Penang Star

Food is horrible staff is so rude! I think that the health department almost shut them down… or at least they should’ve!!! I got a glimpse of their kitchen and it is just nasty! Never again… NEVER

food wasn’t anything special. typical chineese food place. we base our scores on the basic foods we get, gen tso, beef and broc, fried rice, and wonton soup. basic stuff except for the wonton soup. not our favorite. prices were reasonable though.

Okay, not everything is awesome, but it’s cheap takeout, so I’m lowering the bar on my 5 star rating a bit. They always deliver much faster than the estimate given on Unilocal,and a few dishes in particular makes this a five star choice. The roti canai is outstanding comfort food, and unbeatable for the price. The sushi is generously portioned and fresh. The Chinese food menu leaves something to be desired, but it’s still the best in the area in my opinion. For Thai food I would probably opt for a Thai place, but that’s no surprise. Overall it’s convenient food with a menu well worth exploring.

They are a good little eatery.
Always open friendly. Their delivery is free. Good variety.

Have ordered from here a handful of times and it’s progressively gotten worse.
Used to be super fast delivery and food quality was great and that’s a thing of the past!
Last call took 75 minutes and food was lukewarm and this time around, I ended up cancelling our order after 90 minutes.
Zero heads up that wait times will be long, just not worth it

Terrible customer service. Charged for food not received and rude. Multiple times ordered and receive wrong food with no willingness to correct mistake. Will not order here again

Extreemly rude owner and very oily and poor quantity of food. Will not recommend this place at all.

There are places where you go for the incredible service, beautiful plate presentations, and unique restrooms. And then there are places you go because… well honestly, my mother had a coupon.
I recommend Penang Star as a great takeout/​delivery place if you’re in the area, but it’s not something I will drive out of my way for ever again. Armed with a coupon and the prospect of the next all star Malaysian restaurant to remind us of home, we ventured out to Penang Star with empty stomachs and high hopes. We eagerly opened the door, hoping to find the next all-​star Malaysian gem… to find 3 – 4 small tables and cardboard boxes piled high on the side and people behind the counter seemingly shocked to see anyone come through.
+ Chicken Satay: Traditional satay is grilled, but this version was fried. Do not recommend, nothing on this plate worked at all.
+ Roti Canai: While we were seated here, a gentleman came in and ordered 3 of these to go. He was right with reason. Crispy on the outside, with soft and fluffy parts throughout the dough. Strong redemption here. The curry sauce needs some work, but it does the job.
+ Beef Rendang: Good, meat was just tender enough, but the sauce is where it’s at here, and it was made exactly as it should be.
+ Char Kway Teow: Flat rice noodles with shrimp and squid. If you’re not familiar with this dish, it’s very reminiscent of pad thai, but not as sweet/​sour. It’s got a saltier taste, which can be attributed to the soy sauce and chili paste. I enjoyed this.
+ Penang Style Shrimp: One of my favorites. The spicy shrimp paste sauce is bold and sweet. I would definitely get this again!
+ Penang Clay Pot Noodles: This dish was interesting. I wouldn’t personally get this again because the sauce and the noodles were just so mushy, I couldn’t get on board with that squishy texture.
We left on the brink of satisfied, but feeling deceived. Our coupon was not honored because supposedly, according to the individual who took our order, the restaurant did not actually intend to sign on board with the coupon distributor. It makes no sense because it’s not as though the coupon distributor would just randomly put the restaurant on their website without any consent… There seems to be some internal communication issues between the owner (s)/management and I don’t know what’s going down here but they need to set their promotions straight. After this, we considered leaving before committing to put in the order for our carefully curated order selections because there was so much frustration and tension in the air. I felt like the situation could have been handled better by the restaurant, but hey, it’s not my business, so I’m not going to tell them how to run it.

The Rendang Chicken Curry was terrible. The chicken was overcooked — like stewed meat. It was so chewy that I confused the first few bites for beef. On closer inspection, it was dark meat chicken with very few pieces of white meat. The sauce was thicker than paste and so salty that I could not eat much of it.
This was my second visit to Penang Star and likely my last. On my last visit I had the Mango Chicken which was certainly better than tonight’s choice but not something that I would give more than three stars. WIth all the other great choices in Olney and the surrounding communities for Asian cuisine, they need to step up to the plate or they will be out of the game.

If I based this review entirely on service, I would give it ZERO stars. The guy in charge was barely able to look up from his Chinese war movie to take my order — AND make my food. If the TV is that important, go home and watch it! Seriously.
But I’d gotten a sushi roll to go and by the time I sat down to eat it 20 minutes later, I’d calmed down a bit from the rudeness. And the food was DELICIOUS. It was at least as good as the sushi from Wasabi Zen (which has GREAT service!) and prices were good. It was so good, in fact, that I considered going back — in spite of the service.
If someone would just hire a person who knew something — ANYthing — about customer service, this place would be worth visiting. Also, I have no idea how the Chinese food is here — I ordered from the Japanese part of the menu.

I’ve been to Penang Star several times and found the food to be good. The last trip we found a hair in each of our dishes which was very disappointing. While the food is good, I think they could certainly improve in some areas. Hygiene issues should be a top priority.

They lose a star due to service. I arrived when they said my food would be ready. It wasn’t. I paid and sat down but when my order was ready they didn’t tell me. The kid on the front desk is way too distracted.
The shrimp pad thai was excellent. Shrimp tempura was good not great. Same with the buddah’s delight which had 20% rice noodles though that is not in the menu description. I would not order the fries because they will not be hot by the time you eat them. Will try them again but will not order last minute.

It’s more like 4.5 stars, but I’m willing to round up.
So I’ve tried their Pad Thai, Crab Rangoon and Pork fried rice. The food was ok, but why the upgrade? Because the fact that they can do three cuisines relatively seamlessly is impressive to me.
The pad thai had good spices and was about the same size as other locations I’ve gone to for about ²⁄₃ the price of most of those other places.
The crab rangoon was adequate as it was a little under stuffed. The fried rice was fried rice, though it came in a take out container rather than an traditional box so there’s that.
I’ve also started to notice more of a crowd in the past few visits. As for whatever waiting problems they encountered before it seems to be ironed out as I have never had to wait for my order to be ready when I call in at least 20 minutes prior.
Overall, this restaurants off to a nice start with me.

Wow, what a difference a year makes. I ate here ~4 months ago and the sambal belacan shrimp dish, which I have had here before was inedible. The shrimp base must have been bad as I could smell the dish when it was about 10 feet from the table. I tried it anyway and the sauce had a sour, extremely fishy after taste and the shrimp were over cooked. I mentioned to the server that there seemed to be something wrong with the dish and received the following reply…“ok”.
Putting that experience behind me I decided to give it another try. They were extremely busy on this Saturday night so I ended up waiting over an hour for my pick up (even though I was told 15 minutes on the phone). The large order was for a birthday party so things were a bit delayed… no matter, the food should be good and it was the birthday boys request. I returned back to the party late only to find out they forgot TWO of the seven dishes (I did open the stapled bag at the restaurant to confirm we had at least seven dishes (had eight)) so I didn’t think it was necessary to open each container) and the teriyaki chicken was over cooked to the point it was rigid.
I am sorry to see this place fall so far down, another case of a small restaurant growing too fast and the food suffers. The sushi we ordered was okay but if you want sushi go around to Sushi Zen right behind this restaurant (its better). Can’t recommend this place anymore.
When I picked up the food there were thousands of menus to be mailed out… find it hard anything will improve anytime soon.

I LOVE this restaurant! I’m vegetarian, and they have an exceptional selection of vegetarian food. They’ll make just about anything on the menu with vegetables or soy protein instead of meat. I especially love the roti canai with veggies and their spring rolls, but their sushi, fried rice and every other dish I’ve tried have been equally exceptional. They always use the freshest ingredients and the perfect blend of seasonings, and they’re fast. My husband and friends and I get delivery from them a couple times a week. Great food at a good price; definitely a winner if you’re looking for good Thai, Chinese or other Asian food in the Olney area!

First time ordering from here, but will definitely not be the last! The food is excellent! We ordered basic «Chinese»; combination fried rice, happy family and orange chicken cause my kids are not too adventurous as far as food goes. This is so far the best tasting I’ve had in a long time! Only reason they didn’t get 5 stars is cause it took a while for the food to get delivered but it was worth the wait!

The food was okay, but i was much happier with the service. I ordered dumplings and swore i read that they were chicken, but ended up finding out they were pork. I don’t eat pork, so naturally i went to the restaurant and told them my dilemma. They were nice though to take back the dumplings, and give me the chicken teriyaki dish in exchange.
Great service and quick delivery make up for the «okay» food.

A relatively new edition to the area, I was thrill to expand my palate into Malaysian cuisine
Firstly it is so awesome they open until 10:30, while most other places close at ten, so that is a huge plus
The Roti Canal is just addictive, I could eat more the a few shares of it it’s so rich and flavorful
My entrée was the Penang style squid, love that squid is an option for the protein, I ordered it as spicy but I could handle it easily, great balanced flavor
There is much I need to try

This place is good. My office orders from here every once in a while and we all agree that this sushi is the freshest fish around. I don’t really like ordering it from the other few places who also offer delivery and sushi. The food is always good (char kway teow, pad thai, penang curry, chicken with garlic sauce, etc).

At 3 – 3.5 stars, this place is WAY underrated. As good as any similar place in Bethesda or D.C. Penang Curry is match for any I’ve had anywhere. Large portion, too.