Cafe Cartel is a decent place to go I must say, with the price they charge (excluding GST) and the ambience of the place. It's not some romantic place, but it's good for gatherings with a small group of friends.

I was just there with some friends. Somehow we always end up at Cafe Cartel when we're looking for somewhere we can afford and yet looks good. So here we are, eyeing the free flow of bread and comfy couch. Ok and of course the food plus half-price cakes after 9pm!

As with most the other Cafe Cartels that I've been to, I was expecting the bread to be served to us. Or at least, they would offer to cut the bread for people at the bread station. However I was somehow a little disappointed when I realized they didn't work this way there. It wasn't that they were too busy, there were 2 waiters chatting away beside me. And when I asked for more bread, they said they'll get it for me but eventually we still had to go back to the bread station to get more ourselves.

Apart from that, I feel that the people there are a rather bubbly group. It actually seems to have an effect on the surroundings, makes the place much more lively.

I ordered a seafood combo I think, because I was looking for something which has calamari! But I was quite disappointed by the grilled fish. It was rather bland. But the pork chop and fish and chips my friends ordered were not bad. They were of reasonable standard. The pork chop came with a sauce that tasted abit like Char Siew (haha!) but it went well with the meat. It was a large serving though. Would have been good for big eaters!

Finally, we were so full but we had to get ourselves the half-price cakes! So we ordered a blueberry cheesecake to share. I think the cake was not bad! The blueberry on top was very smooth and sweet, with little bits of blueberry in it. The cheesecake itself was soft and not too rich either. Sometimes you tend to get sick of cheesecake very fast, but I find this just nice. It was 2.30 after discount! Really worth it right :D

However, with the GST, our bill totaled up to 53.80 for 3. Not very cheap I must say(even with the half-priced cake! haha). Good thing students have a 10% discount (which is better than nothing)! Or else I really won't go there so often..

Cafe Cartel has been in Siglap for a long time... 6-7 years maybe. It's a permanent fixture now. They've recently adopted a 10% service charge (across all outlets) and started to serve the customer, instead of having the customer go pay at the counter. (I prefer the old system actually)

These are my usual orders: Pork Ribs, Chicken Lasagna, Aloha Soda.

I love the Aloha Soda. But well it's the only drink which has remained constant. Due to the change of servers all the time, the blended drinks tend to taste different every time my friend orders them.

The food portions have gotten a little smaller. But still sufficient for one person. The fries that come with the Pork Ribs... have been reduced to about less than 20 bits. But it's the kind I like the fat sort.

The cakes are pretty good. They go half price after 9 every night so that's a good thing if you love cakes.

All in all, I still frequent the place, but it's not really worth the price. 2 people for about $30 ...