I had heard a lot about Smally's Resto Cafe and given the 4.0 rating on Zomato (when I looked it up), I thought it was most definitely worth a visit. The location is certainly convenient though calling Church Street a street is only by the grace of semantics!
Smally's is a cosy place. They have decent chairs and nice sofas you can sink in while waiting for the food. It seems they have the place upstairs too, though it seems to be technically called Easy Tiger. In any case, the place has a relaxing ambience and a decent selection of music from what I could hear. More importantly, the audio was at the right volume level so we didn't need to shout to be heard as some places reduce you to doing.
For appetisers, we had the Lord of Wings and the Sausage Pups. The wings were pretty nice, slightly sweet but good nonetheless, with a side of mayonnaise that, I suspect, was trying to be tartar sauce and failing. The Sausage pups weren't bad either but I think the chef should consider using pork over beef sausages, or better yet, Spanish style chorizos properly grilled or stir-fried before being dabbed in that sauce. What we were served was good but the dish has so much more potential that it is not even funny.
The main course was composed of the Trucker and Chickaboo burgers, a Philly cheesesteak, and a Chicken, Ham & Cheese sandwich. The burgers were not bad, considering their price-to-quality ratio: I have had significantly better burgers in Bangalore but they cost almost double of these ones. Smally's has decent burgers but nothing that would have you tossing and turning at night until you return the very next day for more!
The sandwiches, however, were a different story. The bread that was used was good and they remembered to toast it, which many forget to do. However, the Philly cheesesteak tasted nothing like what it should. They were missing the capsicum, garlic, onion, and Worcestershire sauce, making whatever they served us a wholly different beast. This is not to say that it was bad, just that it was as close to being a Philly cheesesteak as koalas are to being bears - not at all, they are marsupials.
Service was an odd mix of fast and slow - it took time for the waiters to notice us and bring us our menus or take our orders but once the orders were placed, we received our food rather quickly. Of course, if they learned that appetisers and the main course are not meant to appear within a minute of each other, it would be swell. The place was not particularly crowded either that the staff would be running around in a frenzy.
Overall, Smally's is a decent place that I would certainly return to if in the area but I would not go out of my way to eat there. For the price, it is definitely a good place to nosh.
I had heard a lot about Smally's Resto Cafe and given the 4.0 rating on Zomato (when I looked it up), I thought it was most definitely worth a visit. The location is certainly convenient though calling Church Street a street is only by the grace of semantics!
Smally's is a cosy place. They have decent chairs and nice sofas you can sink in while waiting for the food. It seems they have the place upstairs too, though it seems to be technically called Easy Tiger....
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