Tag Archives: AYCE

Atithi

Atithi on UrbanspoonSo my friend had a $32 Groupon for an All-You-Can-Eat dinner for 2 people. Regularly, the ACYE is $28 per person from Sunday to Thursday dinner only.

The restaurant was a good size, and we arrive there around 6:30pm on a weekday. It was empty for the most part except 2 ladies by the window, and a man at a table. The place looked clean and well maintained. The tables were already set. The friendly staff (though a bit too quiet to hear) greeted us and we told her about the Groupon AYCE.

idearabbit-atithi2 idearabbit-atithi3

It turns out that it wasn’t like a buffet where you pick up food of what you want. Instead, they brought you the food, and you were able to get seconds (or more) of whichever you’d like.

We started off with some crispy roti with 2 sauces. I really like the green sauce with cilantro. Mmmm~
Then, Aloo paratha with raita.

idearabbit-atithi

idearabbit-atithi4 idearabbit-atithi6 idearabbit-atithi5

For the main, there was a bowl of rice and
•    Chilli fish indo-Chinese style: quite spicy. I quite enjoyed this dish.
•    Yam and chick peas curry: good
•    Beef Meat balls black pepper curry: reminded me of eating pasta with meatballs.
•    Butter chicken and cauliflower: my friend’s favourite. I usually like Butter Chicken the most, but this one tasted a bit different. However, I still ate the Butter chicken and fish one the most.

idearabbit-atithi7

nut_allery_allery_icon_smallFor dessert, there was rice pudding with almonds. I didn’t know it had almonds in it until much later when I looked at their website. I am allergic to some nuts, mostly peanuts and hazelnuts. I didn’t consume a lot of the dessert since I was so full. I didn’t know we were getting dessert, so I had stuffed myself with the main. But for those who are severely allergic, this should be noted. I always find Indian’s dinner to be way too sweet for me, and I never am able to eat much of it.

Because it’s AYCE like at a sushi place, you have to tell the server what you want refilled. I guess this is ok since it’s more of a fine dining than your usual get-up and fill your own plate buffet style.
The website states that the mango lemonade or spiced chai is included. However, our server never mentioned (not that I can recall anyways) that these drinks were included. We had no idea, so we only had water. I would have liked to try the spiced chai. Too bad…

Overall, the service was good. The food is average. I would definitely not pay $28 for the buffet. There are much cheaper places for AYCE, with a lot more variety and choices. The quality is not up to par with some of the other Indian restaurants that charge the same price. I am willing to go back to eat a la carte and give them another try, but not for the AYCE.

 Taste: carrotcarrotcarrot    Price for Value: carrotcarrot (the regular price for AYCE)

Atmosphere:  carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot   Service:  carrotcarrotcarrot
Location: carrotcarrotcarrot

Toyama Sushi – CLOSED

Toyama Japanese Restaurant 富山日本料理 on Urbanspoon

I have been here many times now, not because I want to, but because the organizer of the social group I am a member of  chooses this restaurant to meet up, I don’t have a choice sometimes.

The restaurant is fairly large and spacious. We usually seat about 20+ people in the group in 3 large tables put together. The server usually comes by to take our orders fairly quickly. Since I know that every time we’ve gome as a group, I knew better to order sushi instead of any cooked dish. They always take longer for those, or we’ve always had a problem with one person’s order being not made. Again, this time, the person sitting diagonally from me, his dish never came. When we had ordered, the waitress had told him that it would take longer , but after 40 minutes, he asked where it was. The manager came by to talk to him, but he was quite upset. Everyone had already finished their dinner. To make it up to him, the manager gave him a plate of 6 California roll pieces.

idearabbit-toyamaI ordered the Negitoro roll, Spicy Tuna roll and Spicy Scallop roll.

The food was okay. We needed to ask for the tea several times…my friend had asked for a second glass of beer, but that also didn’t come until the manager had come.

I was sitting about 5 meters from the entrance, and it kept blowing cold air from the outside every time someone left or came in. I was really cold. By the end, I was wearing my jacket.

 

New posting! AYCE at lunch time

We went there with a group of 12 people for the All You Can Eat at lunch. Starting price is $12.95,  but then since we ordered sashimi, there was $1 added on top. Remember that in most restaurants, they will automatically add the gratuity on your bill, so don’t tip twice! I’ve done that a few times T_T. In the end, for some reason, the cost per person came out to be $18.38. I’m not sure if the server just divided the entire bill equally which would have been unfair, since some people ordered things that were extra cost (ie. drinks, alcohol, ice cream). Since this is a meetup group – meaning that most of us are strangers, it’s doesn’t make sense to be paying for other’s people share.

When I sat down, I was already turned off by the dirty dish. The soy sauce plate had not been cleaned at all. It had dried up rice and hardened soy sauce still there! GROSS!!!

The servers are always busy, so we don’t get that much great service. They did put a big pitcher of water which was nice so that we could serve ourselves whenever we wanted without having to hassle and wait for the servers to fill them up.

idearabbit-toyama3

idearabbit-toyama2

Make sure the plates are clean!

The rolls are pretty much the same – and there seems to be no distinction from one another. Blah. I didn’t even bother trying all those greasy deep fried stuff anymore. I’ve tried some before at Toyama, and other similar places, and they’ve never been that good. The only thing that looked good and was surprisingly almost like the Japanese version and tasted good was the Chicken Karaage.

idearabbit-toyama4

Huge thick sashimi…definitely not Japanese…

idearabbit-toyama5

All the rolls taste the same…

idearabbit-toyama7

Extremely greasy and unappetizing fries that noone ate

idearabbit-toyama6

Mango pudding for dessert (ice cream is not included in AYCE)

Overall, it was way too pricey for the quality. I’d likely never return again. Events have quite often taken place at Toyama, and I had always ended up declining.

Food Taste:      Price for Value:

Atmosphere:      Service:      Location: