Jibby Chow Elmina Lakeside Mall — Restaurant in Shah Alam

Extremely Disappointing Dining Experience

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with the experience my family and I had at your restaurant. We chose to dine at your establishment based on the positive reputation of Serai, but what we encountered was far below any reasonable standard for fine dining.

To begin with, the service was embarrassingly poor. The waitress couldn’t even greet us properly, let alone recommend any dishes. It’s shocking that a restaurant of your standing would allow such untrained staff to serve customers. If your team is not equipped to provide basic service, perhaps rethinking your hiring and training process is in order.

Further adding to the unprofessional atmosphere, we witnessed kitchen staff climbing on equipment, clearly eager to close up. It gave the distinct impression that your priority was shutting down rather than ensuring guests received a proper dining experience. If your staff is so eager to end the night, perhaps you should consider running a food stall instead of a fine dining restaurant.

As for the food, it was an utter letdown. The starter, a so-called “blue crab soup,” was nothing more than a bland mixture of oyster sauce, chili sauce, and cornstarch, with a scrambled egg thrown in for good measure. There was barely any trace of blue crab meat. The mantou? It tasted like something you could pick up at Jaya Grocer and fry at home—and honestly, it would taste better if you did. The nasi ayam was equally disappointing, with the salad consisting of a few pathetic slices of cucumber. This is the kind of presentation you’d expect from a cheap food stall, not a fine dining restaurant. While the chicken itself was decent, it’s nothing special—certainly not worth the price.

To make matters worse, as we were leaving, two staff members were laughing and glancing at us, making it obvious they were speaking about us. This is beyond unprofessional. We may not have ordered a full course for each person, but we still ordered a starter, main dish, desserts, and beverages for our dinner of four. The fact that we didn’t order more can be attributed to the waitress’s lack of helpfulness and the subpar quality of what we did receive.

I’m not concerned with the price; I’m willing to pay for quality, but your restaurant doesn’t deliver. Both the food and service were far below acceptable standards, and I would strongly advise others not to waste their time or money at your establishment.

I expect that you will address these issues promptly....

Izat the waiter who greeted us and served us during most of our meals, a heartiest thank u for making our first experience there an awesome one.

Its part of Serai group. We come from Damansara area and we frequented Serai at times. We came in t shirts and sandals ,nothing fancy. So we ventured here to see how they would treat casually dressed down patrons without fancy looking clothes.😝

This restaurant deserves the 5🌟 rate for the service despite having a full house during our visit. Meals all served in less than 10 min. 🤩.The food satisfied our pallets la. Nasi goreng sedap, mocktails ( emperor n chairman mao) sedap and tasted unique n satisfying, royal lohmagai is juicy n tasty, big breakfast is satisfying and the dim sums we ordered also are tasty.

We havent tried all food yet but this first visit will definitely tempt us to come again. 😁

Price wise, its above average but its fine since with such meals quality, i dont mind.🤩

Waiters are all well trained , friendly and accomodating. Very classy. Well done to the management for having such a good training system.

Just a small not so negative point,🙏😝, the tables are all arranged side by side, so your next table may just be eavesdropping to your private conversation ( if any)..🙏😂..Not a big issue, but just slightly challenging for people who wana have some confidential conversation. Itu saja...if u guys tak kisah, then its okay la😁

Lastly, Kpidap and well...

My family and I had lunch here on Saturday, around 3 PM. While the food quality met our expectations, as it always does, our overall experience was confusing and unpleasant due to several service-related issues:

When we entered the restaurant, we specifically asked if we could bring strollers inside, and the staff at the front door said it was fine. However, upon reaching our table, another staff member asked if the strollers could be placed outside. This inconsistency in communication was frustrating. The table next to us required an extra chair, but instead of choosing one of the many empty chairs in the restaurant, the staff took one from our table, which was already occupied. After confirming once that we needed a baby chair, the same staff kept asking the same question. While I was still dining, staff rushed to clear our table. Given that the restaurant had no queue and plenty of empty tables, this seemed unnecessary and left us feeling unwelcome. When I asked a staff member where to make the payment, they used a vague hand gesture that was unclear. It was confusing whether I should pay directly to him (as he was holding a credit card machine) or to someone else. I had to ask again, only to receive the same unclear response.

These issues made the experience fall short of the high standard we’ve come to expect, especially compared to the Bangsar branch, which consistently delivers...