Keo's Kitchen — Restaurant in Saskatoon

TLDR: I really love the food there but there is major disorganization in staff - they are very hardworking and do their best to help but because everyone tries to do everything there is often huge breakdowns in communications with customers.

I strongly believe that this is not an issue with employees, but rather a lack of organization and structure from managers/owners where none of the workers know exactly what they are supposed to do

Every time I have ordered from Keo's the food has been delicious. But be forewarned, the wait times can be very frustrating.

The employees are hardworking, but there is very little organization and teamwork. It seems like everyone is trying to do everything at once and no one has any defined roles.

My last experience occurred during a dinner rush and this led to absolute chaos and a huge breakdown in communications with customers (not just myself).

First, there was a skip driver who arrived because the restaurant told her the order was almost ready; she ended up having to wait for over half an hour extra to get her food. She tried her best to flag down workers to at least try and get an idea how long things would take; eventually a different person would go back to the kitchen (presumably to check if the order was done) and then reappear with no order and go back to their many tasks without communicating to the driver what the situation was. Eventually she was able to find out that the order was going to take 5 more minutes; however, it ended up taking more than 10 minutes. I felt bad for the driver because she surely lost the tips from another order while she had to just stand there and wait.

As for myself, my pickup order ended up being delayed by about 20 minutes from the scheduled pickup time (which was already 50 minute after I had placed my order). I have no problem waiting for my food, but the lack of communication meant I truly had no idea when things were going to be ready. As I'm sure they were rushing to get orders out, I ended up receiving an incorrect order (got regular rice with a dish instead of coconut rice that I paid 3$ extra for). Also there ended up being a huge pool of sauce in the bottom of my takeout bag which got over everything.

You may say that this was a one-off because the restaurant was very busy, but I have noticed similar issues when dining-in in the past. Any time you need something you have to flag down a (likely different) employee, and occasionally they forget your request because they are trying to do 100 things at once. This also results in the front counter being unstaffed for periods of time which means I've had to wait long periods of time to pay...

The food is very good, with the pad thai being among the best in Saskatoon. However, I will not be ordering anything from Keo's until they fix their terrible online ordering system. Here's an example of my most recent attempt at ordering takeout from Keo's:

I went online to their website and tried to use their "new online ordering system". I clicked the items I wanted and went to check out, only to be told that the system was not working and there was an error. Ok, no big deal, I'll try SkipTheDishes instead.

So I ordered on Skip, and my order sat pending for about 10 minutes until it timed out. Skip ended up apologizing for the delay and gave me a credit as an apology for the delay. I've now started to become more frustrated as I've spent 20 minutes trying to order takeout.

I then tried calling the restaurant directly, which I initially avoided as ordering by phone had been a poor experience in the past. Well, Keo's sure delivered on the poor ordering experience once again.

A lady answered the phone and the background was so extremely noisy and disruptive that I had to turn my phone all the way down so I didn't go deaf. Not a great start. She then asked me what I would like, and I began ordering. After writing down the first item, the noise in the restaurant became so unbearable that I had to hold my phone away from my ear even with the volume turned waaaay down. I powered through the ear-piercing noise and put the phone back up to my ear so I could hear what she was saying. She then couldn't hear what I was saying, and started to get grumpy with me, asking if I was on speaker phone. I said no and repeated my order. She again wasn't able to hear me, and asked if someone was talking in the background. I told her no, I was alone in my living room with absolutely no background noise whatsoever.

Her tone was accusatory and she seemed to believe that somehow I was the problem. This was enough to put me over the edge and I finally hung up the phone and ordered elsewhere.

I have never experienced a restaurant so incapable of servicing a takeout order. I can't emphasize enough just how loud the restaurant was when I phoned to order. It was INSANE. If your online ordering system isn't going to work, at least have a quiet location for your staff to answer the phone or buy them a headset instead of a cheap wireless home phone from 2007. it's pathetic that I even have to write this in 2023. Figure...

Edit: I've been going to Keos for the last 7 years. I actually worked there when they were further up broadway. I still love the food, but I get disappointed every single time I go now. I don't know what has happened, but they have zero spice levels. They say they do and take your order the same, but as someone who eats there 2 Times a month religiously, it's simply not the case. I used to get a 3 or 4 spice level while working there. Sometimes a 5 if I was getting a sweeter meal to balance it. To give reference a level 3 is supposed to be "Canadian hot" and anything above that is considered crazy hot, a 6 being out of this world and rare to see someone enjoying without steam escaping their ears, eyes watering and sweat dripping down their face. In the last 2 years... I've ordered a level 6 every time, and unfortunately, I could not taste spice at all. No heat. My 5 year old son has eaten my leftovers like it's nothing... because it seems like it is. I've even asked for extra spice to be brought to the table in the past and dumped a whole bowl on my meal. Before, all you needed was the tiniest pinch. Even my boyfriend says it's changed and is a disappointing experience now. Please give us our choice of heat levels back. I think after repetitive disappointment and efforts we will be coming by a little less. Maybe once a month. The food is amazing and if you don't like spice then you'll love it! The best ginger beef in the city HANDS down in my opinion. I always order extra beef and coco rice. I can't recommend the panang curry enough either! It's absolutely to die for. Just for me, I appreciated and loved keos because it was one of the few places that offered high spice levels without the spices over powering the delicious food. And because I've had expectations I can't seem to shake my dissapointment every bite I take.

Everything on the menu is so amazing. And the staff are so attentive and fast for...