It was my first time being there. It was the second time for my friend. So we were relatively new to the place. On first impression, it felt somewhat odd to me that some restaurant would have that kinda deco. I would've played it to the name, make it office like, filling cabinets at the corner, seats divided into cubicles and so on. But then again some might not want to go there because it'll remind them of their office hehe...
Anyway, the menu I would say is visually boring, too much to read. I like pictures, its more appealing and gives a better representation of the food you serve. After going though the menu from cover to cover for about 5 mins, I decided on the Nasi Ayam Special while my friend ordered a muffin (couldn't recall which one it was).
They had a high-tea set which cost about $12+ and has loads dishes that comes with it, from starters to desserts. I was hungry but not that hungry. The deal looks pretty good though, maybe next time. As we waited for our order, we saw the guy next to our table having his Roti Kawin with two half-boiled eggs, which made me regret my order abit. My friend's muffin came first, not sure what it was but she said it tasted like lumps of flour in colorings. It gives that sticky feeling in your mouth kinda thing, not the soft almost melts in-your-mouth one. For $3 it was sure ain't worth it, I think I'll stick to hers when it comes to muffins. Not happy with the muffin, my friend ordered the Mee Rebus.
My food finally came after about 10mins or so. And I must say I was pretty surprised on how big the portions were. Generous but somehow it kinda crushed my expectations of what a chicken rice meal is, which usually either come with roasted or steamed chicken. Well at The Other Office its been deep fried, as you can see from the photo below. You also get a Rendang chicken on your main plate. So altogether you get four piece of chicken. See this where the picture of the food item on the menu would help, at least the customer won't be surprised. Anyway, despite the big serving, the problem I had was that I don't like the meaty part of the chicken i.e. breast part and also the chicken doesn't look/taste fresh too. I didn't finish my meal, I had two more of the fried ones untouched. I'm giving this $7+ meal a 5/10.
As for my friend's Mee Rebus, she said it's spicy but a little bit bland. I had a taste of it and I have to agree. I have tasted better at the Kianggeh stalls in town. So it was kind of a disappointing meal although it does look good.
All the while we were there, I felt like we were being monitored. My friend joked that maybe they have my picture in the kitchen with a big warning, "watch out for this food blogger!" hahaha. And I guess me snapping away at the food made it obvious too. I thought at one point they were gonna tell me to stop taking pictures like one of the quite well known restaurant in Jalan Tutong.
So will I go there again? Yes I will. I'm a strong believer in second chances, plus I like to try some other dishes on their menu. And hopefully the next time around it won't be as disappointing as this one was.
Disclaimer
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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The Other Office |
Sunday, March 9, 2008
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WyWy Chicken Rice (Kuala Belait) |
This is isn't so much of a review but a very unhappy account of a dining experience. So my friends and I were there at 2pm, most of the lunch crowd is gone and the restaurant was half empty. We ordered our food; honey chicken with rice, coconut prawn with rice, another chicken dish, fried eggs and I ordered the crispy szechuan noodles. On the order receipt our order was taken at 2:10pm.
Our drinks came a few minutes later. The chicken dish came 15mins after the order. The coconut prawn 5 mins later (2:30pm). The honey chicken came 2:45pm and its only during this time the waitress who took our order came back to check with us which order is missing! She panics and ran to the kitchen and I finally got my food at 3pm! And the fried egg came just about 5mins close to an hour when she took the order down!
So I ask you, wouldn't you be pissed off if your order took 50mins to get to you?! A simple fried eggs took almost an hour!? Especially when you see the restaurant is not full! I think WyWy has been known about how slow and bad their service is. I have been to a couple of their branches and never once did I ever enjoyed it. I remember one time I was seated for more than 5 mins before someone came to me to give the menu and take my order! Food is nothing to rave about, I dislike how there is so much items on the menu too, what is the use when your service is just lousy?
Above is the food I ordered. Doesn't look appealing and especially doesn't taste nice when you've been waiting 50mins for it, 'nuhun nafsu' as we Bruneians say or simply put appetite gone. So if any of you who are affiliated to the WyWy outlets, please pass the this message, "Shape Up! Your service is just horrendous. Please give your staff proper training and ensure orders doesn't take more than 15mins to reach to the customer. I see all your branches have a big kitchen, do you only have once chef/cook to run it?"
Your waitress should constantly check the table she took the order from. Don't just take the order, walk away and then came back half an hour later to check on it! Maybe some people can tolerate it but I can't. I guess it goes without saying I will never set foot in any of your dining outlets anymore.
I bet I'm not the only one with this bad experience. I'm sure you readers have encountered it too.
The WYWY saga concludes - Public Poll
The respective press statements
More here.
Comments added via the 'Add my own option' by visitors to this blog;
- I only went to WyWy once and I think they are unreasonably over priced for a normal restaurant. Service sucked like hell. A little smile would have been better.
-I think they hv been victimised by someone who has some grudge against them!
-To close the matter for once and for all, we need another independent lab test to reconfirm.