Benja Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Keremeos

My family who grew up and live in country side was happy with food and serves. They would give 4 or 5 stars. I live in a big city and eat out and cook Southeastern Asian food often. So, if you are spoiled like me, my review may help.

Food was small for the price!! I ordered a wok dish that was $18 something. The dish was served with rice. Everything was served together on one plate that is as wide as an adult male hand and the height of the whole food was less than 3cm. I think it is healthy meal portion, but it wasn't satisfying amount for me. My parents who are seniors were happy with the quantity of their dishes. They still wished that their foods would have served on a bigger plate as there was no extra room on the plate to cut, assemble or rest the food with cutlery. No garnish on any of the 4 dishes we ordered, so presentation was less than a street food quality.

My food tasted good, I wished that it had more rice as the wok dish was salty. The menu showed that the dish was a bit spicy (1 hot pepper). There was no heat.

The fried rice that my family ordered wasn't really fried. The rice was mushy and soft. It tasted like rice steamed with all ingredients, oil, and ketchup.

My partner's curry dish was soupy and didn't have much ingredients in it. The server girl dripped water in it and it became more soupier - he didn't mind it. He asked for medium hot, but there was no heat at all in his dish.

The dish that my father ordered was fried noodles. He didn't say much about the food. But, to me it looked like there could have been more vegetables and meat. I also think that the noodles that other restaurants would use for the same dish would be a lot wider and sauce is creamier in those restaurants.

Service was good, but slow. We recommend letting the servers know you want water even before you sit down. Menu came out soon. The servers came to take order. You have to order water. 5-10 min after, they brought water. It took 20 min or so for food to come to our table. A few minutes later, they came back to refill our glasses. They don't bring you a bill.

If you are looking for a place to sit down, eat lightly and chat, this is a great place as the dining space was very comfortable. It was clean and quiet. The booth walls are high enough that you even may not notice the other customers behind you.

The sad thing is that someone who called herself foodie in this town recommended this...

Been to this restaurant many times before and gave a 5 star review. Sadly though, our visit today was extremely disappointing. This really upsets me.

As we arrived and looking for a table, there were 4 tables unoccupied but dirty, full of leftover pots and food in the main area. We asked for a table for 2 and were pointed in the direction of the tiny area the other side. We declined and said we would wait while they cleared the main tables.

We waited and were pleased to get our table. As we were approached for our drinks orders, we were told the liquor license expired yesterday and had not yet been renewed. Gosh... I like my Thai beer! But having driven from Penticton, we weren’t then going to turn around and go back.

Our Diet Coke arrived... as cans with straws sticking out! Disappointing!

Our food arrived and was delicious but service was slow, the restaurant was very quiet.

Once finished, we waited. Our plates were never cleared, we weren’t offered 2nd drinks, we weren’t offered dessert.

As we looked around, we noticed how dirty the restaurant was. The dust around the seats showed they hadn’t been wiped in days. Dirty plates were still on tables. Food was still spilt on the floor.

We went to the front to pay. The young gentlemen asked how it had been, I quietly and politely said “well I’m sorry but I won’t rush back”. He laughed and said sorry to hear that. A little shocked I pointed out, no beer, slow service, dirty restaurant and food on the floor, again he laughed and said sorry about that.

Such a shame to see a Keremeos icon go down hill so badly. I hope they can pick this...

I have been coming here for years. Have reccomended this place to dozens of people. The last time I was here was in 2018 and it was pretty good. Today was a major disappointment. I really appreciate the challenges a thai restaurant must have in accessing ingredients and labor in a small town and a family run joint is always 100 times preferred to a chain.... so kudos for that. I ordered three dishes and they were poorly made, not fresh and really overpriced. I have no problem paying for food, but this place is literally a rip off at this point. Each dish was about 20 bucks and very poorly presented and prepared. What happened? I cannot recommend this place again, in fact ill have to tell my friends to now avoid it. How do the people working actually miss how bad their food has become? Was it just a bad day? I won't be coming back to find out. Skip this place unless you want to experience really bland overcooked food made with no care or attention and at prices that compete with Vancouver but In...