Timbre has 3 outlets, and it was only recently then I came to know of the place. Kinda mountain turtle huh? =p

Coincidentally, my different groups of frens were organizing gatherings at Timbre, and therefore I went there twice in the period. My experience? Well, bad & good... *Shrugged*

It was on a Saturday night, the place was fully booked & customers were still queuing at the entrance. Business was good, despite of the recession. It seemed to attract the younger crowd, and we felt kinda out of place there... haha.. I must say, youngsters ( meaning those obviously still schooling) nowadays are damn rich!

Bar was still bar, so even though Timbre served food, the choices were limited to pasta, pizza and tapas. But again,the tapas & pizza that we had ordered were decently good.

Service was fairly good except there were times when we had difficulties getting their attention as we were seated at the far corner. This was forgivable as it dun seemed to be intentionally & it was really crowded. The waitress that served our table was really friendly & helpful. Thumbs up for her!

Lychee Freeze ( Happy Hour - HH charge $10)

I highly recommended this drink for all gals! It was sweet & served with a big lychee, & you hardly taste any volka even though it was one of the ingredients. But hor, if you are a hard-core drinker, then this might not suits you wor....

Tuttu (HH = $11)

I ordered another drink before the happy hour ended, which was either 9pm or 930pm, I cant really remember... Again, this appeared to be a lady drink with ingredients like baileys and strawberry. To me, it tasted a tad like cough syrup even though the waitress had said that it tasted like thick yogurt, not really my liking though....

Thin Crusted Pizzas

I must say their pizzas were really yummy,with "exotic" varieties such as roasted duck and of coz the family favourite such as Hawaiian. The pizzas were all thinly crusted and sliced in small square pieces. Hence Ladies, you wouldn't need to worry about the extra pounds of eating the crust nor feel un-lady "struggling" with those normal big triangular pieces. Very thoughtful indeed!

Try the half & half, if you cant decide which pizza to get from the long listing. Simply order 2 flavors at the same time and be served with just 1 pizza! Varieties without ordering too much, again a neat gesture!

Tapas

I tried their grilled prawns as well..... MmmMmm was the word. The prawns were big & sumptuous, lightly marinated with garlic, licking good! A must-try!

Overall, I had a good time at Timbre @ Arts House, and was looking forward for the next trip at The Substation.

Alas, it wasnt so good after all............ -_______- |||




I went Timbre at Substation just a few days ago, to celebrate a friend's bdae. It supposed to be a happy occasion, but the bad customer service really dampen the atmosphere to a teeny weeny extend.....

Of coz lah, why should we let our mood be affected by a bunch of poor trained staff who simply dint know the fundamental of good customer service ( which they were PAID FOR to deliver) :

I joined the group later, which was why I dint take all the pictures of what we had ordered. Trust me, but these ( pointing to the pictures) were really a small fraction of our total bill. We ordered at least 1 or 2 rounds of alcoholic drinks each, pizzas, chicken wings, potato wedges, prawns etc. Obviously, we were really "sincere" to enjoy ourselves and not out to make a fuss from nothing.

Well, regardless how good the food, drink & ambience was, you only need one bad customer service to turn you away forever & ever and probably in turn, influence some potential customers who heard of the bad experience and decide not even to try?

I just dun understand. These people never study marketing before meh? Dun they know that it is ultimately beneficial to build a long term customer relationship which will mean returning sales and of coz increase sales through word-of-mouth?

My friends were there at 730pm. After eating & drinking so much, we requested for plain water, ya know, just to wash down the grease and tipsy. The staff readily agreed to it, but only served 5 cups of plain water, despite the fact that we were a group of 8 pax. He was either a mathematic idiot who dunno how to count, or simply bo chap ( cant be bothered).

But towards the end of our dinner, which were like 2 rounds of drinks & food orders, my fren really need her water, so again we requested for it. Guess wat? The staff said they cant serve water now! HUH? We were so confused.

Anyway, we were referred to a higher-rank staff, who dint set a good example to his fellow subordinates neither and yet, managed to piss us really badly.

We requested for our pending 3 cups of plain water, and all he did is to just serve only one. The reason was, we had already ORDERED our plain water, and every customer was entitled to only 1 round of serving. The one cup he served was meant to be " the extra mile" that he did for us.

We were so INSULTED.

First of all, we ordered, but was never served the right number of plain water. So what about the policy of 1 cup per customer?

Secondly, by serving only 1 cup, it sound more like trying to brush us away. Hello? DO you expect us to share that pathetic 1 cup??

Of coz, we tried to reason with that fellow, called him Botak, by explaining that we had ordered plain water for everyone earlier on, but only 5 cups came even though we were a group of 8.

That was not all. Botak also mentioned that it was their policy to serve plain water only before 10.30pm, because of their partial restaurant/bar concept.

And if they were not going to serve us , shouldn't they explain the policy right in the beginning and not practicing double standard, to serve some & not the others? We were "innocently" waiting for our pending orders, thinking that they were too busy with the crowd, hence forgetting our orders. That felt like biting the hand that feed you! Ungrateful brats!

And wat's with the policy? How am I, as a first-time walk in customer, know your god damn silent policy. So for those who havent been there before, let me do the honor to inform you:

1 MAXIMUM CUP OF WATER PER PAX BEFORE 10.30pm

NO SERVING OF WATER AFTER 10.30PM

Well, you can try your luck, because they seemed to practice double standard, as my fren saw them still serving plain water to other tables after 10.30pm....

And come on, it was just plain water, which they probably just turn on the tap and serve to customers. We hadnt requested for distilled water from some holy mountain , did we? Furthermore, we ordered alcoholic drinks and food ( our total bill was $200+) , we were not trying to cheat the restaurant/bar of their tap water.

Needless to say, I wont go back to the outlet @ The Substation. Why should I pay so much and not given the minimum service & respect? It's not as if the food, drink & songs are way better/unique compared to other places. Btw, the band only started at 10 +, and break for half-time at 11+, which was bearly an hour interval... Dunno about the other places, but I thought that it started too late, and before we knew it, it ended...

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Do you share the similar bad experience @ Timbre, The Substation? Apparently, this was not the first time my fren kenak bad service. She was just flipping through the menu at the entrance at 6pm, when the staff turned her away when it supposed to open at 6pm everyday.

Drop me a comment if you do, I'm just wondering are we damn suay or is it that the service at Timbre, The Substation is really substandard.

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TIMBRE

The Substation (Head Office) - 45 Armenian Street, Singapore 179936
Tel: 63388277