Wayan — Restaurant in New York

Mediocre at best. Disappointing overall. Flavor was novel but one dimensional, just spicy really. Portions were small even though menu said each item was meant to be shared, not by any standards. Service was lackluster and our waiter was less attentive than average...he was barely there.

Instagram was interesting. And the reviews are misleading at best. Or maybe 2020 has dulled everyone sense of taste?

The tag line is Indonesian meets French. It's neither Indonesian NOR French. Is like the chef tried to do both but missed the mark when combined. Every dish was one dimension. Was the spiciness and burning suppose to be Indonesian? And was the edible flowers suppose to be French? It's novel and not in a good way. Not of the dishes stood out.

Lamb satay. Satay only in name. There nothing about this dish that is "satay". Just a few tiny slivers. No flavor. The sauce was week. Whatever sauce it was. It was also cold and we had to send this back. The other waitress was very attentive. Our supposed waitee was nowhere to be found. This was replaced with a hotter version. You can buy better lamb skewers on the street carts Elmhurst/Flushing for $2. This was a joke. Not worth it. Skip.

Octopus a la plancha. The tentacle was tender and was nicely grilled and chared. Was luke warm at best. I think the dipping sauce was suppose to be Indonesian? Not sure. But the Greek places does it better for sure. Okay.

Ceviche. I think the coconut milk was supposed to be Indonesian? Needed some more sourness to really balance out yeh sweet from ge coconut milk/sauce and the spices. You can literally get a better ceviche from the deli at Elmhurst for 1/2 the price. Small portion. Fits into a small cocktail glass. Definitely not for sharing. Skip.

Crab fries rice with uni. Low quality uni and quite bitter. Skip the uni add-on. This was okay. What ever spice was involved definitely over powered the crab and the rice. Not really sure was was supposed to be Indonesia nd what was supposed to be French. Was okay. Small portion. It's okay to share. Just skip the uni.

Pork ribs. Looked nice with edible flowers. Tender for the most part but also a tad bit dry. Again the spices just over powers what ever flavor there is. Once again flavor wise, it was neither Indonesia nor French. Good to share this one.

The one cocktail was forgettable. Not even worth mentioning. You're better off with a beer

Service was just lackluster from beginning to end. Our waiter showed up 4 times; seating, water/menu, and taking our order, and getting us the check. The bus boy and another waitress had to cover for him. At least someone else picked up the slack.

2 people for $170 with 15% tip. This was a very very disappointing meal and less than average service.

I am really not sure what was Indonesian and...

Pretty disastrous experience overall, unfortunately. I definitely wanted to like it a lot more than I did. Disclaimer, it is Restaurant Week 2023 but still, the horrendous service was truly disappointing. We had 2 restaurant week menus and supplemented with an order of pork satay and the corn fritters. My friend’s cauliflower entree was obviously not put in and she ultimately received it probably 20+ minutes after my chicken arrived, which I’d almost finished by then. Unforgivable. Then, our simple fried banana dessert with chocolate sauce didn’t come out for at least 30 minutes after we’d finished our entrees. Basically, for every course, except the appetizer, we had to flag down a server to ask where our meal was. I even had to do this for my second cocktail which didn’t arrive for a good 15 minutes after I ordered it. In the end, our server acknowledged, and apologized for the awful service, and said that we would get a sample of the Chenin blanc as a small attempt to make up for the disastrous meal. When she said a sample, she wasn’t kidding, because we literally got one sip each, almost funny in how ridiculous it was.

The two cocktails that I had were the pink beach, a sort of rum, fruit punch, which I felt paired very well with the meal.

The restaurant week chicken dish was called the crispy chicken, it came with a tasty sauce that they call banana kecap. There seem to be rather little meat on the chicken, and it was somewhat difficult to separate from the bone and it was not particularly flavorful if not for the sauce. My friend did seem to enjoy her cauliflower entrée, when it finally arrived. We both had the heirloom tomato salad to start, which was a little heavy on the vinegar and was mostly not actually heirloom tomatoes. It was OK. The pork satay was properly marinated in a flavorful marinade and was well cooked and tasty. The banana dessert was mushy and overcooked, and probably had been sitting in the kitchen for a while before it was brought to the table. We ended up with a passionfruit Panna cotta as well, that we didn’t order, and nobody mentioned whether or not it was intended to make up for the bad service.

The room was quite nice in a busy Soho location and it gets a little loud when it’s full. Some of the flavors were interesting and I would like to try to come back when it is not restaurant week to see what they can really do and to try some of the other flavors...

Food was amazing!! Where can you find a French-Indonesian place in the city? Nowhere other than here! I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed my meal here. Opted for this with a friend for a Sunday lunch at 1pm and there were still free tables despite us reserving.

We got the following for two: Crispy Baby Squid ($18) Corn Fritters ($9) Combo Satay Choice of 3 - Beef, Scallop & Chicken ($36) - 3 skewers of each so 9 total Escargot Rendang ($18) - comes with 6 Lobster Noodle ($36) Crispy Pandan French Toast ($18)

They have a mixture of satays, small plates, large plates, sides and brunch options. My friend and I got something from each section to try, and also cause we were purely interested in those dishes. The Crispy Baby Squid came in an onion sambal sauce. I personally tasted more of a lime taste for the sauce and thought it was rather unique. Corn Fritters were pretty amazing! They did taste a bit too salty in the middle since the sauce was clustered there, but was great for a side. For the Combo Satay, I personally liked the beef, scallop and then chicken in that order. The beef had a limey taste with jalapeños, scallop was simple in a white sauce and chicken was covered in a peanut sauce. While it was pretty expensive for just 9 skewers, I’ll say it was worth the taste.

The Escargot Rendang was amazing - would highly recommend! The brioche dipped in the sauce of the escargot was 💯. This was my first time having escargot and I really liked it! My friend who’s had it before said this is one of the better ones she’s had. The Lobster Noodles I feel we could have done without. It wasn’t bad, but there was not much special about it. It had a peppery taste and the noodle reminded me of Indomie. The Crispy Pandan French Toast came last even though it was part of the brunch menu, but I considered it to be like dessert since it was sweet. The toast comes with a pineapple on top and the kaya jam on the bottom. It’s also filled with some cream/milk inside so not bland at all and a great addition to our meal as we only had savory dishes.

Overall be prepared to spend a little more here since it’s recommended to get 2-3 plates per person to share. However, I’d say this is more worth it compared to some other places considering the quality of the food here. Definitely exceeded my initial...