Jatujak — Restaurant in Toronto

We came to Jatujak a few times and enjoyed it. So we came as a group of six, an including two of our friends who have never been. However this visit was upsetting to say the least.

It’s Friday, we understand it’s packed. However as we ordered our food, one of the us asked for the waitress’ recommendation for their curries. However, she failed to explain that all their curries include coconut milk. Maybe it was because there was an extremely loud party beside us, but I believe if we ask for recommendations, they should tell us exactly what’s in it.

So because they failed to describe the dish, when we received it, it wasn’t to our satisfaction. We tried to politely send it back, however, the waitress and I quote, “we can’t send it back because we didn’t mess up the order.” Uhmmmm okay? But YOU were the one who failed to describe the dish to us. It’s also our first time to hear this as no restaurant we’ve ever dined in denied to send our dish back to the kitchen because of their lack of communication. I thought the customer was always right? Maybe not here, I guess. One of us expressed our want to speak to a manager. They said okay. But shocker, no manager came to help diffuse this situation? Almost like they were just waiting for us to finish the rest of our meals, and leave so we wouldn’t need their higher up. Yet, when we complained to another waiter as we paid for our meals, he said the same excuse. Not to mention, that if they were to send the food back it comes out of their paycheque? That’s also the first time to hear this kind of reason for this situation. I find that hard to believe. Is this how you train all your staff? Did I also mention that we still didn’t get to speak to a manager?

Anyways onto the food. I agree we came on a very busy night, maybe that’s why the quality of food wasn’t up to standard. The rice noodles I ordered were salty, too much soy sauce. The pad see ew was too oily. The chicken dish we ordered was dry. I could also tell you about our calamari, unfortunately that didn’t make it to our table. But we still got charged for it. Unbelievable. At least, there was one competent service person, as she gave us the refund.

Anyways, we came on an off night so I can excuse the food. However, this service is enough to not make me or others come back. Train your staff more especially the waitresses and waiters on how to diffuse situations like this, instead of immediately acting defensive. I also shouldn’t even add that you should train them to describe your restaurant dishes no matter the situation.

Do better.

EDIT: if you can justify your food policy, you should also attempt to justify the poor service from your staff. We asked to speak to a manager THRICE, but your servers denied us that. Please try to explain that or you should reprimand them. You seemed to forget to add that into your response....

What we got: Thai Iced Tea Thai-P-A Shrimp Chips with Peanut Sauce Pineapple Fired Rice with Chicken Jatujak Pad Thai with Beef Tapioca Coconut Pudding

I want to start by talking about the staff they were very kind and attentive. The service is always friendly and no matter what once you enter you are greeted it makes you feel super welcome before even sitting down!

The food is always so fresh and quick! The spicy is SPICY so be prepared! . 😊

We got the THAI ICED TEA to drink which is always sweet and delicious. It’s hands down one of my favourite drinks! My husband got the THAI-P-A which had wonderful citrus flavour with coconut water and lemongrass. We shared the SHRIMP CHIPS and the were delicious very crunchy and salty with a sweet shrimp-y hint!

I got the BEEF PAD THAI - SPICY it was spicy 🥵 with a blend of sour & sweet with the perfect balance of fragrant spices and herbs the peanuts provided a wonderful crunchy and the lime just brought it all together. It was absolutely lovely Spicy though.. if you enjoy spicy I would go for this! 🤤 My husband got the PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE - CHICKEN and the delicious blends of the curry powder with the sweet touch of the pineapple and that crunch from the cashews made for the most wonderful blend of flavours. It was absolute perfection!

We ended with TAPIOCA COCONUT PUDDING and this was beautiful I loved the purple tapioca it was visually vibrant! It did have corn which surprised us but it all balances really well! It was beautifully sweetened and had a wonderful texture it was the perfect end...

Dear Manager and Owner,

I would like to share my experience from my recent visit to your restaurant on August 7 between 4:30 and 5:00 pm. This was my second visit — the first time I came with my husband, and the service and food were excellent. Unfortunately, this time my experience was very disappointing.

I came with my friends, and we were very excited for the food, especially since we hadn’t eaten anything all day after work. While we love your restaurant’s food, the service we received was not up to the standard we experienced before.

The staff member who explained the menu did so in a very unclear way. As both of us are vegetarian, we asked for recommendations for popular vegetarian dishes, but she simply pointed to a page on the menu and said we could order anything from there.

When we requested the use of separate utensils for our food, she responded rudely, saying, “We know how to cook.” This was not a respectful way to speak to customers and made us feel very uncomfortable. We only asked to make sure — that’s one of the reasons we chose your restaurant and recommended it to our friends. When I asked which vegetarian dish was the best, I didn’t expect the answer to be, “We can do everything veg.” I was hoping for a helpful recommendation, not a dismissive reply.

As a result, we did not enjoy our meal. We finished eating within 10 minutes, packed the remaining food, and ate it at home instead.

I hope you can look into this matter and take appropriate action so that future guests have a...