The Sambal — Restaurant in Sydney

Went here with a group of 5. We were on waiting list because it was busy (got number 39). So we queued and next after us is a family of 6 (number 40).

We were very disappointed because they skipped our group and called the family right in front of us without any explanation or anything. We don't complain because we thought we'll get our table soon after them. Turns out we waited for another 5 minutes.

So in we go after around 15min of waiting. Front of house staff were not friendly. We ordered soto mie, soto babad and fried chickens. There is no tap water served, unlike any other Indonesian restaurants. Food are long to come out. It would be okay if the food are tasty but sad to say it isn't. It was just okay. One thing we like was the sambal, it's very tasty.

Fried chickens are juicy but bland. Soto portions are small, the soto price are $10 but what came out was like a $7 portion of food and I'm not exaggerating. Overall services were below average. No smile or anything when they serving our food and drinks to our table.

Then we went to cashier to pay and we were charged more than we should. Turns out one of their staff forgot to chuck previous table order list. Would never go back unless they step up their performance.

Reply for owner: The staff did solve it, she found our order list immediately but it seems teamwork are lacking for the front of house staff.

I don't recall they asked us if it's okay or not to skip our queue. We did notice there was an elderly but he was given a seat immediately as they came and the rest of the family are queueing as normal. If staffs had communicated in a proper way with us we wouldn't complaint to be skipped at all.

I understand it's a new business and it was very hectic, it's just the staffs were rushing too much they don't really care about the customers. About portioning in soto ayam and soto babad there were only a few little meat on it.

Thanks for the reply,...

I recently found this place and tried it for quick dinner. The place has good reviews from a few online sources and backed by chef / owner couple who worked in famous Asian-style restaurants in Sydney. Therefore, I expect good experience on the night. I chose Betawi-style soto babat from the menu because it tends to be hard dish to prepare right and I was quite satisfied with the one I had. The soup base was authentic following traditional recipe and the beef meats / tripes plus other condiments were nicely prepared. The price is good value for the dish. Unfortunately, the dessert of ice cendol was not that good value. Though the taste and ingredients are also authentic and nice but the small glass opening with huge ice-cubes inside made it quite troublesome to enjoy this cold desserts plus the portion is a bit small for $5 price. I also tried some traditional cookies they sold at the counter and they're just average for the price. The location is good, close to Town Hall station. The ambience is reasonable for CBD casual restaurant and the services from staff members are good.

On 2nd visit, we tried their gado-gado, grilled ribs, sambal goreng and the special kolak ubi. I have to admit this time around, there're many disappointments. The sambal goreng and ribs were OK but the gado-gado and kolak ubi did not meet our expectation. The gado-gado' sauce was tasteless and dry while the kolak ubi did not have enough coconut milk to taste like a proper one. I suggest to work on tight menu rather than have long list of dishes where some of them will just ruin...

LET'S EAT INDONESIAN FOOD 😄😍

It's the biggest honour to have friends from different cultures who take you out to try food from their favourite restaurants. You can leave all of the ordering to them, and your only job is to be ready to have your socks knocked off by the food that they love and grew up with. Today we're eating some fantastic Indonesian dishes with my Indo friends!

When I went to Indonesia earlier this year, I was blown away by how good the food was. The variety of the cuisine was endless, and every plate of rice was so flavourful with anything you chose to eat it with. Partly because everyone there likes to add sambal to everything. Naturally, you would expect a restaurant called The Sambal in Sydney to have good sambal, and indeed they did. Ask for their red chilli sambal, their sambal matah (Balinese style fresh sambal) and the green chilli sambal with dried anchovies (called sambal teri cabai hijau on the menu), add it over your rice and you're set. You don't even need all of the other stuff!

Just kidding - how can you visit a place like this without ordering their other dishes 😜 My favourite was the wagyu beef rendang! It's a special order, not always available, but frick me that curry sauce on it was out of this world. Go for the chicken satay sticks (sate ayam), grilled turmeric calamari (cumi bakar), grilled beef ribs (iga bakar) and nasi goreng too (you should already know this one - it's fried rice!). It pleasantly reminded me of some of the restaurants I ate at in Jakarta. There's no wrong turns with anything...