Sweet Memory 憶點點 — Restaurant in Richmond

I've recently gone to Sweet Memory with a party of 6 for dessert at around 9pm on a Friday night. Had a uniquely poor experience there.

It started off with 4 of us arriving and grabbing a table. They had many empty tables, so they seated us first and our last 2 friends were about 30 minutes out. This is a recount to detail of what happened there:

We were not attended to for 25 minutes despite mentioning many times that we can order first. The waitress acknowledged us many times and went to do menial tasks such as wiping an empty table instead of taking our orders.

We finally ordered for the 4 of us and the waitress walked away.

Our 2 friends arrive 15 minutes later and there were a few tables seated after us that have already ordered and received their food but we have not received ours.

Our 2 friends order and we continue waiting.

15 minutes after, our 2 late friends received their food and us (the first 4 people) have not received our food yet so we ask the waitress to double check. The waitress looked at us confused and said she didn't remember taking our order. We assured her that it was her and her colleague confirmed.

She goes to take a look at her written orders and it became apparent that she had not put in our orders. She comes back and asks to "confirm" the orders holding a piece of paper indicating that she may not have had the correct items. When confirming, she basically asks us to list out all our orders 1 by 1 again basically conceding she had not made the orders in the first place but would not accept the responsibility. We painstakingly go through our orders and encouraged her to write it down. When she repeated a couple of the orders, they were incorrect so we had to correct her a couple of times. She says she "remembers" our orders and decided not to ask the last person out of the first 4 to repeat his order and left. 25 minutes later, 3/4 of us receive our food and the last person doesn't receive his (probably because she did not write that down so that order wasn't placed).

At this point we gave up and my friend said that if the order hasn't been processed yet, then forget about it. We paid for our dessert and left at the 2 hour mark.

I definitely won't be...

Plus stars for the dessert, negative stars for the snacks

Pros: The Jasmine grass jelly was surprisingly very floral. It comes with some kind of milk (evaporated milk?). Friend and I loved it. I also got the taro mochi balls as an add on for $2.85. It was rougher than typical mochi balls, but it was okay. I liked the added chewiness to the jelly. The jelly is perfectly fine without any additional toppings though.

Would love to try the Oolong grass jelly and sweet tofu pudding next time!

Cons: The savoury snacks we had are below average and overpriced. We strongly recommend avoiding them and just try their desserts.

Based on the Google reviews, I was under the impression that this place also sold regular dinner food, but the savoury stuff were all snacks. We already sat down, so we each ordered one savoury item as our dinner:

Turkey rice bowl Pork belly rice bowl Squid dish in some kind of sweet and sour sauce (bowl of rice costs extra) 2 tea leaf eggs

The rice bowls are mostly just a bed of rice. My turkey rice was mixed with a sauce that tastes similar to a teriyaki sauce. I only ate the top layer with the Turkey. No point in feeding myself more empty carbs when I'm having dessert too.

Squid came in a tiny plate and costs about $10.50. One of my friends and I liked the flavour of the sauce.

Interior: Olden days aesthetics is interesting, but some things threw us off such as the glass cups for our tea, the strange display of dolls, and the entrance had glass in front of the brick decor.

Service: We got our food fairly quickly. No one was rude. Strange that they gave my friend the bowl of rice way before he got his squid...

The restaurant's decor is quaint and full of Taiwanese charm. Every visit feels pleasant. The restaurant is open until mid-night. So, you may consider it is a place for late night food.

Starting with “Taiwanese Sausage with Sticky Rice”, the ingredients and sauce are both good. Although there are some unfamiliar condiments, overall, the taste is nice. The casing of the sticky rice sausage is a bit too tough, making it a minor drawback. Next is “Turkey on Rice”; the taste of turkey is not very familiar, but the overall seasoning is good. “Taiwanese Deep Fried and Marinated Pork Chop with Rice” is my top recommendation. The pork chop itself is well-fried, even though it's braised in sauce. You can still feel a slight crispiness when eating. The accompanying pickled vegetables are also good, providing a nice refreshing effect. Upgrading to a combo set meal offers a decent portion, and the affordable side dishes make the nutrition more balanced. Additionally, there's a dessert of either tofu pudding or tea jelly after the meal. Their service is attentive; when they saw me using a spoon to eat rice, they quickly provided another spoon for the dessert. Very thoughtful.

Overall, the Taiwanese flavor and the meal price of this restaurant will make me a...