Jam Restaurant — Restaurant in Ko Samui

I'm a bit heartbroken. I really want to like Jam Restaurant, but after having been three times I can see patterns repeating.

The very good:

1. The food. We've tried 7 different dishes. All of them were a solid 7.5-8/10. A couple of highlights. The curry. Thick, well simmered, juicy, flavorful. Their pad see ew and rad na. Tasty, great texture and surprisingly delicate. Tom yum: delicious, many layers of flavor. If you don't care about anything else, come over.
2. The location: Easy to access, parking space.
3. The premise: good enough. Clean, working fans.

The not great: The waiting time. Don't come in a rush. It's manageable if you don't care. We didn't. Just beware that 1h serving time is not abnormal.

The really not great: The three times I've visited always felt "slightly unwelcome" by the male server. I've travelled a lot in Thailand and it's definitely the first place I've felt this. I don't need to be welcomed with a shining smile and a song, a neutral, professional service is good enough. But not very nice service definitely gets noticed in such a welcoming place as the land of smiles. Note: the lady present on the spot makes an effort to be kind and nice.

The unacceptable:

1. My dish being taken away before Im done with it, mouth full of chicken, unable to react, left with skewers in hand with no other place to put them. A very strong feeling of: be done with it asap. Note that we arrived 1.5h before closing time.
2. Our orders being mixed up, us being served dishes from another table. The male server not noticing, us approaching them to warn that this is not what we ordered and this might be another table's order and getting a hand to the face with a "wait". Nothing else.
3. These dishes being taken away - with not a single word of apology, sign of concern for the mistake or sign of gratitude for the warning. Please believe we've told this gent in a very kind, simple, amicable way that they had made a mistake. A "thank you" would suffice. Note that the male server speaks English, so it's not a comms barrier thing.

Unfortunately, not a single time occurrence, so we can only infer that we're disliked for some reasons that we're unaware of or that the gentleman serving tables is not very happy doing it - which, while we're sorry about, is not our fault as customers.

Being this the first time that something like this happens in Thailand, we'll move on for the weeks that we're in Koh Samui and leave our baht (and bring our smiles!) somewhere where we feel more welcomed.

So if you made it to this point and decide to go, hope you can enjoy the great food without experiencing...

If you are looking for real Thai food ... this is the place to be. With my family we have been here almost everyday for 3 weeks and we tried the whole menu I would say. Jam (the owner) is a great host and her husband has a great taste while kooking. He was so nice that also taught my wife how to cook pad Thai, papaya salad and cashew rice ... we ended up also cooking Italian together reviewing some recipes so that at the end of the 3 weeks bolognese was as tasty as at home and my 2 daughters simply loved it ... Do not expect prices like in streetfood market because this Is a restaurant. They make big portions and they do not save in number of shrimps and so on ... I would suggest to give a try to pad Thai , and deep fried whole fish with black pepper sauce ... Wish all the best to jam and family ... will be back for sure. Emi, Iri,...

The food at Jam Restaurant is excellent!. Elle and her sister look after front of house and they are very friendly. Plus, they speak good English, which is always a bonus because they can describe the Thai dishes and then when you've chosen, they tell chef (the brother-in law) to prepare your food just how you want it. Not too spicy (mai phet) or Thai Style spicy (phet mak).

I had a spicy 'Pad Kra Pao' (Holy Basil Stir-fry) with minced pork, with rice and a fried egg. It was the best I've had in Samui! And not expensive. I'll go back to try the Pad Thai soon!

Good luck to Ellie...