Bistro Sawadika — Restaurant in Montreal

It's Monday, August 27th 2018 lunch time 12h05pm. The waitress comes to the door, greets me, and makes her way to the front left corner. Before she heads that way, I politely ask her for another table in the back. There is a total of 9 people inside, quite empty, I may add. As we get the far table in the back She responds to me, saying, "It's only because it makes it easier for the waiter to serve you so he won't walk too much." I get up and head for a table in front of the bar next to the kitchen. Much closer than other clients. I sit down and wait to be served. As the same waitress comes out from the kitchen I call her over and ask her for a glass of water politely and let her know I'll be having the "ALL YOU CAN EAT MENU" She responds that I cannot have that MENU because I am only one person on the table and you need to be minimum of 2 for the "ALL YOU CAN EAT MENU". To my disbelief as I come to this restaurant often and I've eaten here so many times I answer her "WHAT...???!!! did you say...??? She goes back to kitchen to ask if it's possible to serve me. The waiter comes to my table, who has served me before in the past, and tells me that he won't be able to give me the all you can eat MENU also. I still don't understand why. It doesn't state how many people you must be to eat from this menu. It clearly states in the back of the MENU the price for the MENU per PERSON. I don't see the point they're trying to make. He then states that he could give me that menu, but he will get in trouble from his manager. Now, this was too much for me to take in. I come here as I usually come and all of a sudden these new rules and discrimination against me. I got up and left stating that I would advise PROTECTION DU CONSOMMATEUR about this situation and issue. I never have bern mistreated and insulted in my whole life after going to this restaurant and bringing even friends there and groups of friends. I advise anyone going to this restaurant to think more than twice who you support. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT, and IT MUST BE SHARED WITH ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS. BE...

So this place is a solid average (Thai & Sichuan) and overall offers good quality tasting fresh food. The atmosphere is “unique” but fun and overall service was good. So why the 4 star? Because I could not make it 3.5 star as theprice and value in terms of selection of dishes and the various types of proteins and selection within each, as well as how it compares to others. On the pros it’s being your own wine. Thai and Sichuan. *NOTE: If you can’t use your cell phone to order your meal you may have a problem here.

Loved the peanut butter dumplings and shrimp, but found shrimp to be small. They do offer red curry dish which was pretty good too. Pineapple chicken was too much breading and chicken was dry. I didn’t like the idea that you can’t control how much portion like at Matsuno, or La Perle where I can tell the waiter. No desert included not good as other places do. Some dishes are oddly not included which I’ve never seen before. The flavours are ok but not distinctive and somewhat watered down too. For more than the average person this place will do the job nicely, it’s not my first choice but if I were asked to go there I would not put up a fuss to go again - though I do think it’s worth while for most and competitive at $38.00 during the week plus tax and tip. I did find the service staff to not be “customer centric”, almost as if you’re doing them a favour and also noticed tables with English speaking customers have some oddly weird and somewhat confrontation interactions. Myself being fully bilingual had no issues but would suggest to ownership that there needs to be a structure and framework with the customer service and no matter what, respectful and caring. In this industry one bad review can seriously hurt your business and an angry customer could be your worst nightmare. You can tell that they try to cut some corners to stay competitive but for the most part the food is tasty, presentation is nice, food smells good and...

Food not fresh at all, definitely not made the same day, let alone the same hour. Ordered on Uber Eats.

It took them LESS THAN 10mins from the moment I ordered to the moment the delivery guy picked up the order at their restaurant, meaning they didn't have enough time to cook, meaning they didn't cook any of the dishes but only warmed up food that was already prepared, from who knows when... We could tell because the food smelled bad, like it was from a few days ago and not properly preserved. Fried rice was really dry, sauteed beef smelled bad, veggies tasted like leftovers you don't even care to store in the fridge. And I live 5mins away from the restaurant so it was definitely not the delivery guy because he was fast.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND AT ALL! I'm really disappointed because they have good ratings on Uber Eats or even here on Google, and I ordered based on that.

Oh well. NEVER AGAIN.

Update: I called them a few minutes after I received the order to express my concerns and they told me they'd call me back today. THEY NEVER DID! So much for customer service. Sawadika owners, don't worry I DO NOT WANT A REFUND, you can keep the money, but I'll never order from you again and told my friends and family not to either.

Update 2 : so they did call me, saying they were "surprised" and "that I was the only customer who complained". Just because I was the only person complaining doesn't invalid my experience. The whole conversation was the owner gaslighting and acting like I was the one who's too demanding. No apologies. They offered $20 credit on Uber eats, which I DID NOT ACCEPT, because, again, it's not about the money, it's about customer service.

So, food=bad smell and taste Customer service and...