本然餐厅 BEN RAN — Restaurant in Penang

I have been here for several times, but my last visit was on 13th June 2019. I went there with my family. That time was around 7:00pm. It was a weekday, so we did not call the restaurant to make any reservation. As expected, the restaurant is not crowded with customer. We were the third group of customers to have dinner there. After the waiter determined with us our number, he immediately took us to our table.

After we sit down, they handed us total 4 sets of menus, so we don’t have to share a menu. They didn’t recommend anything at the beginning until we asked for their recommendation. I requested some food that isn’t that spicy, so they introduced the dishes that we probably will like it. We ordered 3 dishes, a fried rice and a deep-fried noodle. However, we worried that we couldn’t finish the food as we were only 4 persons. The waiter said the portion for the dishes is just moderate which he thinks we should be able to finish it. I have added some pictures for your reference.

The taste of the foods was suitable for us and foods was fresh. We really satisfied with all 5 dishes. And the price wasn’t expensive for the hotel restaurant. All of these is only RM 153.85 which includes all taxes with a pot of tea for 4 persons.

I kind of like the environment of the restaurant and it was well maintained as well, very clean. Staff are helpful as well. They will come to refill your drink spontaneously, even though it was full house where it was my first visit to this restaurant. However, the path to the toilet is pretty inconvenience to people with wheelchair. Its path was rugged and narrow. Maybe they have bigger one which I don’t know about. And I also noticed a staff wasn’t very neat, shirt not ironed.

I know they have 2 sessions, breakfast and dinner. I couldn’t verify with you their breakfast operating hour as I haven’t tried their breakfast. I just know the serve Chinese Dim Sum. As per, what internet stated, breakfast open from 7:00am until 3:00pm. Dinner operating hour is from 6:00pm until 10:00pm. They open every day. For weekday, you don’t have to make any reservation. However, for weekend or any festivals. I would suggest you make reservation as my first visit with my family was on a Sunday which it was full house.

Parking won’t be a problem for you at all. It is a hotel; they have a multi-level car park, so you don’t have to worry about. Most importantly, it is free.

What I like about this restaurant was the food. Suited my taste and all is made out fresh. Some other restaurant will cook first and when you order it, they will serve it to you but not here. Secondly is the restaurant cleanliness. It was totally dust free, every is neat and tidy. Finally, is their staff and management. They will always check around, to see what you need.

The first things I don’t like is the location of this restaurant. It is located deep inside Bukit Mertajam. If you from Butterworth, you will need to drive 30 minutes to there. Next is the toilet. The path to there may looks differently compared to other place but it did cause some problem with wheelchair. Thirdly is about the reservation. During my third my visit, I tried to call to make reservation but there is no one pick up my call at all. To be honest, I was a little worry that the restaurant maybe close or have some sort of event. I don’t want to drive so far and tell me it is close or what. The number I contacted was 04-5486969. I found this number in Google.

As far I can tell you that I was really satisfied with this restaurant. I would definitely...

Well the overall dining experience is horrible. First need to wait for 45 minutes for a sit, where apparently there is still plenty of empty sots in the restaurant. Second, the waiter who took out order wrongly wrote out table number which cause the wrong food is served to out table. The manager, Mei Ai, who approach our table didn't show any apologies on this issue and insist the order that we received is correct as the table number on that is ours. Mei Ai also didn't inform us that some of the dim sum that we ordered is not available anymore. Until we asked the other server why the food is not served only they tell us the reason. The manager didn't reply to any our feedback on their food or our service at all. They just ignore it not even answer or give us any acknowledge. No apologise at all!!! Absolutely not acceptable when you are delivering this kind of attitude in this kind of restaurant. There are no service at all! She even stop us from add on another order saying that she will be confuse if we add on prder. And not to mention the quality of food, is just normal. Definitely no next time for this...

Got there and the restaurant was full. The staff took us to a hall to eat. Service is very slow and unresponsive food(dimsum) was served extremely slowly. However the staff was very polite. After an hour not all the dishes has been served yet. Moreover, some of the food was served cold. Overall a terrible experience. Edit: Went to the restaurant on another day much earlier and got a seat in the restaurant. Food was great and served hot. The service was good too. Conclusion, So if u want to have good food don't eat in the hall as the service is slow and food is terrible. If your looking for the best experience and have hot food insist on eating in the restaurant even if your late or you could get to the restaurant...