Le Cafe — Restaurant in George Town

Visited this cafe earlier today on our last day in Penang hoping that this would be a quick stopover for brunch as we saw this place was close-by to our hotel, had great reviews and would leave us ample time to explore the area before we had to go back to check out. We ordered 2 coffees, a kaya toast and the shrimp katsu sandwiches for dine-in.

It was a little busy when we got there, but we were promptly seated upstairs and placed and paid for our orders using the QR code attached to our table.

Our coffees arrived relatively quickly and there was no fuss here, except for that they arrived in to-go cups (I noticed other patrons had received theirs in mugs). No big deal. Perhaps they ran out of mugs?

Well, we spent the next 40 minutes waiting for our food. Keep in mind, we ordered two sandwiches. Any local kopitiam would whip the kaya toast up in about 5 minutes tops and cost about 1/5 the price.

I asked the flustered waitress where our food was and she told me she would double-confirm for me.

lol OK?

She then comes back up about 5 minutes later to tell me its ready. I can see she's clearly got her hands full clearing other tables to seat more guests, so i tell her no problem. I'll go downstairs and get it myself.

I proceed to head down and tell her female colleague at the front counter my table number, and that I am there to grab my food. She then asks me what I ordered, and lists several items that I did not order. She then tells me my food isn't ready - What?

I tell her that we've been waiting almost an hour for two sandwiches and would like a refund. Next, her colleague that works in the kitchen pops out to tell her they are indeed ready. He then brings out our food which I take upstairs myself.

As one can imagine, I'm pretty irritated at this point. I just want to eat and leave.

The presentation was great (as per photos from previous reviews) but our food tasted like it had been sitting for at LEAST 15 minutes. Our toast was stale and cold, and I didn't even bother eating the eggs that came with my kaya toast.

They were clearly short-staffed and I do need to mention that this is likely the reason for the garbage service and cold food that we received.

However, had they provided some notice of this on arrival, we could have picked a different spot and continued on with our day.

The coffee was an OK start despite the to-go cups, but I took off the stars for the cold food. I would give zero stars for the service if I could.

Given our experience, I'd say avoid this place at all costs. Especially on the weekend. Penang has far...

First, the cafe was hard to locate cos the signage is almost all fallen off (see my pic) And it’s actually called Le Le Cafe (乐乐咖啡) Le in mandarin means happy. I stepped in with gloomy sluggish staff. As a tourist and first time here, I thought I stepped into a funeral!😓 When I commented that the signage is hard to see, the guy staff pointed somewhere out- who would see?? Ask me scanned QR code to order, when I went to cashier to make my order, realised there are physical menu! Lazy or what?! At least ask if the customer is first time here, to decide if a physical menu would be a better option or not. Food is good, all my two stars went to the food and black coffee only. All staff are youngsters, heard some bickering which started later - open kitchen so I heard all😳 When I am almost done, another customer came in with a child repeatedly said three times: don’t you all pick up calls?? (She called to enquire if her pick up order is ready or not) Staff just replied coldly: oh we don’t…. (What?!) I heard that customer said (which I would say the same also): then don’t put telephone on fb if you are not intending to pick calls! 🙄🙄🙄 Bad vibes. Did I mention that I saw a cctv staring at my seated eye level while I ate? CCTV should be installed more appropriately la (like a higher height or what) A pity cause they/it can be done so...

Le Cafe is a narrow cafe tuck at the side of Hin Bus Depot. It has a very relaxed atmosphere with wooden furnitures. The building itself is preserved pretty well with all the vintage retro feel. It's a 2 storey building. Ground floor is where they prep the food, they sell some homemade goods as well. At they end of the cafe you'll find a mini courtyard and the washroom. More seatings available at 1st floor.

Food is amazing. The sandwiches were great. There were many of us so we pretty much ordered most of the sandwiches on the menu. Personal favorite is the Goo Beef Sandwich. Their homemade peanut butter pairs well with the beef patty. Teriyaki Unagi Sandwich was pretty good too but the unagi was super thin. Coffee was decent but nothing special. Cheese Cake was surprisingly good too. This is a good place to visit if you're looking for a snack as their sandwiches are not that big. At least not big enough for a meal. Pricing...