Jip Shop Restaurant — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

Wouldn't even rate it with one star if that was an option. The hyper owner @Jip Shop is absolutely brash, insensitive, unreasonable and reacted to our request in the worst possible manner.

We spotted this restaurant with a few tables full and had a look at the menu outside. A very soft spoken lady attended to us at first and she was soon overshadowed by a loud, boisterous lady. We were soon shown our table and after that the menu once again. This loud lady who seemed like the owner of the restaurant came to us and started talking like we know the meaning of all the local names on the long menu. We just asked for her suggestions eventually and she spoke very hurriedly and gave us two numbers on the menu and kept repeating "better than pad thai, best in Thailand" .. or atleast that's what we understood ..

I am 7 months pregnant on the koh phangan island and it's my first time in Thailand. As a pregnant couple it's our prerogative to talk to the person who's taking our order at any restaurant and inform them about my condition in order to ensure I am not consuming anything that's supposed to be avoided. We have also read up about the cuisine and the country alot before getting here.. and it's mentioned in alot of places (forums, blogs, books etc) that thai food served at certain places or certain dishes may contain Monosodium glutamate (MSG). In this case, where ever we have eaten throughout our trip, we have spoken to the server personally requesting them to inform us incase this is being added to the dishes in any form so that we can avoid it.

We gave the order and I started off with my regular introduction to my pregnancy and my concern abt MSG .. which she cut half way through and started walking off to her kitchen saying "let me give ur order first and then I come back". Once she got back, my husband began telling her and the moment he mentioned pregnant and MSG .. SHE LOST HER COOL AND STERNLY ASKED HIM TO GET UP, in a very loud and insulting manner. She told him to come and see the kitchen for himself.. and started bragging about her 14year cooking experience. She even accused all the neighbouring restaurants to be using MSG. All the guests at the restaurant witnessed this and it was plain stupid of her to be so unkind, rude and insensitive of a customer's needs, wants and concerns while they dine at her outlet. My husband did try and laugh it off at first and he even asked her how can she talk to her customers this way. By then I decided to get up as I was surely not going to eat in such an unwelcoming restaurant which has a below average emotional quotient for their customers. She was least bothered anyway and didn't really care. The restaurant is also adorned by the trip advisor recommendation certificates all around and that was also one of the reasons we considered it for our meal. Please don't fall for it, especially if your someone for whom taste and quality of food can be secondary but basic ethics and moral code comes first.

All being said, we as customers shouldn't be...

We hired 2 motorbikes from the bike shop attached to the restaurant. We rode to Baan Rin which is 40 minutes away. Riding back one of the motorbikes kept cutting out and then just did not start. We had several locals try to help us. We tried everything to get the bike going with no luck. We ride bikes back home so we have a fair bit of bike knowledge. This wasn’t something we had done. We doubled back to the shop which was a good 25 mins away. When we got there we told the bike shop that one of the bikes had broken down. A lady from the restaurant came down (who we now know to be the owner) and said her husband will go get the bike and we had to stay there until they were back. 2 guys with a toolbox took off on a motorbike and then the husband in a ute left about 10 mins later. About 45 mins later the husband comes back on the bike and says the kick stand was down which is why the bike wouldn’t start. This is not true. We had made sure the stand was up several times and tried everything to get the bike going. It also doesn’t explain why the bike kept turning itself off while riding. We also made sure there was plenty of fuel. It was clearly a mechanical issue. The woman then went on to say we had wasted her time and we had to pay her 500baht. I explained to her that we would not pay and that there was an issue with the bike they had clearly fixed. She then very rudely said that we were just stupid and have to pay or she would not return our ID’s. She spoke over us. Yelled at us in the street and made the biggest scene. She was so erratic and just clearly trying to take advantage of us. We refused to pay and as we went to call for the police she then threw our ID back at us and spat at us calling us stupid tourists. The husband actually apologized for his wife’s behaviors and just kept saying sorry. This is my 5th visit to Thailand and never on any of my visits have I had such a rude and horrible experience. This woman is a lunatic. Avoid any dealings with Jip Shop or the attached Lucky Cat motorbike shop...

We were there yesterday evening and while we usually prefer to sit in a beach restaurant, "with our feet in the sand and a glas of wine in the hand" we are happy with our choice.

Fact is, some of the various "local" restaurant options between (and including) the Santhiya on one end and the Panviman on the other end of the beach are currently closed. Excluding those belonging to one of the "more elegant" resorts and have an according price level, there's only one left.

As the "Jip Shop" is a street restaurant, ie. not located on the beach, it is even closer to the low end of the price spectrum. Ie. you get even "more value for the money" (or pay less, depending how you look at it). Though, while we are at comparing prices, it is of course still more expensive than one of the many open air street restaurants in Bangkok.

But the food ... how was it?

YES, if you go for authentic Thai style you will surely NOT be disappointed. Also, the beer was served with exactly the right temperature, the beer mug was pre-cooled, and the white house wine wasn't overpriced too. (Though wine-loving Thai tourists probably know wine is not the most economic beverage option there.)

All in all, if the only remaining beach restaurant (not belonging to one of the more elegant and pricey resorts) isn't filled with guests to the last unreserved table, as it has been the case yesterday, we'll surely consider the "Jip Shop" again. (Well, thinking about it, it might even be an option now if the beach restaurant had a free table for us, though we can't have "our feet...