Maxim Dim Sum Pekaka — Restaurant in George Town

Siew Mai = RM5.50 Har Gao = RM6.30 Char Siew Bao = RM2.60 each 6% SST Tax = RM0.86

The First Thing that struck me is how Big this Place is. Although not Full House, it was Noticeably Crowded on a Tuesday Morning around 8.00am. As time goes on, I noticed it gets More and More Crowded.

The Whole Place is divided into a Main Hall which has all the Individual Stations of Dim Sums and a Side Hall where there are more Tables and Seats. The Whole Concept works like a Canteen. Its not Air-Conditioned, although the Place is Airy and Breezy. Not Stuffy at all. Staffs are Polite and Friendly.

Very Efficient, Standardized Ordering System

When you first enter, they will ask if you want any Tea. You will then be given an Ordering Card and they will guide you to your Table. Bring this card along as it will be needed at the Various Stations they have like Fried, Steamed, Baos etc.

Menu Prices are clearly shown at the Stations. Order what you want and they will pass it to you. Pass them the Ordering Card and the Staff will mark out the price of items you took. Continue ordering whatever you want from the Stations and go back to your seat to eat.

During the Meal, Some Staffs will go around asking if you want Chng Tng or other Desserts. Go ahead and order if you want. End of the Meal just go to Counter to pay. I love the System they have here. Its Efficient, Easy to see how much you ordered and just works.

The Chilli Condiment they have on Each Table is a Mix of Sweet and Garlic Chilli although i feel they're both from a Bottle, not Homemade. Spiciness will linger abit on Tongue.

Siew Mai = RM5.50

Served in 3 Pieces, they feel Quite Small, although are Neatly and Well Wrapped. Bite size is Meaty but not Juicy, No 汤汁. You can taste that the Meat is Tightly Packed. Porky Taste is Noticeable. That said, I can't help but feel that this is some Supplier Type of Siew Mai, tastes like it too. Overall a Servicable if Very Average Siew Mai.

Har Gao = RM6.30

Skin is Neither Overly Thick nor Melt in Mouth Thin and it does break. Filling within is Quite Dryish, again No 汤汁. There is a Small but Fat Whole Prawn within that is Bouncy to the Bite. Acceptable, but also Average.

Char Siew Bao = RM2.60 each

Average Sized, i like the Filling in this one. Its the Sweet Type but not Overly Sweet and actually has a Somewhat Deep Caramelized Taste to it. Amount of Meat Fillings are Acceptable and Ratio of Bun to Filling is Ok. Every Bite can taste some Meat.

That said, I felt the Bao Dough was abit of a Letdown. Its Firmish, not the Super Fluffy Soft Soft Type and Gets Cold very fast. Quite a Pity, this is an Above Average Char Siew Filling in an Average Tasting Bun.

Conclusion and Closing Thoughts

At a Total Combined Price of RM15.25 (S$4.60), this is not the Cheapest Dim Sum around, but I would say still Affordable. The Quality though I feel is nothing special, its about more or less our S$1.50 Budget Dim Sum Quality.

Nothing here really blew my mind. All their Fundamental Basic Dim Sums are Acceptable but Average. The one that I really liked is the CSB although I wished their Bao Dough was more Fluffier.

What I did like is that No One Came to keep my Dishes when I was there even though it got Noticeably Crowded as Time went on. I did appreciate that I wasn't so called "Forced to Leave". But of course I myself also Automatic lah and left soon after eating without hogging seats for hours on end.

I'm impressed with how Vibrant and Popular this Dim Sum Eatery is. Even on a Weekday there were so much People. Although I thought their Basic Dim Sums were Average, I still enjoyed my time in such a 热闹 Eatery.

Really appreciate the Efficient Ordering System here which made things very Easy and Simple to understand. Its a Nice Place to soak in the Atmosphere to eat with the Locals and Chillax abit.

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Maxim, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is also known as a proverb, or a saying. Well here's a saying I have for Maxim Dim Sum:"Business isn't just about Maxim-izing profits, it's also about optimizing resource allocation".

Born and raised in PJ, Selangor, dim sum for breakfast/brunch/lunch isn't new to me at all. With excellent dim sum options easily within reach in PJ and KL, ranging from the ones in kopitiams, to franchises and hotels, never did I expect to hate my intuition this much, as I stepped into what I branded as the horror show of my Saturday.

Point 1: Fake ebiko on Siew Mai. On top of that, the texture of the Siew Mai was absolutely bizzare, doesn't taste as if there's meat in there. The other dim sums we ordered such as Xiao Long Bao and Har Gao were subpar at best, too much dough, very crude craftsmanship.

Point 2: What Penang people are famous for, kiamsiap. Seriously couldn't believe myself when the waitress impolitely demanded us to return the box of tissues (because there was only one tissue paper box in the entire restaurant, which is humongous, by the way).

That wasn't even why I was angry, honestly. They have two serving Keenon bots, each costing approximately RM40,000-RM50,000 (to so called enhance customer experience and service quality). Could you see how they would rather splurge on luxurious bots instead of investing in the basic resources of a restaurant, or up-skilling the existing crew?

Point 3: Most triggering point, take note of the bill! They intended to charge us for three extra dishes which we did not order.

What made me more furious though, was that the waitress told us I was at fault for not immediately notifying them when the lady at the order counter was jotting down the number of items.

As I usually enjoy taking pictures prior to my feast, I showed her a photo of evidence on the total number of dishes, hence keeping her mouth shut. An apology from whom I assume to be the manager ensued, as he rectified the bill soon after.

To conclude, avoid stepping on this landmine at all cost. There are better...

Please think twice if you are coming to this restaurant in a group of people more than 4. The waiting time might be longer than expected.

Went to this restaurant early morning in a group of six. Got into the line soon after we reached. When we had got the first in line, realising that there were six of us, they just kept calling the people behind us (consisted of 2-4 people) to go in. After waiting for quite some time, we then saw 2 empty tables side by side, each with 4 seats. Instead of calling us, they went on to call 2 groups of people (4 people and 2 people each). Immediately, we voiced out our dissatisfaction regarding the table arrangement. However, they completely ignored us and kept serving the customers behind. They insisted us to wait for the round table (with 6 seats). From afar, we saw one of those round tables with 6 seats being only occupied by 2 people.

In the end, it took us a total of 30 minutes to get seated (unnecessary 40 cents parking cost). Watching people who come later than us to get seated with an empty stomach is one thing. Prohibition of neighbouring table combination despite available to allow 6 people seating is another thing. In this circumstance, I did expect some courtesy reply from the waitresses like sorry for the wait. Nonetheless, unfortunately, we received nothing but utter disappointment from...