Bohemia Bunny

Catch that Mexican!

January 24th, 2006 by lynnylchan under Uncategorized

The boyfriend and I made a little foray to Holland Village today, because he needed to do some banking and the nearest branch was in Holland V. Now, Holland V isn’t called Holland V because there are a bunch of Dutch people living there or something. It’s just that it’s situated off Holland Road. And as to why Holland Road is called Holland Road, you’ll have to ask the historians. According to a Wikipedia search, it’s named after some architect. Well there you go.

Anyway, after we were done banking and window-shopping at a Factory Outlet Store (purveyors of killer Hollister and Abercrombie skirts), we wandered around looking for dinner. Holland Village is mostly about food. Japanese, Chinese, Italian, English, Mexican, Indian, the list goes on. And these are fine candlelight-and-napkins restaurants, mind you. Holland V caters to the expatriate crowd, for some reason. I don’t know if the food attracts the expats, or the restaurants open here because of the expats, but basically the net result is most of these places are far too posh and expensive for 2 students.

In the end we settled on Mexican food. We went to Cha Cha Cha the last time for my birthday, and it was great. We really enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately, it was under renovation this time around. It so happened that its main competition, El Patio, was right next to it. I wonder why I only noticed it now…? The boyfriend wanted Mexican, and I wanted something filling, so in we went.

Sad to say, it wasn’t a fantastic experience. Probably the staff couldn’t be bothered with us, since we only asked for water, no drinks. “Arguably the best margaritas in town” - well, I’m not up to testing that claim today, sorry. Alcohol on a school night just doesn’t seem right. And anyway, we were just there to eat, not to really indulge.

The food was decent, but Cha Cha Cha’s was definitely better. My quesadillas were slightly burnt on the crust, and the taco was a little blah. There wasn’t any aroma that tempted you on to another bite, I was just eating because I was hungry. Halfway through, the boyfriend ran out of water, and it was some time before he got a refill.

When the bill came, it was for $38.45 so we both put up $20. The folder came back with no coins inside, which was a bit strange. There was a 10% service charge included in the bill, so by rights this was not a tipping establishment. So where was our $1.55?

We decided to just let it go, after all it was a small sum, not worth any unpleasantness over. Perhaps this place, being accustomed to serving Western customers, assumed that since we didn’t request for change when paying, it was a tip of sorts. I read on waitterant.net that if the change is quite a small sum, the waiter will assume that’s a tip, rather than make change. Still, the servers should have eyes enough to see that 2 very obviously young, non-expat Asians would not tip, if service charge was in the bill.

I know servers don’t make a lot of money, and the 10% service charge doesn’t really go to them, in the end, but hey - Singapore isn’t a tipping country, so that’s not MY problem. I might not even begrudge them that $1.55 (please, such a petty sum) if the service had warranted it. But no, I don’t think the service was anything special, so why should I pay them something special on top of the 10% service charge?

I checked on the net that El Patio had changed slightly from its previous incarnation, and cut prices by 20% to be more competitive. Well, sorry, mi amigo. I’d rather wait for Cha Cha Cha next door to be done renovating, than eat at your restaurant again. It just didn’t leave me feeling all happy inside.