No Oosh No Cry

How do you spoil a dinner experience in Singapore? Quite hard, actually. It's usually rare in Singapore for you to get your food coming really late in Singapore. I mean, we all have this impression that Singapore is really all about efficiency and getting things done. And really, it's all true. Except in this place called Oosh, at Dempsey Road.

If you visited their website, you'd see that it's really supposed to be this really posh place, a chill out dining experience restaurant.

I'm currently in Singapore this week attending some training, and thanks to the way the stars and planets line up in the sky, a few of my colleagues from other parts of the world are also down in Singapore. And because of such joyous ocassion, we couldn't pass up the chance to get together to chill out and have some good food.

But would you still be happy if these happened :-

Your menu took around 10 minutes to get to you, and that too only after you paged for service. Repeatedly. They have this wireless service paging device. You know, the ones where you have a little button you can press when you need service?

Your appetizer comes on time. But they don't clear the plate forever after we're done. And because the empty plates aren't cleared, how would the main course ever come? And 40 minutes or so after we finished, we had to buzz them again and again and again and again ... , before they came. The waitress cleaning our plates asked her colleague to "fire the food"

After about 1 hour, we started to get really hungry and became a bit more vocal. And started complaining to any waiter, waitress or supervisor who would listen.

After 1 hour and 15 minutes, we're told that it rained before we came, the kitchen was a mess, and we're basically screwed, but the food will come soon. Apparently, the food hasn't "fired" the food.

We finally summoned the manager. But a supervisor turned up instead and tried to talk his way out of it. Apparently, it rained earlier, a lot of people had to be moved indoors, a lot of food got held up .... wait a minute ... do we all look like fools? Or school children?

Finally, 1 hour and 45 minutes later, we got our food. Which was cold. And one of the mains never got to us. The poor colleague whose food never arrived, he ate some of another colleague's pasta.

After 2 hours, we simply cancelled the order that never came. And two of my colleagues went off to look for the manager.

That same supervisor, who earlier tried to lie his way away, now came back, with manager in tow, after the two of my colleagues had a talk with them, to try and make good. Boy, he could lie thru his teeth, keep a straight face, and didn't blink a bit. But no Oscars, mate - you still suck at lies.

He claimed the order for the beef steak never came. Yeah, right. The order was repeated to us. And we had very special requirement for the beef steak, which we repeated a few times. And because there were 5 of us, but we ordered only 4 mains, the waiter actually returned after a few minutes and asked if he missed anything.

He claimed the kitchen had a mess, and all food was delayed all round. Yeah, right. Everyone around us got served. And we did get our appetizers more or less on time. So, what's the delay ?

And our pasta was cold when it finally arrived. It was the worst pasta I've had.

Fuck, it was pretty obvious they forgot our order or messed it all up.

Honestly, if you've fucked up the orders, and you've fucked up the food, you apologize. And you make good. We weren't at a hawker center, you know.

And that supervisor tried to take us on a guilt trip, by telling us that if we really insisted, he could give us discounts by deducting from his own salary. Good try, mate. I don't feel any guilt at all.

In the end, we didn't have to pay for 2 of the mains, and got 25% off the bill. I'm not going back to Oosh ever again. And I'd recommend you do the same too. I felt they were let off too easily. If I were in Australia, I would have got the whole thing for free. Even Pizza hut gives you discounts when their pizza take more than 1 hour to get to you.

The ambience is ok, just like any other chill out place. The food is ok, not too bad. But the service sucks like hell. And the fucking supervisors try to lie their way when they forget your order. And the wireless service paging device doesn't work. You end up yelling for service anyways, because we would press and hold it for up to a minute at a time, and we'd be getting no service.

And after all that discounts, it's still 135 bucks. In hard, cold, Sing dollars.

Maybe Oosh had never operated at full capacity before. Or you should never visit Oosh after it rains. Or you should call an ambulance on standby before you go there, because chances are you'll be leaving in a stretcher with IV drips due to hunger.

We later went to Newton Circus. The hawker food we ordered all came in around 15 minutes, and for around SGD 30, the food was so much more satisfying.

So remember, this Great Singapore Sale Season, when you drop by Singapore, just give Oosh a pass.

If you're in Singapore trying to close a deal, don't bring your customer to Oosh - you could lose the deal instead.

If you're in Singapore meeting your future in laws, keep away from Oosh. You'll never marry your sweetheart after dining there.

Just give it a pass. I don't see why this place deserves your patronage. There are plenty of good restaurants elsewhere in Singapore.

No Oosh No Cry. Give me hawker food anytime over these losers.