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2014-09-01
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Boyfriend and I came here for dinner on Saturday night. With all the other restaurants in Cityplaza with huge lines, this place was surprisingly quiet.Located inside the newly renovated Marks & Spencer is a cafe. You order and pay at the cashier. They give you a number sign to place at your table and wait for you food to be brought to you.When you enter the restaurant, you are greeted with a beautiful cake table for you choose what cake you want.There are signs throughout the cafe telling you th
Located inside the newly renovated Marks & Spencer is a cafe. You order and pay at the cashier. They give you a number sign to place at your table and wait for you food to be brought to you.
When you enter the restaurant, you are greeted with a beautiful cake table for you choose what cake you want.
There are signs throughout the cafe telling you that every thing you are eating here can be found at their grocery section, ready to be bought and eaten at home. Making it feel like a pricier version of Ikea restaurant.
I found a cute little crayon area for children to take and draw with. So, the little ones aren't bored while their mothers sit and tea away. And there is free wifi for those that need a place to get online for free.
We ordered a lasagne, quiche and fish and chips. I originally wanted to drink an ice mango drink as the photo looked like a slurpee but the staff told me their ice machine was broken so all ice drinks were not available. Oh boo! I wasn't about to have hot coffee or tea as we just came in from walking outside at 30+C so I had to settle for a bottled raspberry robios tea as it's a favorite of mine whenever I go to M&S.
Food took a while to be served to us and it wasn't busy. It appeared to only be one staff serving. Who knows how many in the kitchen. I suspect understaffed.Lasagne was supposed to be served with a salad. Photos from past Openrice reviews had actual salad greens. What we got was sliced tomatoes. Did they run out of salad greens? At 7:30 pm on Saturday? Why didn't they tell us? They gave us a small pitcher of salad dressing for the sliced tomatoes. Salad dressing was very tart from the vinegar. I didn't add it to the tomatoes as the tomatoes were fresh enough, no dressing was needed. Lasagne was good. The pasta was nice and soft. The meat sauce was rich and tasty. There was a layer of bechamel sauce as well.
Fish and chips were interesting. Fish was a decent portion. Batter was not too thick and crunchy. Fish was moist. Good bargain! Too bad the fries were disgustingly soggy. It felt like frozen fries just tossed in the oven and not really reheated properly so it gets soggy. Mayonnaise was used instead of tartar sauce. Ketchup was ok but M&S ketchup isn't as good as Heinz.
Quiche was also to have a salad. Again we got sliced tomatoes instead of the salad greens in previous Openrice review photos. Quiche was horrible. Really tasted like the frozen quiche's I buy sometimes at the grocery store that I stick in my freezer for those days I am too lazy to cook and toss something in the microwave. Crust was soggy and fell apart. Quiche itself wasn't set properly and was just mushy. A total disappointment.
The place is comfortable. Prices are reasonable. Too bad so many things were not available (like ice and salad greens). I will return for the tea or coffee (or maybe the ice drinks again!). Maybe try a cake next time.
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