Makansutra gave it 4 out of 6 chopsticks. Seetoh featured it on his “Makansutra Raw” tv series. Jimmy and I like checking out new eateries. I remembered that on the episode featuring Restaurant Chako, Seetoh made a big deal about how tough it is to get a table so I made a reservation for two.
The girl who answered the phone was a sweet young lass who offered to email the menu to me. Later, she called back to get my orders. I don’t mind that at all. I do that with Aunty Lee’s when I go Melaka for Peranakan food. In fact, you can pretty much forget about walking in at Aunty Lee’s without a reservation and pre-ordering your dishes. Aunty Lee buys her food fresh and just enought for that day’s orders.
But this isn’t an Aunty Lee review. This is about Restaurant Chako and how despite pre-ordering our food, it still took us 1.5 hours wait. To rub it in, they didn’t serve us at the same time. The Chicken Katsu Curry came after a 20 minute wait and the Beef Yakiniku came an hour after it. I watched Hell’s Kitchen and Gordon Ramsey is always ‘Effing’ the contestants if the dishes don’t go out together. Of course Ramsey runs a 3-star Michelin restaurant that I am too poor to eat at.
The thing is, we weren’t the only ones not being served promptly. The entire room was filled with groups of diners being served one-by-one.
And that is what I don’t get: what is the point of calling your customers to pre-ordering? Unlike Aunty Lee’s where the food comes piping hot and fast, here the wait is still going to be excruciating.
To be fair, there was just one cook — the Japanese lady. And she painstakingly cooked and plated each dish. Why she couldn’t cook 2 beef steaks at the same time, I don’t know. But Beef Steak #1 came out and then Beef Steak #2 went on the stove.
Dont get me wrong, the food was reasonably priced ($18 and $19) and I know the lady chef takes great care and pride in her meals. But waiting 90 minutes for food is crazy. No food would taste good after such a long wait. I remember a Bon Voyage dinner party at a Mediterranean restaurant that took 3 hours to serve all the diners. The person who reccomended it said that was common and she typically waited 2 hours for her food. Why she would go back beats me! I don’t even want to try it, knowing how long I would have to wait. No food is worth wasting my time WAITING.
So, that is why I would not return to Restaurant Chako, 4 chopsticks or not.




















