June 3, 2011

Delicious @ Straits Quay


After much hype and anticipation, Delicious finally opens its doors in Penang at Straits Quay, and this outlet is a subsidiary of E&O Berhad.

It took only 2 visits to conclude that this is a place we won't consider coming back anytime soon.


First encounter: Went and had a late light lunch with hubby on a Thursday afternoon, so we only had a soup, a sandwich and a cake.


The refined-looking menu


My Hot Honey Lemon (RM 5.90)




What can go wrong with this simple drink? Apparently quite a bit here. 2 huge pieces of lemon is way too much for the amount of water, it made the whole drink super sour to the point where no amount of honey can overcome it. The cookies that came with the drink did not really match either and was not nice to munch upon.

Hubby's Mushroom Soup (RM 13.90)




The mushroom soup tasted slightly peppery but the overall taste was not bad. The accompanying garlic bread was crunchy but lacking in flavor.

My Ham & Cheese Sandwich (RM 16.90)



The salad portion was no doubt generous, but that is merely meeting up to the expectation given the price tag. The ham and cheese sandwich was made up of pieces of toasted bread containing standard ham with melted cheese in between. It was so bland that I had to eat it with with chili sauce. Anyone can make this at home.

Strawberry Cheesecake with Berry Coulis
(RM 12.90)
.


The cheesecake was grainy, not smooth enough and the sauce was just too drenched and over sweet.

When we asked for the bill, we were told that their printing device has broke down and they apologized. But after waiting for another 5-10 minutes, no signs of our bill yet. So I asked for a manual bill instead. After what seemed like forever, the guy came back with a piece of bill with just the total of RM 57.55 written on it. No breakdown of any sort visible. I then asked the guy to write down the items we had, and to my surprise, his question to me was "You mean you want me to write down everything, including the service charge and tax?" What a great question it was. Of course I would love to know what I had, how much it cost me and yes, how bloody much I paid for your service and to the government. After another forever, the guy came back with all the breakdown. So much for the service.

Not to mention that the total bill of RM 57.55 for just a light lunch was freaking OUTRAGEOUS.

We saw a lot of customers leaving with a doggie bag and immediately thought that the desserts are really that good that they take-away for their family or friends to enjoy. In the end, we ourselves had to ask for take-away as we couldn't finish the cheese cake.

This is a great strategy having such over-sized doggie bags - it gives people a false impression that their desserts are that good that most customers are getting take-aways; when the actual fact is that they could not finish the huge portion.



Second encounter: Because of the cosy atmosphere and the fact that this was a new place, I decided to give it another chance and suggested this place for a gathering with my close friends, and off we went on a Sunday evening at 6:30pm.

When we arrived, I asked for a table of 7 persons with a child, and the guy asked if we're having dinner so I said yes. He then took my name and asked that we have a seat first.

Looking around, we could still see a few tables empty so here goes our conversation with the guy:-

Me : Roughly how long will the wait time be?

Delicious guy : It depends, maybe 20 minutes, maybe longer.

Me : Can we have those tables empty over there?

Delicious guy : No, those are for desserts only, e.g. cakes, tea, etc.

Me : Why can't we take the tables to have dinner?

Delicious guy : Because it is our procedure.

My friend : We are going to order a lot of desserts later, can we sit there?

Delicious guy : NO you cannot.

My friend : Why not?

Delicious guy : Because it is our procedure.

My friend : So how long more do we need to wait for a table to have dinner?

Delicious guy : It may take up to half an hour, 1 hour, not sure.


What a turn-off! Service provider giving not one, but multiple rejections to the customer needs. Needless to say, we were out of there right after the conversation ended.

So these are the renowned tables they were referring to -

DESSERTS-ONLY TABLES - they must be super fragile

In conclusion - sheer disappointments, even after giving it a second chance.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Cheryl,

    I wrote a long complaint email too about them and am thinking of sending to their headquarters to complain. I faced the same situation as you except for I already ordered my food, then already halfway drinking my coffee when they asked me to move so that I can eat my food since I was seated at dessert table.

    It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. When I refused to move, the staff who came to address this issue got annoyed at me and made a face at me. Then to my horror, he asked me "WHY??? Why can't you just move????"

    It was by far the most shocking service I have ever experienced in such a setting. I told him "Because it is RIDICULOUS" and told him to cancel my order and take it out of my bill if they would not allow me to eat it at my table as I will not move just to eat a lame pie.

    Below par food with horrendous service.
    No thank you!


    Jean

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  2. Yeah - downright absurd service!

    Btw - were you the one who got asked to move to the next table to have Shepherd's Pie? I just read a story written by someone and I guess it's you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Cheryl,

    Yes that was me!
    It was so ridiculous and I feel that they could have avoided such issue by simply removing their silly desserts only tables or even just printing Desserts only menus to be handed to guests seated at those tables, rather than handing them the entire menu.

    I have heard similar stories from a few other people as well. I really don't get the big buzz about this establishment.


    Jean

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  4. Hi Jean,

    Ah well, I've heard the same from other fellow bloggers too and we were all disappointed.

    They have encountered poor service too and I don't understand how people can still flock the place either.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow you girls should really complain to HQ.

    Delicious is one of my favourite places to go. LOVE the spicy crabmeat pasta & pavlova. But i'm here in KL. No major issues over here, except the one in Midvalley - service there is creepily lousy. they forget orders and i have never seen a smile

    A

    ReplyDelete