Istana Thornleigh, Sydney

User Reviews of Istana, Thornleigh

Displaying: 1 - 10 of 71 reviews

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 7

I often come here for family gatherings and have so for many years. I really enjoy the food, especially the hainanese chicken and chilli mud crab with roti - amazing. Staff are genuine and nice, good ambience often packed with a lot of people. Recommended!

Oct 26, 2011

greeentea
18

2.8 Not Recommended

Food 3 Ambience 3 Service 3 Value 2

Went Istana on a Saturday night, very busy, and service was really slow. Waitress took our teapot to be refilled and never returned. Dishes are very expensive and servings are average to small. Bought a prawn and snow peas dish, only to discover the prawns weren't even cooked. Sent the dish back to the kitchen, they tossed it in the wok and brought the same dish back to us. Won't be going back there in a hurry. Unimpressed.

Aug 22, 2011

Priceless
3

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

4.3 Below Average

Food 2 Ambience 5 Service 7 Value 3

We were told by our friends to try this place out. But we were surprised the food was not authentic Malaysian food. It has been genetically modified to suit Australians. The flavour has gone. The food is not prepare to order. The price is expensive too. Well the service is good.

Mar 13, 2011

TheSirius
1

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

5 Average

Food 6 Ambience 5 Service 4 Value 5

We have been eating here regularly but lately they are a lot more stingy with the servings compared to a couple of months ago. We ordered prawns, salt and pepper squid and some other dishes. We were also waiting for the bill a bit long this time and the fruit did arrive very slowly.

Dec 31, 2010

dingen2008
7

8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 8 Service 8 Value 8

I used to eat here a lot some years ago when I lived locally and it was probably the best malaysian/chinese restaurant in Sydney. The host Mr Lee was fantastic. He would recommend the best the kitchen could turn out and we had some fantastic meals. His signature Singapore Chilli mud crab was awesome. The Istana prawns are truly a taste sensation.

His hospitality and capability both as chef and host were second to none. The less than generous reviews I see indicate he needs to get back to Thornleigh and get busy restoring his reputation to the high level he deserves. I have been consistently happy with takeaway meals from here so I can only assume the inhouse service is what is letting down the standards. My ratings are based on my personal experience.

Nov 11, 2010

bikahuna
29

6 Average

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 6 Value 3

A regular haunt of mine. If you choose the right dishes you get good food, but you pay for it. Salt and pepper squid is great, so is the mud crab. I like the Singapore Airline hostess style outfits the waitresses wear. Having read the other reviews here I think people are a touch harsh - the food is good, but it is a bit overpriced.

Nov 03, 2010

hysteria
1

3.8 Below Average

Food 6 Ambience 3 Service 3 Value 3

Decided to try this place out after it was recommended by a relative. Food was just average, wasn't awful but didn't stand out very much either.

Service wasn't good, at least for the man we had. Not only did he not smile at all, the first dish he brought out, he spilt quite a bit of the sauce on the table and somehow didn't notice, leaving us a bit speechless at the table. We had to call him back and he didn't apologise, just grabbed a rag, wiped it up, and threw the rag back.

The rice was overpriced and overall, the cost was a bit steep. Probably won't be going back.

Sep 30, 2010

anon09
1

3 Below Average

Food 1 Ambience 2 Service 8 Value 1

I've heard a lot about this restaurant before therefore decided to give it a try which I wished I did not! 7 out of 7 of our dishes were ranging below average to horrible! Stir fry rice noodle with beef wasn't too bad, but the beef, gosh, it melts in your mouth in a horrid way! Spicy tofu dish to start with wasn't even spicy at all, it was bland and not even prepared the way it should be. Sambal squid was probably the most edible although it was drowning in a centimetre of oil, literally. The signature king prawn dish was so bland, couldn't taste the chilli at all or even any flavour to be honest. Dessert mango pudding, a $0.30 mango jelly which you can get off shelves in coles or woolies being served in a plate with a $4.90 price tag. However, one of the male waiters, 2 thumbs up! As soon as I turned my head, you can see him walking towards me. Such alert waiting staff is rare as gem nowadays.

Sep 24, 2010

longbeach
6

5.3 Average

Food 6 Ambience 4 Service 4 Value 7

Istana has several great dishes which I would recommend namely the hainan chicken, curry puffs, sweet and sour pork and fried rice/noodle dishes. Although food comes out quickly, the service is quite impersonal and there are many dishes which are not up to scratch (i.e salt and pepper prawns and most of the deep fried dishes). Used to go here regularly over a period of 2 years (every week to 3 weeks). Don't go anymore because there are many better malaysian restaurants in Sydney (the Malaya, Neptune's Kitchen, Mamak just to name a few).

Jul 18, 2010