Penang Malaysian & Thai Cuisine

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

Food-wise, I dont think I have any reason to complain as the dishes we ordered so far have been nothing less than delicious. Since we loved the food and the ambience so much that we decided we should bring our friends and spread a good word for this restaurant. HOWEVER, we will NEVER do so anymore because it came to our notice in our most recent visit that their customer service is simply awful and pretty much the worst in our experiences. The middle aged East Asian person waiting our table first came to us speaking in a strange manner which we just could not make out. it turned out that he was trying to speak in some of the 29 or so Indian Languages. Now, I have no idea what kid of humour was that, but we took it lightly as there was no reason to fret there, even though we believe that was not an appropriate way. Then, he comes to us after making us wait for a looong time and begins to take order, while getting distracted by his other tables in between. So, somehow the order was placed and he was kind enough to acknowledge one veg member present on our table by bringing a veg curry with roti canai (which comes with a chicken dish). He disappeared after that and those who brought our food after another long wait had no idea about the names of the dishes they were bringing to our table. We had to taste and figure out for ourselves. We had asked for water which was never brought until we had to distract another over busy waiter. After we finished our food, there was no one present around us for a long time for the desert order. By this time, the restaurant had only a few customers left unlike in the beginning when it was brimming with people. finally, we placed and order for Fried Ice cream with another waitress. She brought the ice cream but it was cold on the outside instead of hot. So, we turned our heads again to draw their attention. in the meantime, our group members worked on the un-fried ice cream (our fault). When we got the attention of the waitress, instead of apologizing, she began defending the cook and tried to explain why the ice cream remained cold on the outside. Then she asked us to write a feedback on the back of the check and advised us that next time we should speak with the cook if such a thing happened. We said there would never be a next time , to which she offered another ice cream. We finally refused to that offer and added a very small tip and left (as we were very disappointed by their attitude towards our satisfaction). To our dismay, we were followed by a waitress and advised to pay at least 10% mandatory tip. We argued that it was not mentioned anywhere and we were free to tip as we liked. We walked out and were shocked to be followed by our first waiter (who had almost disappeared from the scene). The first thing he asked us was what language we preferred to speak in...."Tamil??" (whatever that meant). We said we speak English. So he began explaining how his job is just to serve us and it was the chefs job to make the food. QED, it was not his fault that we got a bad ice cream on our table. Well, we told him it was not our fault either. When we said we tip well, even 20% sometimes, when we are satisfied. To which he passed a very mean comment "I dont think so". Who talks like that to customers and what was he trying to get at. We got angry and asked him if he wanted us to take the tip off the bill completely. Obviously, greedy and begging as he was, he could not afford that deduction. He was quiet. We walked away. We should have taken him to the manager and he would have lost his job the same night, lest the manager himself was oblivious to customer satisfaction. We wanted to save our ruined evening and did not created any further scene. Very cheap and annoying service!!! We hardly like any restaurant in NJ. Penang was one of them and we took a lot of business to Penag. But it is their loss after all. We will always find another one. If you guys want to have some fun at Penang, just tip them less than 10% and see the drama unfolding.

DA

Dan Ricords

This place is really really busy, I have pulled into the parking lot and not been able to park sometimes. It is decorated with traditional art from all around malaysia. when you walk in it looks like youre transported back to a village over there. They have a sushi bar, but dont serve sushi anymore. the items on the menu are predominantly malaysian, thai and chinese. most of the staff who work in that palce are either chinese-malaysian, chinese or indonesian. some speak english very well, some speak it poorly. The food quality is very high, and the prices are somewhat lower than the rest of the places Ive been to in nyc or philly or harrisburg. It seems like they take a lot of time to prepare the quality of the food, they want it to look like a work of art. I have been to this restaurant several times. I can kind of agree with many of the things that other people had said prior to me. no getting refills on water, slow service. I waited at the cash register to pay for about 10 minutes once. I can surely attest to the being bullied into higher priced dishes. but that is not an uncommon practice. A lot of ethnic restaurants do that, especially east asian places. they "suggest" something that tastes better that i will like (even though they dont know me from adam tilao) that just happens to be 5 dollars more expensive than the prior item i was looking at. On one occasion I asked that my food be packaged for me to take home, I swear out of everything on my plate they threw away the rice and small portion of curry chicken and just gave me the fried noodles. The staff likes you to wait 5 times longer than youre used to but oh well, the food is what its all about. plus if that does happen to you, just start a chit-chat conversation with the table next to you.... about how long theyve been waiting.

JA

Jaydeep Manek

These guys are in hospitality business but unfortunately dont even f@#k#n know H of hospitality. Dont believe it, judge for yourself. We went little after 9 pm. Despite 4 tables being unoccupied we were given a no. and asked to wait. 10 mins later we get table two. Upon servers request, we order both appetizers and main course at the same time. 20 mins later we get our main course, no mention of appetizers. We asked waitress very politely where was the soup and appetizer. She very unapologetically replied she had no control over what comes out of kitchen. We ended up cancelling the order of soup and appetizers, as we were already half way done on main course before soup showed up without any mention of appetizers. We finished what we were served and left hungry. Again, leaving the door we thought of mentioning our grievance, this dude is standing leaning against counter, and two ladies giggling behind the counter, listen to it and seemed totally unapologetic to what happened. My two cents to the ownership, invest in training, teach courtesy, damage control. Start by a lunch/dinner trip for entire team of servers to a brand name restaurant american restaurant and ask them to experience the difference in how they get treated there vs. how they treat their guests. I will still give one star, in my all honesty, although we got only half the meal, whatever was served was good.