Dave’s Deli Opened In The Starling And It Kinda Sucks

Dave’s Deli has always been not-that-great but I totally love the crappy canteen vibes and drowning food in gravy. It’s Malaysianised Western comfort food. What’s not to love? A new branch just opened at The Starling and it’s always packed during lunch time. But honestly, it’s nowhere near as good as the 1 Utama branch.

First of all, they took away the canteen thing. So instead of lining up to order and receive your food immediately, you have to sit and be served. It honestly takes way too long for the food to come out. It just trickles out of the kitchen. One by one.

The Food

Malaysianised Western food. My ultimate fave is lasagna drenched in gravy haha. Such sacrilege. I recall it used to come with mashed potato but now here they only serve it with coleslaw and roasted vegetables. I asked the waiter if I could trade both the coleslaw and the roasted veg for one blob of mashed potatoes and he was like NO. Wtf. I don’t mind adding on. Whatever. I was already disappointed from that moment on.

The lasagna was yummy. But I thought it was smaller than the usual portion from 1U. And of course, they served it in those little individual dishes. I kinda like it when they scoop it out of a giant platter of lasagna, know what I mean? Anyway. The lasagna was good. The coleslaw was alright. The roasted vegetables were disgusting. And I love veggies. But this was appalling. It was two sweet potato skins and a pile of mushy, bland, carrots. Urgh. I didn’t even eat it and I am the DBKL of my family ok.

Ayub had the chicken tomato pasta. Big, generous helping. Basic, tasty tomato sauce. Massive chicken breast topped with chicken ham and melted cheese. Ayub smashed it basically. He gives his food 5/5.

Sulaiman had the carbonara. His favourite pasta sauce. Also a good helping. The sauce was alright. Sulaiman give his dish 3/5.

Mr Ninja had the chicken parmigiana. Same with Ayub, massive chicken breast topped with chicken ham and melted cheese and tomato sauce. On top of fries with a side of salad. He said it was tasty but nothing outstanding. 2.5/5 (way harsh but what to do lol).

Aisha had a kiddie meal – spaghetti bolognese with the sauce separated from the pasta. She took one look in her pasta bowl and exclaimed “NO I DOWAAAAN!!!” There was parmesan and parsley on top. So I scraped it off and she had a few strands of spaghetti then didn’t want to touch it again. 0/5. Sorry Dave’s Deli. Aisha rejects you. Kid’s meal is like RM10. So expensive 🙁

I didn’t take a picture of the menu

😛

Price range is around RM16-RM25 (ish).

I still like my lasagna. Although I am annoyed I couldn’t exchange anything with mashed potato. And the roasted vegetables were foul that night.

FOOD: 3/5

The Ambiance

It’s stylish and nice but I feel like it’s quite badly designed. The booths, for example, are so far away from the table. It’s just a massive, uncomfortable gap. Definitely not suitable for younger kids. Meanwhile, the other tables feel really squished together making the walkways tight for the staff. It looks nice though. But whoever was the designer feels like a total noob.

But what do I know. I ain’t Gordon Ramsay.

AMBIANCE: 3/5

The Service

Omg. The service. You guys. I counted 9 members of staff that night, at least 7 were waiters. There are only around 20 tables in that restaurant. For the most part, they’re just standing around playing with their cellphones or chatting in a corner. So incredibly unproductive. It felt so weird. They’re just standing around with nothing to do.

But then, the food is so much slower than it ought to be. By the time Ayub’s food arrived, Sulaiman had finished his. And Sulaiman is the slowest eater in the family. Drinks took so long. And our order was 1 coke, 1 iced lemon tea, 3 plain water. We were sitting next to the plain water. It would have been faster to serve ourselves. But there were 7 waiters standing around doing nothing.

They’re really nice though. Except for the guy who said I couldn’t have mashed potato. And… we ordered 5 dishes because there are 5 of us. After 45 minutes, we received the 2nd dish and the waiter was like “ok? everything served ya?” and we’re like -_- Even Ayub was like “wat no my food isn’t here yet.” I think they’re just really noob. Should get better in a few weeks. They just opened.

SERVICE: 2/5 (Mr Ninja says they should fire half the waiters and hire more kitchen staff lol)

Final Thoughts

It’s basic comfort food although it’s unnecessarily priceyy for how basic it is. I’ll still go back because I work next door. But otherwise, 1 Utama Dave’s Deli all the waaaaayyyyy… This one is seriously lacking.

OVERALL: 3/5

 

Dave’s Deli Details

Location:  Lot F126, The Starling Mall, Damansara Uptown

Contact :03-7845 2268

Opening hours: 11am – 10pm | Monday – Sunday

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