Lym's Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Ko Lanta Yai

The food is ok but the service is extremely bad. We stayed at the hotel so there is not a lot of options to eat nearby when you have young kids. So we had to experience it a few times during our stay.

The staff is not proactive at all, you have to ask for everything, they don’t come to take your order so you have to ask them every time. When bringing water for example they don’t bring any glasses you have to ask for one. The food takes a while to come, we ordered French fries and fried rice, it took 30 min to come. When the food is finally there they put it at the end of the table and you have to bring it in front of you yourself. They do not speak great English so it is hard to communicate. There are a lot of staff but it feels like there are none. I ordered fries to eat by the beach and was told that only drinks are allowed while it’s only 10m away without a reason so I gave away my food. As the restaurant is separate from the hotel, there is no space in the hotel to have dinner from outside, we wanted to eat mango sticky rice and they don’t offer it on the menu (while it is really basic Thai food) so we got it elsewhere, and sat on one table to eat it. We were told we were not able to and should eat it in the reception couch… So overall the service is extremely bad, they are not unfriendly just really unhelpful...

We were staying at the hotel therefore we didn't have much of a choice and seeing the reviews we decided to eat here. We arrived and there wasn't a table, we kindly ask the person in charge to notify us as soon as a table is freed, in the meantime we sat on the stools facing the sea and enjoying a beer. I noticed that two tables freed, and they completely forgot about us and gave them to other people that just arrived. I politely went to the bar and tried to ask for a table again. They completely ignored me, I had to ask three times to get their attention. Finally we are given a table, 15mins later they come for the order. After 1h waiting I ask if the food is going to be long, the waitress just smiled and said nothing, people that ordered after us were complaining and were being served before us, hence we complained and our food appeared after 1h20mins. We ordered a Pad Thai, a staple in Thai cuisine. Needless to say, the food was horrible, tasteless, like it was prepared using the store bought sauce of Uncle Ben's. We paid and left. After a few hours, my husband felt very sick and ended up with food poisoning. He ate the chicken that was in my pad Thai and his. Definitely a big shame for the hotel to have such a bad restaurant wasting their beautiful location. Highly...

Said the restaurant was sold out/fully booked and i couldn't eat there (no apology), but it was at least half empty🤔 Reqlly dissappointing, unfriendly experience on my first day visiting Koh Lanta.

Response to company reply- If there is not enough staff, then this should be explained (obviously i speak Thai) instead of being told that the restaurant is fully booked, when half the tables remained empty, as this comes across as 1) lying and 2) that you don't wish to accommodate solo diners, as i came alone (to add this was without any apologies, without kindness and without invite to return, even an invite to get a drink and watch the fire show would do, saying จองเต็ม ไม่ได้ and smirking is not appropriate). I appreciate the invite and response from the company, however I hope they can also remind the staff to treat everybody with warmth and kindness, especially as this is many peoples first time visiting the country/island, and this attitude can be very off-putting, especially for solo women. I had an amazing impression of Koh Lanta people, and this experience changed that.

If you're looking for those warm, smiley, welcoming Koh Lanta people who are so happy to invite you into their island and have you visit, I suggest...