Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Holland Village)

Been trying to call for the past 3 days to make a reservation and the number's either engaged (probably with some other poor soul trying to call in) or it rings and no one answers it.

Is the phone number listed here wrong? or is this place just so busy that there's no one free to answer the phone?

On another note, the last time I was here, the steamboat and XLBs were good, and the value for money here is excellent. Would write a longer review, but if I can't eat there again, what's the point?

called like 20x a day no one pick up. called other branch see can leave msg. staff just put my phone there after saying "sorry hor, although we are opposite. cant help" and let me rant by my side

after that  i called e other branch again. told staff ivy i want to complain. she said ok and gave me the number without asking me what is wrong. really pissed off with the service seriously

I was not the one making reservations and liasing with the staff so I cannot make comments on the service in this area.

I went there for a workplace gathering. Around 11 people were there that day and we sure had our fill of food. The only thing that annoyed me a little bit (but I understand that I cannot quite blame the staff) was that they served the beef on top of the chicken. I do not eat beef myself but had arranged with my colleagues to not put beef in the non spicy soup. When the beef arrived on the chicken, that meant I couldn't eat the chicken as well. However, like I said, I can't quite blame them since they do state that beef is on the menu.

The Xiao Long Baos were touted as succulently juicy but I had to go through 3 baskets in order to find the juicy ones, however I do agree that the Xiao Long Baos were quite delicious. I like the Char Siew Baos as well, although it was not my choice to eat 6 that day!

They also left out some of the orders from our first 'ordering session' and thus when we thought we were all done.. 6 more baskets of Xiao Long Baos appeared! Fortunately they eventually offered to remove 3 baskets.... We definitely would not have been able to finish that!

Oh and my tea wasn't topped up because I was just about the only one drinking tea and everyone else had a jug of barley all ready on the table.

I could possibly consider returning for the buffet, but that would definitely be some time away from now!

Click HERE for photos!

Tried 2 new La-mien flavours and they were so good! Definitely not disappointed at all. The first was the Hot and Sour La-Mien which the waitress who had taken our order warned us that 'it was hen lar (very spicy)!' We gave her a grin and said 'hen hao!' with a thumbs up! When this bowl of piping hot La-mien arrived, it was delicious and an excellent choice. Was soon slurping up the spicy soup and enjoying the heat of both the chilli and chewiness of the La-mien.

Was initially quite apprehensive when my friend ordered the Spring Onion Dry La-Mien because those little green pieces of garnish is on my list strongly detestable food items. Anyhow when this bowl arrived, the spring onion looked nothing like the green things I was used to hating but to be honest, looked a little plain. My friend picked up the container of chilli flakes in oil and said 'Watch the magic'. She added two full spoons of the chilli flakes in oil to the La-mien, mixed it up together making it look like Ja Jiang Mien but my goodness, it was the best bowl of La-mien I had ever tasted! Hard to believe that something that looked so ordinary could actually taste this good.

I am sorry Crystal Jade for neglecting you when the newer La-mien and XLB kids on the block first came out. I promise to visit you again very soon- this time for the steamboat and XLB buffet!

tried to make a reservation for xiao long bao buffet. called numerous times for many days, but no one picked up. in the end, decided to go down to personally make the reservation. was atteneded by waiter CHOONG POH YEW. he had a really really bad attitude. seem like he is a new staff as i have never seen him there before. asked him for the crystal jade hotline, and he provided us with the one that we called. then we asked why no one picked up the call the whole day, he said that he picked up all the calls. total bullshit. me and my friends had called at least 10 times today. then we tried to make a reservation. the dates we requested were abit full, but he did not make any effort to try to accomodate us. neither was he very obliging to help us find a suitable date. he keep making the *tsk* sound. After many failed attempts on us trying to find a date, he turned his back and started gossiping about us to another colleague. i must admit that the food in crystal jade is really good, but i really cannot stand the service. i think something should be done to improve their customer service.

I tried to made my booking on the day I wanted to try their steamboat, called numerous times but no one answered the called. So I went to their restaurant as a walk in customer. To my horror, they actually turned me away... Telling me they are full house and will not be serving me. This is not my first time encountering bad service attitude by Crystal Jade. Do take note if you are visiting this place as a walk in customer...

This place is always humming, often with queues outside. It's quite tightly packed inside, and can get really noisy upstairs when the steamboat service is on.

Some of our long time favorites are the tangy hot and sour soup, juicy and tender dumplings, pork and vegetables served with pancakes and the excellent noodles varieties. The steamboat is both sumptuous and scrumptuous, and seems to be their hottest attraction nowadays.

Unfortunately, the a la carte menu has no prawn offerings, except for decent sized ones in the fried rice. Their sweet and sour fish, a new addition, is excellent.

Servings are quite generous for two, but service can slow down when the place is full. Staff are usually quite polite and responsive, and it's great to be recognized as a loyal customer!

would always head down with friends for their supper timing which starts at 10pm. the extra value added thing is the free flow of xiao longbaos here.

not much of a variety for seafood but the meat are fresh. best is the price is inclusive of drinks and desserts.

environment is noisy but the good food helps!

nice place for steamboat buffet plus free flow of xlbs. does not have a variety of seafood eg (only a few prawns) as they limit to maybe 3-4 sticks per person but the meat, different kind of balls and free flow of xlbs were good enough. The steamboat buffet also includes free flow of coke.

 

Overall, felt it was worth the price for the supper timing which starts at 10pm.

for pictures, please visit http://hungryinsingapore.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/crystal-jade-la-mian-xiao-long-bao-–-dinner-buffet/

i'm not a fan of steamboat but im a fan of xiao long bao.

the xiao long bao served here was sub standard. some of them had dried out when served. the skin tore easily too.

for the steamboat, the best thing was the soup. the porkbone soup and ma la spicy soup was very good!

however, the ingredients were very cheap and normal tasting.

just go at least once for the novelty. you can get better xiao long bao else where.