Salt & Good Stevenage Unlimited World Buffet Review
Salt & Good
Stevenage
Reviewed by Shelly Harper
On Saturday 25th June, my teenage daughter and I visited Salt & Good based in Stevenage town centre. Upon arrival we were greeted by Raj who very quickly checked our reservation and showed us to our table before advising us that someone would be over to take our drinks order. The drinks menu is very extensive with a vast range of cocktails, softels (non-alcoholic cocktails), wines and soft drinks so my daughter opted for a Goody Special which is a softel consisting of raspberry, lime, mint and lemonade whilst I went for a large glass of Pino Grigio Blush. Both drinks were very reasonable priced and the Goody Special tasted great, being made with fresh fruit.
Once we had received our drinks, Raj came back to our table to ask if we had previously visited Salt & Good, when we advised him we hadn’t he very politely advised how the buffet system works and the foods we could expect to eat at each station. My daughter was so impressed by the vast array of food; as soon as Raj said “enjoy your meal” she was at the salad bar.
In her absence I was able to meet Sal, the manager who very kindly showed me around the restaurant and explained in depth how things had changed recently to offer a better service and more choice to their customers. Examples of the changes Sal had implemented are:
- More choices of meat available at the carver section
- A greater selection of meats and fish available for “made to order” dishes
- A full time pastry chef being employed to produce fresh desserts, made in house
Sal explained that Salt & Good is an unlimited world buffet food experience where you can find something for everyone. The food stations available are:
- The salad bar
- Carvery which includes a variety of meats, potatoes and vegetables
- Italian which includes a variety of pizza and pasta including made to order risotto and pasta
- Mexican which includes nachos with chilli and tacos with various fillings
- Indian which includes various curry dishes, Indian vegetables, dal dishes, rice and naan
- Oriental which includes chicken in sweet n sour, Thai fish cake, noodles and rice alongside made to stir fry
- Dessert which includes cheesecake, carrot cake, crème brulee, raspberry penacota alongside the traditional favourites such as ice cream, bread n butter pudding and apple crumble and let’s not forget the chocolate fountain along with numerous amounts of sweets
- Kids specials which includes chicken nuggets, French fries, and macaroni cheese along with made to order beef burger and sausages
Sal encouraged me to try the made to order dishes which my daughter and I were only too happy to agree too. The made to order concept works by approaching the station you require the fresh food from, giving your table number and picking your choice of pasta, risotto, meat, vegetables, stir fry or noodles to be cooked. The chef then cooks your order using the fresh ingredients in front of you and once your dish is ready, it is brought directly to your table. Hot and ready to be eaten.
So to start our food experience, both my daughter and I opted for the salad bar where we were greeted by numerous plates and bowls of various types of salad. My daughter opted for the usual salad suspects such as lettuce tomato, cucumber etc. as she can be a bit of a picky eater but I decided to opt for Greek salad, potato salad, beetroot salad and pasta salad as well as the lettuce, tomatoes etc. All of it was obviously freshly prepared, was very appealing to the eye and had many flavours which could be enjoyed on their own or as a flavour combination. I also very much liked that the salad bar had enough choice that it could be eaten as a starter, a side dish or even as a main course for those of us that like to go for a healthier option when dining out.
As soon as we had finished our salad starters, the very tentative waitress came along and cleared our plates immediately. It is clear from the very moment you walk into the restaurant, that cleanliness is a top priority as all the tables, bar areas and food stations are kept immaculate. With the amount of people that we saw in the restaurant, I thought it would be difficult to maintain but this was definitely not the case.
For our next course, my daughter opted for pepperoni pizza and garlic bread with a plate of made to order carbonara on the side. Now I do appreciate for most people this is quite a weird food combination but for me it’s an achievement that she picked that amount of food in a restaurant as she can be particularly fussy about food and she ate the lot. I do have to confess that the carbonara looks so yummy and smelt so good that I had to help her eat some of it. I’m not usually a fan of carbonara as it’s a creamy sauce but I have to admit we both really loved it.
I opted to go down the Indian route as I’m a huge fan of Indian cuisine so I tried chicken tikka masala, naan bread, Bombay aloo, mushroom rice, butter chicken and lamb rogan josh. The rice was made with fresh mushrooms in it rather than being mushroom flavoured which I was highly impressed by as I love mushrooms. The Bombay aloo was cooked perfectly with the potatoes being cooked so that they were tender and full of flavour. As for the chicken tikka, butter chicken and lamb rogan josh, all three of these dishes were delicious. The chicken tikka and butter chicken is a bit mild for my liking so it’s not usually something I would choose but the flavours were amazing. The lamb rogan josh was definitely more to my taste due to the heat and spice and although lamb can sometimes be a bit fatty, it was not an issue on this occasion. I thoroughly enjoyed everything I had selected.
Next on our list of foods to try, my daughter went for salt n pepper chicken wings, egg fried rice and naan bread whilst I decided to try the made to order steak. I like my steak cooked medium rare and that exactly what I got. I’m not sure what the steak is coated in but whatever it is, it works well and adds to the taste and aroma of the steak. I can honestly say it was cooked to perfection and only had a limited amount of fat which pleased me greatly as I’m not a fan of fat on meat. I obviously opted for French fries and a side salad to accompany my dish which made it the perfect combination. Again my daughter cleared her plate which I found even more surprising this time as she doesn’t eat egg but she appeared to thoroughly enjoy the egg fried rice which very clearly had fresh egg in it. Again I had to try some of her food as it looks so appealing so this time I got to try the salt n pepper chicken wings which were very tender and juicy.
By now my daughter was beginning to feel a little full so we went straight onto dessert. She selected several flavours of ice cream from the freezer full of flavours available complete with cornet, a couple of marshmallows dipped in the chocolate fountain and a few sweets which consisted of Haribo… my favourite!
Determined not to eat any of her dessert I filled my plate with several types of cheesecake, the raspberry penacota, carrot cake and a cheeky crème brulee. This sounds like a huge amount of dessert but all of the cakes are cut into little bite size pieces so you can enjoy a bit of everything without over indulging.
Throughout the whole time we were within Salt & Good I could see that all the waiting staff were very tentative, the chefs were always on hand to answer any questions and to prepare any food required and Sal, the manager also visited each table to check on his guests and make sure everything was in order which I think is a nice touch particularly in a buffet restaurant where its 90% self-service.
Although my daughter and I didn’t get chance to try all of the food on offer, we will definitely be visiting again as I would love to experience the carvery and she would like a made to order burger plus we have more of the yummy desserts to get through.
Definitely top marks from us from the fantastic restaurant that offers a huge variety of freshly prepared food, something to suit the palate of even the fussiest of eaters! And with prices for lunch £7.99 to £8.99 and dinner £13.99 to £14.99 per person (kids 12 and under eat half price) its great value too!
Rating: 5/5 
For more information, view food menus or to make a booking visit www.saltandgood.com.
Salt & Good, 5 The Plaza, Town Square, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 1PF | 01438 905905
