Carp Café — Restaurant in Chiang Mai Province

3-Star Review of Crap Cafe Chiang Mai – Instagram-Worthy but Overhyped, Reasonably Priced & Still Worth a Visit

Crap Cafe is one of those places that gets a lot of attention on social media, and after visiting, I can see why—but I also understand why some people might leave feeling a bit underwhelmed. Let’s start with the positives: the cafe is undeniably Instagram-worthy. The decor is quirky, colorful, and full of playful, meme-inspired art, making it a fun spot to snap some pics. The neon signs, graffiti-style walls, and cheeky slogans give it a youthful, irreverent vibe that’s perfect for social media content. If you’re looking for a place to add some flair to your feed, Crap Cafe delivers. The drinks and food are also reasonably priced, especially for a cafe with such a strong aesthetic appeal. You won’t feel ripped off, which is a relief in a city where some trendy spots charge premium prices for style over substance.

That said, the hype might be a bit overblown. While the cafe is visually fun, the actual experience doesn’t quite live up to the social media buzz. The menu is creative, with drinks like “Crapaccino” and “Matcha Crap,” but the flavors are just okay—nothing extraordinary. The coffee is decent, but not mind-blowing, and the food options are more about novelty than culinary excellence. If you’re a serious coffee enthusiast or foodie, you might find it a bit gimmicky. The seating is also a mixed bag; some areas are cozy, but others feel cramped, especially when the cafe gets busy (which it often does, thanks to its Instagram fame).

Service is friendly but can be inconsistent—sometimes quick and attentive, other times a bit slow, depending on how crowded it is. The vibe is laid-back, which is nice, but don’t expect a polished, high-end cafe experience. It’s more of a casual hangout spot than a destination for top-tier coffee or food.

Despite these flaws, I still think Crap Cafe is worth visiting, especially if you’re in the area and want a fun, lighthearted place to relax. It’s not a must-visit, but it’s a solid choice if you’re looking for somewhere with personality that won’t break the bank. Just manage your expectations: go for the vibes and the photos, not for an unforgettable meal or artisanal coffee. If you take it for what it is—a playful, reasonably priced, Instagram-friendly spot—you’ll probably enjoy it. But if you’re expecting something more refined or exceptional, you might leave feeling like it’s just another overhyped social media trap.

Final verdict: A 3-star experience—good for what it is, but don’t believe all the hype. Worth a visit, but not worth going out of...

Such a beautiful experience! Felt immediately transported to Japan.

Came for nice lunch with my husband Arrived 11am on Thursday - not busy with just 4 tables already seated. There is lots and lots of seating - the staff greet you and allow you to choose where you would like to sit and on which side of the restaurant. I love that! There’s been too many times I’ve gone to aesthetically cute cafes to be seated in a not so pretty spot than what I saw online.

Every spot was beautiful and photo worthy with the fish swimming around you!

There are 2 menus and a drink menu; one for sushi/Japanese cuisine and one for Thai/western cuisine.

For the area being enclosed and covered it was nice and cool with plenty of fans moving air around. The staff gave us menus once we picked a table and stood off to the side while we browsed. We took a while to decide but they were ready when we were. All the staff were super nice - our waiter didn’t speak English too well but was patient with us vice versa and used translate app to help. Not once did I feel rushed like cafes back at home

Once our food was ordered I took a walk around for about 15 mins snapping pictures and visiting the amazing bathroom (women’s only, husband said men bathroom is not special but not sure which men room he went to as I saw 2)

All food was decent to good, nothing stood out that we did not like. Also nothing was super delicious we were drooling over. Sushi/Nigiri was good enough to not disappoint especially for the price compared to America. Decent food with aesthetic IG worthy vibes that did not disappoint. I’ve been to some cafes where it’s just too crowded, the decor is underwhelming and it’s too overwhelming with ppl to enjoy - this was not that. By the time we left (2 hours later or 1pm) it hadn’t felt so much time had passed and by that time it was getting busier for lunch. The one thing that didn’t work out was I ordered a mango papaya style salad but our waiter must’ve missed it bc it wasn’t listed on receipt.

We ordered 2 pcs each; U12 SALMON SALAD NIGIRI, U11 (tuna) MAGURO SALAD NIGIRI, U04 TUNA SALAD+EBIKO NIGIRI; U24 SALMON ABURI NIGIRI, U33 SALMON TORO NIGIRI, U17 UNAGI NIGIRI, U31 MAGURO (tuna) SPICY SALAD NIGIRI, U30 SALMON SPICY SALAD NIGIRI - as well as udon and two Italian sodas total $40.32/฿1422 - $42.53/฿1500 after tip.

Fish food is available for ฿20-40 baht

If you don’t wish to eat you can still come to enjoy the fish and...

If I could leave less than one star, I would. I would not recommend this place to anyone. I’m not one to leave negative reviews for restaurants or businesses, if I have a bad experience I just choose not to go there again. However, this was by far the worst experience I have had eating in Chiang Mai and I would be disappointed for someone else to have the same experience we did.

My husband and I drove around 30 mins to this restaurant, I saw it online and thought the atmosphere looked very fun and it had good reviews. Unfortunately our experience was very bad. We sat down and ordered our meal, then saw there were cockroaches on the ground, (if you look at photos inside the restaurant, all tables are in there are semi inclosed spaces, so they don’t make their way out on their own) my husband tried to remove them so we would not make a big deal of it - things like that happen but it was off putting.

What was more unfortunate was our food was bad, we both immediately noticed the sushi we ordered smelled wrong, was warm when it should have been cold, and all salmon was grey… we eat a lot of Asian cuisine regularly and know that was not right. We let our server know and she said since we had taken a bite, we would have to pay for it. There were multiple items we ordered that included raw fish - so at that point we felt uncomfortable and then went to let the hostess know the situation. We asked to pay for the things we “ate” and asked if there was something that could be done since more than half off the food clearly went bad. They let us know that “food does not go bad”, and “unless we called an ambulance” from getting sick they would not take anything off of our bill. I understand this is a popular destination because of the atmosphere, but I found that very disappointing. We were very calm and kind, apologized to the staff while explaining the situation, that we would have loved to have eaten our food but it was bad and did not feel comfortable - and the staff was extremely rude to both of us. We paid $60+ dollars for a meal we did not eat.

Chiang Mai is FULL of fantastic food and exceptional restaurants. This is the only negative experience we have had. I strongly recommend saving your time and money and find some beautiful coy fish...