Overall a great experience. Great beverage selection and the staff is attentive. We weren't fans of the long beans side and liked the sauce and water chestnuts in the asparagus side. We were seated quickly and our water glasses were constantly full. The server let us know the food would come out as soon as it was ready from the kitchen so we knew we needed to pace our orders so that we received in the order we wanted to eat them. The staff was able to modify the 3 dumpling appetizer to 4 dumplings so we could each try one. The dipping sauce had great flavor. My shaken beef did have some gristle but otherwise the flavors were good. The menu indicates the level of spice and my beef dish has hot spots which were a little more spicy than my liking but enjoyable nonetheless. We were able to be leisurely about our dinner and did not feel rushed at all. We were comped the deserts we ordered which was both delicious and a gracious touch. We will go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Stoyan P
Food is good. Service management is not fer assigning wetrasis were is needed. One waitress was serving about 30 people, which in my opinion is not right. This is about 1/3 of the restorant capacity. Be patient and give respect to nice waitress tath works hard to make happy the horrible management. Leave good tip. Atmosfere is good but the noise is eleveted.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Halle
Located inside the JW Marriott where Roy’s used to be. Booked a reservation within 2 days. Came here for the lamb spring rolls, and James Beard award-winning chef Angelo Sosa! Did not disappoint
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Beckie Bernard
We had an absolutely wonderful experience at Kembara, and it reminded us why we keep coming back to the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa year after year as locals.
We happened to visit during Lunar New Year and were genuinely surprised and delighted with a beautiful gift bag from Rémy Martin, along with a thoughtfully crafted cocktail highlighting the brand. Such a classy, unexpected touch that immediately set the tone for the evening.
Our server, Megan, was an absolute standout—warm, knowledgeable, and perfectly attentive without ever feeling intrusive. She elevated the entire experience.
Every dish we ordered hit the mark. The edamame was outstanding, topped with perfectly crispy garlic that was savory and salty without even a hint of bitterness. The smashed cucumber was refreshing, and the green papaya salad was beautifully balanced, featuring a perfectly jammy salted egg that tied everything together. We were thrilled to see that the brown butter crab hand roll is now offered as a sushi roll—still just as indulgent and delicious. The vegetable lo mein was a surprise highlight, deeply flavorful and comforting, and the crab fried rice was packed with large, sweet pieces of crab that felt truly generous.
My husband ordered the Sympathizer cocktail, which arrived with a stunning smoked presentation tableside—dramatic, aromatic, and absolutely delicious.
From the thoughtful Lunar New Year touches to the exceptional food and service, this meal was memorable from start to finish. We’ve been visiting the JW for years, and thanks to Kembara, we now have yet another reason to keep coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dana Craig
Just had our fourth visit and we couldn’t be happier with the menu and the quality of service. Chef Stephanie is a wonderful ambassador of this restaurant. If you like Asian fusion this is the place to go. Ignore people complaining about the prices. If you want good food, you have to pay for it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sara Vergnes
Wonderful service, they ALL ensured my allergies were respected and communicated with every dish. Lo mein and fried rice were the best I have ever had, simple and full of flavor. Of course their most popular dishes were everything expected and more. 🤗 Chef Sosa was absolutely charming-good luck on your upcoming competitions! , Lizzy our waitress was attentive, Daniel was absolutely passionate about the food and quality, Elizabeth recommended excellent cocktails and Maritza-great playlist! All of the staff really went out of their way to accommodate. 1000% recommended. Merci infiniment!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Zachary Vergnes
All the food looks delicious, the ambiance is amazing I love the Asian style and Daniel Sandy is an amazing waiter he explained the menu perfectly!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Christian vergnes
Daniel Saady, wow wow wow, passionate, detailed, very well explained, professional and inspirational. Amazing personalized service. Thank you, my fremch family and I will be back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lucille
Wonderful dining experience. BUT, Kembara is a cashless restaurant. People need to be aware of that. Come with a card. They do not accept cash.
F Liu
We had a fantastic experience at Kembara. The waiter did a great job tending to us. The food was extraordinary! Tuna Thai Jewel was the best dish I have ever eaten and I wanted to lick the bowl clean. The presentation was gorgeous. The pork fried rice was exceptional. When I made the reservation, I marked it was our anniversary. The waiter noticed the small detail and got us a free dessert for our anniversary celebration. Thank you for making our special night even more special!
The food, ambience, and service here is absolutely incredible. I highly recommend the beef rendang (approved by my Malaysian friend ), fried rice, and Thai tuna jewel . Our server Cole was super attentive and gave us recommendations for food and cocktails based on our preferences. Would 100% recommend and would love to come back again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nicole
We loved this restaurant! Food and service were excellent and just enough buzz to be fun but still carry on a conversation.
Tricia
The food was good but not great. We didn't care for the pace of the service where everything was served at a different time. The kitchen should be able to schedule the appetizers to be served at one time, and then the dinner entrees to be served at the same time.
Derek Caldwell
My girlfriend and I ate here for new years last night. We own a home in Desert Ridge, have eaten our way around Desert Ridge and High Street, and really enjoy Tia Carmen located directly across the lobby so we figured we'd give this place a try.
The positive - their cocktail selection was excellent, our server was personable, kind and attentive. The ambience was...fine; not too loud, typical resort crowd. The resort is nice. The fish tasted pretty fresh.
The 'meh' aspects - the beef rendang I ordered was greasy, but flavorful. The crispy sushi rice seemed expensive for 3 pieces considering OBON gives you a whole flight of 8 for the same price. Overall, I'd describe the food was average in taste and a little lacking in presentation. My partner enjoyed her food.
Something I'll also note about our experience: We showed up an hour early for our reservation on an understandably busier night and, without high expectations, decided to ask if they had any room for us early. After sharing that we were early for our reservation, a woman who I assume to be a front of house manager at the front desk responded, without any emotion, with 'Well, then we'll see you at 8:30'. I couldn't gauge whether that was meant to be condescending, so I responded with 'Oh!..wait really?', which was met with an education session that Kembara serves X number of guests a night, they're very busy, etc., etc..
I'm going to assume this person was stressed, and that the interaction did not mean to come off as condescending and dismissive as it was received, but that could have been handled better coming from someone whose worked several customer-facing positions in the hospitality and restaurant industry. We would have been happy to be referred to spend money at Kembara's bar rather than the lobby bar, or would have appreciated a 'Nothing's available at the moment but we'll seat you as close to your reservation as possible' - but 'Well, then we'll see you at 8:30' with no emotion - really...? That's how we treat guests at Kembara?
Anyways, everything but the aforementioned interaction was...fine. Tia Carmen is the better choice between the two.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Kaylee Houde
Food was really delicious. The crispy garlic edamame and coconut sticky rice were my favorite. I’ll definitely be back. They even accommodated my seafood allergy with ease - they deep fry fish in a separate fryer which helps immensely. Great mocktail options too! Parking is a bit of a pain (self park is far and valet is expensive) but self park is validated by the restaurant on your way out so it’s complimentary. Valet is discounted by restaurant validation.
Overall a great experience. Great beverage selection and the staff is attentive. We weren't fans of the long beans side and liked the sauce and water chestnuts in the asparagus side.
We were seated quickly and our water glasses were constantly full. The server let us know the food would come out as soon as it was ready from the kitchen so we knew we needed to pace our orders so that we received in the order we wanted to eat them.
The staff was able to modify the 3 dumpling appetizer to 4 dumplings so we could each try one. The dipping sauce had great flavor. My shaken beef did have some gristle but otherwise the flavors were good. The menu indicates the level of spice and my beef dish has hot spots which were a little more spicy than my liking but enjoyable nonetheless.
We were able to be leisurely about our dinner and did not feel rushed at all. We were comped the deserts we ordered which was both delicious and a gracious touch. We will go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Food is good. Service management is not fer assigning wetrasis were is needed. One waitress was serving about 30 people, which in my opinion is not right. This is about 1/3 of the restorant capacity. Be patient and give respect to nice waitress tath works hard to make happy the horrible management. Leave good tip. Atmosfere is good but the noise is eleveted.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Located inside the JW Marriott where Roy’s used to be. Booked a reservation within 2 days. Came here for the lamb spring rolls, and James Beard award-winning chef Angelo Sosa! Did not disappoint
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We had an absolutely wonderful experience at Kembara, and it reminded us why we keep coming back to the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa year after year as locals.
We happened to visit during Lunar New Year and were genuinely surprised and delighted with a beautiful gift bag from Rémy Martin, along with a thoughtfully crafted cocktail highlighting the brand. Such a classy, unexpected touch that immediately set the tone for the evening.
Our server, Megan, was an absolute standout—warm, knowledgeable, and perfectly attentive without ever feeling intrusive. She elevated the entire experience.
Every dish we ordered hit the mark. The edamame was outstanding, topped with perfectly crispy garlic that was savory and salty without even a hint of bitterness. The smashed cucumber was refreshing, and the green papaya salad was beautifully balanced, featuring a perfectly jammy salted egg that tied everything together. We were thrilled to see that the brown butter crab hand roll is now offered as a sushi roll—still just as indulgent and delicious. The vegetable lo mein was a surprise highlight, deeply flavorful and comforting, and the crab fried rice was packed with large, sweet pieces of crab that felt truly generous.
My husband ordered the Sympathizer cocktail, which arrived with a stunning smoked presentation tableside—dramatic, aromatic, and absolutely delicious.
From the thoughtful Lunar New Year touches to the exceptional food and service, this meal was memorable from start to finish. We’ve been visiting the JW for years, and thanks to Kembara, we now have yet another reason to keep coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Just had our fourth visit and we couldn’t be happier with the menu and the quality of service. Chef Stephanie is a wonderful ambassador of this restaurant. If you like Asian fusion this is the place to go. Ignore people complaining about the prices. If you want good food, you have to pay for it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wonderful service, they ALL ensured my allergies were respected and communicated with every dish. Lo mein and fried rice were the best I have ever had, simple and full of flavor. Of course their most popular dishes were everything expected and more. 🤗 Chef Sosa was absolutely charming-good luck on your upcoming competitions! , Lizzy our waitress was attentive, Daniel was absolutely passionate about the food and quality, Elizabeth recommended excellent cocktails and Maritza-great playlist! All of the staff really went out of their way to accommodate. 1000% recommended. Merci infiniment!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
All the food looks delicious, the ambiance is amazing I love the Asian style and Daniel Sandy is an amazing waiter he explained the menu perfectly!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Daniel Saady, wow wow wow, passionate, detailed, very well explained, professional and inspirational. Amazing personalized service. Thank you, my fremch family and I will be back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wonderful dining experience. BUT, Kembara is a cashless restaurant. People need to be aware of that. Come with a card. They do not accept cash.
We had a fantastic experience at Kembara. The waiter did a great job tending to us. The food was extraordinary! Tuna Thai Jewel was the best dish I have ever eaten and I wanted to lick the bowl clean. The presentation was gorgeous. The pork fried rice was exceptional. When I made the reservation, I marked it was our anniversary. The waiter noticed the small detail and got us a free dessert for our anniversary celebration. Thank you for making our special night even more special!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
The food, ambience, and service here is absolutely incredible. I highly recommend the beef rendang (approved by my Malaysian friend ), fried rice, and Thai tuna jewel . Our server Cole was super attentive and gave us recommendations for food and cocktails based on our preferences. Would 100% recommend and would love to come back again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We loved this restaurant! Food and service were excellent and just enough buzz to be fun but still carry on a conversation.
The food was good but not great. We didn't care for the pace of the service where everything was served at a different time. The kitchen should be able to schedule the appetizers to be served at one time, and then the dinner entrees to be served at the same time.
My girlfriend and I ate here for new years last night. We own a home in Desert Ridge, have eaten our way around Desert Ridge and High Street, and really enjoy Tia Carmen located directly across the lobby so we figured we'd give this place a try.
The positive - their cocktail selection was excellent, our server was personable, kind and attentive. The ambience was...fine; not too loud, typical resort crowd. The resort is nice. The fish tasted pretty fresh.
The 'meh' aspects - the beef rendang I ordered was greasy, but flavorful. The crispy sushi rice seemed expensive for 3 pieces considering OBON gives you a whole flight of 8 for the same price. Overall, I'd describe the food was average in taste and a little lacking in presentation. My partner enjoyed her food.
Something I'll also note about our experience: We showed up an hour early for our reservation on an understandably busier night and, without high expectations, decided to ask if they had any room for us early. After sharing that we were early for our reservation, a woman who I assume to be a front of house manager at the front desk responded, without any emotion, with 'Well, then we'll see you at 8:30'. I couldn't gauge whether that was meant to be condescending, so I responded with 'Oh!..wait really?', which was met with an education session that Kembara serves X number of guests a night, they're very busy, etc., etc..
I'm going to assume this person was stressed, and that the interaction did not mean to come off as condescending and dismissive as it was received, but that could have been handled better coming from someone whose worked several customer-facing positions in the hospitality and restaurant industry. We would have been happy to be referred to spend money at Kembara's bar rather than the lobby bar, or would have appreciated a 'Nothing's available at the moment but we'll seat you as close to your reservation as possible' - but 'Well, then we'll see you at 8:30' with no emotion - really...? That's how we treat guests at Kembara?
Anyways, everything but the aforementioned interaction was...fine. Tia Carmen is the better choice between the two.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Food was really delicious. The crispy garlic edamame and coconut sticky rice were my favorite. I’ll definitely be back. They even accommodated my seafood allergy with ease - they deep fry fish in a separate fryer which helps immensely. Great mocktail options too! Parking is a bit of a pain (self park is far and valet is expensive) but self park is validated by the restaurant on your way out so it’s complimentary. Valet is discounted by restaurant validation.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
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