We recently took some overseas office visitors out for dinner. Unfortunately, there aren’t many fine dining restaurant choices near my office is except for Courtyard Garden in Damansara Heights. Courtyard Garden is a cosy little restaurant converted from an old bungalow with an eye-catching bright yellow facade. It appears to be designed after a Balinese concept with wooden beams across the ceiling, stone statutes and breezy curtains. I particularly liked the garden deck of the restaurant which had comfortable armchairs scattered across the deck to provide a perfect spot for an evening drink.

Unfortunately, although the ambiance and setting was romantic and lovely, the service and food were the total opposite! We were served by a host of foreign workers who could barely speak a word of English. We were unable to get any help with the menu at all nor any recommendations. It became rather embarrassing when one of our foreign guests asked what Cajun sauce was and not a single waiter could explain what is was! Our service industry here seems to have fallen to a terrible state as most waiters nowadays tend to be foreigners who can’t speak English at all. How are tourist expected to communicate with them?

We placed an order for some tapas and mains. The drinks came quite quickly but my Kaffir Lime juice was quite a disappointment as it was terribly watered down. We ordered 4 different tapas – Thai fish cakes which weren’t too bad, cereal prawns of which the prawns were mushy and not fresh, some battered stuff which no one could tell what it was and some egg noodle crispy parcels which I did not try. The battered stuff was served on some watermelon which our guests said did not taste like watermelon at all and no wonder as it smelled spoilt!

I ordered a Japanese style cod served on green tea soba noodles. A small piece of cod was served on a bed of overcooked and soggy soba. Soba noodles are meant to be eaten al dente and these noodles were terribly overcooked and stuck together in a mushy lump. The cod was also incredibly fishy and gave me terrible indigestion after that. It was a very disappointing meal and I doubt our guests were impressed at all.

Whilst I give it two thumbs up for its ambiance, I would seriously reconsider going there again if the food and service does not improve. I understand that you can opt to hold your wedding in Courtyard Garden but I am not sure of the quality of the catering.

Courtyard Garden is found at:

10, Lorong Dungun,
Damansara Heights,
50490 Kuala Lumpur

Reservation : (6)03-2093 9331
Office : (6)03-2093 3986
Fax : (6)03-2093 8185