Wine Connection Bistro (VivoCity) — Restaurant in Singapore

I'd thought of Wine Connection's bistros as sort of secondary to their main business of selling wines, but these restaurants can hold their own in a contest against similar establishments, not only in terms of their prices, but also the quality of the food (and the enormous and fairly inexpensive wine selection doesn't hurt either).

Most of the dishes we ordered, while not standing out in any particular way in brio or creativity, were nonetheless perfectly serviceable and delicious. No complaints on service, and the Vivocity branch's ambience is only boosted by the presence of ample alfresco seating affording those inclined a superb view of the southern Singapore straits.

Liked: Padron peppers. Superb, lightly crisp, not too vegetal, goes great with sauce, though the dense cluster of seeds in the center presents a perplexing puzzle viz. their edibility. Steak and fries. Relatively inexpensive, and the steak itself was cooked to a nice medium rare that had a good balance of tenderness and chew. Truffle Fries. A hot basket of fries. Can't go wrong with these. Although a little strong on the truffle. Grilled broccolini. I have to say, along with the peppers, this only solidifies my opinion that Wine Connection does great grilled veggies. I could eat a ton of these. Cheese board. Good spread of normal cheeses at a relatively affordable price point.

Ambivalent: Chorizo and potato. Potatoes were slightly underseasoned and the chorizo had a sort of gritty, unbecoming texture, like cobbled-together rubbings of an eraser. Moules frites. Some of the moules were a bit cold by the time they arrived, though I have no complaints about the overall quality of the mussels and the accompanying broth. Lava cake. It's lava cake. There's a reason Jon Favreau made it out to be an enduring symbol of sell-out chefs working in overpriced, soulless restaurants.

Needs work: Tiramisu. Too much (tasteless) cream and only a few meager layers of ladyfingers, which were themselves soaked in an acridly bitter coffee concoction. One of the worst tiramisus I've had in recent memory and totally a...

I just visited Wine Connection at VivoCity and was extremely disappointed with the service. From the moment I walked in and seated myself at the bar counter, the staff seemed disinterested and busy with nothing. I know the trend, so I scanned the QR code to place my order, which was a bottle of their wine of the month, NEPENTHE Pinnacle Chardonnay 2021 - Adelaide Hills, South Australia, Gombas, and a cold cut platter. Food was served at the usual waiting time, but the wine had not arrived, so I asked the waiter to bring it. In a short while, another waiter approached me and told me that the wine I had ordered was out of stock. He informed me of this and suggested that I choose another wine, which I did. I scanned the QR code to order a bottle of Alsace - France WOLFBERGER "Signature" 2022 - Riesling - Alsace - France.

I continued with my food and assumed the waiter would serve the bottle soon. However, I finished all my food, but the bottle was not served at all. The restaurant wasn’t busy at 4 p.m. plus, and everyone (service staff) seemed free and relaxed.

I don’t bother and walk to the cashier for payment. To my surprise, the wine I ordered, including the one out of stock, is still in the system without being voided. The cashier blindly prints out the bill and shows me the total amount.

I asked them, "Do you see any wine glasses or wine bottles on the bar counter?" They were shocked and didn't even apologize for this. The cashier called the manager to void the wine, but the manager didn't even bother to ask, find out, or apologize.

Perhaps this is the service standard at Wine Connection that who trained the Manager and the staff. Are you looking down on single diners and assuming they will not meet your...

Visited last Monday without reservation. When I arrived, they were having a briefing. The Philippine lady showed the table and asked us to wait till their briefing is over. In the meanwhile, we were looking at the menu and within a short time, were ready to place an order. By then their meeting was finished too. Been 7-10 mins we’ve sat there, no water service and no one approached the table. I am working in the hospitality industry. As a view of service staff, we should read the body language of guests and observe them. Not only approaching them when they raise their hand or call us. I had to look for the staff to take the order from us. The Philippine lady randomly picked a girl and sent her to our table who was polishing the cutlery. The girl seems very new or part-timer. She was not aware of the menu. Cannot even pronounce their food item name and has no idea what is anchovy. Pasta and pizza were served quite quickly and was good but pork rib was super dry. Another funniest part is there was another table arrived earlier than us. Till the time our pizza and pasta were served, they haven’t even place an order yet! Was restaurant busy? NOPE. Indoor was only quarter filled. With that number of staff, it must be manageable. The staff taking care outside, seems like he is the only one can work. He was taking care lots of tables by himself and he regularly approaches the table to check and observe his guest. Will never visit this branch and DO NOT RECOMMEND to anyone. If you are planning to visit wine connection please go paya lebar one. The old gentleman there was super attentive and caring of his guest. You are paying the same price but getting totally...