Royal East

It has a very traditional Cantonese cuisine braided pork with preserved vegetable 梅菜扣肉 that I haven’t seen for years! Very grateful that I could have that again

This is a failing restaurant. It's apparent from the food quality and the service. I ordered green tea, hot & sour soup, sabah sweet & sour chicken, and steamed rice. The green tea came in a plastic cup, and they didn't change it when I requested. The soup was cold, and when they heated it up, the taste was terrible. Perhaps cooked a few days before and being served unfresh. I can say the same thing about the chicken. And they weren't even sorry for these when pointed out. DO NOT COME HERE, BETTER TI GO TO 7 ELEVEN!!

Food is ok. The tofu puffs is supposed to have shrimp inside and is priced that way but was all tofu or at least tasted that way. Chicken wings were bland but cooked well so we had to add our own seasoning. Chicken fingers were very good. Spare ribs were reheated so kind of dry. Fried rice was not that good and tasted a bit bland as well.

Royal East Restaurant in Cambridge serves Malaysian cuisine with some Cantonese mainstays that were part of the original menu from years back. Back in spring 2022, a large group of 22 people dined at Royal East for $75 each which included taxes and tips. There is no surcharge for the room reserved. On the evening we had dinner, the restaurant was at 20% capacity. The women's bathroom has two stalls of which one had an out-of-order sign. The grand total given to Royal East was $1,650. On the menu were the following items: • Appetizers (Roti Canai, Poh Piah, Halal Chicken Satay) • Bak Kut Teh (Herbal Soup) • Hainanese Chicken (deboned) • Dungeness Crab with Malaysian Chili Sauce • Beef Rendang • Pan Seared Whole Grey Sole Fish in Sambal Sauce • Udang Kelapa (Coconut Jumbo Prawns) • Malaysian Curry Tofu & Vegetables • Kangkung Belacan • Char Kueh Teow • Buh Buh Cha Cha (Dessert) The food was delicious. My issue is the quantity of the food provided to the group of 22, based on the $1,650 given to the restaurant. I have the menu prices and estimate quantities of the food. In many cases, the quantities I noted are a generous estimate on my part: 4 Roti Canai 4 x $7 = $28 4 Poh Pian 4 x $8 = $32 4 Halal Chicken Satay 4 x $8 = $32 4 Bak Kut Teh 4 x $8 = $32 4 Halves of Hainanese Chicken 4 x $18 = $72 2 Dungeness Crab with Malaysian Chili Sauce 2 x $30 = $60 (high estimate) 4 Beef Rendang 4 x $21 = $84 2 Pan Seared Whole Grey Sole Fish in Sambal Sauce 2 x $21 = $42 2 Udang Kelapa (coconut shrimp) = 2 x $23 = $46 4 Malaysian Curry Tofu & Vegetables 4 x $15 = $60 4 Kangkung Belacan 4 x $15 = $60 4 Char Kueh Teow 4 x 10 = $40 22 Buh Buh Cha Cha (Dessert)-- 22 x $3 = $66 (high estimate) Retail amount of food provided: $654 This means the restaurant collected approximately $1,000 for taxes and tips. If you are in a large group, rather than planning a menu with the restaurant, I would recommend making a reservation and then order from the menu once your group arrives at the restaurant. The total cost will be significantly less than if you plan a menu with Royal East. For Udang Kelapa, each person at my table had exactly one piece of broccoli and one shrimp. The Roti Canai was delicious, but two of them per table of 11 wasn't enough to go around. The Poh Piah is a veggie roll filled with steamed jicama and mixed vegetables in a wrap, drizzled with sauces. There were 12 one-inch pieces per table, which meant a small 1-inch piece for each person with one remaining piece per table. No rice was included in the meal which is strange for a menu that is salty and spicy. The restaurant was parsimonious with the quantities given how much it was paid. For $75 per person, we each could have individually ordered 4 or 5 dishes and have enough for taxes and tip. A group member pointed out that he was overcharged for a drink and the server shrugged and said the drink menu prices were outdated. The server had placed one water carafe per table and didn't replenish it until asked.

I got the Nenas Tofu & Popiah (the vegetable rolls). Both were excellent, super delicious—and my order also came really fast. The prices are super reasonable, and it's great to see a place serving Malaysian food too! The only suggestion I have is that the lunch menu has things marked as vegetarian / not, but the dinner section & rest of the menu does not. So it'd be great to get the vegetarian markings consistent through the menu on their website! Oh and just fyi, the dishes do not come with rice - so I guess you need to buy that separately. Luckily I had leftover rice at home, but it would be cool if the menu made that more clear!