I've been to the I55 a number of times and was finally motivated to write a review after a fantastic sunday brunch there. It was basically 65 kwai to eat as much bacon, pancakes, scrambled eggs, baked beans, sausage type things, french toast, waffles, toast, coffee, tea, orange juice, salad, hash browns ("western style pan fried potato"), mushrooms in a kind of suet, meusli and milk as you can. I am ashamed to say that I attacked the buffet with the ferocity of a tornado and the apetite of three starving pigs. I ate so much that I had to go home and have a 4 hour nap.
Do I feel guilty?
Hell no
The quality of the food is pretty good and the prices are on the high end of reasonable. But they really get you on the drinks though, 18 kwai for a coke with a bit of cherry cordial in it and thats about the cheapest drink on the menu. For 18 kwai in china I expect to be drunk.
The service is good, they even reminded us on sunday that we had another 5 mins to stuff our faces. I really like the feel of the place, they decor is great except for the huge hideous plastic turds on the back wall. It has a diner-ey feel and there are books and games to read or play with while you wait for your food.
I marked the drinks down for the price rather than the range of coffee which is huge; but why not have some middle priced drinks?
I visited this place on a monday night and was really impressed with the whole experience. The service was attentive but not over intrusive. The overall feel of the place was really excellent, football muted on the TV, chilled wallpaper music at a pleasant volume, high quality decor. The food is fantastic, I had a plate full of a variety of german sausages but the reason I gave the food a 10 is for the creamy mashed potato. It is one of the first times in China I have been unable to finish a western meal because the portions were just so huge. They have a whole bunch of imported beers and chocolate. The only non 10 I gave was for the cost but in all fairness genuine western food in China generally comes at western prices not chinese. The plate of 5 sausages I had was 68 kwai but most of the dishes were around the 30 - 40 kwai range, beer about 20 - 30 kwai per 0.5L
i was really excited about the prospect of mexican food and really wanted to give this place a good review. But I can't. Anywhere where a restaurant that has more staff than diners and still takes 45 minutes (30 mins of patient waiting, 15 of polite prodding) to deliver a bottle of corona has deep seated problems. Similarly the food arrived in no particular order including an ice cream course half way through the meal. If a place is kind of busy I can forgive it but not when its as dead as it truely deserves to stay. The food was so-so for the price. In summary you'd be more satisfied all round if you ordered a UPS delivery from mexico.
aileen
jim
