Taste of Bali

Interesting day. My brother-in-law is in town, and my wife had the day off, so we had devised a plan on Tuesday for me to go out to lunch with them (and my daughter) today. Then we had dinner with my father-in-law, who invited himself out to lunch as well (to his credit, he offered to pay), but since they all went to the zoo today before lunch, and none of them wanted lunch near my office, I got screwed.

GastroBoy had already left to try out QDoba, a new chain burrito place, so I needed to figure out a plan. I walked down Broadway, intent on hitting Taco Del Mar, when I saw a restaurant I've often thought about trying without ever actually succeeding. Taste of Bali, on Broadway just north of Salmon.



I opted for the number 8, the Satay Ayam Malaysia. It's essentially a grilled chicken skewer on steamed rice, with a spicy peanut sauce. It costs $5.95. I had two spring rolls with it, as a side ($2.50) and a Diet Coke.

The people at Taste of Bali are very nice. In terms of the in-restaurant experience, that's about all I can say. Through the doors into the recesses of the kitchen area you can see huge stacks of dirty dishes piled high, with no apparent emphasis placed on trying to appear interested in cleaning anything. The place feels dingy. I would've taken a picture, but there wasn't a way to do so without getting pinched.

The food took about 15 minutes to prepare, and there was really not much going on in the place (I didn't get there until around 12:45). I did get through a goodly portion of Willamette Week while I waited, but that's not necessarily what I'm looking for in take-out. To be fair, there's a sign that warns that grilled foods can take 7-10 minutes to cook, but the wait got to be a bit ridiculous.

Once I got my food, I headed back to the office to enjoy. I recalled after my first skewer that I should grab a pic.



The serving was large, and I shouldn't have eaten it all, but I was hungry from biking into work and missing breakfast, and I was watching Judge Mathis in our conference room. The sauce was good, but there wasn't much of it. The rice was, well, rice. You really can't mess that up. The chicken was moist and well-prepared.

But given the money I spent, I felt let-down. The food took too long, came from a scruffy-looking place, and seemed to be a bit skimpy on the flavorful part that I bought it for.

Taste of Bali serves adequate food, but if I had to pick between them and Subway, I think 9 times out of 10 I'd go with the latter. Which isn't an absolute slap in the face (I didn't say McDonalds or -- shudder -- Sbarro after all) but it's close.