Salad Bowl Coffee House — Restaurant in Penang

Been eating this restaurant since I was a little kid, my mom brought me here for their hokkien char and western food, and when I grow up, I brought my friends here. Once there was a old uncle waiter who was not very friendly while serving food, my Mom and I can tolerate everytime.. after the uncle was retired, there was a lady waitress who was also the cashier and work for a long time at the cafe, everytime we went to the cafe, she was the one who serve us, and also not a very good attitude as always la, but still my mom and I can tolerate also since is not a 5 star restaurant, sure you cnt expect 5 star service.. until yesterday Friday 19/5/2023 , went to lunch around 1:45pm with my mom again, I cannot tolerate anymore to this lady waitress, the cafe start charging mineral water for rm2 per bottle, I understand they need to continue the business also, usually they give free flow water but now no more is fine. But gt one lady customer order a warm water frm them, she straight gave the water without charge in my face. I bet becoz that lady is a usual customer at the restaurant, but why act so unfair? We are your usual customer too right? I hv been hving meals there since I was little. Second thing is , this lady waitress always serve the set meal ice cream without asking us first, I hv face this a lot of times. I knw you want to finish your job faster but I am still hving my meals and you just serve the ice cream in the middle when I haven’t finish my food? So let the ice cream melt like that or I need to finish my food faster? What etiquette is this ? Since you are working at this restaurant for so long don’t you know this act was very disrespectful towards your customers? Third thing, the lunch session ends on 3pm, she quickly wanted to clean up our tables and been coming to ask to clean up the table for a couple times while me and my mom still haven’t finish our food yet! This is not the most triggering part, but one of the staff come out and ask are there any customers left? She raise her voice and answer the staff “There is still one table left!!!” That time is only 2:40pm sis, and my mom is in the toilet I hv to wait for her. The purpose to raise your voice like that is hinting us that we should leave as fast as possible is it? Lady, I warn you again, I knw Salad Bowl won’t fire you for what you did as you are experienced in this restaurant, but if you do serve us again with the bad attitude and disrespectful act that I mentioned above, I won’t be polite with you anymore and I will straight comment you in your face . Two stars, one is for the food still delicious, one is for the the waiter and waitress we met in Salad Bowl that served us good. 3 stars drop, one is for bias on customer for not charging the mineral water, one is the attitude of this lady, one is for the bad experience that...

Couldn’t decide between 3 or 4 stars for this one… I’d give it 3.5 if I could.

The restaurant itself was clean (from what I could see) and comfortable but far too dark in my opinion… almost needed a torch to read the menu when coming in from outside! The service was quite fast.

I ordered the set lunch with the black pepper chicken as my main. The chicken chop was good and the chips were nice. Reasonably big portion. The vegetables were a bit sad though - they appeared to be just some frozen peas and carrots that had been boiled… okay when mixed with the sauce but it would be nice to see some effort (and seasoning) put into the vegetables rather than just put on the plate as an afterthought. The soup than came with the set was nothing special, tasted like it could be tinned soup.

Decent food overall and good value. I’d go back again and try other dishes if I was after...

This is what a mom and dad family owned restaurant would look like. And the decor is old school and nostalgic. It may seem a bit dark though but inviting nonetheless.

The menu is extensive. I loath the overuse term fusion, but their western and Asian fare is impressive. The choices are too much to mention here. You will need to come and look at it yourself

The food is above par and the quantity nothing to complain about. The price is definitely fair. If you come here, you must try the shark fin (artifical of course) soup. It's superb. Delicious. Definitely a related dish to order on subsequent visits.

All in all, a nice dining...