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Wednesday, 8 July 2015

U-Village @ Sungei Wang Plaza

My spouse took us to the vicinity of Low Yat Plaza as he wanted to get something from there.  That's how we ended up at U-Village Restaurant @ Sungei Wang Plaza for a late breakfast.  It has been ages since I've stepped into Sungei Wang Plaza although I wouldn't quite term this as stepping into the shopping mall as the restaurant is located at the rear of the mall (which you can access from the streets outside without even stepping into the mall).
 
It's a very old-looking place (then again, what do you expect...as Sungei Wang Plaza is really old) offering Hong Kong-style food.  I wasn't impressed with the food but the service was far worse.....and this was what happened! >:(
 
Right after we were seated and given menus, the wait staff (a Chinese lady) came up to us for our orders.  We haven't even had time to browse the whole menu yet.  I told her we needed more time and she left.

As we were browsing through the menu (and the one here is freaking long), I could see that she kept looking our way rather impatiently.  While we were still 'studying' the menu, she came over to our table again.  I told her that we weren't ready and that we'll call her when we were.  She left again.  I can understand her impatience (or if we took too long to order) if there were a lot customers...but there weren't, there were only about 3 tables occupied.
 
But before I even called, she came by a third time to take our orders.  Sensing her impatience, I was 'forced' to order.  I ordered my drink and main dish.  Only after I told her my order, I realised that my choice of main didn't have the 'thumbs up' (recommended) sign on the menu and (so) I wanted to pick something else.  I flipped through the menu again and went....err.....erm....err...and that's when she left again for the third time (without saying a word and without taking the rest of our orders).  [#Note: The right thing to do would be, "I see that you're not ready to order yet, do you need more time?"]
 
Then, she came back with my Coffee in Hong Kong Style @ RM5.50 (which was not even filled to the brim) and it tasted as horrible as it looked.  I think it was her way of telling me...see, I can even bring you your drink faster than you can decide what you want to eat!  At that point, sensing her growing impatience, we just ordered....whatever!  [#P/S: I could have walked out, of course, but my spouse wanted to have his meal quickly and leave us there (to eat slowly) while he crossed over to Low Yat Plaza to get his stuff.]
 
This was the Crispy Pork Rice with Salted Egg @ RM12.90 and my spouse ordered the same dish (after me).  On another occasion, I would have probably changed my order then since I would want to try more dishes (but you know the situation lah...better not).
 
There was nothing worthwhile on this plate...the "siew yoke" (roast pork) skin was not crackling nor crispy, the meat was dry and chewy (in fact, it tasted like "yesterday's" siew yoke) and the rice was mushy.  The only thing I can give a 'pass' is the salted egg...and that didn't involve any cooking...lol!  As I glanced over to their food counter, I only saw slabs of "char siew" (barbequed pork) and instinctively knew that was probably what was good here.
 
My mother-in-law had the Crispy Pork Rice with Garlic @ RM12.90 which was just deep fried pork pieces stir fried with some garlic, onions, chillies and spring onions.  Although it looked and tasted mundane, at least it came in a respectable portion size.

My son had the Garlic & Pepper Shrimp Rice @ RM13.90 which turned out to be the wisest choice.
 
The fried prawns were, at least, fried till crispy and the crunchy fried garlic bits brought a fragrant aroma and taste to the dish.

I also ordered a plate of Fried Prawn Wantons (5 pcs) @ RM9.90 (for sharing) although the filling wasn't just prawns.  A bit pricey for just 5 pieces, in my opinion, at a place like this.

When we were finished with our meal, we walked up to the cashier counter to pay and there wasn't anyone there.  Even though the wait staff (a lot of them were foreigners) could see that we were standing by the counter, they didn't bother to get someone to attend to us, they just left us there standing and waiting...I guess cashier duties aren't part of their job, so they couldn't care less.

Their body language and the look on their face said it all....they wish they weren't working here.  The only smile you'll get here is the one from the menu cover! :D

My Personal Opinion

Sometimes rude staff and an awful service tend to mar the overall taste of the food making us judge the food more harshly.....and, perhaps, I did.  Maybe, the food wasn't as bad (since it's frequented by the working crowd in the area) but with that kind of service, it made it worse!
 
For me....rude staff + lousy service + mediocre food = I won't be back!

U-Village Restaurant
LB-R1 Sungei Wang Plaza
Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2148 9686

12 comments:

  1. i haven't stepped into sungei wang for a long time too ... maybe years! :) oh, the food here looks quite decent from the photos, but ya, grumpy service is definitely a turn-off! thanks for the warning!

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    1. Yup, grumpy service from a grumpy old lady is the worse! :(

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  2. Gosh, that was terrible! I won't be back either if I were you. I can't imagine how this restaurant is run with such bad attitude from the staff. I had a similar experience once at TGIF 1-Utama many years ago. I brought my family there for lunch and the waiter expected us to order as soon as we got the menu. Like you, we told him that we needed time. Then he came back and we were not yet ready. Guess what? When we were ready to order, he just ignored us. I even got up to get service and yet nobody attended to us. It's like they were telling us, it's our turn not to be ready to take your order. I was so mad, we all walked out and went to Chillis instead.

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    1. Yeah, establishments giving us crap service like that deserves to be walked out on. I would have walked off too if not for my spouse wanting to get some IT stuff from Low Yat.

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  3. You went into the canteen of Sg Wang area "locals" lah dei... I know this place, I used to hangout at this U-village quite often for a few months, I thought the food was good, but then that was like, 10 years ago. I don't particularly remember about the service attitude, but I guess 10 years ago nobody paid that much attention to things like service attitude.

    I guess that lady server must have been working very long there already. This kind of arrogant and impatient attitude is (unfortunately) common among long serving floor staff of restaurants in Malaysia. They have been with the boss long enough that they know the boss will not fire them, so sometimes it is like when they have PMS, they let it show in their face even at work. My dad's old shop, we used to have one such staff too. Not to say I condone their bad attitude, but I do understand why they are like that.

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    1. Oh dear, this is considered 'canteen' food already. I do agree that this service attitude seems to be more common among 'old' service staff. I think the old lady who served me probably menopause already, so cannot blame PMS....wakakaka! :D

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  4. With that kind of attitude, I would gladly go elsewhere - not that what they're serving is anything all that special.

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    1. Yup, there are a lot of other fishes in the sea.

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  5. I have been to Sungai Wang many times but don't remember seeing this place. Is it facing Low Yat Plaza? What did you all do while your spouse went to Low Yat Plaza to get his stuffs?

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    1. We just ate s...l..o.....w...l...y! You could say it's located just in between SWP and LYP but not worth your effort to look for it.

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  6. Oh dear, if restaurants would just realize that service can be even more important than food!

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    1. I agree totally....sometimes even average food can shine with good service!

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