Update: Tropical Hut food photos

Once again, we ordered food from Tropical Hut and have them delivered. By the way, here's the 24hr delivery service number of Tropical Hut Imus branch : 471-8073 / 471-0783. We already ordered like three times already! Grabe, suki na kami nito! Ang dami na rin naming raffle coupons, and we hope to win from it! We will surely dial those numbers for another delivery any time soon!

Here are the pictures of what we ordered!



And even our puppy took the plastic bag that contained all of the finished food because she's still wanting more!Sooo cute!!!

Tipid Na, Sulit Pa sa Tropical Hut!

There's a new store in town, it's the Tropical Hut Imus Branch! And of course this is a newly opened store that's why in it's grand opening lots of people came in to have a taste of what this fast food chain can offer since it is located nearly about 500 meters from the Jollibee Imus Branch which has been there since forever!

We never get the chance to try dining in this newly opened branch but my hubby can't resist to try it out since it's been known to offer bigger sized chicken meals and so he went there for a take out order. He bought some spring chicken meal, chicken and spaghetti meal, 2pc chicken with rice, palabok espesyal (I didn't know that they also have this on their menu), daing na bangus meal, and 2pc burger steak meal. All of these plus a couple of extra rice reached a total of just a little above Php500! Now that's what I call BUDGET MEALS!

And not only that, the individual servings of these meals are much bigger than the usual serving you see from other fastfood chains' "value meals"! Heavy on the stomach but very light on your pockets! I didn't get to take some pictures of it because we already ate it right after we opened the boxes. hahaha... :D

About the taste, OMG...really delicious!!! You can even tell just by the smell of it when you open the styro box. Every bite is full of taste, very unique...unlike the competions' which is really become very common to the pallette.

Definitely we will be visiting this store for more!

My rating all in all: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Burger King...Have It Your Way...Or Not!

June 20, 2008 - We went to Robinson's Imus to have my dental check-up, play some bowling and shop for some shoes for my son and apparently for my hubby. Around 7pm, we had our dinner at Burger King, I wanted to try their Whopper Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger Singles and we ordered the same for my daughter for she loves bacon.

And so we waited for almost 15-20 minutes for them to cook this two burgers then a crew brought us the tray of what we supposedly ordered. I immediately noticed the wrapping used for the burgers, they used an ordinary Whopper Jr. burger wrapper, I called the attention of the service crew who brought the tray and he said that maybe the wrapper for the Bacon Cheeseburger Singles are all out. And so of course my instinct is to look at what's inside the wrapper and find the bacon inside the burger but sadly I didn't saw it and I called the service crew again and ask him if that's the right burger we ordered, he looked at it and he also said that it's not the burger I ordered and he immediately took the burgers to show it to their manager on duty but he came back sooner than I thought and told me that IT IS the right burger, and so my patience escaped me since I'm hungrier than before (and you don't want me to be hungry, believe me!) I opened the burger with my bare hands and showed to the crew the contents of the burger and he did not even saw any bacon in there! And then again he brought the burgers back to the counter and this time I told my hubby to follow him and talk to the cashier who took his order and check with her if she punched the right items we ordered.

My hubby came back and said that the cashier made a mistake and somehow refunded him some change for the "right" burgers, the cashier personally brought us the second set of burgers and immediately I saw that it is definitely not what we ordered! It was some Barbe-que Cheeseburgers with not even a single bacon in it! My hubby knew that I was loosing my patience and he even did not want to see me angry so he stood and brought the second set of burgers again to the manager, then after some commotion he came back with the first set of burgers and said that the manager opened the burgers nd showede him where the "bacon" really is and OMG those were so small strips of bacon! Just look at the picture to see what I mean!
















This whole hullabaloo isn't worth it at all! I'm not satisfied with the taste and my daughter didn't even finished her burger. Such a shame. And this also came to mind that night, that they just placed the first set of burgers back in the selling bin after I touched it myself, how can I tell? Well, the wrappers are still intact and re-arranged! To think that somebody could have bought it and eat it without knowing that somebody with a dirty hand like mine (I haven't washed my hand at that time) have touched it first! My golly, how can they do that? And one more thing, though we made a mistake of not noticing the tini-tiny "bacon" inside those burgers, isn't it the right way for the managers to approach the customers and talk with them about the incident and not let us go back and forth just for that unsatisfying burger?!

Now that is just what happened in their Robinson's Imus branch, if you will visit their SM Bacoor branch then you'll be displeased with how they clean their floors and the cashiers' counter tops. We have visited this branch so many times but still the same scenario, sticky floors that you'll feel your shoes will get stuck on the floor and counter tops that will give your hands and arms that sticky feeling. I don't know how they clean it but I think that they are not doing the right job to remove that stickiness of their floors and counter tops. Not only that, their cashiers are so slow when taking and arranging customers' orders, once I saw a lady got mad at the cashier and a manager and she's complaining about how long the lines were and how slow it was moving, it happened at the Burger King branch inside SM MoA, and it's not even on a weekend!

Some advice to the management of Burger King, please do your part! We are paying customers and we deserve to have a pleasant, if not the best, experience every time we visit your store. If you keep this up you will loose your customers even if you offer new items on your menu.

Just my two-cents. I rest my case!

A Birthday Party @ McDonald's, anyone?

Two years ago, I planned a Disney Princess Birthday party for my daughter who's turning 7 that year. Luckily for me, I saw a pamphlet that McDonald's do offer this kind of a theme party and so I went to the SM Bacoor branch of McDonald's and booked my kid's birthday party on the 17th of December, 2006. I asked them if we can have this kind of birthday cake from Goldilocks since it's their official cake supplier:

Disney Princess Birthday Cake


They said that they can arrange that and I trusted them that they'll get the job done, since I worked before at this same branch I thought that they'll do good. And so the big day came, we went to the venue a little early so that I can still prepare my daughter in her Cinderella costume. Just before the party started the crew who's going to host the party told me that they didn't have the birthday cake I ordered and that they'll just use their McDonald's cake instead and just put a Disney Princess design made out of cartons to create the theme, look at the picture and see how they did it:

The Alternate Birthday Cake


I was really disappointed about this, I asked them why they didn't call me about the problem with the cake, I could have arranged that we bring our own birthday cake for my daughter! They just told me that the cake they ordered didn't came, now that's some lousy reason, huh! Though the host tried his best to keep the party alive with lots of games, I can't ignore the fact that we didn't get the right birthday cake for my daughter. And to think that the event will be immortalized by pictures, we'll be constantly reminded of this negligence by the crew and management of this McDonald's branch!

Moving on... Almost a month ago, I planned another party for my son's 7th birthday celebration, I didn't go to the SM Bacoor branch because of that experience with my daughter's cake and we thought that it would be practical for us to do the event in the McDonald's Imus branch near our place, also it's a new branch and a friend of mine from my McDo days is now a manager there. So we, me and my son, went there to book for the Incredibles theme party but unfortunately, they said that it's already obsolete! They offered the McTroopers theme instead since it's a boy's birthday party and my son accepted the theme because the crew, Ms. Ina, showed him the freebies. The party was booked 11th of May. Then I told them that I'd bring the birthday cake that I planned to buy from Red Ribbon but they insisted that they would never allow a "foreign" food inside the party and that they have an agreement with Goldilocks about the cakes. Right there and then I told the crew, Ms. Ina, that I already had a bad experience about that kind of arrangement and I don't want to risk the cake again! She asked the managers of the branch about my suggestion but they insisted that the cake is already included in the package and that McTroopers characters will be on the cake. Ms. Ina assured me that she will make sure that the cake will be fine, these are her words exactly, "Ma'am, ako na po personally ang mag-aasikaso ng cake, 'pag pumalpak 'yung cake n'yo ako na po ang awayin n'yo..." So I told her in a joking manner, "Sigurado ka dyan sa sinabi mo ha! Ikaw ang aawayin ko!", but really, I am dead serious about this!

And so the day came... As soon as we arrived, I checked the cake...and guess what?!

DISASTER! They got the name of my son spelled wrong! The cake was bare, no McTroopers above it just a single figurine of a boy in a basketball get-up, a big yellow M and some letters spelled "Love ko 'to" (at least that spelled right!)...in short, so very NOT the cake that they promised me! I should have taken a picture of that "wrong spelling" disaster!

Not only that, Ms. Ina, remember her, wasn't even the one to host the party and she's blaming the other crew (the one hosting the party, Ms. Joy) about the cake disaster! And so I told Ms. Ina about our agreement, she was scared that I'd be hysterical, but of course I kept my composure and asked her to do something about the spelling of my son's name on the cake. You know what she did? She took a spoon and attempted to alter the line of the icing to make the letter E into an A, but what happened was the whole name got stuck in the spoon and the name was erased! What the?!?! She was almost crying when she called my attention and told me what happened to the name on the cake...I still kept my calm and said, "Pwede ba mag-print ka na lang ng name ng anak ko sa papel at iyon ang itakip ma d'yan?!". And she ran off to their office to make a print-out. My mistake is that I didn't get a picture of the much worst disaster that happened to the cake! Here's how the altered cake looked like after the commotion:

The "Patched" Cake


Then Ms. Joy approached me and told me that we have to start the party or we have to pay an extra Php500 for the excess time that we'll spend inside the venue! So I told her that no one reminded me about it, they are busy altering the name on the cake and they tell me that I have to pay for the excess time! So I demanded her to start the party immediately, and to my dismay, she is the most boring host I have ever met! Oh my gosh, I don't want to comment anymore, I have to stop here before I say something bad about this person! Not only the hosting was bad, the cake was a disaster, the give-aways are so cheap (they gave out Disney Princess items!) but also the food they served was unsatisfactory! The spaghetti noodles are soggy and not cooked properly! Aurgh! That was too much disaster for me to handle! I just let the party move on and finish since the kids didn't notice these kind of things!

But please, please, please, to all of the crew and management of any McDonald's or even any establishments that offer party packages, DO YOUR BEST TO GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS A QUALITY SERVICE that we truly deserve, WE PAID FOR IT with our hard earned money, we TRUSTED you to give us the great time and great memories, WHAT WE ONLY ASK IS PLEASE DO YOUR PART!

To summarize all of these experiences in my two children's birthday parties, in two different McDonald's branches, I am very much DISAPPOINTED! I hope that these experiences of mine will serve as a warning to every person or parent who looks for a great place to spend their money on parties!


As for my ratings:

Birthday Party @ McDonald's SM Bacoor : ♥ ♥

Birthday Party @ McDonald's Imus (near LTO) : ♥


I rest my case!

Dine If You Dare at CHOWKING!

According to the website: www.munchpunch.com, "Chowking pioneered the quick-service Oriental restaurant concept in the Philippines which combines the Western fast-food service and the delicious taste of Chinese food in Oriental restaurants."

Now let me see that again, "...pioneered the quick-service..." How quick is that quick-service that we are talking about?

Once, about two years ago, we have visited this newly re-opened branch of Chowking Imus (Nueno Avenue, Imus, Cavite) to have a taste of their halo-halo and some chicharap for my kids. Of course, there are a lot of customers inside, we found a table near the kitchen and the CR, and near a table where managers write their report for the day which clearly just an arm's reach from our table.

Falling in line at the cashier already was a hassle, and I didn't see any hustle at the part of the counter crews there. They have an order-taker, who barely did anything just to help you not focus your mind at the long line in front of you because by the time you reached the cashier, you already changed your mind so many times on what you want to order unless you really have the specific item in mind before you even entered the store. They have this jar of "fortune cookies" by the cashier's POS, I bought 4pcs of it, one for each of us, just to know how it tasted. And so I ordered one Chowking halo-halo petite, and two boxes of Chicharap. The cashier gave me an ID number for my orders and said that they'll just bring the items to our table because it was for dine-in.

Now here's a question, how long does it take to cook a bunch of Chicharap and to assemble a petite halo-halo? I'm confused. Because I have worked as a service crew at McDonald's before and I have handled cooking at the production area, we have our own stations and in every station there is at least one or two persons handling it especially during rush hours, which by the way around 11am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. We went at Chowking around 4pm. We waited and waited and waited until they delivered the petite halo-halo after 30mins, of course I followed up on the Chicharap and the dine-in crew said that he'll follow-up and so we waited and waited and waited AGAIN! We were almost finished with the halu-halo, we ate slowly just to pass the time, my kids have eaten a lot of fortune cookies already (and I mean a lot! We have a basketful of paper already!) and still no sign of the damned Chicharap! And here's another thing, the table next to us already got their food and they came later that us! I mean, what the hell has happened to our order? And so I approached the kitchen area and looked for the manager, I asked him how long does it take to cook a Chicharap and told him that we have waited for an hour for just two boxes of Chicharap! Of course he told me that they will hustle and deliver them as soon as possible and so again we waited...and waited...and waited... Guess what? We finally got the Chicharap after one and a half hour since we got seated.

Now is that what they call "QUICK SERVICE?!" And the crew who caught my rage of talking and yelling because of their SLOW service didn't even know what to say! Shouldn't the managers be the one to talk to me about this problem? Here's what I think, that they are all a bunch of cowards sending a helpless person to the lion's den, delivering the damned finger food to a very pissed-off lioness! I'm a very patient woman and I stretch my patience as long as I can but that is too much! They shouldn't use that lame excuse that there are a lot of customers, then what the hell is the ID number they gave if they don't know how to handle it? And where are the organizing skills of those managers? Shouldn't they be trained on how to handle their stations and their people during rush hours?

So here's the thing, I thought that there will be any difference with some other branches of Chowking but NO! They all share the same problem, they are all SLOW! We had the same problem with SM Bacoor's branch after about a month or two, same old story, we waited for almost an hour before we got our food. We went to SM Molino's branch after about three or four months, same old story but this time my father was the one who's outraged (you don't want him to be angry...I mean it!) and he called for the manager and the manager didn't want to go out of the safety of the kitchen! Scared to death, right?!

To the Chowking management, please do yourselves and your customers a BIG FAVOR, don't claim that you can deliver quick service like some fast food or self-service restaurants, because you can't handle a fast food setting! Maybe you should re-organize and re-build your stores as a real restaurant then maybe we can forgive you for your slow moving service! The food is great, I admit, but the service is the worst ever!

Here's another blog from another regular customer of Chowking, doesn't seem that he's satisfied at all about the service either! Read on: http://aidzvirus.multiply.com/journal/item/33/Chowking_Masarap._Daming_Hassle._Pfft.

And here's a review from one of the customer of Chowking Imus also, made just a month ago, still no progress about their customer service, huh?!



Now, here's my ratings for CHOWKING (All of the branches mentioned above!):

Legend - 1 is worst, 5 is best

FOOD:

taste - ♥ ♥ ♥

presentation (including variation of menu) - ♥ ♥

STORE:

cleanliness - ♥ ♥

ambiance (including background music) - ♥

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

service crew - ♥ ♥

managers - ♥

VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY:

regular menu - ♥ ♥

budget meals - ♥ ♥ ♥


I rest my case!