Chahaya Malaysia — Restaurant in Ottawa

This is gonna be a long one.

TLDR: If you've never been to Malaysia or have never tried Malaysian food, then you'll probably enjoy it or think the food they have is pretty decent. If you're a Malaysian or someone that's been living in Malaysia for a few years, there's a high chance you would be disappointed due to a huge lack of beloved Malaysian dishes and because the food they have is not up to par with the ones you've tried in Malaysia. You might also have your identity as a Malaysian indirectly questioned/challenged by the staff based on the way they interact/treat you.

Full review of experience:

Pretty decent food but as far as Malaysian food goes, it's not up to par with what I've tasted back home and It's missing a lot of Malaysian favs such as: nasi lemak, chicken rice, laksa, chendol, banana leaf, and more. They have 50+ items on the menu but it's 90% Indonesian and/or Malay dishes. It doesn't accurately represent the true multicultural Malaysian cuisine experience. The rendang was quite good, I'll give them that. The kuey teow goreng although tasted decent, was lacking that charred flavour that you would get from even a regular hawker stall in Malaysia.

Customer service was pleasant but we had a few bad interactions with the staff along the way. We were demanded to move our water and phone, which btw were not obstructive at all, to the other end of the table to "make room" for the food when there's clearly tons of space on the table. It felt so infantilizing, almost like they don't think we have the intellectual capacity to move things around the table as we see fit. Just put the food down where there's clearly space and let us deal with the placement of the food and our personal belongings ourselves.

Next, me and my Malaysian friend, born and raised in Malaysia for 20+ years, got the roti canai and was Malaysian-splained by one of the staff that we shouldn't be using utensils to eat the canai. Eating canai with utensils is a normal and common way to eat canai in Malaysia. Some Malaysians eat with their hands too. It's an eating preference. They would be utterly shocked to find out how normal and common eating canai with utensils is if they actually went to Malaysia. I've devoured hundreds of amazing canai, be it with my hands or utensils, and tbh, the one they served wasn't worth getting my hands dirty for. Too thick, chewy and not flakey throughout. Probably heated up from frozen and not made from scratch.

Saw a few Malaysian reviewers on the Google reviews sharing the same sentiment, so I'm not...

Well. Where do I start? When we arrived, we were seated promptly but that’s as far as the customer service went. We felt completely neglected from the start as they had a large table in the back. Clearly more important. The restaurant had 2 front end staff on. Both servicing the back of the room with next to no service in the front where we were located.

When we finally did order, we were very clear with our order. Each began with the words “I’ll have” and we placed our order. This was within minutes of a table next to us ordering as well. An offering of chip things were given which was nice but that’s was quickly cleared as we waited for our order. Then my order came out almost 15 minutes before anyone’s else’s. “Oh, you ordered off the ap menu. So we brought it out to share. Where did “I’ll have” go to? So my food died as we waited for the rest of our order. During this time. Other orders were taken and I overheard what was being described to me as family style… where was that information? After other tables got their food before us, 2 of the 3 other dishes came out. Indeed family style. So not only did we wait, I enjoyed cold food and my partner waited for her dish. The worst part is tables around us were getting food. Like that table that ordered within minutes of us.

Not a single check in during our meal. We had to flag someone down for rice. Again, because the back was more important. When it was all done we didn’t even ask for the bill. It was given to us and then we were shot looks and watched as if to get out. Not welcoming at all.

Inform your guests on how your restaurant works. - if it’s family service or not. Listen to your client - sometimes apps are ordered out of need for a meal. Which was my case. When you hear “I’ll have” take a note. 2 people, 2 sections. Why did both servers slack on service for tables in the front? Never rush your customer, they won’t come back. A clearly marked menu showing family style, things don’t come with rice. - 2 of my guests ordered stuff that clearly should have came with some as an order. As we didn’t know it was family style, rice didn’t come. Never issue a bill and hover, shoot looks or circle like a hawk. Also never issue the bill without asking. We felt unwanted as a customer.

We won’t be back. Nor do I care to hear the excuses from the owner. This service was awful, food meh. I’ve had better service from a chain burger joint. I never expected a ma and pops, locally owned restaurant to be...

I've been wanting to try this place out for a few years now, just never happened to be anywhere near this part of town. As luck would have it, I was in the East End earlier this week and decided to stop in.I presume it was the owner (very nice and very knowledgeable woman) greeted us. Having not eaten Malaysian/Indonesian food in a restaurant before, she explained all the heat levels and the best choice for a good.

The heat level was explained very thoroughly, and I really wanted to try the 3-star. My dining companion, despite also being from the subcontinent, can’t handle a lot of heat. Sadly, wasn’t able to have anything spicy. We ordered the Gado Gado, coconut milk fish curry, and beef rendang (the 1-star version).

I ask a lot of questions about food, and wasn’t disappointed to have the cooking techniques, product, process, and everything else explained to me when I asked. Awesome. When I try new cuisines I try and absorb as much knowledge as possible, but this requires a lot of questions. She was more than happy to answer. For two hungry adults, we had enough leftovers for another full meal. With juice and an iced coffee the bill came to $60. Portions could have been a bit larger for the price, but still very reasonable. If I’m in the hood again, I’ll be back for more! Bring friends though, I feel that having a lot of different options to share would be far more fun, and frankly, I’m just not fat enough to...