SWELL by Vamos — Restaurant in Johor

Vamos Signature Apple Pie = RM18.00 White Coffee (5oz, Summer Swell Blend) = RM13.00

Service Charge 10% = RM3.50

This is a Modern Cafe in a Dedicated Building. The Interior is nicely decorated with a Chill American Beach Surfer Vibe with Hip Hop Rap Tunes playing in the Background.

Its Air-Conditioned, Nice and Cooling and has a Nice Roasted Coffee and Pastry Aroma wafting about. Not alot of Customers when I was there around 4.00pm on a Friday Afternoon.

They have their own Dedicated Bakery Oven and bakes their own Pastries. The Signature here is their Homemade Apple Pie which isn't available all the time. The Staffs are Friendly and I appreciate they took the time to explain their Specialty Coffee.

It took 6 Mins for the Coffee to be served up, and 10 Mins for their Apple Pie. Everything was up in 10 Mins.

White Coffee (5oz, Summer Swell Blend) = RM13.00

So they have their own House Coffee Blend which they change on a Regular Basis. If you order their "White Coffee", you will have a choice of what Blend they have that day.

I chose "Summer Blend" because I was intrigued with what they claim has an Orange Citrus touch. It really has a Nice Subtle Aroma of Oranges mixed with Roasted Coffee Beans. The First Taste of it is a Foamy Mouthfeel and there really is a Slight Orangey Citrusy Aftertaste.

The Hit from the Roasted Coffee comes in soon after. Both Tastes are not Overly Strong, but neither are they too Mild and I thought they complimented each other well. It really does feel like I'm drinking a "Summer Coffee" if it makes any sense. Not Overly Milky or Overly Sweet, this was a Unique Tasting Coffee.

Vamos Signature Apple Pie = RM18.00

Beautifully Presented, this was a Thick Chonky Slice with a Scoop of Vanilla Ice-Cream. The Whole Thing is powdered with bits of Cookie Crumbs.

The Vanila Ice-Cream didn't taste Overly Sweet and it didn't taste like its from some Cheap Budget Ice-Cream Brand. I reckon they either made this themselves or its sourced from a more Atas Brand because the Sweetness is quite Mild, not the Overly Sweet Type.

The Apple Pie Skin itself is Beautifully Caramelized and resembled a Basque Burnt Cheesecake. The Bite Texture of the Skin is a Tad Doughy though. I prefer my Apple Pie Crust to have a more Biscuity Feel.

I love the Big Chunks of Apple Cubes bursting out from the Hot Ooey Gooey Filling. Amount of Apple Pieces are Generous that I think is at least Half an Apple worth. The Apple Cubes are not the Super Soft 煮到烂烂 type but still Soft to the Bite. There is also a Mild Classic taste of Cinnamon that is not Overpowering.

The Whole Apple Pie with the Vanilla Icecream was not Overly Sweet. Everything was just nice, and it never got too Jelaky Sweet to eat. Using Vanila Ice-Cream was a Good Choice because it doesn't try to overtake the Hot Apple Filling and the 2 of them worked together beautifully. I only wished the Pie Crust was abit more Biscuity instead of Doughy.

Conclusion and Closing Thoughts

At the Price of RM13.00 (S$4.00) for this Unique Citrusy Blend of Coffee, I thought it was an Interesting Taste if you don't mind shelling out abit more for a more Experimental Brew.

At the Price of RM18.00 (S$5.50) for this Slice of Apple Pie I can't help but compare this to the Apple Pies sold at Swisslink Cafe in Clementi which is S$3.20 a Slice. (2023 Price)

This Vamos one feel alot Bigger and have an Extra Vanila Icecream that Swisslink doesn't. The thing that hits the spot for me for Vamos are the Generous Amounts of Large Apple Chunks which I absolutely adored. Both Vamos and Swisslink are equally good in their own way.

Overall an Acceptable Modern Cafe with Decent Foods at a Higher Cafe Price. I wished they provided more Value-Added Service like providing a Bottle of Free Plain Water which other Cafes do.

If you don't mind paying a higher than usual price, I feel this is a Nice Place to Chillax.

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I’ll start off with saying if giving 0/5 is possible, I would and I believe most customers who visited on 29 July 2023 afternoon would share the same sentiments. I will comment on two aspects.

About the food/drinks: Ordered the latte, magic, filter coffee, kombucha and more that I can’t recall. I have never drunk a coffee this bad and I say this from someone who has tried many coffee places. The beans tasted burnt for the magic coffee. The filter coffee lacks depth as we couldn’t taste any flavour notes for the coffee. The latte…….doesn’t even taste like latte, that’s all I know how to describe. Saving grace was kombucha as I ordered the sampling set and it pleasant. But still, it’s appalling how an actual coffee roastery can produce such unappetizing coffee in all forms.

Food wise, we only had the apple pie that’s was decent, and a bbq chicken sandwich which was subpar, fries was quite nice though. But for RM32 I can find tastier ones in the night market easily. We had more orders for food, but was cancelled and refunded, which brings me point two.

About the service: We waited patiently an hour and only the drinks came in parts slowly. We then reminded the staff about our food but it fell on deaf ears. By the third time we asked to have our food refunded since it doesn’t look like it’s coming soon but they said to wait a little while. At the umpteenth time we asked to refund unless served within 5mins and they said OK. Eventually, only one dish came which was the sandwich and we asked for refund for the rest. Our friends who came half an hour later also experienced the same and got all of their food refunded.

A very amazing observation we made was that food was not served at most of the table in the cafe. It feels almost like the kitchen is not operating. Funny thing is that other tables starting following suit and got their food refunded as they waited too long. 😂😂

Saw another review about the staffs idling in the kitchen today. Unfortunately, I noticed through the kitchen door too.

I will not undermine the good reviews they have earned thus far. But it’s honestly puzzling why customers had such an awful experience on this fine day.

Maybe it’s just a series of unfortunate combination of events. Maybe they had problems with their logistics or staffing. Maybe this batch of beans was not quality checked.

Genuinely didn’t expect this from a 4.5 stars on google (the reason why we settled here) but was utterly disappointed. Hence I decided to write a detailed experience me and my friends had. I think it’s important to have critics so people who are looking to visit this cafe can be well informed about how the food/services they can expect.

@staff, please do not apologize if the excuses are due to overwhelming crowd. Granted the cafe was packed but shouldn’t there be sufficient staffs on standby to handle the customers at its capacity? If other similar and nearby cafes can do it with long queues, why cant Vamos Coffee Roastery have the same efficiency? As for the low quality of food, not sure how the cafe is gonna do better… Honestly if food is good but the service is bad, I might give it to u guys. But...

Very average cafe with slow service. When we enter the cafe, fragrance from pastry can be smelled but not coffee, pretty weird for a roastery.

We ordered apple pie since quite many reviews recommended and also got a sandwich, plus cold brew, flat white and gula melaka latte.

Drinks came in about 10mins. Flat white has a weak coffee taste, cold brew was too fruity and there is some spice in it that makes it kind of weird.

Waited 20mins for the apple pie to be served but the ice cream was already melting like mad when the plate made it to our table. Apple pie has a soggy base (as though it is uncooked dough) so it is not as enjoyable as expected.

Sandwich arrived 40mins after order was placed, plus we had to ask for it/check the order for 3 times. Sandwich (Vamos Classic Reuben) was RM$32 and to be fair, the taste is not bad. The bread should be made in house if I am not wrong. Bread itself also not bad. The third star in this review is for the bread.

Staff did explain that the kitchen is understaffed when we check on the sandwich for the third time. If that is the case, maybe inform the customer before order was made. If there is totally no warning about longer wait times, it is frustrating for customers to wait more than 30min for a toasted sandwich. Table next to us arrived later than us and got their pasta served before our sandwich arrive so the wait is really frustrating. Also, just heat up apple pie plus add a scoop of ice cream need to wait 20min. Service can definitely be improved.

After checking the receipt, we realised there is actually service charge. We had to take the bottle of water and cups on our own, take sharing plates and serviette on our own, so I do not think there is good service at all. If it is a self service cafe, then the service charge is not justified.

There are quite a number of cafes nearby, honestly there js nothing spectacular about this cafe so I will not return for another visit even if I am in the...