Do restaurants take pride in their reservation system?

June 14, 2010 | 16 Comments

Cherry Garden Singapore

When I went to Cherry Garden at Mandarin Oriental two weeks ago, I was surprised by the effort put in by the staff who called me back once in the morning to confirm my reservation, and a second time as I was slightly late for lunch. It reminded me of the excellent phone-service (for the lack of a better word) that I got from Kimberly when I was making a reservation for lunch at Sage The Restaurant.

I always have the habit to make reservations, as I don’t like to be disappointed in case the restaurant happens to be fully-booked. It makes me feel appreciated when the staff answers my inquiries over the phone pleasantly, and call me back to check on the status of my reservation.

Do restaurants in Singapore take pride in their reservation system?

Therefore, I decided to call up twenty restaurants randomly to make reservations for two purposes; a) the altitude and knowledge of the service staff who’s handling the restaurant telephone line and b) if they will call me back at the stipulated timing to confirm my reservation.

It is not my intention to cause trouble for the operations of the restaurants by making a false reservation. This can be an one-off thing and may not fully depict the full picture about the reservation system of the restaurants.

Cedele Restaurant

Only allow reservations for 4 person minimum. Waitress did not reconfirm my contact number after she took down my particulars.

// Called to confirm the reservation

501 Orchard Road
#03-14 Wheelock Place
Tel: +65 6732 8520

Cherry Garden

It was the phone call from Cherry Garden that made me to come up with this list. Even though the PRC staff wasn’t very fluent, she made it up for the politeness and perseverance as she called me once in the morning, and a second time as I was slightly late for my reservation.

// Called twice to confirm the reservation

5 Raffles Avenue
5F Mandarin Oriental Singapore
Tel: +65 6885 3538

Chihuly Lounge

The Chihuly lounge at Ritz Carlton Millenia is famous for their English High Tea. The lady on the phone spoke with a fast accent. There were many instances where I couldn’t catch what she was saying and I had to ask her to repeat everything. For weekdays afternoon, the 3 Tier English high tea is at $36++ from 2.30pm to 5pm, while it’s $42++ for weekend high tea buffet.

// Did not call to confirm the reservation

7 Raffles Avenue
Lobby Ritz-Carlton Millenia
Tel: +65 6434 5283

Coffee Club

Most people will probably know and dine at Coffee club before, and please note that they do no take reservation during weekends.

501 Orchard Road
#01-K2 Wheelock Place
Tel: +65 6836 5383

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao

Our conversation was in Mandarin even though I spoke with English in the beginning. Her replies were a little nonchalant:  “What time?”, “How many?”, and “What is your name please?” You know what’s the best part? She didn’t ask for my contact number.

// Did not call to confirm the reservation

391 Orchard Road
#04-27 Ngee Ann City
Tel: +65 6238 1661

Din Tai Fung

Only take reservations for 10 people and above.

290 Orchard Road
#B1-03 The Paragon
Tel: +65 6836 8336

Fish & Co Glass House

The staff spoke articulately right from the start and after I requested to make a reservation, he went on to explain that for dinner after 6.30pm, reservations will be put on a waiting list and it will be a first-come-first-serve basis.

// Did not call to confirm the reservation

9 Penang Road
#01-24 Park Mall
Tel: +65 6334 1858

Food For Thought

The staff passed the phone to his supervisor when I wanted to make a reservation. This brings us to the next question, if the staff is not able to take down a reservation from customers, why is he answering the phone in the first place? Anyway, the supervisor handled my reservation and mentioned that the table will be on hold for 15 minutes.

// Did not call to confirm the reservation

8 Queen Street
Tel: +65 6338 9887

Global Kitchen

Global Kitchen

The staff manning the hot line was courteous and patient when I bombarded her with the questions regarding the buffet at Global Kitchen. From what I understand from our conversation, there’s a current 1 for 1 promotion for buffet dinner ($48++ per person before promo, requires 4 diners), and it’s an international buffet for their weekday dinner spread.

// Called to confirm the reservation

7 Raffles Boulevard
3/F Pan Pacific Hotel
Tel: +65 6826 8240

Ichiban Boshi

Certain Ichiban Boshi outlets do not take reservations.

1 Kim Seng Promenade
#B1-07 Great World City
Tel: +65 6734 3433

Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant

Half the time, the staff was mumbling to herself and it was difficult to catch what she was saying.

// Did not call to confirm the reservation

Blk 11 Dempsey Road
#01-19 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road)
Tel: +65 6471 3228

Muthu’s Curry

It was the same situation as the previous case, the staff was quite poor in communicating over the phone and unsure if the menu at Suntec is the same as Muthu’s Curry at Race Course road.

// Did not call to confirm the reservation

3 Temasek Boulevard
#B1-056 Suntec City Mall
Tel: +65 6835 7707

Oriole Cafe

It is almost impossible to get a table for dinner at Oriole cafe during the weekends without making a prior reservation. Hence I was not surprised when they took efforts to carefully record down the details, and promptly called me to check the status of my reservations.

// Called and sms to confirm the reservation.

96 Somerset Road
#01-01 Pan Pacific Serviced Suites
Tel: +65 6238 8348

Pasta Inc

The first person that spoke to me was unclear about the menu when I prompted her with some questions. Another guy took over and explained that their 4 course set lunch is $22++ which includes soup, coffee, a pasta from the ala carte menu, and a dessert of the day.

// Called to confirm the reservation

279 Jalan Besar
Tel: +65 6297 7515

Sage The Restaurant

At the time that I called, Friday and Saturday night was fully booked so I was given a table for Sunday dinner. As always, the manager Kimberly was the one who’s handling the phone, and it was a smooth process to make reservations. After calling up so many places, Sage the restaurant is one of the best restaurants that takes pride in their reservation system.

// Receive their sms to confirm the reservation a few hours before the actual dinner.

7 Mohamed Sultan Road
Tel: +65 6333 8726

Saint Pierre Restaurant

I believe there’s a reason that fine dining restaurants like Saint Pierre put in more effort for their reservations as the staff are generally better trained, and there’s a need for restaurants to constantly monitor their reservation capacity.

// Called to confirm the reservation

3 Magazine Road
#01-01 Central Mall
Tel: +65 6438 0887

Sweet Indulgence

When I asked if there are set lunches available at Sweet Indulgence, the staff introduced their current promotion whereby the customer will get to receive 30% discount off the bill when he/she orders an appetizer, main course and dessert.

// Called to confirm the reservation

2 Stanley Street
Tel: +65 6223 7707

Sweet Salty Spicy

The server was slightly impatient when he was explaining about the $10 & $18 set lunch available at Sweet Salty Spicy and I didn’t manage to catch the exact details about it.

// Did not call to confirm the reservation

392/394 Upper Bukit Timah Road
The Rail Mall
Tel: +65 6877 2544

TCC – The Coffee Connoisseur

With 31 outlets all over the island, The Coffee Connoisseur (TCC) is one of the biggest coffee chain/cafes in Singapore. Naturally, services differ by branches so I called up two different location to have a better gauge. My first attempt was directed to the branch at Shaw, where the staff told me that they do not take reservations for Saturday dinner. I called again to TCC at Clarke Quay, and was informed that there’s a holding time of 15 minutes for the table.

// Called to confirm my reservation

3E River Valley Road
#01-01 Clarke Quay
Tel: +65 6336 1121

Wild Rocket Restaurant

If I was the staff picking up the call, I would definitely be irritate by myself as I asked tons of questions about the menu at Wild Rocket. There’s a 2 course set lunch at $22++, 3 course set lunch at $25++ and another 3 course executive set lunch at $35++. The staff had a little difficulty trying to explain the difference between the $25 and $35 set lunch, but he was patient despite all my queries. For dinner, Wild Rocket has a 4 course set dinner at $57.5++ & a 6 course dinner with 1 wine at $97++.

// Called to confirm my reservation

10A Upper Wilkie Road
GF Hangout @ Mount Emily
Tel: +65 6339 9448

* * *

I firmly believe that the telephone hot-line is very important for all restaurants. It will probably be one of the factors to determine whether I will go to a particular restaurant. If the staff who is answering the phone call is rude/lacks knowledge/can’t be bothered, chances are – I wouldn’t even think of checking out that restaurant.

Do share with us in the comments section about some of your experiences when you called up a restaurant to inquiry about their promotion, or make a reservation. If there’s a particular restaurant that has an excellent reservation system, or any place that has atrocious phone-service, let us know!

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Comments

16 Responses to “Do restaurants take pride in their reservation system?”

  1. Wwwism
    June 14th, 2010 @ 10:14 am

    Best : Summer Pavilion.

    I called the morning of mother’s day, desperately looking for a dim sum restuarant. Most places are called simply said they were full. Summer Pavilion said they were full, but still took down my number and promised to call back if a table became available. They said they would call the tables reserved to comfirm their bookings and if a table did open up, they will call me back. Well, they did call me back and we were glad to celebrate mother’s day at their lovely restaurant.

    Worst : Rise @ Marina Bay Sand

    Called to make a booking for 16. Said they didn’t take reservations, gave a load of crap excuses. Asked us to come early and try our luck. Well we did come early, they split us into 2 tables of 8. We asked to joined the tables. Again, loads of crap excuses, the manager said they will check but just went and hid behind one of those giant flower pots. When I saw him and asked again, he said he couldn’t move the tables because of the flow of the traffic. Guess what, a group came later than us, had 12 in their party and tables were moved for them. Needless to say, we demanded to be moved as well, and that manager had no choice but to reluctantly move us, and sulked while doing so. His name was mohammad Reduan or something like that.

    Best recovery :
    Made reservations for 12 for sunday brunch on a thursday,given a load of crap that only outdoor non aircon area was available and they will move us in, if there was an opening and promised to put us on waiting list for the inside seating. Arrived at 12noon, they couldn’t find our reservations, they lost it. I calmly told them to get their manager and told him, just get us the table, we were not interested in their excuses. The manager promise to seat me and manage to arrange us a table for 12 inside. Kudos to the manager. But this said, their reservations department was terrible, loosing our reservations as well as lying that their inside area was full in an attempt to fill up their outside non air-con area.

  2. Wwwism
    June 14th, 2010 @ 10:19 am

    Ooops, forgot to mentioned the in my last post that the best recovery for bad phone reservations, belonged to The Line @ The Shangrila

  3. Julie
    June 14th, 2010 @ 1:51 pm

    Speaking of reservation. I made reservation at Queen of Mangosteen once. they said they will hold the table for 15 mins which is fine. I arrived early with a friend – so we sat down and ordered our drink and a snack. and at 7.30pm (the time i had my reservation made for), my other friends have not arrived and you know what the waitress said? “if the rest of your party are not here,I’m sorry. i have to move you to the bar.” What is the logic of that?!!!!!!! you can imagine HOW PEEVED I WAS! i swore, i will never return again..and i havent.

    Note: when i called to make the reservation, no one told me EVERYONE has to be there ON TIME for us to be seated! which i also think its an insane rule! then whats the point of making a reservation? you think we take transport ALL TOGETHER?!!!!

  4. cleartear
    June 14th, 2010 @ 4:16 pm

    hehe, brad i shared with u my experience with epicurious before. Yesterday i happen to make a last min reservation with wakaru japanese at east coast. Last min in the send i call at 830pm to make reservation for 9pm and maybe earlier lolz. The lady took down my number and say 9pm no prob. But the service ok lah, she a bit kancheong type.

  5. Jerrick
    June 14th, 2010 @ 4:25 pm

    Your blogpost was highly interesting, especially since I’ve just read this article on the New York Times on how NYC is going off having a reservations system at some restaurants. Personally I think it makes perfect business sense to not have a reservation system in some contexts, but I really do wonder if it’ll be a sign of “Low-Class” in Singapore.

  6. Jerrick
    June 14th, 2010 @ 4:26 pm

    Oh and the Link to the article can be found here http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/dining/09reservations.html

  7. lotsofcravings
    June 14th, 2010 @ 4:43 pm

    wow im impressed by the research you did!

    reservations are all very important esp if you have a big group and if you go to some really happening spot.

  8. Esther
    June 14th, 2010 @ 5:40 pm

    Putien at City Square Mall also has a good reservation system.

    The waitress who picked up my call took down the relevant details and explained everything well. And called to reconfirm on the day itself, a few hours before.

  9. Lyeyei
    June 15th, 2010 @ 1:22 am

    This are kinda side track from your topic about Reservation System, but kinda related somehow. It happen at Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant@Parkroyal, we arrive there at 530pm and they told us to come back at 8pm for the next available table. Reservation must be made! But inside there was total empty. We almost argue there for 20 minutes, still empty and no sign of any customer. They have send 4 different staff to handle our enquiry at the front counter. Around 6pm, I told them loudly that, if reservation is a must to have a secure sit, why not they put it on their website, or even hang a sign “FULL” outside of their restaurant. How are they going to cope with the walk in customer from hotel?!
    Then only one of the snr manager reluctantly open the VIP room for us which is no need any booking. No intention of using harsh tones, but somehow their way of handling like changing 4 different staffs to handle us are abit irresponsible.

  10. chelle
    June 15th, 2010 @ 3:21 pm

    Hmmmm, most restaurants reservations lines are quite nice, I’ve never encountered a particularly bad experience from any, but yeah, majority of them doesn’t call to confirm your reservation. But most of them do have a table ready even when we’re late most of the time. (:

  11. ladyironchef - Singapore Food Blog
    June 15th, 2010 @ 4:02 pm

    Wwwism: wow that’s nice of Summer pavillion. I really feel appreciate when restaurants bother to call back and confirm the reservation. looks like the service at rise still leave much to be desired. but is the food there okay? The line has always been very crowded, that’s one of the reasons why I have yet to check out their buffet, at least they manage to do some service recovery : )

    Julie: WOW! i am amazed that they actually do that. It’s downright ridiculous to expect everyone to turn up on time. is the restaurant even crowded?

    cleartear: haha the restaurants should have a proper training course on “how to answer telephone calls and take down reservations” lol

    Jerrick: thanks for sharing the article, i didn’t know about it until you mentioned it in the comment! yea my opinion is if a restaurant can’t be bothered about their reservation system anyway, just remove it and make it a no-reservation policy

    lotsofcravings: haha i have always wanted to do this as i have previously encountered some really good (and bad) phone service. Yeah it’s a bit of a hassle when dining out in big groups, so i do appreciate there’s a reservation system in place

    esther: sounds good! i made a reservation for Putien at Jurong Point, it was not too bad, but not as attentive as you mentioned. I guess it differs by branches

    Lyeyei: Do they have some function or big group gatherings dinner going on that night? if not it’s damn silly to reject you all when the restaurant is empty. After your dinner when you guys come out, was the restaurant full?

    chelle: haha yea i guess most places are still pretty decent, but when it comes to places that are always very crowded, i doubt they will hold the table for long :p

  12. Julie
    June 15th, 2010 @ 6:05 pm

    it was crowded but not full! there were a few empty tables here and there! so annoying right!

  13. Joy
    June 15th, 2010 @ 10:48 pm

    I once made a reservation at Cafe 2000 under M Hotel during Easter, and they called the day before to remind me about it! Not forgetting Equinox Restaurant under Swissotel The Stamford. The staff whom picked up my call assisted me a great deal and brought me through things that they offer really patiently! Worst experience was The Line at Shangri La. I remembered calling them thrice, hoping the next time would be better than the first and second. BUT TO NO AVAIL!

  14. ladyironchef - Singapore Food Blog
    June 16th, 2010 @ 7:30 pm

    julie: hahahaha yea i will be totally pissed off if it happens to me! lol

    joy: wow sounds like both the Cafe 2000 and equinox are good! so far i have been hearing quite a bit about the line, did you go there in the end?

  15. Joy
    June 17th, 2010 @ 1:06 pm

    Haha so what diddya hear about The Line? Naw, I gave it a go! I suppose it wouldn’t be a very pleasant trip there that’s why!

  16. shirleyr
    June 27th, 2010 @ 12:54 am

    Well, try calling PS Cafe @ Dempsey for a reservation! You get directed to their voicemail and they will SMS you back?!

    They cannot even be bothered to answer the customer’s call – this shows how do not value their customers at all.

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