Garry Chiu
Google
Hey Monster,
I don’t usually write reviews, but tonight wasn’t a great experience—especially for Valentine’s Day. I understand that it might seem unfair, as most people don’t leave reviews when they have a positive experience, but when things go wrong, a review suddenly feels necessary.
With that in mind, I’ve kept this as a neutral 2/5 review because I feel it’s important to provide feedback from my perspective on tonight’s experience.
For context: I booked and prepaid for a table ahead of Valentine’s Day, securing the set “Omnivore” menu for 8:00 pm. The booking process was simple and straightforward—although a little unusual, as I’ve never had to pay in full for a set menu upfront. But so be it.
My partner and I arrived early and were seated by 7:50 pm—so far, so good.
And then things got a little chaotic.
At 8:00 pm, we recieved mains that didn’t belong to us but after a bit of detective work, the table next to us—prompted us that it was their mains. We let the waitress know, no big deal. Our first entrée arrived at 8:10 pm, which was great.
Shortly after, we received another table’s mains… then another table’s drinks. Three mix-ups in a row—what was going on?
By 8:45 pm, we checked in with the staff to see when our next dishes would arrive. We were told the kitchen was busy and our food would be coming soon. Looking around, it was clear that many other couples were also waiting.
By 9:00 pm, my partner was hungry and uncomfortable, so I asked if we could order a side of fries. A few minutes later, we were told the request had been denied because the kitchen was overloaded and, to maintain quality of everyone’s dishes, they couldn’t accommodate our chippy request.
Our next dish, steak tartare with a fried seaweed cracker, arrived at 9:15 pm. Unfortunately, the cracker was stale and oily, and the steak tartare was lukewarm. Should we have eaten it? Shrug. At this point, we were starving.
By 9:50 pm, it was clear that we weren’t the only ones feeling frustrated. The couple behind us requested a partial refund, and the couple next to us—who had also been waiting a long time—asked how long we’d been there. When their steak tartare finally arrived, they also found it stale and lukewarm.
At this point, I could see the light fading from my partner’s eyes. That was our cue to leave —and, as it turned out, the table next to us felt the same way. It took another several minutes of us waiting as there were no staff seen in the area we were sitting.
With multiple tables now openly discussing their missing food and dissatisfaction, another couple struck up a conversation with us about their own experience. Them having booked for 8pm but not seated until 8:45pm.
At the register, the floor manager couldn’t find our table to process the refund and turns out our table had also been cleared in their system, I assume that means we wouldn’t have received any food. I would’ve thought our communication with staff would’ve prompted an investigation on what was going on.
In the end, we were told our bill would be written off, and we’ve been advised that a refund will be processed sometime next week.
What’s going on monster? I’ve never experienced this before.
