WORST BUFFET EXPERIENCE EVER

Imagine, buying concert tickets with prime, center seats, and then upon arrival at venue, you were told that your seats have been reassigned to corner, back seats?

That's what happened to us last July 6 at The Alley by Vikings at BGC. At around 5pm, before the buffet opened at 5:30pm, we arrived and inquired if all is set with our reservation. Only to be welcomed with, "Ma'am, ayon nga po, may change po kasi." Apparently, our reserved location was taken by another group and we were reassigned to a different location, which was in the tight space and far away from the majority of the buffet.

Asked to explain what happened, the management said that they gave it to another group of diners who changed their date and reserved the same center area as us. So, because they made the reservation before us, they just gave it to them without:

1. Telling that group first that the area was already reserved on their new date. If they wished to occupy the same area, then they should give an available date. Those who reserved, even if it was later than them, shouldn't be the one to adjust because we weren't the ones changed our reservations. Sila yong may change, pero sila yong inaccommodate. Kami yong affected?

2. Informing us of the change ahead of our reserved date and not on the date itself. We made our reservation 3 weeks ahead last June 20. We already paid 50%downpayment, leaving our contact numbers and also correspondence via Messenger. Did they seriously thought, we would say, "Oh, it's okay no worries!" When it fact, we particularly selected the area because they confirmed it was a. still available, and b. it was the best spot. It was in the center and near the buffet stations, and the band plays right in front of it.

By 5:45pm, they were still trying to seat us at odd places, resulting in delay of the buffet opening at 5:30pm. People couldn't enter. We really wanted to insist that we seat at our reserved place. But to avoid further hassle for everyone, we just told them to give us the next best place available and demanded for a compensation.

In the end, we were able to dine in albeit the Reality vs. Expectation experience. They gave us 10% off discount, which was just P1,000 off on top of the promo discounts.

But just as one of the guests told, we shouldn't have allowed for such mere compensation as this enabled the management to get away with their double booking. And we were suspecting that they prioritized the other group because they were a corporate client, vs. us which were just a group of regular diners. With Vikings' experience in the industry, it was hard to believe they didn't know how to handle a double booking.

Other reviews: Staff: They were extra attentive and nice to us, perhaps because of our situation. When in fact, shouldn't this be the case for all restaurant's wait staff?

Fortunately, majority of our guests didn't arrive during all the commotion. And I do believe some did enjoy the buffet.

Food: (Personal opinion) It was so poor I felt I was just eating para masulit yong rate. The baked oyster had broken shells on it, I had to spit it out and return as it was not edible at all. The pasta was salty, the ebi tempura was too small, etc. etc. Hindi na ako ulit babalik at kakain dito, period.