bobbleaque's Profile

On paper, this is supposed to be an upscale dim sum restaurant. Unfortunately, once you are inside, you are immediately surrounded by pounding headache level background noise louder than a nightmarish concert. The tables are too tightly placed there is barely any room between them and the neighbouring chairs. The bowls and tea cups are greasy. No amount of rinsing is enough to get rid of the grease. What a turn off.To be fair, the food is above average therefore everything is pricy. I like the fish maw the best. It is both delicate and of high quality. The shrimp dumplings, beef rolls, roasted goose are satisfactory and presented in a decent manner, and more importantly, the food is not over seasoned, but it is hard to enjoy the food in such a horribly tense and loud environment. We didn't want to order more food, again because of the subpar environment and the tension.I might add that they charged us for snacks but the servers omitted to give us the snack plate, because they were obviously severely under staffed and everyone is always sprinting and panting, juggling multiple items along the way. I am not sure how an upscale restaurant can be run so badly like this, and customers still patronize it.…Read More

When I was there, this was the busiest restaurant on the 2nd floor, and the only one to require a queuing ticket. Usually this is a good sign. Sitting is very crowded and there is barely any space between tables and the servers have to reach tenuously across tables to get the food to the patrons sitting in the middle of the restaurant. The noisy crowd of patrons plus the needlessly loud background music make it difficult to talk and eat comfortably. Overall the restaurant environment is second rate.I ordered the assorted seafood noodles set and the hot plate beef with rice set from the lunch set menu, and both were $78. Both sets came with a salad, dessert, and a complimentary drink. The beef set came with a Chinese soup too. The salad is probably the highlight of the meal. It was shredded grapefruit with a shrimp on top, which is quite unique. The dessert is just a piece of coconut jelly cake. The seafood noodles is basically a combination of clams, shrimp, fishballs, and other seafood. The coconut broth is too spicy though.The low light is definitely the hot plate beef. Although it came sizzling hot, it is a lot of style but no substance. There was only a few pieces of beef on the hot plate and two pieces of broccoli. Half the plate was dedicated to fresh peppercorns. The beef is very tender but the quantity was insufficient to go with the rice so I had to supplement it by stealing some fishballs from the other lunch set. I am not a big eater so I can bet customers who order the beef set will be disappointed by the quantity as well.One thing I don't understand is why restaurants feel the need to look cool and hip and crank up the music even with so much noise trapped underneath a low ceiling. This is a restaurant, not a concert. I was starting to get a headache.…Read More

I am not sure why the staff at the door are unresponsive and blind. I was there just to redeem a cake and their faces were as dark as dark soy sauce. One of the staff just used her finger to point at her colleague. I assumed this individual can't speak in addition to being blind and deaf. It was only 1pm and they were already so angry and 串. I can't imagine what the rest of the day will be like for them and the guests that will be subject to this kind of 串 behaviour. This explains why they will be replaced by robots.…Read More

It was like I was the waiter for my own table. Everything from fetching food, refilling the tea pot, clearing the table, to even paying the bill, there was no one to help. Why are they even levying a 10% service charge? There was absolutely no service at all, and the restaurant wasn't even that busy. If a table were all elderly guests, can you imagine them chasing down the dim sum carts and carrying the hot food to their tables, or pouring boiling water with those heavy kettles? The tea was completely black and undrinkable. This restaurant is abhorrent and should be ashamed of themselves. Blacklisted.…Read More

Because the restaurant only has a plastic curtain at the front door, all the outside hot air and car exhaust keep pumping into the restaurant. The restaurant's air conditioning is obviously no match for the hot temperatures outside. Due to this, eating at this restaurant becomes extremely uncomfortable, so unless the food is superb or the prices extremely cheap, I can't find a reason to eat here. But of course, the food is nothing special and the prices are not cheap. The shredded chicken is typical shredded chicken, and rice is rice. The utensils are not that clean and the service staff that served my table seem to be lost in space, probably because of the dizzying heat. In the end, I rushed to get out of there.…Read More

Once you figure out the maze that is the Miramar Center, you will find this restaurant as your reward, especially if you have a sweet tooth and prefer everything on the sugary side. I myself do not like food that is too sweet, so this restaurant doesn't do it for me. In my opinion, when a restaurant serves both sweet and savoury foods that are consistently too sweet, it indicates a chef's lack of confidence in his/her dishes, using sugar to mask the supposed flaws, and to enhance likability, ie: to please the inner child's taste buds in all of us.For an upscale restaurant, they certainly maximize their real estate usage. It is jam packed so the tables are tight. Once you are seated, it is hard to leave without bumping into other tables. I also do not like to see restaurant employees chewing gum or candy while on duty, because from afar, I saw an incident involving a server and her candy falling out of her mouth and it was most unpleasant. Given the price point and the uninspired unimaginative food quality and atmosphere, it is not one I would want to recommend to others.…Read More

Going in, I was planning to order just a simple quick noodle bowl from their basic menu, but I became distracted by a gorgeous looking book sitting on the table. It turns out to be their dinner menu. For a casual diner, the physical appearance of their menu book rivals those at many high end restaurants. It is professionally done, designed to imitate a cookbook production with sharp pictures and persuasive descriptions. So  I decided to order a few items there. Sadly, the food was a complete letdown in comparison to such an attractive menu book.The steamed fish had only a few pieces, and they were overwhelmed by too many preserved vegetables. The oysters, which I thought would be steamed, instead were stir fried and were too salty and greasy. The eggplant was ok given the circumstances. This restaurant's specialties are congee and noodles. I should have ordered a simple noodle like I originally planned.…Read More

This restaurant was taken over by new management in April and I've since visited three times, all during the evenings. They offer a variety of affordable dishes suitable for casual dining, as well as many interesting dishes unique to this restaurant. All the dishes I've tried so far have surpassed my expectations. Everything is served fresh and piping hot, and the food flavours are natural and balanced, because they don't overuse salt, oil, and other artificial sauces. The portion sizes are reasonable for the price range. I have to say that their daily soup is one of the best in casual dining; you can really taste the heart and soul of the chef with every spoonful.The environment is clean and bright and the service staff are polite and friendly. Tonight a family of ten celebrating a birthday was sitting nearby. They seem very excited with the food too. This restaurant has a lot of promise and a lot of potential. I will definitely visit again.…Read More

I've visited this restaurant on many occasions over the past five years, and overall it has been a satisfying experience. The food is both extravagant and affordable at the same time. The service staff are attentive and detailed oriented.The entrance is spacious and elegant, allowing patrons who are waiting for seats to wait in a comfortable environment. Because this restaurant is fairly large, so unless it is the weekend, there are usually tables readily available. I also like that they don't pad the bill by forcing the sauce and peanut appetizers on customers like most restaurants typically do. So the bill is basically the tea charge and no other unwanted items.The way they serve lobster is exceptional, in that the shell is cracked in such a way that you can eat the entire lobster simply with a fork and knife. It demonstrates the chef's superb technique and patience. And the service staff is sensitive enough to pace the food items in the proper sequence, ie: serving the lobster as an appetizer if you don't order the accompanying lobster noodles. Plus the plate changes and additional cutlery provided make you feel taken care of.Another positive is their generous portion sizes given the prices. For example, their coconut egg white dessert is eye catching and reasonably priced. You can count on this restaurant for a casual every day family dinner or a more formal gathering with long time no see guests and friends.The only small pet peeve is they take a long time to process the bill. Cash and credit cards are equally time consuming. And then the only time I am disappointed is when the entire restaurant is reserved for weddings and then I have to find somewhere else to eat .…Read More

Since their recent grand opening, I visited this restaurant on many occasions, all during the evenings. At the beginning, the food and service were superb. However, the last time I went, the soup was severely diluted with water. I can actually taste the tap water. But the biggest change in such a short time is that the service became questionable. When I requested an empty bowl to put the excess rice from another bowl so I can eat it easier without spilling everything, the waitress said bizarrely that will cost me $2. At first I thought she was joking, but she ensured me she was not. It is the first time I heard such a response for requesting an extra bowl. After that strange encounter, I stopped visiting.…Read More

I visited this restaurant a couple of times and found their food to be overly greasy. The olive oil fish with cauliflower and broccoli dish, supposedly a healthy choice, was practically drowning in oil it was inedible. The broccoli was overcooked and wilted and was soaked in oil along with everything else. There was also no cauliflower visible. I hope they improve their food quality soon, because it is such a disappointment to finally have a grand opening of a well known food franchise in this neighbourhood, only to serve terrible food.…Read More