Sumatera Restaurant NYC — Restaurant in New York

this review is more of a 3.5.

tldr: food is tasty but small portions for the prices that the elmhurst neighborhood offers. there is a sign that says "free drink for 5 stars review". service is good. there is about only 5 to 6 tables. venmo/zelle app only

we ordered the following: mie komplit $14 (dried noodle with wonton, ground meat) thai iced tea $5 coffee $3 tahu gejrot $8.50 (tofu) sate ayam $10.50 (chicken skewers) salad daun teh hijau $11 (green tea salad) nasi pecel ikan $18 (fried fish nasi) mie goreng balacan $15.50 (stir fried noodles) nasi padang bungkus $16 (beef nasi)

ive been excited to try this place out for a while now. the food itself is tasty. great flavor for every dish, but if you take a look at the dishes, the portions are actually pretty small compared to what you would expect for those price points. the meat portion of the chicken skewer was like 1/2-1/3 the size of the skewers you get at a cart outside for $2. the tofu app had a great soy sweet vinegar sauce but it was small pieces. it looks big bc of the plating. the green tea salad was good (i would rec you try this if you want to try something unique). Per my friends feedback, the fried fish nasi dish needed some sauce since all the items were dried (tempuh, tofu, fish). the fried noodles was not spectacular. the mie komplit was a nice mellow umami flavor but i felt like they used subpar ingredients like the fishballs since there was no springiness to it. the fishball did not taste like there was "fish" in it (if that makes sense). the fried wontons had very little meat in them. the soup that comes with this dish was just a normal stock soup (nothing to comment on it). the beef nasi was the only one that came packaged in a banana leaf. it had different items like potato chips, beef, egg, and jackfruit. that was a unique dish but slightly high price point at $16 for the portion.

there are alot of 5 stars reviews but please take into account that they have a sign that says "free drink for 5 star reviews n comments".

service was nice. the server remember all of our orders without writing things down. reminder that only venmo/zelle/cash was available

not a must try restaurant as there are other more "affordable" indo places, but the...

To start, we waited over 30 minutes for our food, and when it finally arrived, the portions were extremely small. The dishes we ordered were $16.75 each, yet there were barely two small cubes of meat on the plate—it honestly felt like a rip-off given the price. The food itself tasted good, but the portions were definitely not worth what we paid.

Service was also disappointing. It took quite a while for someone to even come over to take our order. The most frustrating part, though, was the situation with my rice. When ordering, I asked if I could substitute my white rice for coconut rice, and the waiter mentioned there would be a surcharge. I specifically told him I didn’t want to do the substitution after hearing that, and I’d just keep the white rice.

When it came time to pay, I noticed I was still charged for the coconut rice I didn’t order. I politely brought this up to the waiter, assuming it was just a small mistake. Instead, he argued with me, insisting I had ordered the coconut rice—even though my friend at the table heard me decline it. After going back and forth, he finally adjusted the price, but the whole interaction left a bad taste in my mouth.

What made things worse was when I went to another staff member to ask where I could leave a tip. Instead of simply answering, she became extremely rude and started accusing me of trying to scam them, saying that if I had received coconut rice when I didn’t order it, I should have sent it back right away and not “eat it all” and then complain. First of all, I didn’t have coconut rice—I tasted my friend’s coconut rice, and my rice was clearly plain white rice. Second, even if I had gotten the coconut rice, in what world does it make sense to send back a plate of plain rice in the middle of a meal? I was honestly shocked by her attitude, especially considering I had gone up to her to leave a tip in the first place.

Overall, the food tasted decent, but for the price, the portions are laughable, and the service was disappointing at best—rude at worst. Definitely won’t be...

I came here years ago when it was still called Sky Cafe. We learned that the owners had retired, but with new management now, the new owners decided to re-name the restaurant, but keep the menu, staff and chef the same. It was an incredible re visit yesterday! The service was very friendly and attentive, explaining things on the menu and eager to answer any questions.

We ordered an avocado shake and cendol, which was off menu, but a huge highlight of our visit. It took time to make because the cendol jellies were made to order, but the wait was totally worth it. The cendol jellies were green from pandan and was served in a tall glass with coconut milk, gula melaka and ice. The gula melaka (a type of palm sugar that comes from coconut palm that is very nutty and toasty) was unmistakable - very rich and toasty, just like we’d had while in Jakarta. That drink alone would have been worth the visit. I’m still thinking about how good it was today. Gula Melaka (untainted) is so hard to find in the US!

We also ordered the nasi padang bungkus, the mie complit, and a side of petai (stink beans). All the food was delicious and brought us right back to our Indonesia trip. The nasi padang had a delicious spicy beef rendang and a jackfruit curry that was addictive. The mie complit had nice chewy noodles along with some fried wontons that were clearly fried to order and very fresh. And the stink beans were pungent and garlicky with a spicy and tasty side of sambal.

Love this place and can’t wait...