Tony Goh

Review of CHOTTO MATTE SOHO

Summary: A horrendous customer experience overall ...

Summary: A horrendous customer experience overall due to inadequately trained staff and poor restaurant management. Waiters were grossly inattentive and managers were not equipped to deal with the situations that arose.

I ended up walking over to restaurant across the road and received far more attentive service at a lower price.

If you would like to know what went wrong during our visit, please review the points raised below.

Part 1 lowlights:
1. My partner and I were seated on a rickety table and chair. I called the manager over who was unable to stabilise the table with a hand towel and moved us to a new table.
2. The manager moved us to a table in front of smokers without asking us if we were alright with it (we were not smokers...). This table and chair was also rickety, albeit less than before.
3. My partner was then handed a pair of chopsticks that were of unequal length because one chopstick was chipped.

I complained again about points 2 and 3, and we were moved to a table further into the restaurant. At this point, I considered walking out, however, the manager apologised profusely and said that he would make things right.

Part 2 lowlights:
1. Thirty minutes into the meal, after empty starter plates were removed, we sat at the table for 20 minutes waiting for our mains. A waiter agreed to look into where our mains were, but after 10 minutes, never returned. I called another waiter to ask to speak to the manager, and that waiter also never returned.
2. My partner and i ended up walking out. Prior to walking out, I looked for the manager myself. I said all of the above and he apologised profusely as well. According to the manager, the food we were meant to be served was not properly cooked and had to be recooked. He (Andrei) asked me to return again to give the restaurant another chance (third chance). I said probably not, and he kept insisting I come back.