Sahara in Boat Quay

City Skyline in the background

I met up with a few ex-colleagues for dinner, drinks, shisha, etc on Thursday night. Sahara at Boat Quay was the choice since it had shisha and was near their office.

Service was pretty prompt. A basket of pappadoms was delivered to our table almost immediately even before we ordered any food. The menu was confusing with a mish-mash of items available. From middle eastern arabian food to indian and even western food. That should actually be out first clue that Sahara is a totally tourist spot/trap. The second clue is the exorbitant prices of the food and drinks.


Pappadom and mint sauce

Hummus with naan - not too bad but I had better

Butter chicken ($17) - such a tiny portion. Some arabian style mutton dish on a bed of naan and chopped onions and tomatoes. We also ordered cheese naans and tandoori naans. It took pretty long for the food to arrive. At least 30mins.



The food was pretty alright, decent. While the prices were more for tourists and the location, we figured we were paying for the view etc. It was a lovely breezy evening with no rain, perfect for a night of chilling and just hanging out.

However, I had a problem with the way the billing was done (see receipt above). I didn't see the first bill which apparently we were overcharged for the drinks. So it was changed. The 2nd bill - I noticed the discount given didn't seem right. Sahara participating in AMEX promotion with 20% off food items.

The items in the bill were not labeled clearly. Who would remember/know what is "open food", especially if one had too much of a drink? Good thing we didn't order too many items as it was pretty late by then and we just wanted to move on to the shisha. So calculating the food items, the total should be $60, giving $12 discount at 20%.

We pointed that out to the manager and instead of canceling the previous credit card transaction, he just handed me a $2 note. That would actually mean the 7% GST and 10% service charge would be off, but since it was a small issue, I didn't really bother quibbling over it. After signing and everything, I noticed that the service charge and GST were actually based on the original total, not on the discounted total.

Now, I never really noticed how it was supposed to be charged/calculated in other restaurants which had such promotions/discounts, but I would have thought those charges would be on the after discounted price?

Anyway, I would not recommend Sahara to those who like Indian food. Frankly there are so many other places which are much better, either in price or ambience and service. Shahi Maharaja at Raffles City is one. Delhi Restaurant in Little India is another.