The first disappointing STK Ta Bai experience

Exactly 7 days ago, I was at STK Ta Bai! for dinner with some friends from college (not counting Lala, who didn't go to CNU). It was another one of Caj's scheduled meet-ups with friends, and Ariel and I were once again included in this party.

This was my 3rd free meal from Caj hahaha! :))

We arranged to meet at 7PM, but I started out slow and got into a taxi with a driver who was, apparently, deaf since he didn't hear me say STK Ta Bai! and only registered Capitol. Needless to say, I was pissed off to find myself in front of the Capitol building. I didn't want to give him a peso more, so I got off the cab in a huff and just walked the rest of the way to STK.

I arrived late, obviously.


Too candid that I can't remember what they were talking about here :P

We meet again! Haha!

Fat to thin -- fro Left to Right :P

Caj and Lala were already there, along with Jan, Christa, and Tara - college friends of ours. We only needed Ariel to complete the party. They hadn't ordered yet, but had apparently been left with a piece of paper and a pencil to write down the orders once they were decided. Weird. I hadn't encountered this situation before, but I didn't pay much attention to it as we started talking and asking about each other's lives. Just as Ariel arrived, the waiter came to ask us if we had written our orders down and, seeing as how we hadn't done that, proceeded to take the orders himself.

Great. You do that - it's your job after all. :P

The waiter was not your typical "Yes, Ma'am... No, Ma'am" guy. He joked around and had some witty answers and comments that made me think he wasn't too bad, but this kind of attitude got on my nerves later on, especially when he would say one thing and not go through with it.

For example, we asked for glasses because there weren't any at all on our table. We had to wave him down first to do so, and he said he'd get the glasses and come back. It took him more than 5 minutes to come back, and when he did, he only brought 4, which was obviously not enough for everyone. When he did come back a few minutes later, his apology was made in a jesting manner that made me think he wasn't all sincere about it and just wanted to get it over with. Did he not realize that we were dying to drink something to wash down the food (which included something spicy) we ordered?

Speaking of food, service was unbelievably slow. We laughed it off at first but it was getting seriously annoying when you had to wait quite a bit for more viands, more drinks, more rice, etc.

Baked scallops

Yep, polished off within a couple of minutes.

Mixed Seafood Sinigang soup

My STK favorite - the Panga! :D

And I don't mean to sound like a snob by making too big a deal out of this little write-your-orders-down-yourselves thing, it's not like we don't do that ourselves sometimes anyway when we go out for a meal in big groups, but if you take that little thing and add in an annoying waiter, slow service, and a disorganized table setting (no drinking glasses, no forks for some of us and had to get them from the unoccupied table nearby) - well, you can't really fault me for whining. :P

I can't even remember how the food tasted like, really. But I do remember that the panga was yummy as usual. There was also this one other dish that I liked but forgot the name of. It was pork belly something. Haha! It's in the pictures somewhere. :P

No matter how hungry we are, we never fail to ask for a picture to be taken first :P

No rice? :P

No drinking glasses yet, were we supposed to drink straight from the pitcher? :P

They don't look too happy.. Hahaha :))

This wasn't my first time at STK Ta Bai!, and it definitely won't be my last. I love the food and ambiance here so I will most definitely keep coming back. It's just a pity that this night of all nights, when a friend who came from so far away (and had never dined here) was with us, had to be the night when things went disappointingly wrong. And this was the restaurant that topped the list of the best restaurants in Cebu on a program on national TV.

Hopefully, they become consistent in their service in the future. :)

Disappointments aside, it was great seeing Jan again. I'd seen Christa and Tara just a few weeks back for Riza's despedida dinner at Shakey's Cybergate, but I hadn't seen Jan in a long while. I believe the last time was when we had that reunion dinner..? I could be wrong, but yes, it has been a while indeed. :)

One last group picture before we go

Til the next time, guys! ^_^

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Taken from their Facebook page

STK Ta Bai!

Address: #6 Orchid Street Capitol Site , 6000 Cebu, Philippines
Phone number: (032) 256 2700