Breakfast at The Thistle
Father’s Day this year was celebrated at The Thistle, Port Dickson. My family and I wanted to go to the beach and the only decent beaches in PD were located by the hotels.
And so, we decided to try out The Thistle, seeing that they were new. We called to check if the buffet was still available since we had gotten up late and was told that the buffet will be on till 11am. Great, it was then only 9am.
Off we went and the drive to the hotel was overall pleasant as the roads were clear and the air was crisp on the fine Sunday morning.
When we arrived, we were greeted with smiley staff and a clean lobby. They had taken over from Guoman, so the hotel itself is not new, just the management.
Its lobby was spacious and looked relatively clean. The walls and ceilings were all white and that added a sense of zen to it I guess, not too loud if you know what I mean. Anyway …
We then proceeded to the Glass. It is located 1 floor down from the lobby and tucked near the pool. Once inside, we were met with disappointment as the waiter there said that they will close the buffet at 10.15am! Their reason was because they had to cater to a large crowd who were having some events there.
When we opted then for the a la carte menu, we were told they only had some fried noodles, nothing else!! Determined not to let this ruin our planned day, we went to take as much food as possible before they close the buffet and we settled down.
I must say though, that we were disappointed that the reception and the restaurant did not manage to convey their timelines in order to avoid any disappointment to people who called to confirm. And although the staff at the lobby were quite friendly, the staff at the restaurant were something else.
The waiters were not properly dressed, some were slouching, as if it was quite a task of having to clean the tables. Some of the staff there were literally throwing the utensils when cleaning the tables, it was so loud that it startled my kids!
And the glasses provided for the juice and milk were stained. Some of the juice overflowed the containment area and were dripping to the floor.
The egg bar presented a whole new experience too.I ordered a sunny side up and was given 2 eggs with punctured yolks. And they thought it was acceptable. I insisted and they re-do it, with the same effects!
Their scrambled eggs were badly done. Not over cooked nor cooked either, somewhere in between and it was watery. I was hesitant to feed it to my boy. And the 2 cooks there were talking between them more than focussing on the eggs, no wonder the outcome.
All in all, I would believe that I will not voluntarily go back to The Thistle anytime soon. Despite having a good beach, I will still hesitate if asked when will I be back there.
Hmm, not very good thing for a British hotel chain venturing into Asia for the first time isn’t it?
