A Night at Tokyo One and a note on customer service.

Just came back from a Japanese buffet dinner at Tokyo One with Ah Bao, Xiao Long, Owyang, Ricky, Garfield and Andy. It was a pricey buffet at US$35 inclusive of tips but the food, atmosphere and most of all the customer service was excellent! Tokyo One have been a long standing establishment in Addison City, Dallas county for many years and its located at the junction of Midway Rd and East/West Beltline Rd. Boss is a Taiwanese, not Japanese as many might assume.

We have a server/waiter taking our drink orders and making sure our tables are cleared of used plates while we all just enjoy the food and liberally pick a new plate each time we head off for another serving. The waiter name is Jeffery and he make sure our evening at the restaurant was a comfortable experience for he consistently came back to the tables and check out if we need any help and if there is anything that he could do. I saw the female manager walking around the restaurant making sure customers are taken care as the crowd grows larger and larger. She even pop by to our tables and strike a chat with us about the food and about the lonely single oyster sitting on the table. Wonder if our guys are regular customer at Tokyo One as she immediately identify us as the Air Force guys. This was a wonderful dinner outing and kudos to Ah Bao for initiating it and Andy for coming even though his stomach is half filled with Cheesecake from lunch.

Oh, this is the first time I tried Japanese rice wine, Sake. Sake is strong in Alcohol content but felt really refreshing and cooling when you get it down the throat. I bet its a good medication to clear blocked nose for the coolness extend up and out the nostrils.

Kore Wa Sake Desu... Ichiban Neh!

Ah Bao startled by the flashlight and almost choke on his food

Attendance marking. Modern man are easily distracted by a pretty girl walking past.

Garfield, Cat and Garfield's Owner...hahaha

This dinner remind me of two unpleasant incident with established restaurant in Singapore during my home trip...

"A Reservation with Sakura still required you to Q up"

I have made a reservation for table of 10 four hours before hand and was assured that tables will be available at 8pm and I need not make a reservation at all. To play safe since its an important dinner gathering with my brothers with their wife or girlfriend, I insist on a reservation at 8pm. Name and contact number is taken down...

7.50pm, we are 10 mins early and all geared up for a great dinner gathering. A significant human line is already forming up outside the restaurant. I thank myself for making the reservation and not having to join the Q now. So the waitress was wrong isn't she? Thats strike 1. We walk up to the waitress at the door and was surprise to hear that we have to join a separate Q exclusively for people who have made reservation. WHAT??? A reservation means we should have our table at the time stipulated in advance? Now we have to join a Q that is at less 15 people long. So whats the point of a reservation when there is no tables for us at all? Strike 2... Last Strike for Sakura when I realise the guy at the front of the reservation Q have waited 20mins. We changed dinner location in the end pretty pissed of with Sakura for not honoring the customer's reservation. I will gladly paid for the reservation if asked for but thank god I did not at all.

It doesn't help that the waitress is all smile and apology when cornered with demand and explanation. This single bad experience is enough for demerit points.

"Boo to Boon Tong Kee for rejecting customer over employee dinner time"

I doubt they have the best Chicken rice in Singapore and a branded chicken rice come strangely branded policy when it comes to employee dinner time. Maybe they are so famous that they can start rejecting customer.

It was the first day, the day I touched down in Singapore. My family spend the whole day from places to places and its finally dinner time. We headed to Boon Tong Kee for Chicken rice because its popular. Have a hard time finding a parking place and even a harder time to get into the restaurant. The manager told us to come back at 5.30pm because the employee were having dinner and no customer will be serve during this period. Its 4.50pm at that moment. The second option is to get a table, sit down and over-hydrate ourselves with drinks until 5.30pm or when the chicken land on the chopping board. Option 1= No Chicken Rice, Option 2=No Chicken Rice...What the f***? My father commented that got money also no Chicken Rice to eat.

Isn't customer first or is it just the money and quantity of customer that counts? Maybe feeding the employee first before customer is mandatory in the Singapore labor laws? We feel so alienated by the restaurant policy and so we walked away disappointed with Boon Tong Kee. Headed to another Chicken Rice restaurant near Novena Square, got our seats, got a great waitress serving us and recommending dishes and while we are having our dinner, their employee are taking turn to have their dinner. Yes...take turn to have their dinner, a "No Name" restaurant, the famous Boon Tong Kee have much to learn.