#1Reviewer: visitor
Review time: 22-Aug-2009 14:43
Rating for food: 5 out of 10
Rating for ambience: 3 out of 10
Rating for service: 4 out of 10
Expense per person: NA
Will you recommend this restaurant to your friend?: Not sure
Review content:
Regret wasting my time and money
I took the trouble to register an account with Hungrygowhere.com because i was very disappointed and I definitely wanna write about it.
My friends and I decided to go Chin Huat Live Seafood (Thomson) because of the seemingly nice ambiance with great food shown on TV. Even though the online reviews have not been good, we thought we'd judge for ourselves. And boy, we should have trusted the reviews and save our money!
Upon reaching the place, we were very surprised to see the very long queue despite the bad reviews. Are those people like us, wanting to judge the place for themselves, or do they not check reviews before trying a restaurant? Managed to go in within 30 - 40 mins.
The number one turn-off was when making payment. I can accept that we have to make payment first before we were allowed any food. But I could not accept that they could only accept cash payment. The Chinese national cashier could not even say "cash" properly in English.
This restaurant was formally an open steamboat eating place in Marina South, charging only around $13 in cash. Now, here being a restaurant, do not even have a NETS facility for payment. Judging from their good business, they should have introduced payment facilities like NETS or credit card payments just like other restaurants, for the convenience of us customers.
The 5 of us were eating with our faces turning red literally as the place was extremely hot and sticky, just like back to the Marina South days. The table was too small to put our food which wasnt alot.
We could not bbq our food - all food to be bbq-ed have to be given to the "BBQ station". So the fun of bbq-ing our food is gone.
The usual steamboat pot food(cannot-go-wrong food), like vegetables, mushrooms, meatballs, fishballs, etc taste ok. BBQ food like chicken and pork were a little tough (overcooked), we much preferred to do the BBQ ourselves.
I didnt know how to get the prawns and crabs, so I asked a restaurant helper. All she said was "You cannot take". I was taken aback, coz isnt this what i came here for? I later guessed that I had to show my accompanying receipt to the guys at the seafood station. I was right, so what was that helper talking about. Anyway, a limited number of prawns and crabs were given.
Prawns were very fresh and sweet, I like them! The crab was initially very fresh and sweet, but as i ate on, it became very salty, much like I was eating crab cooked in sea water. My lips and throat turned very dry.
Time for dessert, something i was looking forward to. A huge disappointment. All did not taste good except the eclairs. Not much variety and the refill was very slow. I feel kinda cheated coz I remembered TV showed quite a huge variety of desserts.
I will definitely not return to this restaurant because the food wasnt good and lousy ambiance. For $22.25, it's not worth it at all. I urge everyone not to waste time patronizing this restaurant, which doesnt have the standard of a restaurant. It is stuck with its Marina South days, except now its much more expensive.
