I am the secret that you keep; MISS SCARLET.

Friday, May 30, 2008

ramen ten

i don't know how many of you have eaten at ramen ten, but i think their move to become halal-certified brought down their standards, in food and service. i've never been there prior to the certification, but i sure as hell know i won't be heading back there ever again.

call me narrow-minded, mean or just plain critical of my "own" race, but i realise any eatery (which i've patronised so far) that sells other cuisine besides the traditional malay/indian food and has a halal certification, provides food that is utterly disappointing. it's so sub-standard in taste and preparation, you would think they are just cooking to satisfy people who are merely desperate for food. and of course, it doesn't help that halal restaurants will definitely have more muslim staff, hence more malay staff.

now, if you've read my previous entries, you know very well that i'm not a fan of the malay community here, because of their attitude and the way they portray the race and religion as a community - what more, a minority. going to ramen ten yesterday, completely proved my general conception of them. all of their staff were young, no more than 21 years of age from the looks of it. and absolutely no manager in sight.

so, the background music was switched from a neutral classical soundtrack to hip-hop, to pop, to rock to... well, basically these nuisances were aggravated by the fact that halfway through each track, they would switch to another song. fickle-minded assinines. then we attempted to get service, and they were in one corner laughing and "hanging out" and making a fool out of themselves. by then, we were frantically waving our arms in frustration.

fast forward to asking for more soya sauce, and the waiter spilt a good tablespoon of soya sauce on my $600 leather bag, looked at it, and walked away. the boy had to wipe it up all by himself, and when the same waiter saw that my boy needed more tissues, he just handed a whole stack of them, and STILL just walked away. NO APOLOGIES, NO OFFER TO HELP CLEAN IT UP. if that asshole caused a stain on my bag, i will demand MONETARY COMPENSATION!!! lucky for him, he didn't. i was fuming mad, and i was looking around for the outlet manager, but no sight of him. and in the words of the boy, "no wonder they're all like monkeys". to top it off, a malay waitress who served me my dish just came over to our table with that fucked up sour face, and without a word or a half-decent fake smile, just dumped my bowl of ramen in front of me, rolled her eyes and walked away.

we pay 10% service charge for that kind of service? what fucking service is that? and trust me, the food was horribly bland. you call that miso soup? i have tasted better miso soup at home, that comes from a packet! "they're all so young, of course they are just working for the pay. so they don' take it seriously", my boy explained. and i completely agree.

to anyone who plans on eating there, just be prepared. and for those who have, and have not have the delightful opportunity to experience such incidents, then you are so lucky. ramen ten is completely out of my choices to go get some chow.

i'd take sakae sushi any day, in spite of the ridiculous prices (some may say). hey, at least they do their job.

my point is, having predominantly malay staff (especially if they're still of school-going age) only worsens service, even if they are paid less (which makes managers SO happy). they generally don't take customer service seriously enough, and they have such an attitude that makes me want to bitch-slap them.

you can hate me, but i'm considered a malay - although i'm not even a little wee bit one (i'm 100% javanese, you idiots). so living in singapore, i would also be targeted at, by those who share the same sentiments as me. but at least i know that customer service is extremely important in company branding and as an image - it's basic PR!

maybe she's unhappy with herself; it's just unfortunate that you're the target.