North Park

Rating:	★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Chinese
Location:	Convergys Bldg., Ayala Avenue

One thing to keep in mind about restaurants - any restaurant - is that if you expect good dining experience, you should not visit them when they are near their closing time. It's very unpredicatable what the restaurant staff will do once the closing time arrives and customers are still in the store. The plunge of the service level is perhaps forgivable in fast food restaurants but should never be the case in supposedly higher-class establishments. This is what happened to my friend and I.

We had dinner in North Park, Ayala Ave. at around 9:30 pm last Saturday night. As I had never dined in North Park before, and I've heard nominally good reviews some years ago, I decided to give it a try just for the experience. What immediately struck me when I entered the restaurant was the sight of tables that were not wiped, and the acrid smell of vinegar. This terrible ambience was something that they could have taken care of before new customers entered the restaurant, because not everyone (especially myself) likes the smell of uncooked vinegar.

The food server (named Lyn) was nice and helpful enough, but could have used some pointers in good grooming. Her oily face somehow gives the impression that the food is not being prepared in a hygienic manner. In fact, it even reinforced my first impression that cleanliness is not a priority of the restaurant because if you look at the other servers, they also had oily faces. Lyn also needed improvement in suggesting dishes. For a first-timer (or even a non-first timer) who encounters the menu, the task of choosing what one would eat can be confusing. To make a long story short, I ended up selecting a dish that I later on regretted. To be fair, it was partly my fault, but I could have used some help if she suggested dishes.

Later on, it became apparent that it was the end of the weekend for the restaurant because the manager started doing the inventory of supplies right in the middle of everything. I'm not sure how other restaurants do it but shouldn't this sort of thing be done after all customers have left? In any case, the acrid smell of vinegar wafted all throughout the time we dined there, and we even witnessed the irritating sight of the manager (who was gay) flirting with some of the men who were assisting him in doing the inventory.

The complimentary soup and tea that were served (this was a Chinese restaurant, after all) was appreciated but, sorry to say, was third class. The soup was thin with little flavor. I've seen budget office cafeterias that served better tasting complimentary soup. As for the tea, I could not understand how tea could smell salty. It didn't taste salty though - so I just gave them the benefit of the doubt that maybe they served tea that I was not familiar with. I'll tell you this though, I'm a tea person and I know good tea. In my judgement, that tea wasn't anywhere near "good".

I don't know how North Park actually performs under peak hours, but to my mind, restaurants should generally perform better during off-peak hours. With this in mind, I don't think I want to go to North Park again. At least, not the Ayala branch.

Perhaps a 1 out of 5-star rating is a bit too harsh. But I'm also in the customer service business, and I could tell that the store management had very little sincerity in having customers achieve a good dining experience. It's a pity because I actually thought North Park was a good restaurant.




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photo credit: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1135/1453254603_2ca35381fd.jpg?v=0