Bali Hai Seafood Market — Restaurant in George Town

Spent about RM700 for 3 pax.

1. Chilli Crab with 6 piece mantou 2/5 - Sauce was good but crab wasn’t fresh, meat were all sticking to the shell and part of it tasted sour. Mantou was underwhelming too, not well fried.
2. Kam Heong Lala 3/5 - Not flavourful enough, felt like the sauce and the lala were 2 different dishes.
3. Salted Egg Squid 3/5 - Squid wasn’t fresh (fishy taste), batter didn’t stick well with the squid and there were so many crumbs. Could be more generous with the salted egg.
4. Stir Fried Garlic Asparagus 3.5/5 - Normal stir fried asparagus, nothing much to comment.
5. Tofu 3/5 - plain fried tofu with scallions topping, nothing much to comment.
6. Sharks Fin Soup 5/5 - for RM88, this was probably the dish that was the most worthwhile, flavourful, fragrant and you could see the ingredients
7. Bali Hai signature claypot chicken 3.5/5 - spicy, can be slightly a bit more savoury as the overall taste was quite plain, went well with the lotus root though.
8. Nyonya Style Grouper 3.5/5 - fish was fresh but lacking in taste, sauce didn’t complement the dish well as it was quite plain, could be more savoury to pair well with rice.

Had to wait a long time to get the server to come order the dishes as only the captains could do ordering, while the other servers could only take drinks order.

Waited a long time again to make payment, we had to ask twice before one of the server went to get someone who could take payment.

Place is not bad, food variety is also quite wholesome but just lacking in overall taste and not worth paying...

Bali Hai has been around for years in Penang, but to our surprise, our last visit was an extremely horrible experience. They had opened again and resumed operations since closing down as a result of the Covid-19/MCO period.

Service was really really poor. Waiters and staff were rude, not helpful at all when we began to order our food. When enquired about vegetarian dishes for one our family members, the waiter immediately responded "no vegetarian here". Even the vegetable dishes and omelette cannot be made to have no meat or be vegetarian friendly.

The waiter did not even try to accommodate or check if this was possible from the kitchen/cooking staff on whether or not it can be done. "He even mentioned that this is a seafood restaurant and not a normal/usual restaurant." That's funny because minutes later we managed to find a seafood restaurant which had PLENTY of vegetarian options and dishes in the nearby area.

So basically, if you have any vegetarian family or friends, please do not waste your time coming to this place as you will leave frustrated and disappointed, an utter waste of time and energy. It is completely fine by us if this restaurant really cannot serve any dishes that are vegetarian, but their service is horrible and the staff are arrogant. If you have been here before, some time ago, please keep your expectations at bay for your own benefit, there are plenty of options anyway in...

Very positively surprised by this restaurant!

I wanted to treat my uncle to a nice chili crab lunch and found this place on google. The reviews were so-so but they were open for lunch and had chili crab available, so we decided to give it a try.

The restaurant is clean and the layout very pleasant. Tables are far enough from each other to enjoy privacy with your friends and family, and not have to overhear conversations from other guests. The wait staff are friendly and attentive without being pushy and our food came fast. We are very happy with the service.

The chili crab is delicious and we all really enjoyed the treat. The portions of all the dishes we ordered were very generous.

We had chili crab with mantou, butter crab, garlic spinach, tauchu kangkong, fried rice, fried beehoon, asam prawn and sesame chicken.

The chili crab was the definite favorite with big meaty pieces of crab in a delicious chili gravy. Next were the garlic spinach and sesame chicken.

Least favorite was the asam prawn and fried beehoon, but it's just a matter of taste. I would also skip the butter crab and opt for more chili crab instead ;)

Price was what is to be expected for 2 big crabs and big prawns, and the meal was well worth the expense if you are in the mood for some good crab and seafood!

I would love to come back to Bali Hai next time...