Bryan Chung’s Blog

After receiving feedback from Quyen, my Facebook friend, I have decided to make some changes to the center portion of my newly renovated Restaurant City Lounge theme. She drew out the idea of how my restrooms should be redesigned. I did not use her idea but with her idea, I kind of got another idea of what I should do. Hence here are the changes.

Here is a close-up screen-shot.

I forgot to set the game to “High Quality” before taking the screen-shots. So the graphics looks edgy. And yes, I prefer this updated layout. :)

“Thanks Quyen for inspiriting me to make the changes!“

The entry I made a few days ago entitled “Sakae Sushi Different in Standards? :(” was read by Sakae and they responded. In an e-mail, the lady named Jacintha, mentioned that she checked with her colleagues at Heartland Mall branch and indeed there was a miscommunication between the outlet manager and the supervisor regarding the use of the vouchers. I was supposed to be allowed to use the vouchers even if it was Fathers’ Day. Jacintha went on to apologised and was sorry for any inconvenience caused. She also mentioned that the outlet manager wanted to call me to apologise. Nevertheless I said that it was not necessary. Whatever the case, I went back to dine in at Sakae Sushi, same branch, last night together with Louis.

Much to my surprised (and a bit of embarrassment), the supervisor Wai Lee, actually addressed me by my name. She apologised over what happened and offered Louis and I free desserts. I was quite reluctant to accept the free desserts after our meal. But Wai Lee came over again to ask what we would like to eat for dessert. Even brought us the menu. So we ordered what we wanted. I finally got a chance to eat what I have always wanted to try – Tai Yaki. Coating with a fish designed waffle; inside was ice-cream with red beans. It was deliciously!

Recently I attended this workshop called “Up Your Service” and learned about the stages of customers’ satisfaction. Of all the levels, I would rate my latest experience with Sakae Sushi as “Surprising”, a level below the top of “Unbelievable”. Although Louis said their service was just “Desired” stage because it was something Sakae should do to gain back customers happiness. But I still gave it a “Surprising” rating. As I mentioned above, because I was greeted by name and was even offered free dessert. Dessert not just for me but for my friend too. Sakae could have just apologised and close the case but they took the extra step to make their customers like myself, feel honoured. So, good job Sakae this time round!

But instead of visiting Sakae once a month, I now spent over $100 for two dines in just less than 7 days. Gosh!

I must have stick to my Japanese theme in Restaurant City for over months. But when PlayFish decided to release the lounge bar feature in Restaurant City, it was time I have a theme renovation. And of course none other than the new lounge theme that was released together with the lounge bar. I completed most of the design last week but did not make the theme-switch until this week. It was because I was hoping that PlayFish will release better decorations for the exterior of the restaurant. Unfortunately for this week’s updates, they did not. Hence I had to make do with what kind of decorations there are to do a lounge exterior look. Therefore I do not really like the exterior of my restaurant. But this is what I done thus far.

See! The speakers roof is strange for a lounge restaurant right? So in order to compliment that roof, I designed an indoor concert stage in my restaurant.

With that stage, at least the speaker roof on the outside makes it not-too-bad. I quite like the stage though. Staying on the same side of the restaurant, notice the bottom part of the restaurant. My original idea was not with those red beds. But I wanted to add them in so my staff will work at a faster rate – part of a feature in the game. So it does look kind of out of place. I prefer my original idea which looks like this…

Here is how it looks like when my staff are sleeping on the beds, while off work.

Cute? =D Okay then comes the main part of the restaurant…

The lounge bar I was talking about is on the right side. In the middle of that eating area (a.k.a “island”). I have hired my god-sister Sien Wei as my bartender. :) I merged the lounge bar together with the eating area, rather than having 3 eating areas altogether. The second eating area is on the left side. The center portion is the gaming area while the bottom area is where the restrooms are located. I wanted to place the restrooms at the corner of the restaurant. But I could not find a nice place or design to place it. So I had no choice but to put it there for now.

Overall, I am happy with the design. Many thanks to my Facebook friend Sharon for helping me buy some decorations that required PlayFish Cash (real life cash) and trading with my ingredients. Especially all the mints she took the trouble to trade just to trade with me! “Thanks Sharon!“

Hope you all like that design! :) I should be staying with it for a while again. I did keep my Japanese theme on another layout so I can switch back whenever I want.

My bro Louis will be going on his intern attachment from next week onwards. While he is going for his attachment, I am doing my final year project this term. Together we may not be having lunch that often anymore. Well probably not for the next few weeks or months at least. So we decided to have a one good “send-off” meal. Not better place to eat than Swensen’s because of their one-for-one lunch special! So after our briefing in school yesterday, we drove to Tampines Mall for lunch.

He ordered the beef baked rice while I ate the fish & chip with apricot mayo sauce. I thought it was a must to be at Swensen’s and eat their ice-cream. But since we wanted to spend below $10 each for the lunch, we decided not to order any ice-cream.

Not only I will be missing the meals with him, but he may not be very free for basketball too. Erm, on the other hand I can probably save more money to not having to eat out so often for lunch and also for dinner normally after we play basketball.

“Gosh! Bro! Our days are numbered! Haha!” :)

Over the months about blogging about Sakae Sushi, many of my experiences I dined in at were pretty positive. But yesterday experience at Sakae Sushi in Heartland Mall was different. It was supposedly Fathers’ Day. So I kind of expect to have to queue to get a table. Moreover it was a Sunday. Ironically on a Fathers’ Day, I was out only with my mom to eat since my dad was at work. My mom was craving for Sakae’s Salad. I told her to order whatever she wanted to eat as the meal was on me. Before ordering, the supervisor did inform us that because it was Fathers’ Day, no credit card promotion is applicable. That is fine because I know I would be using my vouchers or even my Sakae Dollar in my Sakae Card.

Shortly later our food started to arrive. I was eagerly waiting for my salmon sashimi. When it arrived, I was kind of disappointed to see the sliced portion being small and the salmon was kind of like, not in a single slice. That is, a slice of salmon can be broken into half even. So that was the first disappointment.

Next major disappointment was when the Toko Yaki came. Thankfully I was not the one who took the first bite. But my mom did and immediately spat it out. The taste was sour, like the feeling of overnight food. Immediately told the supervisor and they offered to change another plate. Then just behind us, another table, and the family was also complaining about the curry rice being sour too. Then after much debate, I heard that there was no more rice to cook the dish, instead they used sushi rice. When the second serving of Toko Yaki came, it was fine. So in the first place, why that batch of ingredients was so bad? Overnight food?

We continued our dinner. Strangely my mom’s favourite Sakae Salad came as the very last dish. Strange because it is a dish that does not require any cooking, yet last? :( Thankfully she still enjoyed the salad. The taste was still not too bad.

Disappointment was not over it seems. When I paying the bill, the supervisor told me that my vouchers cannot be use. At the point of time I did not want to debate so I agreed to deduct the entire bill of over $50 from my Sakae Card, thankfully I had enough Sakae Dollar. The supervisor claimed because it was Fathers’ Day. But when I got home and think about it, what is so special about Fathers’ Day that my voucher cannot be use? I did not order any special Fathers’ Day promotion. It is not a public holiday. And the terms and conditions behind the voucher did not state anything about not being allowed to use on such days (and again, it is NOT a public holiday).

So end of the day, I am very disappointed with this experience at Sakae Sushi. My mom had to agree with my aunt who commented before that it seems like Sakae Sushi standards varies from places. Like if you dine in at town branch like Sakae Sushi Wisma branch compared to a branch in heartland, it seems like worlds apart. Doesn’t Sakae have some kind of quality control over the food? Being a avid fan of Sakae, dinning in at so many places before, I have to agree this time that the standards are different in different places.

And about the voucher not being allowed to use with no such terms and conditions? Disappointing. Over $50 spent yesterday was not justifiable based on the quality of food and service towards customers. Bearing in mind it did not seem like I was the only one complaining at that time I was there.

Disappointed customer this time round. :(