Mall of the Emirates
Al Barsha, Dubai
It was on my birthday and I had high expectations.
I love their location, Mall of the Emirates is one of the best malls around. The resto is very close to the parking area, so check for convenience... you can even valet if you're really in a hurry.
Inside, I love the ambience, a modern take on Chinese theme. Not too bright where everyone outside the mall can see you but not too dark that it's no longer a place for family that you can barely see which ones you're putting in your mouth.
The menu looked impressive, internet and magazine reviews make it a glorious place to be. So we sat down enthusiastic and gladly received the menu to be explored. Once we're done, we waited for the server to come and take our order... they're busy somewhere... so we waited some more... and some more... and some more... until the time I got really fed up and loudly called for anyone! someone! just feed me!
That's when the experience became haywire. Two servers came and one definitely looked like a trainee. After a few seconds, the seem-to-be trainer disappeared.
Poor trainee was not a very attentive server, I must say. Maybe the nerves got the best of him but for a hungry person like me, there's no excuse. I say one order, he recorded two. When in the end we asked for a recap, so many details gone missing. Drinks ordered weren't complete, my kids choices not jotted down, just awful.
On a brighter side, the food we ordered were great. It's just that the service made the experience negatively memorable that it overshadowed the gloriousness of the food in front of us. I lost my appetite and ended up wrapping leftovers.
I think best to concentrate my review on the food since we got a good selection of them. We ordered Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Cantonese Scallops, Mongolian Beef and Lo Mein
The stand outs are Chicken Lettuce Wrap and Cantonese Scallops. The wrap is basically a mixture of ground chicken with different spices. It was good but not as good as California Pizza Kitchen. This one is a bit dry to my liking. Still good enough for me to copy and I'm still working on the sauce to accompany it but hasn't succeeded yet.
Rarely am I happy with scallops from restos but this one is great. If I was in a good mood I will selfishly eat everything, but I wasn't much in a good mood so I shared it with my sis who's more than grateful.
The rest I'd say was ho-hum so I guess it's not much of a good review. I'll give it another try and I'll have another review.