Pu Tien Restaurant - Marina Square. Food is Great. Service is, well, self-service would have been better.

The problem with having a law degree is that, should one's family have a bad experience in a restaurant, they would look no further than where I am sitting to decide who should write the letter of complaint. Because, as my mother puts it, "you should be good at writing letters what".

Frankly, as it is quite a busy period of the year for me and I was the one to pay the bill as well, I would have let this bad experience slide, but with my mother sitting on my neck, I have to get the complaint letter prepared and sent out quickly. Hence the time off from Photoshop this evening to put a few sentences together.

I have informed my mother in advance that, given the service levels we are now complaining about, I would generally have a low expectation of a favourable or any response in this case. Anyway, enough. To start.

Dear Owners of Pu Tien Restaurant (Marina Square),

LETTER OF FEEDBACK

My mother and I, together with my children, went to your restaurant on 8 August 2010. A copy of our receipt is attached for your ease of reference. By way of a time reference, we arrived at about 2.15pm, after dropping my son off at his gym class.

The food at your restaurant is generally very good, and we enjoyed it very much. Our experience on the whole would have been much better if it had not been for the following incidences:

1. Upon arrival, we were given a table in front of the restaurant. As we had a stroller and 2 young children with us, as well as a lot of baggage, we generally try to sit in a corner or at the side, so that we do not block or disturb other diners. Hence my mother asked the wait staff if we could sit at an empty table in the corner. She informed my mother (right away, and without checking any reservation book) that this table had already been reserved.

This explanation we found quite acceptable at the time, but it appeared much less acceptable when, 15 minutes later, we were informed by the same wait staff that last orders were being taken as the kitchen was closing. During the entire course of our meal, the table remained empty. My mother, who was seated facing this table, observed this. I do not know if your wait staff have been trained not to lie to customers like this, but I would suggest that a remedial training session is overdue.

Maybe it is possible that someone had indeed booked a table but not shown up. I would have been happy to explain this to my mother except for the fact that I had tried to reserve a table at your very same restaurant 2 days ago. I made the reservation in advance by telephone for 5 persons at 12.45pm on Friday, 6 August 2010. My party of 5 arrived at 12.44pm and informed your wait staff. We were asked to wait 20 minutes for our table. I asked why this was the case since I had called in advance to reserve a table. I was informed that all reservations made were subject to availability of tables when we arrived. The wait staff informed us that there were other people who had made earlier reservations, for example, at 12.30pm, who were still waiting for their table. So we went to eat at the restaurant next door instead, where we were seated immediately and without a reservation (the food was equally nice there, by the way).

2. We ordered a total of 6 dishes. Our food started arriving at 2.30pm onwards. Halfway through our meal, we were presented with the cheque, as not only the kitchen was closing but also the cash register. This I do not mind as I would save time later at the end of the meal. Other people I know mind very much receiving the cheque in the middle of their meal because it feels like they are being chased out. My family and I are not so sensitive. We did not feel like we were being chased out of the restaurant until:

(a) the lights were partially switched off 15 minutes later, while we were still eating;
(b) the wait staff gathered together less than one metre away for their very lively chatting session;
(c) a man in work boots and an apron started mopping the floor around us with industrial strength bleach; and finally
(d) after their long and loud chat, the staff sat down 2 tables away for their own meal.

I do understand that maybe we eat slow, but to put matters in perspective, our last dish arrived after the man started mopping the floor around us.

In future, I would suggest that patrons of your restaurant be informed in advance if they are ordering too much food, or if they have come at an inconvenient time, where they could interrupt your employees in their daily routine. I am sure the mopping with the industrial strength bleach could only have been done at 2.45pm in the afternoon on Sunday, no earlier and certainly no later. I hope we did not trouble your staff with our continued presence during their chatting session at the cashier's counter (where we indicated earlier we did not want to sit). And I understand the need to save electricity and to extinguish the lights even when your customers are still desperately trying to finish their meal with some dignity (forget about enjoyment).

Anyway, for what it's worth, the food was delicious! I notice that I only paid S$5.65 for the service - clearly this was not enough!

Best regards
SMOOT & CO.