After last year satisfactory Valentine’s dinner at Ingolf (link), we’d
decided to go to Victoria Station this year based on one reason alone – the main
course! LOBSTER!!! *Squee* Victoria Station is one of the oldest established
western restaurant in Penang but I guess a bit overshadowed by all other new
establishments now.
Anyhoo, we arrived in the restaurant at around 7pm and order 2 sets of
Valentine’s Dinner (RM99++ per pax). The set menu includes:-
Parfait
of Avocado & Tomato with Lobster Claw
Cream
of Cauliflower with Lump Eggs Caviar
Half
Lobster Thermidor with a choice of: Grain-fed Sirloin Steak or Chicken Fillet
Chocolate
Walnut Tart
Café
D’Vienna or Finest Early Grey
The floor was quite empty at the time and funnily enough – they were playing
Chinese New Year song on a supposedly romantic Valentine’s Day dinner!!! Hmm…
should there be some romantic song?
We were served with the Soup and Appetizer – the Cream of Cauliflower was
lukewarm with some pitiful “caviar” on top. It tasted too “vegetable” and no cream taste for my taste.
 |
| Cream of Cauliflower with "Caviar" |
The Parfait of Avocado & Tomato looked beautiful in presentation but simply
wasn’t so great in taste. Basically it was taken straight from a freezer –
everything was ice-cold and hard. The parfait was so hard and the texture was
similar to over-frozen ice pop. *facepalm* We simply gave up most of the
Parfait and just finish the claw.
 |
| Parfait of Avocado & Tomato with Lobster Claw |
When we first arrived in the restaurant, it was quite empty but couples kept
showing up nonstop after a while. By the
time our main course was served, the floor was totally full. We ordered Sirloin
Steak for both sets as Victoria Station was famous for their steak. After the
appetizer nightmare, the main course was a welcome surprise with nice
presentation and great taste. The steak was tender and the lobster cheesy. I just
hope we have more lobsterssss! =p
 |
| Lobster Termidor & Steak |
By the time we finish our main course, the floor was swarmed with couples – I
think Victoria Station either accepted too many bookings or they simply
accepted all walk in customers. There were couple standing there waiting to be
seated but all tables were full. In fact, there were so many people until the
waiters were simply at lost on what to do. The worst part was Victoria Station
hired non-English speaking foreign worker who couldn’t communicate with patrons
at all. Customers were simply ignored for long time until you could get a hold
of the poor English-speaking captain.
We were basically ignored after we finished our main course. We waited for
30 minutes before finally flag down the captain to expedite our dessert. We
waited for like another 15-20minutes before the Chocolate Walnut Tart was
served. My eyes almost popped out when the tart arrived – it was basically a
simple tart on aluminum foil on top of a saucer plate! Hmm.. at RM99++ per pax,
I would expect there were at least some nice presentation or something but that
was not the case. Basically the tart was small and we could finish it in one
go. It tasted just normal and not befitting to a restaurant like Victoria
Station. Come on! Salsa's set lunch dessert at least looks and tastes better at RM15.80+ per set (link)!
 |
| Chocolate Walnut Tart |
After the dessert, it was another waiting game to wait for our tea – the couple
beside our table also kept complaining about the bad service as they were there
for more than 30 minutes but nothing had been served – not even water. At the
end, we gave up on the tea and simply paid for the dinner and left the
restaurant. How do you pay for your dinner in such fine restaurant? Apparently you
have to go to the counter and queue up for payment like during shopping
clearance. Gosh! The line was so slow and their credit card machine was not
working either! What a nightmare!!! In the counter, we saw our tea was basically
sitting there unattended and all the foreign waiters sitting there dumbfounded.
We finally paid our bill with cash and left the chaotic place skipping the
tea. They didn’t even give us the complimentary wristlet that came with each
set. So was it worth the money? I would say the ambience and the overall food
taste were simply not up to par – thankfully at least the main course was
edible. I guess we won’t be going back to Victoria Station for next year V-day.
=p
Victoria Station is located at Jalan Tengah, Bayan Lepas, Penang.
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