Rasa Ria

Wow this place really impressed me! I was hesitant considering I wasn’t expecting great ethnic food in Kalamazoo, but this is a winner! I ordered take-​out: nasi goreng kampung (Indonesian fried rice with chicken, anchovies, and fried egg), roti canai (flaky thin bread and chicken curry — but you could get vegetarian curry instead), and the sup asam pedas (spicy and sour soup with chicken and seafood). They were all fantastic! Best part? It cost under $ 13! Just the roti and soup would have been enough for a meal, around $ 5 – 6 and the rice is enough for 2 – 3 people. The sup asam pedas is similar to a Thai tom yum soup (note not tom kha). It’s definitely spicy! It’s brothy, with bean sprouts and greens, chunks of chicken and seafood. Nasi goreng is a sweeter version of fried rice, with lots of mixed vegetables and little anchovies. The little fish totally make the dish — don’t order without it! It’s flavorful and really adds to the authenticity of the dish. Also the fact that they have grass jelly is awesome, which is one of my favorites. That’s more of an acquired taste (think black, herby flavorless jello topped with sugar syrup). The person taking my order was a bit nasty, perhaps it contributes to the authentic feel to it. My advice is to do your research and be prepared to order before you call. It’s a fairly small place, not that many tables inside and definitely not the most comfortable restaurant setting. But food’s the important thing, right?

We will keep coming back here so we can try everything! The curry puff is terrific and I had buttered chicken again today because it’s so delicious (my husband thinks it’s quite rich). My husband tried the ginger broccoli and really liked the baby corn in it. Plenty of broth with it that its nearly a soup. Servings are large enough (for us) that we take home enough for another meal.

Spent a lot of time in the BATHROOM after ordering from here. I agree with other reviewers, the server/​son is rude. Actually, to quote, he’s a «dick.»
Too bad, I really wanted to like this place. The second star is for their food they served at a festival. The son must not have worked that night.

Someone recommended their «magic soup» to me (Sup Asam Pedas: spicy and sour broth with chicken and seafood) and I have been addicted to it ever since. They make the soup to order so you can have it without the chicken or seafood if desired. I have tried only a few other meals from Rasa Ria and found them to be really good but not exactly to my taste. That could be because my palate is still new to Indonesian/​Malaysian food. The soup alone, though, makes this place worth the 5-​star review. I know it’s just soup but you will understand once you try it. The actual physical space is dated, small and typical take-​out. They do have tables to sit down and eat but the atmosphere and location are meh.

Great little family-​run restaurant with an unusual offering – Indonesian and Malaysian food in a small midwestern city! I’ve lived in Chicago and a handful of other medium-​sized cities (Grand-​Rapids size or larger, for local comparison) and none of them had an Indonesian or Malaysian restaurant, so this is a pretty special thing to have in a town like Kzoo.
The food is quite good, though if you’re a vegan like I am, the menu is fairly repetitive and most of the dishes seem like slight variations of each other – usually tofu and vegetables swimming in some kind of yellow curry sauce. The Malaysian Sayur Lodeh was a standout dish, as was the Fried Kway Teow (substituting tofu for seafood), which reminded me of a Thai Pad Kee Mao or Pad See Ew. Another standout was the Sticky Rice and Roasted Coconut dessert, very rich and satisfying. The Tofu Rendang has a texture like the tofu has been frozen and I found it good but just slightly lacking in flavor. The Grass Jelly Tea dessert was also interesting and worth sampling. The Gingered Broccoli is exactly that, and the «Vegetarian Delight» is your standard Chinese-​place mixed veg stir fry in a brown sauce – I’d skip both.
Service is generally gruff and minimal and the place is tiny with the atmosphere of a strip-​mall take out joint, so don’t come with a large group or to impress a first date. Best to call ahead to make sure they’re open, as they’re often not during the expected hours (many weekends off, etc). Definitely worth a visit (or several) with those caveats.

Chicken Curry and Chicken Rendang are outstanding. We call Rasa Ria «Rude Malaysia» as a joke because of the lack of customer service. Should they be forgiven for it? Perhaps not, but we overlook it because we get our food to go so the contact is limited.

If you are too busy to cook a homemade meal, then look no further. I recommend the chicken mushroom which I enjoyed and the chicken curry. Place is small and it gets full quickly, but i always manage to find a place to sit.

This place is nestled in on West Main, it’s totally easy to pass by. While the customer service isn’t five stars, they were helpful. This was my first time ordering Malaysian Cuisine, so they helped me with the menu and offered their opinion.
I ordered the Beef Curry, which was a perfect mix of delicious with a little kick of spivey. The Bakmi Goreng Java was also delicious, and something my kids would totally eat.
Overall this place is a little hidden gem! I look forward to going back!

The food is absolutely amazing and the service is quick and friendly. If you want to try something new I would suggest this place any day. Great job guys

I wrote this review with a heavy heart because I had heard of this place for so long and FINALLY had the chance to come for dinner. So let’s start with customer service, I wasn’t expecting red carpet treatment but just a greeting or something, instead there was this guy just sitting down with an earphone on the counter. When he saw us coming, he had this annoyed look and said, «For here or to go?»
Ordered the curry puff, roti canai w curry, fried shrimp, nasi lemak and butter chicken. Roti was a bit thick, but everything was pretty much good and definitely tasted like home. BUT… nasi lemak = coconut rice with accompaniments. I tasted ZERO coconut and I should know because I grew up eating coconut rice. When I told the waiter that they had served me regular rice, he said, «Oh no that’s coconut rice, coconut milk is white…» with this Duh looking face… I didn’t want to make a scene so I just let it go.
Apparently he’s the owner’s son. I feel bad for this guy because I know how it is to have a job that you absolutely hate… he looked it and he acted it. Hopefully he’ll find something else soon or he would grow up…
Bottom line for me… good food and it was definitely good to have eaten food that I grew up with, but I wouldn’t make a special trip to this place. Sad but true…

From weekend brunches at Crow’s Nest to weekday stops at Shawarma King, Kalamazoo is home to many cuisines, but its Malaysian and Indonesian cuisine is tucked in West Main Street’s corner.
Nestled in an unassuming location beneath a weathered sign, Rasa Ria may not be a fancy sit down establishment. In fact, during dinner hours a patron is lucky to dine in. Nonetheless, Rasa Ria compensates by serving hot and tasty Malaysian cuisine.
Rasa Ria isn’t always about eating out with your friends, often not about its relaxed atmosphere, and never about being greeted at the door. It’s about enjoying the culture through coconut-​soaked rice and spicy curry.
The service, while not engaging, can be overlooked as the menu options and captivating aromas lure in customers for more. With traditional menu offerings available in either dine-​in or carry-​out, from Rendang and Nasi Lemak to Butter Fried Chicken and Curry Puffs, there is no shortage of experiences for your tastebuds.
Exciting and not-​too-​spicy, Rasa Ria will be any food fan’s new favorite restaurant.

It’s been more than a couple of years since we’ve been coming to Rasa Ria and the food has always been great. It’s a small family owned business and the husband and wife are very nice. The food is always tasty, some days more than others. I always order the Rasa Ria special fried rice and make sure it’s spicy :) the only thing that kinda disappoints me is the shrimps aren’t deveined.. Small thing but still disappointing. Other than that it’s yummy food, that’s why we keep going back :)

Ugh how I long for food from the motherland. There are only a handful of actual Malaysian restaurants in Michigan, this is one of them. A tiny, bare bones restaurant run by a surly yet efficient family, the food hits the spot. I wish they had some of my favorites like Assam laksa and Kari mee, but this will have to do. The frothy Tea tastes like home with a little milo in it, and the Assam pedas noodle soup was quite tasty. The curry for the roti canai was delicious but I suspect they don’t make their own roti. Can’t blame them though. have you ever youtubed that?! It looks impossible.

Authentic Malaysian food! Tasted very much like a lot of the food I had in Malaysia and Singapore. The food was pretty good, but best of all, they had Teh-​Terik! I suggest going there just to try that at least! The food was good but the service was iffy.

I tried Rasa Ria for the first time today. Overall, I was pretty pleased with my experience. However, it’s clear that this restaurant relies on the food (not the service) to keep customers coming back, which is fine with me. My food was ready in a timely manner, but the staff just wasn’t particularly friendly.
I ordered the Sup Asam Pedas and the Chicken Nasi Goreng to-​go. I’m not well-​versed in Indonesian food, but I enjoyed both of the items I ordered, especially the Sup. It was a fantastic combination of sweet and spicy, unlike anything I’ve had before. The Nasi Goreng was good, but it wasn’t much different from any fried rice I’ve had before.
Food: ⁸⁄₁₀
Service: ⁴⁄₁₀
Atmosphere: ⁵⁄₁₀
Value: ⁹⁄₁₀
The bottom line: Unique, tasty food for cheap. You won’t easily find anything else like this in West Michigan.

The one time we ordered from Rasa Ria, which was probably about a year ago now, I enjoyed the food. From what I recall, we ordered a combination of Indonesian and Malaysian dishes. They were tasty and much more flavorful and interesting than food at most Asian restaurants in Kalamazoo, which I tend to find terribly disappointing as someone from the West Coast.
But what’s the deal with having no menus for patrons to take away? It’s a tiny place without much atmosphere, and we prefer to eat at home most of the time anyway, since my partner has

Small hole in the wall type of place that serves authentic Malaysian and Indonesian food.
I ordered the spicy & sour soup, which was very authentic but too spicy for me to handle. The chicken curry was a little plain but the green vegetable curry was excellent.
Price is very reasonable too. Glad to have come.