VCR Ritchie — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

26/5/23 - Had a delightful lunch with good company and good food. We ordered the Big breakfast, Chicken & Waffle, Nasi Kerabu, Mushroom soup and beverages

Big breakfast had combinations of grilled tomato, salad, baked beans, mushrooms, soft scrambled eggs on sourdough toast, breakfast chipolata sausages and chicken ham. The waffle with fried chicken (boneless) came with sriracha mayo with a tinge of curry leaves and pomegranate. It also provided a container of chrysanthemum syrup but could hardly taste the origins of the chrysanthemum. The fried chicken was good, soft and crispy. The Nasi Kerabu had the usual trimmings and condiments. Could make the rice a bit moist with some sauce on the ayam percik or a container of sambal. The mushroom soup was slurping with flavor and came with 2 toast bread. We were rushed for time and opted out dessert. We will definitely have it on the next visit!

The ambience was clean, spacious and comfortable. The decor was pleasant, chic, trendy and upscale. Looked more like a resort than a casual cafe. Service was prompt, attentive and helpful.

22/6/23 - Revisited this place. It was quiet & had a handful of customers. The dining area on the right was not opened. We asked for a bigger table as we were going to order a few dishes to sample & share. We were directed by the server/cashier to a square table for 3. He replied that those tables were for 4 people! After he left, we asked another server if we could change table. He obliged. Why pay service tax of 10% when there is no service at all.

We ordered Chicken & Waffle RM 40.00, a Cultivent salad RM 25.00, Fish & chips RM 40.00, & reserved some pastries at the counter to be served later. The dishes were ok, especially the fish & chips - rustic fries with skin on, mashed edamame green beans & homemade tartar sauce. Satisfying. We ordered our coffee Long Black RM13.00, Earl Grey tea RM14.00 & Hot chocolate RM16.00 to be served with our dessert of lemon tart RM 13.00 & brownie with ice cream.

It came promptly but without ice cream. The brownie RM 15.00 was one of the best we had for a long time. Wanted to order another one but that was the last piece. Went to the counter to settle the bill. To our surprise, ice cream RM7 was added to the bill! We were served by the same server/cashier who seated us...

An excellent cafe in terms of food, service, atmosphere. Easily among the very best I have been to. Well beyond 5 stars.

And for a longer read…

I first had VCR during the pandemic. It was VCR stacks, and being an avid lover of Reuben sandwiches, I just had to try theirs that was trending with fantastic reviews at the time. It turned out bad, to Reubens everywhere, and I’ve not visited a VCR since.

Fast forward Christmas day I found myself in GlenEagles KL. My choices were Dome, or a ten-minute walk to VCR - which means they choice was clear, a morning stroll to VCR Ritchie!

Ambience and Set up I arrived at VCR Ritchie to find it absolutely beautiful in design. Bauhaus without the “minimalist” cliche of white walls and black chairs. Instead, beautifully pastel coloured in tones of beige, well-spaced furniture, a beautiful kitchen, very well thought out space that made full use of natural light.

Service The service here is lovely. Each day I arrived to be greeted with genuine warm smiles. Some reviews commented on the use of a QR for taking orders - but is human interaction before the first morning coffee ideal? The order system allows you to specify your needs “no black pepper” or “well done patty” being my usuals and it is followed perfectly. Service went one step beyond during one such morning when a sunny side up slipped from my dish, and a staff stopped by 3 minutes later replacing it. My gosh, beautiful, heartwarming service.

Food and Beverage Absolutely spot on. Long blacks were exactly how they should be. Coffee extraction temperature and timing was absolutely perfect. The food was first class. The menu offerings included add-ons during breakfast that I truly appreciated. The chefs who prepare the food pay attention to every detail. The char on the bacon, or a light spot of what seemed to be Worchester sauce on the sunny side up, the toast on the bread with perfect salted butter before the incredibly well done scrambled eggs - so well done that I curiously tried ordering the exact same breakfast from VCR Bangsar today and would absolutely not recommend it to anyone, incredible how different VCR cafes can be. Anyway..

Thank you VCR Ritchie, you made so many of our...

We (a group of 5) reached the restaurant at about 1215, and only got a table at 1320 after much questioning. Host had zero initiative to warn us of the waiting time. But after awhile of waiting, when asked about the waiting time, the male host said 30mins, but we definitely waited more than that.

Funny thing was a group of 8 who came in at least 15 mins later than us got a table earlier than us. When questioned, the male host just replied “our manager said that the area that the table was for a party of 8”. When I looked at the table, it was easily breakable into smaller groups so it doesnt justify why other groups get their tables earlier.

The food was normal to say the least. Sure the seasoning on the fried chicken was really good but unfortunately there was hair embedded into the batter. We told the server, who said he will bring the manager but it wasn’t until we called for the manager (after about 7 mins of waiting) that someone came to talk to us about it.

We also ordered pad thai which I have assumed that it was forgotten because how can a fried chicken/waffles, chicken sandwich, and pesto pasta be served earlier? When asked, no apologies was done, server just said “6 mins”. But it was served in 10mins. Again, no apology yet.

The last straw was when the manager said she will get back to us on how to settle the bill but never did until we asked for her again. Even though she knew we were in a rush after the long wait.

Sure they tried to do service recovery by offering waffles and ice cream (which we rejected-because full) and then they waived off 2 mains. But it doesnt explain how bad the service was for a well established cafe. An apology shouldnt be sought after. It shouldnt be repeated so many times after having to call for staffs so many times.

The host should know well enough when the table is going to be available if a dining time limit is set (which I assumed wasnt set-considering the long waiting time). And the manager shouldnt be so afraid to attend to the customers because it really felt that way when we had to call for her so many times.

Highly DO NOT recommend this cafe at all unless they fix their waiting times and train their...