Fresh and Hot Malatang Rhodes — Restaurant in Sydney

!!PUBLIC WARNING!!

We dined-in recently and noticed that about half of what we had selected from the bain-marie were missing in our bowls. The cost after weighting came to around $29.

When uncooked, I had in my bowl 10 pieces of sliced beef, 10 pieces of sliced chicken, and other seafood items. When cooked, you cannot see the food items, as the majority is inside the opaque soup base. This is normal for malatang.

However, what is abnormal is that half of what you paid for is not given to you after the items are cooked and the soup base is added. My wife also had a similar poor experience with her meal, which costed around $12.

When asked to speak with the manager, the staff looked very shocked. The manager eventually came out to speak with me, and offered to make a new meal with whatever I wanted. I said to him, I will only add back what was removed, and he immediately obliged.

If you are a returning customer or looking to try it out for the first time, I would encourage you to count your food and check that you have every item that you have paid for. With the cost of food (and the cost of living) on the increase, make sure you are not being taken advantage of by potentially unscrupulous and morally corrupt eatery (or restaurant) owners...

First time was there, I took several squid head and just realised that after I got the cooked food, there was hardly any squid head, nor the tentacles. There were very tiny pieces of them only and I was searching for them as it was my favourite, couldn't find any in my bowl. Went for second time, took 4 squid-heads, only to find 3 in my soup. Took 4 whole squid, only to find 2. This time I purposely said that my food was not to be cut at all. My guessing was right, they 'steal' some of the food you have paid for, (especially the expensive ones!) And they cut them small so that you won't notice! What a dodgy restaurant to go for. 99% diners won't notice, but I have some bad experiences dealing with, sorry to say, Chinese restauranteurs. I believe I am not the only one having this kind of experiences with such cunning business. Hopefully after they read this review, they practice...

What really put me off was the service. After having some of our food I spent $70 all together on, there was still a lot of food left, so I asked for a takeaway container. Instead of offering one (especially considering how much I’d spent), the staff member charged me 50 cents for it — with a card surcharge. Be so for real. Completely cheap heads. Then, without asking, she began removing parts of the meal, including the sauce, just to try and make it all fit. She didn’t offer me a second container or even check if I was okay with her handling my food like that. She also splashed the sauce everywhere while transferring it. It felt really dismissive and unhygienic.

Overall, the experience felt rushed, unfriendly, and overpriced. You could easily get a better laksa somewhere else for a better price & a more...