Chili's @ JCube Mall

Chili's @ JCube Mall (Score: 2.5 out of 5)

When I was still in Manila, one of my favorite restaurant was Chili's. I often went to the branch in Greenhills or Greenbelt. It may not serve authentic dishes like their quesadilla but it didn't matter. The food was abundant, hot, and actually taste good (I've eaten here often enough that I can make a statement that they are not always consistent. I'd say about 1 of every 8 visits will be disappointment).

The Chili's in JCube is probably the worst Chili's I've ever visited. It feels like it will close soon. The staff seemed to be void of emotion though they were attentive. But the unforgivable mistake was the food. It just didn't have the pizazz of the Chili's that I know. 

The Order

Fire Grilled Corn Guacamole - $11.00

BTW - this was what it looked like in the menu. So judge for yourself.

The tortilla was the star of this dish which wasn't suppose to be. It should be the guacamole with toasted corn which was quite bland. The salsa though was how i used to remember it and was actually good.

Wings over Buffalo - $15.00

Wings as advertised.

The wings over buffalo was cooked to dryness.... I love eating chicken wings and this was just over cooked. But I still did enjoy it (but only a bit). 

Fajita Trio - $35.00

As advertised...

Our main course: Fajita Trio. Beef (dry), Chicken (drier), and Shrimp. My angst against this was that it just didn't have enough caramelized onions and pepper. The pepper was actually under cooked and the cut was, as you can see, just too big. Secondly, the beef and chicken was just dry... it won't be surprised if this was cooked last night and just cooked now. And there is definitely something wrong with the beef as it had a grayishness in it. 

Price and Value

All in all we spent around $71.00. I wouldn't mind paying for food but I mind paying for bad food. And this is bad food. Either this place needs to get a refresher on Chili's standards or new management. I hope it does because it leaves a bad taste for Chili's in general. I've tried the branch in RWS and it was good. 

Rating:

Food - 2.5

Ambiance - 3

Value - 2.5

Service - 2.5

Overall 2.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

No!

Restaurant details: 

Website: http://www.chilis.sg

Address: 2 Jurong East Central 1, #03-10 JCube, Singapore, 609731

Numnef: +65 66843811

Reservation is available but walk-in also possible.

1 Market (1 Catastrophe) by Chef Wan

1 Market by Chef Wan (Score: 1.5 out of 5)

This was bad. Sorry. It's worse than bad. Ok, don't get me wrong. Its not as if the food was inedible (thought the beef rendang and the lamb leg that I had was close to being inedible) but this was just a very very very bad buffet. I should have listened to the other reviews and stayed clear of this catastrophe. 

How bad is it you ask? Well, lets try enumerating what makes a bad buffet.

1. Cold hot dishes - check
2. Hot cold dishes - check
3. Bland food - check
4. Very tough meat - check
5. Very tough bread - check (yes the rojak was horrible)
6. Seafood not fresh - check
7. Bad dessert - check
8. Celebrity Chef name to sell a bad product - check check check

Our Orders

Carving Station with ahhh yes... no edible food.

They should fire the guy behind this table. He tried to serve me cold lamb scrap to pass off as lamb leg. Then again, they should fire the EC for no QA.

Spring Roll and Samosa

Ok the spring roll and samosa was edible and in fairness it was crispy and hot.

Hot dishes (Grilled Prawn, Beef Rendang, Honey Mutton, Crispy Chicken, Mixed Vegetable)

Chef Wan if I'm not mistaken is Malaysian. He is one of the if not the most recognizable names in the Asian Food Network. Please tell me how can you have allowed the grilled prawn to be not fresh. Actually I saw them stacking this and curious as to how they can pass food safety standards for seafood. 

The beef rendang is just sacrilege. It was tough, It was cold, and it was bland. If this was my restaurant, I'd close it and fire all the responsible people in the QA. Now if Chef Wan allowed this to be the standard then Chef Wan my only message to you is this, pack up and go home. You aren't doing your reputation here any good. 

The only saving grace in the hot food area was the green curry chicken which was ok.,

Rojak

How can a restaurant make rojak bad? By serving it with bread that is dry and almost inedible. The saving grace here though was the sauce was actually good and the other ingredients like green mango and cucumber were fresh.

Tempura, Spring Roll, Samosa, Grilled Salmon

The tempura was ok. Not in the picture is the sashimi together with the tempura which was a sorry sight. Stay away from the sushi bar specially the Sotong (Squid). Actually stay away from the restaurant.

Mee Soto

Think chicken soup with noodles that you can bulk from the grocery... that is Mee Soto

Another shot of hot dishes. In fairness if presentation was reflective of taste then these would be good.

Satay Section

The saving grace of the restaurant. You will see people line up here as this is probably what people just want to eat in this place. Too bad they serve around 50 sticks of beef and 50 chicken at a time. and people normally get 10 sticks per... and the queue is for about 10 people.... go figure out my point. The bad part here is that for the saving grace of the restaurant, you can get the same if not better satay outside. LPS satay will kick this restaurants a$$.

The satay for our table

Dessert

MMMMMM..... dessert. I wish I never got these. It was bad. Saying that kids make dessert is an insult to kids who make dessert. 

Our attempt for Iced Corn on Shaved Ice (Mais Con Yelo)

This is how it looked like when we got it. This is also how it almost looked like when we left... 

I think I've bashed this restaurant too much already. At the end, a buffet with really bad food mixed with some ok food never works. I can only think of the satay and the chicken curry as the ok food. If this restaurant didn't have Chef Wan's name I think it would be close soon. 

He must visit this place and try out the food for himself. 

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to around SGD 70 (SGD 35/person). Cheap nowadays for a buffet of this size in Singapore but unfortunately everything was just that cheap. Go to hawker and enjoy the same food there with better quality. And I don't mean to insult the Hawker stalls here in Singapore.

Rating:

Food - 1

Ambiance - 3

Value - 1

Service - 1.5

Overall 1.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

No!!

Restaurant details:Official Website: N/A
Address: Plaza Singapura, New Wing, Orchard Road
Tel no: +65 6341 9159