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| - Tried out this restaurant recently because of a family recommendation and we had an event in the area and it was quite a novel experience. I've never eaten 'boodle fight style' before...but eating with your hands among company really brings the culinary experience back to basics and makes it feel so lovely and homely. We had the $22/person seafood spread and it was quite enjoyable...fried tilapia, shrimps, mussels, squids, meats and okra over rice with side salad dishes of mango and tomatoes. The tilapia was hands-down everyone's favourite, flavourful, crispy and delicious! We washed it down with shared halo halo (ask for less shaved ice!). Service was friendly and prompt, makes sense for a surprisingly smallish-sized location and we happened to dine at an apparently non-peak dinner hour. Only HUGE HUGE HUGE downside was that we were deceptively misled in double-tipping. A breakdown receipt was not given, only the total manually punched into a calculator. Payment by machine meant a tip prompt which we of course added. Total ended up being significantly overpriced and despite numerous calculations later, we just couldn't figure it out...finally determined that they must have added a 20% gratuity in the total we were given at payment...yet never bothered disclosing to us! Ended up giving a 35% tip! Really?! Does a fine dining establishment even warrant that?! Nowhere on their website or restaurant chalkboard menu does it mention automatic addition of gratuity for certain party sizes. Granted, it can be expected but at least feel compelled to clarify with your customer! Yes, the dining experience was creative and enjoyable but this disgustingly disingenuous double-tipping really left a bad taste in our mouths and as much of a good time that we had and like to support family businesses, this restaurant has lost our patronage and we will NEVER return. Please beware and check the total before you tip and pay!
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