The Round Tower 1886 Cafe & Restaurant — Restaurant in Sarawak

This 1-star review is solely for the management, not for the staff.

My husband booked the valentine package for RM388 (food only no alcohol - which is actually slightly on the steep side). So what we'd expected would be decent food with nice ambience but we were so wrong.

Because it was valentine's, my guess is the management/owner being greedy to have the place full for the 6pm slot AND then 8pm slot, expecting the 6pm patrons to be done by 8pm to cater to the people who have booked for 8pm - failing to think ahead that there might be people who would come late (how do you manage this as you ask for upfront payment? lucky for us my husband wanted to pay by cc so we were not bound by the payment made). As well as failing to give enough time for the staff to clean out the tables and set up for the 8pm slot. Guys, for such occasions, you should always take ONE booking per table per night only, not two bookings per table and then hope for the best. Think for your employees!

So we got there at 8, the staff were basically overworked and clueless of what to do next as they are obviously overwhelmed. I will never support a business who do not put their staff's well-being as number one priority.

We had to wait by the narrow corridor for tables to be cleared, with plenty of others waiting alongside us. The tables were placed so close to each other with the chairs back to back, so close that we could probably even smell the patron on our next tables, that we totally forgot that we were in a heritage building, it was so cheap it made the round tower lose it's taste. Again, the package is RM388 before tax ya.

Drinks came 30 mins later (so called mocktail in the package but in reality it was just ribena fizz), close to 9pm food started coming out to tables that arrive after us, tables that came before us were still not served. The staff all looked overwhelmed, again, this is not their fault but the management's for overworking them for the profit. They looked exhausted, lost, and didn't know what to do but to know that they need to pacify the patrons.

Mind you, this was already 9pm. If you are to restrict people to only 6pm or 8pm booking, you have to ensure food is out the moment peoe arrive. Are you expecting us to have dinner at 10pm? Planning is important, your staff 's wellbeing is important, apart from just solely money-making.

Anticipating that it will be chaos and that it will be long more before we got our food, we left (lucky for us on the cc option). Doubt we will return again albeit really wanting to experience the heritage feel, as we do not support businesses who fail to take care of the well-being of their staff.

Hope you guys do better, or else what a shame to this round...

This review is in no way intended to demoralise staff working at the Round Tower, but rather as a word of advice to the cafe’s top management, pointing out a few things to take note of and improve on:

Reservation issues

○ We had made a 11 am reservation the day before for nine people on Christmas Day (25.12.2022)

○ When we arrived they had yet to set our table (they only set it about 20 minutes later)

Long waiting time (some food didn’t arrive at all)

○ It took a while for us to get our drinks. Even plain water came out only 20 minutes after our order was taken.

○ The dishes were served one at a time, with long waits in between, so some were already done eating before others had even gotten their food.

○ Two dishes didn’t arrive at all – so my niece and I had no proper lunch after sitting there at the cafe for nearly two hours.

Salt and pepper shakers

○ The salt and pepper shakers were presented together on a stand for use, despite the pepper shaker being completely empty. My brother requested for a waiter to bring us another set.

○ The pepper shaker in the second set of shakers they brought us had a few peppercorns; the salt shaker, on the other hand, was totally empty. Things like these should be checked before opening for business and ready upon request.

The Management

○ When I asked to speak with the manager about the poor service after a 1 ½ hour wait for my food, I was told that the manager was not present and could speak to the staff about it instead.

○ The waiters and waitresses were rather clueless. Our lamb and sandwich weren’t even in the process of being made by the time I brought it up to the staff about them. I then asked to cancel our orders because there was no point continuing to wait there for the food if they hadn’t even gotten started on it.

The only thing I’d appreciate about this restaurant is the heritage building, every other aspect was rather average (i.e. the food) or way below par (i.e. the management and service). It was my first and most definitely last visit...

Visited this place after having brunch at the carpenter street. Brand new restaurant in the city (one month+ old). Had a tough time to find the main entrance. Basically walked one round around the tower then realized the small little door is indeed the main entrance. There wasn't any second entrance to the restaurant (nor stairs to reach the restaurant from the back). Felt really bad for my 70+ years old mom to walk one big round to enter. On that day, there was a fancy car blocking the way to the main entrance too.

Nice ambient, very classic set-up in this historical building. Good choices of meals available. I only ordered a cup of mocha latte and burnt cheese cake. Took awhile for them to serve. Was told there's only one Barista. Menu was temporarily hence cake's price was not stated. When asked about the price, waitress was guessing at RM12+. Good that she checked and it was RM16.90/slice. Staff are probably pretty new and still learning about the restaurant themself. One positive point is they are hardworking enough to clarify and check. I guess with time they will become more experienced and know better on the restaurant and menu.

Was told kitchen is closed from 2.30pm and reopened around 6pm (if I remember correctly). During the kitchen closing period, pastry and cakes are still being served. Overall the cheese cake was ok (7/10), drinks are good (9/10). Portion was right. Price is slightly on the high side.

Hopefully during my next visit I will get to try more food and drinks. Will revise my rating...