Isaan Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Palma

‼️BEWARE ‼️ Serious food safety concerns - please be careful eating here. We sat at the high table in front of the glass window looking into the kitchen. We witnessed really bad food hygiene practices including:

Male chef using hand for raw chicken, not washing his hands (once in the 45 minutes we sat there), and using the same hand to then grab garnish such as raw bean sprouts and place them on top of the cooked food.

Similarly, female chef handled raw prawns and chicken skewers, and then used those same unwashed hands to prepare raw vegetables that were added to salads. Raw chicken was lifted over cutting boards that were used for raw vegetables for salads.

Both instances are serious examples of cross contamination concerns. We felt really uncomfortable after watching this in front of us as we waited for our food. We had ordered desserts at this stage but asked them to leave the desserts. The waiter asked if I was full and I said no, to be honest, the cooked food did taste good but we don’t feel comfortable eating anything raw including the mango sticky rice as we see their hygiene practices are extremely questionable. He told me he knows what I mean, and understands, but they “will do as they do it in Thailand”. I’ve been to Thailand many times and don’t think that is standard practice. It did seem immediately clear that the waiter was aware of my concerns, indicating it wasn’t the first time he’d heard them.

Whether or not this is standard practice in Thailand does not negate the fact that it is against food safety practices in Europe. People with compromised immune systems could become extremely sick with such cross contamination - it’s simply not good enough to recognise that this is an issue but do nothing about it.

EDIT: In response to the restaurants response to me

Yikes. This reply is deeply concerning.

Below are direct warnings from two official government food safety authorities regarding the risks of cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat or cooked foods like poultry and vegetables.

Yet the restaurant has responded by claiming that cross-contamination is only relevant in the case of food allergies. That alone tells me everything I need to know. They do not appear to understand basic food safety principles around raw high-risk foods such as poultry. To be clear, cross-contamination is not just about allergens. It is a fundamental food safety hazard that affects everyone and can lead to serious illness from bacteria like salmonella, listeria, or E. coli.

As mentioned in my original review, I watched a chef pick up raw chicken, juices and all, and then immediately use that same unwashed hand to grab raw bean sprouts and place them on top of a cooked dish as garnish. Those same sprouts, now contaminated with raw chicken juices, were served and eaten raw by an unsuspecting customer.

To clarify what cross-contamination actually means: European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): “Keep raw and cooked foods separate to prevent cross-contamination.” US Department of Agriculture (USDA): “Cross-contamination occurs when juices from uncooked foods come in contact with safely cooked foods, or with other raw foods that don’t need to be cooked, like fruits and vegetables. The juices from some raw foods, like meats and seafood, can contain harmful bacteria that could make you and your family sick.”

I stand by my original review. The response from the restaurant only reinforces the...

Ordered Tom Yum with prawns and it was on the salty side. We also ordered Satee, Green curry, and Pad Thai Chicken. Green curry is usually one of the spicier curries and it was no where spicy and it was also on the salty side. When asked for the Pad Thai to be spicy, was told by the host/waiter that “in Thailand, they don’t make spicy Pad Thai. They only have them on the side,” which is not really true. If customers ask for it, most chefs would just add in the Thai chili (usually not a big deal). Also asked for beef pad Thai but was told they don’t do beef which is very interesting. Rice that usually comes free with green curry was not free, and it also came out slightly undercooked . You have to pay for the side of rice even though curry was around 15euro. Quite expensive for Thai food overall.

Responding to the owner’s comment:

Instead of making it right and being open to feedback from your customers, you chose to respond disrespectfully by insinuating that I do not know what I’m talking about, both in the restaurant and now in your response to my review. I’m not “Korean”. I’m Cambodian, we eat the same food (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia have similar food and culture ). I was born and raised in Cambodia and have also lived in Thailand ;). I grew up eating those food you have on the menu, hence the deep familiarity with the cuisine. I also worked in a Thai restaurant for many years where the Thai chef and owner of the restaurant, along with his Thai staff, travel frequently to Thailand to visit their families that still reside there. As I’m sure you can appreciate, Thai food can vary from region to region so I find your assertion that I am not familiar with the cuisine dismissive and quite frankly, rude. Your chef may be set in their way, but your response was presumptuous and dismissive of the fact that cuisine can vary wildly from region to region.

As far as the food during our visit, it simply wasn’t to my taste. But for the service (and also now your response), especially from the owner of the restaurant, I would expect better. The atmosphere was wonderful and I rated it as such, but please ask your chef to be...

We live on the island and we were really looking forward to trying the restaurant; however, ,my friends and I were disappointed.

The starters were nice.

We ordered main courses. My wife had the pad Thai with shrimp - it contained ONLY 4 shrimp and it was so utterly bland she asked for a separate soy sauce. I ordered the red Thai curry and it was DELICIOUS! However, it contained 4 shrimp!!! I ordered sticky rice to accompany it and it came in a plastic bag inside a wicker basket. It was all stuck together in a ball! I asked the waitress was it made in a microwave- she said ‘yes’. I said I had eaten many Thai meals and microwaved rice was unacceptable.

THIS is when the dreadful customer service started. She went away in a sulk, sassy, petulant manner whatever way this translates as! She returned with another rice in a bowl which was equally congealed and un-appetising. From then on she was totally evasive. She did not ask did we want deserts or coffee and we had to ask Marcel for the bill.

Marcel brought the bill and it was over 300€ because……..‘attitude lady’ had put 33 bottles of water on the bill when we ordered 3. He apologised for the mistake.

Before we left, I spoke to Marcel for 10 minutes. He was professional, apologetic, humble and receptive to my comments. I explained about the bland dish which was a real shame but importantly about Teamwork and that one person not performing good customer service affects the whole Team and of course tips. The waitress with the sassy attitude had ruined the visit and that’s why I am typing this feedback not a glowing one.

If this is truly Thai owned, then I suggest that whomever it is gets back to basics and take the Lead as front-of-house and demand standards.

In summary: have the red Thai curry but don’t order the shrimp you only get 4 which is insulting. Ask for Marcel, nice guys and highly professional. The one star in the...