Remboelan - Gandaria City — Restaurant in Jakarta

the first time i ate at a remboelan joint was here. i've walked by this place many times before but never had the chance to go before then. they really impressed me with their whole "indonesian soul food branding" and a remarkable facade at their storefront.

but, when i actually ate there i was surprised by the thickness of their menu and how many foods and drinks were available to order. "how the hell do they maintain quality with this many options to choose?" was the first thing that came to mind. i guess they managed that by cooking foods in bulk and serving them reheated. heck i got one pindang kakap heated on my table then. another problem is that it makes customers less focused on what's really good in their menu. coming in, i was hoping for some kind of a indonesian fusion bhinneka-tunggal-ika food but nah it's really just foods from all over indonesia in one huge assortment of menu. we spent like 15 mins just choosing what to eat and not knowing what to expect, so that makes for a really bad experience.

the food was good, but not that good to justify the confusion. i'd actually love it they showed more intention and curation in their menu, and not this hodgepodge and potpourri of foods. make it seasonal somehow. take things out, put things in. idk, i just want the chef to show some character, instead of whatever this...

every cuisine i have enjoyed here is palatable.. all good.

some desserts bit out of expectation. es kacang merah with cinnamon.. what an awful fusion.. and sweetness was too light. not tipycal one.

sweet iced tea was also awful.. tasted like iced water with a drop of tea and a pinch of sugar.

spent 1.5mio for 7 persons but i ain't satisfied with the portions of my choice. 3 slices of sei sapi for 75.000 and a small gurame for 120.000 failed to make my day after 1 hour on the wating list + 40 minutes before all the dishes served.

it was ied holidays so it's actually expected that it would be crowded.. so they offered me a private room with 1.2 mio minimum order.. the room is claustrophobic so we let the door opened. felt like inside a meeting room instead in a resto.

we literally just wait and eat at the resto.. without really having family chit chat.

a waiter asked whether there is someone who had birthday wtithin a week or not.. as it happened my daughter had her birthday fewdays before. they gave a "special gift" which was a bowl of dessert that we all didn't know what was the name of it. it was a bowl of few things that i didn't know what they were.. topped with syrup and shreded ice.

still want to...

Don't bother coming to this branch. It's the worst one I've had for lunch.

We ordered at 12:34pm and food came at 1:02pm. That's almost 1/2 hour. And I asked for the chicken thigh and the waitress confidently said "oh sorry we don't have any more chicken thighs only breast" seriously?! I told her that her colleague already jotted down my request for thigh. She went to the kitchen and came back telling me that they will cook it but will take 10mins. 🤷🏻‍♂️ So we asked where's our appetizer, and she came back saying that the kitchen staff is frying them 🤷🏻‍♂️

At 1:14pm, the only appetizer that we ordered arrived...that's almost 45minutes since we ordered. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Asked the bill, the manager/supervisor or possibly the cashier came and ask if everything went well. We told her the whole damn story and guess what she said "we're sorry..." That's it?🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️ No nice gesture...total void of customer service. Zero. I will never go back...