Miss Clarity Cafe & Restaurant (Purvis St)

Went to visit this dishonest restaurant as purchased Groupon deals. It is already closed down...Groupon has produced another lousy buffet deal...For all people who buy deals, pls beware of the deal sites you visit...Groupon is one of the deal site with dishonest buffet deals...This isn't the first time that Groupon disappointed me!

I tried to make the reservation via the reservation number,  the line was engaged all time.  I concluded that they hung up the phone.  I could have stopped there, but because I bought the Groupon voucher,  I have to utilize them.  I wrote in to their "Feedback"  tab to make the reservation, the Operation Manager, Vivi Lau confirmed my booking, finally.

I brought my family of ten members there for lunch.  Upon arrival,  we witnessed the staff turned away walk-in customers. The customers explained that they failed to get through the reservation number, hence, they decided to come over personally, and to have the meal on the day itself.  The staff was firm, rejected their request and cited that they would only serve confirmed reservation.  The customers had no choice but to walk out (pissed-off ).  Well, that was an unpleasant incident to witness when we saw the place had less than ten people during that time.  

We were misleaded by the attractive menu of more than 100 items in the list, everyone was excited .......but were disappointed when many items were said to be not available.  When the food came,  we were (again) disappointed by the taste and texture, no quality in the food. Majority were below-expectations. Mid-way during our lunch, we witness another drama whereby a couple had left the cafe without paying for their service charge.  ( I applauded for their decision, why pay when there was no service ).   It was a bad dining experience alright. Sighzzzzz.......

I plead with Groupon to refund me the remaining unused coupons. We really would not want to re-visit that place again.

 

Very very bad customer service for reservation.

I called the reservation number 3 times/day for 3 consecutive days but the line was engaged every single time. I sent a reservation email but there is no reply even after 5 days later. Since there was no confirmation received, I did not proceed to the restaurant.

I did the exactly same thing on the following week but there is still no reply from a single soul. So I decided to proceed straight down to the place.

When we arrived, the place was so small that it can only accommodate 30 people. Just as we were about to sit down, the waitress approached us and ask if we made any reservation. I said yes but there was no reply to my email and I couldn't get through the line.

She replied if there isn't any confirmation made from their side, they couldn't serve us. But the place was empty except with like 10 people. I don't understand why they couldn't serve us at that time when their buffet is open for the whole day on weekend and we were there on a Saturday. She added that only weekday lunch is available and if we couldn't make it after the Groupon expiry date, we could call the Groupon customer service hotline to ask for a refund.

She gave us her personal mobile number so that we could make a reservation easier later on. We went back fuming with anger at their customer service quality.

We had trouble asking for a refund so we had to try and book for an available date again. Last night, I called the reservation number 5 times but it was still engaged, called the mobile number 8 times but nobody ever picks up. I was so angry that I drove all the way from home straight to the place to book for lunch tomorrow.

When I arrived at the place at about 8 plus, I called the reservation number and it was still engaged, expected. But, surprisingly nobody was talking on the phone. It was 'so not obvious' that they were trying so hard not to pick up anymore reservation calls.

But I successfully placed an reservation and after the buffet just now:

-Some of the food that we ordered never came

-The food that we never ordered came, especially the very filling type, such as pizza

-The mushroom soup and black pepper chicken was very salty

-The chicken soup is chicken cube + water + cream (even canned soup tasted better)

-The oysters, mussels and scallops were not fresh

-The scallops were like ten cent coins, and the satay sticks were like one-third of the normal ones we buy from hawker centres

- I asked how many food items from our second order chit are not served yet, but they repeated the order from our second order chit. (--)"

-They had like 10+ desserts but only 4 were available

Overall, it totally sucks and I would never ever step back in again my entire life.

Groupon vouchers at $25 per pax looked alright. I should have known when I saw the menu that had more than 100 items that it was gonna be a let down.

Food that was ordered never turned up. The wait between each course was real slow. The foie gras and wagyu empanadas (these were the eye-catchers on the GROUPON ad) were the ultimate. 80% hard flour and the most lacking in unctuousness of foie. It was a grey mush wrapped in pastry x10. I feel so wronged! Especially with a $5 per 100g wastage charge, I forced myself to eat it with tears in my eyes. My husband was too terrified.

Skewer meat was cold. Wagyu balls were cold inside and hot outside. Basically, microwaved. With the odd smell, my question is, when did the food get cooked?? Oyster was the type in oyster omelette - so one cheese baked oyster shell has sometimes 2 or 3 tiny ones buried under the cheese. The oyster came in that one big frozen pack that the 'oh luak' guy uses!

This is the first and last time. I am a carrot head and that is why I had my head chopped. These people have NO INTENTION to run a restaurant or to consider the sustainability of the business. Why bother? What a sad date night I had with my hubby.

I am outraged that in this age of the Internet, we amiably get ripped off and still accept this nonsense.

Their lightings are not bright enough. Good for people who likes romantic ambience.

For food menu, it states all the seafood in different types of cooking methods. Fried, Grill, Salad, BBQ, pasta, soup, etc. However, without indicating on the quantity potion, e.g. 1 plate /set = number of pieces. This makes us difficult to judge our orders.

For the food tasting, the fried dishes are not that fantastic; I prefer their Grill and follow by BBQ.

Recommend their grill mushrooms, grill chicken and prawns. Their lobster bisque does not have a bitter taste.

The most astonished thing was that they brought us food that we did not ordered. Not only verified by our table, also other tables as well.

I will not recommend for a place to eat at the prices of S$25++ after discount,

will you?

Aiyo.. long long time ago, my gf recommmended this place, and I thought, since I'm around bugis, maybe we should try Miss Clarity...

So I dragged my bf to walk all the way from the National Library to Miss Clarity cafe.. We saw a lady 'kinda' arguing with the lady owner.. I still blur blur ask.. eh.. got table for 2? We din make any reservations..

My bf was like "Who is this siao char bor who looks like my gf? Can't see the place is empty except for an ang moh family who are obviously tourists? RESERVATIONS?!"

I told him, I remembered my gf said it's always full.. But I din know it's because it's changed ownership and the place has plummeted...

The place cannot make it leh. really.. nothing was good. The waitress's opening line is, "Today is my 2nd day of work, so I don't know." In my heart I was like, "That is not an excuse or reason or anything I care to hear. If dunno then say sorry, let me check and get back to you or something like that.. aiyo.."

The place has a choice of buffet or ala carte. The ang moh family, being ang moh, ordered buffet lah! After seeing our food, they complain to the lady owner and asked, why buffet the food look so different from the alacarte? Why so small serving, don't have this, don't have that???

By then I saw other patrons holding groupons.. my bf say.."aiyo.. we tio pian liao.. how come we don't have groupon? we eating buffet quality food at ala carte prices.."

By this time, the ang moh family had demanded refund on their buffet.. and I was speculating with my bf and trying out my role playing skills.. "Aiya.. if I'm the owner, I would have told the ang moh that I give them 15% discount and free drinks and then quickly get them to finish their food and go liao.. still argue for what?"

All in all, it's a bad experience.. what to do.. waste of calories.. remember not to repeat again.

Got a groupon "Christmas Feast: $25 for Western Ala Carte Buffet Including Wagyu Beef and Scallops at Miss Clarity Restaurant in Bugis (Worth $45)"  which 3000 over of them were bought.

Went at lunch time @ 1pm  last sat with my bf when they just opened for the day.

So wow 44% off, and there's oysters, scallop and wagyu beef. Yum yum! But neah... too a high expectations hence a high level of dissatisfaction too.

$45 for this kinda buffet on normal days... i rather spend it for a hotel buffet, i dont think its even worth the money i paid for this deal . 

Everybody there were all there for the deal. Some complained about the booking of reservation, that their phone is always engaged. *from what i observed thats because all the staff are too bz to entertain calls*

1) The good things:

Food: Salads, beef with onion, bacon with mushroom, prawn pasta with tequila, crispy fish steak- its just fish fillet coated with bread crumbs but thats the best and first piping hot dish to fill up our poor stomach aft 3 hours of buffet and still feeling hungry.  

Smiley and friendly waitress.

Ambience and setting was not bad, but the table was a little too small for 2. We had to request for another table to be joined.

2) A huge chunks of Boooo:

There is 100 over dishes on the menu but seems like lots of them are unavailable. The most turn off thing is that, they seems to be saving ingredients for dinner session. There are people coming in at 3pm and having food served, we ordered but no food seems to be served and the excuse they gave was oos already. 

It says it is a EAT ALL YOU CAN BUFFET. We were there mainly for the Oysters and scallops. We order like 6 servings at one go but it came like 1 servings only. Ordered again and the same thing happens. And the seafood are not really fresh bleaksss!

Food was served SOOOO snaily slow and some of them can be finish within a bite. Grilled chicken sticks we ordered were either burnt or cold. Many of the items were missed them out but actually they are not available/oos that day and we were not told until our 3rd order when we asked abt it.

Can you imagine? They are serving so slowly that at 4pm after 3 hours i am still not full? Hmm maybe ar mayyybe you can blame that im a glutton or that during the waiting time all of it is already digested already.

Dessert: there were suppose to be ice creams, brownies, cakes, muffins and puddings. But we were told that only ice creams were available. What kinda of buffet is this?

I guess after this deal, no one would visit this restaurant ever again.

If its like this they should change the menu and stop giving customer false hope and employ more kitchen and serving staff to serve the crowd who are mostly there for the groupon buffet. Or just remove this buffet and save the restaurant.

*Tip: order as many as you can within 2 orders, but of cos make sure you can finish them.

*Note 1:  They have a last order timing. I forgot so Check with them!

*Note 2: Groupon price does not include their service charge of 10%

Was tempted to buy their buffet vouchers from Groupon (ala Carte buffet at $20 per pax) cos the menu looks great, but from my previous trip, the service was bad and the food was a total disappointment. 

Decided to give it another shot since The Man's schooling at SMA and its right around the corner. Cafe was almost empty on a Saturday 6pm. The cafe's much brighter and comfy after their renovation, they ought to have removed those plastic chairs and tables long ago. 

Ordered a Lobster bisque ($5.80) and chef recommendation Chicken Ballotine, plus the Bread and butter pudding that has received many good reviews on the web. It took a whole 15 minutes to serve the soup and the chicken ballotine. 

Lobster Bisque was watery and barely warm, but nevertheless very tasty, you can really smell the lobster. The cheese crostini that was served together was a surprise. And thats the only plus thing about this visit. 

Chicken Ballotine : The chicken breast meat was dry, seriously there was more mushroom than  portion of chicken, downside was they were also very dry. Mushroom gravy wasnt enough, the veggies were rather over crunchy, even the baked potatoes (seriously how wrong can bake potatoes go?) was tough to dissect. 

Bread and butter pudding : It wasn't the bread and butter pudding I've had in other restaurants, you can hardly smell any butter. Custard was too wet. This taste more like a fluffy wet Kueh Lapis. 

Service was still bad. There was only 3 tables occupied and half the time, the only waitress (standing behind the counter) was busy with whatever she's folding. It took us a whole 5 minutes to get her attention and wave for the bill. 

If you have all the time in the world and lotsa patience to wait for your meal and bill, go ahead. Price is super affordable.  

I feel bad for this place.  It started off being very promising, with reasonable pricing and great taste of oysters, mussels, foie gras....  Oh, how I missed them!

Now, it is trying to make a come back, after a gap of more than a year.  I can sense the effort, but the whole vibe of the place seems to have changed - from the menu all the way to the staff....

The come back call - the set lunch menu is termed as "Miss Clarity's Return Set Lunch".  The pricing is great, with nett prices of below $12, you get a soup, main course, dessert and a drink.  The portion of the main course is very generous, and for those with small appetites, sharing should be considered.

 

Between the 10 of us, we tried:

1. fish cordon bleu - 2 breaded slices of fish with ham and cheese inserted in between. Taste was ok, but the vegetables were tough to bite.

2. seafood tom yam pasta - just ok

3. seafood vongole - not much of a taste.  Chilli powder was needed to introduce some flavour

4. porky onion - basic pork chop taste

5. chicken cordon bleu - similar to fish cordon bleu except that the chicken was dry

6. chicken ballotine - chicken meat rolled round sliced mushrooms.  The dish sounded promising, but the taste was disappointing, with chicken breast without any seasoning.

7. roasted chicken leg - standard western food fare

Food has to be improved in order for this place to survive.  But more importantly, the service needs to be reviewed - impatient, unfriendly, lack of knowledge, poor customer service were some of the adjectives that went round the table.

I purchased set meal vouchers for Miss Clarity Cafe on Deal.com.sg, and almost wanted to give it a miss due to the awful reviews here on HGW. Boy, I'm glad I still went to the restaurant, it was definitely a pleasant experience and so, here I am, giving a review to the restaurant I feel deserves a good one.

First things first. I have visited MCC before. A few years back, 3 - 4 years? Back then, my friends and I used to visit the National Library to study, and have been wanting to visit this cafe for its pinky charm and the appealing desserts set in a display just outside the cafe. I remember very clearly that I was disappointed by the main courses back when I tried. I also thought that it was not worth the price paid.

Recently when I saw the deal ($19.80 for a 4 course set meal), I was tempted to give MCC another chance, and I did. So my husband and I visited on a Thursday afternoon for lunch. The cafe (or I would call it a restaurant) was almost fully packed when we arrived.

The first thing I noticed was that the cafe has underwent a major renovation. The tables and chairs which I once sat on (those the likes for school students and cheap cafes) were replaced by proper, restaurant-style furniture. The dessert display was gone too, which, IMHO, was a good thing. Now, the restaurant eludes a feel of classiness & charm, unlike what it used to be.

We were entitled to 2 starters each, a main course, and dessert of the day. We went for the signature Tea Leaf Salad, Sample Glutton's Platter, 2 daily soups (which was Minestrone) for the starters. Main courses were Pan Fried Dory Fillet & Enchiladas Mineras, and it was Bread & Butter Pudding for the dessert (Yay!)

Tea Leaf Salad tasted great with loads of nuts / seeds mixed with tea leaves. Definitely a must-try if you're a fan of tea. Some people may not like it though, as it does not taste like a typical salad.

Sample Glutton's Platter is basically a plate of fried stuff. I don't really like fried stuff but it's something which can never go wrong (taste-wise). It consisted of squid, chicken, fish, and mushrooms. (Yay for the mushrooms!)

I really have to rave about the Minestrone Soup. It was packed full of veggies and was tasty. Was really glad I took the soup.

Pan Fried Dory - This is a typical tasty dish for me, but it's so good that my hubby who doesn't like seafood took a second helping from my plate. It's so fresh that there's no 'fishy' smell at all, and the roasted potatos that came with it were amazing.

Enchiladas Mineras - My husband did not think too well of this dish as it had a very strong smell of coriander which he detests. I found it okay. It came with 3 types of veg sides (some pineapple / fruity salsa, coleslaw, and some cold salad), which were all winners.

Bread & Butter Pudding was delicious. Need I say more?

Only thing I really regretted about this meal was choosing tea as an ending rather than the coffee. The coffee was AMAZING.

After we finished our meal, we realized that their 3 course set lunch starts from $9.80. Seemed that we paid $10/pax more for 1 more course each.

We'll definitely be back for the set lunch.