Bali Nusa Indah

As an indonesian, I have to give this place two thumbs down. The meat from every dish tasted liked it had been reheated in a microwave. I've had good fantastic indonesian food in LA and was hoping that this place would come through for me and it did not. They didn't even have real sambal, really?! And for the price the portion is small. The only dish I like is the Telor Belado, that's it. I was going to bring my mom here for dinner but decided to taste it first and thank goodness I did. She would have gone on and on about how her cooking is better and it would be true. My mom can do a better job than this place.

I have eaten here at least 10 times and have found the food to be authentic as well as consistent. Unless something has slid greatly in the last 3 months, what you can expect is a small, casual dining room, simply decorated with batik and Indonesian artifacts. Let there be no mistake....this is EATING, NOT fine dining or fancy but the peanut sauce that I have had many times is fabulous, rich, NOT MADE FROM PEANUT BUTTER as it is in many restaurants, and fragrant with Lime leaves, I drool just thinking about the Rendang...beef braised in coconut milk, chilies and ginger, the corn fritters are out of this world. For NYC this place is a bargain and a half. And futhermore...it's NOT DUTCH food it's Indonesian, therefore it's Sate not SATAY. If the thought of coriander, ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves and coconut milk with Dragon mouthed sambal thrown in to the mix thrill you, you WON'T be disappointed. If you want fine dining...go to Daniel or Per Se...For Bakmi or Nasi Goreng...hit Bali Nusa.

With the influx of Thai restaurants in the city, it is hard to find a good one. In mysearch through mid-town I branched beyond to Indonesian food. I have taken several people and had a wonderful experience. Lunch special is amazing! And dinner isn't expensive either. But it is really about the flavors. The Ginger tea is wonderful and the house soup...terrific. For price, flavor, and variety, try Bali Nusa Indah. It beats the mediocre Thai.

I eat Malay (similar to Indo) food almost every other day, if I have to cook it myself or treck all the way down to ctown. Bali Nusa is not good, way to pricey and catered to the Time Square crowd who don't know the difference between chinese food and south east asian food. I have dined here at least 3 times, in hope that if I order a different dish, it will miraculously be better... unfortunately this was not the case. I live in Hell's kitchen and I am sad to say Bali Nusa does not meet expectations.

So I am from the Netherlands and I seek out indonesian cuisine wherever I can find it. They are far and few between in the US but this place is the worst, not kidding do NOT spend your money here. The only positive is that they actually spelled RijstTafel correctly. The satay doesn't tatse like satay and had a smidge of peanuts sauce (I think, I couldn't really tell), the gado gado is a joke and even the kroepoek was stale. Come on I make it myself all the time and that has to be the easiest to get right. The food was clearly prepared long before and badly (unevenly) microwaved. So if you want good indonesian go to Amsterdam and at all cost avoid this place. San Francisco has a decent place as well.

My friend and I had the worst curry here. She had chicken curry which lacked any real flavor except for salt. It tasted like chicken broth and cornstarch. I had a roti canai. The roti was fine, but the curry was bland (indeed it was likely the same as my friends). I did have a seafood soup which was passable. Would never go here again.

We visited Bali Nusa Indah tonight with a party of 7. The food was not spectacular but okay and the special menues they offer give you the possibility to try different entrees, salads, soups, etc. ... We actually enjoyed the dinner - until the check arrived: to a 148 usd bill, the owner added 35 usd tip, adding the tax to the total of 183 usd. When we "dared" to reduce the tip to 19%, the waiter rudely pointed out, that we didn't pay enough. When we answered, that we believed that it is up to the customer to evaluate the service, he told us that "it is common, here in NY, that 23,5% are added to the check". We might have talked German - yes. They might have thought that we were tourists; but excuse me, all the years I have been living here, never has a restaurant added such a large tip and tried to tell me that "that's the way it goes".