Christine HK's Profile

I've been to this place one other time; I was not impressed the first time but decided to give it another try since it is near my office.  The second visit was no better than the first. On both visits I was told the restaurant "can't make a burger medium rare".  I asked for medium  instead, was told it was okay but both times it arrived very well done.  The meat was dry and flavorless. The place is clean but bare bones. The food arrives directly placed on a  placemat, which is on a metal tray, i.e, no dish.  It means by the end of your    meal the placemat is wet from the sauce or ketchup.  Not appetizing! It is a very expensive meal for it is. My dry cheeseburger (no fries, nothing) was HK$98 and a sparkling water was HK$38. I've been in the restaurant business and  in my view, if a restaurant says they can't or won't cook meat less than medium,  it means the beef is not        high quality and they need to make sure any lurking bacteria is killed.  Give this place a miss.…Read More

This is not only overpriced but poorly run. While there are a lot of staff, nobody seems to know what they are doing. I ordered hot sake but waited 15 minutes and had to ask twice for it to be served; it came halfway through my meal.  The sushi is "just okay" but certainly not worth the price.  What was just as irritating is that the restaurant does not offer wi-fi so if you're planning to have a quiet meal while reading on your phone, you can forget about it.  I simply do not understand establishments that do not provide wi-fi for their customers.  In 2021, wi-fi is as essential for a guest as electricity.There are many other places in Central for sushi so give this a miss.…Read More

Restaurants in Pacific Place have always known they have a captive audience so there is not a whole lot of incentive to work as hard as they would have to if they were in another location. Since Swire kicked out Dan Ryan's and Grappa, it's only given greater license for the remaining ones to get away with bad food/service.I had not been to Thai Basil for a long time but went last night since a friend had chosen it before we went to see a movie. The restaurant bills itself as a "Thai/Western" restaurant but the interpretation leaves much to be desired. Most of us who live in Hong Kong have been to Thailand so we know what good Thai food is and we also know what constitutes Thai fusion. What Thai Basil serves is just crap.I'll address the food later but the evening got off to a bad start since the staff could not find the reservation. Looking at their reservation book it's not hard to see why this is not organized. Reservations are noted by hand in pencil in a notebook. Given that this was a Saturday night and there were only 4 reservations written down indicated something is not working correctly. (Note to management: there are computerized reservation programs available).We were able to get a table but only after we agreed to the demand of the hostess: "You have to be finished within 90 minutes". How very gracious!The service was horrible; there seems to be no staff assignments by table or section. We had to continually wave staff down to take a drink order, then the food order, then to get our check. We ordered two G&Ts and these were served in a most unusual fashion: a large glass with ice, tonic and a straw (no lime) and a rocks glass filled with a minute amount of gin. I guess they felt the need to prove there was going to be gin in the drink; had they served that paltry amount of gin already poured in the tonic water, it would have been impossible to discern its presence.The food that followed was, in a word, dreadful. We had some paper rolls filled with over-ripe mango and beetroot with some sort of peanut sauce on the side... just a bunch of rolls with mush inside and a mealy peanut slop with it. The rolls were not even rolled and cut properly nor attractively presented.We followed with lamb in a red curry sauce which was actually three small lamb chops in, theoretically, a curry sauce which didn't taste any curry sauce I've ever had. There was something gray and mushy underneath the lamp....unappetizing-looking to be sure but I took the plunge and concluded it was overcooked aubergine. One taste was enough.In summary: bad service and bad food. However, the restaurant was pretty full... as mentioned, they have always had a captive audience so have been able to get away with this. I'm hoping that now that there are more restaurants are opening in PP that some of these places will either up their game or leave the business. Give it a miss.…Read More