I have been contemplating whether to spend any time blogging on The Mushroom Pot. My dining experience at this restaurant was so excruciatingly bad I didn’t really want to remember it, much less write about it. But then I decided – because it was so bad, all the more I have to warn my readers about this place! So here goes.
We were at the Singapore Indoor Stadium for the Coldplay concert. With time to kill before the concert started, we decided to have dinner at The Mushroom Pot. When it comes to dining at the stadium there isn’t much of a choice. Among the few restaurants there we thought The Mushroom Pot looked the most interesting.
Little did we know that we were in for a great disappointment. I have only harsh words for this place.
S$8++
Rating:
Take a dish like the drunken chicken. As its name suggests it is supposed to be chicken marinated in wine or some form of liquor. What was served was simply regular chicken with absolutely no hint of any liquor flavour. The chicken looked no different from what you get at hawker centre stalls! I don’t know what’s worse – the huge chunks of bone and fat that came with the chicken, or the absence of any liquor that it’s supposed to be drenched in. It was a complete sham!
S$8++
Rating:
For a restaurant that specialises in mushroom dishes, their mushroom soup is certainly nothing to shout about. The wild mushroom tom yum soup was served with some thin slices of mushroom in the mix. The soup itself was thin, and way too spicy and sour. It left a bad impression immediately.
The not-so-drunken chicken and over-the-top-sour tom yum soup were just the appetisers. Our main course of crispy squid with wasabi sauce was not served until at least half an hour after we were done with our appetisers! The long service time was disgraceful. To add to the damage they served us the wrong dish a couple of times. By the time they finally got it right, we were almost late for coldplay!
S$12++
Rating:
The only good word I can put in for this horrible restaurant is that I actually liked the crispy squid. The pieces of calamari were coated with a light, tasty batter deep-fried to a crisp. The accompanying wasabi sauce provided a fun twist and gave much zest to the dish. Unfortunately we simply didn’t have much time to savour the calamari.
Even when it came to payment, the people handling the cash register didn’t seem too familiar with it. Here we were, already ten minutes past 8 and late for the concert. I don’t know how difficult it is to work the machine but somehow the cashier had to take at least five minutes to process each payment.
There were many angry faces in the queue as virtually everyone was there for Coldplay. We were all late because of the slow service! Why on earth were there so few waitstaff on a night like this? With a huge act like Coldplay performing that night (something the restaurant would have known a couple of months in advance), they should have been fully prepared to handle the large influx of customers.
I was not surprised when I saw several lines of additional charges in my receipt. $1.50 for the house appetiser that we didn’t get. $0.60 for the serviettes. $3 for the hot Chinese tea. And $2 for the plain white rice. Another 10 percent for the absolutely lousy non-service. I’m never ever setting my foot in that place again.
Website
Stadium outlet
Singapore Indoor Stadium
2 Stadium Walk #01-02
Singapore 397691
Tel: +65 6342 3320
Service:
Orchard Point outlet
OG level 4
160 Orchard Road
Singapore 238842
Tel: +6733 9910
February 3, 2007: My list of Best (& Worst) Restaurants in Singapore for 2006
– Winner of “Worst Restaurant of the Year”
Jul 14, 2006
10
We all had our bad experience at certain resturant. It is something that we learn and not to go back again. I’m sorry to hear that the food was lousy, hope you have a better meal next time. The food you captured looks great and when I’m looking at it, it makes me hungry.
Jul 14, 2006
3472
Yeah, to a better dining experience!
Dec 12, 2006
Yeah.. the mushroom pot is using unhygienic food stuff such as “Live” caterpillar in their vegetables for their customers to eat..
Upon complaint to the waitress and manager, they told us they will give discounts more than what the current credit card promotion they are offering.. but at the end of the meal, the manager told us they are unable to give us discount if we use the credit card.
we have no choice but paid up with the credit card. however, the next day, my friends and I have diahroea and we reported to our doctors and are advised to report to the authority on the unhygienic food handling. This is because we are threatened by the manager that if we do not pay the stated amount, they are going to call the police.
Therefore, I urged the people who read this NOT to try this hooligan store again.
Dec 18, 2006
1
Hey, thanks for this informative website. Had an important day coming up and was planned at Mushroom Pot. That’s going to be one place I’m avoiding now, for that important event at least. And this site is too great not to bookmark. ; )
Dec 18, 2006
3472
No problem. Good things should be shared, and bad things like these should be made known. Glad you’ve found this site before you get victimised by that horrible restaurant! Spread the word around!
Feb 12, 2007
2
Mushroom Park in Serangoon Gardens is definitely much better!!!
Nov 7, 2007
1
Hi, I was searching for vintage cafe & spotted your blog, it was cool & awesome when I first saw it as you have rated the BEST & WoRSE restaurant.
I got to agree that Mushroom pot is the also the worse restaurant I’v ever been to for steamboat.
There’s another one at serangoon garden named mushroom park which is definitely beta for mushrooms lover, services also quite gd… maybe u could comment if u ever try it..
http://www.mushroompark.com.sg
PS: Thanks for the information on vintage cafe. =)
Nov 8, 2007
3472
lol thanks for agreeing!
it’s been more than a year, yet my memory of this restaurant still remains vivid. That only goes to show how bad the place really is!