Pampas Steakhouse at Old Malaya — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

First time dining experience (for a date), left hugely disappointed. Several key take from my experience:

Food

1. Taste 1/10 My date & I ordered Surf & Turf, Sea Bass & Lamb shank. We both agreed that the only thing good coming out of these food were the mashed potatoes (side dish). Sea bass portion is like 0.12 of the standard fillet coming out looking like it was gravely beaten by the chef during frying process, it shrunk to a minuscule size. Surf & Turf hmmm where do I begin? Oh the fact that it cost 130+ for a small chunk of meat + 2 ‘king size’ prawn. B*h do you know what king size is? You gave me grade E ones the size of my q-tip! Oh and the taste is not good lack of seasoning like wth. Lamb shank is decent, but I still prefer Ikea’s over yours cause your price doesn’t match the standard. Taste wise, 2/10 (2 for mashed potatoes).

2. Drinks Ordered iced latte & mocktail for my girl. Latte cost RM12 in a small (f less than 100ml) glass talk about stingy. My girl’s mocktail was mid, at best. Needed some refreshment (plain water) to cleanse our soul for the horrible foods we ate and lol the RM20+ for a 500ml bottle called Aqua something. Water probably originated from heaven’s well to cost that much. Other fine/semi fine dining that I’ve been to has offered me free drinking water. Its not that hard. 4/10 from us.

3. Waiting time The most agonising 40-minute of my life. Not even full house and no apology given from any of the staffs for making us wait that long, so in terms of service I’d give a 1 out of 10, only because the guy waiter were polite to us.

4. Price 300+ spent. Is it worth it? Definitely no and if I could rewind back time I would never pay a visit in the first place. Hence, 2/10 (very very pricey esp Surf & Turf, Sea Bass + plain water from heaven).

5. Portion Minuscule. Suitable for kids not big a** adults like us with empty stomach. Surf & Turf and Sea bass is the biggest lmao dish we’ve ever had, portion, taste & price wise. So, 2/10 (2 for lamb shank at least it’s standard size).

6. Presentation My god there’s literally nothing. I’ve been to a street restaurant with better food presentation than this. Aesthetically speaking, 1/10.

7. Ambience Again, nothing special just that it overlooks KL tower. That’s all. Everything is standard cafe setup you’d normally see elsewhere. My rating 6/10 (6 for KL tower view).

Overall rating 4/10 would not...

We came here for a Mother's Day Dinner and my family had the steak and I have the chicken burger. I usually don't like when a chicken burger is made out of a patty instead of a piece of meat but this patty was done really well and I would order it again. The steak was also very delicious. We got lava cake for dessert and it was probably one of the best lava cakes I've ever had.

However, we found the service to be annoying. For one, a lot of things on the menu weren't available. We managed to find alternatives so it is no big deal. But as we were looking at the menu, the server kept coming up to us and pointing out what isn't available. And she just walked around in circles pointing out to each of our menu. Isn't it better to let us sit, pass us the menu then tell us as a group all the items that arent available then let us look at the menu and decide? We found it very stressful because every time we talked about something we were thinking of ordering, she said something about the dish. We also got a bottle of wine and she poured it for us. But every time we have had 2-3 sips of the wine, she kept filling it up. I understand having to sell more bottles, but it could have been done more discreetly. We had to tell her to please stop refilling our glasses. Finally as we were done, she told me to give her a review. I said I would and i thought I would go home and do it. But she went to my mother in law sitting right next to me and told her the same thing. I told my mother in law I will do it but the server told her that she could help my mother in law do it now she would just have to take out her phone. I don't get what is the rush? My mother in law was already overwhelmed with the server so I told her that I would do it later. Then she didn't press on it.

Overall, we will definitely be coming back for the food but would prefer a different type of service from...

I'll start by saying I had high hopes for this restaurant. Given its current reputation for the amount of stars and reviews, I was expecting a stellar outing and amazing food...I was most definitely let down!

Food: The appetizers that we ordered were very well done. The friends at the table all said the Gambas, the fried soft shell crab, and the baby calamari fritters were excellent. If this had kept up, this would be a different type of review. After waiting for what must have been another 40 minutes after the appitizers were long gone to receive our main course steak dinner meals, they were ALL undercooked. Most of the steaks were thin, so they should've been easy to cook, but each fell short of the mark. I ordered the Black Angus beef tenderloin medium rare, and it was most definitely rare...mainly seared. After cutting away and eating the edges, I was left with a definite raw slab of beef. Because of this, they receive a low food score.

Service: The hostess that showed us the table should have taken care of us for the entire meal. He was friendly, welcoming, and smiled. The waiter we were stuck with had an attitude of rushing us through. He didn't seem like he wanted us to be there. I understand that most people may not want to serve Americans, but when your business is at stake, the almighty dollar...well, ringgit here wins every time! For this lousy service, they receive a low score.

Atmosphere: This is one I'll score a bit higher. The outside during night time is really nice, well lit, and well decorated. The inside is a bit confusing. The restaurant and bar are separated by a sliding tarp. Definitly an odd choice, but maybe this is the norm here?

Overall, we were all very disappointed by the food and service. I wouldn't recommend coming here. Find...