Narrow Marrow — Restaurant in George Town

We found this place by chance while searching on Google and thought we’d give it a try while on a short visit here. It was pretty packed when we got there on a Friday afternoon, and we were asked to wait at the back.

Most of the cheesecakes and various tiramisu were still available. I ordered the Hojicha strawberry tiramisu because I don’t take coffee or alcohol, and my friend went for the regular tiramisu. To be honest, there was no strawberry whatsoever in mine, even though the menu clearly mentioned it should come with strawberry compote (I even double-checked the menu). All I got was a tiny, dried-up piece of strawberry on top as decor. The cream was also soft - too soft (likely just heavy cream with very little or no mascarpone), and for RM26 a slice, I didn’t think it was worth it.

We got seated at the bar table, which had a nice old-school, rustic feel. But here’s the part that really put us off - we were sitting right in front of the baristas, and we saw one of them sniffing and then tasting tea from three different glasses using the same spoon for all of them! Then another barista just poured the tea into glasses with ice and served them to customers like it was nothing.

Honestly, after seeing that, we don’t feel comfortable recommending this place to our friends visiting Penang. Sure, you might have a close-knit team of baristas or even family members working together, but that’s no excuse to overlook basic hygiene. Friendly service is great, but it should always come with proper...

Worst experience during our visit: • When we arrived, there was only one group ahead of us, and the male staff (longer hair, glasses) added us to the waiting list. • After waiting about 20 minutes, he asked if we could take the bar counter seats. From a distance we couldn’t see clearly and agreed, but after sitting down we realized the seats were right next to the machine with heat blowing, which was not so comfortable. • About 5 minutes later, we decided to order and also requested to change seats. He said we had to wait. After another 15 minutes, when I asked again, he told me we had to “rejoin the waiting list” and would only get a table after everyone else on the list had been seated because we had previously agreed to the bar counter. • I clarified whether the waiting list customers were all ahead of us, but he firmly emphasized (in a targeted way) that we must wait until all others were seated. • What felt unfair was that guests who joined the waiting list after our request of changing seat were still being seated, while we were ignored.

As customers, we don’t think our request was unreasonable — we were even willing to requeue — but the way this staff handled it felt dismissive and targeted. Even though other staff tried to help, nothing was resolved, possibly because this male staff seemed to have more authority than the rest. The experience was very...

The first time I was kicked out of a café in Penang... . I had been eyeing the tiramisu coffee shop Narrow Marrow on Xiaohongshu for a long time and decided to come here to enjoy some desserts and coffee. However, from the moment we entered the store and placed our order until we finished our coffee, it took a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes. A male staff member (Chinese, who could speak Chinese) suddenly stood in front of our table and spoke to me in English. The gist of what he said was: You have been here for a long time. Can you leave now?

There was no clear indication of a time limit in this store. We two ordered three drinks and two desserts. From the time the food was served to when we finished, it was less than an hour (the coffee wasn't even finished). The staff member insisted that we leave and said that the duration of stay was decided by the store, not the customers. Among all the coffee shops I've visited in Penang, this is the first one that asks customers to leave before they finish their coffee in order to increase the turnover rate. There was a local table to my left that entered the coffee shop a little earlier than us. The staff member didn't say anything to them but singled us out as tourists from China [disgust emoji]. If you want to enjoy good coffee, don't come to this store. The taste of the drinks is...