Dining Disaster: All Star Lanes Westfield Stratfod restaurant

'Twas a Wednesday evening when I dashed through Westfield Shopping Center, level by level to the top floor where I found All Star Lanes tucked away in a corner. With the promise of an excellent bowling experience and exceptional food though I gave the bowling part a miss, (long story- I hate germs) I was just in time for the food. And as a foodie and at that time undergoing a vegan detox, I was surprised to find that they had a dish which I could enjoy on the menu. It is always hard to find food that tastes good when dining out at places that aren't specifically established to cater for the vegan lifestyle.

I ordered the quinoa and avocado salad. It was presented as well as you can expect from a place where you can bowl with damask wallpaper and a bar. Everything about the place was a lukewarm interpretation of elegance and 5* service. The salad comprised of tepid quinoa served with avocado, some skinned orange pepper and salad cress for good measure a la 2010. I guess the most shocking part of the experience was the flavour or the lack there of in everyone's meals. Mine was on par with porridge oats, bland and only eaten for the fuel it would provide and my sheer hunger at that point. It was so bland that I added enough pepper to send myself into a sneezing frenzy and even had to fish out the lemon wedge in my water to make the salad slightly more palatable. 

As a chubstar, it's seldom that there are any remnants of any given meal left on the plate when I'm done with it so this was a first. What's even more telling of the extent to which the dish lacked flavour is that it was a salad and I still couldn't finish it!! 

It was my best friend's birthday that day and she had put so much thought into the evening which she had invited eight friends which made it a party of nine. She ordered a chicken burger with bacon and a side of fries (pictured above) 

Out of the nine people, only two enjoyed their food. They had ordered a small portion of Mac and cheese and the other a basket of fried chicken with sweet potato fries. They looked like they were premade and the restaurant's only hand in the preparation was to fry, bake and present the food. Having worked in a top French restaurant which prides itself in cooking fresh food I got to see some of the short cuts which included buying ready cut French fries, ready prepared snails and such. I understand that in catering some shortcuts  are needed for time, aestheticity's sake and such but everything on some people's plates looked like it was from a packet. Suprisingly that was the most enjoyed food. 

Needless to say, the birthday girl didn't finish her meal with complaints to the tune of the burger being too dry and she didn't feel too good afterwards. So my plate wasn't the only one going back with food on it. 

With the guilt of my bestfriend not enjoying a big birthday and with the complaints from the rest of the party I sought out to speak to the manager.  First in line was a nervous server who spoke to us and then referred us to a very perky and wide eyed manager who even crouched down at the end of the table to speak to us. We went on a fierce rant which detailed our grievances but her first response was that we should have told them earlier so that they'd swap our meals. At first we were infuriated and very vocal about our grievances but she was very polite and didn't express the expletives probably running rampant through her mind, managing to keep a smile on her face and the high tone in her voice. 

After sometime of complaining she asked us what we wanted to be done about it to which we had no answer because it's her job to rectify any problems the customers have. This however gave us grounds to demand a discount which we were quick to oblige. She informed us that we could only get the "Westfield" discount which is 40% which we accepted and she set off to finalise the payment details. When the payments were all totalled we had received up 45% off the final bill and my friend had received a free bowling and food pass if she emailed ahead of coming next time with some friends.

All in all this place was saved by the gracious manager's attempt to appease our disgruntled party and if the food matched up to the customer service it would have completed the experience. However the fact remains, the food was insipid and unpalatable. I was very suprised to hear that A-lister Rihanna was rumoured to have visited the place but I'm sure they would have rolled out the red carpet and presented the best of their microwaved and deep fried fodder. 

We are still yet to use that coupon for the free experience as we are hesitant of another bad experience after narrowly evading food poisoning from last time.  However with the manager being so gracious and professional we could give the place another try sometime in the future. Let's hope it'll be a good review then!!!