Astons Specialities (The Cathay)

I go to fitness first which is next to Aston and i can tell u the queue is always freaking loooooooong!!!!!!!! Especially at night.. my god i think u might have to prepare to wait for like 1 hr or smt.. the place is always teeming with students, i think becoz its really cheap and affordable..

I remember the first time i tried here was a chicken chop which i didnt really like because i love chicken breast and they were not serving that and i find the meat quite thin n full of fat. (I much prefer Botak jone's chicken). 

My bf and I had passed by Aston on sunday afternoon n was pleasantly surprised theres no queue and we were hungry enough so we ate there.. I had the herb fish.. its surprisingly yummy!! And while i didnt expect the sauce to be creamy it was not too strong at all and i find the sides of garden veg and onion rings make a very good portion.. 

My bf was quite satisfied with the beef as well and have found the price very good for the quality.. He loved the mashed potatoes and salad too.. 

Oh btw they have 2 new sides.. wedges and mac & cheese (think kenny rogers ). Haven tried that yet but saw the others eating it looked pretty yummy. 

We will definitely be back here to try the other stuff!!

We were kept waiting for over a half and a half. We had a large group (6 people) and preferred not to be seated outdoors, so a longer wait was certainly understandable. What was not understandable was the way the restaurant handled it. The restaurant offered us an outdoors seating about an hour plus into our wait, but we turned it down because we figured that there will probably be a table of 6 available soon since it has already been over an hour.

 

After the wait became even longer, we enquired and it turns out that the restaurant isn’t even trying to set aside tables of 2 as couples finish so that when 3 tables are ready, our group can dine. Instead, their position is that as tables of 2 are freed up, they will seat couples and that our group will only be seated if 3 adjacent tables of 2 simultaneously all finished and paid, which is pretty retarded because in a small restaurant with about 20 indoors tables of 2, what are the odds that 3 of those tables finish simultaneously (there weren’t any groups of 6 already in the restaurant)?

 

I mean, it would be entirely fair if the restaurant simply informed us honestly initially that if we turned down the outdoors seating, they would be unable to cater to our large group, but they kept us waiting without even saying a d*** thing, knowing full well that we will never be seated when we could have just eaten at another restaurant. Furthermore, the waiter had the cheek to say that this is to be fair and that it is for the benefit of the customers. What a load of c***. The restaurant is doing this to increase their turnover of tables and revenue, which is entirely their right and they even explicitly stated that they will manage tables as they deem fit at the entrance. But don’t feed me a line of c*** about your actual reasons.

 

Basically, to me, the restaurant fails in terms of their communication and their honesty. The wait by itself, while an issue, is not the main issue to me. If you cannot meet your customers’ requirements, then just tell them straight up and let them make a informed decision about whether to leave for another restaurant instead, and certainly don’t try to come off as being on moral high grounds, specially when you are not.

Astons Specialities

started of as a simple wish of Aston Soon to bring quality western

cuisine to the masses at affordable prices. From its humble beginnings

opening as a Coffee shop stall along East Coast Road in 2005, it has

blossomed to 10 over specialities outlets and 20 over express outlets

today.  I had grown up eating Astons even before i ventured into the culinary industry. The last few months when I couldn't decide where to dine at,  Astons would always be the popular choice among friends largely due to its affordability.

Prime Sirloin ($13.50) The

Sirloin was grilled to my requested doneness of medium rare. While i

loved the smoky robust flavor it had, the meat wasn't exactly the most

tender of all due to the quality of meat used. The run of the mill onion

rings were the ones you could find in supermarkets of Burger King were

passable, while the tasty rice was actually quite tasty.

New York Strip ($16.50)

During 

previous few visits, i had opted for the New York Strip prior to the

Rib eye due to it being a leaner cut of meat. While the steak was

decent, it was a little on the tough side as I had a hard time cutting

through the fat coating the side of the steak. The mushroom sauce felt a

little bland as the steak went better with the Chili sauce  served

table-side.

Black Pepper Fish ($8.50)

The

dory fish was cooked nicely, thus the meat was succulent and flaky.

While it tasted pretty good along with the nice spice from the black

pepper sauce served atop, it lacked any oomph factor. The Pasta Salad

was competent, while i was rather impressed with the Potato Salad as

generous chunks of fingerling potatoes were served in a homemade

dressing with scallions red onions  certainly be a perfect side for an

American Diner experience.

Double Up Chicken Combo ($11.90)

As

students, our budget used to restrict us from ordering the steaks and

instead going for the Grill-works chicken to get our protein fix after

training sessions. Out of the Six choices available, the black pepper

definitely had to be my favorite with the chicken grilled to a smoky

robust aromatic flavor while still being moist and tender on the inside.

The Hickory BBQ chicken was passable with the BBQ sauce that tasted

like the ones you could get in any food store.

Chicken & Sausage Combo ($12.90)

I

had somehow or rather expected a Bratwurst sausage to be served in the

combo but I was sorely disappointed when five small chicken franks were

served instead. The sausages tasted like the ones you could get off the

deli counter in Cold Storage as i kinda felt cheated paying an extra $5

for a miserly portion of sausages as I certainly would have been better

off getting a Double Up Chicken Combo.

Overall,

Astons serves passable western cuisine at affordable prices to the

masses. Despite quality being compromised in various areas to sustain

affordability, a return to Astons time and time again would be unlikely as I certainly would not queue for average western food from 30 minutes to an hour.

I first visited Astons thanks to BFF and have been a frequent customer since then. The queue at their Cathay outlet is probably the longest and slowest one. If you have a growling stomach, do opt for other restaurants around cause the wait can take up to 45 minutes in extremely peak periods. Plus.. when you're hungry, each minute can feel like 1 hour >_< .

Then again, the wait can be slightly faster when it's a table for 2!

My favourite at Astons would be the Black Pepper Fish ($8.50). I love their black pepper sauce and the fish is always fresh and nicely done! Crispy on the outside with the texture of the flesh being soft and smooth.

For every main course, you can also select 2 side dishes to go along with it and their side dishes are always in a generous portion! I especially love their baked potato because of how fluffy and light the baked potato is.

Makan Boy ordered Lemon Lime Chicken ($7.90) and despite him not having a thing for sourish stuff, their lemon lime sauce is tantalizing! Refreshing on the tastebuds and goes well with the fragrant grilled chicken.

I try to avoid eating too much deep fried food but Astons Chicken Nuggets is so nice...(guilt trip not working haha) Furthermore, $3.90 for around 10 nuggets is of far greater value than ordering at McD's!

The ice lemon tea ($2) taste lighter than the canned ones and is not as sweet.

Their menu is inclusive of 7% gst and they do not include the 10% service charge so you can enjoy affordable food in a restaurant setting! If you want to enjoy your meal in a slightly quieter environment, you might want to shift out to their outdoor area. My best advise for your trip down to Astons would be to avoid peak dining hours!

For the full review, please click here.

We finally got to try out Astons because the early diners queue consists of around 5 couples. Usually it's a long string that looks pretty scary. The waiter who took our orders was grouchy and gave an attitude. We waited quite some time for our table and food to arrive despite the short queue before us.

Hubby had grilled fish with herbs(around $7) while I had the prime ribeye in medium(around $15). Our mains come with 2 sides, which we chose mashed potatoe, beans and fries. Oh yes we were kinda surprise with the friendly pricing, no wonder there's the queue. Since the prices were just slightly more than normal foodcourt and cafes, I prepped ourselves with just that much of expectations. Ultimately, they say, "you pay peanuts, you get monkeys."

Hmm I was right.

While the ribeye's doneness was perfect, the mushroom sauce was forgettable. Kinda bland and certainly doesnt taste like mushroom sauce despite the mushrooms in it. The thin-cut ries were over-fried.

The fish was pretty fresh but bland. Mashed potatoe wasnt so fine. While I think it has slight chunks in it, hubby said it's corn. Haha.

The waitress serving us in the cafe was having good service. The only cons was she was a China FT and she had trouble understanding some English terms like tabasco and mustard at our neighbour table. Patrons and waitress struggled for 5minutes about the colour/taste etc when I already gobbled half my steak. I was chuckling and whispering to hubby, "Mustard is 芥末. " =P Hubby was perplexed, "Isnt that wasabi?" Which in turned stunned me. Anyway, manager came over and clarified it was indeed 芥末. Lol.

It's a pity. Do you prefer Singaporeans who understands English but gives you lousy attitude and service? Or do you prefer FT who dont understand English but tries hard to do the best they can?

Actually I prefer the latter, though, sometimes I can be pretty cranky when I'm starving. And when I'm starving, I simply order without the menu in restaurants which I frequent.

Hubby says, "Nahz, how difficult can it be to speak entirely in Chinese?"

Me: "How do you say Yakitori in chinese?"

Hubby: *stumped*

Anywayyyyyy, I prefer to take that money to go CCK blk 302 kopitiam or XinWang HK Cafe. Just the sauce alone tastes like 15times better than Astons. =) However, if u're looking for cheap and nicely cooked steaks, Aston's still okie.

Over at The Cathay at Handy Road, moviegoers would sometimes complain about the lack of eateries at the Cineplex. Therefore, the constant long queue at Astons

I had a Grill Fish with Herbs  with Coleslaw and Baked Potato. The fish was rather fresh, and lightly grilled. One plus point is there isn’t a strong fishy smell. The Black Pepper Chicken was standard ‘Western food’ fare, but the huge portion and sides of Onion Rings and Garden Veggie make it value for money. In fact, the total bill of 3 of us just above $20.

When asked about how they keep prices so competitive, Aston Soon (the owner)said that over the years they have work very closely with their suppliers. They have shared Aston’s vision in providing quality food at value for money pricing. Other factors such as high volume of orders have enabled themselves and our suppliers to negotiate with the producers around the world for a better pricing.

More reviews at http://DanielFoodDiary

Service sucks! Long waiting time for the food and beverage. The food was ok.Grilled chicken was tender.A lot of sides selection.

 Alfresco dining wasn't appealing, very warm though there were fans around.

This may come as an old entry considering that Astons has already entered and dominated the western food market in recent years with its trademark value steaks that could easily give jacks place a run for its $$.

Theres a particular thing about western food that seemingly makes it easier to maintain the standard, cant say the same about chinese crusine as we are all familiar how some top hotels/restaurant chef are the pillar of the whole kitchen operation. Lose them and likely the taste will not be the same. How many times have we went to patron the same nice store and find that the standard has dropped.

One can guess that it is easier to flip chicken and beef steaks marinated before hand at a constant heat every 2 mins.

Rather than frying, controlling the heat, adding all the many complicated sauces without measurement and basing the taste and time on your experience. 

In short lets put it this way, we dont really care who cooked the steak as long as the steak taste good!

I was first brought to this place by my gf at the cathay orchard, 3-4 years back i never had a habit or queuing for food and it was one of those time when at 6pm there was already a snaking queue. Fairly rare does the queue start to form so early. 

But my opinion has changed since the life changing queue i had at mellben crab.

Anyway things are different now, queue doesnt mean good food. Or it could also be that singapore didn't had 5million ++ population yet back at that time. 

I have had my fair share of Aston all over the place, from the now defunct serangoon garden branch + woodland point branch (was there even one?? it opened and close so quickly most woodlanders didnt even know that there was one outlet there)

To amk, sembawang shopping center and the cathay branch.

One thing i can confidently conclude from all this different location is that the great same taste is there. The chicken is the same size, potatoes are as filling, sauce are as generous.

Say hi to the 3 brothers

It is the kind of confidence that consumers need knowing that when they order a double up chicken the standard will be upheld and that every meal ordered isnt like a russian roulette. Hoping and praying that the chef will cook it like he mean it.

Thank God for skinless chicken, wholly chargrilled chicken with the aroma and taste of  bbq chicken. Exactly like how the korean BBQ Chicken put it. Its not bbq chicken, its Bar-be-que chicken.

I would never mention this chargrilled chicken as chicken chop just so that it is currently in a league of its own that by calling it chicken chop would be a seer insult to this close to perfection piece of meat.

Complete review and pictures do visithttp://yummybuddies.blogspot.com/Thank you very much, have a great meal ahead.

Came here today with a friend for lunch. It wasn't as busy as expected since it we arrived at the place at about 1.45pm. Still, our orders were taken as we were waiting outside by a rather cross-looking waitress.

I ordered a lemon lime chicken with corn on the cob an garden vegetables. Soon after, we were seated. The restaurant looked really run-down and somewhat dirty, not all all like a proper restaurant should an not at all like I remembered from the last time I was there 2 years ago. There were hoards of staff members gathered at the counter, all in a flurry, doing their various tasks. Not too long after being seated, a waitress came over to inform us that there was no more corn or garden vegetables. I decided then to choose the pasta salad and mixed salad. Oh, there wasn't anymore dressing for the mixed salad as well. I had no problem having my salad without dressing but someone sure forgot to stock up on food that day.

When our food finally arrived, the chicken was simply char grilled chicken doused in some mystery goop and a lemon wedge on the side. The chicken was dry, tough and barely warm. The pasta was mushy and tasted of cheap supermarket Italian dressing. The only redemming factor of the whole dish was the mixed salad which was fresh and crisp and came in a generous portion. Then again, how difficult is it to pile on some raw veggies in a little serving bowl? Seriously!

Overall, an extremely disappointing dining experience with bad food, poor service in an extremely disagreeable setting. Astons is clearly not what it used to be.

For a really good chicken chop with two sides, it has to be Astons' $6.90 specials. No tax so it's really value for money.