Feringgi Grill at Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa - Penang — Restaurant in George Town

Disappointing Night at Feringgi Grill: A Missed Opportunity

We dined here for a family celebration, my mother's 65th birthday, and unfortunately the experience fell far short of expectations. Given the reputation and price point of Feringgi Grill, a certain level of service and quality is assumed.

Here are the specific areas where our experience lacked:

Unwelcoming Arrival: Upon arrival, the reception was unattended. We attempted to flag down a waitress who blatantly avoided eye contact and only approached us at the senior wait staff's instruction. This was further compounded by her subsequent attempt to hand us off to another server, after collecting dirty dishes from the other server and instructing the other server to seat us. This initial interaction felt dismissive and set a negative tone for the evening. It raised questions about the attentiveness of the wait staff, especially for a high-end establishment.

Intrusive Service: While promoting loyalty programs (Shangri-La Circle) is understandable, another waitress chose a highly inappropriate moment. Having someone stand by our table, explaining the app to my father, while we sang Happy Birthday to my mother (with a pianist playing, even!) and blew out the candles, was incredibly disruptive and disrespectful. My mother had to blow out the candles because we knew it would have melted away by the time the waitress was done with her explanation.

Subpar Complimentary Treat: A hallmark of Feringgi Grill is the complimentary chocolates offered at the end of meal. However, this time, we were presented with a plate of dry, inedible coconut balls. These were essentially compacted flakes that caused coughing fits for several of us. Definitely a disappointing substitute for the usual chocolates and left a negative final impression.

Ambience Needs Attention: The restaurant ambience was further marred by technical issues. During breaks in the live piano music, the background music system produced a jarring static sound that became a source of discomfort. We could hear the table next to us requesting that the music be turned off entirely. This highlights a need for maintenance or upgrades to the sound system.

I've dined in Feringgi Grill several times and I know this establishment has a rich legacy and heritage in Penang Island. So it's disheartening to see the current state fall short of its potential. I sincerely hope that the restaurant will consider retraining their service staff and investing in an upgrade of the sound system. A restaurant with such a prestigious reputation deserves to deliver an exceptional dining experience across the board.

P.S. Food was great, though! Except for the coconut...

My wife and I found ourselves in Penang during the recent weekend after I had an official function done earlier. We had travelled from KL the day before. Booking was smooth, my early morning email on Saturday was promptly attended to and soon we had a table booked that evening. We arrived and I was blown away by the beautiful setting of the restaurant, on the first floor, quite private with sweeping views of the vast landscaped gardens at the Rasa Sayang. It was a busy evening as quite a number of tables were occupied at 7pm. We were soon met by Catherine who took us to our table and a special mention too that she occasionally dropped by our table to ask if everything was alright. She made us feel at home and welcomed. In fact throught the evening each and every staff member served us with passion and pride, engaging and polite at the same time. Excellent service. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, a bit of fine dining formality but still casual and warm which we like very much. Some restaurants tend to take fine dining and formality too far until one can get suffocated and have to whisper and tip toe around. But not here. Food was great, our choices was assisted by the staff. We shared our entrees and had soups and main course after that. Coffee and a shared creme brulee ended the culinary adventure on a high note. We decided that on future visits to Penang we will visit again whenever we feel like indulging in fine dining, since we regularly stay at the Rasa Sayang too. I don’t have any qualms about recommending this restaurant to friends. Coincidentally I celebrate my birthday in May and so this has become a memorable celebration for me, though I am not one who...

The evening started well as we were given a table by the window to watch the sunset. The senior service staff was also spot on in his wine recommendation; we were pleasantly surprised that he recommended a label that is bettwr value than what we had in mind. Delicious foccacia was served and we liked the scallops, lobster bisque, mushroom soup and tomato soup. This is when things went downhill.

For a grill house, the meats must be the highlight but they turned out to be the lowlight. The prime beef rib craving was covered with too much gravy. The signature wagyu beef had to be sent back as it was overcooked. When we told the staff, it took them a while to confirm that the kitchen will redo it and a premonition of the next episode. When the wagyu beef was served again, the piece was filled with so much tendon that it was impossible to cut through. At this point, we just told the service staff to return it.

By the end of the dinner, no manager or chef came to speak with us, leaving the senior service staff to deal with it. I've been in more minor situations in other white linen restaurants and this is the first time that no one came to check in as service recovery. To be fair, the senior waiter did his best and waived off the price of that dish when it was time to pay for our meal. The question is, in the world of severe competition for our $, is this sufficient? The family of 5 unanimously agreedit was the worst steak we have ever had.

I hope the F&B Director reads this and does a soul searching why people visit white linen grill houses. And i hope we are the only guests who have and will suffer a...