Beso Restaurant — Restaurant in George Town

My 1st time to this restaurant after finding out about it when I was in a grab chatting with the driver about the food scene in Penang island. So the next evening i thought why not give this a try. I guess I have had a higher expectations and I was somewhat disappointed with my overall experience. 1st of all, our main server, although very friendly, he lacks knowledge of the cuisine. He was recommending quite a number of things… including the French fries… my friend ordered that based on his recommendation before I arrived… when he served us the fries he kept urging me to try and said how nice it was… when I asked what’s special about it he wasn’t able to articulate and to me, fries are fries, even the dip is ordinary. We ordered 2 grilled vegetables, the grilled eggplant was surprisingly good. However the other seasonal grilled vegetables were ordinary too. We have the mushroom paella and the grilled barramundi as per the servers’s recommendation. They were both underwhelming… the paella is alright, I would not give it a full star. The fish … it was dry…! Next the cocktail menu isn’t as I expected, the choices were limited. I ordered the espresso martini and 1 of the server said they are out. I asked what’s out? The vodka? The espresso or the kahlua? He had no idea what I’m asking. When he served me the fish, he wasn’t able to tell me what it is. He had to go to the kitchen to ask and come back… I felt the service crew needed more training. It is the chef’s duty to ensure his crew knows what’s coming out of the kitchen, food as well as drinks! Decor, seatings and the ambiance is overall nice. I hope to see some improvement for my...

We enjoyed this bar during our visit to Georgetown. We made a reservation online and were able to get a table very easily. We were staying very close to this bar so it was very easy for us to find. When we arrived we were instantly very intrigued by the art on the door and inside the building. When you arrive and see the host, the inside looks so beautiful and clean. Very pretty lights and loved the set up of the bar. We were seated at our table in a very timely manor and greeted with big smiles from all staff. The menu was simple and easy to navigate through. We only had drinks and no food but it all sounded and smelt delicious. If we had more time we would have tried some of the food. The drinks we had were, Purple Rain , Purple Rain, Casa De La Pina, Lucky Shot Old Fashion and a Lychee Martini. All of our cocktails were very delicious and full of flavor. We had the a great time and enjoyed our visit. I would like to come back and try more cocktails and maybe...

It was a poor night for them. Behind the bar, the bartender seemed lost, when placing the drink he said “if you don’t like it then I can make you something else” he tried it twice and added items that were not on the menu. Those behind the bar, including the chefs, were visibly frustrated at times, it was chaos with a bar back or help that had no idea what he was doing. It’s sad, because I’m sure on most nights they hit it out of the park. For food, it was good, both the pasta and foie were great, including the amuse that was thrown in, possibly because everything was taking so long. When the bill came the prices were higher than advertised, the exact drink I ordered was charged 9RM more than on the menu. The host returned the difference in cash which also didn’t add up, regardless of tax. The experience was definitely not worth the time and money, and those two things are the most important in the industry. I left and went to Manchu, the first drink was...