LUCKY TREE RESTAURANT ( ครัวตะวันรุ่ง ) — Restaurant in Ko Lanta Yai

Probably the worst meal I've ever had. We tried this restaurant due it's excellent Google rating and arrived just after 9pm but the restaurant was full (usually a good sign!) so we were offered the option of a short wait for a table which we took, and were soon seated by a friendly waiter. We ordered 2 Tomato soups, and 2 Pizzas - yes, I know some may immediately judge us for selecting 'Western' meals, but A) These were part of the menu selection of a highly rated restaurant, and B) We had ate Thai food for lunch and fancied something else & familiar. After ordering, around ten minutes later we received 2 glasses of wine but after that essentially received no service for nearly an hour despite the restaurant becoming increasingly quiet. When we finished our glasses of wine as there was no proactive service I tried to catch the attention of a Waitress that was sitting down. No reaction, so I gently (and friendly) waved. I'm pretty sure by this point she had seen me, but was still sitting there and I was know questioning myself as to whether she was indeed a member of staff, or I was now invisible so I reluctantly gently waved with 2 hands... This time I'm sure I definitely caught her eye, but still no reaction! Eventually we just had to go to the counter to order another drink, whilst we were still waiting for our soup starter... Yes, this better be an amazing soup! Approximately one hour after ordering (no exaggeration, and no apology for the long wait) my soup finally arrived in this now nearly empty restaurant, but it was the most unusual pink looking Tomato soup I've ever had in my life! Not terrible tasting but extremely hot and bland tasting. Maybe 10 minutes later the 2nd Tomato soup arrived - did they cook them both fresh from scratch one after the other? Quite bizarre really that a kitchen isn't able to produce 2 identical soups at the same time. Either way, half way through eating my boiling hot soup, my Cheese Pizza arrived and it basically looked like a cheap small frozen pizza you might buy from a supermarket, but of worse quality. The pizza base was definitely not home made, and the pizza sauce tasted a little too much like Ketchup for my liking! Long since regretting our dinner choice (this was honestly the worst Pizza I've ever had in my life) I could only manage about half of the pizza so I wasn't starving at least! I sincerely don't like to leave negative reviews (check my history) but I have to be honest here, so other people aren't as disappointed as we were. In fairness I presume there is a reason this restaurant has a high rating - service was extremely slow & inattentive, but was at least pretty friendly. I'm hoping that if you order some Thai dishes these will be of a much higher quality, but that is pure speculation as sadly I will not dare return to find out! If you are planning on choosing this restaurant on account of it's high Google rating (as we did) I would advise you to consider other options, but if you do dine here I would recommend trying...

Aroi mak, mak, mak!!! Really, really, really delicious food and drinks.

An extensive range of dishes and all tastes catered for including: Thai, Indian, Mexican, and Western. Also, vegan, vegetarian, and non vegetarians catered for. Just ask, and they will accommodate ingredients permitting, of course!

My husband and I have been on the island for a month, and we come here at least 2-3 times a week. Their mango, banana, and blueberry shakes are so yummy, and as a vegetarian, they adapted a few dishes for me. My favourites are vegetarian satay, vegetarian cashew nut stir-fry with rice, Indian potato curry set with nan, the tempura veg with 3 sauces (especially adapted from a fish dish for me and absolutely delicious and flavourful).

My husband, who eats meat/fish, recommends the fish with the 3 sauces, fish with the lemon, garlic, and chilli sauce Indian chicken masala and nan set, pad thai. There are many others, but I can't remember all the dish names.

We both highly recommend the Lucky Tree not only for the food and drinks but also for the friendly service with a smile.

Yes, there is a wait, but it's worth it. After all, you are getting freshly cooked food, which takes time, and the place is very popular. If you want fast food, then this is not the place for you. Go to McDonald's instead...if you can find one...

Really great food at a great price. Even more importantly the people are very friendly and seemed to be very happy to be working there. After one visit I've seen the waiter there several places and feel like we're friends now. He even helped me get a tire replaced when he saw me at the shop unable to explain what I needed. He immediately recognized me and jumped into help me explain. We met several people on this trip who said they loved this restaurant and come every day. Again the food is great but that's not the reason everybody wants to spend time eating here. I ordered the orange duck and then watch them leave and go buy a bag of oranges and return to make the orange sauce fresh from scratch. I knew it was going to be incredible. On this particular visit if I had one negative it would have been that the tomatoes weren't ripe. I realize later they aren't in season but I wish someone would have reminded me. They were basically unripe and therefore the tomato soup had...