Pak John Steamboat & BBQ Great Eastern Mall — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

Extremely Disappointing Experience at Pak John Steamboat (Great Eastern Mall)

I’ve been a loyal customer of Pak John for over 15 years, since their days at Curve Mall. It used to be a family-friendly restaurant with warm, courteous service. Sadly, the Great Eastern Mall outlet is the complete opposite — an absolute disgrace to the brand.

This outlet is apparently a franchise, and it shows. From rude staff with gangster-like behaviour (man in the picture has such a ganster attitude) to confusing pricing and a complete lack of communication, this place is a disaster.

Here’s what happened:

I was charged full price for the Premium buffet when I clearly requested the Standard option.

The cashier, Hafiz, voided the transaction and assured me I would get a refund within 3 days. This is laughable considering I previously had to wait over two months for a refund when this very outlet once charged me RM700.90 instead of RM70.90 — due to staff carelessness!

Then, Hafiz asked for my card again to charge for the Standard option.

When I asked how much it would be, he casually replied, “Today no Standard. Only Premium.”

Excuse me?

Why ask me to pay for a plan that’s not available? Why was this not communicated earlier before charging? No signage. No verbal warning. Nothing. Misleading pricing.

This whole experience shows two things clearly:

Utter incompetence — requesting payment for something that doesn’t even exist that day.

Zero customer care — not even basic courtesy or transparency in pricing. Not even an apology. The man in the picture welcome my complaint.

The staff's unapologetic, almost gangster-like attitude makes it worse. No smiles, no sorrys — just a cold, dismissive attitude like they’re doing you a favour for dining there.

No wonder the place was empty.

It’s tragic to see such a reputable name being dragged down by a franchise that clearly doesn’t care about customer experience, professionalism, or basic ethics.

I will never return to this outlet, and I urge Pak John HQ to seriously review this franchise before more customers are lost for good. Even quality of food dropped over the years.

A proper email has been sent to HQ and relevant...

Used to love this place, but not anymore.

I’m a returning customer—this used to be my regular spot. Came here often, brought friends, had decent meals. But lately? Everything’s just falling apart.

First off, the cleanliness is horrendous. The cup shelves stink like they’ve been wiped with some ancient, sour cloth. Cutlery? Barely clean. I legit saw cockroaches crawling around. The water dispenser is straight-up moldy, and the water smells like it came from a drainpipe. Even the kitchen area reeks—those cowboy doors swing open and you get hit with the smell of pure neglect. The walls are moldy too. Like… how does a place like this even stay open?

Now let’s talk about the service. We paid for premium, but they’re so shady with it. The premium meat isn’t even displayed, and when we ask for it, the waiters give us the nastiest looks—as if we’re being annoying for asking what we literally paid for.

Even the duck, which isn’t even premium, gets the same treatment. Ask if it’s available? Boom—instant annoyed face. Why the attitude? If it’s not available just say so. No need to act like we’re bothering you for asking what should be visible at a buffet in the first place.

The menu looks decent, sure—but with this kind of management, any business will crash eventually. Honestly, I’m sad to say this might be my last visit. It’s just not...

Food was ok, the best part for me was the duck. You pay first before eating (RM66 per pax for adults, including tax) and choose 2 soups for your steamboat. They have steamboat, grill & dimsum. Also have desserts like waffle, ice cream and ice kacang. Free flow drinks.

Negatives / room for improvement: We sat at the corner round table with green sofa and the grill was a bit slower, until the staff switched off the fan. The floor near the dessert area was greasy and slippery. The sliced lamb and chicken area wasn’t replenished as fast at all - duck wasn’t out until I had to ask for it, they only had 2-4 trays in that area. It’s included in the all you can eat but we didn’t know and had to ask. Maybe short of staff or staff not attentive enough - staff should check if things are ok bcos sometimes we customers don’t know 😅 They were polite but need to be more proactive.

Positives: Ample seating options. Juicy beef altho thick. Yummy duck. Wide food assortment. Family friendly place (lots of kids) and some customers were having birthday celebration.

The food was ok/good but we had problems with our slow grill in the beginning that dampened our experience. Please improve on...