Gerai Santai Haji Manja — Restaurant in Borneo

My wife, two friends, and I decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants at Todak Waterfront in Kota Kinabalu. Upon the recommendation of a local friend, we settled on Hj Manja Seafood Restaurant for our evening meal.

Located right next to the sea bank, the restaurant was situated in the middle of several other establishments. We noticed that Hj Manja appeared slightly cleaner than the neighboring restaurants, which made us feel more comfortable dining there.

The menu offered a range of dishes typical of seafood restaurants in the area, with fresh seafood selections similar to what we found elsewhere. Ultimately, the dining experience often hinges on the restaurant's hygiene practices and your ability to negotiate the price.

The restaurant had an open space but was covered, providing some protection from the elements. We opted for a variety of dishes, including a seabass prepared "tiga rasa" style on one half and steamed with ginger on the other, deep-fried calamari, butter prawns, and salted fish kailan. We accompanied the meal with three plates of rice, sharing one between my wife and me as we are small eaters, along with two refreshing coconut drinks. The entire meal for the four of us came to around RM150, which seemed to be a standard or slightly cheaper price compared to Kuala Lumpur.

As expected, our clothes picked up a bit of a smoky smell from the open-air dining experience, but that didn't dampen our satisfaction with the delicious food and full bellies. In the end, our meal at Hj Manja Seafood Restaurant left us...

Worst ever. Someone told me that this place were good so we try. My dad ordered mee basah and get first. Once my dad finish eating, my sister come over nasi goreng paprik and doesnt taste good. After my sister finish her dishes, mine not yet received, even thou our next table (whos come later than us) receive first and the order was same with me. But I dont get the order first. I’ve waited for 1 hour and when the dishes come (ayam penyet) the chicken taste bad (no season with salt or any just normal fried chicken), the sambal was bitter (like burn chilli and too much oil), no tempe and sayur ulam2. My dad n my sister need to wait for me to finish my dishes and it felt awkward so eat quick. When we want to pay, the lady told me that because ayam penyet doesnt have vegetables and tempe so she just give the price RM8 for it. And I felt cheated!!! When I ordered the ayam penyet the price on their menu (booklet menu) stated RM8 for the ayam penyet and not more than that. So why tell me they only charged RM8 though the price was RM8 at the beginning???!!! This restaurant cheated other people also i think. And we also ordered french fries which is cost me RM8 and its f**ng expensive and its not even give us a whole packaged of chips to be fried!!! So everyone, dont come to this place or you will get the same thing like me. Worst place in KK restaurant santai haji manja no...

Been eating here regularly since 2015, and my recent visit in 2022 in summary - VERY FRUSTRATING that I could no longer recommend this gerai to friends and family. My criteria is simple - if it's not cheap, then it needs to taste good to justify the price. If it's not that tasty but the price is reasonable, I'm okay with that too. Well, Haji Manja now absolutely lacked of these two. Not only now it's more expensive (in my case, RM90 for 2 soft shell crab, 7 butter prawn, 5 butter squid, 2 rice and 2 coke and that for no so fresh RM10 latok where other stall only sell those for RM5) but also lacked of taste (its like they just coating the prawn and squid with same stuff and call it a day). When I asked if this price was adjusted for the school-holiday period or simply the current normal price, I got the latter. My advice? Go to enjoy yourseafood somewhere else, and note down what they offer you. If you think it's too...