beyond toxicity

I am always PUNCTUAL because I VALUE TIME. So it really upsets me when something or someone’s LATE!

After my son Gabby and I gave my wife Tina roses and personally-made greeting card for mother’s day, the three of us went to TriNoma mall to eat lunch.  Since we wanted to eat in a restaurant that we haven’t tried before, two food places were considered and both of them were steak houses.  To be honest, Tina and I even surfed the www and the blogosphere to read reviews and menus before we finalized everything.  And we were so wrong to give benefit of the doubt to those bad reviews and comments about this particular resto. In short, we were misguided by our own insights.  Can you blame us?  Anyhow, here’s my two cents worth of views and personal opinion.  It’s up to you then to believe it or not.

We rode the lift to the fourth level of TriNoma where the upscale restos with al fresco dining (that includes one of our all-time favorite TGI Fridays--and I regret not dining there for a special occasion such as mom’s day) are located but and decided to eat here …

The exteriors of Holy Cow Chophouse was truly inviting.  As we saw the place at around half hour past noon, it was so packed with hungry celebrators and their families and friends, we were somehow convinced that it’s OK for us to give it a try and just forget the not-so-good comments in  MUNCH PUNCH (the site I frequent for menus and reviews of local restaurants).  So while we’re on queue, we forgot the clock was ticking because we’re busy checking their menu and I was taking pictures of my family while they’re seated on a custom-made, what else but cow, in the waiting area, which I found so cute…

As you can see from those photos above, Tina and Gabby had the sincerest smiles, proof that we really gave the restaurant a chance to prove its worth, however these were taken before we knew the truth behind those reviews from other blogs.

I agree with the other commenters on MUNCH PUNCH that the bar at the center of the resto made it too small. The traffic of diners and service crew was going nuts because of that bar!  Plus how do these cow heads appeal to you? There were three of its kind on one of the walls of Holy Cow. Do you like seeing them while eating your favorite steak?  Just asking.

Since I was busy taking the photos, and we’re still OPTIMISTIC with this place, we disregarded the 25-minutes of waiting on that cute cow couch as we’re ushered to our seats.  They were wonderful bulky leather seats, really comfortable.

    Still smiling ‘no?

And what killed our time for a while other than capturing the moment, was a lady from TriNoma Ayala Malls who approached every moms per table to give these paper bags of freebies. It has Hersheys Kisses chocolates and a feminine douche POMELO scent! That’s sweetness from Ayala malls management.  My wife was delighted!

But DESPITE THE CHARMING EXTERIORS and the freebies from TriNoma /Ayala malls, IT HAS BEEN EXACTLY 45 MINUTES SINCE I TOLD THE WAITER OUR ORDERS and I’m having hyperactive bowel sounds because of hunger! That was few minutes to 2PM.  Yes,  the single-serving glass of  iced tea landed our table at around 20 minutes since we sat there, but the entrees were still out of sight and I was starting to believe the testimonials of the previous diners posted on other blogs.  IT FELT LIKE WE HAD THESE FOODS ON OUR TABLE AFTER WAITING FOR A LIFETIME!  Tina and I noticed that we were NOT ALONE WAITING TO FOREVER for our plates but most of the diners there experienced the same.  One mother who was with her teenage daughter even stood up from her seat to notify the unmindful staff that their food hasn’t been served yet!  We heard clamor from other tables of the same complaint.

And to top it all, all the staffs were CHAOTIC in getting orders and serving plates to other tables. All of them WERE  NOISY, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE! How can you enjoy your meal with such inappropriate behavior? 

We made a follow up for our food twice, and they were only served nearly an hour after we first sat at those pretty black seats.

Nevertheless, here are the photos of those plates, which seemed to be OK but far from being special.

SOY HONEY GLAZED MAHI MAHI, PhP 280 .                GIANT PORK CHOP, 12oz, PhP 420.

The fish and its side dishes were just typical.   The pork chops were not tender! And the price was as if we bought 2 kilos of  swine meat! I don’t know how much longer (than 45 min) it should have  stayed in the grillery for it to be perfectly bite-worthy.  The mashed potato, according to Tina, wasn’t tasty either. It lacked the buttery creamy taste of its kind.  Why Holy Cow? Why ? Haven’t you heard the cliche, “First impressions last”?

It was good thing though, that we ordered Gabby his own meal. It came LATE with a toy in a box that would remind us of our first dining experience with them, lol.

CORNFLAKE CHICKEN TOTS, served with kid’s iced tea and a scoop of vanilla ice cream plus the toy-mascot, PhP 350.

ALL OF OUR PLATES WERE SERVED LATE!  THEY WERE NEVER WARM OR HOT FROM THE GRILL!  FAR FROM BEING TENDER. What almost saved their day was the chicken fingers and fries which were a little bit nice. 

I also wanted to note that COURTESY BEFORE and AFTER receiving guest/diners WASN’T OBSERVED! NOBODY GREETED US “Good Afternoon”  or said “Welcome”  or whatever… and as we walked out of the place SILENTLY AS IF EVERYTHING WENT FINE,  NO ONE BID US “Goodbye” or “See us again..”  ”Thank you for coming..” -NOTHING !!!

I guess the ENTIRE STAFF and CREW of Holy Cow TriNoma WERE NOT TRAINED to WORK UNDER PRESSURE. The mere fact that there was an occasion – Mother’s day, they should have done EXTRA MILE on THEIR SERVICE to make each diner’s experience SPECIAL!

I’m so proud I am learning to control my temper now.

All I remember was the bill when asked from the staff was IMMEDIATELY, PROMPTLY, URGENTLY handed into my table for me to settle.  Need I say more ?

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The Chophouse Holy Cow Bar and Cafe

Level 4 TriNoma Mall EDSA cor North Avenue, PAG-ASA,

Quezon City. Tel # (63-2) 919 – 6299.

*All prices noted are subject to changes and VAT plus SERVICE CHARGE !