Penang Bistro - Vancouver, British Columbia

This is not a honest shop. They don't provide recommendations from the customers perspective. They are only concerned about profit. Our family was driving past and popped in because we just visited Penang and thought the food and people there were incredible. The three of us told this to the boss ... when we got there. When we wanted to order Penang's most famous hainanese chicken, the boss told us that their chicken isn't very good. She said that their lobster is the best in town and that because it was "today's special," she could cook it for us two ways. The food was very underwhelming. Half of the lobster was basically carried by sauce. It was very salty. The other half was so so dry. The roti wasn't soft and the vegetable had no flavor. The most disappointing part is after praising her own food so much, the boss never came back and asked us how the food was. We never saw her again. Because of her recommendations, we weren't able to try out the other food that we originally wanted. After dinner, we saw a lot of comments saying that this restaurant common upsells seafood. Not a good business practice. Strong advise people to avoid this place. Read more

My friend and I came here for desserts as we saw a big A-board right outside the restaurant. The A-board was full of sweet beverages and desserts. We know this Malaysian restaurant sells both savory and sweet food. We tried desserts this time. We would like to try their savory dishes ... next time. We ordered a dessert platter (see attached photo). The platter included different types of Malaysian desserts. Our favourite one was the coconut crepe (in green tubes like spring rolls). It was the best! It filled with coconut inside. We also ordered the hot soup with black or red sticky rice and tapiocas. It was great too! After tasting the desserts of the platter, we were already full. We only tried some of the hot soup with black or red sticky rice and tapiocas with coconut milk. The customer service was great. Only thing that we did not like was the wait time for the desserts. It took almost half an hour to come out. My friend and I had been sitting and drinking tea for a long time. We saw a lot of customers quite enjoyed the (savory) food. An interesting thing is a Japanese restaurant shared half of the space so customers could order Japanese food at the Malaysian restaurant 😅 Read more

We were hungry that day so the portion seems small compared to other similar restaurants. Yet it is delicious and serving one of the best Malaysian food in town!

0 stars if possible. Unacceptable experience offered by this restaurant. Booked a reservation a few days ahead with confirmed date and time. Arrived 15 mins earlier and had no front service staff or kitchen staff in the restaurant to assist. We had to asked the partnered sushi take out connected to them ... for help. They assisted us all that they could (Which was very kind and lovely of them). Thank you to "Sake Maki". After sitting there for 30 mins, 15 mins after our inital reservation time and trying to call, look for a hostess or even a kitchen staff member; there was nobody. We did not understand, why have a restaurant opened when no one was there or even take our reservation in the first place. We decided to let it go and not let it ruin our night. However an hour after we left, the restaurant dared to call us and belittle us for not being present for our reservation. We kindly explained the situation and said it was okay, but the lady on the phone kept on saying that there was staff members at the place and even questioned if we went to the correct place. Basically, any excuse to have us in the wrong. I think that is just the most unprofessional thing a restaurant can do to their "customers". I cannot comment on the food however, if the restaurant and staff members act like this, good food won't make it up. Read more

Highly recommend this little hidden gem, it may look run-down but places like that usually have the best food. The food is so delicious, nicely spices and seasoned, and I think it’s fairly priced as well. Would recommend coming here for some drinks as well, they have some affordable cocktails on ... the menu. Read more