Eat here or take away?

Well, I have waited very long to write this post as I was convinced by my Mum that this person's service is due to his character and that we should be more forgiving.

Forgiving or not, I think bad service is bad service. It's no excuse. Where am I talking about? I am talking about the Han's at Novena Square. I usually eat a late dinner there and this Filipino guy at the cashier is not one of the most polite person in the world. There is no discrimination intended here. I am just reporting as the situation unveils. Today, if it were a local who has given bad service, I would have wrote it down as it is.

The very first time that I felt that this guy's service was not good, was when my Mum ordered vegetarian bee hoon about a month or so ago. She is Chinese-educated and has a little difficulty speaking English, let alone decipher accents.

After she has ordered, this guy asked her, "Eat here or take away?" His voice was loud but because in his environment, it was necessary. I heard him speak the first time, but even I could not really make out what he was saying.

My mum said, "Huh?" and he repeated his question in that same monotonous tone and in his own accent. I do not blame anyone for having an accent but a person with the slightest idea of an average service standard would realise that the customer does not understand and he/she may need to slow down or change the way that he/or she was asking the customer.

He repeated his question a third time, without any "would you" or whatsoever and finally, my poor Mum got what he was trying to get at and told him that she was eating in. You know, it was rude, a little humiliating and unnecessary. Luckily my mum had a thick skin. If it were me, I would be so embarrassed that I would have flipped or given him a piece of my mind. Then again, I might be a little too thin-skinned. Haha!

The second incident came about a week ago. I had a late dinner with Mum again. This time, another lady (she seems like the maitre d'hotel as, unlike others, she was wearing black) took my order. But she went back to her station (as I read their body languages), which was the coffee station and allowed that guy to take over his station, which was the cashier.

He did not look up to acknowledge my presence or give me any sign to ask me to wait. He was too engrossed with some previous receipt at the cashier, even as I held out the money for him. The maitre d'hotel had to tell him the price of my dish (which was turkey ham set meal) before he keyed in and took my money without so much as a word of thank you.

The last straw came when my Mum could not finish her fried rice and I had gone to the counter to ask him to pack it up for me. I went to the counter, smiling and asked whether he could pack "this" (the plate of fried rice) up for me. He took the plate and told his staff "da bao, da bao". I went back to my seat.

Now I know Han's is a no frills, value-for-money place for Western cuisine. Most of the time, it is a self-service place. I had thought that packing the food up would take some time and had gone back to my seat to wait. Instead of calling me when the food was packed, I had to peer to see whether it was ready.

I saw this packet at the coffee station and not being sure, went to ask him whether that was my packet. I was still all-smiles and politeness, but what did the guy do? He was counting some receipts or other, did not life his head up and just used his hands to point in the direction of my packed food.

I do not know about you. If it was dry humour, I did not find it funny at all. If you tell me he was shy, then I would tell him not to work in this line. I was totally flabbergasted by his action and did not know what to say.

Yes, Han's is a no-frills (now) not-so-cheap place to eat, andthey have never known to have good service but curt questions and replies. But I think that basic service standards should be met.

I do not even need a smile. How about some eye contact? I do not even need you to say a "please" or "thank you". How about giving me the right tone of voice and body language? If it was not for the fact that they open till 12 midnight I would not have eaten there.

That said, there are other Han's that have better service and their food remains OK. Don't expect to eat like you were at Jack's Place, but to me, it is still comfort food whenever it is needed. Their Hor Fun is exceptionally nice too, but with service like that, it really discounts the whole eating experience and I would think twice about going there.

Food Opera @ ION@Orchard

Last Friday, I was at Ion@Orchard and was contemplating what to eat. For all that great shopping, there were not many choices for good, reasonable, sit-down food to eat. In the end, I chose to eat at Food Opera, the food court at Basement 4.

What a mistake that was. I already knew that it was going to be expensive and subconsciously, I already knew that the portions would not be generous, but I went ahead to eat there anyway. It was the only place one could find a decent sitting place.

What caught my eye too, was the new Vietnamese stall selling Pho and all that typical Vietnamese food fare. Should have listened to my little brains but no! I had to go and order the sliced beef Pho which cost me $6.50. The bowl was very big alright but the glass noodles were...pathetic. If they charged me $4.00, I would still have thought it a little expensive.

Anyway, what irked me was not so much the amount of food but the way that the man who was serving me, was talking to me. First, it was a lady who took my order. Then this man (another staff at the stall) came and asked me again what I wanted and repeated my order. He spoke in Mandarin.

The most appalling was when he finally presented my bowl of Pho onto my tray. He said, "Be careful, huh...hot-hot, hor."

HOT-HOT!!!!

Do I look like I am a stupid 3 year-old toddler that needs to be spoken to in baby-speak????????? I don't even speak to my kids like that!!!!!

I was absolutely disgusted. Yucks! Pui! Sorry, but I have really never had anyone spoken to me in this way before and I made my displeasure known by making an awful expression. In fact, I wanted to puke there and then.

Reminder to self: Do not eat at any Food Opera or Food Republic or any such places owned by Toast Box group. Too expensive for too little. Plus, not so good service (in my opinion, at least).

Nando's @ Bugis

This is the second time that I am eating at Nando's and I am also really happy to say that they are going to open their third outlet at Plaza Singapura, which would be even more convenient for me!

The very first time I ate at Nando's was 1st September 2010. Yes, it was Teacher's Day and my Dad and I, two teachers, have gone out to celebrate. It was lunch then. Service was not so good but I would say, average.

Last night, we were there again, me and two other girlfriends. I sat exactly where I sat the last time I visited, which was diagonally across from the wash basin, near the kitchen entrance. Well, I guess it is not as bad as sitting right next to the restaurant entrance. That to me, is a big no-no. Human traffic would be too heavy.

This time around, the table was much cleaner but the cutlery was sticky. Had to use my wet wipes to clean it again. Not a very nice feeling. The other boo-boo was that I found this sliced carrot with a green 'core' in my grilled vegetable sides. To me, that is also a no-no to serve veggies that are not fresh and/or spoilt.

Of course, I was not too happy yet again with the fact that they charged for water (even though it was bottled water). The whole stretch, as explained in my posting on Lena, had adopted the pay-for-your-water policy. In the end, I ordered a Redbush Refresher, which was some kind of lemongrass tea with mint leaves. You would wonder why I went to order something more expensive but somehow, my logic is that, since I am already paying for something, I might as well order something other than just plain old sky juice.

Good company, good food and slightly above average service this time around, we were all satisfied to the brim.

Kichi Kichi Express Rotary Hot Pot

My girlfriends and I finally went to eat at this much spoken about hot pot place, which again, I feel, is a novelty stint. It married the idea of hot pot and kaiten sushi whereby you pick whatever you want to eat off a conveyor belt.

Our conclusion is that though it is touted to have over 60 ingredients, a large part of it is not included in the "eat-all-you-can" category. They are so called premium ingredients and are payable. Overall, the whole experience is not too bad though, as it was a clean environment with efficient stuff who were constantly clearing our plates.

I will not be in too much of a hurry to go back there so soon, but it is definitely ad option that I will keep in mind for future dining experiences.