i've heard mixed reviews about this place but decided to give it a shot last december, after some consideration. the occasion was a nice christmas dinner with my clients and team. i should have picked somewhere else.

i wasn't impressed even from the onset, when i emailed to make a corporate reservation for 18 people. i requested for something extra to get us in a bit of christmas cheer, such as a log cake or something, but was told that it was too last-minute, the kitchen needs time to prepare blah blah blah. basically, the lady who took my reservation gave me the impression that she wasn't even trying and that everything could not be done, other than getting me a reservation for 18 people. i'm sure they could have at least gotten a log cake from somewhere; it's not that difficult. anyway, i was pretty disappointed but thought that at least there was good steak to look forward to. how wrong i was.

when we got there, we were seated and ordered some starters to kick off the evening. to be fair, the starters were actually pretty good. though i can't remember what exactly it was we ordered, it was pretty much almost one of every starter and nothing was bad or disgusting.

after a fairly long wait (understandably because there were 18 of us), our steaks were served. i ordered the special, a mixed breed of black angus and wagyu beef, medium rare. now, this should be a fine piece of meat in theory. what i got was a tough piece of meat that took me quite a bit of strength to cut through with my steak knife. naturally, i called the waiter over and explained that i ordered my steak medium-rare but it was not so. i even gave the benefit of the doubt that perhaps he had heard me wrongly when taking my order and thought i wanted medium-well instead. imagine my surprise (which later turned to annoyance) when he started arguing with me, insisting that this was how medium-rare is supposed to be and educating me on the different degrees of doneness. come on, i've been eating steaks since he was a little baby and have always had mine medium-rare, so i'm pretty sure i knew what medium-rare was.

anyway, the waiter eventually agreed to change my steak for another, this time done rare, since we both agreed that i didn't like their interpretation of medium-rare. after another fifteen-minute wait, i got my second steak. i think they just killed the cow, because this time it was closer to raw.

for the second time, i called the waiter over, explained that i couldn't eat this because it was a bit too raw and politely requested that he take it back and do it up a little while more. back the steak went and served to me again after a short while.

this time it was finally spot-on...until i reached the middle of the steak. strangely, it was still not quite cooked there so i sent it back for the third time. the end result was finally to my satisfaction. throughout this entire time i was polite and smiling, as i did not want to create a scene, especially in front of such a large group.

a quick check with my dinner companions around the table revealed that i was probably the most unlucky in that i had to send my steak back 3 times. a couple of them had to send theirs back once too, but the rest were okay with what they got. however, no one thought that their steaks were anywhere near fantastic.

we decided not to stay for dessert or drinks, so we paid up and adjourned elsewhere instead. the bill came up to more than two grand and considering the quality and our level of (dis)satisfaction, i must say that this place is really overpriced and over-rated.

fast forward to january and i was chatting with two of my colleagues on that fateful dinner we had at the prime society. they revealed that both of them actually threw up that night after reaching home, one of them three times! to be honest, that is what prompted me to write this review and share the bad experience that we all had that night, during our christmas dinner at the prime society.

it would take a lot to convince me to come here again. give me morton's anytime.