La Luz — Restaurant in Bali

Had this place on our list for awhile finally went last night. The best I can describe this place is a few foreigners who are good singers wanted to open a karaoke bar in Bali, but instead built a restaurant to give an excuse to put up a stage so they could sing to the public and brag they have a restaurant in Ubud.

When we first came in it was quiet and a perfect date atmosphere. That quickly changed when they started karaoke which was only the owner, his gf/wife/friend, and maybe the manager singing. Just rotating and ONLY watching each others performances instead of walking around and asking what people thought of the food/drinks. As noted in other review replies, they only focus on some musician community (in response to upset local neighbors)

Food wasn’t as good as other reviewers make it seem. It was okay and priced fair, just not worth going again or recommending others go. Carne asada beef had no flavor, I don’t even think they marinade it. The kicker for me is when they brought out the ceviche, it’s a large serving but they carefully put 9 chips on the plate. We tried to fully load up each chip, but still had half of the ceviche left. Asked for more chips and the waitress said it would be an extra charge. If there was less ceviche, I wouldn’t have cared. I challenge the owner to eat the entire serving with 9 chips. Shrimp cocktail was fantastic. Tacos were bland. Silliest thing I’ve seen on a menu in a long time was labeling something as “beef rendang tacos” but there is no beef. Only mushrooms. We didn’t order it once the waitress pointed it out, but clearly it’s been a problem in the past or she wouldn’t have - just rename it to mushroom redang since it’s targeted after vegans. A true restaurant owner would fix this issue, but they only care about the stage. The salsa is literally blended tomatoes. No salt, cilantro, or onions.

Spicy margarita was awful and the whiskey sour wasn’t right. Neither tasted right and you could taste water. I’m assuming they used a lot of small ice to mix in the shaker and shook too long.

Too loud to have a conversation, we were still hungry and planned to get a quesadilla and desert but were tired of listening to the same 3 people sing only for the staff and other singers applauding. Went to tyger and filled ourselves up while actually conversing.

Just know if you want a restaurant experience, this isn’t it. If you are hungry, go somewhere else first. Many other way better locally owned restaurants to support. Example is cilantro Mexican restaurant who is owned by a Balinese local chef who worked as a Mexican restaurant chef in Texas, hours from Mexico. Even taco casa has better Mexican flavors and way...

What a disappointment. I made a reservation, but they couldn’t find it. I spoke to the maître d’ who Couldn’t get it Finally a wait staff understood and directed me to the table that we had a reservation. I couldn’t believe it. They only served small beers. The price of the cheap beer was the same price as expensive. I really dislike when they refuse to serve larger beers because they can make a profit on small ones this place charge 35,000 rupiah, which is not normal the average price for a restaurant Should be between 25 and 27,000 rupiah that was the first unrealistic price. I ordered one taco and it came out so small that I thought the order was wrong and I check my order with the waitress. it was less than 5 cm and it probably had one strip of chicken and three strips of vegetables with mayonnaise. It was basically a joke. I ordered the chicken burrito which was burned on the bottom and was half the size of a typical burrito. This is the worst Mexican restaurant in Ubud. it is totally overrated probably because it’s in a tourist area but there’s so many fantastic delicious Mexican restaurants within about 5 to 8 minutes from this location. I went to pay but they told me that if I use their QR code I would be charge 0.8%. They can’t absorb that cost? I thought that was ridiculous and I said it to the cashier why are you doing that? Because if I use the same credit card you’re not going to charge me she said she doesn’t now I asked her if it’s all about taking my money and she said yes so there you go. it’s not the most comfortable place to sit at and there’s no handicap accessibility. There’s no car access it’s not a handicapped place, if you’re a tourist you don’t know any better so there you go the burrito was over priced add very few ingredients inside. It’s just a really overpriced who doesn’t care about anything but profit. This is the part about Bali that bothers me it’s all about the money and not about the quality, if the taste of been fantastic I wouldn’t be making this review but it was ordinary and I won’t be going back obviously so if you’re in the neighborhood and you want to go there and waste your money go for it I suggest going to taco fiesta because it’s fantastic and for the same price and three times the size with an...

A friend and I attended movie night on Friday and the organizer Amed treated us with unnecessary rudeness. His attitude was shockingly disrespectful🤢

We accidentally made double booking and when we arrived, we chose to sit in one of the seats that had our name on it. Amed then came over and, in a harsh tone, demanded, “You HAVE TO move.” We calmly explained that since our names were on the seats, they were technically reserved for us, we hadn’t just taken someone else’s spot. Instead of letting us speak, he interrupted, accused us of “making things difficult for him,” and even asked us to repeat what he said, as if we didn’t understand English. It was both condescending and uncalled for.

His big concern was that the space would be “too crowded” for his precious “other guests.” If that’s the case why he accepted our reservations and put the name cards down in the first place? And those other guests never even showed up.🤔 He just made a whole unnecessary scene, scolded us, and acted like we were the problem, while completely ignoring that he was making us very uncomfortable.

Amed presents himself as an open-minded person who appreciates different cultures, screening international films and talking about his experiences abroad. He even told my friend he was "from the universe." Honestly he should just learn to respect people from different backgrounds instead of pretending to be culturally aware while treating non-Western-looking guests with his out of universe rudeness.

And the irony 🙂‍↔️ My friend is from China, Amed was screening a Chinese movie, raving about how much he loved the food in China on the stage. Yet he couldn’t even show basic respect to a Chinese guest being right in front of him. It’s so sad that someone in Ubud still carries this kind of...