I went to this restaurant/karaoke bar with a group of friends. I usually like Chinese cuisine so I looked forward to a different, unique experience…
Unfortunately, the first thing you notice about this place on entrance is it is merely functional, not well presented at all. If anything, it looks run-down. We all know the saying, “Don't judge a book by its cover!” But in reality, with restaurants we do because, somehow, it tells us something about what we should expect from the food. If a restaurant is beautifully presented, we expect great looking and tasting food – although looking at Maroush Gardens, that is DEFINITELY NOT THE CASE! Hakkasan on the other hand, is consistently excellent.
So this place, walking up the steps into your private karaoke room, doesn't promise much… The room we were in was in good condition, everything worked, it was spacious enough and the walls were strangely padded all over – as if they expected us to have wrestling matches in there!
We all sang along and the choice of music was surprisingly good but certainly not particularly up-to-date or flawless in any way. The atmosphere is self-made so that too was good but what about the food?
Unfortunately, it really was bland. Nothing special at all, just average. We even had lobster and that was certainly no match for other lobster I've had. It isn't horrible food, it is just, as I said, average – as if the food is secondary to the karaoke. Some people will go to this restaurant, have a great time and forget about the food (because it is very forgettable) and say it is a great restaurant. It isn't. It is an average restaurant with a unique novelty which can be a lot of fun.
The service is ok, no worse than most Chinese restaurants. I have a lot of Chinese friends, yet somehow I get the feeling the Chinese restaurant workers don't like non-Chinese customers, it is almost as if they see them as second class citizens – people they do not look forward to serving. Perhaps I am wrong on the whole but this has certainly been the case in almost every Chinese restaurant I have been to.
Value for money is quite good but it looks like in this restaurant's case, as with Hakkasan, what you see when you walk in IS what you get – but this time it isn't NEARLY as good.