XW Western Grill (Raffles City)

Salad bars take me back to the glory days of Ponderosa & Sizzler, and they were one of the best inventions of the 20th century. Call it nostalgia, call it gluttony, but there’s no denying that salad bars are utterly brilliant. So when I heard that @xwwesterngrill unique selling point was that purchasing any entrée gave you full access to the salad bar, I knew I had to give it a go for old times sake.⠀
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During the date of my visit, XW Western Grill had a limited time special of Mentaiko Aburi Chicken Chop ($15.90++). It sounds sophisticated, but it really is quite simple. A juicy cut of chicken thigh fillet is grilled till it acquires a captivating char, and then a deluge of mentaiko mayo is applied on top and blowtorched. The mentaiko mayonnaise was slightly too creamy & not quite umami enough, but the sublime chicken chop more than makes up for it. The skin has become crisp, and the char adds extra smokiness to the already stunningly savoury chicken chop. It’s served with a side of fries, but I left most of it behind as I had the salad bar to explore.⠀
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The salad bar doesn’t just have salad and other delicious, must-have veggie items like coleslaw, creamed spinach, charred broccoli & carrots, and sautéed cherry tomatoes, they have sides too. Think sautéed mushrooms, potato salad, onion rings, sweet potato fries, aglio olio pasta and a couple of other carb options. All these carb & veg options in conjunction with the decently proportioned proteins make for a bulking brother’s dream, and good lord what wouldn’t I give to have XW Western Grill open up a restaurant in one of the three malls in Paya Lebar.⠀
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If any of y’all at @xwwesterngrill are reading this, this is a sign to take the plunge & open a new outlet with a full salad bar in one of the three malls surrounding Paya Lebar MRT. Thank me later.

With unlimited free flow sides with every main dish orders, XW Western Grill is one place you can get the bang for your buck, although the quality of sides may not be ideal.

I got the Chicken Chop with Black Pepper Sauce ($14.80) which came with a pretty large slab of chicken, which was well charred and was tender. The sauce reminded me of the kind you get from old school western food stalls. Fries were decent.

As for the sides, most of them were nothing to shout out about, except for the mashed potato which was surprisingly creamy and buttery; quite enjoyable!

I guess this is one place to get your no frills meal settled!

They changed their concept since the last time I came and decided to give it a try. Even though it was a buffet sides, I didn't expect much from the mains. I ordered the Salmon Lemon Cream Sauce Spaghetti ($13.80++) which is better than I expect, there is generous amount of salmons, sauce is nice and spaghetti cooked to perfection. The sides include favourites like onion ring & mac and cheese which is good

Ordered the black pepper grilled chicken. Super average. iSteak is much better and cheaper

Service is really bad, had to call them three times to get my paid warm water. They food took a long time to arrive despite only a few customers. Staff are very task-oriented, not customer friendly at all

This place feels understaffed.

Long wait to enter even though no one else was queuing to enter.

1 staff tasked to take order at entrance, collect food delivery and takeaway from kitchen

Finally after waiting 10mins, a staff finally greeted me to take my order at the entrance.

Complimentary cup of popcorn was served first whilst u waited for dinner.

Finally, dinner arrived, requested for a cup of sambal sauce for the fish. The sambal sauce was damn good.

The chicken chop is nothing special.

I would say I was slightly disappointed with the taste, I expected better to be honest. Felt the chicken chop was not adequately marinated.

Will come again next time for the other dishes.