So, I've wanted to visit Zaza Bazaar since 2011! I don't know why, I was just curious. But a huge all-you-can eat wasn't really my husband's cup of tea so we've never gotten around to it. Until this summer, when our 9 year old started asking to go, claiming all his friends have been. We then heard that it's rumoured to be closing down soon (more on that below), so that spurred us on and we went for lunch on Monday, as a treat to finish the summer holidays.
What is Zaza Bazaar?
Zaza Bazaar opened in 2011 on the waterfront in Bristol's City Centre, and is Britain's largest resturant as it can seat up to 1000 people. When it opened, the founders' plans were to open a further 7 "super restaurants" across the UK, with an investment of £10,000,000, but this didn't happen. There was one other Zaza Bazaar in Newcastle, but this closed in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
From outside, you assume it's going to be a bit dank inside, but the receptionist was quite friendly and the stair case is wide and spacious.
When you step inside, on a super hot day anyway, you're greeted with a jet of cold air which was very welcome! And a view of a vibrant, colourful space with counters that look like street food kiosks all down the middle.
Considering it's the largest restuarant in the UK - and the 26th biggest in the World - it wasn't too busy, with plenty of empty seating at the back. We had booked, and on one previous attempt to visit without booking we were turned away, but today I saw people walk up to the "no booking" counter and get served.
How does Zaza Bazaar work?
Zaza Bazaar is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet, with the food being a collection of different world cuisines. You're shown to a table, and drinks orders are taken and brought to you (or you can go to the bar) but for food you get up and find the cuisine you want and help yourself. Some things, like noodles, can be cooked to order with chefs at every stand and printed instructions on how it works (but it's basically scoop up what you want and they'll fry it up for you on a hot plate with added sauces, based on what I saw other people do). Once you've eaten your selection, you can go back up and try something else, with people quickly clearing away your used plates (but keep your cutlery - or at least we did).
How much does Zaza Bazaar cost?
Current prices can be found on Zaza Bazaar's website, but we paid £12.99 each for 2 adults for lunch on a week day, and 5 - 11 year olds were half price. Under 5s are free. At the time of writing this, Monday - Thursday lunch is £12.99, and £13.99 on Fridays and Saturdays. Dinner is served from 5pm and is £18.99 per 11+ diner Monday - Thursday, or £19.99 Fridays and Saturdays. On Sundays, it's £18.99 all day (we nearly went the other Sunday, but then I realised the price difference).
This doesn't include drinks, which were pretty much standard bar prices. £3.50 would get you a bottomless cup of pepsi / soda, but we went for a pint of black currant squash each for £1.50. Drinks are often where things get expensive, so £1.50 each for a large drink seemed good - and was good.... but £6 for squash does seem a little extravagant!
Costs wise, I think it was incredibly reasonable - £12.99 is pretty much what you'd pay for any main course now a days (if not more), but here you could go back for more. It's actually 2 courses, as there are some dessert options - more on that below. Something that puts some people off all-you-can-eats is how you gorge yourself to feel like you're getting your money's worth, but at £12.99 you don't need to do that - after the first plate full of Indian cuisine and all the frills, if you're full, you can feel like you got a good meal for a good price. And if you've got room for a little more, then you can go back for more.
What food is there at Zaza Bazaar and is it any good?
This was the biggest surprise of the day for me - the food was actually good! I mean, maybe not fine dining good, but we didn't eat anything (savoury) that was bad or disappointing. Nothing was cold, under cooked, over cooked, tough or bland. The kids did find some of the Indian snacks surprisingly spicy, which I think was due to them catching an unfortunate seed / smidge of spice in the odd bite, but on the whole everything is marked up as to how spicy it is.
There were a few things - such as savoury Indian cake, dumplings, vegetable savouries, and fish dishes - that I wouldn't want to risk ordering in a restuarant where it might be a £6 starter and I might not like it, or not want that much of it, that here I could just try a taste of. So I really felt like it was a great opportunity to try different things.
There was Indian, Tex Mex and Nachos, Chinese, Japanese, Italian (pasta and pizza), GB classics, Burgers, a salad bar and - my favourite - Japanese with Sushi.
There was also a desserts section. Whilst the chocolate fountain and Mr. Whippy style ice creams went down a storm, the other cakes and jellies were kinda "nothingy". The sorts of soft squishy desserts where you could close your eyes and do a blind taste test and not really know the difference between the chocolate brownie and the salted caramel cheesecake - just mouthfuls of non-descript sweetness. Maybe that says more about our palate than the food, but I hope you know what I mean.
Can you be healthy at Zaza Bazaar?
I'm currently trying to lose weight, although I decided at the beginning of the holidays not to beat myself up and get all disheartened if we're out somewhere and there's not a healthy option. So I didn't try too hard at Zaza's, but I think I could have done if I'd wanted to.
The salad bar wasn't super exciting, but I could have filled up on lettuce, tomato, cucumber and grated carrot. They did also have (diced) ham and chicken at the salad bar, so you could fill your plate and avoid carbs. I didn't notice any hard boiled eggs.
Meanwhile at the noodle bar, I assume they were dry frying your choices of noodles and vegetables on a hot plate so that would be low fat - I guess you could even ask them to skip the noodles. There were very tasty stir fried vegetables in the Japanese section - but I'd wonder if they had a little something added to make them so tasty! You could certainly ask though as the chef is right there (and it could be on the notes that are with each dish, I just didn't look).
Is Zaza Bazaar getting knocked down?
Looking into the "rumours" about it being knocked down, it seems that a development company had applied for planning permission to knock down the 30 year old building and replace it with a tall office block, which would block views of the Cathedral as Zaza Bazaar's tenancy is coming to an end. Some people - such as the chief executive of Watershed - welcomed the plans, as they included sprucing up the area and making the road behind Watershed more desirable, whilst the offices would bring 400 new office employees to the area on quieter week days.
However, the council turned down the application in the summer of 2023, with a representative for Zaza Bazaar saying:
"It would also remove a facility where Bristol's diverse community can come together to experience cuisine and culture from around the world. This is why the application is opposed by the local community, with over 400 email objections and a petition with over 2,000 signatures, and opposition from groups including the Punjabi Forum, Somali community, Sudanese community, Avon Indian Association, and the Multi Faith Forum.
In forward-thinking, diverse Bristol, it cannot be a sustainable approach to demolish a building with years of life left, putting over 230 people out of jobs and extinguishing an important local business and community facility.
Should you visit Zaza Bazaar?
Personally, I'd say yes! The 4 of us that went - 2 adults and 2 kids - really enjoyed it - the background music and the decor making it feel like you're on holiday. But we did go with incredibly low expectations and so that's perhaps why we were so pleasantly surprised!
One of the things that truly made the visit enjoyable was how happy and smiley and nice everyone was who was working there. Compared to when you walk into a restaurant and the team just seem miserable to be there, or even not fussed, it makes everything that bit brighter and cheerier when people are happy!
