I had a birthday dinner with family here. I wasn ...

I had a birthday dinner with family here. I wasn t impressed at all.

Booking experience was a disappointment. I booked weeks in advance for an outdoor table and the response was yes but provided it is not raining that day. I said great. We arrived with beautiful weather, 5min early, but were given an indoor table instead. All outdoor tables were given away. The staff weren t very helpful, just some superficial apologies. Nothing was explained on how did my reservation go wrong. It was a disappointment becoz we chose and booked early at the restaurant for its outdoor view. The staff also said that she would get me an outdoor drinking table when one was available, but that didn t happen. She just said it and forgot about it. I think they were just polite staff but not sincere enough to see things through. For a high end restaurant, the staff were polite but below par.

The food was expensive, but that wasn t a surprise. We chose it because we wanted an expensive restaurant for the occasion. But the food wasn t good enough. It felt like food from some cheaper places. You will be paying A prices for B food. The food portions were of course also very small. But that s expected.

Water was $12 per bottle. One bottle serves 3 cups. Cocktails was ok.

You will get a verbal Happy Birthday wish from the staff when you checked in if you made known of your birthday celebration at reservation. That s it.

I have been to quite many high end restaurants where they would also bring you water at about $12 per bottle, or a lamb chop at about $58, but somehow Ce La Vi fell short in overall standard. From booking, staff service and food, everything just fell short by a notch. A nice complete dinner for 3, with cocktails/wine will cost you about S$400. I have had better booking, service and food experience in so many classy restaurants in Singapore costing half the price.

My next nice dinner at MBS will not be at this one. I think it is more worthwhile to randomly try another one.

Still, I had a very pleasant evening that day because of my great company.

If you must go there, just taper your expectation a bit. ;). Cheers.