Makan @ Alice's

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  10      Value  8     

Food: Satay was good, but the accompanying peanut sauce was too sweet. Char tay keow was acceptable, with plenty of seafood and an adequate quantity. However, it was a little blander than I expected. The nasi goreng was good. Durian icecream was unusual. The young coconut water was nice.

Ambience: Standard, noisy, suburban restaurant. Formica tables, bright lights, clean, with a few decorations on the wall.

Service: Amazingly fast. We has reserved a table for two, we were seated within minutes of arrival even though the place was extremely busy. We had a menu within a minute, orders were taken within 3 minutes and food started arriving around two minutes after the order was taken!

Very friendly and helpful wait staff and reception staff! Better service than at a certain unnamed place in the city where we paid $600 for dinner for four!

Value for money: Prices are very reasonable, with entrees around 8 dollars and mains from 12 to 14 dollars.

The most expensive item on the menu (ordered by a Malaysian Indian at the table next to us) is a large bowl of sambal prawns at $20. Even that looked like decent value to me (I will probably order that the next time I go there). For two people with an entree, two mains, a drink and two desserts, it was $51.40 I thought that was pretty decent, since I am accustomed to paying nearly twice as much for boring and inferior Chinese and Indian food.

Definitely worth going again.

Mar 18, 2012 

6 Average

Food  6     

My dad is Malaysian Chinese and my family have been wanting to try this place after it got a good review in SMH last year. Just rating the food: Average Malaysian.

The chilli popiah was delicious. The roti canai was good but Mamak in Chinatown does this better. The curries that came with the roti canai were yum but there was not much meat. They have the flavours right and the food tastes fresh.

Revisited with other people and the standard has dropped. Food was disappointing and the roti canai wasn't as good, they didn't include curry dipping sauce like Mamak in Chinatown.

Mar 10, 2012 

3.5 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  4      Service  4      Value  2     

We have been to Makan Alice so many times, food was good, service was average.
But today was a disappointment. We had a chicken laksa, it was so oily and there was only 2 little pieces chicken and the rest just fried tau fu, and it is not on weekend lunch special. And now they do not take Eftpos and Credit Card. Prices up and food quality and service down.

Jan 15, 2012 

5.3 Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  5     

Went here for dinner on Thursday night. The place was certainly busy.
Curry puffs were just OK. Hainan chicken rice was good but pricey. A friend had the nasi lemak, not a bad choice, I think.

Oct 25, 2011 

6.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  5      Value  8     

I heard about Makan @ Alice's for many years and had been wanting to try it. The photos of the "kuihs" (desserts) on their website looks awesome. I finally came here for lunch on a Sat after driving 30 minutes or so. I was not disappointed with the kuihs at all - luckily! I tried their ondeh-ondeh (pandan glutinous rice balls filled with palm sugar, Gula Melaka covered with freshly grated coconut (yeah! freshly grated coconut!) - it was the hightlight! Simply awesome! The key to making good ondeh-ondeh is that the melted palm sugar filling is supposed to gush out when you take your first bite on a piece of ondeh-ondeh.

I bought the kuih Talam - coconut cream top with rice flour pandan base - it was really good and consistent to those you would get from Malaysia. Very authentic!

Next adventure on desserts - was tasting the "Angkoo Kuih" rounded looking rice flour cake filled with sweeten mung beans. It was good too - love the mung beans filling. I have never seen this "kuih" being sold in Sydney. Good to be able to finally hunt this item down.

The savoury was not that impressive. I ordered the Chicken Satay - the marinate on the Satay was too sweet and the peanut sauce was not that great. The Roti Canai was a huge disappointment - way too much butter in a simple roti canai. I checked with the staff and they didn't make it fresh on the premise.

However, the Fried Kway Teow - fried rice noodles with egg, prawns, fishballs and Chinese sausages. It was very tasty and authentic - just like those fried kway teow from a hawker stall in Malaysia. The best of it that made the dish close to the original was the present of fried lard! Crunchy pork fat!

Popiah - fresh springs rolls were very good too. The skin might be a tad dry but all in all - Makan @ Alice would your best bet to order a plate of Popiah.

The service was a bit of hit and miss, however, you won't come here for service, just for the food! It is a self-serve place as you have to take your own cutlery, water etc. I am already thinking of going back to get more kuihs! Yum!

Aug 31, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

I came here for lunch for the first time and I was really impressed. I've always loved Malaysian food and this is one of the places that topped my list. For lunch I ordered their special "Har Mee" and some roti canai to go with it. The roti was absolutely fabulous and was nice and crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I wasn't used to the spicyness that came from the Har Mee, however, the meal was very flavoursome and enjoyed it quite alot.

For a place like this I wasn't expecting much service, however, my expectations were exceeded when I was asked by a kitchen waiter if I wanted any adjustments to my coffee.

Overall this restaurant came to me as a pleasant surprise. I found the prices quite reasonable and the food very inviting. I will definitely come back for lunch another day!

Aug 13, 2011 

5.5 Average

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  4     

I have been a regular at Alice's for the past 6 years and I think people are really missing the point in their reviews. Go here for the fantastic food, forget the rest. Alice's has always been packed, seating was heaps more squished when they only had the space which is now the kitchen, the kuih are way too yummy to resist, and believe it or not the service has improved a little (they didn't used to take your order at your table).

I agree that the prices have increased rather unreasonably since the portions have decreased, but then again I'm too busy enjoying my food to care. The hainanese chicken rice is a must, I happily drive half an hour for it.

Jul 19, 2011 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  2     

Went here expecting great things from the reviews but the experience was very disappointing. Food was cold and lacking in flavour, service slow and the ambience was no frills to say the least.

Jul 16, 2011 

4.3 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  2      Service  4      Value  4     

I used to like Makan @ Alice. However, I'm finding that their actions over the past year and a half are creating issues for their business:

Poor value - their pricing structure does not commensurate with value relative to their competitors. Seating comfort - customers are now being packed into small tables close to other tables or made to share tables to maximise transactions. In comparison to other establishments like Temasek, Istana, Sambal, etc, seating comfort here is very poor.

I'm not faulting their food quality, but I no longer enjoy eating there as they make my family of 3 feel like they're doing us a favour squeezing us to a small table for 2 persons (they won't let us seat in a table for 4 even though we were there at 11:30 am). After being loyal customers for many years they have now lost us. We now go to alternative restaurants. It's called competition.

Jun 04, 2011 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Great Malaysian food, however, they serve you really small portions and it is overpriced for what you get. It has a really tacky home-style ambience, this has been this way for a while. They really need to work on sprucing up the restaurant, perhaps, do some much needed renovations. It has potential to be excellent. However, they need to focus on the basics, especially with their customer service and professionalism.

May 27, 2011