Chocha Foodstore — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

Came to this restaurant the first time with a group of friends. At decent dinner time, around 7.00-7.30pm, but many items on the menu were already finished. When asked, our waiter nonchalantly explained, "Only limited portions available every day." Ouch. Seats were more about interior concept, than making us comfortable. Food was ok, quite pricey, would not want to return after first impression.

A few months later, while casually strolling by with my partner, we noticed their new set menu, and decided to give it a try.

Wine was good start, but quickly the dining experience turned out unforgettably awful. First starter arrived, before we could properly savour it, the second and third dishes came rushing. We kindly asked the waiter to hold off on the third dish so it wouldn't end up as cold as an iceberg by the time we got to it. Waiter didn't take it well and insisted to serve, asserting that "it's sharing concept". We explained that it was a set menu, we would like to finish one course at a time. He reluctantly complied, but not without some attitude.

This is where the really bad experience kicked in. Most of the tables around us were cleared, including ours, and only 3 were left with guests. The other 2 were nearly the end of their course. We waited. And we waited some more. Finally, we asked our waiter about the missing dish, and he coolly replied, "kitchen is preparing it." When the dish was eventually presented, we couldn't help but inquire why it took this long. His response? "Because the kitchen made it fresh." We dared to ask not once, but twice, and received the same confirmation that it was indeed a freshly made dish. We tested it and found it to be lukewarm at best, far from "freshly made." This point, we lost trust in the food, the waiter, and the kitchen's professionalism. We decided to wave the white flag and asked for the remaining courses to be halted and for the bill.

Waiter returned and asked what the problem was, and once again emphasized their "sharing concept". I couldn't resist asking, "do you serve by the sequence of starter, main dish, and dessert at the end?" He said yes. I asked the classic question: "do you know why". He replied "why?". Well, because it is a set menu. You offer a set menu, you serve a set menu, like a set menu should be. Displeased tone, but smiling face, he replied "this is our restaurant, we do sharing concept".

Food wise, not much to be desired. Fish was not fresh. Dough was too thick. Flavor pairings were like mismatched socks – quirky. An effort of contemporary flavour executed poorly.

Two visits, two disappointments. I would not recommened...

We had a very frustrating experience here. We came as walk-in customers and decided on the tasting menu to make things easy. From the get-go, the staff seemed a bit in their way but overall friendly. We liked the vibe, the look, and the noise level of the restaurant.

Food took quite some time to arrive, but once it did, it came quickly. Each course of the menu contained many dishes on its own. The table filled up very quickly, and we were not able to eat as fast. As yet another batch of food arrived, I asked politely for them to wait since there was no space on the table and we were still very busy. We would end up mixing all the dishes and ingredients, which would lose their texture and temperature if we did not eat them quickly enough.

The waiter responded by asking us if we rejected the food. I explained yet again our good intention: that we just want to enjoy the food in its best possible state. I also added that I felt I didn't have to explain this; it should be obvious, actually. He took yet another strong stand by saying the food was meant to be shared. I again pointed out that we do share it already, and we like it this way, but that this was not the issue at hand. The issue had nothing to do with the sharing concept at all. He still seemed not convinced, starting yet another no-pro-customer approach by saying, "That's the way we do it here!". We were quite speechless at this point and just told him to please bring only additional food once we finished what was in front of us.

After we finished the load in front of us, it took very long for the next course to arrive. It was quite obvious; it was the same preparation we rejected earlier; it was not hot and soggy. Unfortunately, the food overall was not very impressive. Very blended, heavy, and oily. So after having a few bites, this time for real, we rejected the course, requested not to be served the remaining food on the menu, and asked for the bill so we could leave. We left hungry and quite stunned by this level of service quality, given the price point. The quality of the ingredients was good, but the preparation and final product were dissatisfying for me. I would not recommend this place based on my experience.

I myself have been in the restaurant industry in various positions throughout my career and certainly have an idea of what to expect from a restaurant visit. I have rarely seen such an attitude or ignorance towards a customer. I have to give one star based in my experience and...

I had an extremely disappointing experience at Chocha that led me to walk out mid-way through their “Feed Me” menu.

Everything started well until the fourth dish, when the first waitress politely asked for our feedback. All three of us mentioned that while the food was tasty, it was overly salty, and we simply requested that the chef take note. There was no malice or harsh criticism—just constructive feedback.

Then came the fifth dish, which was also quite salty. A second waitress asked the same question about the food, and we repeated our feedback kindly. Instead of acknowledging it professionally, her immediate response was insulting—she condescendingly suggested that perhaps this was our first time eating Malaysian food. When we clarified that we were Malaysians, she backtracked, saying it must be our first time having Chocha’s type of Malaysian food. We remained respectful despite her dismissive attitude.

She later returned to inform us that they had asked other tables before serving our dish, and no one else had complained. She then proceeded to blame us for not being used to their food, adding that their regulars had never had issues with the seasoning. At this point, I explained that I had dined at Chocha before, back when it was actually crowded and fully booked.

This exchange was what truly ruined the experience. Instead of handling feedback professionally, the waitress continued to be defensive and condescending. She offered to comp our next round of drinks but still doubled down on implying that we simply didn’t know better. That only escalated our frustration.

When we decided to leave and requested to pay only for what we had eaten, she left to check with the chef and returned to tell us that the remaining dishes were already ready to serve—completely ignoring the fact that we had already declined to continue. She then made it worse by insisting that the chef had personally tasted the food and found it fine before asking if we wanted to take the food to-go.

By then, it was clear that Chocha was unwilling to accept any feedback, and we were done. We asked for the bill, which came in full at RM 690 for three people—despite us not completing the meal.

After this experience, it’s no surprise that Chocha is now half-empty on a Friday night when it used to be fully booked. The service completely diminished the food experience, leaving us with no desire to return. A real shame, considering what the...