This time I was invited to a midday snack in Taman Anggrek Mall in West Jakarta. A few years ago I visited this mall quite often because it was close to where I lived. Now the mall felt very different, but I still liked it, compared to what Ciputra Mall (I knew it as Citra Land) had become. I walked and walked until this line of robo-grillers caught my attention. What were they? I stopped to take a closer look. Well, lucky me, that was where my midday snack was.

GrillBox & Its Band of Robo-Grillers

Look at the robots in chef’s clothing on the left side. Adorable, huh? Thanks to them, this place would at least be tougher to forget, considering what I would experience next.

Decor – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
I really liked the simple yet fresh decor of this place. However, some elements were rather forced and out-of-place, such as the display of spatulas and other kitchen utensils right in your face if you sat by the long table. A mop and unused big cardboard boxes were lying around freely, a view I would rather not see while enjoying my snack. The two staffs didn’t wear uniforms until much later. Perhaps their uniforms were being cleaned.
Three Pizzas & a Muffin – (from left to right) Sweet Banana Muffin (IDR 15,000), Hawaiian Beef Ham, Mystic Beef Bacon, Portuguese Chili Crab (@IDR 18,000)
These were served on what happened to be a Japanese bento box lid, not to mention the lid was too big, too. They also took the sticks out, to my disappointment. Wasn’t it supposed to be pizza/muffin-on-a-stick?
Portuguese Chili Crab: The one I was gonna order after looking at the menu. Sounded promising but not even close to my expectations. They used surimi (imitation crab) and sauce that I found horrible. 
Mystic Beef Bacon: Nothing mystic at all. It was okay.
Hawaiian Beef Ham: Served extra hot… with fire. The pizza was baked too long as you will see below.
Sweet Banana Muffin: just like a regular muffin. Not too bad, but with a price of IDR 15,000, I would put my money somewhere else.
Creamy Corn Soup – IDR ~13,000
Nothing special.
Sweet Corn & Cheese – IDR ~13,000
Just corn & shredded cheese, nothing special except that it wasn’t worth the price.

IDR 114,000 Regular Price
Would you shell out IDR 114,000 for these? No way, José. To make things worse, the waiter happened to forget our drinks until we asked for them. I think we were supposed to hold the pizzas by their sticks to eat, but the server took out the sticks (and we weren’t given any utensils either), as if it was implied that we should use our hands.
Served Extra Hot… Literally
One of the three pizzas was badly burnt. I came up to the counter and asked for a replacement. The server complied with my request and gave me this, to my surprise:
It’s only slightly burnt, sir.
This time the waiter left the stick inside. The pizza was still burnt. I didn’t bother asking for another replacement and left it on the table.

MISTER’S MEMO
First Impression:
It’s the arrival of robo-grillers!! Can I take ’em home?

Atmosphere:
The seating area was incredibly tiny. Too much space was used for the counter/kitchen. I liked the wall decor, it was simple and fresh. However, some other elements were really out of place. You don’t wanna see a mop lying around in front of you while you eat, do you?
Food:
Small size. Burnt pizzas make customers hesitate to come back.
Pricing:
IDR 18,000 for a small pizza-on-a-stick? ~IDR 13,000 for a side dish? Much too pricey for what you’re getting. IDR 25,000/person will get you a pizza + drink, but the size is too small for a meal.

Service:
Waiters were quite helpful but I wasn’t informed when one of the waiters took the initiative to replace a muffin with a pizza since only one muffin flavor was available. Nice initiative but I expected him to let customers know. The same applied with my drinks; common sense dictates they should have come before or with the food. Earlier I saw the free WiFi sign, but I couldn’t connect with the given password and the server simply said the network must have been down, period.

I would think twice before visiting this place again, even with a discount.

GrillBox
Mall Taman Anggrek Lt. 4 Unit 421B

Jl. LetJen. S. Parman Kav. 21, Slipi
Jakarta Barat 11470
+62 (21) 5639359