CHOWKING. I was supposed to charge this thing to experience but after emailing feedback to Chowking twice and not getting any response, I feel compelled to write about it. I went back to Tacloban from Biliran on the eve of new year's day and decided to eat an early dinner at Chowking instead of a local restaurant for the sake of speed (I was really hungry after the nearly 3 hour trip) and convenience. I was sipping the last few drops of my iced tea to cap my lauriat meal when something caught my eye -- a small roach at the bottom. Good thing I didn't drink bottoms up as I usually do. When I complained to the crew, one nonchalantly told me the roach may just have dropped into the glass as it wasn't all wet. I didn't want to create a fuss or ruin the holiday spirit so after looking for the manager and being told he/she wasn't around, i decided to just charge it to experience. maybe write chowking to see whether the company would want to look into it. I'm a regular Chowking customer and it's a pity that a big company is coming up short on the cleanliness aspect. I mean what's the difference of eating in a big fastfood/quick service outlet and a hole-in-the-wall in the palengke if this is the kind of quality service you're gonna get?
VIA MARE. And while we're on the subject of poor customer service, I was also disappointed about another favorite eating place - Via Mare. After running an errand in Quezon City sometime December, I went back to Makati at nearly 4pm to have a quiet, relaxed lunch at their Landmark branch. after 20-25 minutes of waiting, I was surprised that my order wasn't relayed to the kitchen. I'm normally a cool-headed and civil fellow but hungry, tired and largely ignored by the waiters, I called for the manager. Why am I not surprised that the manager wasn't there at the moment. While apologetic, the staff did nothing to appease me. I've been a faithful and loyal via mare customer all these years and it's saddening that even an institution like theirs is not spared the scourge of poor customer service.
