time there and will keep going back.

Go here a few times and never Dissapointed Service always good with polite staff..always busy which is a good sign and you can see your meals being preparedA little gem..recommended

Ordered some great food, which I would recommend to others any day of the week. However, what spoilt the experience was how the man taking the order spoke to my partner. You should go to this restaurant expecting to be spoken to rudely and rushed.

By far my favourite take away in town! Never had a bad meal here. Personal favourite is the Salt and Chili Prawns. Always busy, however if you pop in food is prepared really quickly! If your hungry I'd pop in for it. Delivery service is great, however getting through on the phone can be problematic. This doesn't bother me personally though as I think it's totally worth persevering for :)Ignore the negative reviews and give it a go for yourself.

We gave up trying to get through to the take away by phone on a Saturday night and went in person instead (which is not really satisfactory). We ordered three main courses between four people which was adequate as we had our own starter nibbles and pudding but would otherwise recommend one portion per person. All of the main courses including a Malaysian chicken curry, Thai chicken curry and honey chilli chicken were okay - but on the basis of this experience - we're surprised that the take away is as busy as it is.

Lovely takeaway, especially recommend the salt and chilli king prawns, but always check you have what you ordered before you venture all the way home and realise they have your order wrong. Every time I go there they get something wrong, because they are so busy. Instead of a child's honey chilli chicken, I got chicken nuggets?! I was all the way home before I realised and then you are stuck! Great place, could do with reading back your order to check they have got it correct though.

I was told about this place by a friend. Looked it up on Facebook before trying it out and saw any complaints were around delivery and waiting times so I went in person. Staff were helpful , place was clean and its always a good sign to see into the kitchen. I was very surprised how quickly our food was ready (approx. 15 mins from ordering) . Food couldn't be faulted fresh and tasty. I will definitely be going back . Another good tip is menu shows your their most favourite dishes if you aren't sure what to try .

Having never visited for a while, we thought we would have a takeaway recently but found ourselves to be disappointed by the quality and the value. My Husband is a takeaway lover and so he knows what he likes and doesn't and he just didn't really like any of his choices - the spare ribs he said didn't taste very nice and the sweet and sour chicken wasn't as expected. I had the vegetable phad thai and did enjoy mine though.

Little Fat Buddha - A Nice Takeaway!We sometimes get our evening meal on a Saturday night from here.It's always busy so that is a good sign. We never order over the phone as it is difficult to get through.The girls on the desk are very friendly.The takeaway has a very extensive menu.We like the King Prawn Ginger with Egg Fried Rice. It's delicious!It's a great takeaway!

Ordered food, promised delivery in 45 mins . I called after an hour . Then an hour and a half . Then 2 hours . The man kept promising it will be 5 mins . It turned up after 2 and a half hours . The food was cold . It was disgusting . Trust me keep well away . I called to complain . The man wasn't interested he said call me back tomorrow and hung up . I will not be going back . Plus it is always engaged . Not for long though because they now have a really bad name

Ate here on Monday 26 October 2015.Firstly the positives. I ordered Malaysian special curry with rice and chips. Excellent portion sizes, very tasty and very good value.Now the negatives. The gentleman who served me was plain rude. I asked if I could pay on card and you'd think I'd insulted him personally. A very poor reflection on an otherwise great visit.I will return when I'm next in the area as the food outweighs this gentlemans manners.

We ordered a family meal for 8. We were told in would take 20 minutes. We arrived on time to be told it would be another 10. No problem. 10 minutes later still no food. We were now told they had run out of bean sprouts!!! It took another 30 minutes before our food arrived. A complete waste of time. In addition the front of house person was one of the rudest men I have ever experienced. He was angry and shouting when we complained!! I WILL NEVER GO BACK

Tried here for the first time after a few recommendation. I had the honey sweet chilli chicken which was recommended dish on the menu. Found it very sweet so will try another dish next time. My partner had one of the Chinese dishes which looked more appealing. Massive portion of chips, easily enough to split between two people. Staff seemed polite enough and could see the food being cooked as we paid for ours. Will try again in near future.

I know they do great food - but how can you order when they don't answer the phone??! This isnt the first time we have tried to order on a busy night!...

I only tried this takeaway last year with my boyfriend and straight away we both loved it. The honey chilli chicken is amazing, I order it every time we go. My boyfriend however is a little more adventurous and orders something different every time! Never had a bad meal and I always think that the staff are polite and helpful. Even on Xmas eve when they were really busy we were served really quickly by friendly staff and our food was with us in less time than I thought considering how busy they were. Ignore the negative reviews, this place is definitely worth a try!

If you can suffer the terrible service, the food was good. The regular staff may be more polite, but I was served by the manager who clearly should not be allowed to take orders. Abrupt and short-tempered, tutting and shaking his head when I asked him to repeat my order back to me, and still managing to get one dish wrong. I phoned back when I realised there had been a mistake and the helpful assistant I spoke to clearly knew who I had dealt with, so this is obviously not an uncommon occurrence.

Not the first time we have had either the wrong order or been charged wrong. Same delivery driver. When questioned about the over price he just said it's gone up take it up with the shop. Checked pricing on website and that confirms he overcharged by £3. Last time we go there. Rip off

I often visit the little fat buddha a few times a month, normally on a Friday or Saturday, however I visited on a Sunday for a change this week. I said my order to a very loud and sharp Chinese man, (owner I'm guessing) who had obviously never heard of service with a smile nor any manners at all. I noticed he was rude to others as well. Maybe they should have the pleasant female staff that they have on a Friday and Saturday working everyday! Also there menu needs more description to it I find!

How the hell can u order a meal when u have the phone off the hook??? Pathetic will not even attept to use this takeaway ever

Great Korean and Thau food here. The satay chicken starter is the best as are the chicken dumplings. Some more veggie options would be nice, plus it is a little on the expensive side.

As the title states, I have tried nearly everything on the Menu and nothing has failed to put a smile on my face. Pretty quick turn around for such a busy place wether pick up or delivery. It is costly, I can sit in the Restraunt of the same name in Durham for the same price. But with little competition in Darlington at the moment I suppose they can get away with been a few quid over the budget.

A great menu, plenty of choice.This has to be the best take away in darlington. The food is cooked to order in front of you. On each visit we try a different dish and have not been disappointed to date.The only downside is the parking on a Friday and Saturday night, so for these nights a telephone order is the preferred method.

I am sick of the phone being off the hook next time it happens that's me finished with them. The food is great but not prepared to go wait for it I want to ring up and collect. If your feking busy just say so !!! pick up the phone you numptys !!!!

Just had a beef Malaysian curry, it was terrible. Chewy beef, more onions than any thing and very little sauce. Won't be going back.

Yummy! Never had a bad meal yet from this delightful and amazing takeaway. Just wish it was closer to home so that they would deliver to us. Lots of choice on the menu so always ended up ordering too much as we cannot decide.

If you like greasy slop cooked in cheap oil, this is the place for you. Also, take out delivery arrived after an hour n half. Would have been worth the wait if the food was good.

Lots of choice on the menu, Malay / Thai / Szechuan which is different to the usual takeaway and overdosing on MSG. Can quickly end up as pricy if everyone gets to choose.

The customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Not be returning, very rude to customers. Shame as its ok food.

I am new to Darlington and my daughter and I decided to get a takeaway on Friday night and chose Little Fat Buddha. She chose the Malasian Chicken Curry and I had the Beef in Sezechuan sauce. I travelled to this region of China last October and I have to say The Little Fat Buddha did not disappoint. The food arrived within half an hour of ordering, was pipping hot and my beef was completely authentic. My guess is the bad reviews are being posted by rival takeaways who cannot compete or by people who actually revel in the usual synthetic sweet and sour chicken from run of the mill takeaways. I most certainly will order from here again.

A fabulous fresh tasting experience of Asian cookery, delivered hot and in good time. An enjoyable experience.

Really really do not bother going to Darlington Little Fat Buddha unless they get some people in the kitchen who actually have a little kitchen training. Or maybe even an actual chef. I thought our first bad experience of it might just have been a bad night, but they've just trumped it on our second trial of this takeaway. Their pad thai was not just inedible but actually rather bizarre - a glutenous mass of oily soggy flat-ribbon noodles all stuck together with a few bits of cheap and oily veg (mostly cabbage stem) mixed in. No flavour whatsoever. Swimming in nasty cheap oil. I can't understand how they have the nerve to pretend that this is edible food. Both of us threw most of it away and made toast instead! Both times we have tried this place we have been served with disgusting inedible muck. I can't understand how they're still in business, or how on earth they have the 'Fat Buddha' name. Save yourself a tenner and make beans on toast instead! This place is to be avoided like the plague.

The honey chilli chicken from here is lovely, my family have ordered a few takeaways and always had good food

the food here used to be amazing but it's gone down hill lately. The sauces are watery and it doesn't seem as fresh. Previously the high price was acceptable but not any more.