Aite, this is not a good comparison i.e. burgers and steaks but let's face it. This place suxs!

Maybe I should have known better when it was mostly teenagers in this eatery. No offence bur I think the crowd is mainly drawn to the prices more than anything else.

I ordered a ribeye steak and I would say that it was between 80gm-110gm. And I can cook way better but I really hate cleaning. I can't remember how much it cost but I was commenting on how satisfied I would be eating at Carl's Jnr in terms of my craving for beef and having a nice decent meal.

The wait staff said that she will serve my fries later and it finally came 10 mins after I finished my main course which was where it was supposed to be on.

Never ever coming back here again, yes even Burger King is better.

we were window-shopping while waiting for the cinema seating, when we passed by this resto. my friend told me it must be quite expensive judging from the "steaks" menu from outside. but then we saw many youngsters were q-ing and eating there (instead of white collar shirts adults, you know the eating budget is different xp). in conclusion, this resto should be more or less affordable for us.

the we gave it a shot. she ordered grilled fish with herb (tasted good), side and i ordered black pepper grilled fish (spicy but i like it). let me recall other menus.. they also have chicken chop, hickory bbq chicken chop, fish and chips, lamb chop and steaks. we got to choose 2 side dishes, she had baked potato and veggies, i had onion rings and pasta salad.

cant comment much about the taste, very cheap mah..
but the ambience was very noisy. we squeezed in the middle of the noise. left side: 2 full-make-up girls were busy taking pictures instead of eating. right side: a guy was talking non-stop to the woman with unadjustable voice volume. he only shut up when his order came.

outside got a snakey crazy long q, even longer than people-buying-toto q.

summary: a good choice when you are starving for western dining, but do come early.

This is certainly a worthy addition to the original in Katong. Quality has not been compromised, and neither have the prices. The only downside is the queue; my friend and I arrived at around 11.45AM so we didn't have to contend with one, but by 12.30PM (on a weekday afternoon) there was a long, long queue. And we were sitting right next to the queue (some sort of new age open concept nonsense I guess), and it was rather uncomfortable having people stare at me like they couldn't wait for me to get out of my seat (which was probably the case), but for the prices, I guess it's worth it.

I had the lamp chops (which weren't on the Katong menu the last time I went there... which was last year) which came with one of my all time favourite things - MINT JELLY! (I asked for 2 extra helpings of the delectable mint jelly, which came at no extra charge.) At $15.90+, the portions were generous and I loved my sides of onion rings and coleslaw. The onion rings at Aston's are really good - even my friend, who doesn't like onions, was raving about it. The lamb was succulent and not overcooked. I'm partial to lamp chops with mint jelly and I'm glad they added this to the menu!

My friend had the black pepper chicken ($6.90+ if my memory serves me correctly) which she said was good.

The garlic bread we ordered to share was a little cold and tough but for $2+ it was a generous portion and certainly edible.

Will definitely be back, but some advice to would-be patrons: Come early, or try to make a reservation. Otherwise, be prepared to wait. (If you got there and found the queue to be too daunting, try "The Indulge" located in the basement instead.)

Also, no service charge, so do tip if the service is good! :)

This was actually not a planned visit. My wife and I just finished watching the sneak preview of Mamma Mia and around 9 pm and the exit from the cinema coincidently lead us to the main door of Astons Specialties.

It has been a while since we went to the Katong Brunch. Since the cue was short, we decided to give it a go. We ordered:
- Porterhouse Steak (medium rare) with Corn and Mash Potatoes - $29.90
- Rib Eye, Extra Cut (medium rare) with vegs and Mash potatoes - $16.50
- Garlic Bread $2, Ice Lemon Tea $1.80, & Ice water $0.30 (yes, they charge for ice water)

Waiting time, I think between 10 - 15 mins, but we never pay attention to it. The Rib Eye arrived first. First cut through the middle, Medium Rare. Just like what I wanted. The steak is juicy and tender, however not as tender as the Porterhouse (1/2 of the price, so what to do?... Eat and enjoy loh)

Then come the Porterhouse. This is suppose to be one of the most sought after cut of steak. Since it got the short loin section and the tenderloin section. First cut, hmmm a bit disappointed though. They overcooked it and it was served Medium instead of medium rare. But never mind, since its a good cut (of course the price also good ha..ha...) it was juicy and tender. First bite, yummyyyyyy

The steaks goes well with the mushroom sauce. The mash potatoes are not to bad, but the corn was good. My wife give her thumbs up, its sweet and juicy. The Garlic bread was slow to arrived though, it came in the middle of our meal instead of together or before our steak.

To my surprise, the ice lemon tea is quite good. U can actually feel the lemon taste and not overly sweet. For the ice water - considering the location, I don't mind paying. Astons is fair and upfront about this and they stated it in the menu :) Not like some restaurant that make u buy Evian water instead.

Ambience: a bit squeezzyyy since the management try to maximize space. No different from the Katong branch. A bit like cows in the barn, Maybe its their branding ha..ha.. (To minimise cost, so their steak remain reasonably priced).

Service: SO ... SO only. Can be improved. Like the timing of the Garlic Bread and not mistaken our sauce order. We want pepper sauce and mushroom sauce, but 2 mushroom sauces came.

I have not tried Astons before so I decided to check this place out at Cathay.

I was hungry so I ordered the Prime Ribeye with extra cut. It came medium rare as requested, with measly portions of Garden Salad and onion rings. As you can see, the meat was suitably tender, charred and bloody. Though the meat was not of the finest quality, this however, satiated my craving for meat at a much lower cost than other restaurants. This place suits fine if you have craving for some decent steak and IBC root beer.

Warning: The queue gets long when it reaches 7pm so be early. There is a tendency for their staff to mix up orders and clear your plates on the table just after you place your cutlery on the empty plates.


http://notafreakingfoodconnoisseur.blogspot.com/2008/08/mmmeat.html