Baitong Restaurant — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

Very disappointed with our dinner experience tonight. If possible I would give 0 stars.

My wife and I are staying at the Banana Fan Sea Resort (to which this restaurant is attached - and the resort has been fantastic so far). We are here for 5 days & decided to spend our first dinner here. What a let down. We would have eaten here again during our stay but based on tonight - no chance.

First of all, when we were seated our order was never taken. We waited 40+ minutes for our order to be taken and not one waiter/waitress even looked at us. Granted there was (and still is) a table of 8 British tourists absolutely smashed off their faces ordering bottle after bottle of alcohol galore that the entire restaurant was staring at, but this doesnt mean that the table of two (my wife + I) sitting nearby deserves to be totally ignored. I tried eyeing all of the staff for our order to be taken, raising my hand, motioning nicely with my arms - nothing. We even had numerous staff walk right past us multiple times - not even a glance. My wife & I looked at each other in disbelief as our table clearly had no food or drink on it, and it was obvious we finished browsing the menu. Only after a waiter happened to be walking in our near vicinity did I managed to stick my arm out far enough to be noticed in his field of vision, I could then ask if we may place an order. We should have left before this point. I also noticed multiple tables arrive well after us, get approached before us, to make their order.

Secondly, when seated we were never offered any water, be it still, sparkling or tap. So as we waited for our order to be taken, we sat there in thirst, without anyone even noticing. This continued even after our food was eventually served. The restaurant was also not at capacity, and did not seem to be understaffed, so I'm not sure what the issue was. This is the first thing to do when table waiting - offer water. Whether it is free or we are happy to pay. Anything. Instead - nothing.

Thirdly, as all of our appetisers and main courses came and we ate and finished the food, only at dessert time did the drinks arrive that we ordered at the very beginning. The drinks should be served near the beginning, not once all the savoury food had finished. Given we waited 40+ minutes to order, and then perhaps 30-40 mins to eat the entrees and mains - that's 80+ minutes before any drinks were served. And we ordered two mains and two entrees before dessert, so there was sufficient time for those two drinks to come out (let alone any water). From a business point of view, serving drinks first also gives you the opportunity to ask if the customer would like more drinks later on so you can drive more business.

Fourth - we paid in cash, and the change never came. We did not indicate that the change would be a tip (as the service was not deserving of one). And as I sat there waiting for the change to come, I noticed our waitress had already moved onto the drunken British table! Taking photos with them as they tried to pay their bill. I was shocked. Granted they were hard work, so I'm not sure if she was distracted, but the bottom line is we never received our change and we had been forgotten about once more, only for staff to move onto the next table before our bill service was even completed. Only when I motioned to another staff member that we were still waiting for our change, did someone go out to the back and bring out the exact amount we were waiting on. So they knew it was still there, waiting. What on earth happened?

Overall, a very big disappointing experience considering there was an amazing live male singer there who was very accomodating to guests and vocally talented, and the staff at the associated Banana Fan Sea resort have been top quality, so we expected something similar at this restaurant but it was not to be. I hate to give a negative review (only one I've ever given) as I understand the importance of tourism to these people, but they need to be aware this happened. AVOID this place unless you're a BIG group planning to...

How this place has received good ratings is a mistery to me. We were there for dinner and there was an event on the beach for about 60 people. After waiting for food for one hour and having asked severely times already, we said that we were waiting for 5 more minutes and then paying for drinks and leaving. We were told that it would be 15 minutes until food arrived, which meant that they had not even started cooking ours yet. The waiter then started to get in to stupid negotiations about how long it would take, but then told me if we left, we would have to pay for the food anyway, which got me extremely angry. This is a situation when threats like this occur, where I understand patrons getting into unwanted situations. Quite frankly that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in a restaurant. The food did then arrive in about 10 minutes, so after 75 minutes after ordering. It was nothing special, grilled fish and seafood overcooked. Not only is this place badly organised, the attitude of the people there stinks. Oh I forgot to mention, the location is very nice. DON'T GO THERE, THEY DON'T DESERVE...

Me and my partner ate here sooo many times while on Koh Samui. Really good food and drinks, and great service! The atmosphere is 10/10 a very beautiful restaurant with an open kitchen and very high standards. Easily the nicest atmosphere restaurant I’ve experienced in Thailand, with incredible views of chaweng beach. All the waiters were so welcoming and friendly! Tarn was so kind to us, definitely give her a big smile if you get to meet her. Highly recommend the banana fan sea coffee! They are also able to make plenty of dishes vegetarian/ vegan and have a separate vegan menu too. We definitely recommend lunch or dinner here if you’re on Koh Samui.. It really is a must visit. I will definitely be back when in Samui next....