Penang Malaysian & Thai Cusine
“I ordered the roti canai for appetizer, the Penang har mee (prawn noodle soup) for entree, and a Hokkien mee to go.”
“I have tried one of their curry dishes too, but personally, I don't like thai curries because of the coconut.”
“Beef rendang reminded me of a perfectly home cooked meal from my Indonesian friends.”
Penang Malaysian & Thai Cusine
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Through the years my family has dined at Penang for various occasions, mostly bc of location and it's good for groups. However at our most recent visit, I was disappointed. I remember the food tasting better in the early years. At first I thought perhaps I had Penang fatigue but as I took more bites of each dish, it became apparent the food was poorly executed and the robust flavors I expected from Malaysian/Thai food, were missing.
Appetizers:
-roti canai – used to be a favorite. The roti pancake has some crisp but once it got cold it was hard to pull apart. The curry dipping sauce was ok, lacked spice.
-chicken/beef satay – the kids liked these skewers. I tasted the beef and it was fairly good with the peanut dipping sauce, and the meat was not too tough
-fried spring rolls – do not recommend. just filled with cabbage and bean thread. Did not see any shrimp whatsoever.
Entrées:
-Sarang Burong – I've ordered this many times in the past as I love taro. It's a fried taro basket filled with a stir fry of shrimp, chicken, cashews, and veg. This time around, the taro basket had a strange consistency, more soggy then crispy.
-Volcano Malaysian Pork chop – the bbq sauce over the pork chop was excessive. Flavor was nothing special and they need to go easy on the sauce.
-Tofu Nyonya – deep fried bean curd with veg. Needed more spices
-Penang Tofu house special – a favorite of the family. Large pieces of fried silken tofu in a lobster sauce. One of the better dishes.
-Wonton noodle soup -a kid friendly dish, decent amount of wontons
Desserts –
-the peanut pancake was the highlight of the meal. It's a thin crispy pancake filled with sweat crushed peanuts.
-halo halo – this is the Malaysian version. Shaved ice with red bean, corn, jellies. Also good if you like shaved ice.
As far as service, it's typical Asian restaurant service, just basic.
Overall, there are still some decent dishes, but it's not compelling enough to make us come back. Sorry, not sorry.
I've been to Penang a number of times for family dinners. The restaurant is nice, clean, and has trendy decor. The full service bar at this location is also a plus. But I only find the food to be average.
The name says Malaysian and Thai Cuisine, so naturally the menu has Malaysian and Thai dishes on it. But it also has other Asian dishes. The specials board even had a filipino dish on my last visit. Nothing I've ever ordered was bad, but nothing outstanding either.
The service here makes up for the lackluster food though. They are very fast and very attentive, without being disruptive of your meal.
My preferred appetizers are the roti canai, golden squid, and Thai papaya salad.
Recently, I had the beef chow fun as an entree. It was OK, but even greasier than most take out joints.
Decent if you want a meal at a nice looking restaurant.
Penang is a charming restaurant in Lodi easily accessible from Rt. 46. There is a mid-sized bar and two dining rooms, one of which seems set aside for larger groups/parties. All of the decor is modern and tasteful. It's a welcoming environment.
The food was good recently, starting with the fried squid appetizer, very light and not greasy. The Beef Rendang, one of my Indonesian favorites, was cooked very well. The sauce was tangy and spicy, and the stewed meat was savory, fatty (about half meat half cartilage/fat), an occasional indulgence no doubt. I'm also a fan of the Singapore rice noodles, lightly sautéed with spice, veggies, egg, and fried shrimp.
A four in the food experience drops down a notch with spotty service. The servers are friendly but some misses pop up. Examples would be forgetting the rice I asked for with the appetizer, inattentive with water refills, the brown-skinned lime slice in my drink. This was a moderately busy evening and you can do better.
All in all, I'd recommend Penang. The food is good, the service is a bit hit and miss, they have a nice bar with happy hour drink specials, and they offer affordable eat in or take out.
Hmmm mixed reviews about this place. Came here on a Saturday night a few minutes before happy hour ended and sat at the bar. They were very welcoming and accommodating when it came to getting some drinks in quickly before the deal ended. They do have great happy hour deals and I like that the happy hour is every day, not just during the week.
Our service was good because we sat at the bar, but it was almost too good because at one point we felt like there was a third person on our date. The bartender really wouldn't stop talking to us. I do enjoy some small talk, but some people really don't get the hint that this is a date and we want some alone time.
We started with the happy hour thai chicken wings which wasn't anything special. I thought it was bizarre that they wrap the wings in these inedible straw type of stuff. Not sure what it was, but you're not supposed to eat it. You would think that they would write on the menu to not eat it, or at least warn you, but luckily we asked. For my entrée, I ordered the thai basil noodles with chicken and it was amazing! For $9.95 you really get a great portion. It was spicy (just how I like it) and the chicken was cooked perfectly. My only complaint is that the entrée's came before the appetizer. My BF ordered the thai mango chicken and his experience was the opposite of mine- it wasn't very good. It was literally just fried chicken with raw mango and onions on it. It didn't even come with rice.
Overall it seems like the dishes here are hit or miss. I'd come back again for happy hour and the thai basil noodles, but not sure if I'd venture out and try any of their other full priced dishes.
I'm a really big fan of Thai food. So, when I decided to visit my friend, he told me he has never had Thai before and that was my excuse to indulge!
He had the number 67, which was the Thai Mango Chicken and I had the number 69, the Thai Green Curry chicken. While it was absolutely delicious, I could honestly take it or leave it. I prefer red curry instead of green. I believe the red curry is more flavorful and spicy but they gave me so much meat that I have some to munch on when I get homes I could make my own white rice (lol). The Thai Mango Chicken was delicious also and how do I know? No. Not word of mouth.. But because I politely stole some chicken off of my friends plate. Yum, yum, yummers!
I loved the setting of the restaurant. Very casual but with a dash of elegance. It's just right for a small gathering with friends, family, or a nice sweet date. Our waiters were cool. One of them asked if everything was okay and I did make sure to mention that it was pretty cold in the restaurant. Instead of making a fuss or giving me attitude, he turned off the AC and I felt more comfortable. I do wonder if they would have done it if there were more people in the restaurant but that doesn't even matter.. I liked my service!
If you're wondering if this is affordable.. Don't be intimidated by the prices! Our bill came up to $37 and that is EXCELLENT for two people (well, to my standards anyway). I just based it on how I visited a Thai restaurant once and my bill is $42 alone (but totally worth it).
I think if you choose to eat at this restaurant, you won't be disappointed.
*roti canai (the roti itself was on the oily side regardless still tasty. The curry soup itself was lacking salt and needed more spices in it to give it a kick. The chicken in the soup was perfectly cooked so that's points for them)
*Thai lettuce wraps (the basil chicken was alright, it was basically chopped chunks of a chicken on a plate that you can wrap into my most hated leaf: the iceberg lettuce. The iceberg lettuce is so watery that it takes away from the flavor of the chicken when eaten together)
*chicken skewers (not bad, better option than those lettuce wraps)
*Thai basil noodles with chicken (yummy!! the best thing I ate at this place. the noodles were smooth and silky, flavors were on point and had enough of a spice & kick to them. chicken could have been more moist)
*beef chow fun noodles (blah. this was not really great, you're better off ordering this at Chinese restaurants. Thai restaurants, stick with your pad thai's and basil noodles. leave the chow fun to the Chinese. haha)
This establishment is quite nice, very modern and sleek design. I love the bar at the entrance. Lighting is great throughout the restaurant and sets a rather romantic ambience. Food is alright, but I think it's more Americanized than anything else. In addition, this parking lot is small so you're going to bring a large party here, considering carpooling.
My boyfriend took me here on a date because he knows the true key to this woman's heart: Thai food.
Walking in, I was impressed with the interior decor. It was very warm and inviting – definitely a good atmosphere for a date.
The menu is not limited by any means, there was a way bigger variety of food than I was expecting. We were struggling to pick out appetizers so our server gave us some suggestions. One of them was the summer roll, which I had never tried before, so I decided to give it a whirl. My boyfriend got the roti cani. Both apps came out quick and were super tasty. The portions were so generous they practically filled us up. But there's always room for more!
It was a cold night and I was really in the mood for some soup. Considering almost all their soups came with meat or seafood I figured I was out of luck. Thankfully our server actually knew his stuff, (hallelujah!) informed me which soups were made with vegetable broth, and said I could substitute the meats for tofu and veggies! Yay!
The Kari Me noodle soup with lemongrass and coconut curry broth sounded amazing. I expected bright Thai flavors, but it was definitely more on the Indian side. Not bad, just not what I was expecting. Again, the portion was huge so I ended up taking most of it to go anyway.
Here's the crazy part: altogether between two glasses of sake, two appetizers and two huge bowls of soup the bill only came to $34. Whaat?!
I had a great experience at Penang. Between the nice atmosphere, excellent service, and awesome food, best believe I would return.
went for happy hour a 2nd time. waited about 10 minutes, and then I asked someone in the front who would be able to take my drink and food order? Plenty of people behind the bar to ask me but no one did. Ordered the roti canai – good but lack of flavor, chicken wings- huge but lack of flavor, and spring rolls which you can't really mess up. All in all you need the dips in order to add flavor to the dishes. All the items I got were on the HH menu so it was cheap so that was another benefit.