Conrad Centennial Singapore

[binbin]

Hi dear ladies, me have received the wedding agreement from debby liaoz. she called me up few evenings ago and went through the whole list of items with me. she was very nice and friendly.....very happy...

and she took the effort to call me up, so appreciate it loh.

think i mistook her tone in the emails liao lah...
she is really quite professional.
btw, heard her coughing, said she has 2 more colleagues who are sick in the dept. hope she gets well soon.

interested04, sorry i am not sure of that. why dun u call them to ask?

 

[sweets]

Hi Interested04,

I was quoted @ $400 for the rental of 1 projector and the screen is free for us to use. It is much better for us to source for the projectors ourselves, in fact, my coordinator has even kindly offered to help source for us if we did not have the time to do so. Frankly, $400 not ex already, Fullerton quotes their brides $700 for 1 projector and due to its layout, 3 projectors are required. For COnrad, I believe the coordinators reccommend having 2.

Binbin

So glad to hear that you are having a great time with Debby now

I have met up with her before and really find her very frenly....

Have fun planning !!

 

[interested04]

Hi Binbin and Sweets

Thanks for the info. Will call them to check

Interested04

 

[kimmy]

Hi all,

Just had my wedding at Conrad 2 months back. Honestly, I wished I had chosen some other places and there were some honest, albeit negative, feedback from my guests.

Their main concerns are the following:

- Fish was very badly overcooked. The steamed garoupa tasted so bad that many of my guests could not stomach more than 2 mouths.

- The sharksfins soup tasted funny, even without the vinegar

- There were 3 dishes of vegetables (celery, spinach and broccoli), one after another. Many of the older folks felt cheated as they were eating vegetables after vegetables.

- The march-in tune was too loud

- The waiters only started stacking the champagne glasses for the champagne puring session AFTER the dinner has started, and many of my guests were staring at them and wondering why they had not done so earlier. The champagne fountain was also too tall for us as they propped it on a high box on a table and my husband (his height is 1.71m) had to stretch to pour the champagne, much to the amusement of my guests and to our embarassment.

- The temperature of the ballroom was quite warm, and many guests felt uncomfortable at the last few courses.

As a whole, it was a common sentiment among my guests and myself that we could have got a much better deal elsewhere at $1000 plus per table, and the food was basically bad.

I am just voicing this out here such that those who had signed up with Conrad can have the shortcomings mentioned here rectified, such that you can have a much better wedding than I did. All the best!

 

[carol]

Hi Kimmy,

thanks for the feedback that you have given here. Actually I had similar comments about the sharkfins and vegetables dishes. I guess the "funny" taste of the sharkfins was cos of the hasmar, it does not quite taste like the normal sharkfins that we usually take at restaurant.

It is true that it seems like there are a lot of vegetables dishes. What I did was to place the chicken dish between the prawns and abalone so there will be at least one dish that guests do not see/eat vegetables. Hope that helps others in preparing for their wedding.

 

[sweets]

Hi Kimmy and Carol,

Can u maybe suggest how we can overcome this "cold food" syndrome ? was there an explicit reason that the hotel gave for the cold food ? It just seems impossible that time and time again they continue to mess up this aspect of the dinner...

Just curious, did you have the food pre-divided before service @ the tables ? Could this be an element that contributed to the cold food ?

I'm pretty worried abt this too..cos I think the last time that should happen @ the dinner is cold food...My coordinator assures me that this cannot be cos the kitchen is just behind the ballroom....

 

[bothered]

Hi gals,

I have booked Conrad for end of next year. I am a bit disappointed to find these negative comments recently in the forum. I did mention/hint to my coordinator, but she repeatedly assured us that she has given feedback to the chef and will ensure things will be alright.

But I just cannot help but worry. Anyone has similar sentiments?

 

[sweets]

hi bothered....
yah..cannot help having the same / similar sentiments as you have........

also at wits ends too...

 

[sue]

Hi Bothered & Sweets, I booked mine for May 03 so now also worried how food will turn out. Golden Peony is supposed to be reputable. I'll be going for my food tasting in Feb03, will hv to stress to Catheryn again that food must be served warm. Also concerned abt the sharkfins soup. *sign*

However, Cleo (an ex-conrad bride) said hers turned out fine. So, it really depends on luck and the taste of your guests. Some guests are paiseh to feedback that food is lousy.

 

[bothered]

I have noticed that most people who said Conrad's food is great are those who were there some time ago. Recently, there seems to be more negative comments than good ones.

Hee, just a cheeky idea, what about a grouped feedback to the hotel? Afterall, we paid so much for each table. For me, I am not asking for the best food, but just satisfactory food (in terms of quality and quantity) that will not make the elders complain.

My coordinator said they are not planning for any major changes to the food in the near future. She seemed quite surprised that there were bad comments on the food...

 

[sweets]

hi bothered...

I've gotten the same reaction from my co-ordinator too....I guess Conrad brides just never really feedback the negs to the hotel, else the hotel is just putting on its marketing mode lar....

Hi Sue, My event will be held June 03...1 mth after yours

 

[mickey]

Hi all,

I have recently attended a friend's wedding at Conrad (about 3 weeks back) and I have the same sentiments as Kimmy too. The fish was really bad - I did not eat more than the first bite and I am not a picky person when it comes to food. The entire garoupa tasted as if it has been left in the steamer for more than 1.5 hours.

The part about the champagne pouring is also true. This time the groom stretched to the max to pour the champagne as he is not too tall, and the bride could hardly reach the champagne bottle. The waiters only started stacking the glasses after the dinner started too.

I also agree about the part that there is too much veg. Moreover, it's abalone mushroom with spinach, right? It's not abalone at all. So it's basically 3 veg dishes back to back.

With the bad fish, 3 veg dishes, funny tasting sharksfin (with hasmar), more than half of the dishes are quite plain/bad. The remaining half aren't great either. I don't think anyone feedbacked this to the bride and groom after the wedding, though. There's no point in spoiling their special day by airing our grouses.

The aircon was fine, though. Hope this feedback helps! All the best!

 

[enya]

yes, i find the food pretty lousy too, esp since it was from the famed Golden Peony .. really to my disappointment. worse thing, food was served cold!

 

[binbin]

hi all, i am close to booking mine for march 04. i second bothered's idea of having a consolidated feedback to the hotel. what do you girls say?

 

[binbin]

Actually I have attended a friend's wedding in dec last yr, and the food was great...

wonder how come....could it really be that it so happens to be bad on that day?

 

[cleo]

Hi all future Conrad brides,

As mentioned by Sue, the foods served for my wedding on 4 Oct 02 was really fine to the extent that it may not not be as good as the foods at Sheraton's Li Bai (attended a wedding dinner in June'02) but it is definitely better than Ritz Carlton and Fullerton (attended D&D at both hotels in Dec'01 & July'02 respectively.

Most of my guests are ok with Conrad foods as they knows that this is a 5star hotel and foods are normally presentable but just not that piping hot(as some chinese restaurant).

However, I do agree that the sharkfin soup (with hasma) tasted quite bland for myself and starchy too hence u can't really taste the sharkfin and hasma....qute different from those served during food tasting....which was really fantastic....piping hot with sharkfin at every bite...

Service-wise,almost all guests commented that it is excellent and the ambience was really cosy, romantic and memorable with all the lighted candles on the floral stands and correct lighting level of the ballroom which u have to specify clearly to your co-ordinator ur preference during the last meeting b4 actual day.

That's my 2cts thought & hope it helps

Cheers

 

[passer-by]

Hi all,

I have a fren who used to work at a 5 star hotel as a trainee chef, and according to him, fish for banquets are usually prepared at about 8.00pm (as the invitation card states the banquet should start at 7.30pm), in preparation for it to be served at about 8.45. This is so due to the large number of tables involved, and it is difficult to really control the steaming time.

Should the banquet start really late (i.e. about 8.50-9pm), by the time the fish is served, it will be about 9.45pm to 10pm (depending on the order of the dish). The kitchen has no control over the starting time of the banquet, and hence the fish will be left in the warmer (lest it gets cold and it will taste even worse) for 1.5 hours. I believe this attributes to the bad tasting fish that many people in this forum complained about.

There is no effective remedy over this, unless the sequence of the fish is delayed all the way to the back such that the chef will only start preparing the fish after the banquet has started. Some fish are less susceptible to the steaming time (e.g. soon hock) while some fish are very time sensitive (e.g.promfret).

just my 2 cents on the fish issue. Hope this helps.

 

[binbin]

wow passer-by, thanks for the info.

it sure reassures me a bit, and i shall make sure i find out more abt getting the soon hock fish on the menu.

 

[bothered]

Thanks for the assurance cleo.

Well, I am still keen on the grouped feedback (a nicely worded letter) to the hotel. Hopefully by having more voices together, it will make the hotel do something to improve, like change the menu etc or do sth about the cold food. I mean, if other hotels like Grand Hyatt can serve hot food, why can't Conrad do the same, since we are paying just as much if not more...

The thing that bothered me was that if Conrad used to serve good food, why is it not so now?

Binbin and myself are interested in the grouped feedback. Anyone would like to join in?

 

[sue]

Hi Bothered, pls count me in for the group feedback. By the way, we have diff coordinator right? Mine is Catheryn.

 

[kiroro]

Hi All,
I am all on for the group feedback as well. I had book Conrad in June 03. However, I think we need to to more concrete and specific with the complaint. We need the date of the 'bad wedding banquet and with the name of the bride and the grrom of the bad wedding banquets to substiate the complaints. Can the Enya and Mickey help us on that ?
We cannot just feedback based on the posting on the forum, it is not formal and COnrad might dismiss it as foul play...... So Enya and Mickey, could u help us on that ?

 

[sweets]

Hi Conrad-ians

okie okie..not a real name for Conrad B2B lar...

I'll like to join in the cahoots too

Please include me... Let's see...my mum attended one last year end too...and she also commented on the bad food, bad service (untrained waiters who took their own sweet time dividing the food up albeit bad technique as well)
I'll try to see if she remembers the actual date....

Maybe we should also start a mailing list of sorts ?

 

[mickey]

Hi all,

The wedding I attended is on the weekend just before Christmas this year. I don't wish to be more specific than this by airing the bride and grooms' name. Hope this helps. Thanks.

 

[binbin]

hi all, i second sweet's comments on the mailing list. then the info will be private mah.
mickey, would you then mind sharing the couple's names?

coz we think with the names would be more realistic.

Shall we start a mailing list?
I will start first. my email add is [email protected].

 

[bothered]

My email is [email protected]

 

[kiroro]

Hi All,
My email is [email protected].

 

[sue]

my email is [email protected]

 

[unkown]

Hi all,

I am also a conrad bride and i am also concerned with the bad comments about the bad food that they r serving recently..

I would very much like to join in yr grouped feedback...
Kindly include me in the mailing list..
My email acc [email protected]

 

[binbin]

hi! what abt urs, sweets, mickey and the rest of the conrad brides-to-be?

 

[sweets]

hi binbin, my email addy is [email protected]

 

[mit]

Hi all,

I had my wedding dinner last month(dec)and
I have received many postitive feedback from
the guest about the food and services....especially from my
mum's side (she is really fussy about food).
I was surprised when she told me, as I wasn't that impressed during the food-tasting session, and especially find that the food portion is "miserably small". So, from there, I feedback to my coordinator-cathryn about the serving...

 

[freon44]

please add me to your joint feedback. my email address is [email protected]

 

[freon44]

Sorry forgot to introduce myself. I'm a Conrad B2B as well and my wedding is scheduled for May 03.

I will personally tell my coordinator about the feedback I've heard as well in case.

Question to Conrad brides who've signed on. Those perks you got from them such as free beer, free day room, waiver of corkage, did they put in down in the contract for you? or was it a verbal agreement?

 

[kiroro]

Hi freon44,
The waiver of corkage is stated on the contract. But I did not manage to get perks like free beer and free day room. Did you manage to get it ?

 

[freon44]

hello kiroro,

nope not stated on mine. in fact i told them what kind of perks i wanted and they said they will note it down and definitely confirm them with me nearer to the date. sheesh.. should have made her put it down on the contract. anyhow, i'm going to bulldoze my way through anyway... I'm from the service industry as well and no one is going short change me. Sorry that's me being worried.

 

[kiroro]

Hi Freon44,
Is your wedding banquet a weekday as in Mon to Thurs ? I felt cheated

I did not get the free beer... As you know the beer is really expensive.. I did ask them about day use room, they told me i can exchange my annisversay dinner for that though.

 

[binbin]

hi kiroro, it's not easy to get free beer, did u have a lot of tables and is urs wkend? e.g. 30 and above?
dun feel cheated, coz sometimes it depends on the package, and whether ur's is wkend/wkday and how many tables etc etc. it's not possible for each and everyone to get the same thing, and who knows, u may get something which some of us dun have.

for example, i did not ask for the free day room, but instead exchanged it with my anni dinner. i am okie with this.

 

[binbin]

btw, ppl, i have signed up with Conrad already and paid the deposit. Am really happy now...

was quite bubbly after the contract signing and my FH was smiling at me.

talked to my coordinator ab what was recently mentioned in the forum, but was convinced that we need not worry abt it at all, coz the conrad team is totally efficient and takes comments seriously and will resolve to rectify those that are genuine. about the joint feedback, i will like to write to the gals and share with them the things i learn from my coordinator first. i believe these can put their mind at ease.

 

[freon44]

I too hope all will turn out well. Well kiroro, i did not get the free beer as well.. but i will definitely ask them the next time we meet.

 

[bothered]

Hi all,

I was quite busy these few days with work

Looks like there is at least some good comments now. Is everyone still interested in the feedback, or would you all prefer to feedback individually to your coordinators?

For my contract, we specifically indicated we want all the perks to be included in it, so we actually altered the provisional contract (Word document) in red and send back to our coordinator who gladly did the alterations for us. But I think we are just being extra careful

 

[marie]

Hi Binbin

congrats! Finally something off the wedding list and you can concentrate on other wedding stuffs!


Hi all

same as bothered, i had them put in the perks into the contract. I prefer everything to be in black and white just in case the coordinator left the hotel at least there is sth written specifically for reference.

Cheers!

 

[sweets]

Hi All,

I was wondering how the free beer was given ? We are taking full capacity (in fact may run over), but yet we were not given the option to get the free barrel of beer.....
Was the free beer only applicable to the "weekday" packages ?
hmmm....my coordinator assured me last that the perks are very fair and uniform....now I am a bit thrown off....

 

[smartie]

Hi Sweets

I think the free bear applies only to weekdays. Unless someone out there can reply otherwise.

Rgds,
Smartie

 

[vodka]

Hi gals,

Just had my wedding on Sat at Conrad. I'd the time of my life. All my guests commented that the food, dessert buffet & service was great.

Of course, the evenin was not perfect, slight probs r inevitable. But overall, I'm satisfied wif their service & food. More imptly I'm impressed with their effort to receive feedback from me & work on my requests n areas tat nn improvement.

 

[smartie]

Hi Vodka

Congrats on your recent wedding.

Care to share with us what sort of slight problems you encountered ?

smartie

 

[smartie]

Hi Binbin

pls add me to the mailing list for the feedback group. Forgot to do that earlier....oops

[email protected]

Smartie

 

[vodka]

Hi smartie,

music - i got 2 CDs, 1 containing songs for march in & food presentation n the other songs to be played during dinner. after 2nd march in song, did not continue fr where they stop for dinner music. they start fr 1st song of my dinner music again. no one notice except me n fren who cut the CD anyway.

2nd march in - a waitress nearly went in thru the front door with a drink while we waited for banquet mgr's cue to march in. she was tick off the minute she pull the door slightly ajar.

accidents - a waiter accidentally spill a little beer on my fren. conrad quickly reacted by presentin my fren wif a conrad bear & oso offered 2 pick up her clothes to b dry cleaned the next day. my fren was impressed wif the service.

 

[unkown]

Hi vodka,

Really happy that yr wedding turns out well on the whole. Congratulation and wishing you and yr hubby a blissful marriage ahead..

So wat is yr rating for the food served that nite? Is it better than the food tasting?

Did u actually feedback to yr co-ordinator about the bad comments you gathered in this thread?

rgds
unkown

 

[binbin]

Vodka, wow, the service sounds impressive.

very glad to hear that.

congratulations on ur recent wedding.

mind sharing pics of it?

 

[vodka]

hi unknown,

i only hav 1st 2 courses n all my desserts tat nite, n i wud say they simply super delicious especially my soup n desserts. My concerns were the fish n abalone being overcooked so i woke up the next day n ate this 2 dishes (hotel served the remainin course wc we din get to eat in room). I find the fish cooked just rite n tasty. The abalone was oso good n not rubbery like how it tasted durin food tasting.

I gathered feedback fr my dad, mum, granny n bro who went food tastin with me n all commented tat the food was gd. They r super fussy wif fish n abalone overcooked n food bein served cold too.

I did highlight to Conrad abt the the concerns raised in this thread on the fish n cold food.