Zaituna Restaurant مطعم زيتونة — Restaurant in Johor

I had heard good reviews from a friend about this restaurant but after visiting it yesterday, i don’t trust him anymore 😅 I couldn’t find even a single positive point about this place. We ordered Tabbouleh as a starter, along with humus, both were served after we had finished the main course.. and after tasting Tabbouleh, I realised what took so long.. it was chilled cold with water at the base of bowl, soggy ingredients.. so actually it was frozen, probably left over from some other day, which they thawed before serving. Humus platter none of us dared to take second bite. Mandi platter, cold rice, over coloured, there was hardly any meat on mutton bones, chicken was not too bad though, but it was not how Mandi chicken should be. Cheaper quality of basmati rice was used. Soup, as you can see in the picture was no exception, equally pathetic, solid particle settled down in just a few minutes, leaving a layer of water on top, they had either hastily mixed some powder in water or had diluted the soup by adding water afterwards (reminded me of my late grandmother who used to do that with meat curry after seeing higher number of guests than expected 😂). My friend wanted to taste baklava, I warned her not to do that, because it was stocked in a corner with no covering and there were quite a few flies in the dining area, so it was a health risk and seeing quality of other items, I had no hopes of finding the dessert any better. Yes, we had also ordered a tea pot, which we left as it was after a few sips, no taste, no aroma, and stained cup was the (rotten) cherry on the top. And last but not the least, price was astonishingly high. For 3 persons, we paid 93 ringgits.

P.S. Dear over-smart owner, good that after these lame justifications , you can’t at least deny that the pictures were taken at your restaurant. Now anyone who knows what is Tabbouleh can see and tell if that flooded bowl has olive oil and lemon or something else. Your attitude is not going to get you anywhere, a brotherly advice is to focus your energies on improving the quality of your food. Otherwise there many other good restaurants in JB offering best quality and taste, and I would never mind spending money there. But sorry, even spending a single penny would hurt for what we experienced at your place. Thanks for the advice, and offering me money… I think you should save it for future, would need it badly if you didn’t learn how to take customer feedback positively. I’m not gonna sit at home, I love JB for all those awesome eateries, I can recommend a few to you as well if you wanna eat some really good authentic Arabic food, then you will also get to know how Tabbouleh looks like #peace and...

Food was good....however

A few things happened that made me realize that the customer service at this restaurant is really bad

1. Food Takeaway: The waiters instead of taking away the leftover food to pack for us, they instead gave us the containers and made us, the customer pack the food on our own. Customers pay the service/crew charge but are expected to packet our own food.

2. No initiative When our table was done with the main course, we decide to order dessert. It was quite sad to see that the waiters had totally zero common sense to help clear the dulangs to make way to allow for the desserts to be properly plated.

First pack my own food, then next i have to bring the dulangs to the kitchen for all of you to wash? Buck up. Seriously.

3. Non enthusiastic waiters When we are at any restaurants, one of the things that we expect is to be greeted with a warm smile and shows enthusiasm and the wanting to serve us.

All the waiters look so super stressed out. Not sure why. One of the waiters even downright gave the impression that he was ignoring our request to take dessert orders.

If this is the kind of service that this restaurant continues to dish out, I would suggest for patrons to find another place with even better Turkish food to spend on.

To the owners of Zaituna Restaurant, y'all better change...

I recently tried the shawarma at Zaituna and left feeling quite disappointed. One of the essential elements that was missing from the dish was the sauce, and it significantly impacted the overall experience.

Shawarma is a dish known for its flavorful and juicy meat, and the absence of any sauce left the wrap dry and lacking in taste. I expected the sauce to be an integral part of the shawarma experience, providing that extra kick and moisture to complement the seasoned meat. Unfortunately, my order seemed to lack this crucial component.

I understand that variations exist, and some people may prefer a simpler approach, but the absence of any sauce left the shawarma feeling incomplete. Even a basic garlic or tahini sauce could have elevated the dish and made it more enjoyable.

The meat itself was cooked well and had a nice blend of spices, but without the sauce, it felt like something was missing. I would have appreciated more transparency in the menu or the option to customize the shawarma with the sauce of my choice.

While the ambiance of the restaurant and the service were satisfactory, the lack of sauce in the shawarma left me with a less-than-satisfactory dining experience. I hope the restaurant considers offering sauce options for those who enjoy a more traditional and...