Atmosphere Bistro Bar

Alexandra Central Branch
(Dine on 28^th December 2015)
Overall comments — A Terrible dining Experience from start till end .
1) called in to make reservations 45 mins (approx) prior to arrival to café but when arrived no one admitting to picking up the call n making reservations — but still we got seated as the café was almost empty w only 2 – 3 tables of customers.
2) an iPad was handed to us with a simple 5s instruction to view and submit order from it while the waitress retreats to a table in front of us to sip her drinks and play w her phone.
3) we came for the 3D artwork that was much advertised on posters n on social media thus we proceed to search for the beverages with such artworks drawn on when served. Many beverages were listed with a BIG print printed below each selected beverage (hot&cold) stating a 15mins waiting time is required for the 3D artwork to be drawn. — no extra charges option was available for selection on the iPad for the 3D artwork nor did the waitress mentioned anything abt any extra charges thus we presume the amount posted on the menu in the iPad was inclusive of the 3D artwork. BUT what arrived 15mins later was a cold beverage w NO artwork n the hot beverage with a sorry excuse of an artwork that is barely 1D and uncertain of what the drawing is. Coffee Bean probably do a better job.
4) limited menu selection for food — which is understandable.
BUT the awful tasting SIGNATURE dishes with totally no standards is UNACCEPTABLE !!
We picked 3 SIGNATURE dishes.
Dish 1
Lobster Bisque — so salty that u think salt is Free
Dish 2
Seafood Aglio Olio Penne — seafood not fresh, prawns had shell «glued» to meat n unable to peel, whole dish was covered in Garlic, a lot a lot a lot a lot of garlic. And not forgetting salt and oil
Dish 3
BBQ SpareRibs — Dry, tasteless with minimal sauce found
Paid $ 70 odd dollars for lousy food that obviously the chef is either 4 years old, didn’t pass cooking classes, or in very very bad mood. And Oso for the 3D Art that was not drawn n service was well… Let’s not go there.
See —
for detailed review of experience n response from restaurant n me.

Oh Dear! The lure of getting a seat without waiting at this packed joint at East Coast Park meant we decided to eat here without checking Unilocal!first. A harsh lesson for us.
Was it really that bad? Well they didn’t mess up the San Pellegrino and Sapporo beer, but perhaps serving a 12 yo Macallan in a large Brandy Glass was a foretaste of things to come.
We decided on Spam Fries, Battered Mushrooms and Crispy Calamari in a diner that was never going to win an award for healthy eating.
Spam Fries arrived first. How was it possible to mess this up? Quite easily apparently, cooked at least twice, what should have been an ode to the delights of tinned pork, instead became a chewy mess of something that may or may not have been a meat product in a previous life.
Next up was a ribeye that we never ordered. We told the waiter this, and he went away only for another waiter to bring it to us again. It was almost tempting to take it, but eventually it found its rightful owner. Next up was the mushrooms which appeared to be slices of mushrooms battered and deep fried. The taste was odd but better than the spam. We almost finished them.
And finally the Calamari appeared. It looked like it came straight out of a frozen packet minutes before and succeeded in being both tasteless and chewy at the same time.
Watching the staff it appeared that they were just trying to get the food out with no one paying any attention to the quality.
Truly, truly awful, which is a shame for such a great location.

So very disappointing.
I read somewhere that the name came from «Two Atmospheres» Family Friendly by Day, Adult Bar by night. I haven’t been there in the evening, but buying some high chairs does not make someplace family friendly. The high chairs seem to be about the only thing going for the kids, there were some plastic bowls provided after asking special, no utensils, or plates, just some bowls; perhaps they got pets and children confused?
Moving past the atmosphere confusion, onto the experience. Knowing Singapore we called ahead to make a reservation, and had no issues making the reservation. Once arriving by taxi we approached the restaurant and from the carpark side we found no host stand or any apparent entrance, walking around we found a menu on a stand and stood there. Once greeted by a staff member we explained our reservation, she quickly went off to the bar to start looking through a book. It is understandable when there is a long queue and full tables to confirm a reservation, in this case there were many open tables and no queue. We eventually had to ask to just be seated and let the paperwork get sorted later.
Once seated we were quickly handed an iPad, and left to figure the rest out on our own. The first thing we noticed was the lack of a childrens menu, stunned we actually flagged a staff member over to confirm, thinking there must be a paper menu and crayons at such an «Apparent» family friendly place. However they really don’t have a child’s menu, luckily our daughter wanted a burger and there were sliders on the starter menu. My wife and I split a pizza, which I enjoyed, my wife did point out that it wasn’t crispy like a thin crust pizza, but more like a tortilla.
There is only one shared bathroom, with no baby changing facilities, and the tables are quite closely spaced in the restaurant, so coming with a baby in a stroller could make for a challenging visit.
The food was okay, the service was slow, the atmosphere is nice enough, except for all the families mistakenly bringing children. I might try it one evening, but there are so many other choices, and most meals currently involve kids for me.

Two stars for location which is undeniably nice. As for the food, pretty clear the kitchen staff does not care about the quality of the food they are sending out. They served us mushroom soup with a hair in it, dry calamari comes with a squirt of mayonnaise and mini-​burgers that are about the quality you would get from a 7 – 11 hot display case. You are paying 3x what you would pay at the East Coast hawker stalls a few kilometers down the bike path which offers more selection and without question higher quality food.

In the sunny beach front location of East Coast Park. You can sit and watch the majestic bay littered with stagnant boats as far as the eye can see.
The food isn’t cheap but they are good portion sizes and do the trick on your taste buds. Each table has an iPad menu that allows you to select and order your meals within a matter of seconds and has the service to match.
Although Atmosphere may be great for families, if you’re wanting a chilled bite to eat and enjoy the tranquil view… This is not the place for you as the child friendly atmosphere may disrupt your own thoughts.
My leaving comment would be to stay away from the coffee and stick to the juice as the expresso tastes a little smokey…

Perhaps just less than a month into their opening, the food may need more time to be fine-​tuned but there are few potentially promising dishes out there. Pizza is a balancing act of getting the crust and filling right. On the Squid Ink Pizza $ 20.80, the thin crust was not exactly crunchy but one need not steer clear away from it totally as the combination of squid ink base and mozarella cheese was quite delicious. If you like some additional entertainment besides the football screenings on the giant LED screen, there is the Flaming Pizza which may ignite your senses. Meanwhile, the Caesar Salad would foil the plan of eating clean and healthy as the dressing was gloppy with an unpleasant acetic taste.
The beautifully browned Baby Back Ribs ($ 19.80) fell short of expectations as the grilling seemed to have gone a little awry, resulting in slightly charred bits and excess liquid evaporation from the meat. Otherwise, these could have really been fall-​of-​the-​bone tender and flavourful ribs with bursts of citrusy tangs.
Meanwhile, the dryness and seasoning might diminish the amount of sway of this humongous Atmosphere Burger ($ 19.80). But at the same time, the collective power of three patties (turkey, chicken, pork) still has weight, literally and most likely to be the talk of the table. Worthy of mention was the sesame charcoal bun that was very fluffy and fragrant, enhanced by subtle truffle scents emerging from the moistened inner surface. Besides, as similar to the baby ribs platter, there are tasty side nibbles like fries and coleslaw to nurse the feelings.
If you accidentally browse into the desserts section while placing your e-​order on the iPad, don’t be too excited to pick the «rainbow» cake, which is more likely to satisfy the visual voyeurism. Instead, you might want to consider the red velvet cake here ($ 6.80) whose deep-​crimson layers were moist and not overly sweet, or the crowd-​pleasing molten chocolate lava cake ($ 11.80).
According to the concept of «Two Atmosphere, one space», the place is designed to attract families during the day and a more adult crowd at night. Those who are not driving after drinking might be interested to hop on the beer-​slushie trend for the Calpis Frozen Beer, alongside savoury bites like the Spam Fries ($ 7.80) and Escargots ($ 10.80). Or go for the Heinekein or Erdinger white draft beers at promotional price of $ 30 for 3 pints. At this bistro, it is all about the «atmosphere».