Baan Thai Restaurant - from TOP to FLOP?

[wuppertaler]

Some months ago a girlfriend told me that her dead Australian husband used to eat steaks in Baan Thai restaurant and said it has the best steaks in town.
I didn't know the place and invited her to diner to show me the location. It is a very imposing building with nice interior decoration.
We sat on the groundfloor, service and food was good. My steak was delicious and well-done.

Later a German friend asked me for a good steak house and I remembered Baan Thai. He did not know the way and so we went together with my Thaiwife, the friend and his Thai friend.

We got a table on the 2nd floor and 2 menue cards for 4 people. I asked for 2 more menue cards so that ALL customer can choose their food at the same time!

A service girl (or boy?) using glasses in a strong black frame stood nearby when I said to my wife „I can not find the steak I eat here the last time“.
Obviously the girl did not understand any English because there was no reaction from here.
I let my wife ask and then it came out that there is a separate menue card for steaks. Normally they should put all cards on the table because it is named "Steak-house".

Another girl asked what we would like to drink, I ordered Coke Zero but they did’nt have it. So I changed to soda water, my wife water and the friends 2 Coke.

My friend wanted to order a Tenderloin steak, but needed his Thai friends help to make the order clear.
I decided for the Rib-eye steak and asked the girl (or boy) what comes with the steak, any salad or french fries or do I have to order it separate?
She did not understand me and talked with my wife but could NOT answer the question anyway. She had to went away to ask somebody!!
Later she returned and said there is salad and frend fries included already. So good but I wanted a mushroom soup first, my wife also and so my wife ordered 2 soups, the steak and her Thaifood!

The drinks were still not on the table but then a girl appeared and asked what we would like to drink – so we ordered AGAIN. We started to feel confused.

Thaifood came first, my steak came very late. Good luck that we got the soup in the meantime, but not only 2, we got 3 soup bowls although my wife only ordered 2 - for me and her.
The 3rd soup bowl stood on the table a long time until I got angry and said they have to move it away because we didn‘t order.

My hungry friend was still waiting for his steak and so I asked the girl/boy when he will get it. She did not understand me again and if we not sit with Thaipeople, we had no hope to get anything right in this restaurant!

They found out that the order of my friends steak has gone lost. My friend turned unhappy, not wanted to wait any longer and cancelled his order. I got my steak in the meantime and shared it half with him.
It looked good, large and thin but he gave it back after he tried it and said it is not good quality and that he might get problems with his teeth.
He was right, it was not perfect, many tendon in the beef.

Finally we got the bill for all people together, over 1.400 Baht. They did not ask us in advance about sharing the bill which should be standard in a good restaurant.
So we tried to check the bill and calculate the share by ourselves.

I found a position 399 Baht but I remembered my steak was 299 Baht in the menue card. My wife asked and they said 299 Baht is for „B“-quality but my wife ordered „A“ quality.
She said when I showed the girl/boy with the finger in the menue card what I wanted, they asked HER what I need „B“ or „A“ quality? But they did not tell her that „A“ costs 100 Baht more and it is not written down in the menue card.

Anyway this steak was far from „A“ quality, 399 Baht for a sticky piece of beef. It is a joke to ask that money for the old cow.


I feel sad because I wanted to show my friend a good place for steaks but he did not get one and my steak was not worth the money!
We have been there with Thaipeople who helped about communication but things went wrong anyway.
I can speak some Thai but it would not be good enough to go there for diner alone.
Never again - back to Sizzler!

2013-07-06 19.43.59.jpg

2013-07-06 20.52.29.jpg

[Loki]

Only ate there once, not impressed at all, and thought overpriced. Remember couple things good, rest quite mediocre, and no real value. Didn't sample beef steaks, as never satisfied here. Nice looking building, maybe I was expecting too much :lol:

Place was fairly empty on our visit, though a bit early for Thai diners, think 5 ish PM. Service only fair and did take a while for all the food to get to the table.

Also don't like the idea that they offer shark fin soup...........I don't have many ethics, but I steer clear of shark finning establishments. If you're going to kill it, eat the damn thing.

[westerby]

Sounds like you had a bit of a nightmare, Wuppertaler. 400 Baht for steak? That's European prices, old chap.

[Nobbles]

all sounds very confusing to me., thanks for the photo, at least it looks like a decent size piece of meat even if it was B grade..or was it A,or C grade with or without Fries and Coke.

AND why is it the salad and veg that accompany dishes never look good on the eye and usually taste as bland as water...well in my eyes anyway.

[el-guapo]

300-400 baht i think you can get a good plate at sizzler? and dont you get a complimentary
visit to the salad bar? their are some things thais do very well but run knock-off steakhouses. no. :x

[blacksheep]

Best go to Sizzler or Santa Fe Steakhouse. Never had a bad meal at Santa Fe and great value for money. All my trips to Sizzler have been good except for the last on a day when all the teachers were in town for testing. The place was packed and the employees were just overwhelmed. Dishes were stacked up on empty tables waiting to be carried away. Most of the dishes at the salad bar were empty and weren't being replenished fast enough. People sitting at tables waiting to place orders and waiters no where in sight. Told my wife it will be a long time before I go back. Very disappointing meal, so never go when it's crowded. Thai employees are just not equipped for the unexpected. I've never seen one yet that could work faster than a snail's pace!

[Khun Paul]

Steak, well I buy it myself from one or two places thatr serve good australian steak, and cook it at home. In 10 years although I have smapled a few outside the home, never had agood steak. came to the conclusion, not only do Thais have no idea waht a good steak is, they cannot cook it properly and in the vast majority of places including santa fe and sizzler the service sucks. For example recently went to santa fe, ordered starter and main course the starter came 5 mins after the main course,
So unless I am eating Thai food , I go to farang run restaurant, less stress.

[el-guapo]

and you can run into great service people at the kfc no less , a place where tips are not even expected
ive never understood it. is it proper training or a trickle down management culture i cant say but some
of my more enjoyable experiences come from just the regular simple haunts, where tips arent required
that sizzler normally is empty, on days they have conventions over at central, anything goes though

[blacksheep]

and you can run into great service people at the kfc no less , a place where tips are not even expected
ive never understood it. is it proper training or a trickle down management culture i cant say but some
of my more enjoyable experiences come from just the regular simple haunts, where tips arent required

That's a good question! I've spoken with more than one farang who owned restaurants and eventually closed citing the main problem was the inability of staff to carry out simply instructions. No doubt you have Thai management in some restaurants that just don't have a clue about Western standards for good customer service. Santa Fe is a prime example...waitresses standing around chit-chating while dirty dishes pile up on the table and never once come back to the table to ask if they can serve you desert, coffee, etc. Just wait for you to leave so they can get the tables cleaned for the next customer. Almost like robots with no brain to think on their on. Three years in Udon and I've yet to see more than a handful of employees who actually took ownership and responsibility and showed some initiative in their jobs and acted like they really cared.

Last week I went to the gold shops at the second circle to upgrade the wife's bracelet. Walked into at least three of the smaller shops where the wife was playing on the computer and the husband was reading a newspaper, and none of them even looked up when we walked in. We simply walked out and headed for the next shop. Unbelievable!

[el-guapo]

and there are some great thai customer service people out there, the young man who delivers my
weekly pizzas, here in 20 minutes, superpolite, itemizes my order, has change in pouch for any
denomination of banknote.maybe it is training? or a clear outlining of what is expected in job? :