Farm Story House — Restaurant in Chiang Mai Province

My rating and review is for the guesthouse/airbnb stay. Not the food specifically.

That being said, the food at the cafe is fantastic, especially the coffee (roasted on site by host’s husband).The staff at the cafe is friendly and helpful. The location as a restaurant & guesthouse is great - on the east side of the old city, a short walk or motorbike ride to great street food, sights, bars, and the Sunday walking market. But perhaps just stick to the food.

This place may be nice in the future, but only if some significant improvements are made. Unfortunately, the positives of our stay were greatly outweighed by the negatives. The room was not clean, the AC is unreliable and loud, the water pump was disruptive at all hours, we had a very significant bug problem throughout our stay (not just your typical Thai sugar ants), and perhaps the worst part was the host became rather unfriendly and unacommodating.

The stay started great, with the host providing a map and local insight to the city. We headed out for the day, but upon our return that night, things went south. We found several large ants around the bed, but thought not much of it. Then I went to shower, and there were even more. It didn't take me long to find their source: a large gap in the caulking around the base of the toilet. They were pouring out, literally hundreds by now, covering the toilet, sink, walls and floor despite us trying to hose them down the drain. We had contacted our host immediately before fighting with the ants (about 20 minutes after the restaurant had closed). She understandably suggested we wait until morning and all would be fine. To her credit, the next day she did caulk the base of the toilet to seal out that point of entry. Had this been the end of our issues, perhaps the remainder of the trip would have been alright.

While we did have some laughs during the ordeal, our problems unfortunately did not stop there. After the first incident, the host became unresponsive and unfriendly, passing with hardly a smile and no words, avoiding us at every turn. I assure you we did all we could to be polite and thankful every time we saw our host, but unfortunately it was not reciprocated. The next night, we awoke at 4 am with a horrible screeching sound from the AC unit which would only subside by turning the AC off. Needless to say, we were up rather early that day with the 85+ degree (F) night turning into a 100+ degree day. The next night was the same issue, though this time the issue started around 1 AM, and continued off and on through the morning. We couldn't even bring ourselves to mention it to our host because we felt so unwelcome at that point. We figured we would just wait it out - you can stay anywhere for 5 nights.

Throughout our stay, as mentioned in other reviews, the water pump would turn on in 2-3 second bursts every 15-30 seconds or so when the water was on (cafe or room), or every few minutes when the water was not on. This in itself would not have greatly affected our stay, though when taken in addition to our other issues, it acted as sort of the icing on the cake.

We slept with earplugs to help with the AC, kept the remote by our head at night, woke up with the creepy-crawl feelings and slapped a few ants or other bugs off the bed. We stayed in this guesthouse for 5 nights out of our 2.5 weeks in Chiang Mai, in a 2 month backpacking trip of Thailand. We have stayed at budget housing options throughout our entire trip, with this being in the upper-mid/higher end of our price range. I assure you we are used to bugs and dirt and grime and rough places, yet this experience still ranks among the worst.

I would not recommend staying at this guesthouse. Should the cleanliness standards be increased, the bug problem eliminated, the AC unit and water pump replaced, and the overall hospitality improved, perhaps I would consider altering my...

I read through all the reviews and was surprised that it didn’t look ANYTHING like it did before / previous reviews don’t really add up. I imagine a lot has changed post-Covid! The space is very cute, simple and modern. I love the door on the outside! Gives it a nice twist. The space inside is small, but it feels intimate and like you’re at home. The service is sweet, homely and attentive. I got a rice tea, banana cake and jam (both homemade!!) It was genuinely delicious. They also gave us a small cup of a beautiful dark roast coffee. The only reason I would give this 4 star is because they didn’t have the cooked food available (although it was on the menu). It was only 11am so was a little disappointed. Having said that, I would definitely go back and my review may change (assuming there is food...

This is a small, cute restaurant that is a delicious option for lunch or dinner. The menu is smaller but they put more effort into their dishes. The vegetarian pad Thai was some of the best I've had in Thailand and the stir fry with basil was also good but possibly a bit salty for some people. They have both regular and other drink options. I tried the fruit, banana vinegar and soda drink. Worth trying! They sell local food and toiletry products such as soap, Kaffir leaf shampoo and red rice. It is open air without air con which is something to be aware of if you are...