One fine day it was another of my friend's birthday, so we went to this charming little restaurant, the name of which I've stated clearly as the title of this post. This post is titled in this manner because I'll be commenting a lot on this little restaurant, and not the birthday.
If you're reading this just to see if previous customers recommend this restaurant, feel free to scroll straight to the very bottom, where you will find the answer you seek. For the time being, I will be kind and first talk about the restaurant's ONLY upside.
Charming deco. The place is indeed unique, with some decorative items that look like they were hand made.
Snapshot of the interior.
Effort was put in to create the whole birthday atmosphere.
In terms of atmosphere and decorations, a commendable job was done. I'll credit them for the fact that they took the trouble to put up the "Happy Birthday" thing in the photo, and provide us all with cute party hats.
Now it is time for me to get evil. If you read my posts frequently, you will know it is not my style to be overly critical, or declare openly that something is bad. So when I really do say it's bad, it's got to be really, really out of order.
Back to de title. If you're wondering how the food tastes, I'll answer you in this manner: either we ordered all the wrong stuff, or the chefs were in a very bad mood. If they can open a restaurant, I believe they should have at least some culinary skills. Unfortunately, we saw none of those skills during our lunch there.
While waiting for my lunch, I was amused by comments that the Aglio Olio (I hope I spelt it right) recipe was all wrong. Even more entertaining was the sight of my friend trying to convince himself that the dish was delicious. What's more, everyone that tasted the thing agreed something was terribly wrong.
I knew our hopes for better performance in the later dishes were shattered when other not so positive comments were heard, including the Pizzailo being too tomato-ish (all you can taste is tomatoes) and a certain Yaki Udon tasting funny (of course it wasn't a funny matter, so to speak). This disappointed us, as food bloggers have been giving this place some good reviews. I was very lucky in the sense that my chicken tasted okay, although the chips were too salty.
We were extremely displeased when a friend beside me was served a BURNT cheese bake. We stared dumbly at the dish, wondering what gave them the nerve to serve charcoal-laced lunch. The only reason we did not complain was that we have already waited a considerable time for this last dish, and we figured we didn't have all day to wait for another cheese bake.
Of course, it is always possible to improve on the quality of food. I personally feel this restaurant still stands a chance, but to stand that chance they will have to realise they have a very BIG HR issue that needs to be solved.
The last thing you want is a waiter who absolutely annoys and disgusts your customers. We were unfortunate to meet this very unpleasant young man, who wrote our individuals orders and practically slammed them down on the table in front of us.
He then proceeded to warn us that since only 4 out of the 14 of us paid for buffet items, only 4 were allowed to eat food on the buffet line. All 14 of us would be charged if we were seen sharing the buffet items. This was, of course, fair to everyone. However, our waiter decided that to drill this into our heads, he had to repeat the warning twice, in a straightforward, rude and threatening manner. A subsequent warning about charging wasted food was also communicated in the same tone. By the time he walked away, half of us had the urge to whack the manners back into him.
Finally, if he brings your food to the table and you take a little longer to realise it's yours, his solution is to say he'll slap your butt. In certain circumstances, I would accept this as a joke, but in this case, I call it sexual harassment. I'd like to see him say the same thing to a lady customer one day. Since the moment he uttered those words, I mentally labelled him a pervert, and promised myself I'd die of starvation before I go back to that place. In case you're wondering, I'm still very, very keen on preserving my virginity, and additional encounters with this psycho certainly will not contribute to this end.
Upon leaving the restaurant, my head was filled with this song running on replay:
They say music is the universal language, and now I'm utilizing this universal language to communicate my thoughts on the restaurant. I'm sure you understand it.
Until I see corrective measures taken, I'm not recommending this place even if you point a gun at me. Exceptions apply if you:
i) enjoy talking dirty with complete strangers
ii) are looking for a reason to kick some (perverted) @ss
iii) are overly optimistic about Penang's food quality (I once belonged here).
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