Bangkok Express — Restaurant in Montreal

This place has gone from good to bad over the last year.

I've eaten at Bangkok Express several times in the last couple of years. Things weren't always this bad. My latest experience sealed the deal on my 1 star rating.

First, for a place that puts the word "express" in their name, it is anything but express of late. I brought my parents and brother here for a reasonable Thai meal this weekend. It took almost an hour for us to get our order. We could tell that other tables around us were having the same trouble. The staff seemed overwhelmed and rudderless.

I want to be clear; I don't blame our wait staff. They were hustling and doing the best they could. They were pretty inexperienced and not sure of what order to do things in, but I blame training and management more for this. It is clear that no one had briefed or trained the staff on how to plan an order, basic protocol and what to do when. An example of this was when our meal was done and I asked for the bill, someone came by to retrieve our water glasses (which were still partly full) and started cleaning our table while we were sitting there. This was awkward and not something you do while your client is still present.

But back to our ordering experience; our meals came very nearly an hour after we ordered them. They were underwhelming, tepid and at least one plate looked more like an appetizer in its scale then an entree. My mom, who ordered peanut chicken and crispy spinach, pointed out that her dish was cold and her plate was a plastic plate (all of ours were ceramic and glass). We asked to send it back. We could tell they just microwaved the dish as the spinach was no longer crispy on return. A different server (we had three different ones) brought some extra spinach to make up for the trouble and explained to us that it was normal that the spinach was cold as it was "prepared in advance and wouldn't join the chicken at the same time on the plate". That is definitely not how you handle crispy spinach, but ok.

My plate was a mix of hot and cold. I had ordered crispy duck which was listed as being stir fried with vegetables. The vegetables were cold while my meat was mostly hot, an indication the plate had either been microwaved or the vegetables were added separately.

I was going to let it pass, but my parents mentioned the cold plate to a server in passing. He mentioned he could go warm it up for 30 seconds and it would be fine. Again; the microwave. Not a good sign.

I realize Thai crispy noodles come sitting in a broth, but my brother's noodles were almost filled with broth. This is not how they are typically served. The broth usually sits at the bottom; it is not a soup.

All in all I would say this is the last time we or I go here. It is possible the priority is on take out and deliver so the sitting patrons suffer. It is important to note that the last time I ordered takeout they got my order wrong. They offered to credit me on a future order but I have no desire to order form here.

Until someone oversees the kitchen plan here, I wouldn't recommend it. You can get cheaper, better quality Thai elsewhere and you'll probably be done in half the time. I really can't think of a redeeming quality to this place at the moment; its also hectic, tightly packed and offers nothing to draw you in at this point. And again; a year ago this was not the case.

One of the most common comments I read on reviews is how they have the "best pad thai". I warrant no one that says that has ever tried a reasonable Pad Thai; BEx's Pad That is inconsistent and...

Words cannot express to how disappointed I was with my experience at Bangkok express. I had such high expectations and was really looking forward to eating here.

We get to the restaurant and ask for a table for 2. They ask us to choose from 3 different seats next to the door. I notice a set of tables in the corner (away from the door), and ask if we can be seated there... the host says unfortunately they are reserved, I found it odd as I called earlier asking for reservations, and the lady who answered said they do not take reservations. Fine... no sweat... we are seated promptly, and have menus and water immediately... good start. We order wine, a papaya salad to share, beef basil with rice, and a pad thai. The wine comes immediately, good start. Then the papaya salad comes, the presentation is good, I am excited... I take a chop out of it... and all I taste is vietnamese fish sauce used for rolls... I am thinking to myself... its ok, the main courses will be amazing.... and here is where things start to go downhill... for 15 minutes me and my date are staring at our dirty dishes in the middle of the table... I say to myself.. its ok they are busy. So I kindly pile the dishes in an orderly fashion and leave it by the corner of the table... another 10 minutes passes... still nobody picks up our dirty dishes (bear in mind waiters have walked by at least a dozen times at this point).

Finally our main course arrives... oups... dirty dishes on the table! so they place the food down, and finally take the dirty dishes... I am completed excited... so we dig in to our food.... the beef basil stir fry is mildly warm... meaning the food had been ready for quite some time and had been sitting there begging to be served.... the beef literally had the consistency of rubber and was bland.... wow.... major let down... so now onto the pad thai, not bad... but is over powered by its sauce that makes you really appreciate the dish less... oh the pad thai is luke warm as well... meaning it too had been sitting begging to be served for a while.... I try to ask a waiter for hot sauce but of course it is impossible to get any sort of service.

We finish our main dishes, and of course we sit there for another 20 minutes staring at our dirty dishes... at this point I am not only let down by the quality of the food, but absolutely appalled by the lack of service. (By the way... remember we are seated by the door, so every time the door opened we would freeze our arses off.. and yes they actually seated other people in area we preferred and they did not have reservations) Nobody comes by to ask us if we want dessert or more wine... so I say forget it... lets go. I am a bit more curt at this point and catch the attention of our waiter... who seems to be the host as well. I ask for the bill... of course... the bill comes promptly... and he brings us 2 fortune cookies. 1 of the fortune cookies is already smashed into bits... I am thinking to myself... what the hell???? that was the last straw for me, I pay my bill and leave a really crappy tip (I felt guilty, but you know what... tips are earned... I normally give a 15-20% tip... but this time.. there was no way that is happening)...

The only good thing about this restaurant is they offer a 325ml wine bottle... better than house wine. Oh another good thing... they are near rockaberry's so treat yourself to a nice slice of pie.

Other than that... seriously go somewhere else where they value...

I wanted to tell you about last night's dinner experience at Bangkok restaurant on Monkland. We arrived at 5:57 p.m. on a Friday evening (I got a phone call as I was walking in and that is how I could track time) with 4 kids ages from 4 to 9. We sat on the lovely terrace and ordered within 10 minutes. We explained to the waiter that one of my daughters is vegetarian so she chose 3 appetizers instead of a meal. They brought 25 minutes later her spring roll, pb dumplings but not the soup. We waited OVER AN HOUR to get the rest of the food. Everyone around us who walked in after us, ordered and got their food before us. My kids were very hungry after a long day at school. We kept asking our waiter what is going on and he apologized and all he said was that it will take longer. 50 minutes after we ordered, my husband wanted to walk out, but decided to go inside and inquire one last time what is going on. He saw that 2 of our dishes and the soup were ready and that they were holding them. He asked them to please bring them out. They did. My kids were so hungry, they shared and ate too fast and then we had a lot of leftovers as they could not eat the rest of the dishes that arrived even later. Before we left I asked to speak to the manager. Her customer approach was very argumentative, with a tone, and not apologetic at all. She said that for Friday night 45 minutes to 1 hour is a regular wait. I asked her why did the rest of the people around us, who came later than us, got their food before us, including friends of our kids from school who sat at the next table, ordered 5 minutes before us (they were 4 people) got their meals, ate, paid and left while we didn't get anything? She went on, arguing again (with a tone), that because my daughter ordered the appetizers they waited for her to finish them before they brought the meal. I explained to her that we told our waiter that the appetizers were for one child instead of a meal and that she eats slowly (she didn't even finish the soup and shared the dumplings and spring roll with her siblings) so why didn't he explain this to us before, when we kept inquiring, we would have told him to bring out everything together - he was just saying he is sorry it is taking so long. She also said that if we decide to give them a second chance we should make sure to tell the waiter to bring all the food at the same time. How and when did it become our fault?? I told her that I would expect her to be more understanding and apologetic, maybe offer us some comp drinks or desert - she looked at me like I was crazy but then after I walked out and my husband paid, she gave my husband a 10% discount for next time - as if there will be a next time. We were all VERY DISAPPOINTED (to put it nicely and mildly) with the service and the way the manager handled (or did not handle)...