Once upon a time, well actually it wasn't that long. Just over a couple years ago really, Muara Ikan Bakar in Tanjung Harapan (Port Klang) used to serve good and affordable seafood. I remember one time, I was with a group of friends, all fresh grads for a dinner of grilled fish and other seafood.
Recently, I visited again with my family to celebrate mom's birthday. It was a disaster right from the moment we stepped into the restaurant. Mom actually phoned them earlier to book a table and the person who answered said no need to reserve as there weren't many people. Wrong!
It was Saturday night, a band was having a showcase there and the tables were either occupied or reserved. We tried to find a table and got no help from the staff. There was an empty section (tables all prepared) but was told that we cannot sit there. No idea why. The staff walked away before she had the chance to tell us where we CAN sit.
Luckily a group left and so we stood near the table while attempting (vainly) to get a staff to collect the plates and clean the table. No such luck. We stood around as if we were invisible for at least 15 minutes. A staff came, touched the plates a bit, and then left. After a few more minutes, another staff finally deemed us worthy of her attention and gestured to *another* staff to clean the table.
P.s. Talking to "the person in charge of the section" didn't help much. We got to talk to her twice before she simply avoided us.
Eventually, a staff took the plates, glasses and tablecloth and left us with this...
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| a bare, dirty table. Whole night long. |
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| Ambiance |
I mentioned a showcase right? The band *was* quite popular with their slow rock songs. Unfortunately, horrible PA system made it more a pain than a pleasure.
The wait for someone to take our order was shorter. Probably about 5 minutes? By then, my dad was done choosing the fish and other sea creatures for our dinner. The staff who took our order was brusque and almost rude. She acted as if she was doing us all a favour by taking our drink orders. Imagine how a girl behave towards guys she doesn't like; only we were/are NOT a bunch of sleazy guys hitting on her.
I bit my tongue, reminding myself it was mom's birthday.
Food took long enough to arrive but at least the emcee/deejay made announcement about the delay in kitchen. So don't come when you're hungry. Oh wait... that doesn't really make sense now, does it?
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| The saving grace of the night |
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| Notice the table? And the absence of drinks? And about 3 dishes still missing... |
More cons
- Not enough utensils. There were 7 of us but only 5 sets was given. Dad went to get more.
- The dishes arrived in batches. Half of the rice was gone before the grilled fish, another fish and crab arrived
- Drinks arrived last. We asked for it twice before I got up, caught a staff by her arm and asked, "bila air boleh sampai? Dah 2 kali saya tanya ni." (when will the drinks arrive? I've asked twice)
Taste - Average except for the prawn
Price - Expensive considering the very poor service and average tasting food
Ambiance - Family-friendly, a bit too noisy and somewhat chaotic. Poor ventilation if you don't get a table at the open-air sections. Definitely not the place for a special celebration or to bring guests (unless you hate your guests).
Check out other reviews on Foursquare if you think mine is an isolated case.
You've been warned but if you want to go anyway, make a reservation, lower your expectation and "bring" lots of patience =)
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