It must be a furor when I gave those pathetic 3 stars.
After much recommendation and hooha on TV over this HotPot Culture, I chose this place to be where I'll be treated for dinner as bday gift from mom while not burning her pocket.
I was so looking forward to it over the whole week and finally I got to eat it just now.
The lady was so polite at the reservation's I was so sure that it is going to be a wonderful experience.
I sat down excitedly and was happy with the service. I impatiently ordered for herbal broth though it wasn't highly recommended.
My sister took the Chicken one which was highly recommended.
When the soup came, I happily went to the uncooked food spread to get stuff.
Variety wise, I loved how fragrant the sesame oil was and the shallots were crisp! I have never really seen so much variety of veg, and also those yong tao hu stuff. There were also dried pork skin. Fish, chicken fillet and pork liver!
I dumped everything into the soup and the soup was really nice! However, to my disgust, the dried pork skin had an awful oil smell, the veg was alright, the yongtauhu stuff was average. At that point of time, I wished there were individual teppans.
The fumes kept tearing my eyes I don't know what to do, but no choice.
So we ordered the food.
I ordered some fish that was rather spicy, assam prawns, bacon prawns, minced pork with mushroom, pork, shitake, etc.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fish was so unfresh it was so unexpected that those on the uncooked buffet spread was better, and probably the heavy chili was there to mask it,
Assam prawns had the same theory. Prawns were unfresh too. Bacon was over fried the bacon was fullatoomuch oil, and shranked really bad. Prawns are the same batch of stale prawns.
Minced pork with mushroom was....SOUR??!!!
Shitake was best.
Fried rice was rather oily but otherwise fragrant, so i ate that whole night, and with the soup....
The night was half saved by the chocolate fondue. The chocolate was really just right I won't get sick of it. However, the bananas, honeydew and strawberries were SOUR. but watermelon was juicy.
DID I SAY HOW GREAT THE BANANA CAKE WAS? especially with the chocolate????!
but by that time the chocolate was rather burnt. When I put out the flame, it hardened, if i put it back on, it gets burnt.....argh.
The ice cream were so bad that it literally fell apart. it did not even stick together....i wonder if u understand what I am talking about lol.
ANYWAY, did anyone mention over here that the drinks are at restaurant rates, and the plain water is 50cents per glass????
Well, not that I wanna complain. They've GOT to make money right???
Sadly, I am VERY disappointed that the standard (i suppose) dropped so drastically, and I never got to get the standard I expected it to be.
feizhusaid: Based on your description, I would have give 2 stars :p 30 Jun 2008 at 9:14 am
Pharquesaid: i only gave three stars because of its service and the chocolate...which saved the dining experience :) 30 Jun 2008 at 12:26 pm
poorservice_sporesaid: seems like someone got a similiar experience as mine, some time back.... anyway, can finally tell a honest feedback. :) 30 Jun 2008 at 8:22 pm
Pharquesaid: wad do u mean by, "can finally tell an honest feedback"? 09 Jul 2008 at 1:59 pm
whiteblankosaid: i was abt to visit hpc..luckily i read your review! thank you!! 10 Oct 2008 at 8:36 pm
Pharquesaid: oops...sorry...i hope they improved... 06 Nov 2008 at 1:35 am
NOTICE!!!!! MOS IS CLOSED. REFER TO REVIEW OF ZIRCA ___________________________________________
Hmm, Funny, no one reviewed MOS!
Alright. I am going to give 2 perspectives on this review. Both on same day different date, almost same event, same amount of crowd.
General Comment:
Personally I hold due respect for MOS as the birthplace of one of my favourite genres of music: TRANCE (not MOS SG though). To my dismay, MOS Sg's crowd is a R&B, HipHop loving crowd and I was sad to see the crowd literally overcrowding at that area. Seriously they could do better playing those MOS exclusive tracks and start taking Trance seriously and not just to be another corporate sell-out again. This is MOS for heaven's sake. The TRANCE place right? not Hiphop place...argh.
1. As a normal young adult clubber:
My Dressing: Standard Female Clubbing attire.
-Queue is bloody long, waiting time is horrible. -Door b**** is also very rude (pardon my word use, i don't know the other term). -Gives a makes-you-very-pissed face when checking your ID. -Payment bloody long. -Terrible congestion at the entrance. -Coupon/ticket oso can give wrong amounts (I paid for 3pax she gave me 2 pax) -Place is overcrowded and I don't know why they still allow entry. -Baggage counter FULL, and the baggage girl gave a sickening stare and yelled "FULL YOU DONO HOW TO READ ISIT?" -Dancefloor was like a metal concert with jumping space only. -Tons of people trying to touch/dance with you even after you say no to that same person/group. -Straight faced bouncers giving you a GL face as if your forehead says "I AM NOT A VIP SO WHAT?" at the VIP section. -Toilet bloody dirty and smelly, no toilet paper, omfg. -Coupon to drink exchange experience, TOOK FOREVER and damn it bartenders!
2. VIP and Cannery Card member
My Dressing: V neck cleavage tee, Lee Jeans, Birkinstock SLIPPERS, no makeup. Slacker wear.
-at the VIP short or sometimes no queue, fast and efficent entry. -minus payment cos I am VIP/member. -Dancefloor as many people. -Same old lame thick skin gang of people. -Very charismatic bouncers at the VIP/members area opening up the area for you as if you have the word "VIP/member" on your forehead. They even chat with you lol. - Purchasing/ordering a drink at VIP/members area: Charismatic bartenders attentively asking what you need and what is not available politely. Efficient cashiers even remembers to give me a discount. - Area in VIP/members area small, cosy but still have some space for random dancing. -Same toilet.
Seriously I don't know what to say about the double standards. Maybe trying to make their membership worthwhile? And I also don't know how to rate this place.
Last year I tried this branch, after being a fan of ichiban for its service, affordability and standard (not for variety though).
To my dismay, the service was rather sluggish, and they were not attentive at all. Food was not as good as the Plaza Sing one, soft shell crab was not crisp.
I gave it a second chance last week and I am really happy they took my feedback seriously.
I was greeted by a heartwarming and jovial crew, and they looked really busy and always on the look out to top up the tea, none was really slacking off.
Variety wise, it improved with its selection of sushi, but the others were like, any other.
Their waitresses proved to be very sweet and attentive, asking if we don't like anything in the meal, while making great recommendations although we already knew what we wanted...just testing her. She sounded like Ichiban's number one fan as if she tried everything.
As we always order the same old stuff, I was quite impressed that the standard is still there. (Although I wished that it will returned to its old 'atas' standard before it got franchised.)
Afterwhich she cleared everything that we finished, and upon eye contact she got the bill over.
I was an idiot for not asking for her name though.
Not saying Ichiban as best jap restaurant here, but what I meant was I kinda got a little bit more than what I was paying, it's more of a value/quality/standard for money over here. So I am gonna give it an excellent for overall.
I am really thankful of the redeeming and pleasant experience there.
Actually this is my first time eating Ajisen since that one day all my friends said it suck.
One very important friend said it doesn't suck as much as I think. So I decided to give it a second chance.
It's mom's bday month so she signed up to be a member at $5, so as to enjoy future discounts and also bday month's 15% discount.
I ordered some pork ramen set (like those canned braised pork that is expectedly not fresh and hard) and good thing that at $14something it is a set with refillable Green Tea and a side dish which I chose Terriyaki Chicken.
Ramen is hard as hell, soup base was good but a little too oily, pork is inedible, but edible if u like those canned kinds. That piece of half hard boiled egg was as though it got kept for one night...self explanatory. Green Tea is bag kind...
Oh well, I should stop complaining as it's kinda cheap so yea.
My mom order a bento set that has soft shell crab, but she said that it is not as 'smooth' as ichiban...and elsewhere...I guess I kinda get it. Bento's agedashi tofu was, not agedashi-ed, and she ordered a promotional item which was a sotong with glutinous rice in it, as soon as that dish came, my stomach got upset and felt like puking for the rest of my dinning experience as it was so stale, it smelt like a basket of dead sotong. (Probably I exaggerated a little bit) but it really stinks... I can still smell it omg.
Totally not worth it.
Mummy said that though price range very affordable for students (a little lower than ichiban), but she also added that if by add about $5 more dollars to our set we can get fresher and better quality food, she'll gladly stick to ichiban branches.
(cos our neighbourhood is flooded with ichiban lol)
Not likely to patronise again. (probably the whole chain)
One big bloody proof I DO NOT have to stay there to know their SERVICE SUCK!
Yesterday I called the hotel because my mom's friend from Taiwan wants to stay there because of her seminar that is there. (SEE? You hold a seminar there and can't bloody stay there!)
SO, I called the main line, some friendly lady said "hold the line" nicely, and she'll trans me to the reception (because I wanted to ask if there is vacancies for 11th - 13th)
I waited, and HUNG UP! COS I WAITED FOR BLOODY 20 mins and I finish watching an episode of Naruto!
I called again, same nice lady, and finally I got through the reception desk. Another nice lady greeted and asked "May I help you?"
I asked, "I just want to check if there is any room vacancy for 2 regardless twin or singles on the 11th TO 13th."
THE LINE WENT BLANK, she went ERRR, and the background was like:
"I don't know what the b*tch was saying." (IN CHINESE)
!@#@#$#%%%% I AM A BLOODY CHINESE AND THEY DARE SAY THAT IN THE BACKGROUND WHEN I CAN HEAR???!!!!
and obviously they are PRC cos singapore service line is floooooooded with PRCs.
So, another PRC, i suppose is her superior, answered:
"What's wrong?" in an assertive tone... (WTF???!!!)
Me: "EERM! You prefer me to speak chinese right?"
ok and i went on repeating every thing in mandarin, and I was yelled it:
"MAN LE! (Full house!)" and she slammed.
I didn't bother to feedback, cos i knew it will be IGNORED!
I told my mom, she insisted she was lying, cos her boss which has a travelling agency says if book thru him, will have vacancy.
SO I TRRIED ALL OVER AGAIN.
SAME!
SORRY TO BLAST IT ALL OUT here but I guess there is no other place for me to comment.
Just to emphasize, I am not xenophobic and I absolutely love my PRC colleagues while I was working a shortwhile in Lunar. They are so adorable and caring, sometimes very slow but if I taught them patiently they listened...they cat fight against each other but not me and took care of me like a little girl (though sometimes we know more cos of our command of languages and dialects).
OK, I DO LOVE some PRCs, I am not here to yell at them as a whole, but why do you put PRCs on your reception desks and none can comprehend English, when it is the most used language? Wha I PITY the angmohs. and the PRCs don't even seem to be trained to understand basic English except the greetings.
So they are there to LITERALLY answer phones to make sure it is answered n call ppl "ba puo" or "po niang" (both means B*tch)?
I don't even want my mum's friend staying there. I hope a Hotel Royal management personnel reads this.
I AM VERY ANNOYED. I BLACKLISTED THE HOTEL on my own BLACK LIST.
Jeslyn Teesaid: well, perhaps you should CC the higher management of the group. Perhaps they can do something abt it. Bt I do agree that alot of PRC service crew I met are rude.& they say sgians svc sucks~? 07 Jun 2008 at 11:43 am
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
1=SGD 0.0587
After much recommendation and hooha on TV over this HotPot Culture, I chose this place to be where I'll be treated for dinner as bday gift from mom while not burning her pocket.
I was so looking forward to it over the whole week and finally I got to eat it just now.
The lady was so polite at the reservation's I was so sure that it is going to be a wonderful experience.
I sat down excitedly and was happy with the service. I impatiently ordered for herbal broth though it wasn't highly recommended.
My sister took the Chicken one which was highly recommended.
When the soup came, I happily went to the uncooked food spread to get stuff.
Variety wise, I loved how fragrant the sesame oil was and the shallots were crisp! I have never really seen so much variety of veg, and also those yong tao hu stuff. There were also dried pork skin. Fish, chicken fillet and pork liver!
I dumped everything into the soup and the soup was really nice!
However, to my disgust, the dried pork skin had an awful oil smell, the veg was alright, the yongtauhu stuff was average.
At that point of time, I wished there were individual teppans.
The fumes kept tearing my eyes I don't know what to do, but no choice.
So we ordered the food.
I ordered some fish that was rather spicy, assam prawns, bacon prawns, minced pork with mushroom, pork, shitake, etc.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fish was so unfresh it was so unexpected that those on the uncooked buffet spread was better, and probably the heavy chili was there to mask it,
Assam prawns had the same theory. Prawns were unfresh too.
Bacon was over fried the bacon was fullatoomuch oil, and shranked really bad. Prawns are the same batch of stale prawns.
Minced pork with mushroom was....SOUR??!!!
Shitake was best.
Fried rice was rather oily but otherwise fragrant, so i ate that whole night, and with the soup....
The night was half saved by the chocolate fondue.
The chocolate was really just right I won't get sick of it.
However, the bananas, honeydew and strawberries were SOUR.
but watermelon was juicy.
DID I SAY HOW GREAT THE BANANA CAKE WAS? especially with the chocolate????!
but by that time the chocolate was rather burnt. When I put out the flame, it hardened, if i put it back on, it gets burnt.....argh.
The ice cream were so bad that it literally fell apart.
it did not even stick together....i wonder if u understand what I am talking about lol.
ANYWAY, did anyone mention over here that the drinks are at restaurant rates, and the plain water is 50cents per glass????
Well, not that I wanna complain. They've GOT to make money right???
Sadly, I am VERY disappointed that the standard (i suppose) dropped so drastically, and I never got to get the standard I expected it to be.
Very unsatisfied.
- 3 more comments »
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Based on your description, I would have give 2 stars :p
30 Jun 2008 at 9:14 am
i only gave three stars because of its service and the chocolate...which saved the dining experience :)
30 Jun 2008 at 12:26 pm
seems like someone got a similiar experience as mine, some time back.... anyway, can finally tell a honest feedback. :)
30 Jun 2008 at 8:22 pm
MOS IS CLOSED.
REFER TO REVIEW OF ZIRCA
___________________________________________
Hmm, Funny, no one reviewed MOS!
Alright. I am going to give 2 perspectives on this review.
Both on same day different date, almost same event, same amount of crowd.
General Comment:
Personally I hold due respect for MOS as the birthplace of one of my favourite genres of music: TRANCE (not MOS SG though).
To my dismay, MOS Sg's crowd is a R&B, HipHop loving crowd and I was sad to see the crowd literally overcrowding at that area. Seriously they could do better playing those MOS exclusive tracks and start taking Trance seriously and not just to be another corporate sell-out again. This is MOS for heaven's sake.
The TRANCE place right? not Hiphop place...argh.
1. As a normal young adult clubber:
My Dressing: Standard Female Clubbing attire.
-Queue is bloody long, waiting time is horrible.
-Door b**** is also very rude (pardon my word use, i don't know the other term).
-Gives a makes-you-very-pissed face when checking your ID.
-Payment bloody long.
-Terrible congestion at the entrance.
-Coupon/ticket oso can give wrong amounts (I paid for 3pax she gave me 2 pax)
-Place is overcrowded and I don't know why they still allow entry.
-Baggage counter FULL, and the baggage girl gave a sickening stare and yelled "FULL YOU DONO HOW TO READ ISIT?"
-Dancefloor was like a metal concert with jumping space only.
-Tons of people trying to touch/dance with you even after you say no to that same person/group.
-Straight faced bouncers giving you a GL face as if your forehead says "I AM NOT A VIP SO WHAT?" at the VIP section.
-Toilet bloody dirty and smelly, no toilet paper, omfg.
-Coupon to drink exchange experience, TOOK FOREVER and damn it bartenders!
2. VIP and Cannery Card member
My Dressing: V neck cleavage tee, Lee Jeans, Birkinstock SLIPPERS, no makeup. Slacker wear.
-at the VIP short or sometimes no queue, fast and efficent entry.
-minus payment cos I am VIP/member.
-Dancefloor as many people.
-Same old lame thick skin gang of people.
-Very charismatic bouncers at the VIP/members area opening up the area for you as if you have the word "VIP/member" on your forehead. They even chat with you lol.
- Purchasing/ordering a drink at VIP/members area: Charismatic bartenders attentively asking what you need and what is not available politely. Efficient cashiers even remembers to give me a discount.
- Area in VIP/members area small, cosy but still have some space for random dancing.
-Same toilet.
Seriously I don't know what to say about the double standards.
Maybe trying to make their membership worthwhile?
And I also don't know how to rate this place.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Last year I tried this branch, after being a fan of ichiban for its service, affordability and standard (not for variety though).
To my dismay, the service was rather sluggish, and they were not attentive at all.
Food was not as good as the Plaza Sing one, soft shell crab was not crisp.
I gave it a second chance last week and I am really happy they took my feedback seriously.
I was greeted by a heartwarming and jovial crew, and they looked really busy and always on the look out to top up the tea, none was really slacking off.
Variety wise, it improved with its selection of sushi, but the others were like, any other.
Their waitresses proved to be very sweet and attentive, asking if we don't like anything in the meal, while making great recommendations although we already knew what we wanted...just testing her. She sounded like Ichiban's number one fan as if she tried everything.
As we always order the same old stuff, I was quite impressed that the standard is still there. (Although I wished that it will returned to its old 'atas' standard before it got franchised.)
Afterwhich she cleared everything that we finished, and upon eye contact she got the bill over.
I was an idiot for not asking for her name though.
Not saying Ichiban as best jap restaurant here, but what I meant was I kinda got a little bit more than what I was paying, it's more of a value/quality/standard for money over here. So I am gonna give it an excellent for overall.
I am really thankful of the redeeming and pleasant experience there.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
One very important friend said it doesn't suck as much as I think.
So I decided to give it a second chance.
It's mom's bday month so she signed up to be a member at $5, so as to enjoy future discounts and also bday month's 15% discount.
I ordered some pork ramen set (like those canned braised pork that is expectedly not fresh and hard) and good thing that at $14something it is a set with refillable Green Tea and a side dish which I chose Terriyaki Chicken.
Ramen is hard as hell, soup base was good but a little too oily, pork is inedible, but edible if u like those canned kinds.
That piece of half hard boiled egg was as though it got kept for one night...self explanatory.
Green Tea is bag kind...
Oh well, I should stop complaining as it's kinda cheap so yea.
My mom order a bento set that has soft shell crab, but she said that it is not as 'smooth' as ichiban...and elsewhere...I guess I kinda get it. Bento's agedashi tofu was, not agedashi-ed, and she ordered a promotional item which was a sotong with glutinous rice in it, as soon as that dish came, my stomach got upset and felt like puking for the rest of my dinning experience as it was so stale, it smelt like a basket of dead sotong. (Probably I exaggerated a little bit) but it really stinks...
I can still smell it omg.
Totally not worth it.
Mummy said that though price range very affordable for students (a little lower than ichiban), but she also added that if by add about $5 more dollars to our set we can get fresher and better quality food, she'll gladly stick to ichiban branches.
(cos our neighbourhood is flooded with ichiban lol)
Not likely to patronise again. (probably the whole chain)
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
One big bloody proof I DO NOT have to stay there to know their SERVICE SUCK!
Yesterday I called the hotel because my mom's friend from Taiwan wants to stay there because of her seminar that is there.
(SEE? You hold a seminar there and can't bloody stay there!)
SO, I called the main line, some friendly lady said "hold the line" nicely, and she'll trans me to the reception (because I wanted to ask if there is vacancies for 11th - 13th)
I waited, and HUNG UP!
COS I WAITED FOR BLOODY 20 mins and I finish watching an episode of Naruto!
I called again, same nice lady, and finally I got through the reception desk.
Another nice lady greeted and asked "May I help you?"
I asked,
"I just want to check if there is any room vacancy for 2 regardless twin or singles on the 11th TO 13th."
THE LINE WENT BLANK, she went ERRR, and the background was like:
"I don't know what the b*tch was saying." (IN CHINESE)
!@#@#$#%%%% I AM A BLOODY CHINESE AND THEY DARE SAY THAT IN THE BACKGROUND WHEN I CAN HEAR???!!!!
and obviously they are PRC cos singapore service line is floooooooded with PRCs.
So, another PRC, i suppose is her superior, answered:
"What's wrong?" in an assertive tone... (WTF???!!!)
Me: "EERM! You prefer me to speak chinese right?"
ok and i went on repeating every thing in mandarin, and I was yelled it:
"MAN LE! (Full house!)"
and she slammed.
I didn't bother to feedback, cos i knew it will be IGNORED!
I told my mom, she insisted she was lying, cos her boss which has a travelling agency says if book thru him, will have vacancy.
SO I TRRIED ALL OVER AGAIN.
SAME!
SORRY TO BLAST IT ALL OUT here but I guess there is no other place for me to comment.
Just to emphasize, I am not xenophobic and I absolutely love my PRC colleagues while I was working a shortwhile in Lunar.
They are so adorable and caring, sometimes very slow but if I taught them patiently they listened...they cat fight against each other but not me and took care of me like a little girl (though sometimes we know more cos of our command of languages and dialects).
OK, I DO LOVE some PRCs, I am not here to yell at them as a whole, but why do you put PRCs on your reception desks and none can comprehend English, when it is the most used language? Wha I PITY the angmohs. and the PRCs don't even seem to be trained to understand basic English except the greetings.
So they are there to LITERALLY answer phones to make sure it is answered n call ppl "ba puo" or "po niang" (both means B*tch)?
I don't even want my mum's friend staying there.
I hope a Hotel Royal management personnel reads this.
I AM VERY ANNOYED.
I BLACKLISTED THE HOTEL on my own BLACK LIST.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!well, perhaps you should CC the higher management of the group. Perhaps they can do something abt it. Bt I do agree that alot of PRC service crew I met are rude.& they say sgians svc sucks~?
07 Jun 2008 at 11:43 am