Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar (in Singapore) - don’t bother
February 26, 2008
Subscribers who read my blog for Ruby- or Mozilla-related posts should ignore this post, it’s another of those blogging as catharsis posts. To my defence, I haven’t done one of those for a really long time!
If you’re staying in Singapore and looking to try out the food at Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar after it was featured in the local newspaper, my advice to you is, “don’t bother!” Why? In 2 words, horrible service.
Despite some positive reviews (yes, the decor is not too bad), my dining experience at Shokudo consisted mostly of getting the service crew’s attention (and failing spectacularly despite standing right at the counter) and being scowled at or avoided by most of the staff (which is not good, since being a bazaar-style restaurant, you needed to place your order at each stall manned by different members of the service crew).
My friends and I were speculating that either the staff got scolded that day (and reacted negatively to that), or they were just too stuck up because business was good. Either way, it was just terrible. When leaving, I even got rudely reminded that I’d left that one of those things they gave you to reserve a table. Did I mention the service was horrible? (Granted, there were 2 counters where the staff were attentive and actually quite friendly - this was at the macha drink stall and the katsu curry counter.)
What about the food? With such bad service I would say no one shouldn’t really care about the quality of the food - thankfully enough, the food is of a consistently mediocre level to even bother!
Has anyone had a similar experience at Shokudo, or was it just our unlucky day?
| Category: 
Food is far from restaurant standard but is decent for a bazaar type outlet. Staff shows a lack of concern for customers but is probably due more to a lack of training than mean spirited.
Overall speed of food servings are very slow with normal crowd, could be a lot worse during peak hours.
At the thin pizza counter, I was asked to come back in 3 minutes after my order (when I was obviously the first to order that early morning). The pizza however wasn’t ready even after four or five times after I returned to the counter. It was (finally) reluctantly served to me after 15 minutes, ONLY after I insisted on waiting at the counter for another 5 minutes or so. Watching the guy preparing the pizza afresh, putting into the oven and then waiting for it to be ready. I wondered what happened to the pizza I first ordered? :-).
15 minutes wait for a promised 3 minutes? they have a lot to learn from the now defunct Movenpick Marche!
Jaw
Posted by: jaw on February 26, 2008 1am