Soirée Lounge & Grill — Restaurant in Depok

Brand new upmarket grill in Yogya. Good quality food, decent sized portions, great service, reasonably expensive but still. Some areas in need of improvement.

Actually we were pleasantly surprised by the Taman Sari Grill. We knew the marriott had planned a poolside bar from last time we had been there so simply googled to see if they were open yet. They were so we rocked up to discover this was only their third night of operation. For the third night I was duly impressed by the quality of both the food and the service.

We shared three entrees which were all wonderful, dipping Arabic flat breads into beautifully infused olive oils while we nibbled on our pumpkin fingers. Entree sizes were generous and presentation quite beautiful.

We then moved onto our mains with the sause vide lamb shoulder in a magnificent sauce, a lovely baby lobster based seafood platter and a very juicy are philidelphia styled steak sandwich.

The service was impeccable, an extremely friendly polite and helpful waitress looking after us and the floor manager checking in.

It's early days yet for the restaurant and there are still quite a few small details to iron out. Given the starting point I'm sure they will get there quickly.

Just as examples though: -the setting is still very barren, with undeveloped gardens and very basic fit out failing to create a very enticing or crowd pulling atmosphere. Way below the feel and elegance of say the Hyatt or Phoenix -serving saus ABC with some of the entrées was extremely down market and disappointing almost embarressing. I'd be angry if I was the chef and such rubbish was smeared on such beautifully cooked and presented food. There should be no excuse in a hotel of this size and quality for not providing something like a homemade tomato relish and a sweet chili jam, beside the otherwise carefully crafted salted egg mayonnaise. -the suase vide lamb was cooked at far too high a temperature, clearly around 64-66degrees instead of the 54-56 required for a perfect medium rare lamb shoulder, and to be honest probably too long, seemingly maybe 40+hours. This left it fairly dry and flavourless, and with that overly rubbery texture that sause vide cooking can produce. It was well rescued by a magnificent sauce though. Maybe this was just from using an uninsulated or poorly agitated tank, I'm sure they will perfect this as they go. So will certainly try again -the seafood platter was not really a seafood platter as any western would know one to be, but rather a full baby lobster a couple of very small prawns and a little bit of fish. All quite beautifully grilled but than again served with very common Indonesian side dishes which for me was quite disappointing as I would expect a western seafood platter and a western styled grill unless it specifically mentioned otherwise. My advice would be to rename it as a jimabaran seafood plater or something of the like, and even then upgrade the sides to something a little less common. Or else even better, up the price and create a proper western seafood platter with a few oysters a couple of mussels and some squid thrown in. In reality that or even both might better suit the market.

My final complaint would be that the menu was still very limited and clearly still quite confused, ranging from some very high class international offerings to a few distorted odd local fusions. Gudeg pizza, seriously, that's an idea for a student warung not a five star hotel! Do it properly or don't do it at all.

I must say that last comment applies to the whole hotel. Marriott, stand up and be the five star hotel everyone expects and wants you to be, don't pull your punches and play to a cheaper market. There is no way you can out compete other local 4star venues and why bother when there is a gapping market at the top of the food chain for something truly magnificent, and far too much competition where your currently placing yourself. Go upmarket, do it really well and make yogya proud! Just enough is not good enough, we should and do expect more of...

As a Bonvoy member, I was excited to try Soirée Lounge, expecting Marriott-level service like I’ve experienced in Bangkok and Phuket.

The concierge kindly assisted me upstairs, but once seated near the pool, no staff approached with a menu, I had to ask. Service felt inattentive and lacked engagement; no upselling or attention to guest needs.

I ordered a pizza, which was delicious, savory and well-made, but it arrived without chili sauce, Tabasco, napkins, or cutlery. I had to request everything separately. Music also stopped after dark, making the atmosphere feel empty.

Thanks to Kak Amanda for her warm and genuine service, she stood out when taking order and when I asked chili sauce instead of tabasco which was unavailable. I hope the overall service improves to match the...

It was our first visit to Jogja and so it was also our first dinner at Taman Sari. We were in awe of the entire dining experience. It was incredible as we were given options to switch out of our standard package dinner as we don’t take beef and raw food. They were serving us like fine diners as food were served timely - as we finished starters, they then served us main course together. We had lamb shank - meat just falls off the bone and there was no gamey taste. Scallops were done nicely. The starters were 200% delicious too! Desserts were also served thereafter without waiting too long! Chef Dillah was super friendly and came out to greet us, explained the dish and also asked us for feedback. Needless to say, we were very impressed overall. It’s a must visit if you ever...