We left quite late for 2 reasons, one, we are not pressed for time and two, we want to avoid the expected jam near Seberang Jaya, Penang as the nomination for the Permatang Pauh by-election is on Saturday morning.
When we reached Penang, I started making calls to check for rooms availability. I had earlier planned to spend the night in either Sungai Petani or Alor Star which is already close to Sik. But my first few calls to hotels in Sungai Petani proved futile as there are no rooms available. The people going to Permatang Pauh must have been forced o go further north to S. Petani to get rooms. Finally, I decided to call Faizal who is back in S. Petani (his home town) for a kenduri for help. He managed to get 2 rooms in Emerald Puteri.
After checking-in (our 2 rooms were located at different floors), we decided to get something for dinner. I remembered the last time I was in S. Petani I saw a restaurant called Radix Fried Chicken but was unable to try it out as the place was full. So this time, I thought we should give it another try.
We arrived around 8:15 pm. The place is again full but we managed to get an empty table. I asked my children to stand in line and order the chicken which has an uncanny resemblance to KFC. It was a long wait. We only managed to get our food around 9:10 (almost an hour wait for fast food!!). No wonder the place is always full, people are there waiting in line for their food.
While waiting, I managed to snap a few photos of the place. My comments of the place:
1. The have a good crowd of customers. Not only are they customers, they are also customers with lots of patience.
2. The place is not well served. Even though it seemed to have a lot of staff, the tables are not quickly cleaned and the floor is strewn with things. I had to ask someone to mop the area around my table as someone before me had drop their drinks.
3. The wait for our order is too long. According to my children who made the order, the counter staff were efficient but its the kitchen that is late.
4. The overall decoration of the outlet is good. With its striking red, it is definitely eye catching. But the staff must be quick in tending to the tables.
5. To me, the food is nothing to shout about but it is a novel idea and I think the crowd will at least give it a try and having tried they could be persuaded to come for repeats. The drumstick that I had was bigger than normal so much so that the inside of it was not properly cooked.
6. The food is competitively priced compared to other similar joints and this could be its strongest selling point.
I hope the owner make the necessary changes fast because the outlet definitely has potential to be successful especially in the Malay heartland. As one of the customers remarked "They should get someone senior from one of the established fast foods francise such as KFC or McDonald's."
3 comments:
Izir pun pergi Kedah untuk kenduri kahwin pada tarikh tu. (Ada tulis dalam blog). Kebetulan pula.
HBO,
It is the waiting and long queue made people think that the food is good.
The service is very important. If you made people wait. It could be the first and the last time. They should get professional to run the place. Any Dick, Tom and Harry could not run such a place. If not it is a mater of time it would gulung tikar.
Have a nice day anyway.
Post a Comment