Tony Roma's, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
Lot No. LG 217, The Gardens Mall
Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur 

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am - 10pm

Time Visited:
Close to 7pm dinner time on a Tuesday.

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
7 oz. Filet Mignon and a Romarita

DISCLAIMER: This was not a lone dining experience. A little blessed to have people wanting to eat with me during the holiday seasons of Christmas and approaching New Year. This time, one of my sister's working overseas returned to Malaysia for a short holiday. And so, my other sister went over to meet up with her at the hotel and stayed with her and to catch up with her. During this night though, she had other plans with her friends and so, I was assigned to keep my other sister company. LOL.

Therein came the dinner plan we made and so I went to her to meet up with her. As she asked me what I wanted to eat, I said something western. Interestingly, as if by some cosmic clairvoyance that bestowed upon her, she replied, "Oh, Tony Roma's?" Which was exactly where I had planned to go. And this is not a place that I usually go. In fact, I've never even stepped foot in it for a few years.

And so we head on down to The Gardens outlet to munch and feast in an attempt to cure our growling tummies. After settling ourselves down on our seats, I glance through the menu and I had decided upon to eat the Filet Mignon. And to drink, I had the Romarita.

Although I did not take not on the waiting period of how long it was for our orders arrive, I don't think it took long at all as I communicated with my blood related sibling. In addition to that, they gave out bread to munch before meals in their splendid looking basket that also has a holder to their sauce dish that contains some butter to spread with the bread. I simply adore their butter for it gives out more than just a buttery taste. It has a little savory salty taste to it as well and goes pleasantly well with the floury dough.

Not long after that, my Romarita came. The Romarita drink is merely a mocktail as opposed to a cocktail and so it contains no alcohol in it. It's a sweet drink that mimics the appearance of a Margarita but instead of salt plastered around the edge of the glass, the Romarita instead has a sugar coated rim. The drink is a combination of orange and lime juice and even though it's okay in it's taste, it's no match for the alcoholic counterpart and just merely makes me feel the emptiness of somethings amiss from the concoction.

Along came the Filet Mignon afterwards and it looks delicious. Served to me with a jacket potato and a small portion of coleslaw. The clear sear lines on a grill is very visible upon the meat and the filet mignon looks like 2 meats slapped together. I ordered the meat to be medium well and so the first thing I did was checked on whether did they get the temperature right. I was about to take a picture and the concern attendants of the restaurant quickly approached me to check if anything's the matter. I glanced back at the meat after acknowledging his presence and saw that it was cooked properly and assured him that everything's fine. I soon started to dig into the voluptuous looking meat to see how it fair with my taste buds. Well, I would say that although it was a tender enough meat, it wasn't as tender as the once I ate at Monte's or Outback Steakhouse despite this being supposed to be the tenderest and juiciest part of a cow which is the tenderloin. It didn't create the melt in my mouth buttery smooth feel that I so desired for eating a steak but it's not all that bad. Just that I'm disappointed at not having that lovely taste I so crave. I guess they never did advance from their above average taste from the last that I visited years back.

My sister ordered the fish and chips and had a shocked that the portion was so huge since she's a small eater. The battered covered fish fillets were of quality ingredients but unfortunately lacks in the taste department. That is one of the reasons why I seldom order fish and chips. In this particular case, I feel that it could use way more of help in the taste because even dousing it with condiments provided, I felt that it still tasted very bland and is not something that I would be agreeable to eat with.

The place has a romantic kind of ambiance with low lighting that creates a romantic feel. Incandescent lights sparkle at strategically placed positions and am glad of having two bright ones above me to ease me in my picture taking. The staffs of the place were very helpful and friendly and goes beyond the hospitality that I usually get with them inquiring on whether everything is alright a few times. Kudos to that.

Total Wallet Damage:
The receipt is not with me so I'm not sure what is the price. I do know though that the Filet Mignon costs RM63.49 while the Romarita costs RM16.85. There's service charge and GST incurred I presume and interestingly enough, a 10% discount provided when the CIMB credit card was used. A surprise gift. Also, they gave a 2016 calendar that comprise of coupons that correspond to the month you're in in order to entice you back for a return visit to Tony Roma's.

Final Verdict:
6/10. The thing that impressed me most about this place is their most excellent service. The food and drink may be above average but with that kind of price I would knock it down as average which was no difference than when I visited a long time back.