Jaloux.Penang — Restaurant in George Town

The short version of this review is Jaloux is a fantastic restaurant that I'd recommend to anyone. The drinks are refreshing with a good selection. The pasta you could tell was crafted with love and care, made with the best ingredients. And although it may not be the best pasta I've ever had it's definitely up there as one of the most memorable dining experiences.

Everything was quick to come out and service also very good. Our server took time to walk us through the menu and drink selection and provide her recommendations based on our taste. And even though it's not local cuisine, this was by far the best food experience in Penang for us.

The long version of this review is I have absolutely no idea why and how Jaloux is rated as poorly as it is.

Some of the other reviews make no sense in their rating. Almost every single review I read praised the food; but you seriously rated a restaurant down because it was a bit hard to spot from the outside? It's literally exactly where Google Maps says it is. The menu on the wall was too small for you to read? Better give it 1/5 stars then instead of talking to the server like a person.

Some reviews mentioned that portion sizes were small. Here's a news flash - so is every other restaurant we've been to in Malaysia. Any place that had larger portions was just extra rice/noodle. Proportionally, the portion sizes here are generous; a main with dessert and drink per person was the right amount.

Another callout were the prices. Are they more expensive than your average Penang restaurant? Sure. Look, I'm not going to tell you what to spend your money on and how much. But if you get pasta of this calibre anywhere else outside of Malaysia, ~60rm is the bare minimum that you'd be paying. But again, I don't know you, I don't know how much you earn. If this is not affordable for you then fair enough; this may not be the restaurant for you.

Another point that came up was regarding the limit of one pasta per person. Sure, a little abnormal sounding at first. But it's not that uncommon for a restaurant to limit its speciality dish. In this case pasta. The pasta is handmade on a daily basis. A time consuming process that the small restaurant can produce only a limited amount per day. When you also consider that the ingredients used are high quality (eg guanciale), hopefully this makes a bit more sense why they would limit pastas. It's to benefit you the customer. So that if you choose to dine here there will be enough portions for yourself and they don't have to turn you away.

But by far the most common complaint was regarding the service. Again, I can't speak for anyone else's experience but my own. My experience was delightful. We came very late into dinner service (within an hour of closing) and the hostess still welcomed us in, didn't rush us to order and took the time to walk us through everything on the menu. When we left it was pouring rain and she offered to lend us her umbrella for the night. That's literally the definition of going above and beyond.

I could go on, but if you've made it this far I think you get the point. People have been needlessly harsh on Jaloux. If they legitimately didn't think the food or service were up to scratch, that's fine. But almost all reviews I read were filled with unfair criticisms. If you've been on a long holiday in Malaysia and have indulged in all the local cuisine you can, this was a great break and great food and service to...

Undoubtedly food is good, home made pasta and great flavours. But there is just too much rules written every where on the establishment(main entrance, wall) for a customer to dine in. Rules are minimum of one main dish per person and water charge of RM3 per pax. RM3 for drinking water per pax we’ve never came across anywhere here locally. Well don’t get us wrong, 3 of us ordered everything on the menu which were 4 mains and 2 desserts. We just found the drinks offered weren’t attractive. And what about other light eater customers who wants to share. One review said their toddler were counted as one pax for one main dish. And often bad reviews were answered with sarcastic reply from owners. And elderly person whom complained that the shop lighting was too bad for her to view the menu, she was replied by the owners to visit maple palace which is a traditional Chinese restaurant in Penang. This is so rude and unpleasant to say to an elderly person! Pure ignorance and arrogance. The husband helms the kitchen while the wife runs around the floor. Good synergy from them both but we guess that they should be more lenient and accommodating to their customers. And maybe the owners should learn to put their nose down. The vibe you get in the restaurant when you request something it seems like you’re a problematic customers. Maybe owners had previous bad experience with problematic customers and still haunts them till today... but not all customers are the same. There are also good ones. Good food doesn’t mean everything, good service is like a good dessert. Who doesn’t like to end their meal with a...

“I recently dined at a restaurant that left me with mixed feelings. The ambience was disappointing, as the rustic and old feel did not create the inviting atmosphere I was hoping for. The place could benefit from a makeover or some modern touches to elevate the overall dining experience.

The service was also lacking, with only one waitress attempting to handle the entire service for nearly twenty people. It was overwhelming for her, and it impacted the level of attentiveness we received. Moreover, the menu we had consisted of hand-made fresh pasta, which was decent but not as remarkable as we had anticipated. The flavors were okay, but they didn’t reach the level of excellence we were hoping for.

While the food quality was relatively good, it unfortunately fell short of our expectations for a restaurant focusing on hand-made fresh pasta. The flavors lacked that extra something that would have made them truly outstanding.

On the plus side, the restaurant has the potential to offer a more enjoyable dining experience, but it needs to address several aspects. Improving the ambience with a fresh and inviting setting and increasing the number of servers to provide better service would greatly enhance the overall experience.

In conclusion, while the restaurant serves hand-made fresh pasta, it didn’t entirely live up to our expectations. The ambience left much to be desired, and the dining experience, including the food and service, could use improvement. Until they make some changes, it might not be our first choice for...