Pork Overdose at Betty’s Midwest Kitchen, Aman Suria

Elaine left a comment on my previous post on Betty’s. (Post HERE still under my old blog)

Had a bad dining experience there.
Went there last night with 3 friends to have a try on the food since everyone gave them thumbs up. When I reached there around 6.30pm, only 1 table was occupied. Guess I was early for dinner. I was impressed by the shop deco and the menu they offer. While waiting for the food, more people came and finally every table was filled up.

While we are trying to push all the food inside our terribly full tummy, the daughter kept asking us “Any further order?” She asked that every 5 minutes. So annoying! She even cleared the empty plate without asking. Then it started to run heavily outside. My friend ordered a basket of fries, cheese rounds and 4 bottles of Budweiser while waiting for rain to stop. The girl kept staring at us as the signal to leave the table as there are people waiting to be seated. We ignored as we believe customers always have the right and we still haven’t finish our food. Finally the girl came over our table and asked, “can I clear your table?” and we are shocked as we still have half basket of fries and we haven’t finish our beer. Can you imagine that? She was trying to shoo us away. We was so angry! How can she do that to customer? So we just pay the bill and swear will never go back there again. Never ever! Disappointed with her PR skill.

I have been to Betty’s many many times.. and this place IS very popular. It is unfortunate that the above incident happened, and while I can’t say much for the service, the food there is GOOD. Some dishes even awesome, with reasonable prices to boot.

We always start with their freshly squeezed Lemonade. Tangy, refreshing and cooling, it’s a good prelude to the onslaught of porcine infused dishes to come.

lemonade


On one of my many visits, my friend ordered the Crunch Topped Homemade Macaroni And Cheese ( RM12). One can argue that this is do-able at home, but seriously? I would gladly just pay RM12. A seriously comfort food dish, yet done with the right amount of cream, cheese and baked just right. Bad news for weight-watchers! This is Carbo-licious!!  😉

macaroni

Betty’s House Salad, (RM8 – ) with chopped fresh iceberg lettuce, sliced red tomatoes and cubed apple drenched with their house creamy, tangy yet unusual dressing was a welcome relief from the usual Vinaigrette based dressings that I had to endure in my salads. We suspected it was an emulsion of sorts, but since my friend who cooks very well couldn’t place the exact ingredients that went into the dressing, I gave up hoping I could replicate this at home.

Betty's House Salad

Betty’s runs some House Specials every 2 weeks or so, and the time we were there, they had this Barley Mushroom soup. I think it was RM11 or somewhere there. Anyhow, the soup was what a soup should be, heart warming, simple and easy on the stomach.

betty's 4th

Their signature Apple Crumble, (RM8) tasted like no other apple crumble out there. It wasn’t all crust like most commercial ones & the apple were gently stewed in it’s own juices resulting in a touch of natural sweetness that was pleasant on the palate. Not my favourite in town, but a version that would please most diners.

apple crumble

When a group of Penang food bloggers hit KL, I bought them to Betty’s immediately. It does not make sense anyhow to bring Penangites to hawkers stalls here! Furthermore, there isn’t any American Mex cuisine in Pg & the prices here are agreeable even to Penangites who are known for their motto: Cheap & Good food please! 😉

At Betty’s, their signature Meatloaf never failed to please. Moist, loosely held together & soft, it was a faultless porky dish.

meatloaf

Pan Fried Pork Chop w Orange Cream, RM20.00.
Slow pan fried juicy pork chops served with creamy zesty orange sauce.
I am and will always be wary of pork chops, especially when the parts used are the lean ones. It is so easy to overcook it & then you’ll be presented with a tough & chewy slab of meat. Thankfully the pork chops served were cooked to the right degree. I can’t really make out the citrus flavour in the supposedly orange sauce, but after a few conscious tries, I realized it does leave a sweet bitter orange aftertaste lingering in your mouth.

pork chop in orange sauce

Grilled Beer Braised Boston Butt s/w Mash, Peas & Carrot – (RMRm25.50). Quite a mouthful of a fancy name, but tastewise was just so-so.

grilled boston butt

Grilled baby back ribs (350g) RM28.50.
There were 2 large slabs of ribs, (definitely worth the $!) and it was well infused with the marinate. Texture-wise; it was fork-tender and succulent. Not much chewing required! 😉 The sauce had reminiscence of BBQ based and was sweetish and thick. I actually prefered the Beer sauce that was served in the little paper cup.

grilled baby back ribs

If there’s anything you got to try at Betty’s, it’s this – The Wild Hog (RM31.50). A combination of Ham Steak, Bacon, Sausage & Sides. *BURPS*.

Enough said.

wild hog Bettys - Wild hog - feb2010

The Pork Ribs. RM24. I can’t really remember which style this was. But the tasty sauce and a good cut of both lean and fat got the thumbs up from both me & my fussy friend.

ribs

Their version of Bread & Butter Pudding, (RM8) may be an acquired taste by some. It is certainly not your run of the mill baked version, and it didn’t taste like one either. For starters, it is not too sweet & it doesn’t come with a thick custard layer. And the bread slices weren’t cut and layered in thick slices either. As you can see below, it is flat. I myself haven’t quite decided if it would be a favourite of mine 😉  Maybe another visit would help me make up my mind?? 😉

bread n butter pudding

You want more of Betty’s?
I got some links to share:

The Juicy Lucy : I love the size but I did find it a bit salty (most of my friends were fine with it though).
The Breakfast : Unfortunately this was discontinued. The family decided to just focus on lunch and dinner instead. Yup, business is that good!
The meatloaf & the Pulled Pork BUrger, & the Budweiser here is one of the cheapest in town!

MAP: It is the same row as KAYU Nasi Kandar. A few shops away from 7-11.

GPS Coordinates: N 3 07.314 E 101 35.703

map

Location: A-G-40, Jalan PJU 1/43,
Aman Suria, Damansara,
Petaling Jaya.
Tel:03-7880-0196

Operating hours:
(Closed Mondays)
Tues-Fri: 11am-10pm;
Sat & Sun: 10am-10pm

This Post Has 50 Comments

  1. FBB

    where are the comments? how come i cant see one? i really must go to this place soon la.

    1. rebeccasaw

      yes pls go soon! Got to try!
      ps: Comment on the old post in blogspot.

  2. J the chocoholic

    No one’s perfect! As much as we wish restauranteers can provide good service and food every time, I guess they are still just human….
    (Altho that experience from your friend/reader sounds quite bad!)

    (Oh, and I am also having problems reading your new format leh Becky…. All the alignment lari and overlapping!)

    1. rebeccasaw

      U so nice! Hehe..i’m a bit more demanding tho.

      Prob with layout again? Tell me abt it over dinner!

  3. What a pity they don’t serve breakfast anymore. BE and I love our leisurely breakfasts, and this is close enough to home. Food looks good, for sure.

    1. rebeccasaw

      Yups, too good biz. And they needed the rest! Who says F&B biz cannot do?
      Just got to have the right food & passion & price.

  4. Leo

    If Jenn & I were in the same situation, the daughter would get an earful of sarcasm and scolding from both of us… we just hate our dining experience to be ruined by those acts.
    Anyway, I have yet to experience their service coz I have not even been there.
    I think it’s just like my previous experience on The Wok in The Strand.. hahaha!!

    1. rebeccasaw

      This is better than The Wok! LOL. Tht’s hard one to beat!

      So when are we going to betty’s? 😉

  5. sophia

    I actually don’t really care about service, as long as the food is good. But if the food is bad, and the service is bad too, hell shall burn!

    1. rebeccasaw

      LOL! I can imagine!
      This is one of the must-go places we shall visit when ya in town!

  6. Sean

    ahhh i still haven’t been here. maybe they’ll open a second outlet in pj someday to cater to the demand 😀

    1. rebeccasaw

      Doesn’t look likely, based on my observation of their operations.
      Come la, it’s not that far frm some of your usual hunts! :mrgreen:

  7. ai wei

    i really need a pork fix after reading ursss >< awww

    1. rebeccasaw

      Have you been here? Come we go! (u gals ahh,..promise go makan w me so long di! 😐 )

  8. generic pharmacy

    I read blogs on a similar topic, but i never visited your blog. I added it to favorites and i’ll be your constant reader.

  9. Jet

    Out of more than a dozen times I’ve been there, service has always been friendly, efficient and unintrusive! Even when I’m taking a whole table to myself and savouring the food slowly during peak meal hours, never has there been even a hint of pushing me to leave.

    Ask for more sauce and *poof* it promptly appears on the table, no fuss. They’d also ask how was the food, and are enthusiastic when introducing a new weekly special.. I hear the next one is gonna involve a beer batter!

    1. rebeccasaw

      Beer batter! Woots! Thks for the heads-up!
      I would like to share something too. The father said nx week onwards there will be a FISH dish! Can’t wait to try that out! 😡

  10. Christine

    I have not been to Betty’s 🙁
    seriously need to head over for Aman Suria.

  11. Shasta Baumgardt

    I need some advice for my blog….I like your layout. Can you help me? 5 1 6

  12. Nic (KHKL)

    pork chop with orange cream???? omg, now that’s something that i want to try. btw, congrats on the new layout!

    1. rebeccasaw

      Thks Nic! You haven’t been here hor?
      Come come!
      Haven’t seen you for ages! 😆

  13. Josh Lim

    Very tasty pics. Yes, Betty’s is awesome. My favourite place to set up meetings.

    Eh, how come got my name in the picture one? So random. Ahaha! 🙂

    1. rebeccasaw

      Perfect meeting place really.
      Huh? What name? 😮

  14. learn to sing

    I can’t say I completely agree on some issues, but you definitely have an interesting way of writing thigs. Anyway, I like the quality you bring to the blogosphere and that this isn’t just another abandoned, made-for-adsense site! Take care…

  15. lotsofcravings

    well cant expect 100% satisfied customers, shud try this, havent try b4 also..

  16. Emogene Feoli

    How often do you write your blogs? I enjoy them a lot 8 4 7

  17. Ryan lee

    Has a very bad dining experience yesterday. Is was my friend birthday and after reading so many good review decided to try the restaurant. The food is good but the PR skill is bad except for their father. Their son and a girl are very arrogant and rude never apologies for their mistake. Expect customer to understand their situation just because full house there make mistake. One of my friend ended up with no food even thought we order it earlier and there never told us that dish finish until we keep asking, This is the 1st and last time Me and my friend is visiting this placed.

    1. rebeccasaw

      Poor you. I understand. The place gets hapzard when it’s packed. 😯

  18. Criz Lai

    It sounded like a great place for dining except during peak hours. I must pay this place a visit soon. **staring at that Pan Fried Pork Chop with Orange Cream now** Slurps~

    1. rebeccasaw

      Do go! Jason and Gill tried it too! And call me ya! 😉

  19. Not too sure how I found this blog but glad I did find it. Think I was looking for something else on yahoo. Don’t know I agree 100% with what you say, but have bookmaked and will come back to read to see if you add any more posts. Good blog

  20. food recipes

    I absolutely agree with every word the author has written in this article!

  21. DenDeViL666

    hey guys, to add-on to elaine’s comment. if u guys ought to go there again, please do us a lil’ favor. please help to smack kao the girl’s head for me, i’ll buy u guys beer.. thanks n cheers. 🙂

    -DenDeViL666-

  22. Leory

    We went there last Friday. Completely underwhelming la especially after all the good thing we’ve heard about the place.

    Yes, it was very nicely made up and yes, the open kitchen was kinda awesome to look at but the food was only so-so at best.

    Granted there were only two of us, me and Selina, so there was only limited tummy space and we couldn’t try more stuff.

    That being said, the meatloaf was flavourful but the the ketchup pasted on the top was completely overwhelming. We became muak with the thing whilst halfway through.

    We also had the pork chops with stewed apple followed with an apple crumble. Mistake. The apple components for both dishes were identical. Tasty but a bit more creativity would have been appreciated.

    Biggest let down of the night was, obviously, the dessert. We already had the same apples with our pork chops so no surprise there. The crumble however, was completely sogged up and mushy. In what appeared to be a desperate attempt to emulate some semblance of a crunch, cornflakes were scattered on top. Cheapo ice cream they used and to top it all off, we found a little bitty fly on our ice cream. When we told the little girl about that, she took it to the bar whereupon the fly was removed. Fullstop. We couldn’t be bothered to argue for a fresh dish anymore so that was that.

    Overall, Betty’s was underwhelming. They could improve it by taking out the ‘prepare ahead, store and serve later’ thing (the onions must’ve been sitting around for awhile already, we didn’t touch them because they smelt like dishcloth.) I understanding kitchen workflow and all but it wouldn’t take much effort to bang lukewarm sides into a microwave for a brief blitz no? If you can’t do it, fake it; I always say.

    Probably not going back.

  23. Leroy

    And I misspelled my own name. Sowie.

  24. Loren Moehle

    Heya¡­my very first comment on your site. ,I have been reading your blog for a while and thought I would completely pop in and drop a friendly note. . It is great stuff indeed. I also wanted to ask..is there a way to subscribe to your site via email?

  25. Your site is beautifully decorated and effortlessly navigated. I have enjoyed going to this website today and wish to check out several far more occasions inside the future.

  26. Felicia

    Agreed! I had a similar (if not identical) experience as your friend. As far as I am concerned, a restaurant should not just be about a place where you eat but where you also enjoy your time with your friends. An ambient, warm and welcoming environment is very attractive and makes you want to return again. If you’re in a hurry to shoo customers out it does not reflect well on your business. I’m sorry but no matter how good your food, if the service is bad, it is undeserving of my returning patronage. At the end of the day, good customer service is crucial. The attitude of the older lady really killed our mood and left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus the food wasn’t that great that it excused the bad service. Needless to say I never returned.

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