Before heading to The Chocolate Factory for dessert, my friends and I had gone to Yoyogi.
It looked promising enough what with the newspaper cuttings on the glass windows by the entrance. But we were left waiting for the longest time for a table even though there were THREE empty tables inside (although they weren't clean). A very frazzled waitress kept asking us and another group of three to wait while she checked if she had tables available. She never came back to us and in the end we got fed up and just seated ourselves. The other group left in frustration.
We ordered a Okayo don, a seafood steamboat served in a paper pot, and a
Chirashi don. Portions were rather small and I wasn't that full. But I suppose for the amount I paid for the Okayo don ($6.90++) it wasn't too bad. My friend said the sashimi in her Chirashi don was very fresh so I'll hold her word to it since she's quite a foodie too. The seafood steamboat was edible but wasn't particularly tasty.
The place is small and seats probably about 40 at most. It is furnished very simply with its creamy white walls and dark brown wooden tables and chairs; really not much frills when it comes to decor and interior design.
Service was passable except for the fact that the frazzled waitress could do with more product knowledge. If I opened a restaurant, I would allow my wait staff to try everything on the menu so that they would know what to say if customers asked anything about the food. Speaking of menus, I didn't like the one at Yoyogi. It had no pictures and it didn't offer any bento set meals.
Lee Hsien Yang and family were there. Cynical me thinks they were just there to do a social experiment. You know, eat out at normal restaurants with normal people and see how the common folks live. And they drove off in a Toyota or something. They obviously decided to leave the Rolls Royce at home. As they were leaving, the owner came to see them out. Well, he certainly didn't come out for us!
Anyway, I don't think I'll be heading there again anytime soon.
Service: OK, except for a scatterbrained waitress
Price: $20 - $40
Yoyogi Restaurant
33 Mohd Sultan Rd #01-05
Tel: 6887 4669