Islandish Family Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Langkawi Island

To each his own of course, but I am surprised that this place receives an average of 4+ stars. Are reviews generally inflated for eateries in Langkawi, because tourists make up most of the patrons and therefore they have no basis of comparison for what is considered good in Malaysia?

This review is written more for local Malaysians in search of familiar food while on cuti-cuti Malaysia. My advice is: no expectations, no disappointment.

Our oyster omelette came as a wafer-thin piece, the complete opposite of fluffy, and one has to struggle to make out the oyster shreds in it. By taste alone I would not have believed you had you told me it contains oysters. My mistake lies in expecting the usual 蚝煎 (orh jian / orh luak) served in Chinese restaurants, the one with the chewy-gooey texture, and uh, visible whole oysters. Like I said, drop all expectations and maybe, just maybe, you would not be disappointed.

The claypot tofu was watery (on second thought, why is it watery? a little bit more cornstarch wouldn't hurt) and worse, most of the egg was stuck to the sides of the claypot, and was burnt. As in, not the pleasant-slightly-burnt-egdes of a sunny side up kind of burnt, but burnt burnt. Charred even. I swallowed it down only because I am not one to waste food.

Their signature Islandish chicken is nothing to write home about, in fact, I would probably skip this dish if it was part of the offerings in a Zhap Fan (economy rice) stall. It is basically fried chicken pieces coated in sweet black sauce.

Portion wise, the small is really small. I would not have minded the portion size if the taste was good, but alas, it was nothing but. There is much room for improvement.

For those driving, drive past the restaurant, and you will see a fairly large area with more than enough space to park. No need to jostle for a parallel parking spot along the busy Jalan...

Found this restaurant which was highly rated on Google Reviews and thought it would be a good place to indulge in local seafood delicacies. Unfortunately, we were only greeted with unpleasant food, unwelcoming attitude, and a very arrogant manager.

For starters, the food tasted horrendous. We ordered Thai style deep fried fish, sweet & sour chicken, butter prawn, and belacan kangkung. The prawns tasted like it came from the back of the freezer as the prawn meat being extremely mushy. When we asked for a replacement, the manager just took the food away without saying anything. After waiting for 30 mins, we asked for the prawn and the manager told us he will NOT serve us the prawn as we were not satisfied with its “freshness”. He emphasised that the prawns came fresh daily and every other table was enjoying it (which I heavily disagree). We were not pleased with his arrogant demeanour as he mockingly told us that it is our “good fortune (福气)” that we have never ate this kind of fresh prawn before 🙃. The poor quality of the food was not our biggest concern, as we understand that some products may have gone bad; however it is his lack of professionalism in handling the matter that upsets us the most. Besides that, the other waiters in the restaurant are particularly rude and unhelpful when we requested for utensils or the bill.

Additionally, the manager kept pestering our table for “family photos” and taking pictures of the food. While initially requesting to use our phones to take the photos, he switches to his phone and takes photos of us without consent, which we find slightly unsettling.

For those who have yet tried this restaurant, please bear in mind that there are several options around the area which are...

My family and I were visiting and found this off the main road restaurant. Seemed to be a favourite of tourists (Westerners were seen enjoying a drink or two) and locals (Asian-looking groups). The owner were very friendly; offering to take pictures for his patrons and also some for his own collection. There was a misunderstanding and we ended up having a pseudo prawn meat kind of dish cooked in buttermilk rather than the mantis prawn we were enquiring about. But he explained that he didn't offer that or thought we wanted that because it cost a lot per kg and he didn't want us to end up paying thousands for our dinner. [There was an incident a year or so ago of a man who was charged over RM1000 for a huge seabass.] The 'Japanese tofu' was slightly subpar to what we were used to. It was still good, though. (6.5-7/10) The fish were also only average. The kangkung belacan, though, was a travesty for me. It is a favourite dish of mine. But it was so sweet. It was the first, and I hope the only, time I could not finish it. I could only eat the initial chopstick-full that I got. My mum, who couldn't let it go to waste, had to first rinse it off with some watery sauce that came with a fish before consuming it. I wanted the place to do well, because of the owner's personality, but I was quite disappointed with...