FAME Prague — Restaurant in Prague

WARNING all future customers!!

We went there whilst being on holiday with a local we met in Prague and the experience was horrible, saved only by the food. When we arrived, the manager noticed that we were German except for our Czech friend and he switched to talking German nonstop. We kindly asked him to please talk to us in English exclusively, so noone feels left out, which he instantly disregarded and ignored. We were offered some Strawberry Margaritas as a limited offer because he got fresh strawberries (completely overhyped having strawberries like you couldn't get any fresh ones ever in Prague), which were really nice and tasty actually. However, not only did he judge our friend by saying he will not drink a margarita, but instead a beer (he wanted one aswell), the 4 margaritas arrived seperately and took 6mins each to make. This meant that by the time we all had a margarita to toast, the first one was already half melted. He used the mean time between making the drinks himself to berate us about czech food culture while being rac*st and disrupting the conversation we had with our friend group. I also work in restaurants as a student, so the expectations in terms of service culture and behaviour towards me are not as high as owning and servicing your own hospitality. However, there are multiple things that I considered unacceptable:

placing down the drinks and tampering with the straws in front of the customer begging for 5 star reviews and insulting people with actual constructive criticism as "a-holes"; slamming/throwing down cutlery to the client (either use a plate so customers can do it themselves or carefully place them for the customers) completely ignoring a member of the group, noticeably being disgusted by the mere existence of him and not taking the desired orders of him seriously leaning on the table extremely to reach the other side to take plates from us, entering our personal space and forcing us to smell his mouth odor talking to us like we know each other in private while I just want to enjoy a meal coming to our table and showing us the cutting tray with the strawberry heads for the margarita while holding a KNIFE and waving it right in front of us, telling us "haha if I was an immgrants, I might stb you" stalking the profiles of people that review the location badly and using the information to reply in a nasty way

It took him roughly 45mins to let us order our STARTERS and main dishes. Now, I don't mind having a relaxed night out and waiting longer for the whole process, but imagine that paired with an insufferable manager that's servicing you. Also, I'm old enough to read and make my own decisions, I do not need the manager to tell me about all the recommendations he likes (I do not mind making a customer aware of a special offer or a chef's special dish though). At some point my margarita was empty and to avoid him talking at our table for 5mins again I went to the bar myself to order a beer and to order a main dish for our Czech friend, which did not get to order his food with the German manager. He told me at the bar how much he hates the foreigner wave back in Germany and how he is super proud of his naz* grandpa, who was in the "special forces" during a specific time in Germany. They are, according to him, "real and honorable men". He said he knew what he would do with all the imm*grants (line them up and .... them). If I wasn't with my friends, this would've been the point where I leave the hospitality. I do not need to know your political standpoint when I'm trying to enjoy a meal. It's nice to know though that they are outing themselves so future clients can avoid the restaurant.

POSITIVES: I do not normally like to go to asian cuisine restaurants and was very pleasantly surprised with the taste pallet of the food. The mango duck and mango sticky rice I had were exceptional and stood out, which is why I have to rate it at 5 stars, hoping that the manager is not the...

TL;DR: What a find! Probably the most authentic Thai food in all of Prague, engaged and passionate owner and staff, great service and awesome experience. Will definitely come back here!

Have the time? Take a moment for a proper review:

Atmosphere

When you enter the restaurant you immediately notice the minimalist design. It's clean, modern, spacious and laid out very well with enough spacing between the tables so you don't feel tucked up against the other guests. The layout leaves more than enough room for the staff to serve customers without getting in anyone's way. There aren't a lot of adornments and some may find it overly clean if they expect a warm and cozy dining experience, but that's a matter of taste. The food is the real star here, which I'll get to later, and the interior design really keeps the focus on it. The toilets were spotless and clean which is always a good indicator of general hygiene in a restaurant.

Service

As soon as we entered we were greeted warmly by Steve, the owner and host, who immediately made us feel welcome with his amicability, directness and great sense of humor. He takes the time to explain the different menu items and while we were debating on what to pick he showed us some of the dishes that were being served to other customers to give us an idea. There were more customers than usual for a Monday evening so they were a bit understaffed, but when Steve's attention was elsewhere, Romy, the server for the evening, took over seamlessly. We never had to wait for anything for long. Great teamwork!

Food

As mentioned before, the food is the real star here. I ordered the Neua Phad Kra Prao and I must say, this is the first time that I got it served exactly as it is served as streetfood in Thailand: the beef was minced, not sliced, it contained long beans and onions (yes, phad kra prao should contain long beans!), lots of Thai peppers and Thai basil and the sauce was spot on. Steve didn't lie when he said it was "f**ng hot". If it's not hot enough for you, just ask and you'll get an extra jar of dried Thai peppers to spice it up even more! This is also the first time that I got it served with that signature perfectly bubbly fried egg on top (it's fried in oil in the wok to get those crispy edges while still staying soft on the inside). What a treat!

As an appetizer I chose the Tom Kah Kai (which I always pick when I go out to eat Thai food) and it was the most tasty I have had in ages. There were even whole pieces of fresh galangal and lemongrass in there, which is rarely the case nowadays (just don't try to eat them, they're just for aroma and flavour). Absolutely excellent!

My dinner party went for the mixed appetizer platter and the spring rolls, Kang Phed Kai (red curry chicken), Phad Priaw Wan Kai (panko crusted stir fried chicken in sweet and sour sauce) and the Kang Knew Wan (green curry). Everything was made in-house and incredibly fresh. The fried chicken was so perfectly done it didn't even get soggy in the sauce but stayed crispy to the end.

After a few pleas I even got to take a look in the kitchen and meet the head chef, Yaya, who is from southern Thailand. She is very passionate about her cooking and explained that she wants to prepare the dishes just like it's done in her home country.

At the end of the evening we went outside for an openhearted chat with Steve, chef Yaya and her cook for the evening. When Steve heard it would be my mother's birthday in a couple of days he invited us back for a special surprise, but unfortunately we already had a restaurant booked for that evening, otherwise we would certainly have come back! There is no doubt that this restaurant is a passion project and we'll definitely be returning next time we visit Prague!

Steve, Romy, Yaya and all the others: thanks for an unforgettable evening and setting a new benchmark for Thai...

I really hope my experience was just a one off and not something that occurs often here. As soon as I walk in, there weren't too many tables occupied but everyone turns to look at me and stops talking and just stares at me. I know, super awkward and uncomfortable. This lasted for like 10 seconds of just staring and feeling unwelcomed. I was just seconds away from turning around and leaving but I was hungry and this was the only closest restaurant that had vegan options open at the time. Suddenly, this large man walks up to me, I'm assuming is either the manager or owner, and finally greets me as I'm still standing there awkwardly at the entrance. He seats me and gives me a menu and is very nice once I'm seated. I order my food and order a cocktail as well. I get my drink and start to drink it and it was very good, however, when the manager came by asking how my drink was I told him it was good but (jokingly) said I really didn't taste the alcohol in it. Was not stressing over this at all, but he I guess took offense and sent my mostly drunken drink back to the bar to have the bartender apparently pour in 2 extra shots of alcohol. So now at this point once I have my drink back I'm drinking just straight tequila which was not pleasant. The manager come back again asking me if I can taste the alcohol now, and I awkwardly just say yes, but it's so strong I don't even want to drink it anymore. He gets offended again (jokingly I assume but I'm not catching his humor one bit) then tells me I need to stir it up. He then take MY straw that I've been drinking out of, stirs my glass and hands it back to me and tells me to try it again. At this point I'm blown away at the disrespect this man is giving me. I don't make a big deal out of it and just kindly tell him that I still just taste straight tequila. He gets mad now that I'm wasting his top quality tequila (that I did not ask for BTW) and just kind of brushes me off. I'm like so uncomfortable at this point I just want my check to pay and leave now. The food I ordered was amazing and my waiters I had was super nice. Just this whole incident with this manager really made me not want...