Balin Roofgarden Bistro & Bar — Restaurant in Sabah

My wife reserved a table for our family of five to celebrate our eldest daughter's 18th birthday at 6:15 pm. We ordered beef pepperoni pizza, fish and chips, alio olio spaghetti, and seafood saffron rice for two. We also ordered an iced americano, two chocolate milkshakes, and a jug of iced water.

First, the food: the alio olio spaghetti, fish and chips, and seafood saffron rice were okay, nothing spectacular but passable. However, the pepperoni pizza was incredibly disappointing. Each slice had only one pepperoni, which is ridiculously stingy given the price, especially when compared to Pezzo Pizza, which is much more generous. To make things worse, one of the chocolate milkshakes we ordered came without the cream topping. The waiter didn't mention anything when serving the drinks. Only when we asked at the counter did they tell us they had run out of cream topping.

At 7:15 pm, we ordered another beef pepperoni pizza. At 7:30 pm, a waiter came over and told us that our table had been booked by another customer and we had to leave. At that point, we hadn't even finished half of the second pizza. I asked if there was a time limit for each customer, and the waiter just said that another customer had booked after us. When my wife made the reservation by phone, she wasn't informed of any time limit or that there would be another booking after us at a specific time.

I am incredibly frustrated and disappointed. This should never have happened. When we ordered the second pizza, the waiter should have informed us about the upcoming booking and the time limit. Instead, we had to pack up the remaining pizza, pay, and leave in a rush. This experience was extremely unpleasant and completely ruined our...

Title: 🇲🇾 Malaysians Should Avoid This Restaurant

I visited Balin Roof Garden & Bistro in Sandakan today with my group, and while the food itself was good, the service was appalling and left us feeling discriminated against.

We were given seats at the rooftop dining area, which is supposed to be their signature experience. Four of us stayed at the lounge sofa since that particular spot wasn’t wet, but the space was far too tight. The other four of us decided to move to a proper dining table and chairs, because the other lounge seats were soaked from the rain and clearly unsuitable for dining.

Halfway through our dinner, the staff actually tried to chase us away from the dining table and move us back to the cramped, wet lounge, just so they could give our table to Western guests. This was shocking and insulting, especially when those same Western guests had been sitting comfortably for a long time with just drinks, yet faced no interruption.

When we refused to give up our seats, the staff left us alone — but not for long. Later, they came back and slammed a “RESERVED” sign onto our table rather forcefully, telling us it was booked for 8:00pm. The time then? Only 6:30pm. Was this a coincidence, or simply their way of showing us the door? Either way, it was unprofessional, unwelcoming, and extremely disrespectful.

We ended up leaving the restaurant with our meal half-finished, many dishes still left on the table. The food, which at first was good, suddenly tasted of discrimination — and no longer savoury.

Good food cannot make up for such poor treatment and discriminatory service. As Malaysians dining in our own country, we expected fair hospitality, but instead we were made to...

A place with charming and extremely friendly staff.

The space was clean and very pleasant. We reserved indoor seating, but there was a mistake, and they placed us on the rooftop. We accepted, but if you get a high table, it's quite uncomfortable, and there is little lighting. We ended up eating with the flash on.

The food was delicious, some of the best pizzas we've had in Malaysia. However, the dishes arrived 20 minutes apart. We had to eat separately, and in the photos, you can see that by the time the pasta arrived, the pizza was almost finished. The staff was pleasant and apologized, but given the price, this shouldn't happen.

The dessert was 18 ringgits, and while it was spectacular, the portion was excessively small. For that price, the portion should be larger.

Additionally, when it came time to pay, we asked to pay separately with cards. As there were two of us and considering the currency exchange to euros, it would have been much more convenient. However, they made a mistake and charged everything to one card. They handed us the card machine without showing the total amount, and we trusted they had done it correctly.

I want to believe these were isolated incidents as the waiters were very nice, and there was no tension or anger at any moment.

It’s worth noting that we paid 100 ringgits for two dishes and a tiny dessert. Compared to Europe, this is reasonable, but compared to other local places, we don't think the price matched what was offered.

Was the food good? Very much so. Did we want a more special night? Absolutely! But we left a bit disappointed with the overall experience.

Nevertheless, I would still recommend it because we truly believe it was a...