ingredients

we went there for ramadan iftar buffer, 1st thing very disrespectful of the holy month, they had beer and alcohol all over the place.
2nd, buffet was disgusting, lack of cleaning, lack of staff, kids were serving ice cream and fruits on their own and their hands, no staff to serve it for them
mains were pathetic, spoons inside the gravy pots!! how to serve! it was really disgusting، chief were not doing anything about it..
cakes and desserts smashed into the buffet tables and floor.
no one bothered to clean until we really got pissed and complained..
a very bad experience for a 5 star hotel..
totally not worth what we paid for, we could get a much better experience in a 3 star hotel..

the buffet was a wide spread, the salad bar was good and what was appealing was the variety. the maincourse had many choices from chinese to indian to sushi. but since it was bbq night their prawns and chicken was excellent. all in all a goid place to eat out live music, limited selection of liquor and most importantly a quiet place. i would recommend this to any foodie in abudhabi.

saturday brunch - love edition at ingredients - anantara

it was our first time to try and it was fabulous. a very spacious, relaxed and laid back brunch. there’s a lovely live singer and the place was filled with valentines decor.

food was delicious. they have pad thai, pizza, turkey, salmon wellington, lamb.

they can also grill for you as per your request. sushi station, and epic cocktails drinks of your choice.

i love the vibes plus you get to enjoy the mangroves view.

was here for the breakfast buffet as we were staying at the hotel.

lovely breakfast display with lots of options and live station for eggs.

went there on sunday lunch buffet. menu was very limited hardly 4 maim dishes except for 2 rice (plain rice and some vegetable rice). there was only one server at the counter so it took time to get food as ppl were waiting for their turns. they had beef and some prawns as grill option.
desert had 2 fuits and couple for cake slices.
i think best is to take their friday brunch and other days i dont know why they even operate with that sort of menu.

one of the best places in abu dhabi... the international buffet had lot of varieties... the sushi was simply delicious.. staff were very friendly ...

had gone there for an office dinner for around 30 people, on wednesday's they have a seafood night, the seafood was fresh and there's a wide variety available. as someone who doesn't have alot of seafood i was stuck to very limited items (besides the normal food items which are available which i can have from anywhere) i enjoyed the sushi alot, the salads were delicious and the service was very lovely. the lamb steak they had was flavourful but very dry and hence was a disappointment. the dessert selection was amazing, the panna cotta and tiramisu was absolutely delicious. also, felt like the alcohol selections weren't up to the mark. but overall the experience was quite good and will recommend it for something like a group lunch or dinner as they tend to have something for all :)

thank you deissie for arranging my reservations and replying to my emails. for making this event possible! thank you!
and to the whole team for preparing the cakes for the celebration.
thank you so much chef ahmed for the french macarons! your kind assistance is appreciated! surely, will come back soon!
to yasmina my dear, thank you so much for the hats off excellent services attending to all our needs! you are greatly appreciated! i’ll see you soon!
thanks also to rameez, you are awesome!
to mr. saral for making sure we are well treated. to michael for the fresh watermelon juice thank you!
to manoj for preparing our tequila shots!
to joice, thank you so much for preparing the lovely cakes and singing happy birthday for the celebrants!
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2nd time for dinner and it was always amazing!
thank you deissie for arranging the reservations. unfortunately they said you were on leave so wasn’t able to meet you.
yasmina, they said you’re up impressions bar, hope to see you next time.
joice- thank you for arranging our seats and for the cake. many thanks!
anjila- thank you for your hospitality and warm welcome attending to all our needs. thank you! you are awesome! keep it up! see you all again next time!

one of the worst buffets i have ever been despite that they have theme nights and today is asian. the food was utterly atrocious and inedible. besides from the pad thai and bbq chicken. the rest utter trash. i am so disappointed with everything that i am not willing to stay or recommend this place to anyone.

unfortunately we are staying 2 days more.

without a doubt, this restaurant is one of the best restaurants in abu dhabi. the food is very tasty, carefully prepared and there is a variety of meals. i visited this restaurant in ramadan and ate iftar. i recommend everyone to try it
the price of the buffet per person is about 250 dirhams
it has indoor and outdoor seating area , and free parking

we recently went for the iftar buffet and we did have extremely high expectations after seeing a few reviews but we were highly disappointed as the food served was not at all warm(forget hot) which was a big turn down. also, when asked for drinks we were told that the orange juice is over and the drinks service was also quite slow.

the only best thing about the buffet was the sushi and desserts! there was a wide spread of amazing and fresh desserts!

we decided to have the dinner buffet to celebrate wifeys birthday and ingredients made it a memorable one. awesome customer service - the chefs and manager cane to us often to make sure we enjoy the food. they even surprised us with a cake, candle and birthday jingle, when i casually told them our purpose of visit. the menu choices was not so much but the quality of food was excellent. and the ambience is very good. overall, a nice place to have a romantic or family dinner.

we went for dinner for our marriage anniversary. we enjoyed the food and quality of service. it was really 5 star service. it makes feel welcomed. thank you to mr. janak, ms. darlyn, ahmed all the staff for making it a memorable dinner.

its our first time in this restaurant and we celebrated our post christmas by joining them for brunch.

food - wide variety of options. i love their grilled seafood station with lobster! and also the pad thai is well recommended. asian station includes sushi, miso soup, sashimi, gyoza etc
arabic and indian stations are also available.

service - very few staff are on duty so its really difficult to get assistance on drinks, clearance and even on payment.

overall experience is very good! good food and ambience and great value for money

exceptional customer experience is relative to what the customer's baseline and expectations are. 

the same exact experience could be truly exceptional to one customer, while more or less average to another customer who might have different previous experiences. 

and, so the same applies to me as a customer. i have dined in restaurants a lot in the past few years, and some of my outings, especially when it's a big group, could end-up in a buffet. i know that buffets are even more popular during the month of ramadan, where practically everyone gets to eat at the same exact time. 

this week, i was part of a work workshop, which also happened to be in a hotel, anantara eastern mangroves abu dhabi. 

we had lunch there in a place called ingredients, and the restaurant offered a buffet lunch.
my experience was a bit different than the buffets i have been used to. i was at some point surprised, pleasantly surprised, and so i want to walk you through my thought process, as a customer for my restaurant customer experience with ingredients.

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step 1: discovering  

i have been practically living in abu dhabi during the week for the past 3–4 months, and so i wasn't staying in "downtown" or the more trendy places such as yas island. i was staying in an area that some could argue that it's in the middle of nowhere. 

i was staying close to adnec, abu dhabi national exhibition centre. that area is pure business and a bunch of hotels, and so the dining options that are nearby are limited. i knew a few places, one of them the eastern mangroves area, as well as, the restaurants close to the ritz carlton. other than that you will have to drive 20–25 minutes to have dinner, and while that is a reasonable time to travel for dinner, it's not really convenient to do it on a daily basis. 

i was always on the "look-out" for new places, but the one thing that i never caught, was the restaurants available anantara eastern mangroves abu dhabi, where it was practically 7 minutes away from where i was staying. 

the moment i was in ingredients and witnessed this incredible view, i thought to myself, how did i not find the place? 

according to the manager of the restaurant…

one customer told him he has been living in abu dhabi for 9 years and just found out about this place. 

now that he knows it, he will come more often. 

incredible. right? i haven't spoken yet about the experience, but you will gauge from what i just mentioned how awesome that place is, and hey did you see that view? 

step 2: sitting in the seating area

i can't mention enough how i fell in love with that view, and so that brings me to the seating area. 

i actually dined twice in this place, in two consecutive days. the first day i wasn't able to sit outside and enjoy the view because it was already booked. i guess this is something to take note of. always book outside, especially with the chill-out weather of abu dhabi in december. 

i was disappointed that i didn't get to enjoy the view on my first day, but hey i still sat next to the food. not a bad option. 

step 3: ordering the food or rather getting the food
since this is a buffet-based restaurant, then instead of 'ordering', we serve ourselves and get our own food. 

my strategy is first to skim the buffet. the last thing i want to do is put something on the plate only to find out later, that there is something better i would have liked to try. 

and so, i skimmed. there was a variety of options and cuisines, which i loved. i also knew that i had to go back to work, so i knew i wanted to get something light and not go crazy with stuffing my mouth. 

step 4: dining 

usually, when i go to buffets, there is some kind of hecticness in the process, especially if it was very busy. cluttery, glasses, and water are placed on the tables, but sometimes, there would be some missing items. if they were missing you either get them yourself, you ask the waiter or the waiter would notice it and get them for you. 

when it came to ingredients, everything was in place. in fact, when you go to get yourself some dessert, you come back to find the waiter sharing with you a small spoon for the dessert.
the waiter would bring you water and ask you if you want to have some juice.

but hey, enough talking about the service, because if the food isn't good, then what's the point anyways? 

there were multiple cuisines. in fact, there were 7 cuisines, some were better than others. the variety could cater to most people and whether you are a vegetarian as well. 

overall, the food was exquisite. i was surprised to find that even if the buffet preparing large portions of food and multiple cuisines, the food was actually very tasty!

step 5: paying the bill

since it was a work workshop lunch, i didn't really pay the bill, which made me intrigued to know how much this actually costs. 
lunch starts from 195 aed.
dinner starts from 150 aed. 

other than that, there is nothing else i could add.

step 6: telling my friends

one of the best things about this place is actually the view. when it comes to dining, many places are indoor, but this one, you can just sit and indulge at the moment. 

and if you are super hungry and don't want to wait to order, then this buffet is totally worth it. the quality of the food is really great. i'd be careful though, i usually overeat and stuff my face with food when it's a buffet. not so great for my scale.

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my restaurant customer experience with ingredients was based on a buffet setting for work lunch. it was perfect for that, others come for friday brunches, and dinner buffets as well. i am betting the vibes are totally different.

the one thing that i would improve though is the discoverability of this place. it's incredible, and not so many people know about it!