I went out with my mom and grandma to take a look at the recently opened SM Aura. My mom wanted to treat my grandma because it was her birthday recently. The original plan was to go out during her actual birthday and have a meal somewhere else but plans were ruined so we decided to do it today. We haven't been to the new mall so that's why we ended up there. Also, I also got curious to see the bomb site in Serendra so I had to tag along.
The mall looked good on the outside. Though it was too big and had a small entrance. There were also a lack of pedestrian lanes so people would just cross the streets anywhere.
Upon entering the mall grounds, we were greeted by a lot of closed stores with tarpaulins covering them announcing that they will open soon. I admit that was a bit disappointing as I was looking forward to checking them out.
But there were still plenty of stores to serve the customers. Most of the big ones are already opened. Stores like Cotton On, Forever 21, Uniqlo, Human,Penshoppe,Bench,Bayo,Plains and Prints are some of the stores that are already open. They also had a grocery, convention center, and cinemas.
The fastfood was very disappointing. The chairs and tables looked good but there were only a few selection of food chains. The lines were very long and would take more than half an hour just to get to the cashier so we couldn't eat there.
We spent a lot of time looking for a place to eat because most restaurants are either full or closed. Aside from the fastfood, there were some Japanese restaurants and the closest fast food you'll get is Jollibee and KFC, which as anyone can expect, was about to explode with the amount of people eating in the venue.
We ended up eating at a Thai restaurant called Tamarind in the fifth floor which was where the open-area of the mall was. It was very hot outside but there was some shade in the sides. Some stores like Coffee Bean and Happy Lemon were also there. Other restaurant on that floor were still closed. There was also going to be a chapel and a gym, both of which are still under construction.
We were placed 3rd on the waiting list. We were already hungry so we left to look for other places to eat. I did not like Thai food so much so I was hoping we'll find another resto but since every store was full, we just went back and planned to eat in Serendra if the place was still full.
It turns out that the people listed above us on the waiting list left which allowed us to take the next available table.
I knew the service was going to be bad when the clean-up of the table took so long. There were two waiters cleaning our table and it took a long time to clean it up. They also caused additional mess when some food spilled on the chair I was supposed to sit in and took a long time before cleaning it up.
By the time we finally settled in and had our orders taken, we realized our table still had unwanted waste. There was an empty cup of Starbucks at the side of our table and a spoon on the floor.
We ordered soup, catfish salad, chicken, spring rolls, rice and shakes. We were all annoyed by the sluggish service. Even setting up the table with plates and utensils took so long. Our food came one by one and it wasn't even in order. The rice and soup were delayed. The viand was served first and couldn't touch it until the rice arrived. There was even a mix-up on one of our dishes. We had to call the waiters several times just to follow up on our orders. Showing how incapable they were, even the waiters would forget what we ordered and probably wouldn't attend to it unless we follow them up.
I'm quite disappointed with the catfish salad. I've had better ones from other Thai restaurants.
The only positive concern was the price as our bill was not as high as we thought. But still, I would not want to return to that restaurant again. Even other customers were complaining about the ridiculous amount of time before their food was served.
Customers who arrived after us even had their food first before ours arrived.
I just wanted to leave right away. We spent so much time for that place with terrible quality of service.
Since it was getting late in the afternoon and there was nothing else left to see, we left the venue and I couldn't wait to do so.
I expected to be awed by seeing the new venue, or the new place to be as they say, but instead, I found myself wasting time on a place that offers nothing new and incompetent employees.
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