Between the two famous fish and chips fastfood chain, I prefer The Manhattan Fish Market more. We received discount coupons through the mail which prodded us to head there one weeknight for dinner.
We had the clear soup for starters, it tastes better than it looks with lots of seafood chunks: a few pieces of prawns, shredded crab, and squid. It was a little too salty but I liked it.
We were then served the gorgeous platter below good enough for 3 but seriously, I can finish everything in one sitting.
The meal that we ordered comes with sodas but we wanted to try out their drinks that looked enticing. I had the lemon mint while Em-J had the Gummi Bear drink. Mine was very refreshing but at $4.50 each, I'd be better off by having slurpee at 7-11.
We'd be eating here more often if not for the really really long queue and their poor seating service. I'd like to stress that while there are lots of people who come here to dine, the poorly managed queue is the root cause of the horrible waiting time.
At 6:00pm, we were first in line and we were sat after about a 20-minute wait. There was an entire area that they closed off to the public even with the queue starting to snake.
By the time we finished dinner, the queue looked really uncontrollable. The couple below was able to sit after more than 30 minutes of wait and it was saddening how you can see their frustration mounting. What could have been an enjoyable dinner has already been marred even before they started eating.
What's worse is how the employ a lot of staff but it seems to us that most of them were just chatting or going around in circles. See how no one is permanently stationed in front to ensure that the waiting guests are promptly attended to.
And the waiting doesn't end there, orders also take a lot of time before it gets served. While we were queueing one time, we were informed by their staff that orders will take a 30-minute wait not including the waiting in line. It seems to me that they were deterring the people from eating there, we ended up leaving and having dinner elsewhere.
Instead of having someone tell people how long waiting will still be, why not ask that someone to hand out menus and take their orders. Not having a table to attach the orders to is easily remedied by asking for the customer's name. I really hope the service improves soon because their food is quite good.
2 comments:
we have tries manhattan fish market in malls here in penang a couple of times already and yes, their seafood dishes are tasteful! but unlike that in singapore, service here is quite ok. i agree with you that great food should be coupled with nice service otherwise, it'd be better to dine at home.
i agree! better stay at home and enjoy a home cooked meal. :)
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