Malvern Palace

Tonight we went to Malvern Palace and unfortunately it was a negative experience. We ordered spring rolls ($8.00), small combination fried rice ($9.50), deep fried squid with spicy salt and pepper ($19.90) and chicken and king prawns on sizzling platter ($19.90). We ordered at the same time as the couple next to us. Our spring rolls arrived first, which were good but a little overcooked. We then had to wait almost an hour for the rest of our food, whereas the table next to us had already gotten all their food. The rest of our food only arrived after my partner went to ask where our dishes were. We then waited another 10 minutes - it would have been nice if the waitress came back to give us an update but she didn't and we were close to walking out during that time. The fried rice and deep fried squid came first. The squid was actually quite sweet, not "spicy salt and pepper", and it wasn't deep fried very well - the batter wasn't great so it ended up being a bit soggy and just oily, leaving us feeling gross after. When the chicken and king prawns arrived, we were very disappointed to see that it was NOT king prawns. There were only about four small little shrimps in there and the chicken pieces were quite sparce too. We understand the restaurant was quite busy tonight and it felt like they were understaffed. Even though the waitresses were friendly, they didn't have great customer service nor were they very professional. When they brought the dishes to our table, they were distracted, always looking away and holding the serving cutlery until we had to ask them to put it down. In the end, we didn't even finish half the dishes because they were really oily and drowned in the sauce (for the sizzling plate dish) and definitely not authentic Vietnamese food. Another couple came and sat down on the table next to us shortly after we had arrived and they were complaining about how long they had to wait as well. It was even more disappointing that when we went to pay, one of the waitresses asked us how our food was and we said "it was ok" - she didn't even acknowledge or listen, she just went straight to ask us what table we were at and to tell us how much the bill was. The food is definitely NOT worth the price and we won't be coming back here again.

On Melbourne cup Eve we dined at the Malvern Palace and were hugely satisfied with the tasty banquet we all enjoyed. Five of us shared an amazing array of food. The staff were very flexible in mixing and matching the banquet from the menu to suit our tastes. The staff were extremely friendly and very helpful. It was very affordable for the area in which we dined. Ross