Sala Mexicali — Restaurant in Rawai

Fantastic Food , timid servers. Ok , so food is great . Reminds me of growing up in So Cal and the vacation house my family had down in San Filipe on the river. However staff is reluctant to notify patrons that smoking is against the law in Thailand in Restaurants. And Vaping is completely illegal Anyway( unless the laws have changed and not published which is a possibility). I had to ask a server for a manager, “ no, no, no have.” Ok , is the a boss in charge “ oh , yes Boss , one moment” . 5 min later “ can a speak with boss please? “ oh yes , one moment “ 5 minutes later I walk over to the kitchen and stick my head through the door and say “ Hello, can I speak with the boss?” Very polite lady responded and we step just outside for a chat. I identified myself as a restaurant reviewer and wished to know their smoking policy in the venue. She reluctantly says they have smoking area near front entrance. And I got her to admit that yes smoking in restaurants is illegal in Thailand. And I thanked her for including a designated smoking area. However I had to tell her her staff was not informing the customers of the law and simply chose to ignore it and not cause a conflict( very Thai habit ) after bit of stammering from her I asked if she would abide by the law and she agreed. 1 minute later a server informed the customers of the law and the 2 vapers and 1 smoker refrained from doing so ( cheers). But after a bit they stood and left. I’m sure the 4 year old girl sitting directly behind them breathed a sigh of relief. There was also a young little girl with a spray bottle walking around spraying this thing in the air. I asked if they could let the child know not to do that inside. I was told “ we told her mom , but mom said “ it’s just water, don’t worry” . So they let this behavior continue until I pointed out that there could be anything in that bottle , from well water with bacteria to cat pee, we just don’t know and it needed to stopped! The “Boss agreed and took care of the situation. This could have all been avoided with proper training of staff to assist customers with the laws regarding smoking in restaurants in Thailand and also proper signage. I give credit to the “ boss lady “ for listening and realizing that if 1 person is talking about it to her , there are 10 more thinking it, just not doing anything about it ( just like...

Just been standing at the front area of the restaurant for 15 minutes with a crying baby. Staff didn’t even come over to acknowledge. Admittedly the place was busy and quite a few customers were leaving.

We sat down and we were not given a menu or were attended to till I pop over to the bar to point out that at this point we are here for over 25 minutes and the staff rushed over (three staff members are sitting there resting).

I don’t think the owner of this place is around to keep a tab on the service. We’ve been here three days on the row. We arrived at 1900 on the other two days and found the food to be great and staff to be very attentive. Today as we arrived at 2125, the place has a different vibe. With a hungry and tired baby, I wouldn’t recommend visiting this place late at night. And the rudeness and inattentiveness today is not excusable.

Also I don’t think it is anything personal as another couple who sat before us left as they were not served or attended to by a member of staff. Maybe an off day but definitely has put me off from coming here in the future.

Update: the staff did come over to apologise. Our starter and main course arrived within 15 minutes of ordering and we were offered a free drink which we declined. But an apology has helped us rethink the shocking service we received for 30 minutes.

We have since been to the restaurant again twice because the food is good and it is only 5 minutes walk from our hotel. The service has been great on the visit before last but just now, it was again a bit amiss. No better way to put it than to say that the food is amazing but only visit on days when you aren’t famished or expecting a great service. I’m revising my rating of Sala Mexicali up from two to...

This is to remind myself never to give up on a place. Last night a friend of mine was craving Mexican food so we gave Sala Mexicali another try. I hadn't been there in many years as the few times I went there I was disappointed with the food and the staff (the atmosphere has always been nice.)

They sure have improved, my word. I didn't take any pictures, sorry, but we both had chips, salsa and guac appetizer, then tacos. First of all, the chips didn't come from a bag, they were freshly made, hot and crisp. The salsa was just right and the guacamole was perfect. Then the tacos came out and they were also perfect. I ordered two crispy and one soft and if I closed my eyes I could see the beach in Southern California, it was just like the Mexican food I grew up with. 130 baht excellent margaritas, blended or mixed. I didn't try the different flavors but again, the whole presentation took my back to the So Cal of my youth.

It's too bad the business doesn't take better food pictures for their FB and Google pages. The photos there don't do it justice.

I've read they also opened a 3rd branch somewhere in town.

Anyway, if you gave up on this place before, give it another go. There were lots of Chinese tourists there last night, coming all the way from China to Phuket to eat Mexican food? Ha! Why not?

They are busy busy busy so you may want to make...