A couple of evenings ago, FP and I had dinner at Ma Maison at The Central @ Clarke Quay. It was quite disappointing how the evening was ruined even before we entered the restaurant.

Let me elaborate a little about it before I feature the food we had. I arrived earlier and naturally tried to get a table since FP was about 10 minutes away anyway. But it was most appalling when I asked for a table for two and the response I got from the person greeting me was..

“Where’s your friend?” – in the rudest, haughtiest manner you can ever imagine. It was as though I owed her a living, and it was such a turn off.

I told her that he’s coming and she said, “We can’t allow you to hold a table”. I must have looked incredibly pissed (I was, being talked to in such a way) because the manager came along and backed his staff up. He then told me to sit outside the restaurant where there were chairs ready.

At that moment, all I wanted to do was walk off and find another place for dinner because of it but changed my mind because this was already our 4th choice for a dinner place that evening (the other 3 choices just didn’t work out). It was also then that I notice that it is a restaurant policy that all members of your group should be present when you arrive at the restaurant. Fair enough, but a lot of things can be done with a nicer tone of voice. I would have totally understood if she were to tell me nicely.

On the other hand because I was pissed off, I thought that it was a completely stupid rule, especially if it’s just a table for two (compared to a table for 10) and the fact that FP was just minutes away really made me fume. A little flexibility wouldn’t kill you, WOULD IT?

So anyway, FP arrived, saw me fuming sitting in a corner and I told him what happened. He asked if we should eat elsewhere, but we decided to just stick to this one.

We weren’t really in the mood at this point because bad service is really a mood killer, but we managed to focus on the menu and these were what we had:

FP’s rootbeer float which at least makes a pretty photo:

We had mussels in french cream for starters. It was good and helped to alleviate a bit of the anger. Of course that didnt last long. Soon after a basket of fries was plopped (yes plopped) on our table by the same waitress at the door. She plopped the basket and walked off after saying “your fries”. We were confused as we certainly did not order the fries.

It took several calls to her before she gave us her attention. Told her we didn’t order it, and all she said was “it comes with your mussels” – and walked off. It’s like being slapped twice in the span of 15 minutes.

For our mains, we tried two dishes that came highly recommended in Foursquare. FP had the Beef Stroganoff Omu Rice, which I supposed looks appetizing and taste just as good, but I wasn’t in the mood to take nice photos.

I settled for the black ink squid pasta, which was nice but got overwhelming towards the middle.

Like I said, wasn’t in the mood to take photos, but did it anyway. Apparantly the desserts are yummy at Ma Maison, they certainly did look delicious but we were too full from dinner and frankly just wanted to get out of there.

In Conclusion
The setting in Ma Maison is such that you’ll feel at home dining there due to its cozy and homely decor. But instead of feeling that we’re coming home, we felt completely unwelcomed – right from the very start. The staff attitude is certainly unacceptable, and it really spoils the mood. Even the manager seems useless, seriously. The only saving grace was that the food was delicious but that’s about it. We are certainly never going back there.

Needless to say, I give this restaurant…