KPO Cafe Bar

Reviews

  1. Number of Reviews 72
    Number of Followers 1

    7

    Overall

    • Melvin Teo
    • Recommend.
    • I spent about S$24 Per Person
    • Food/Beverage: 5
    • Ambience/Setting: 10
    • Value: 3
    • Service: 2
    May 8, 2010

    Heard it was built for a few millions. When I was stepped in, it was furnished as a modern bar accompanied with such cosiness. Perhaps, it was raining that day.

     

    My friend’s father who was the in-charge and she ordered the good food for our high-tea session.

     

    My friends and I ordered:

    -       Sausages (Thick, crispy skin and flavourful)

    -       Vegetarian Spring Roll (Done it in a chinese way with thick black sauce)

    -       Pancakes (Thicker than the Hotcakes. It was nice for me.)

    -       Thick Toast (Done it toasted served with butter and orange marmalade. Feeling so Tai Tai.)

    -       Satay (Norm.)

    -       Chicken Karaage (never try)


    -    Drinks such as the one we ordered (Camomile Tea, Lychee/Blueberry/Strawberry Smoothies) were not good.

    What disappointed me was the tea which was not served in a pot but rather a cup. Also, the service was bad.

    Did I mention that 50% of before 4pm for certain drinks (e.g. Tea, Coffee, Smoothies, Juices)?

     

      

    meL

    ‘Food itself is very personal; do not be affected by what I have written. Try it instead and tell me.’



    6 Review Photos

    •  Camomile Tea
    •  Pancakes
    •  Vegetarian Springrolls

  2. Number of Reviews 6
    Number of Followers 0

    8

    Overall

    • Food/Beverage: 8
    • Ambience/Setting: 9
    • Value: 8
    • Service: 7
    Mar 25, 2010

    One of my favourite hangout spots. The place itself looks like a greenhouse, except that it is housing people and not plants. I particularly like the concept of transforming a 2 storey post office into a restaurant bar. Also, it faces the main road which makes it convenient to hail a cab after a session of drinks. There is valet service within their tiny carpark as well if you happen to drive. More than often packed with office ladies and businessmen during weekdays. Thus, considerably difficult to get a table so I would advise reservation if you were to pop by esp on Friday nights.

    Beers being very affordable on weekends - S$40 per bucket of 6 Asahi. However, I usually go there for the food - never miss out on the 3 egg omelette and sausage platter. Ceasar salad is a must try as well but I personally feel that it might be better if there is an option to add on smoked salmon.When you place your card behind the bar, it comes with a number tag so it makes it easier for them to trace. Music is awesome but a tad too loud when indoors.

    I would say KPO is a good place to chill, gossip and drink till your heart's content.

     




  3. Number of Reviews 8
    Number of Followers 0

    8

    Overall

    • Food/Beverage: 7
    • Ambience/Setting: 9
    • Value: 7
    • Service: 8
    Mar 16, 2010

    My friend and i decided to have lunch at KPO this afternoon. Always seen this establishment whenever I'm in town, but never had a chance to dine there. 


    When we first entered the place, a waiter greeted us but didn't show us to our seats, instead asked us where we would like to sit (which i thought was rather good, giving us a choice to sit inside, outside, upstairs etc.) The waiters were very friendly and efficient. We were seated, given our menus and our orders were taken promptly! However, my friend told me that when the place is busy, the service tends to be very poor. (Only about 2 other groups there when I was there, about 1pm) 


    I ate the steak sandwich which I wouldn't rave about. The steak was well done and a bit too hard for my liking. However i LOVED the chips!! It's tapioca i think? Love it ttm!!! :) 



    I really love the ambience there! The music is pretty chill out & just cozy! My friend & I sat there and chit chatted for about an hour and the waiters were friendly through out. They always asked if they could clear our plates, wanted anything else, made small talk etc. But maybe they could have kept the water refills coming. ha ha


    Overall, I would say it was a good experience. Just have to go when it's not very crowded :)  



    2 Review Photos

    •  Steak sandwich
    •  steak and eggs

  4. Number of Reviews 37
    Number of Followers 4

    6

    Overall

    • APPRÉCIER
    • Recommend.
    • I spent about S$19 Per Person
    • Food/Beverage: 7
    • Ambience/Setting: 7
    • Value: 5
    • Service: 5
    Feb 2, 2010
    I have always been curious about KPO. It sits quietly under the shades of the trees, across the road from the newly renovated Orchard Central, being isolated by all the big malls. We decided to have a early dinner at around 5pm at KPO and we were surprised to see that the place is rather empty when we reached. As the cafe/bar consist of bar tables (where you can sit at the bar counter to have your drinks or food), sofa seats and small wooden table at the sides, the waitress asked us where we would like to sit. When we said we would prefer the sofa seats she told us they are all booked and asked us to sit at the bar without even telling us about the wooden tables. I mean, how comfortable can it get to sit on those tiny high chairs and eat at the bar counter? So we requested to sit at the wooden tables which we noticed later wards. After we were seated, they served us ice water. Ice water with particles in it. Ok it is a normal thing to see in kopitiams or some really dirty hawker centers but I have never expected to be served dirty water at KPO. *** Nevertheless, we ordered a Yorkshire Pizza, Prawn pasta and Deep-fried Chicken Wings to share. YORKSHIRE PIZZA SGD 25 (Inclusive of GST and Service Charges) Thinly crusted pizza topped with thin tender pork slices and mozzarella cheese. It is surprisingly satisfying and delicious. Well, this is the first time I have ever had pork slices with cheese for a pizza topping so it came as a pleasant surprise! *** PRAWN PASTA SGD 19 (Inclusive of GST and Service Charges) This is the taste of love. Fresh, juicy prawns with extremely fragrant and creamy pasta sauce. However, I do feel that the prawns are too little! I rather they give me more prawns at a smaller size ): Well, in fact, I prefer this to the Crab Linguine at La Cantina in Venezia. *** DEEP FRIED CHICKEN WINGS SGD 13 (Inclusive of GST and Service Charges) I should really shoot myself for ordering this. After tasting the chicken wings, the first thing that came to my mind is that I paid 13 bucks for a normal plate of chicken wings. I could have gotten 13 pieces of that from the "techno kopitiam" (TP students should know which coffee shop I am referring to.) downstairs my house. *** Ambience is surprisingly quiet and peaceful for a place at the Orchard area. Service... Check out their dirty ice water. (I shan't be an ass about it anymore since they did change it for me. Hahaha!) Value wise, it is more to the normal to slightly high for such dishes. Pasta with two prawns at SGD 19 or a few chicken wings at SGD 13? Well, if you love it, it is would not be expensive isn't it so? Overall, I must say I enjoyed the pizza and pasta!!! *** Please visit my blog at APPRÉCIER for more pictures and reviews on other places! =))

    Must tries: Yorkshire Pizza, Prawn Pasta

    2 Review Photos


  5. Number of Reviews 11
    Number of Followers 0

    4

    Overall

    • Food/Beverage: 7
    • Ambience/Setting: 7
    • Value: 2
    • Service: 5
    Dec 13, 2009
    Nice place, we've been a few times, the food is good and reasonably priced.

    On a trip to the real post office next store there was a long queue so we went to KPO for coffee and tea for the wait. Until I saw the costs, which I can afford, but choose not to. There's just too many other equaly good or better places where we can get the same ambivance and quality, like any number of places on Robertson Walk or CQ.

    If this place wants to cater to posers in nerd cars that's fine by us, but with pricing like that it's going to miss out on having a more intelligent and loyal crowd.


  6. Number of Reviews 274
    Number of Followers 95

    6.8

    Overall

    • Food/Beverage: 7
    • Ambience/Setting: 8
    • Value: 7
    • Service: 5
    Nov 16, 2009
    I always dread to have dinner in Orchard, well the place is great for shopping, people-watching, movies, but food? It is always an issue whenever my friends want to meet there and if you ask me, there’s hardly any place that I like in Orchard.

    Most people will have thought that KPO stands for Killiney Post office since the cafe is located on the premises of Killiney post office. But the name actually comes about because it’s at the intersection of Killney, Penang, and Orchard road.

    We started dinner with the Pizza Yorkshire ($25). The 10 inch thin crust pizza was thoroughly enjoyable; sweet thin slices Yorkshire pork and well-baked crust with mozzarella cheese matched perfectly with the natural crust.

    Even though the Grilled juicy mini beef patties were tiny, I love the way they are done – topped with melted Emmental cheese and served in home-made baguette. The Patty Melt ($12) is one of those things that you wish it would come in bigger portions. And oh yes, the home-made chips were great too! But for the kind of price, it’s more like a snack to go along with drinks rather than a main course for dinner.

    The KPO Pork Ribs ($23) was the other signature dish of the cafe. A full slab of ribs marinated with the tantalizing sauce, we have to agree that the marination was very done-well. But having tried better pork ribs elsewhere, KPO’s rendition lacked the ultimate melt-in-the-mouth sensation. Still, it was pretty good.

    * * *

    I have no doubt that KPO, situated right in the middle of town and yet seemingly away from the hustle of the city, will be a success. The location is already a hit, with the chic environment, it is definitely the place-to-be-seen-at. While it’s a great watering-hole, with the food being pretty decent, but they really need to improve on the service.

    I got a shock when the first question they asked, was not what I’ll like to order, but whether I’m paying by credit card or cash. No matter how nice the ambience was, or how excellent the food tasted – that was a total turnoff. But oh well, at least there’s no service charge & GST. Anyway, with the good location plus the chill-out atmosphere, I went back again the following Saturday.

    Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you

    4 Review Photos


  7. Number of Reviews 4
    Number of Followers 0

    5.5

    Overall

    • Food/Beverage: 6.1
    • Ambience/Setting: 5.1
    • Value: 6.3
    • Service: 4.6
    Nov 4, 2009
    Went there for some food and beer, i love their beer it taste smooth. We order some pizza and chicken wings, the pizza was rather not up to expectation as it taste very bland.

    The service was rather slow as they seem to have crowds keep coming in and they seem under-trained ...

    We sat outside beside the big "long kang" which wasn't the best place to be on a humid day .. hahaa


  8. Number of Reviews 1
    Number of Followers 1

    2.3

    Overall

    • miumiu
    • Not Recommended.
    • I spent about S$20 Per Person
    • Food/Beverage: 0.9
    • Ambience/Setting: 7.1
    • Value: 1
    • Service: 0.1
    Sep 29, 2009
    We went to KPO with an open mind, to try their All Day Breakfast Menu. Got there at 12.45pm on a Sunday, and there were only 3 tables of customers. We thought "Great, faster and personal service" so I went ahead and ordered scrambled egg whites only (which means dump the egg yolks) and the waitress looked bewildered, she told me that they have to cook the eggs together. Only after my friend explained to her that only the whites needs to cook, she understood my order.

    Considering 1 table of customer was drinking beer, the other table had their food. You would assume that we would get 3 servings of breakfast on our table in 15mins time (I don't think I was too demanding) but we waited for a solid 25mins at least. There were plenty of staff, who didn't know their roles and which tables were under their charge. We had to ask 2 different servers before we got our breakfast, 3times before we got our chilli sauce and I even had to walk over to the cashier and ask for salt & pepper because the staff behind the open kitchen looked shocked that I would even ask for salt & pepper.

    Scrambled eggs on toast was good, sausage was good but my tomato was just a single slice instead of half a tomato. Then I tried the bacon which was disgusting, I supposed because of the dated oil that they used to cook the bacon. It simply tasted wrong. My friends tried theirs and agreed. We signalled for a server to our table and told him about the bacon. To our horror, he actually replied "So what do you want?". We just wanted to feedback to the kitchen and not expect any discount, not to mention such response from the waiter. He continued and said that the chefs are Chinese and the Manager would only come in at 2pm so he couldn't do anything until then. All these while, he didn't apologise on behalf of KPO or look apologetic like most servers would.

    Then, we saw the Manager! I went ahead and told him about the rude server and the yucky bacon. He was kind enough to come to our table and asked if he could offer us another dish or drinks. His attitude was nice but that didn't help the bad impression we had about KPO.

    Not to mention that our friend arrived later and she ordered her breakfast. After a good 30mins, it didn't arrive and we finished our drinks that we ordered together with her breakfast. We cancelled her meal and decided that we were better off at Kiliney Kopitiam - faster service.

    In short, we would never return.



  9. Number of Reviews 3
    Number of Followers 0

    0.1

    Overall

    • Food/Beverage: na
    • Ambience/Setting: na
    • Value: na
    • Service: 0.1
    Sep 17, 2009
    I don't really know if this counts as a review review, because I didn't actually eat here.

    My girlfriends and I wanted to try out KPO after hearing good reviews about the place. I called up to make a reservation but was told that they do not accept reservations, only walk-ins.

    When we arrived at 7pm, the place was empty and we expected to be served rather quickly. However, the waiter informed us that there was only alfresco dining and seats at the bar for our party of 8 even though there were at least 3 empty tables around. When we asked about those empty tables, the waiter told us in a bored tone that they were all reserved by the boss!! What happened to their no reservation policy?! And who is the boss reserving for? Why were we not allowed to reserve when we are the customers but the boss could?

    As we were a large group we decided not to take the seats at the bar since that would not be conducive for interaction. We also did not want the alfresco dining as the weather was simply too hot that day. In the end, we walked off to another dining venue with much better customer service.


  10. Number of Reviews 6
    Number of Followers 0

    2.8

    Overall

    • Food/Beverage: 5
    • Ambience/Setting: 4
    • Value: 1
    • Service: 1
    Aug 10, 2009
    I wanted to visit this place as I had seen it being constructed after having used the Post Office there regularly. The architecture is wonderful, lots of space outside (never mind the humming sounds of the cars on Orchard Rd) and a beautiful bar inside. However, that is where the positives stop. I arrived when there was yet hardly anyone (it was 6.30 pm) and yet it took some of the 'service' staff at least 10 minutes to come over (without a menu). I did notice that some of the staff were hovering around a group of pretentious business people so it seems there was nothing wrong with their eyesight.

    After my wife arrived and we ordered some drinks (the drinks menu is very limited with just 2 wines by the glass on offer) the staff did not waste any time requesting payment (a constant irritant in Singapore in my opinion). The drinks were brought to us by a waitress who held the glass of white wine cupped in her hand...

    A constant trickling in of more pretentious people and I had seen enough. The place looks great but the ridiculous attitude of the staff and the type of people frequenting the place (with a valet service and some expensive cars showing off poor taste outside I should have been warned) will never see me at this place again. There are simply too many other good bars in Singapore.

    The only thing that could save this place is if the hordes move on and the staff settles in a bit with a better crowd.

57% Recommended
21 votes
Would you recommend this place?
Recommend
Not Sure
Not Recommended
Overall
5.6
Food/Beverage
5.8
Ambience/Setting
8
Value
5.1
Service
5.5
Based on 19 filtered reviews
Based on 12 reviews
Price/Pax: S$18 – 28
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