Tropika Malaysian Cuisine — Restaurant in Edmonton

(1 star — only because Google won’t let us leave zero)

We’ve been long-time supporters of this restaurant and used to really enjoy coming here, but after our most recent experience, we will not be returning.

We ordered the curry lembu, which used to be a family favorite — so we’re very familiar with how it’s supposed to look, smell, and taste. This time, something was clearly wrong. We noticed a strong sour smell at the table almost immediately, though at first we weren’t sure where it was coming from. After each of us sampled the dish, we realized it was the source. The meat underneath the sauce had a greenish tint, and the flavor was sharply sour — not the usual rich, fragrant flavor we’ve come to love, but something that tasted clearly spoiled. Once the plate was removed from the table, the sour smell disappeared entirely, confirming it had been coming from that dish.

We reported the issue to our server, and a few minutes later he returned and admitted he had tried it himself and confirmed it was not good. He apologized, and the restaurant did remove the dish from our bill — which we appreciated — but after that, our server never checked in on us again.

Other staff came by a few times, but only to quietly refill our water glasses — even though it was clear we were done eating and had pushed our plates aside. No one asked if we were okay, if we wanted anything else, or even offered us the bill. We had to ask for both the check and for takeout containers — which we ended up throwing away out of fear, as we no longer trusted the safety of anything we had been served.

It was also clear that some renovations had been done since our last visit. The space is now much brighter, but unfortunately, the warm and cozy atmosphere it used to have is gone. The new setup, with its plain and utilitarian table settings, makes the place feel more like a cafeteria than a restaurant. They’ve also introduced a robot server, which was a fun novelty — but frankly, we would have preferred that investment go toward ensuring safe, properly stored food.

We spent $120 on what was supposed to be a celebratory family dinner to mark the end of the school year. Instead, we left feeling disappointed, uneasy, and concerned for our health. It wasn’t until afterward that we fully realized how risky it was for all four of us to have sampled meat that appeared and tasted spoiled. It also made us question the quality and safety of the other dishes we had eaten.

This experience completely broke our trust in a restaurant we once loved. Sadly, we can no longer recommend it — and we will not...

Don't order from them via Uber Eats, when I tried ordering and forgot to add something, so I cancelled it within 30 seconds. They not only didn't refund my money, so I could reorder, they charged me for the cancellation of the entire food order $130 plus, and not deliver my food. The note they indicated was that they're making the food, which is so laughable, how superhuman they are, they could make 10 dishes, or even give the cook the order within 30 seconds after placing the order. So is the restaurant empty, during Saturday the busiest time of the day? I guess they wish to take my money, even if they haven't made a single dish, which says a lot about why this restaurant has duped so low to take money from their customers, without providing them the food they charged for, or provide a refund back for an order they haven't even made.

I wonder how long a business will survive with this kind of service? No wonder their business are depleting compare to long before when the first opened in Edmonton.

In addition, many of the food use to tastes great, but now I would never order certain foods like Satay, has become a kabob style (very nasty in taste, better buy frozen kabob from the food store that tastes better, Crispy chicken is too sweet, Rendeng and Laksa is so laughable, etc ... I had been a regular since it first opened in Edmonton, for the last decade many of the traditional Malaysian style food seems like they've put a novice cook to cook them. If you're a Malaysian you'll know this restaurant is no longer a recommended place. Might as well take a trip to Vancouver to eat.

I've given them so much credit, chances and holding myself back from making a comment on so many things, now is just total frustration, and will never order, from them again. Loosing your loyal customer, I hope you're happy and didn't regret of what you did. Typing negative feedback is not my forte, and I dislike it ... yet I need to tell people to be careful, learn from...

So I went to this place today and I gotta say; the staff are nice......that's it. The food falls into a terrible Asian food stereotype, which is that you pay for the false advertised picture of the food. It comes out looking nothing like the picture but the price matches the food in the picture.

I didn't take a picture of the Assam Ayam but believe me when I say the picture was far from the food. The chicken wings appetizer looked like it had sauce in the picture but it came out dry with some bulk barn chili powder on it. My girlfriend got the fish and all you need to do is use the menu they have as a reference to the picture here.

Very disappointed in the taste to put it nicely, the assam ayam chicken mostly had bone as opposed to the chicken it was coming from. The sauce on the fish was made purposely overpowering to cover the fact that the meat and batter have no flavour or any seasoning. The wings were dry and hot(the powder was hot anyway), after eat 3 of the wings we asked the server to remove them. And the prawn cakes had a strange rubber-like consistency, could only call it decent when paired with the sauce it comes with. The cocktail I had was pretty tasty but the vodka in it didn't seem like it was mixed well. Also I don't remember the name of it.

Decor-wise there's nothing to write home about. It look like a diner but is advertised as fine dining. On top of that, this place has the same doorbell as a 7eleven. Hearing that bell makes you think you're just in a food court, until you see them prices anyway.

All in all, bad experience. Would never go there again and I live 250metres away. The friendly staff can't make up for the bad food and...