A few months ago, i ate at  GREEN PASTURES at the new wing of the Shangri La Mall and had a really bad experience.  and now i’m seeing that this place is getting such rave reviews, so i figured, now that Inday is back online, it’s time I put my 2 cents in about this place.    the first and LAST time I ate there, I not only had a horrible meal, but also experienced really bad customer service.  and what’s even sadder, the owner has already been informed, by mutual friends, of what happened but I HAVE NEVER EVEN BEEN CONTACTED.  IT’S OWNED BY THE SAME PEOPLE AS CYMA, and we know I’m not going to eat there either, EVER!!!

so here’s what happened.

we had a family dinner there, but i was late so by the time i arrived, they had all finished eating.  I was given a menu, made my selection and signaled the waiter who was just standing to one side.  he held up one finger in a “wait” gesture. i said ok, a little odd considering he was just standing there, but ok.  finally another waiter came to take my order but as I was reciting my choices, i looked up and said waiter was looking around and clearly not listening to me.  take deep breath and count 1 to 10.  i said, “can i order now?” so finally he takes down my order and leaves.  soon my appetizer of bangus sardines of some sort arrives.  not bad, a little too oily, but over all it tasted good.  and then my mushroom pasta came.  well it didn’t taste bad, neither did it taste good, that’s because IT HAD NO TASTE.  I asked for salt, and soon all i could taste was the salt.  it looked like it should taste like something, but nothing really nothing. the waiter came and asked how my food was, and i said, it’s tasteless.  he apologized and offered to replace it, but i said never mind.  he left our table and approached a man who had been standing by the kitchen wearing a chef’s jacket (who was acting like he was in charge) and whispered something to him and pointed to our table (we were only a few feet away and I had a clear view of the 2 of them).  but did said senior staff ever come over? nope.  just went about his business.

THE MUSHROOM PASTA OR WHATEVER ITS CALLED

we asked for the bill and just for the heck of it, i checked if the pasta was there. and yes it was.  ok fine, let’s just pay and go.   on our way out, dude in chef’s jacket said, “hope to see you again.” inhale, exhale and turn…”No you won’t.  The mushroom pasta was bad, it was tasteless and just blah and the waiter informed you about it and you didn’t even have the courtesy to approach us to apologize.  and you didn’t even remove it from the bill.” he tried to reason out, “oh they didn’t?” so meaning he did know what was going on, “i told them to remove it from the bill,” then looked around for the waiter, “I said well they didn’t and besides you should have talked to us, or some other senior person.” and all he could say was, “we’ll make it up to you next time.”  i said, “maybe if you approached us earlier and apologized.  I saw our waiter approach you, he gestured to our table so I knew he was talking about us.  but you never even apologized. you only apologize now because I called you on it.  so dude, no, we will not be back, EVER.” he tried again, “we promise to make it up to you…” too late dude,”no, you lost your chance, and I will share this on social media and will tell all my friends.” and we left. and even before i reached my house it was posted and tagged. it’s taken me a while to actually blog about it, but hey better late than never….

THIS WAS SO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I EXPERIENCED TODAY AT SUMMER PALACE AT EDSA SHANGRI LA HOTEL.

Mom was craving their Hot Prawn Salad and I was just hungry since I skipped breakfast and wanted a good meal, and since we had limited choices on Good Friday, we thought why not Summer Palace.  WE’d had their Hot Prawn Salad before and knew it was good.  So off we went.  We arrived around 1115am, the place was empty and we were quickly led to a table, given a menu, and because we already what we wanted, in about 5 minutes we had placed our orders.  In about 10 minutes, the place started filling up with people who also began ordering their food.  Soon the first of our orders arrived, the Steamed Prawn Dumplings and the Steamed Scallop Dumplings.  About 5 minutes later, the Fried Lobster Rolls came.  We were still waiting for the Machang, Crispy Noodles and Hot Prawn Salad.  (told you I was hungry).  It had been about 20 minutes since we arrived and placed our orders.  The people in the next table had been there for about 10 minutes when we saw that they had already been served Crispy Noodles, and a couple other meat dishes.  The other tables were also receiving their dimsum orders.  Where was the rest of our food then?  The Hot Prawn Salad arrived and after one bite, mom and I were so confused.  this was not the dish that we had enjoyed many times before.  the prawns were tough, and dry, despite the mayo, the coating was soggy, like it had been sitting in the dressing for hours.

*THIS IS NOT FROM SUMMER PALACE JUST FOUND PHOTO IN MY FILES.

a few minutes later, one of the senior staff of Shang approached the table next to us to greet the diners.  (judging from the hugs and besos, you could tell they were friends) I looked at mom and said, “No wonder they got their food quickly.”  A minute later, this woman passed our table and asked how things were. I said, “well not too good, we arrived and ordered before all of these people and yet they’ve all gotten their orders and ours isn’t complete yet. and this hot prawn salad is not good.” she quickly apologized and volunteered to follow up the rest of our orders.  we told her to just cancel and send us the bill.  we were too annoyed to eat anymore. pretty soon another senior staffer (based on his uniform) approached us apologized and told us that our lunch was on the house.  we went back and forth, with us insisting on paying at least for the dishes that we kind of enjoyed, but he insisted that it was complimentary and that he hoped we’d come back so he could personally attend to our needs.  we said, “we’ll see.” left a tip and walked out of the restaurant.  The lady we talked to previously asked us to fill out a comment card and told us that we were not the first to comment about the Prawn Salad.  Turns out she was in charge of the Chinese restaurants and was already investigating the problem since there had already been several complaints.  Though we were disappointed by the meal, we were also impressed at the attitude that the Shang staff took.  It wasn’t just that our lunch was free, but their very sincere apology, eagerness to explain and pacify and their very warm and friendly approach.  This is so not the usual attitude you get from local service staff, senior or junior level.

had the management and staff of Green Pastures apologized properly, without my having to point it out to them several times in a span of 10 minutes, i probably wouldn’t have been as mad.  but they didnt even seem to care until i was already mad.  i mean really, i started annoyed, moved up to pissed off before i reached mad.   just because they’re the “IN PLACE”.  SO PLEASE DO NOT PATRONIZE THIS RESTAURANT.  LET THEIR GREEN PASTURES TURN BROWN AND DRY UP.

but do go to Summer Palace.  They know what good and bad service means, and do their best to appease upset guests. sometimes, all we want is an apology.  the freebies are great, but a “sorry” is even better.

That’s all for now…bow.