hotpot culture @ marina square - 050608
i don't know if you have been there before, but just my personal comments here.
perhaps, first, i should let you read what my friend, who went with me, wrote. it was very critical and rather humorous, the way the service and whole experience was depicted.
the link here... you can read it now, or later.
http://blueodyssey.multiply.com/journal/item/429/Something_to_take_note...
my purpose yesterday was to take some time to have a little celebration - first, for my own results and second, my graduation - finally. of course, i went there with a happier-than-usual mood, and that meant that i was more tolerant of substandard service. not that it was wrong to voice out your displeasure about service that sucks... there was the 10% service charge, so you have all the rights to complain if the service does not meet your expectations.
the hotpot's ingredients were basically no different from what you would get in a normal steamboat buffet like the ones at beach road / liang seah street area. however, the additional perk was a free flow of a la carte dishes... not really a perk considering that you paid for it fair and square.
the whole dining process was acceptable. the broth - or, MSG cube in hot water, as i called it - was, in accordance with what DK (the blogger for the link provided above) has said, thirst-inducing. i suspected that they used knorr brand soup cubes (or maggi, i have no idea because i only had knorr soup cubes in my own steamboat at home before). but i have no objections against such ready-made broths.
the most interesting thing of the whole lunch affair was perhaps the fact that the table besides us sat a lady who was completely dissatisfied with what has happened. my guess was that they ordered things that did not came - worse if the item was ordered twice and / or specific instructions were given to the service staff over there and they took no heed.
well, these two things happened to us.
item ordered twice - yeah, the shiitake mushroom affair. it's still, in both DK's judgment and mine, growing in japan.
specific instructions - no heed to it. this would have been acceptable if it was the hectic lunch hour, but no-no if it was around 1 plus, when the only customers were students like us, or people taking a leisurely lunch. though now, i'm not entitled to call myself a student.
i'm less critical of the part about the service staff asking us if we could converse in mandarin. that is perfectly fine with me, though personally, if i was a service staff, i would converse with the customer first in english, then if the situation requires another language / dialect, i would gladly oblige. that includes even my very broken hokkien.
i'm more concerned about service staff receiving little / no / inappropriate training in serving customers. granted, the language part was excusable - though, in singapore, it is reasonably expected that service staff at least be able to speak conversational - not competent - english. as any sensible service organization would know, the official language in singapore is english. given this fact, it would not be tolerable from the average customer's point of view to have service staff who cannot take orders / ask in english.
anyway, the lady that was previously mentioned did not make a big hoo-haa, but did proceed to reprimand the service leader about the poor service. of course, no obscenities or vulgarities were exchanged, but it was a tense moment. the service leader then got another round from our table.
key reasons were:
1) ordered item did not arrive - please tell the customer if it was out of stock, or in the midst of preparation, and some time is needed. and by preparation, it means that it was already in the kitchen, undergoing washing / cutting. thawing is not acceptable. and so does things like still growing in some other country / on the plane / lying in the warehouse.
2) insufficient chocolate for the fondue - no comments for this.
3) waiting too long for item(s) to arrive - suppose you are willing to wait a maximum of 10 minutes for your food to arrive. anything beyond that you start to feel irritated, agitated and cranky. it is a signal that nobody cares about you at all.
so the classic line yesterday was:
"I don't want to see the 10% service charge on my bill later."
which, of course, despite the service leader's attempt to pacify us with ice-cream, materialized. that was about a total of $6 savings for the three of us. and many apologies, too.
we did pay for our GST, of course. however, we didn't get to see the manager, whom we suspect instructed the service leader not to summon just because a customer wishes to see the manager. we went even a little abroad to speculate that the manager was busy playing solitaire, msn-ing or surfing *certain* sites... but that was just a little mischief on our part.
i was slightly displeased with the service, but it was mitigated by my "graduated - already" mood. NOT "graduating lor" mood. big difference.
well, that's what happened. am sure not to patronize that place again... the visit would be my "one night stand" with the outlet.
perhaps, first, i should let you read what my friend, who went with me, wrote. it was very critical and rather humorous, the way the service and whole experience was depicted.
the link here... you can read it now, or later.
http://blueodyssey.multiply.com/journal/item/429/Something_to_take_note...
my purpose yesterday was to take some time to have a little celebration - first, for my own results and second, my graduation - finally. of course, i went there with a happier-than-usual mood, and that meant that i was more tolerant of substandard service. not that it was wrong to voice out your displeasure about service that sucks... there was the 10% service charge, so you have all the rights to complain if the service does not meet your expectations.
the hotpot's ingredients were basically no different from what you would get in a normal steamboat buffet like the ones at beach road / liang seah street area. however, the additional perk was a free flow of a la carte dishes... not really a perk considering that you paid for it fair and square.
the whole dining process was acceptable. the broth - or, MSG cube in hot water, as i called it - was, in accordance with what DK (the blogger for the link provided above) has said, thirst-inducing. i suspected that they used knorr brand soup cubes (or maggi, i have no idea because i only had knorr soup cubes in my own steamboat at home before). but i have no objections against such ready-made broths.
the most interesting thing of the whole lunch affair was perhaps the fact that the table besides us sat a lady who was completely dissatisfied with what has happened. my guess was that they ordered things that did not came - worse if the item was ordered twice and / or specific instructions were given to the service staff over there and they took no heed.
well, these two things happened to us.
item ordered twice - yeah, the shiitake mushroom affair. it's still, in both DK's judgment and mine, growing in japan.
specific instructions - no heed to it. this would have been acceptable if it was the hectic lunch hour, but no-no if it was around 1 plus, when the only customers were students like us, or people taking a leisurely lunch. though now, i'm not entitled to call myself a student.
i'm less critical of the part about the service staff asking us if we could converse in mandarin. that is perfectly fine with me, though personally, if i was a service staff, i would converse with the customer first in english, then if the situation requires another language / dialect, i would gladly oblige. that includes even my very broken hokkien.
i'm more concerned about service staff receiving little / no / inappropriate training in serving customers. granted, the language part was excusable - though, in singapore, it is reasonably expected that service staff at least be able to speak conversational - not competent - english. as any sensible service organization would know, the official language in singapore is english. given this fact, it would not be tolerable from the average customer's point of view to have service staff who cannot take orders / ask in english.
anyway, the lady that was previously mentioned did not make a big hoo-haa, but did proceed to reprimand the service leader about the poor service. of course, no obscenities or vulgarities were exchanged, but it was a tense moment. the service leader then got another round from our table.
key reasons were:
1) ordered item did not arrive - please tell the customer if it was out of stock, or in the midst of preparation, and some time is needed. and by preparation, it means that it was already in the kitchen, undergoing washing / cutting. thawing is not acceptable. and so does things like still growing in some other country / on the plane / lying in the warehouse.
2) insufficient chocolate for the fondue - no comments for this.
3) waiting too long for item(s) to arrive - suppose you are willing to wait a maximum of 10 minutes for your food to arrive. anything beyond that you start to feel irritated, agitated and cranky. it is a signal that nobody cares about you at all.
so the classic line yesterday was:
"I don't want to see the 10% service charge on my bill later."
which, of course, despite the service leader's attempt to pacify us with ice-cream, materialized. that was about a total of $6 savings for the three of us. and many apologies, too.
we did pay for our GST, of course. however, we didn't get to see the manager, whom we suspect instructed the service leader not to summon just because a customer wishes to see the manager. we went even a little abroad to speculate that the manager was busy playing solitaire, msn-ing or surfing *certain* sites... but that was just a little mischief on our part.
i was slightly displeased with the service, but it was mitigated by my "graduated - already" mood. NOT "graduating lor" mood. big difference.
well, that's what happened. am sure not to patronize that place again... the visit would be my "one night stand" with the outlet.
posted by shicong says... at 12:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home