Wokmania

now shutdown june 2009

I last went a few months ago so it may have changed but when I went. Great service with lovely food with warm white and milk chocolate fountains.

well, where do i start.4 weeks ago i booked a table for 14 ppl for the ²⁸⁄₂ for my daughters 13^th birthday party. can you imagine what it felt like getting there at 6pm to find they had closed down??? thanks wokmania for informaing us even after you had our phonenumber. many regards from 14 disappointed ppl

Went for the first time with my partner last night. She met me as I got off work and we went in. I wasn’t sure what time it went from lunch prices to dinner prices and when I asked the owner (who most likely has the same sense of humour as me but isn’t exactly what I look for in a ‘host’) said It is now dinner time. Rates? What do you think we are? A taxi service? Ah well, great start.
The inside is absolutely stunning. The toilets are beautiful. The open service kitchen is a nice touch. The furnishings are all tasteful and very high quality but is it a bit dark in there. The food is all well lit but it is hard to see what you are doing at the table. The piped music is always of dubious quality in Chinese restaurants but this place was playing authentic Eurocentric cheese beat.
Anyway the food was pretty horrible to be honest. The starters section looked ancient and dry. The mains were limited with mostly big trays of sweet and sour. The rice and noodles were dry and almost inedible. I tried four different main dishes and they were mostly cornflour paste sauces with different colours but no desirable flavour differences.
There was a good quantity of meat in the dishes so they’d not skimped there, but what is the point in chomping through it all if it isn’t at all appetising? After trying a mixed plate of things I went back and had just a plate of chips and sweet and sour sauce. The chips were not that fresh and the sauce was mostly tomato paste and looked old. I know it seems pathetic to judge a Chinese restaurant on their chips and sweet and sour sauce but when they are the most appealing item on the menu and they are pretty poor then where is ANY value?
The owner took our drinks order, my partner had a coke and it is good value as it is unlimited refills for £2. I wanted a few beers that night but I’d just finished work and wanted a glass of water first. He said there was a charge for a tap water. I asked him if he was joking and he said that this time he’d waive it and usually there would be a charge. I said does he automatically add or expect any kind gratuity for service? He said that we were using the restaurants services and usually there would be a charge but as he was feeling generous he’d bring me the first glass for free. I was getting irritated with him by this point and said that we’d never been before, if we are asking questions it is because we are unsure of how he runs his restaurant. He became mostly friendly once he realised he was forming a first impression. Would this guy rather I drank and filled my stomach with a couple of glasses of negligible cost tap water or instead pigged out on a whole tray of beef?
Anyway. Later I went for a glass of the refillable soft drinks and it is good value. There was a pretty horrible open sewer smell around that area though!
The dessert section is impressive but dirty. Slices of the same cake are confusingly plated up on random dishes and left in odd places on pieces of wood. There was a big basket of stale bun things and one of the ice cream machines was out of order. The ice cream topping sauces were stale and tasted off. The fruit was totally past its best and I’d not touch any of it. There was a wreaked trifle and some confusing dishes of jelly popped here and there, for example under the lip of the chocolate fountain drip tray which was running on unsweetened catering chocolate flavour topping (the disgusting stuff) instead of chocolate of any real value. There wasn’t any spoons or silverware in this area and there are some nice sundae style glasses but no spoons which would reach to the bottom!
Anyway. I’m a fussy git but when I eat out I prefer quality and service over price. I think this place is a bit of a case of ‘what do you expect for £8.95?’. Neither of us will return. There are better but not cheaper buffet restaurants in Derby city. If you don’t want to eat any of it, the staff are rude to you and the music is bad then it isn’t really a bargain is it?

Ive been loads of times, and have a loyalty card.
I went last sunday, but have not called in for 2 – 3 months.
THE FRONT DESK SERVICE IS DIRE.
The big miserable lad in the suit has been there since the start. WHY?
A lot of the dishes have now been taken off the menu.
HOW can you eat (yesterdays)salad on a hot-​plate.
I ate mine out of a soup cold bowl.
NO spare cuttlery. I asked for it, but I,…YES .THATS RIGHT. I –was sent to look for it, by big lad
Question-​What do you call a Chinese Buffet with NO PRAWN CRACKERS?
Answer– WOKMANIA/​DERBY.
~AVOID~
End.

The Wokmania restaurant certainly looks the part and the old church has been renovated to a high standard. The surroundings are pretty nice inside and add to the atmosphere. I have visited the restaurant on a number of occasions despite hearing mixed reviews, and can say that I haven’t had any issues. The restaurant appeared clean and the toilet facillties were very good. Considering the price of the buffet, it offers good value for money, and the food was of standard that is to be expected from a buffet style all you can eat restaurant –good range of food, albeit a bit bland. My only gripe was that some of the meat in the different dishes was slightly dry from sitting under the lamps which kept the food warm. I didn’t experience any problems with the staff, although I have noticed that they do tend to struggle when working out the bill
Compared to the other local all you can eat buffet style restaurant, Wokmania compares very well.
I can recommend the take-​away boxes for lunch, which are really cheap if you happen to work in the city centre during the week.

I have been here with my family and having been to a number of chinese restaurants, this was not one of the best. The staff were nice and yes the atmosphere is great, the décor lovely. However, the food was not as good as you get in other restaurants. The only good point was the chocolate fountain. but there were no sticks to pick up the marshmallows etc, so we stuck our bowls under it and had a bowl full of chocolate with a few jelly beans thrown in for good measure!

I have visited Wokmania on a few occasions so I feel that I can give an objective review.
When the place first opened It was stunning. The food was fantastic and the desserts are included in that. They have 2 chocolate fountains — A white and a milk chocolate and they were always on, no matter what time of day we went.
There are 2 ice cream machines and they would both be on all the time too.
I always loved the food at Wokmania as they have several dishes you can’t get at other local Chinese buffets. A great selection of salads and a wider selection of curries and main dishes.
The toilets were always a joy to visit too as they are really well designed and were always clean and spruce.
However the last time I visited things were very different.
The cutlery was all filthy. My friend had to ask for it to be changed as we weren’t prepared to eat from it. The glasses and plates were also dirty as were the toilets. I wasn’t sure whether to nip down to the bar next door to use their loos.
The one constant has always been the disinterest of the staff to clear plates or serve drinks — preferring to hang out by the desserts and chat. This hasn’t changed.
The chocolate fountains are never on these days and the ice cream machine always seems to be broken.
Unfortunately after our last visit both my friend and I were violently ill for the whole weekend and I am afraid I won’t be enticed back.

Beautiful settings and wonderful food, the staff are kind helpful and friendly. It sells a range of dishes including Chinese and malasyian food. The one problem I did find with wokmania is the parking troubles, however the restaurant did seem particularly full that day.

Wokmania is amongst the worst of the restaurants Derby has to offer. The food is the worst of it, tasting very bad. The desserts are very cheap-​looking. I would hope for a lot more for my money and me and my girlfriend were extremely disappointed with our £30+ bill for food that we did not finish. We also did not even take a dessert since we did not find the selection appealing.
For our visit it was an eat all you can –style buffet, with a vast choice. However, none of the food was noteworthy, and some of it was actually quite unpleasantly flavoured.
I would not recommend this restaurant in the slightest as it currently stands.
However, the building is very pleasant, being in a converted church, the staff friendly, the location excellent. I hope the ownership take the feedback on board regarding the food, and then maybe it will become a successful restaurant in the future.

I visited Wokmania ths week, the setting is stunning, inside a renovated church however this is only part of the overall dining experience. The food is stored in bain-​maries which only ever reach a ‘warm’ temperature, the meat dishes are bland and tasteless, the rice overcooked, prawn crackers soggy etc The staff have little idea about customer service. The puddings resemble those cheap Iceland frozen cakes that you can buy. One good point the free re-​fills on soft drinks, even though they are watered down.
Overall a glorified school canteen.

Took my two kids and girlfriend to Wokmania on friday 4^th July 2008. Been twice before during the day at weekends and it wasn’t bad at all. Friday evening was a disaster though. My son wanted crispy duck, pancakes and hoi sin sauce. This was previously available on the buffet. This time the waiter said I had to order itit’s free anyway he said. So I ordered four portions. Turns out it is a quid each extra. Did I say ‘crispy’ duck? More like chewing gum and cold too.
The buffet ran out of rice. can you believe that. It’s like a Fawlty Towers sketch!
The staff are students or are Poles who speak minimal English. There is no leadership among the staff. It is utter chaos. No problems getting dirty plates cleared but they clear them whilst you’re still eating off them!
The bar staff had no idea who had ordered what drinks. I ordered drinks at 7.15 pm and at 7.45 pm I put my ‘angry customer’ head on and eventually got our drinks. How this place makes any money is anyones guess because the six guys on the table next to me were guzzling pints of Carling like it was going out of fashion and when the bar man asked them how many pints they’d had so he could tot up the bill they said one pint each. Lol!
Message to the management (if there is any at the Derby branch) — Can you put a sign up saying where the mens toilets are? The door is hidden between two rows of 6 foot bamboo trees. Talk about well hidden!
Good points: The refillable glass of Coca-​Cola offer is good value especially if you have kids; small kids can’t reach high enough to put their grubby little hands in the chocolate fountain (like they do at the Wing Wah in Burton); the toilets are very clean.
Overall — I wouldn’t bother. Wok 1 on Woods Lane off Abbey Street is cheaper and better.

Food-​wise Wokmania is worth a three star. It’s pretty varied for a buffet, though you typically load up with meat and skimp on the veg.
Puddings are an interesting affair — basically a Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory on the altar (not sure about that bit), where you can operation the Mr Whippy ice cream and add loads of dolly mixtures, chocolate sauce and whatever else you want.
But it’s the customer service that loses it marks. It’s not so much that it’s bad, it’s just non-​existent. We had to get our own drinks from the bar and pile out used plates up on neighbouring empty tables. I think the waitress cleared one set away, but like another reviewer says, they’re from the McDonalds school of customer service — actually that’s a bit of a dis-​service to McDonalds workers.
Worth going once, but expect to do your own clearing away

I went to Wokmania in Derby a couple of days ago and it was GREAT! The setting of the restaurant is fantastic — an old church with all original features and then mood lighting throughout and then trees with twinkling blue lights! It is such a nice place to eat!
I had a little trouble finding a telephone number to book a table for me and my friends so ended up ringing the Sheffield restaurant to get Derby’s no!
The buffet was fantastic — you start with the starters at 1 end then make your way through to the mains when you are ready, use as many plates (which were cleared away quickly) as you want! Unlimited Refill soft drinks for £2.00 — just help your self! The food was great — great idea if your worried to try things and not like them — simply try it and if you dont like it dont eat it and get something else! Unlimited buffet costs £11.90 per person. I am going again this weekend with family — I would definately reccomend Wokmania Derby!!!

It’s a bit weird eating lots of Chinese food, followed by Icecream that you pour yourself out of one of those old Mr. Whippy Machines (it’s harder than you think) — in a church. It’s just weird. The food’s pretty good (as far as Chinese buffet’s can go) and they’ve done a mighty job of refurbishing the place. The food is what gets the ³⁄₅. The staff got in the way a bit but in the end all must be forgiven in the house of God (and caramelised pork)