A'la Indo — Restaurant in Sydney

My family had always gone to Ala Indo Mascot regularly. The food was great and service was OK until today. This morning before 11am I made a telephone call to Ala Indo to order a bowl of chicken noodle to be picked up. They took my order and confirmed it. 15 mins later I arrived at the restaurant to pick the food. I went to the counter to pay in cash. The young lady at the counter said the noodle is still being prepared and asked me to wait. I saw their staffs in the kitchen were preparing for catering order of yellow rice and they were laughing and joking with one another. 30 mins later I went to the counter again asking if my food is ready. I thought a bowl of noodle won't take more than 30mins to prepare. The young lady went to the kitchen and checked and gave me an update that they ran out of chicken pieces, therefore asked me if they could replace it with pork. I said I don't eat pork. She asked me if I wanted a refund. I said I have waited for 30 mins and I was very hungry. I saw that they were preparing some fried chicken for their catering, so I asked if they could put a piece of fried chicken in the noodle to replace the chicken pieces The lady boss, her name is Ling Ling said 'no, it's a different menu and told me to change my order'. I was too hungry to wait for another menu... my workable suggestion was bluntly declined... I asked why they didn't inform me that they ran out of chicken pieces for the noodle when I made the order 30 mins earlier? why they only informed me 30 mins later? and all the staffs in the kitchen were having fun laughing and joking with one another. They didn't show any empathy and sympathy at all towards their customer. I was too hungry to argue and chose to get a refund. They didn't show any genuine apologies and did NOT offer any compensation for making me wait 30 mins for nothing. I will never go to this restaurant again and will share this story to all my friends and relatives.

And this is a reply to Ala Indo's response: When I called to make an order, Ala Indo sent me a text message to confirm my order and The text message also says that their opening hours is at 11am and they would start preparing the food after 11am. they did not say they were going to open at 11:19am. If you google their opening hours it says 11am on google, not 11:19am. Anyway when customers make a call to order, that means that they wish when they make their way and arrive at the shop, the order would be ready by the time they arrive. The clock is ticking after the order is made, not after the customer is arriving to pick it up! what's the use of having to order by phone if they only start cooking after the customer arrives at the shop. If you order by Uber Eat or Domino pizza, the clock starts when the order is made. As mentioned, it would have been appreciated to let the customer know that you are running out of the ingredient at the time when the order was made, not 30 mins later!

Anyway Ala Indo, feel free to continue to argue that you are right, continue to be defensive. It will not make yourself look better if that's how you value customers' loyalty. From experience I ever order food from a chinese restaurant in Chinatown and the shop was very busy that time, when I enquired my order after 20 mins, the restaurant manager acknowledged it took too long, and apologies and offered me a free soft drink. That's how genuine apologies and customer...

4/08/22 came in @11:30 am

Im very dissapointed in the food quality they served today. I used to be your regular because your food was not like other Indonesian reataurant . But today i order the Iga bakar it was very salty. Their was no combination / any umami flavour. All I can taste was soy sauce and MSG. It was so salty.

Unenthuastic service

Not much place to put the pram for baby, this place is just packed with the tables until you have no space to move.

One thing that confused me was, you would like us to order on register, but most of your customer needs to lift/move their tables and chairs to be able to go to the counter to order food and pay. I think it is better for Ala Indo management to consider table service. All cutlery was on the corner which was confusing to reach when again it was so packed to move. Packed with human and chairs.

Their was no excitment of myself to come here to eat. You guys used to be the best Indonesian restaurant in Sydney but not anymore. Is the cook is different now? Because it taste way way better than now. Hopefully you can put this as a feedback as it was a dissapointed experience today for me.

I will not be coming back , as hospitality is about service and consistent flavours in food that you are...

The moment i started eating my food, i knew i had to leave a review for this place. I usually dont write long reviews, but this place might be an exception. Special huh?

Came here with no proper greeting or even basic manners like a simple ‘thank you,’ but that wasnt my main concern. Im a worker too! I know humans get tired sometimes. Maybe they hate their job so much that they’re just waiting for payday. Thats totally fine. We’ve all been there.

But u know what really bothers me? They were shouting at each other right in front of customers. I dont mind if they scream in the back, but doing it in the front really pissed me off. Just wanted a peaceful lunch break. Is that too much to ask?

The workers seemed to hate themselves so much that they almost made you hate yourself too. I know this review wont change anything for them or their management, but i just needed to rant about how much i hate a toxic environment while eating my lunch.

oh wait? and the food? it was actually mid. won’t be coming back. there are so many indonesian restaurants out there with superior hospitality and better taste. come here if you want to make...