Great Harbour International Buffet — Restaurant in Khlong Ton Sai Subdistrict

First, I want to explain why I am awarding only 3 stars for the food and 4 stars overall: Some of the food is great, e.g. fresh seafood like tuna and salmon sashimi, oysters or grilled prawns. Some other types of food are OK, still others like beef, mashed potatoes, french fries are unacceptable. So, the result is a mixed experience. All in all, we liked it, because the atmosphere was very nice and the service great. Just the warm food from international and Asian buffets did not meet our expectations. With a little bit of effort and more customer orientation, I am sure that can be fixed and go up to 5 stars in all categories.

The atmosphere and interior design are nice, almost noble. High ceilings and not too crowdedly placed tables make Great Harbor feel spacious. We went on a Thursday evening, so it was not overcrowded anyway. No buffet queues.

Service personnel does a good job, being friendly and helpful and always quickly removing empty plates from the table, which is often not done in other restaurants in Thailand. I like to have a clean table without lots of empty plates and glasses, and the service team managed to do that - very good.

We had booked international buffet incl. durian for ~1000 THB per person, came as a couple and got a table for 4 persons, which was good, because otherwise the table might have been a little bit too small.

We drank mostly water and a little bit of fresh mango juice. The teas like Taiwanese milk tea and jasmine tea are so over-sweetened, they are absolutely disgusting and undrinkable. I recommend to stick with water or maybe try some hot tea from tea bags after dinner (we did not try any hot drinks, because we wanted to go home).

The seafood buffet is a clear recommendation. There are fresh mussels and oysters, fresh and grilled prawns, sushi, sashimi, deep-fried seafood in batter (tempura). The typical Thai seafood sauce (green colour) and the usual sushi sides like wasabi, soy sauce and pickled ginger are also available. I had oysters, sashimi and grilled prawns, actually two servings of each, because I did not like most of the hot food on the other side of the buffet but was still hungry. The fresh seafood tasted very good, the sashimi was soft and tender.

Both the Western and Asian hot food buffets looked good, but the taste was mostly disappointing.

For example, I tried two types of beef, namely mini steaks and stir-fried beef strips. In both cases, the beef was very chewy and really tough to eat. This is a shame, because such expensive meat should be cooked in a way to make it soft and tender. I recommend to the service team to always cook it fresh when a customer asks for it, especially the small steaks, because they would be done quickly and taste much better when hot than luke-warm or cold. I also wanted to try the Chinese beef stir-fry, but saw that the meat was quite fat, which I do not like (some people do), so I did not try that.

French fries were soft and soggy, mashed potatoes were in a container that was not even heated, so the mashed potatoes were completely cold. Sorry, but french fries need to be hot, crispy and slightly seasoned, not oily, soft and tasteless. Mashed potatoes ought to be hot, soft and fluffy, not a cold, compact and hard mass.

From Western and Asian buffets, I also tried some other tyes of food, e.g. fish and vegetables, which were OK, but I remember nothing I would recommend. The Ceasar salad was good, but not great. My companion said she liked the spaghetti carbonara. I tried and found them no more than OK.

After starters and main courses, we had fresh durian, which was good quality and enjoyable. It was ripe, soft, buttery, just the way I expect it in a restaurant of this level. We also tried some cake, e.g. cheese cake topped with raspberry sauce and chocolate durian cake. Both tasted good, I especially liked the durian choc cake. There were also durian macarons that looked nice, but I did not try them because I am not a...

TL;DR: Great Harbour International Buffet at Iconsiam offers a variety of cuisines, including sushi, Western dishes, and Thai food, with some desserts and sparkling water on tap. While the design is inviting, and sushi is a highlight, inconsistent food quality and a concerning cleanliness issue detracted from the experience. Worth considering for the sushi and variety but manage expectations.

Full Review:

Great Harbour International Buffet at Iconsiam presents itself as a global dining experience, featuring Western fare, Thai dishes, and a smattering of other cuisines. Its sleek and inviting interior design sets a promising tone, though minor details like a hastily replaced "pizza" sign—now reading "teppanyaki" but leaving expectations unclear—hint at a need for attention to detail.

The buffet offers a range of options, with sushi standing out as the clear highlight. Fresh and reasonably well-prepared, the sushi is a strong selling point and the primary reason I found myself returning for multiple plates. Other dishes, however, varied in quality, with some offerings being serviceable and others falling short. Desserts and ice creams were a nice touch, though the selection felt limited compared to buffets at a similar price point. Having sparkling water available on tap was a welcome surprise and a refreshing addition to the beverage options.

That said, the experience wasn’t without its downsides. The absence of a restroom within the restaurant is inconvenient for diners who have to navigate through the mall to find facilities. More concerning, however, was spotting a cockroach in the Western food section—a jarring reminder of the Thai standard of cleanliness, which can sometimes leave room for improvement. While this may not be entirely unexpected in Thailand, it’s not something diners want to encounter, especially in an upscale venue like Iconsiam.

Ultimately, Great Harbour International Buffet offers a mixed bag. If you’re drawn to sushi or want a variety of dishes in a well-designed setting, it has its merits. However, the uneven food quality and cleanliness issues may leave some diners hesitant. For those who can overlook these shortcomings, it’s an option to consider—but perhaps not a top-tier destination in Bangkok’s...

They do not advertise their Taiwan Han Lai (Hi-Lai) Group background so I thought it is just another restaurant located inside IconSiam. Btw, HanLai buffet in Taiwan is so good that we went there every time we went to Taiwan. Back to this Thailand version of Han Lai, and I must say we were a little disappointed. Other than the high building ceiling and spacious environment, here are what we didn't like:

1. Thailand is famous for its river prawn, but I only tried a few grilled prawns there. They were less tasty than I previously thought.
2. Oysters were fine. But when you look for fresh lemon and ketchup, you will have to go all the way to the other section. Why? Beats me!
3. Choices at the fruit section was very limited. Thailand is famous for its tropical fruits so when I found there were only 5-6 kinds of fruits there (as pictured), I was surprised. Besides, the pineapple was very sour, the purchasing department didn't do their job well.
4. I couldn't find Mango with sticky rice at the dessert section so I asked a waitress. It was because the server behind the bench did not take them out from a small fridge! Btw, the size of it is super tiny, I bet you could eat 10 dishes of it without feeling a thing.
5. There were supposedly sinks/basins where you could wash your hands before/during meals, yet they were all not in service. Management should have disseminated wet tissue paper to customers as a remedy. In fact, when other buffet (like those in Baiyoke Sky hotel) restaurants are jammed with customers, it was about 70% full the night we went there (a weekday). It gives you an idea how popular this buffet restaurant is. P.S. Not everything is bad, that's for sure. I loved the Panna Cotta dessert so much that I ate 3-4 of them. The white yogurt is creamy and tasted wonderful. I haven't tried such delicious dessert for...