Lenas

18/10/20 Review: Customer service is horrible. There wasn't any hint of politeness by the staff who served us. Was told off when we requested to have the soft seats when there werent many customers. _______ 2019 review: Decided to give it a try and I'd say I'm pleasantly surprised. Although the food presentation is not neat, their aglio olio pasta is passable. The aglio olio has a strong flavor. The chargrilled chicken is not bad. Salad went well with their tangy citrus sauce. Eating here requires some patience. The service staff isn't that responsive. And be prepared to have a delay or them missing your order as there are hordes of students who come in large groups during lunch. They also missed out on my onion rings side which I had to remind them twice, and they finally served it piping hot when I was done eating with my main. There were eight onion rings and they're not bad. The lunch set is worth the price ($13ish) The lime soda was meh. It seems like their ice lemon tea is preferred among the secondary school students as all of them chose that for their drinks. One thing I disliked was that you have to queue again from the outside at the rear of the restaurant to order your food at the cashier. The entrance has another separate queue to wait to be seated, which is really weird. They should do it like Astons: Queue, order food and be seated. This branch's system makes it easy for inconsiderate people to book seats without even eating or taking their own sweet time to order. Cutlery is self-served at their cutlery area.

Pleasantly surprised by their new dessert menu. The honey & butter toast ($9.80) was actually done well. The toast was crispy and buttery. The lotus biscuit was a perfect addition to the toast and it was generally a yummy dish. Definitely beyond what I expected from 18 chefs. It does get a bit cloying to the very end but I think it is inevitable for food like this and this dish has done reasonably well. (Did overhear a screw up at the table next to me though.... 1 person out of a party of six did not get his dish until everyone else have finished eating..... And it was already 10pm then.) Eighteen Chef is one of the options to consider if you are having a late dinner as it closes at 10.30pm instead of 10pm, unlike most of the other shops.