The Tropical Island Restaurant

Came here with a friend and they make really good South East Asian food.

I've lived in Singapore for 6 years and the Laksa that they made here was really great. Unfortunately, the Laksa seems to be on the hidden menu and is not available daily.

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=== 1. VERDICT/VALUE
With a menu from across a variety of Asian cultures, Tropical Island tries to everything to everyone and at least for this one takeout experience, it does - falling short only on portion size.

=== 2. FOOD
Our order was takeout and so the portion sizes were small (see photos for scale of the smaller tin pans with chopsticks); however, the quality of the food was decent overall!

Chicken Satay ($13)
Four skewers come at this price with some sort of mild-ish spicy oil-based peanut sauce on the side. The chicken is relatively meaty and tender!

Beef Vegetable Delight ($19)
With lotus root, carrots, onions, celery, and broccoli on tap with thin slices of beef, this is a dish you'll enjoy with rice or another starch.

Green Beans ($19)
One of the recommended house dishes by the server; it was decent - no minced pork like that found in Chinese restaurants, but it does have red and green peppers and onions.

=== 3. SERVICE
The server at the counter was good and professional, balancing myself, app-order delivery drivers, and dine-in guests. The staff here seemed to speak English and Manadarin. The food was prepared fairly quickly, tho this may be due to having only 4 tables of dine-in guests at the time of order.

=== 4. ENVIRONMENT
It's not a looker - it starts with narrow hallway with two small bench-type seats for those waiting at the counter, before opening into an older seating area. Wheelchairs and baby strollers should fit well enough once you get through the hallway. Parking is interesting - a few spots are located out front (watch out for one with a small Do Not Park sign on the wall) and there are a few more spots across the alleyway.

Food is not bad here, but not amazing either. Pretty basic but with fresh ingredients. The Taiwanese beef noodle was okay. It had a bunch of broccoli in it instead of the usual bok choy.

Great food. Lots of delicious options (tropical fish and sweet and sour pork are our favorites. We only order takeout since we have a baby at home, but there is lots of space and a relaxed atmosphere. Food is always ready on time.

Yum! Great food and good service. Some of the reviews here seem to suggest that this restaurant was disappointing as a generic Chinese or Asian restaurant - what they fail to notice are the specialty dishes this restaurant has to offer in the traditional Thai, Malay, Chinese, and Indonesian hybrid of variety. This type of food is hard to find on this side of the country and I don't think many people appreciate that! The people who work here speak Chinese - if you go to this region of the world (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, you'll realize many people speak Chinese and there are a lot of Chinese people in the region.) It makes sense that the foods would intertwine and you would get to enjoy the best of all worlds.

That being said we had an amazing meal here. I had bookmarked it and when I realized it was already almost 9pm by the time I was ready for dinner, I was relieved to find that this restaurant was open until 10pm on Saturday. We had the fried tofu appetizer (cooked perfectly), the char kway teoy noodle dish with shrimp (noodles more wide like Chinese chow fun noodles, and sauce a bit lighter than the usual CKT, but still delicious!) the fried beef (my friend said was incredible), and the seafood egg noodle dish (yummy sweet tropical sauce!) The portions were generous and we had plenty of leftovers to take with us. They reheated well the next day btw!

Our server came by to refill our water glasses several times while we were there and we left just before closing. I would definitely return on my next visit to town.

Come on down to Tropical Island Restaurant! Eat the food of Southeast Asia at one kinda convenient I guess location!

You could buy frozen roti across the street at Fairway's, but why not come in for our exciting frozen roti with bland curry sauce! TROPICAL ISLAND!

We've got meat, on sticks, with like, visibly a small amount of marinade on maybe one of the pieces? TROPICAL ISLAND!

There are mirrors on one of the walls, so you can see the other side of the restaurant reflected on them! TROPICAL ISLAND!

If you want spicy food, be prepared. We'll put a little chili powder on your food! Bet you didn't see that coming! TROPICAL ISLAND!

Southeast Asian food is all about complex spicing, whether it's subtle or in your face. Instead, though, we're indistinguishable from any bland American/Canadian Chinese restaurant from the 1980s! TROPICAL ISLAND!

Seriously, if you have a problem with spicy food, don't worry, you can order the food marked spicy on our menu without fear. TROPICAL ISLAND!

We can't make anything spicier, because it's already made, with an exotic flavour profile tailored to Victoria 1979. TROPICAL ISLAND!

There's really no point in eating here, but why not come spend lots of money with us anyway, because you hate yourself and you hate flavour and food, and you want to leave the meal with a cynical dread, no longer excited that random restaurants in the middle of nowhere might provide something special, something that makes life worth living, something that at least makes you feel alive. TROPICAL ISLAND.

I like the pineapple rice the most! And the deep fired Tofu is really good! The servers are nice. it is better to eat with friends ( or share with others), because the price is a little bit high.

It was not my first time eating here, but the experience was good every time I went.
I went to the restaurant for lunch yesterday. The waitress was friendly.

Crispy chicken was flavourful; the inside was tender and the outside was crispy.
Tropical fish tasted really good with the house special sauce.
Beef noodle was from the special menu. The soup was not bad, but I preferred it with the spicy broth.

Will definitely return!

Have been many times as its in our neighborhood and not much competition around. While the food is pretty good, fresh with good flavors, the hostess/wait staff have kept our party waiting an inordinately loooong time because they were trying to man the phone for phone orders and ppl picking up food. This meant sitting at our table trying to find someone, anyone, to take our order.

It was laughable. We could have sat in the restaurant and used our phone to place the order. The bus girl, while sweet, could not communicate in English which was frustrating.

Lastly I have noticed portion sizes are shrinking and it's not a great value for your buck.
My favorite dish is the sweet and sizzling fish. Don't bother with the tropical island crispy beef. Too hard, no flavor just crusty like fried beef jerky. Coconut rice is good though pretty sweet.
Hope they get better organized - if you know the restaurant is busy during xx times. ..then plan your staffing better!

Got some takeouts for tonight

Tropical Beef was really like ginger beef, crispy and sweet; Ha Moon Bee Hoon had a big protion, it cames with lots seefood and vegs, sweet and sour flavored, quite appetizing. Hainanese Chicken was definitely a killer. served cold but so tender, a must-try !

I ordered a take-out, so I dont have the position to say anything about the service. But I would like to say that the server was good. Because it was my first visit, when I ordered the Tropical beef, she specificly told me that it tastes like ginger beef. It may be just a tiny reminder but feels warming.

Anyway, will return

I love this restaraunt, it's very under the radar with it's location and decor but they have some of the best spring rolls in Victoria. We go in every month or two, but the waitress always remembers us and remembers our order which is a very nice, familiar feeling.

It's the sampler platter for two, which is great - definitely worth a try. I'm not a big fan, but their green curry is amazingly creamy, so good :)