Siam Bistro — Restaurant in Ottawa

The Siam Bistro has long been our family's favourite restaurant. Our daughter specifically requested it for her 18th birthday dinner, so I made a reservation for six people for Saturday, Feb 15th at 6pm. While the food was as wonderful as ever, the service last night left a fair bit to be desired.

I don't know if the restaurant was short staffed, but the staff seemed rushed and overwhelmed. We ordered appetizers plus four main dishes for our table, and as each dish arrived, we shared it between all the diners, in order to make room for more dishes on the table.

When a fifth main dish arrived, we were confused. An older woman whom we think was the owner of the restaurant went and got our order slip, then came back and informed us somewhat abruptly that we'd received a pad thai we hadn't ordered, but as it had been shared among all our plates, we would be required to pay for it. We didn't argue, but we were surprised, as most restaurants wouldn't make you pay for something you hadn't ordered. Yes, perhaps we should have realized it wasn't our dish as soon as it appeared, but we're not very familiar with Thai food.

Then, when the final bill came, the owner made a point of informing us that the 15 percent tip wasn't included, and therefore we were required to add it on ourselves. I don't know if she thought we were planning to stiff her over the pad thai or if that's just her normal manner, but it was a bit insulting. We had every intention of tipping.

So, basically, we still love the food, but last night on our daughter's birthday the service was disappointing. We won't be returning...

Let me start by saying that I have been a customer here for all my life. The staff here has become almost like a second family to me. Every single thing you order off the menu is made ON THE SPOT, so it will always be fresh, and that might sometimes take longer.

I read that many are unhappy with the service, but please realize that for many of them English is NOT their first language, so they can come across as rude or nasty without intending to.

This restaurant is BUSY. It has been busy for years. Takeout is usually insane, and as such service can slow down. This unfortunately happens, and because of such a constrained space more people doesn't exactly help.

With all that said, if you've made it this far into my review, here are some tips. 1. Make a reservation - Don't drop in. The chances of you getting a table will be slim to none, especially on the weekend. 2. Avoid the rush - make your reservations either earlier in the night, or later. This ensures you won't be disappointed by the slow service and crazy rush. 3. If they get the order wrong, tell them - Just let them know. Don't just write about how horrible they are, tell them and they will fix it for you for sure.

Again, I love this place, and I hope you find dining here just as enjoyable as I have for the...

This place used to be one of my faves. However this time I went back for lunch after a gap of almost 2 years. I spoke highly to my colleagues about this place. However the service was extremely pathetic. They had given us a lunch and a dinner menu. One of my friend's is vegetarian and the veg curry choices were limited to just the green curry. She was interested in the red curry and almost every Thai place I have been to in Ottawa allows you to substitute meat with Tofu. However the waitress was extremely rude. First she did not look too happy we were ordering off the dinner menu and then on top requesting a very simple substitution. Not only did she outright refuse, she very rudely told us that we can only pick off the veg menu. And then just rudely walked off as we were still discussing the order. Since we were hungry we went ahead and ordered but the attitude was extremely off putting and completely ruined the meal. While the restaurant was busy it was never full but the waitress constantly rushed us. The food was not bad. Obviously its a popular and busy restaurant and one bad review won't affect them but I think its nice not to be so patronizing to your customers esp the ones who have special dietary requirements. I won't...