Grand Mandarin: Good Food but Terrible Service

Sigh Grand Mandarin, the food is good but the service is proper atrocious. 

The setting of the place is supposedly designed by the same interior designer for a Chinese restaurant in St Regis, it had a much more laidback vibe though with televisions playing videos about their famous wangbuliao fish.

At least the setting of the table was pretty.

Promotional $2.80 abalone soup. Probably going to raise the price soon, just like they raised the price of the fish.

Roasted Pork.

Char Siew. Okay even though the service is terrible, I have to concede that this char siew is pretty good. It has a sweet honey marinade, and a very crispy char crust, and a smooth sliver of fat with just enough meat, so much so that it elicited a surprised and delighted blink from me when I took a bite.

After 3 bites, it gets a bit much though.

Shark's fin. Average.

Their famous wangbuliao fish. This slice cost $88 oh my, it used to be 30% of the price, but they said that the promotion is over and so they are charging us the full price. Basically, the fish supposedly grew up eating fruits and that's why it commands such a high price. Fish was really fragrant, basically felt that I was eating a fish with a bouquet of fruity oranges. Unique combination. But the fish was super boney and not very fleshy and maybe not very worth it.

Yam mousse okay.

Durian Puree okay.

Apple jelly. Do not order.

The service was one of the worst that my family has been to. We ordered several dishes, and after we were done, we had to ask the waitress Rachel before she told us that she forgot about the fish. We said okay and ordered our desserts first, then after all the desserts were served, she told my brother that they didn't have his dessert. She really should have told him when he placed the order?

 Anyway, the fish took another 40 minutes to come out. Instead of being apologetic, she tried to hard sell a Grand Mandarin membership to us. Basically, deposit $500 with us and get a 5% discount! Felt like any able-minded person would be able to sense the frustration at the table, and at least get the bill. Trying to push several membership plans on us was not what we were expecting. The restaurant was also aiming for an upmarket crowd, and I'm quite doubtful whether selling restaurant membership plans is appropriate for the crowd that they are trying to target? 

We passed our concerns to the manager, who simply replied that she apologized for causing the awkward situation but hoped to see us at the restaurant again soon? I felt like Grand Mandarin really has to up their service or go bust.

Rating : 18% (the char siew is their only saving grace)

Grand Mandarin Restaurant
325 New Bridge Road
#01/02-00
Singapore 088760

+65 6222 3355