Sunday, March 28, 2010

disappointing shanghai dumpling joint

I'd heard quite a bit about this restaurant in Tattersalls lane in Chinatown, so decided to try it ystd. We knew that with asian food, the worse the exterior looks, the better the food, so we weren't put off by this dingy looking facade. However, there were several things that ruined this experience for us. Firstly, the music was DEAFENINGly loud! it's impossible to have a conversation with the person you're with in here. Which was why i wanted to sit next to hubby instead of opposite him. However...., after sitting down, the waitress [rudely] told me to move and sit opposite my hubby instead of beside him like i ALWAYS like to sit. She didn't even try to explain why. She didn't even say please! When I asked her why, she just mumbled something rudely and walked off. Felt like she was talking to a dog instead of paying guests.

Later, I tried to ask her if we could sit somewhere else instead, so that we could sit beside each other instead of opposite. But she rudely and curtly said "after order no change place"
this completely ticked me off but we had already ordered , so we couldn't walk out. I mean, how hard is it to let us change places? not like there're 1000 tables in there!
the fried dumplings were really cheap, at $6.80 for 12 but the dough was slightly undercooked., they were tasty except that i noticed the meat being slightly pinkish. [2 hours later, hubby had terrible food poisoning, with stomach pains, diarrhea and nausea, probably because of bad hygiene or bacteria in the uncooked meat, as he hadn't eaten anything else after this. ]

The pork mince noodles however, were very good, just the right amount of meat sauce and crunchy but cooked vegetables. just the way I like it. When I asked a waiter if we could have another plate so we could share it, he mumbled smtg like "go take it yourself' and pointed to a stack of tiny bowls in a corner [those tiny ones meant for soy sauce]. I was really surprised at how bad the service was! so my poor hubby had to eat from a tiny bowl to share these noodles with me. we could've eaten from the same bowl except that we were forced to sit opposite each other at the same table, instead of beside, so it was impossible to stretch our necks across to the centre of the table to share it.

When we went to pay, I asked the girl behind the counter about the $12 all you can eat promotion that i saw on a card, and she said "it for big group only ". so I asked, how big is a big group? she paused for really long before saying "uh....three."

perhaps she was just bad in english, but I sensed that she really really really really wasn't in the mood for answering my questions and just wanted me out the door. So far, none of the servers were had the slightest inkling of how to treat your patron politely. They all behaved as if they really hated the customers and couldn't wait to shoo them out the door.

So, the bottom line is.. I'd never come here again. at these prices, I suppose most people could forgive the abysmal service. But, make sure you have your GP on speed dial for the food poisoning afterwards.

3 comments:

Gina E. said...

OMG!!!!! That is awful! Did you report this place to the Health Department, or the Melbourne city council?? I would have!

cell said...

yeah we did report them and a health inspector called to ask for a stool sample!

Gina E. said...

Did you give it to them? No,don't answer that - I really don't need to know, LOL!