Astons Specialities (Suntec City)

My family had lunch on May 1st at the Suntec City Branch. The food is always good but the Service was great. For a place that does not impose a service charge, the wait staff are exceptional. It puts to shame the many other establishments who dare to impose the service charge whilst providing below par service!! They made it a point to serve everyone's meal at the same time even though the orders were placed at different times. It has been a long time since i had the opportunity to witness such service. It was refreshing and i gladly tipped them more than the service charge! Keep it up!

When there on Feb 12, before the lunar new year for lunch with a group of friends. We happens to be there and they dont need reservation. (first come first serve basis)

Due to the long que, we are able to order our dishes before getting the seats. The place was crowded compare to another restaurant nearby. Still the food was satisfactory for all of us.

The steak / chops comes with 2 sides dishes which you could choose from. for pasta, it comes with soup.

Price is reasonable.

I went there again on Feb 20, no que, no crowds, but the waiting time is just too long. for my well-done stir lorn steak took me 25 mins waiting time.

Astons is the place for my steak fix. They have been aggressively expanding for a long time and offers good value for money steaks. On one afternoon, I decided to have a late lunch at this wooden designed eatery after a late meeting at Suntec. While I usually have the rib-eye plus, I saw a new promotion and decided to try the 300 grams Club Steak ($19.90) instead. Unfortunately, even at medium rare, the steak was too tough for my liking. The sides of tasty rice and mash potatoes were still as good as ever though. Oh well, that goes my failed experiment to digress to other products at Astons. Back to the rib-eye for me.  Service was also poor at this branch, as the waiter was not knowledgeable on what the steak was and had to return twice to ask for my preferred doneness of the steak and side dishes.

" Value for money."
" Nice chicken & steak."
These are what people mention of Astons.

And i used to think likewise,
and patrons Astons @ The Cathay alot.
They NEVER disappoint me.

On 020110, i and my husband decided to head to Suntec for Pizza Hut.
After coming out from the carpark, and looking at Astons queue, it was alot
shorter than it normally was. So, we CHOSE Astons over Pizza Hut.

Queue was fast.

Soup & Drink was fast.

For my main, i ordered a Chargrilled Chicken & my husband order a Ribeye Steak.

When they serve me the chicken, it looked overly cooked.
The side facing me was okay but on the other side, it was burnt.
So, i asked them to change a new one.

(Normally, the chargrilled chicken would be slightly brownish in colour)

And they took quite fast.

Then it was a new plate of Chargrilled Chicken in front of me.
It was not so burnt but still black.

Since it was busy, i decided not to ask them to change again.

First mouth of my chicken, there wasnt the mushroom sauce but charcoal smell and taste.

When the chicken was 1/4 eaten.
I saw a strand of hair inside the sauce below my big piece of chicken.

I took the strand out and continue with the sides only.

I left the place feeling disappointed, hungry and turn-off.
And there wasnt even greeting when customer walked out.

I, myself worked in the F&B industry, that's why i didnt kick up a big fuss.

I've been trying to understand why a small outlet @ The Cathay can do a much greater job than the outlet @ Suntec which is a much bigger outlet and obviously have much more staffs.

So, I'LL NOT PATRON ASTONS @ SUNTEC EVER AGAIN.

Have always seen a long queue outside Aston Specialities (Suntec City). Decided to give it
a go yesterday after hearing much about Aston.

Queue was long but we got to assign a table pretty fast.
I ordered black pepper chicken. My boyfriend ordered Wagyu Beef.

Food was served in 15-20min.. Few things to note:

1) We were shown to a table that was obviously not ready. The table was still dirty
from the previous diner. Minus Points..

2) This particular waiter exhibited poor service, not once but twice.
He went to our table, threw a basket of cutleries onto our table and walked off.
Minus Points..

The knives and forks were not washed properly, I could see stains on them.. like the
cutleries were just shoved into a pail of water and that was it.. I had to clean them with
napkins myself.. Minus Points..

Then I asked this same waiter for a glass of coke. He looked at me with a nonchalant
expression and said, 'but we only have Pepsi.' I wanted to give him the =.= look. Then i
told him, 'Pepsi then.' And he just walked away without acknowledging me..
Minus Points..

3) No doubt the meat were tender but!! the food were served lukewarm.. Why is the food
lukewarm when we had to wait for 15-20min for them?? Minus Points..

4) That waiter with poor attitude was very inattentive. It seemed to me he was only
interested in walking up and down, gossiping with his co-worker. May I also mention
that his white tee and apron were dirty, stained with gravy? Disgusting! How can the
staff serving food be so sloppy and dirty? What kind of image do they project to their
customers (whom might be tourists)?

5) Finished our dinner and walked to the cashier to pay our bill.. 2 youngster presumed to be
the cashier were chit-chatting with each other. They stopped when they saw us standing
at the counter. The cashier took our order slip with no expression or rather she looked a
tad irritated that we interrupted their chit-chatting. When we signed the bill, she handed
us the receipt, telling us 'Thank you. Have a nice day. See you again.' fakely..

'See you again'?? Sorry.. Even if you give me free meal, I wont go back again.
Utterly disappointed. Cheap cold food with horrendous servious. This place is definitely
wayyyy over-rated. I'll save my money for better food and service..

From the menu, the items looks cheap. We were wondering how is the food standard , so we gave it a try. The queue was long, often. We had the grilled chicken. Not too bad for the price. Although we wanted to stay longer to chat, the queue outside didn't allow for it. May try other items in future.

I called my lunch there as a cheap thrill coz it was thrilling that I can get a ribeye steak for less than $20!
Aston is a good visit at month-end when your bank account has run dry & you still want a decent piece of steak to satisfy that blood lust. but the sides were unimpressive & taste bland. The corn was definitely overcooked.
it is also not a hangout place to chitchat with frens coz the chairs were uncomfortable & the decor were drabby. Very much a eat & go place. With those cheap pricing, they can only survive with fast turnover at each table...

I made up my mind to visit the joint after reading one of the acclamatory reviews here at HGW. I even knew what I wanna order months before I finally paid this eatery the visit.

At about 530pm, the restaurant was only half full and we were led quickly to the only empty booth seat. Orders were taken efficiently.

I asked for the ieat Super Burger ($12.50) to be sliced in half, intending to share it and the request was obliged without the waiter batting an eyelid. I was impressed by the sheer size of the burger but honestly, that was about it. The crispy batter of deep fried onions were about the best thing in the burger. Grilled bacon strips were the soft fatty kind, not the crispy bacon as lauded by one of the reviewers. I was most disappointed with the minced beef pattie, which was thick but the inside was completely tinged in reddish rawness. I usually have my cut of meat medium rare, even this was too raw for me. Buns were not fluffy, not crispy; I didn’t touch it after a bite. It was indeed messy trying to dissect the burger with the utensils given. I had to consume the burger in parts, mostly the veggies and crumbly onions, then a slice of the beef pattie here and there.

I practically fell in love with the Hickory BBQ Chicken Chop ($6.50) at first bite. It was well marinated and totally tender and succulent. It came with choices of 2 sides, of which coleslaw and French Fries were chosen. Coleslaw was gratifying and the shoe string fries were well seasoned with some kinda spicy salt. Very very crispy; very very nice.

Price includes a mug of rootbeer @ $1.50 and a glass of water @ $0.30. Yes, Aston doesn't serve tap water for free. Like how expensive is it to serve tap water, right? Tsk.

Despite the what-nots, the Wagyu Beef burger looked absolutely delish and I’m divided whether I should order that or the to-die-for chicken chop next time I’m back. Hah. Maybe I would order both. I have a good mind to. ;p

sure, it's good value, but you get what you pay for...

Poor service.. we had a hard time getting the waiter's attention.. while there were plenty of empty tables, they still ran a queue out the front. there was no particular waiter to seat customers, just whichever waiter was available would bring the customers in..

Terrible food.. the mixed vegetables, which were supposed to be a hot side dish, were still frozen when served with the steak! we didn't return the dish, though we observed another customer who did. the lady pointed out the frozen vegetables on her dish and had to wait almost half an hour for her food to come back. meantime, her young daughter had to offer her food and she finished her meal even before her mum's dish came back..

the frozen vege was too traumatic... we would not go back even for a free meal...

Aston Specialties is a place to go for decent western food at slightly above hawker prices. They're well known for their signature steaks. Over the years, more and more Aston outlets sprouted all over Singapore, bringing intense competition to other western counterparts. All these while, we stayed loyal to their steaks and chicken chops which we feel are worth paying for. Today, we'd decided to try something new, something which had been on their menu since 2006 but we'd only discovered its existence recently, and another newly added dish to their existing menu.

We bet many of you had already tried this fabulous Aston's fries ($1.80). Well seasoned to add flavors to the otherwise ordinary potato strips. Not too oily or salty with crispy exterior. Yum!
(A: It tasted like bbq flavoured Ruffles chips to me! :) )
A & J's rating: 4.25/5

Here comes the new dish, Aston's Wagyu Burger ($9.90, promo price).
The wagyu burger was tasty. The beef was medium done, exposing a beautiful pink flesh that we always like. Tender and succulent. Yum yum!
A & J's rating: 4.5/5

Presenting to you, ieat Super Burger ($12.50)!
If you think the wagyu burger is the best, you're wrong! Now comes the star of the night. OMG, ieat super burger was the best burger we've ever had! When our food arrived, our jaws almost dropped as we stared at the size of this mega burger. How are we ever going to fit this super thick burger into our dainty mouths? lol =X yum yUm YUMMMMM~!!!

We flew to the burgers heaven immediately after taking our first bite into this burger, with our taste buds tingling in joy. WOW! This is SUPER SINFULLY SHIOK! There was an explosion of flavors as we took time to chew and relish this yummilicious burger. We saved the best for the last, gobbling up the wagyu burger within minutes to fully enjoy this BURGER KING. Yes, it's the king of burgers in our hearts. Haha.

The topmost layer was the usual lettuce, tomato and mayo. Second lies a thick layer of fried onions. Beneath the slightly saltish batter revealed sweet onions which were purrrrfffeccttlly fried to crispiness. The batter was little close to that of the seasoning of Aston's fries. Even after sitting aside for some time, it still maintained its crispiness very well. Next reveals strips of crispy bacon, slightly charred at the edges. At the bottom sat the juicy beefy patty with melted cheese on it, drenched in hickory BBQ sauce. All sandwiched in between the toasted fluffy sesame bun!

It was really a messy affair eating this burger. We tried eating gracefully by using a fork and knife to slice the burger in pieces but the fried onions, and bacons kept falling out.
(J: In the end, I gave up using fork and knife... devouring the burger unglamly using my bare hands :P I was already craving for the burger even before i finished my last bite!)

A & J's ratings: 4.8/5

Once again we would like to stress that taste is subjective. Some may feel that this burger is ordinary but in our humble opinion, we feel that this burger deserves a perfect score. But the thing is, nothing's perfect in this world and there's always room for improvements. So let's leave some room for improvements, shall we? :) Seriously after savouring the ieat super burger, everything seemed tasteless and bland to us. We would even exchange our recent loves, RC's charsiew sor and custard bun for this haha!

For full write up, visit http://sistafood.blogspot.com/2009/09/astons-ieat-super-burger-beware-highly.html#more