Maggie D.
Yelp
What a great find! It's kind of hidden away so it could be easy to miss. I've driven by this place so many times on the way to other nearby places, and always thought it seemed interesting, and had even heard good things about it from other people, but just never took the time to try it. Well I'm glad I finally did!
Even though you can see what it looks like on the inside from the outside because of the large windows, it feels like a nicer restaurant than you'd expect it to be once you actually walk inside. Almost like the atmosphere changes from a little shop to a semi-fancy place to eat! And it's surprisingly clean... like very clean. You can tell that they really stay on top of it throughout the day, not just once or twice after the big lunch/ dinner rushes of people.
The staff is extremely nice, welcoming, and helpful! From what I can tell, this is definitely a family run establishment (two of the workers we interacted with- an older and a younger man- were eating their own dinner at a table together with a woman I assume was the wife). We were greeted right away by the younger man and told to sit anywhere. He then came to give us an iPad full of pictures of every menu item (and organized by genre, too). I thought this was a very creative and effective idea! Then a woman came to take out drink orders. She seemed a little nervous (maybe new?) but also very kind. Then the older man, who I assume is the owner, came to the table and talked to us for a bit about Indonesian food and went through some menu items. He helped me choose between the two things I had it narrowed down to as well.
I ended up getting the D12 (ayam cabe ijo), which is chicken in a green chili sauce. Because it is part of the "all time favorites" section, it also came with a side of rice, which you could have a free refill of. The rice was like any other white rice, and I thought I'd get a refill but I didn't in the end. The chicken was nice, nothing in particular that stood out about the texture or flavor of the chicken itself though. The size of the chunks were sort of like long and thin grilled strips, but not cut evenly, kind of like a fajita style of shape. The sauce was spicy and I thought it was really good! I'd say it was at a hot level, but on the lower side. That being said, I don't think it's for people who just kind of like spicy food, it's definitely for people who love heat! Even the owner told me he couldn't handle that one!!!
The only thing that was kind of lacking about this place at all was the portion size. I just felt like it was not much food, especially based on the price. It wasn't super expensive, fairly average, just not average to the amount I'd normally be used to at similar prices other places. That's probably just me being a greedy American though (I'd say this is definitely an authentic place- I guess portion size and all), especially because I'll admit that by the time I was home I felt decently full... not like SUPER full, just right at filled up haha. Still, when the meal came out, it just wasn't much, so for me I'd like to see more. I'd even be down if it came with a side of veggies, it just needs something to heft it up a tiny bit.
Other than that, this is a really great place, and I'd go back.