Al-Amar Express — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

This is the first review I’ve ever left because I was so displeased with the service I received last night. I want to warn others against choosing to dine here.

In chronological order, there was no discernible entrance to the restaurant. This in itself is not a big deal, but the first red flag came from the fact that despite having upwards of 5 front-of-house-staff, there was no one to seat us.

When it came time for us to order, it seemed that all the wait-staff were deliberately evading eye contact to avoid having to come to our table. When our orders had finally been taken things really took a turn for the worse...

My husbands food arrived decently fast, but I was left waiting for 45 minutes. Again, when we tried to ask for assistance we were ignored many times. When my meal finally arrived the order was incorrect. The food itself was average at best, but combined with the long wait time and exorbitant price point, suffice it to say that by the end of the night we we’re not happy campers.

To top this all off, when it came time to pay there was not a single word from the maître d’, not even an utterance of a greeting or any eye contact whatsoever, let alone an apology for the shocking service.

You think the story is over? You would be dead wrong... if this was a one off, I would be far more inclined to be understanding. But no word of a lie, there were at least 8 other tables that had similar such experiences (one women who had a rotten tasting fresh juice, one table that had asked for pita breads which were not brought to them, 3 tables that had incorrect orders, plus multiple servings of food going back for being cold). Considering that this restaurant is decently well established, and at the time of these events there were only about 9 tables to upwards of 15 staff, this is hardly acceptable and not worth any customers time or money.

TLDR: don’t eat here, eat at kfc...

Decided to stop by this place which was quite quiet on a weekday afternoon. It is quite dimly lit, and wished it could be colder as outside is quite hot.

We decided to try the Beef shwarma with fries (sliced option) and the Chicken shwarma with fries (rolled option), as well as order a hummus. Was pleasantly surprised the hummus came with 5 piping hot fluffy pita breads, which made us quite full before we even started our main courses of beef and chicken.

Recommend to order just one shwarma and fries plate with hummus if you want to try both ! Shwarma rolls and slices came with their mild garlic mayonnaise, which was quite plain but it grows on you with each bite. We took our leftovers to go and they still tasted good cold at the end of the night. Would prefer the rolled option for the shwarma with fries as they roll tomato and pickles in with the shwarma , whereas for the sliced option you have to roll the slices yourself with tomato and pickle on the side.

Highly recommend the hummus, was a large portion and leaves a highly creamy aftertaste in your mouth. Sesame and chickpeas were very smoothly blended.

Drinks here are quite expensive though compared to the food prices which are worth it.

Would come again for the hummus and...

It's still taking me some time to totally get used to KL and it's lifestyle. But for any tourist/student/immigrant, Pavilion is a good place to start as it specifically attracts tourists. The price ranges, though, are not ideal. Everything is a bit too pricey. But they are soothing in the eyes. So, someone coming from a Muslim/Bengali background, I do have a specific gravitation towards middle-eastern festive foods such as Shawarma and Biryani. But, contrarily enough, I also like exploring horizons I haven't explored before.

So , yeah, I would naturally advice you to visit this place : Al-Amar, as the food is familiar and also somewhat "exotic".

I absolutely fell in love with "hommos" and rotis. It's one of the best things I've eaten in KL so far. Also, I loved their Chicken Shawarma,served with pickles, tomatoes, fries and garlic sauce. The fries need salt (absolutely) but the star is the Shawarma so maybe , it's a crime which is somewhat permissible. The Shawarma was neat, not like the Shawarma I was used to eating back in Bangladesh. The wrap of the Shawarma was crispy and thin, and inside it was packed with meat, with little pieces of pickles and just enough spreading of garlic sauce...