| Malaysian, Singaporean restaurant located at Moffett and Central |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1005
Reviewed: 6/24/2005
Rating: 6.5
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We went to Baba Neo to meet up with some friends for lunch. The previous place was a pho placed called Asian Fusion. The did a really nice job with the interior and patrons appeared to appreciate that too. We were quickly seated at our table and it was ALL DOWNHILL FROM THERE. We must have sat a good 10-15 minutes before we had soups brought out to us. Then we waited another 5-10 minutes to order. We had to flag a waiter just to order. 20 minutes in lunch time is ETERNITY considering most of us are on the clock.
Finally the soups arrived, unique tasting and seaweed was overwhelming. I thought they could have handled the Roti Prata a little more professional. One of the waiters placed one on our table while the other waiter told her it was for another table, removed the plate and came back with the same appetizers. Simple mistake but if its something we ordered and it touches the table, you better leave it.
I wanted something spicey and ordered the green curry beef. I find it odd that they serve the curry beef in a small bowl with another bowl of rice. Everyone else had plates and I like mixing my dish with rice. Its very difficult to mix 2 bowls, I had to mix it on a saucer plate (picture #8). I would have asked for a plate but our waiter was nowhere to be found.
With service this bad, it really puts a damper on the meal. I didnt enjoy my meal, I thought the beef texture was funky. It was too soft and almost like a sponge. Was this beef? Veggies were overcooked and flavor was non existent. Sauce was somewhat spicey but thats about it.
The only highlights of the lunch were conversation, nice atmosphere, and Roti Prata. I know it was busy for lunch but a customer shouldnt have to ask for everything. Can we order? Can we get a plate? Can we get more water? Can we get the check? Will Jason make a return visit nearly waiting 40+ minutes to get a lunch dish? Maybe you'll have better luck than us, but for this 1 visit, I cant say I would be proud in suggesting a visit to Baba Neo.
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RETURN VISIT for Jason! 9/20/2006 - 8 Rating: It's been over a year since my last visit to Baba Neo and promised the manager I would make a return visit. Holding true to my word, made a lunch visit last week. From the moment we walked in until we paid the check, the service was near FLAWLESS. We were seated quickly, menus delivered, soups dropped off, waters always refilled, and dishes brought out in a timely manner. My gawd, I can't believe this is the same restaurant from last year, I'm impressed.
For appetizers I ordered the Crab Cakes and main course I got the Malaccan Prawns. Crab cakes were average with a bit too much potato in the mix. The crab mix had an overwhelming cumin/indian spice. It's covered with lightly breaded batter and accompanied with a side of sweet/sour sauce atop mango garnish. The appetizer runs at $8.95 which is make break your lunch wallet. I'd suggest ordering the roti prata or samosa instead.
The Malaccan Prawns was a refreshing dish for lunch. Quite different that what I'm used to eating. I didn't post a picture but it comes with green beans, bell peppers, red onions, lemongrass, and other fancy spices. Kind of hard to describe the flavor since I haven't had anything like it. I know I'm not doing the dish justice but it had some sourness, sweetness, and spice. Horrible description but I'm kinda lost for words. It was very good...what about that?
Overall, the lunch was great. Much much better than my last visit and congratulations to the attentive waiters who served us today. Baba Neo did a splendid job and the food tasted much better. I'm happy to see a restaurant turn around as much as they did. |
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 735
Reviewed: 6/27/2005
Rating: 7.5
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I was excited to try Baba Neo, being a new Malaysian restaurant. I will spare you a rehash of our waiting as I believe Jason covered it adequately in his review. It was a major downer, and subtracts half to a full point from the score.
I ordered the Prawn Bostador with Very Spicy. You can see the picture in the bottom row (the blood red one). Now I consider myself as quite capable of eating spicy food. I usually order Thai Spicy at restaurants and am cool with it. Anyway, this spicy blew me away. Easily the spiciest asian food I have had. I need to goto University Chicken again and baseline it. Its way more than Traditional Death. I wouldn't be surprised to find it to be about Global Thermonuclear level. Kudos to Baba Neo for providing the goods when it comes to spicy dishes.
The dish wasn't just spicy, but I found it to be quite flavorful. Not the best, but decent indeed. I could still taste the flavor in the vegetables above the extreme spiciness. If Baba Neo had been a bit better about refilling my water glass it would have been more bearable. As it was, though, I just sat as waiters nonchalantly walked by ignoring us.
Will I return? I will be hard-pressed as I felt pretty snubbed here. I'm sure they are experiencing growing pains. So maybe in the future I will be back. I must return for the Bostador.
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Reviewer: Eddie
Total Reviews: 47
Reviewed: 6/27/2005
Rating: 5.5
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Well, this is THE ONE that made me come out of retirement of writing reviews. What can I say about this restaurant? I went in with pleasantly surprised and came out pissed. The best thing in that lunch was the candy at the door after the meal. Slow services, waiter get the orders wrong, and we need to ask for EVERYTHING.
I ordered the Hainan Chicken Rice, this is supposed to be the traditional dish from Singapore and i have been looking for this dish in bay area for a while. You can image how happy I was when I see it available here. I am not from Singapore, but had this dish hundred of times before; I think I know what it supposed to look/taste like. The dish came and it looked weird to me right away. The rice is yellow?? okay, maybe they use different seasoning? Digging into the rice, it appears to be frozen and microwaved - worst of all, some of the rice are still in chunk and cold. How wrong is that? You can't even microwave rice well enough? The taste is far off too. I mean, if you can't get the rice right at least get the chicken right. Nope, the chicken is....... weak to say the least. The best thing on that dish is the cucumber. That's pretty sad. |
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Reviewer: Jennie
Total Reviews: 6
Reviewed: 7/1/2005
Rating: 6
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It pains me to have to give Baba Neo a 6 rating, but it also pained me when I finished my lunch there and ended up getting a stomach ache! I understand that they're a new restaurant, but there are basics to the service/food industry that they completely missed the boat on.
Jason pretty much hit it on the head with regards to our meals/service - mine was picture #7 - the first item on the lunch menu - I don't recall the name exactly, but it was something like Nasir Latek(??). Not only did it feel like an eternity before we received our food, but when I did get my meal (5 minutes after everyone else got theirs), my food wasn't even hot! My curry chicken and coconut rice were both cold - it tasted like it was microwaved and taken out a minute too soon. Everyone at lunch had something about their meal that they were visibly upset with (and we're not even snobby food agents! - we're just normal people!) - anything from food temperature, making it wrong, texture, and saltiness of the fried rice. That's pretty bad to screw up 5 out of 6 dishes at one table (Terry liked his spicy dish!), especially if you're a new restaurant and trying to establish a customer base.
In its defense, I compliment Baba Neo on their decor and atmosphere - very modern-Asian-fusion-esque.
However, I can't say I agree with what Eddie thought was the best part of the meal being the candy dish, because even the candy was bad! My hard toffee was old and crumbly - you don't mess with a girl and her candy!
I have to say it'll be a LONG time before I go back to Baba Neo - they definitely need to work out a lot of the kinks that make a good restaurant flow.
Words of advice:
1. Try not to over-tenderize your beef - the texture makes it feel like you're eating a beef-flavored sponge;
2. Good service goes a long way; and
3. Please throw out your hard toffee candies from the candy bowl.
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