Tamarind Hill — Restaurant in North Vancouver

How to make a customer feel unwelcome - no joy here. What happened to this place, given some of the better reviews?

How to make a customer feel completely undervalued has been perfected here. Having had a restaurant, I understand how complex the business can be, but this was sad.

I read the poor reviews and should not have bothered going here, but we had walked too far.

They have lost the idea of customer service.

This was a very small, poorly lit place, and although the decor wouldn't by itself assist in this place qualifying for decent ambiance, the front man providing service, the dishware, the meal presentation, the lack of attention or care from the server, the lack of attention to the quantity and dishes ordered, created an environment of wanting to get up and leave.

He certainly was not friendly but did oblige us with a table for four as it was empty when we arrived.

The food was ordered and delivered quickly but without a smile or eye contact.

The papaya salad was tasty but placed on the table with two small plates that hardly held half of the salad. He never came back until the beef came.

We ordered a beef stew dish (not two cups) for $22.00, NO RICE included. We did not get a proper new plate...ever. We were to continue eating off of dirty side plates. Although tasty enough, it had maybe ten pieces of half-fatty beef and ok pieces intermingled with a few potatoes. That, too, was dropped on our table in passing to another table - not a glance in our direction and not a question of how it was. We ordered one rice but had to pay for two.

The total experience was so poor that I would not recommend the place I recommend against bothering--$ 42.00 NO TIP, was poorly spent. It was an overpriced pit stop. There is no joy here.

We won't go back to that place. It completely lacks...

Update

Recently revisited Tamarind Hill and found the food to be excellent, the decor getting a little worn and the service perfunctory. I reckon the server really doesn't want to be there, he was so lacking in interest or enthusiasm. The food, however, was better than ever. Two of us shared the green papaya and mango salad to start followed by Hainanese chicken, mee goreng and eggplant in spicy chili garlic. All served piping hot and in generous portions. The food definitely is worth returning for despite the service issue.

Been to Tamarind Hill several times but haven't visited in quite awhile so decided to have lunch there the other day. Three of us shared a mango and green papaya salad, calamari, Hainanese chicken and nasi goreng. The salad was very enjoyable - just a little bit spicy in a good way. The calamari was pretty good, though the portion size was on the small side. Hainanese chicken was very moist and tasty, would order again. The nasi goreng was meh, not a lot of flavour. Service was good and despite arriving under an hour before closing, we were not rushed out. The place is very small and even though only a few tables occupied it...

We visited Tamarind Hill twice now and enjoyed our meal there both times. The first time we went for dinner and found it to be quite dark and cold inside. The restaurant is small with not too many tables but enough to still get a seat though it's quite close to each other, which we didn't like.

The second time we attended a family birthday party dinner and the seating was again, very tight. They pushed the smaller tables together by the bench against the wall and it was hard to get in and out, especially with a baby car seat.

The food was delicious with a large variety of Malaysian dishes. We were glad to see that there were spicy and non spicy dishes, some more flavourful than others. We ordered all kinds of meat and veggie dishes like laksa, satay, coconut rice, fish etc etc. The food was fresh and hot and everyone enjoyed eating. The AC was turned off and it became quite hot and stuffy especially after eating spicy dishes. The service was excellent and AC was turned on promptly. Overall we enjoyed our dinner and will...