Mays Kitchen — Restaurant in Ko Lanta Yai

So many good reviews we thought we should try it. After a fantastic breakfast at nearby The Living Room we had high hopes dinner would be equally memorable. Maybe it was but not in a good way. Partly I think we were unlucky and we would not have had all the problems had we got there earlier than 835pm (they close at 10). So...we ordered the much praised Mohitos. And a large bottle of water. Waiter came back and said sorry run out, can't do Mohitos. So we ordered other drinks. The waiter said sorry no large water bottles only small - other tables around us had large bottles. Strange but no matter guess run out of large bottles too. Then ordered bbq prawns with baked potatoes and coleslaw and ribs with same (menu says doesnt have coleslaw but thats a misprint). Waiter came back sorry no baked potatoes left and maybe no spare ribs (have to check) At this point we felt ok that's just too much disappointment and felt we should leave. Spoke to the manager who said they now could do Mohitos and one baked potato and she was very sorry. Given the amount of time now past we thought we'd give it a try. The food was OK. The ribs are dry but I know some people prefer that style. The sauce was tasty. The coleslaw was very ordinary indeed - I have no idea why it gets the rave reviews. Nothing wrong just nothing special. The shared bake potato was fine.

The restaurant is also hampered by the noisy bar next door which provides loud music which wont be to many people's taste.

So that's our experience. Telling it...

We came here twice, the first time for lunch and had pad tai and fried rolls. The pad tai was excellent and it was very quiet. We came back on a Friday evening and they were slammed as the line at one point had 20 people. Fortunately we were seated quickly as we got there just before the crowds. But it did impact the quality of the food preparation.

We had spring rolls first that just didn’t hold together and fell apart as we picked them up and there was so little sauce (a teaspoon?) that the last two pieces had no sauce. The second dish was the basil chicken which had a great flavor and sauce but the chicken pieces were overcooked and dry and again, we wished it had more sauce.our final dish was the bbq chicken which they didn’t know which table to serve. It did a complete circuit of the room before she looked at the order and realize it was for us sitting immediately behind her bbq stand. The chicken flavor was excellent as the bbq sauce was tasty and the chicken was moist. You basically get a hind quarter of chicken which came with a good coleslaw and a bbq potato! There was butter in the potato but no salt which we asked for and did get. We’d suggest not going when they’re slammed as during the hour and a half we were there, the line never stopped as the busyness effected the food, Ochoa good...

Whenever we go to Koh Lanta the one thing we usually can rely on is that the food is good. Unfortunately it was not that great at Mays.

After we had been sat at the table, it is quite open and the décor is nice but they really could use more fans and maybe some mosquito repellent, but we sat for a while before being asked if we wanted drinks, the lady that served us did not seem too bothered at all about giving any service.

We ordered our food and specifically asked if the tempura vegetables were battered and assured they were, but alas they are not, it is breadcrumbs, which I don’t like! The BBQ fish we noticed was being cooked by putting the charcoal on the actual fish, when it came it was quite bland, had no BBQ flavour and was watery! It also had a big hair on it, when we mentioned this we wee told 'no problem' like it was a free added extra!

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