Barracuda on the Beach — Restaurant in Ko Tao

There are several things that let us down at this restaurant. Most of them are the service and some are the food. The atmosphere is wonderful. It is a shame the rest does not match up to the promise the atmosphere makes.

Issues: When we were ordering food, as my wife has a spice allergy, we asked for each dish if it had pepper, chili or other spices. We ordered the shrimp and mango ceviche for her. Came with chopped green chilis throughout it, which she only discovered after she had taken a bite. When we said that it couldn't be eaten because of allergies, another one without the chilis was made (which was delicious). That does not make up for us having spent a fair bit of time interrogating the order taker about spices in each dish and about allergies, only to have the dish come full of chilis. After taking our first drink order (cocktails), throughout the whole night, not once did anyone ask us about another drink. Not when they collected our empty glasses, not when they collected our empty entree plates, and not even when, after I eventually asked to see a drinks menu, and it was sitting there on the table when they delivered and collected our mains plates. We would have had another 2 drinks each. At 220 baht each, that's almost 1,000 baht the restaurant missed out on (times who knows how many customers, because I didn't see them ask anyone else either), because the staff have not been trained to ask guests if they would like another drink - even when the guest has asked for the drinks menu. Could I have called a waiter over and asked for a drink? Absolutely. Is it another example of where this place falls down on what it's trying to be? Absolutely. When the people at the next table (a long, seated table with 8-10 people) asked if a waiter could take a photo of them, because there isn't much room in the aisle between tables, the waiter literally SAT ON THE EDGE OF OUR TABLE AND LEANED BACK OVER MY FOOD AND IN FRONT OF ME!!!). Not only that, they did it AGAIN when the people asked them to take another photo later in the night. In trying to make the people at one table happy, the acted completely inappropriately to people sitting at another table. I don't know at what restaurant of any type, even a 100baht cheapy down on the main road, this would be considered OK. Certainly not at the kind of place this place is trying to make itself seem. One of the mains we ordered - the confit duck legs - could have been a magnificent dish, if the cook on it was done well. While the confit cook would have made the 2 (generous) duck Marylands (leg and thigh) tender, the fry afterwards to get the skin crisp just made the meat tough - like it had been pre-cooked and re-heated in a microwave. The sweet potato mash with it was just lumpy and the beans stringy. This could have been magnificent. It was just disappointing. The other main, after SPECIFICALLY stating there was to be no pepper, chili or other spices on it, has pepper. Whether it was from the pan which may not have been thoroughly cleaned before cooking the fish, or it was added by mistake, it just added to the feeling that the kitchen is poorly run.

There were good points: Yes the environment and atmosphere is wonderful. A huge fountain as you arrive in a circle driveway, large patio with good seating outside and inside, great views of the ocean, etc. If they can invest in the service and food to consistently match the atmosphere, they will have the best restaurant on Koh Tao. When the ceviche was re-done (after the first one was returned) it was delicious. The smoked fish pate entree was interesting.

There is a 5% service charge added to your bill.We normally tip much more than that. Even 5% felt undeserved here. Even so, the bill was nearly 2,000 baht. Not good quality or experience.

Great...

First of all, I should own up that our group of 4 was comprised of a professional cook, 2 hotel managers and an engineer tourist, so we maybe we are hypercritical but we have been to other cheaper (and more expensive) restaurants together and enjoyed them. Also I don't like to write critical reviews, rather forget it and move on and praise the positives. But even after several months, our experience is still rattling around in my head and need to share.

We arrived about 8pm without a reservation. This caused chaos at the desk as if they were 99% full (about 5% the whole night) and fully 6 staff members had their say on where we should sit. We requested a cozy sofa in the bar area several times but were put as far away as possible, on the outer edge terrace. The staff seemed basically scared of us and it was like they put us on a far away table hoping we would disappear. It took an age for everything, our order, our drinks, our food, and all this at a table as sterile as an operation room with light to match. Hard to say why it was so slow because there were at least 2 staff to every diner. Eventually (at least an hour) we realized there weren't going to be more diners so we again asked to move tables and were granted a sofa table inside with much softer lighting. A much more relaxed place for 4 friends to eat, apart from a humungus fan being switched on full blast above our table, blowing napkins everywhere with every pass. We turned it down ourselves, and the next waiter turned back up again. I don't blame the staff, but where is the direction? the management? The menu is a mess. It is spread across 4 different sized cards, and made up of Thai basics and English pub grub. Fish + chips with mushy peas? Even if it was good (it wasnt) why would you do this in a nice restaurant in a fancy resort? And the Thai food was simply wrong. Its like a fat bloke from a greasy spoon in Essex has been put in charge of the kitchen and nobody in charge of the dining room. From our new vantage point near the bar, we could see some nice bottles of expensive liquor (quite rare to find in Koh Tao) and approached the bar wanting to be sold something. The bar staff knew little of the contents and cared less. Again, we don't blame the children, blame the parents. Finally the desert. Nobody can get mango sticky rice wrong, we thought. But it came out as a huge splodge, like the worst school dinner slop you can imagine. Our tourist friend yummed it up but I think that he was just worried we would send it straight back, untouched. I give it 2 stars because I don't want the staff to get in trouble and because it is an amazing building...otherwise bad food, bad service, unfulfilled potential, and no...

We had dinner here last night , it’s safe to say this was the best dinner we had in Koh Tao . Felt like fine dining experience with affordable prices . We had 2 appetisers- tuna tacos and prawn ceviche . Tuna tacos were absolutely divine and very generous with fresh tuna . Prawn ceviche was also very nice , sadly a little to spicy for me so my husband enjoyed most of it by himself . Then we had ribs and king mackerel for mains - again , very generous portions , exceptional flavours and presented very nicely ! Staff were also very friendly , attentive , polite and welcoming . Special shout out to Bo for making us feel welcome and we had a really good chat with him . Cocktails were also really good , I highly recommend watermelon mojito and passion fruit whiskey sour - they were so nice and also not stingy on the size . We were so full up , didn’t have room for dessert . I wish we had more time to spend on this island - would definitely come back . In total our bill was 2100 , I personally find this very good value for everything that we had , this also included 5% service charge automatically added to the bill . The night before we had dinner at the Charcoal grill on Sairee beach , and we paid 3500 , for something that was nice but nowhere near the same portion sizes and flavours . Place itself is in the middle of new resort and it looks so lush and elegant ....