Istana Malaysia

Great food, fast efficient service and nice spacious ambiance. As a Malaysian, I have to say the kuey teow is delicious! - it’s got the breath of the wok ;) They also offer salty lassie (it’s not on the menu) when enquired and was delighted they serve teh tarik as well. Definitely comes highly recommend as a go to place for good Malaysian comfort food in town:)

We came from Auckland and contacted Meri prior. We are very grateful for her kindness and preparing the meals for our group. The food was very tasty. We ordered Chicken Curry, Lamb, Mee Goreng, Tofu Sambal and Nasi Goreng. Everything was packed properly and ready on time. It's clear they are a busy restaurant and the atmosphere is great. Great service and I hope to come back again.

What a wonderful place and set up for a wedding reception. Enjoyed the food and atmosphere. Definitely keen on coming back to this one for sure!

Not a good experience. Waiting almost an hour and half for food and then my dish never came

**EDIT read the owners reply and its sad that they have to blatantly lie and gaslight rather than take it on board. Im sorry that we had to give you a bad review but I can't not tell the truth and pretend it was good. We got a better char kway teow at KC which isn't even malaysian. Take some feedback and fix things.
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Came down to Wellington for a long weekend of eating out across the city.

Was excited to try some great Malaysian and Istana came up with a pretty great rating in all searches. Was a bonus it was BYO.

We got there and were hopeful we would have some delicious food - boy were we wrong!

We ordered the chicken satay as a starter. These were OK but what came next was so bad I'm still in shock.

We got the Laksa with seafood and the Char Keow Teow with Chicken. We also got a plain roti and a garlic roti.

The seafood laksa came and was so bland it was embarrassing, I asked for sambal so I could mix it in to try and get some flavour. That wasn't the worst part though.the 'seafood' was a frozen marinara mix that cheap restaurants buy in frozen bags from food wholesalers. For anyone to be serving this and charging $32 for a meal is a disgrace and should seriously be illegal.

Next the Char Keow Teow.omg this was a slop of broken rice noodles with dry chicken bits and a scatter of bean sprouts all drenched in soy sauce.

The rotis tasted like frozen ones the food wholesalers sell.but were probably the best part of the entire meal.

When the waitress came to clear our plates she asked how the meal was and we responded honeslty and said it was terrible, she just awkwardly laughed and quickly took our plates away.

Literally the worst malaysian we have had in our lives. We eat Malaysian regularly in Auckland, are in our mid 40s, foodies and have traveled - maybe the people giving them good reviews have never eaten malaysian (or good food for that matter) before. The meal was so bad I'm actually angry about spending $80 there.

Please do yourself a favour and spend your money elsewhere. I love supporting small business but this place needs to sort themselves out. How they are not embarrased about what they served up tonight is concerning.

The worst Malaysian i’ve had in my life. How this place gets a good rating is beyond belief. The Roti was the highlight, which is sad because its probably just a microwave ready to eat one.nothing special. The laksa was bland, watery and consisted of something similar to a thawed out frozen seafood marinara packet complete with mussels. The chur kuey toew won the award for worst dish of the evening.a slimey bland mash of a thing drowning in dark soy sauce and lacking in actual any ingredients.it was the the opposite of what this iconic dish I love should be.

The wait staff asked how our meal was, I answered ‘terrible’ at that point she laughed and walked away.what a shame. I would have liked to explain all the reasons why we weren’t happy with our meal.but we weren’t given the opportunity as she clearly didn’t want to hear it. Why ask how the meal was if you aren’t interested in the answer? On leaving and paying the bill we also said it was terrible and again they didn’t ask why or want to hear what was wrong. I also stress we we hadn’t finished the food.it was 50% eaten but only because we were starving and just spent $80 of our hard earned cash on it.

If this is what food tastes like in malaysia I won’t be travelling there.

We weren’t upset corkage was charged, that’s normal and what I expect.in Auckland a BYO corkage fee exists, but it’s by the glass/person, not per bottle. Also hilarious to hear you say we we were ‘concealing bottles’. We had just shopped at New world and taking our shopping back to the hotel.we were also ‘concealing’ flavoured milk and other groceries! It was a wind warning night with 120kph gusts and thought we would combine a supermarket shop with a cheap n cheerful dinner while it was still safe to walk around at night.

I’m incredibly disappointed and angry we paid lots of money for this fake malaysian.

Service from the moment you walked in was friendly warm and excellent, the food was brought out quickly and fresh and super tasty, such good vibes and atmosphere, would highly recommend. Special thanks to the team

Great food, fast efficient service and nice spacious ambiance. As a a Malaysian, I have to say the kuey teow is delicious! They also offer salty lassie (it’s not on the menu) when enquired and was delighted they serve teh tarik as well. Definitely comes highly recommend as a go to place for good Malaysian food:)

You have to pay for rice at Istana Malaysia. This is a first for any Malaysian restaurants I have been: at every other place it is completary and to charge 3 dollars for a bowl of rice is downright ridiculous. The Chicken Varuval was horrifically small for it's price, and lacked any distinct flavour. We were also badgered multiple times for our order before having even had a couple of minutes to review the menu, and both my friend and I were hungry after the meal. Not going to return.

The service here is amazing! The people are so nice and friendly, I cannot wait to go back! It was my first time having Malaysian food, and I can happily report that it is delicious.

Best beef rendang in Wellington, same chef for well over 20 years. Delicious food and wonderful service.

Just in Wellington for a couple days and popped in after a long day. Absolutely wonderful meal, tasty, prompt service and satisfying. Staff were wonderful to deal with. Thank you.

Service was good, food was tasty. Just didn't feel like we got value for money. Prawns were missing in prawn dish, lamb missing in lamb dish, chicken missing in.only 5 prawns for $23. Dish was not good either for starters. So not recommending it.

Service was really good and fast, everyone was nice. The food came out fast, and the food was super nice. 10/10

Best Malaysian you can get! Must try the beef rendang with roti and mee goreng Wonderful service from the staff as well!

Absolutely love Istana Malaysia. Delicious food, incredible friendly service, and lovely atmosphere.

A wonderful family-run restaurant with authentic Malaysian dishes cooked promptly and to perfection. All the Malaysian staples plus a few less common surprises will ensure there's something to please everyone. Although the prices aren't the cheapest of Wellington's Malaysian restaurants, they are more than fair given the noticeably higher quality of ingredients and the wonderful service from staff who clearly enjoy looking after their customers. A comprehensive bar provides for quite a wide selection of drinks and cocktails, but I couldn't resist trying the strawberry lassi.

Do not come here. I have been twice and they will try rush you through. The food is over priced and the korma taste like liquid mashed potatoes - so bland.

Half way thru my soup I saw theres a tinfoil paper ball looks just like finished gum in my soup… they took it away and the manager came back with it opened saying it’s a wine bottle seal tinfoil rolled into a ball that was possible thrown by someone else/ other customer… but no solutions at all. Before that we waited for at least an hour to take the order coz it was so busy with so many costumers fully packed, a few long tables were sitting back to back… And we and another table waited in line for like an hour to pay afterwards… I just have been feeling so bad about the experience and thought that I have to make this complaint

Had dinner here last night… the best roti I’ve ever had… beef rendang was so delicious I just want to go back today and get another… and a takeaway chicken sambal for my son which disappeared before I could sneak a taste.
We lived in London for 18 years - it’s hard to find a good curry in Nz… not disappointed here though. And reasonably priced too.
It was quiet when we arrived just after 6pm but busier when we left.
Highly recommend!
…Just wish the council didn’t rip us off for parking… te papa has reasonably priced parking… and you get a nice stroll to your car if you over eat and need to walk it off ;)