Royal East Restaurant

Ordered from banquet menu’s $ 25/​pp (there is also $ 20/​pp option) and food was excellent, as well as the service.
Royal East is very spacious and rarely gets too crowded, and thus it doesn’t get too noisy/​loud either.

We passed by today at around lunch time and decided to check it out, since we thought it was a restaurant that our friend recommended. There aren’t many places Malaysian/​Indonesian places here, so we were excited. We ordered: roti canai, Malaysian spicy clams, and Indonesian spicy noodles. The roti canai was luke-​warm and stale, but the curry was ok (potatoes and chicken in there were bland though). The clams, which was supposed to be a special, was awful! They just didn’t taste fresh AT ALL, and my husband actually had a spoiled one; the sauce was also super weird. On top of that, they charged $ 15 for ~12 clams. The waitress was apologetic and took it off our order. The noodles then came and it was basically drenched in the same sauce. Again, the shrimps and tofu in there didn’t taste fresh at all (Husband also found a spoiled shrimp). We ended up just picking out all the toppings and just ate the noodles. This restaurant reminds me of the places they show on Kitchen Nightmare. I’m sure I would be horrified seeing their inventory of spoiled food in the kitchen, judging from what we ate today.
I do have to say our waitress was nice and offered good service. That was the only thing that they had going for them.

Good Malaysian food. We enjoyed the Hainanese Chicken and Seafood Horfun, and they have a good Sambal Stingray.

We went there for lunch and I have to say that I agree with some of reviews complaining about rude staff. I got the attitude from the hostess right away (I was the only non-​Asian in our group) and the wait stuff was pretty rushed and stressed. I was pleasantly surprised that they did bring all food at the same time to the table. Based on my experience, most Chinese restaurants don’t get this concept. Kudos to you on understanding this.
The food was pretty good, not the best but not bad either but reason for 2 star deduction is due to how dirty the restaurant was. This place was very dirty, chairs are worn, dirty and stained, table worn and stained, carpet is filthy and so were the walls around us. The fish tank in the reception area? Pretty hazy water in the tank. You get the clues right upon the entrance. If the customer facing environment is this dirty I really question hygiene in the kitchen that you cannot see. This place needs serious professional cleaning. I don’t think I will be back any time soon because of this.

Consistently good fare, fresh-​tasting and generously portioned. Try the Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, Tangy Spicy Green Beans, Pad Ped Chicken, or Spicy Fish Filet with Peanuts. The only slightly disappointing dish has been the pad thai, which was bland.
Some reviewers have complained that staff members are rude or unfriendly. My husband and I have been patronizing the Royal East for 15+ years — dining in, picking up take-​out, and having food delivered — and everyone, from the delivery drivers to the waiters to the owners, has always been pleasant and courteous.

I eat here regularly because you can find parking. Sad to say new owners meant the formerly amazingly cheap lunch specials went up to «normal» Chinese food pricing. Every time I get hot sour soup, fish fillets with vegetables (no celery) and a tea cup full of brown rice. Healthy-​ish when you have to eat out for lunch.

Came to this restaurant a few times for dinner, and experience varied. I tend to like the seafood here better than the other items on the menu.

Oh Royal East… what happened? I used to come here all the time with my family as a child and grew up on their delicious Chinese food, but I returned recently only to find a revamped menu that can only be described as weird. There’s a reason that this place isn’t bustling like it used to…
Food: ²⁄₅ In short, be very way of the new Malaysian/​Thai section. We decided to be adventurous and try a few things, and were sorely disappointed. The pad Thai was funky and tasted «off.» The mango chicken was ok with a little spice. The worst was one of the specials: shrimp with pineapple and walnuts. Sounds ok, but then throw in clearly stale walnuts, a super-​sweet yogurt sauce reminiscent of marshmallow fluff, canned pineapple pieces, and serving it all over blanched broccoli (???) and you get one oddball of a dish. The one redeeming feature is that portions are generous.
Service: ⁵⁄₅ — Our server was very friendly and attentive, but then again there were only 2 other tables seated at the time.
Price: ³⁄₅ — Good value for the price, but only if you order things that are good.
Ambience: ⁴⁄₅ — Typical Chinese décor, but very clean and spacious. Has clearly aged a bit — I remember the same paintings from 10+ years ago and they have faded quite a bit.
Royal East, please go back to your roots and do what you are best at — amazing Chinese food. The new «adventurous» dishes are just sad.

Love the Malaysian Food here.
Must try the Assam Laksa ($ 12) the Sourish spicy dish broth rice noodle soup. Popiah is a must for apps. The kids love their roti canai with the flaky buttery layers dipped in a rich curry chicken gravy.
I haven’t been here in a white. Nice to know that they have added nasi lemak ($ 12) to their fare. They did a good job with it. I would like more curry chicken with the coconut rice.
We also ordered the grilled sambal sting ray (it really is skate, so don’t worry. No sting ray was harmed in the process) it came out wonderful and at $ 19, it’s so fresh and delicious. Must try.
Definitely worth trekking all the way to Cambridge for good Malaysian food

I don’t understand how they have so many stars from other ratings. We ordered take out, pad thai had no protein, no sauce, no flavor, just a giant serving of plain rice noodles and bean sprouts, the tofu dish we ordered was so horrible we threw it out, wontons in wonton soup were so overcooked they were mush

Great for any night when you don’t want to cook. It’s a staple for us a few nights a month.

The menu is a mix of chinese and malaysian dishes. I’d focus on the malaysian dishes, since there are far fewer malaysian restaurants in the area. The owner, Auntie Karen, was extremely welcoming and is from malaysia; she can provide her suggestions and explain any of the dishes. The classic malaysian dishes were all delicious and real comfort foods:
1) Roti Canai — Crispy thin layered pancake with a side dipping sauce of curry with some small chunks of carrot/​potatoes/​chicken/​light hint of coconut.
2) Char Kway Teow — Sauteed rice noodles in a rich brown sauce with smoky wok flavors; somewhat similar to chow fun.
3) Nasi Lemak — A wonderful assortment of curry chicken, sambal w/​dried anchovies, boiled egg, cucumber and peanuts, all to be accompanied with lightly coconut flavored rice. The dish is seemingly so simplistic but the flavors marry so well together. Every bite is crunchy, fresh and savory.
4) Beef Rendang — Chunks of stewed, melt in your mouth beef flavored with chillis and lots of lemongrass.
To end the meal, we were given some canned pineapple chunks and fortune cookies. The pineapple seemed a bit odd, but it was nice to have something sweet and cold to cleanse the palette.
The restaurant is spacious, so this would be a great place for large groups. The eclectic menu is sure to please everyone.

Acceptable. I asked for spicy. I asked for really spicy. I even said it in Chinese. Whatever. The Malay curry was tasty, but I don’t see why I should pay $ 3 for white rice. My food should come with that. My wife’s pad thai was meh.

This restaurant used to be a strictly Chinese restaurant until they changed ownership a few years ago, they are now serve great malaysian food as well. Everything we ordered here was delicious. The dishes here comes pretty heavy on the palette so make sure to order white rice along with the dishes. We ordered the daily special, a sting ray dish for only about $ 18, very reasonable and tasty. Their roti canai is the best I have had in boston, perfectly made bread with awesome curry dip. We also got the red chicken and beef rendang, both also great.
I rarely find a restaurant in boston where every single dish is great, and this restaurant did that for me, a must try for great malaysian cuisines!

This place… was terrible. I wanted to like it, since I drive by here all the time, and with the 3.5 star ratings I finally thought I would give it a chance.
Starting out with why this is getting two whole stars — the pad thai, crispy, was amazing — probably the best I have had in Cambridge, certainly the best I’ve had in a long time. Would definitely order again, although I requested no egg and I feel I got EXTRA egg. Don’t recommend for people with severe allergies.
Wonton soup: oh, I wanted to love you but you were so, so, SO disappointing. There are only like, three ingredients in this soup — how do you mess it up?! The broth was so unflavored it was basically water, and they packed it horribly so half of it slopped out the sides upon taking it out of the bag.
Fried rice: cold. Gross. Soggy… how? It’s fried rice!
And the garlic pork: I requested non-​spicy and got super spicy, and soggy/​congealed.
Unfortunately we won’t be back, not even for the pad thai.

My friend and I went straight Malaysian on this order and were super pleased. We ordered the Mee Goreng and the Taro Pot to share, which was a perfect amount of food for full bellies and enough for one of us to take home lunch. The taro pot was crispy out the outside and velvety on the inside, the veggies were fresh, the shrimp large, and the seafood all cooked well. The Mee Goreng was spicy but not overly so, the tofu had a nice fry, the egg gave it an extra bit of chew, and it was all pretty much as good as you could hope for it to be. We asked for an extra spicy sauce, and the chile sauce they brought was on point for kick.
Also, if you’re like me and are a limeaid nut, this is about as close to perfection as I’ve found. Not too sweet or too sour or too syrupy, it tasted fresh squeezed (they said it would be and I believe them) and I might go back for the limeaid alone.
Only wound up trying this place because I was in the mood for Thai and Pepper Sky was closed, but this place is a giant win. It was nearly empty, though, so I’m hoping they’re making their $$ through takeout/​delivery orders — I will definitely be back, and in a competitive market, this has made its way toward the top of my central square list.

Our Chowhound Saturday lunch crew went there for Malaysian, and it was quite tasty! They also have a Chinese side of the menu, but we didn’t try it.
We had:
1) Ayam Merah
~Spicy tomato chicken curry (bone in), a special
2) Beef Rending ($ 15)
~Beef stew in coconut milk sauce
3) Gado Gado ($ 10)
~Bean sprouts, egg wedges, tofu, cucumber and jicama with a creamy, spicy, tomato peanut sauce
4) Kang Kung Belacan ($ 13)
~Greens sauté with spicy shrimp paste
5) Kurma Lamb ($ 19)
~Crushed cashews, red, green peppers, onion and sliced lamb in spicy curry, with cilantro
My big «Good Bye Boston» party was held here 5 years ago, when it was under different owners, and I came back for a friends 65^th birthday party as well. But it seems improved under the new management (I think they took over in 2012 – 2013).

Co worker came over to me today told me we HAD to order from here and I needed to try the Swan Lake Duck Dive soup or whatever it was called… So first off Network down at work today and NO WAY to get to Foodler or find a menu so right away Panic sets in…
What did people do 20 years ago with No Internet or Unilocal or Foodler, OMG Can you imagine?
So finally I can get some service on iPad so I am able to foodler my way through the menu (and they dont deliver directly — they use another service $ 5.99 Delivery Fee)
Co worker says SO WHAT, Go for it. Wow… This place must be that good…
So we order some soups (I was going to get the Duck Dynasty whatever, but they have Tom Yum & OOOOHHH Its my fave)
So we order the soups, and Black Pepper Steak and I get a Shrimp & Veggie Thai dish as this place has Cantonese & Thai = BONUS!!!
Food comes before quoted time which I sooo didnt think would happen considering it was a second hand delivery service.
Tom Yum was soo perfectly spicy & possibly the BEST I ever had… Co worker loved her Swan Shoes La Chow Soup (I must have called this thing 100 diff names before lunch was over)
Pepper Steak was a little chewy but SMOTHERED in this black pepper sauce & it was soo tasty… Not spicy or just too much black pepper but just perfect.
The Shrimp Pad Ped was with Veggies in Coconut Milk & spices, Not too spicy but had a little kick, but soo tasty with SEVERAL big plump shrimp…
All in all a GREAT lunch, a little pricey as they had no lunch specials but I would soo pay again for the food it was that good & I have leftovers for tomorrow now…
You wont be disappointed — Ill try more next time & report back!

+ plenty of seating, not squished with your neighbors
+ lots of menu choices, not just Chinese food
+ friendly server and staff
+ food comes out fast
+ a TV for game days (if that’s your thing)
–not very unique or authentic
This place is your average sit-​down Asian restaurant, but perhaps with some nicer drapes. I like that they give you hot tea by default as most places as that’s something I always notice with Asian food places that try to lean on the more authentic side, however their menu definitely has a bit of identity crisis. They recently added Thai dishes to their largely Chinese menu, probably to entice a broader audience.
The food is decent enough. It’s not my mom’s cooking, but it’s pretty good and at a very fair price. I got the pineapple fried rice, but gt it not spicy because I can’t handle a lot of spice and what came out was just sort of bland… although I did appreciate the large chunks of pineapple they did not skimp out on, plus point there! My friend got the seafood chow fun which is always a good choice as it’s hard to mess up one way or another and at only $ 10, it’s a pretty good deal for seafood!
If you’re indecisive and on a budget, check out the chow fun menu, but if you’re looking for that authentic Chinese flavor, it probably won’t be here. A good place to hang with friends and enjoy a meal though, the staff were all really friendly, food was delivered fast and the tea was refilled promptly. Can’t ask for much more from an Asian-​American fusion!

This is really an awesome place for South East Asian cuisine! I’m really not sure why the ratings aren’t higher. My friend from Singapore who’s been living in Boston for the past 5 years highly recommended this place on my first visit to town. I was new to Boston, so of course I trusted her, and she couldn’t have been more right.
We ordered the Bak Kut Teh, the Ipoh Seafood Chow Fun and the Taro Pot. The chow fun and taro pot both had very generous servings of seafood so they were realy satisfying. Boston has some of the best seafood around! I like how both dishes also came with lots of vegetables so it’s not all seafood. I found the sauce for the chow fun a tad too salty for me, but the dish is nicely done, just like the way it is back home. If I go back I will remember to let them know about the sauce when I place the orders. The taro in the taro pot is perfect, light and crispy on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside. It does get pretty heavy after a while, the two of us couldn’t finish it even though we were hungry, but I am not complaining since that means I got to take it home =)