Old Town

The first time I went to an Old Town's outlet was in Penang last year and I enjoyed the sticky rice with kaya and coffee so was happy when it finally opened an outlet here. After 2 failed attempts (first time not yet opened, 2nd time too crowded) so today after run, walked in and lucky enough to spot an empty table.

But it was a bitter sweet experience. The place was too crowded and close to mayhem! They had what I thought was a simple ordering system – queue up to order – somebody will key in the order, wait for the food to be delivered and finally pay at the cashier. Seem pretty straight forward but unfortunately somebody forget to computerise the kitchen and serving staff and the food delivery was totally screwed up!

M's coffee came after 10 minutes, my coffee came another 10 minutes later and our toasts came a further 10 minutes later! At least we were lucky our food came – some people didn't get their order or it was mixed up! The tables were not cleared! and there were black faces everywhere. During our time there, we counted countless complains, spotted a few people who left in a huff and at least 1 walked out without waiting for the food to come. Also, the cashier was often missing from the cashier counter cos she was busy helping with the serving so not surprise if many pissed off customers walked off within paying. It could have been much easier if they had just go with a simple order system like Ya Kun or Killiney.

And the food? At 10.30 am, they were sold out of soft boiled eggs on toast, polo bun, sticky rice (which was what I came for)! The coffee despite being 'kosong' was still too sweet and the french toast too oily! The 4 to 5 young kids in the kitchen seem totally unable to cope with the crowd. Me think they were too ambitious and had too many items on their menu. From the usual beverages, toasts to noodles, they had everything! It might have been better if they had breakfast items, lunch items etc but than again what do I know? I am just a customer!