Thai Smile Cuisine — Restaurant in Area F (Alberni Highway)

Was it an off night or is this a new standard?

When last I rated this place it was four if not 4 and 1/2 star experience. But my latest experience has dropped it down.

Why? Because the cost has gone up so high, and the amount of food and shift in quality has gone down.

Now I'm all for restaurants making their overhead and a good profit so that they can pay their staff what they are worth. Yet when you start to see a decrease in the value and quality, that's where the breaking point is.

I have watched my favorite dishes go up in price by $5 over the last 2 years. Inflation included, that is still a lot.

Now you have to give a wide berth as some dishes have expensive ingredients. However the chicken cashew nut does not. The cashew nuts were not expensive quality or quantity and frankly there was maybe $4 worth of ingredients in my takeout container .

Now speaking of containers, I am wondering if the price hike is paying for this Tupperware worthy plastic? I mean that's great and all but if you're not someone who's going to reuse it then that's just more landfill. I would rather have a biodegradable food safe paper product or alternative if it meant the dish was going to be $14 instead of 16. Because as you can see by the photos, it was barely half full .

And there's the bite - pun intentional At $16 plus tax getting an order of curry that is literally $4 worth of ingredients and yet not even 1/2 filled to the container was pretty disapointing. As was the quality.

Again maybe it was an off night and I just happened to get somebody sloshing out a dish without paying attention. But it was overcooked, excessively oily and sweet, without a lot of flavor other than salt. The small amount of chicken that was in the dish had the cheap cut marinated with baking soda texture to it. Hope I'm wrong about that one

Also I had my two other favorites. The first was spring rolls which have also jumped in price by $4 to now $10/4. They were 'okay' but we're not cooked at the proper temperature . Or should I say reheated because these were obviously cooked previously and then reheated to serving. When you do not have the oil hot enough, they basically absorb access. And I wrapped these all in paper towel before eating because it was just too much oil.

Last up was the green chicken curry coconut. It was okay but overcooked and missing basil which is odd cuz that's usually an overflowing ingredient at this place .

Overall this was a four out of 10 experience from me based on what is usually 9/10.

Really hoping it's a one-time thing but I'm not sure with that price hike/less food mad less quality if I'm going to...

Three of us were visiting the island and were hungry for Thai food. We saw great reviews for Thai Smile and stopped by. The hosts seemed a little disorganized, no greetings and probably busy, but we were eventually seated. The waitress was friendly, we ordered and our food arrived promptly. My boyfriend’s iced coffee tasted a little funny, other than that the plating was lovely and everything was fine until - I found an ant in my curry.

I lost my appetite. I know it’s just some extra protein, but I couldn’t bring myself to finish my food. I don’t like bugs, in my food, period. I waved at the waitress and showed her the little ant. She apologized, asked me if I wanted my food remade. I happily said yes and no worries, things happen. The waitress said they’ll take the plate off my bill, which made me very happy thinking what a great example of remedial service this is.

Then I waited. And waited. And no remake arrived. My boyfriend asked the waitress to pack the remake to go, since we wanted to catch a ferry. She walked over while I was hungrily eating up the leftovers of my little sister’s Pad Thai and asked me if I wanted that to go. I said that’s okay I don’t and if my curry remake was coming. The waitress looked at me rather confused and said I’ll have to order for food. Then I realized, there was no remake.

The weird part was the waitress knew the word remake but had no idea what it meant. I was obviously hungry since I didn't eat much more than a side salad. What disturbs me, before my curry with the sad little ant was picked up, the waitress asked if I wanted that to go. I thought she meant my remake and she apparently meant the ant curry.

I wasn't mad about the ant. Honestly things happen. But the follow up service was... well just plain odd. Perhaps this was an English communication breakdown and a lack of standards. I went to Tim Hortons to fill up. The service at Tim Hortons was great. No ants in my chicken strips and if there was, I'm certain they'll remake it....

As a local, who has supported this restaurant and ordered from Thai Smile for the last 8 years, I am deeply disappointed in how I was treated this evening and will never order from them again. MY ORDER: TWO Yellow Curry w/Tofu & extra POTATO Drunken Noodles w/Tofu Mixed Vegetables Large Rice ORDER I RECEIVED: ONE Yellow Curry w/Tofu & extra PINEAPPLE Drunken Noodle w/Tofu Mixed Vegetables Small Rice (They said rice comes in one size, though they've never told me that before today and always given me 2 rice when I order large)

My fault for not double checking my order before driving back home as this is the second time they've done this is 3 weeks. First time they did not offer any compensation and I didn't ask, because they are human and deserve a break every once in a while. Second time again they didn't offer compensation, but this time I asked them to compensate me. Since I had to drive from home 2 times (1st for the wrong order/2nd for the correct order) and now my other food at home was cold and my kids and I were waiting an extra 40 minutes to eat, they could at the very least give me the 2nd order of yellow curry on the house. I was told no with no explanation so I insisted and the female cook refused and would not even come out to talk to me. Instead made her front desk staff tell me. Though my order has been wrong twice in the last month, I have been exceptionally forgiving and approached them with kindness and the opportunity to correct the problem. They made it very clear tonight that they have zero care for the inconvenience they put on their customers and though I gave them every opportunity to make that right, they didn't care and that is...