Reviews & Ratings for Jaya Malaysian Restaurant

05/04/10

I've had better Malaysian food elsewhere

by jennjbn

A friend and I went here last week for lunch and really like the decor with the bamboo sticks and open seating since it was a nice day.

I've been to a couple other Malaysian eateries and enjoyed the food and knew what I wanted right away. It took a few minutes for our waitress to provide menus, but when we ordered I asked if I could get the Hokkein noodles without seafood.

The food came fast, the roti canai was a decent portion and tasty though a bit crunchy for my taste, the sauce accompanying the canai had no taste whatsoever, it was downright watery.

When I received my noodles there was seafood in it, but I overlooked it. It took a while for our waitress to return and take our empty plates, which was okay since we weren't in a hurry to leave.

When I was ready to pay with a credit card the waitress simply looked at my bill then put the tray back on the table saying only "15 dollar minimum." Mind you the check was $14.10!

Our waitress never returned and I had to wave down a manager to be able to pay the bill and leave. I asked him to charge $15 since it was only a matter of 90 cents. When I got the bill to sign I saw they were able to charge me $14.10.

The food was okay, I had better Malaysian food and phenomenal service at Taste Good in Elmhurst, Queens. I'd highly recommend their place over Jaya's for food and service.

• Pros: lovely decor, good prices, big menu selection
• Cons: rude waitstaff, food is okay

09/05/09

very bad service

by gn11230

This was my third and last time there.

First time I was there about a year ago, the food was very tasty, service was so so. The second time food ok but not great and waitrees took my money never bringing the change back so my tip was abot 40%. My asking for my money did not help since most of them do not speak English. Yesterday Sept 04, 2009 I took my friends from Europe for dinner. Coconut rice was made from some left over chicken, I did complain but nobody ask me to replace or credit it. Nobody has come to check on us, but when I was ready to pay three waitresses came over but instead of geting 20% tip , they got 5%. WILL NEVER VISIT THIS PLACE AGAIN.

• Pros:  food qyality and quantity average
• Cons: very unpleasant waitressess

11/13/08

Affordable and Tasty

by Karamel11

Me and a friend eat at Jaya whenever we are in China Town. I usually order the roti kanaii, basil chicken and coconut rice. I have ordered other things off the menu but I wasn't too impressed. However, you cant go wrong with the basics. The check is less than $20 for 2 people including the appetizers... sort of unheard of in the city. It's definitely worth trying out.

• Pros: Yummy, Healthy, and Cheap food
• Cons: Not the best service

03/13/08

Amazing Food, Bad Service

by kmc687

I went to Jaya for lunch the other day. I was seated quickly, and everything on the menu looked delicious. I eventually decided to order Assam Laksa, which smelled really strange, but was delicious. It was basically fish and mint soup with lots of noodles. I also got a little spiced chicken wrapped in leaves for an appetizer, which was extremely delicious, but hard to eat, because it was tied up in tough leaves and they only gave a butter knife to cut. My grass jelly drink was delicious, and if it weren't for the service, I would list Jaya as one of my favorite places. The waitress was just very curt and rude and even though I peppered my ordering with many smiles and thank yous, all she had to say was "yeah" in a rude tone over and over. Well I didn't let it ruin my time, and I would still come back here for the food, but they definitely need to work on their customer service, and I'm seeing a lot of the same in other people's reviews.

• Pros: good prices, awesome food
• Cons: rude waitress

03/06/08

Okay food, rude slow service

by eric211c

We visited here for dinner because we generally love Malaysian food. We ordered two noodle dishes and one fish appetizer. The appetizer was interesting and well done although it did take quite a while to get it. The noodle dishes were both mediocre, the noodles themselves were pretty good but the shrimp was over done, the tofu was extremely greasy and the sauces were overpoweringly syrupy sweet.

Our waiter disappeared halfway through dinner so we had to flag down another waitress after waiting 30 minutes for our check. She was extremely rude when we talked to her and slow bringing our bill. This place has unremarkable food and terrible service, I would steer clear of it.

• Cons: Service

01/05/08

Good Food, HORRIBLE Sevice

by lelandg

If you are ok with the idea of getting great tasting food with horrible service then this is the place for you!

My boyfriend and I decided to stop here one day hoping to have an enjoyable meal. The atmosphere was nice (not quite over the top). We were seated right away and our drink orders were taken. Then the waiting began. I'd say it took about 10 minutes for our drinks to arrive. Nice. Seriously though, why should it take you ten minutes to pour a glass of water and bring it back out? It probably took twice as long to get our food. The food itself tasted great. We were quite pleased with that. However, once our food arrived our waitress was done with us. That is until we were given the bill. No "how is everything?" No drink refills. Nothing.

After we finally paid and were leaving, this is when the BIGGEST problem kicked in. Tips are not legally required. Tips, in my and my boyfriend's opinion, are given based on how well our waiter/waitress does his/her job. You want a good tip? You work for it. Our waitress was horrible, as I've stated. So, we left her a tip that reflected how we felt she did. She should have been glad she got a tip at all. Oh but no no no! She chased us out of the restaurant and demanded we give her more money. She would not leave us alone until we gave her money.

Are you kidding me?

I will never go here again.

• Pros: Food
• Cons: Service, Service, Service

11/01/07

Good restaurant, Great prices

by damethod

I had a spicy beef dish(sorry, can't remember the exact name). It's a dish with very similair flavors to Indian cuisine. My GF had a chicken dish with stir fried glass noodles. DELICIOUS! It was my first time in Chinatown and I was not dissappointed. In the end, we both ate our lunch for $12.75!! I highly recommend this restaurant for a quick, cheap, and filling lunch.

----Oh, and leland and her cheap boyfriend should be banned from all restaurants. LOL

• Pros: GREAT FOOD, GREAT PRICES
• Cons: Service a little slow

07/14/07

terrible food

by vw218

I lived in Chinatown for about 10 years. I have tried all the local malaysian restaurants and this one is the worst. I always get the popular dish that are signature dishes from Malaysia. All the other Malaysian restaurants are all delicious and consistent but not Jaya. The dish(es) I am going to talk about is Chow Kueh Teow (spelling might be diff at diff restarurants) but Jaya ODed it with tons of soy sauce and there were fish dumplings and preserved sausage in it?which in not suppose to be there. Another famous dish is the Crown Chicken served in a fried taro basket. That basket was stale and it was not crunchy at all. Also you can?t go wrong with Hainanese Chicken with rice, the rice is the star of that dish (supposed to be flavor with rich chicken broth) but it was dry and bland. Furthermore, their ?fresh? smoothies are made with powdered ingredients. This is my first time giving a restaurant a review b.c i feel compelled to tell everyone about this. Please don't go there.

05/15/07

Oh that fish!!

by marcusflo

The Jaya special Fish is to die for. Specially if it is seabass and not red snapper. Try the fish if you are at Jaya and it will be added to your favorites in an instant..

04/30/07

The only thing good is the roti chanai

by goliathslw

I have to say, definitely underwhelmed. Got delivery, and portions were small. Food was average at best. The okra portion was tiny, and the Indian Mee Goreng had mushrooms that were definitely not fresh. The only redeeming dish was the roti. Will not be ordering from here again.

• Pros: roti chanai
• Cons: portions, freshness