BIEN BIEN — Restaurant in Paris

This review is for Bien2 and for two different dinners in a period of a week. There are two restaurants owned by the same family within two store fronts from each other. One is Bien Bien, which serves Thai and Chinese (the couple are Thai and Chinese). The other is Bien2, which serves primarily Thai dishes. We opted for the latter.

ORIGINAL REVIEW/ FIRST VISIT: I would have rated this place 4 stars but my husband convinced me to give them a higher rating. In my humble opinion, a dining experience can be completely altered negatively by the service you receive, no matter how amazing the food is. So, let me breakdown the points:

Food - 5 Stars Ambiance - 5 Stars Bartender Hospitality - 5 Stars Server Hospitality- 2 Stars

The restaurant was elegantly set up. The bartender was friendly and hospitable the entire time, often helping our sever during our dining experience. The server was a little cold -- as if she didn't want to take care of the guests. She often rushed to get the plates off our table even if it was clear we weren't finished with the dish. She was annoyed that we asked for the "larger" (i.e., regular) wine glasses instead of the cordial glasses we got along with our bottle of Tavel rosé. She was also put-off when I asked her to point me to the direction of the bathroom. Sigh.

The food was excellent tho! The curry was perfectly seasoned -- not too creamy, not too watery. And the shrimp and vegetables were properly cooked. We can't stand over-cooked shrimps! The mixed veggies were also amazing. And finally, the "Money Bag" was delicious!

One last funny, but nice touch was the array of perfumes and colognes in the bathroom on offer, free of charge. LOL.

UPDATED REVIEW/ SECOND VISIT: Updating my review to a legit five stars. We returned because we loved the food so much. Same bartender. Same server. This time the service was a lot better, probably because the restaurant read my original review. It was uncomfortable at first; it was clear the server knew I was the one who posted the review a few days prior. Eventually, she warmed up and essentially made our dining experience very pleasant. We gave her and the bartender a generous tip for their upgraded hospitality. I support those who can take constructive criticism and turn it around....

I was going to leave the one star rating and leave it at that. But since you brought up my children in your comment, let me clarify : Bien Bien used to be great place, one of our favourite Thai restaurants in Paris. We used to be regulars with the previous owner. But since the new owner took over, the level of service and hygiene has gone down the drain. As a customer, it is my right to expect a certain level of service.. if the table had been cleaned properly, I wouldn’t have had to ask your waitress to clean the sticky table. If she had brought the ice bucket with the drinks, I wouldn’t have had to ask her for it..if she had taken our order instead of dressing a table for customers who weren’t there yet, then I wouldn’t have had to ask her at least 3 times to take our order. Your waitress had no problem making hungry children wait while she was busying herself at an EMPTY table. Not everyone will be content at sitting at a sticky table, drinking lukewarm drinks, drinks that are supposed to be served cold or having to ask for their orders to be taken : 3 times...The fact that you dare to give lessons to us about morality at your restaurant & in your comment instead of apologising for your waitress’s horrible behaviour, shows how immoral and unprofessional you are. The fact that you bring our children and their education into your comment shows again how UNPROFESSIONAL you are and that you lack ethics and that we did the right thing by leaving your restaurant. At least us, when we walked in to your restaurant, we started by apologising for our tardiness..you and your waitress were all smiles then and told us that it wasn’t a big deal. Very hypocritical of you, considering the way you treated us afterwards. And you didn’t ask us to leave, you dared us to leave. There’s a difference. When we left, We found a place not far from you where we got excellent service (despite a lack of booking), great food and we had a lovely evening :) Sincerely, Mme S Ps: I am glad and grateful that I didn’t get the same education...

Had really high expectations due to the ratings given previously but personally, it was just a four stars max for food. Service was really friendly and nice though.

Beginning with my two favourites: Tom yum soup and green curry. The tom yum soup was very average. It was just not spicy at all😭. The green curry was not spicy as well, it was cooked with green bell peppers and not green chilis.

Basil pork stir-fry was alright, but again the dish was cooked with bell peppers and not chilis. The pad thai tasted like it was cooked with tomato sauce which was quite strange.

On the side, they provided a pot of chili soy sauce mix that you can add to your food and I finished half of it 😅😅 so I would really appreciate if the kitchen could come up with a choice of spicyness for the food. It seems like even if you ask for extra spicy, the food would not have any kick to it.

Overall very underwhelming dining experience. I would definitely agree with the person who said that is thai food that has been adjusted to the...