Zorba The Greek Taverna — Restaurant in Singapore

Found out about this place through an event the restaurant held for dogs and dog owners - Paws by the River, which featured a popup market with a few pet-related local business (11 were marketed).

To entice patrons to visit the establishment, they offered A "Complimentary Puppucino for your furkid" "Complimentary Beverage for all diners who make a reservation at least 12 hrs in advance"

As a dog owner, naturally this felt like a good excuse to round up a few friends who were dog owners, hence I made a booking right away on 20th July for 3-4 pax.

On the day of the reservation, we arrived with 1 dog at approx 5:20pm and saw 4-5 small booths with showcasing their businesses/products. Understandably, some vendors might have dropped out etc and it is what it is.

We managed to get the attention of one of the staff (Mr A), who checked if we had a reservation and brought us to our outdoor seats by the river. Mr A left the menu on the table, and without saying anything else i.e. how to order etc, he left.

The restaurant was not crowded - about 4 other tables with patrons, and each table did not have more than 5 pax. Not particularly busy for the 4 staff who were working at the outdoor seating area.

When we were ready to order, we tried getting the attention of the wait staff to no avail - which is when we realised we could order from the QR code at the table. OK, no dramas so that was what we did.

We did however, manage to ask a wait staff for the puppucino which arrived quite promptly.

Food - reasonable, nothing mind-blowing. A little on the pricier side since it's Clarke Quay, but again it wasn't a big deal.

At around 8pm, we asked for the bill - we didn't redeem/ask for the "Complimentary Beverage" that they advertised as we didn't see the need to "push for everything/be a typical kiasu Singaporean", even though it should have been a given since we had a reservation.

A bit surprised that there was a 10% service charge even though you had to order on their website/app, since other establishments like Sushi Tei don't charge you this 10% if you order via the QR code given. Nevertheless, we paid and left.

At this point in time, there wasn't a crowd still, but there were a few bigger groups at the outdoor area which made it look ~40% full?

However, about 25mins later I discovered we left a collapsible dog bowl at the restaurant. We immediately called the restaurant - we let the line ring for a minute before hanging up and trying 2 more times - no one picked up each time we called.

I reached the restaurant at 8:55pm and politely asked the wait staff if they saw the dog bowl. One female staff (Ms B) exclaimed "eh there just now that bowl! Where is it ah?" She asked Mr A if he saw it. Mr A told me very plainly "We saw it and thought that we didn't need it so we threw it away." I asked if it was still within the premises and that I didn't mind washing it. Ms B then went to the nearest green bin to check if it was in it - unfortunately it wasn't. Mr A shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn't do anything about it and said "yah we threw it away".

Now, I can understand that yes it was our mistake for leaving something behind. However it was a pet-related item, at a pet-related event, in a restaurant that was barely at capacity. We also tried calling the restaurant thrice, and no one picked up. I went down to try and find it, but was faced with a "can't do anything to help" staff.

Now, if your service staff doesn't: Explain how to order, or the promotions you have ongoing Execute the promotions that the establishment offers, for events that drive footfall/visits to the restaurant to spend money Answer calls even though the restaurant is nowhere near full capacity Offer assistance in order to encourage spending/explain food items Throws items left behind w/o trying to reach the patrons (i had a reservation) Bring cutlery/napkins/offer water to the table

Then maybe there should be some education/expectations set for staff in order to warrant the 10% service charge that you...

A bright, open and airy restaurant, I will start by agreeing with everyone else that Zorba does a great job of creating tasty Mediterranean food. In particular, the lamb chops and squid were excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed the Greek salad and the variety of flavours in the dips. The vegetarian platter which comes as part of the communal menu was a lovely array of chargrilled vegetables. Our toddler guest loved the tempura asparagus that came with the squid. We opted for the communal menu at $75 per head which is more than enough food. A bottle of Sauvignon Blanc will set you back $95 and a glass of wine is $16. Weirdly, after we orderedthe communal menu for 5 people, everything came at once. So the communal menu looks like starters, mains and a dessert but in actual fact the staff kept bringing the stuff out all at once, so we had to request two additional tables to put all the food on! It was weird and chaotic and ok / slightly amusing amongst friends, but if I was there for a business dinner or something it would not have been acceptable. In light of a restaurant bill in excess of $500 for 5 people it is also not acceptable. For that price point people do not expect to be shuffling around trying to find space for food and adding additional tables etc. It should have flowed out successively, as dips and bread starters, salad and squid, meat and vegetarian platters then dessert. As courses. The staff had no idea where to put the food themselves, they just kept bringing the plates out and getting stressed at the table as we shuffled things round. Then about 5 minutes after they’d brought out all the savoury stuff, they tried to bring the dessert (!) which was the final straw for one of our party who asked them to take it away until we finished the mountain of food in front of us. The dessert let the communal menu down. It was a sad looking custard pie that we had to hack into pieces ourselves, with no ice cream or anything. The egg custard was over cooked and was more scrambled egg than custard. I am inclined to give any restaurant that allows me to bring my dog extra credit, and Zorba did allow us to bring our dog to sit ‘outside’ (still completely covered area) and near the open restaurant doors, so he could catch the breeze from the aircon. That’s Thoughtful with a capital T. Lovely. Really appreciated that thank you. They also started well by offering him a water bowl, but they never actually brought it. Luckily we brought our own. In fact the service generally was a bit all over the place. The youngsters serving our table couldn’t tell us anything about the wine, brought the wrong number of forks, knives and plates and then went to clear tables after being asked to bring more forks and plates. They were pleasant enough, very polite but it was as if it was maybe their second or third day working and they were still learning. There is also a fabulous children’s play area for the toddlers to amuse themselves, which is just a fantastic idea. And very much enjoyed by our toddler guest. I don’t want to be so critical of a restaurant that got so many things right. But you have to view these things in lieu of the cost of the evening and Zorba is not cheap. Therefore I expect the service and experience to match the prices of the food and wine. I would go again, but I would probably not look to spend the amount we did. Perhaps a simple brunch or...

I don’t usually give reviews but our experience at this place was so bad, I felt the need to write a review. Would give a 0 if I could.

TLDR: if you’re gonna pay 10% service fee without getting any customer service, very average food - 2/5, you’re better off going to a place with better Greek food (there are plenty) and customer service for a similar price.

Long version: Food: pita bread was flat and cold. Hummus was dry. A Greek restaurant with below average pita and hummus for starters… mmm, k nvm. The chips are decent. Meat platter was just all right. Honestly the food is really very average, wouldn’t need to write a review if the food was just average but the customer service on the other hand…. Customer Service: horrid. We were brought to our table and left there. Service bell at the tables don’t work, it blinks but none of the service staffs come until you have your hand up long enough for them to eventually have to serve you. There were barely any customers whilst we were there and there were more than enough staff but non of them were proactive or had the initiative to attend to customers. So nvm, we ordered our food via the QR code provided. Some dishes have the option of having your meat of a certain doneness - there was no place to request for doneness of meat via the QR code order hence we had to ask a staff. Waitress poured our wine glasses the first time and disappeared during the rest of our dinner so we refilled wine glasses ourselves (not an issue, we’re ok refilling our own wine glasses). Serviettes, cutlery and water are placed in the middle of the restaurant. I was the one getting serviettes, cutlery and water for my table. At this point, I really question why we’re paying for customer service when there’s none. We forgot our dog’s water bowl and within the hour from the time we left, they threw it away. We called multiple times when we realize we forgot about it cos we wanted to tell them we’ll come back and get it but no one picked up even though this restaurant is barely packed with customers. We drove back because no one picked up the call only to hear from an unapologetic staff that “we threw it away”. (FYI, this is a pet friendly restaurant). Also, we actually made reservation here so they had the option of calling to find out whether or not this water bowl (that’s in pristine condition) is really trash. The lack of customer service here is really…. The worst I’ve ever experienced in a F&B establishment.

Conclusion: Skip this place, there are better Greek food restaurants out there with 10% service charge worth paying. (E.g: pita bakery, blu...