The Red Elephant Bar Restaurant Beach & Swimming Pool Club Lamai Samui — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

Disappointing Experience

We came to the restaurant as a group of six, hoping for an enjoyable evening. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointment. The drinks arrived long after the food, with regular cokes instead of zero. Two appetizers were completely forgotten and were served after the main course. Two main dishes that were specifically ordered vegetarian came with meat.

Then the power went out. Something that can happen, not the restaurant’s fault.

After waiting for over an hour, the last meal finally arrived, but even then, one dish was still missing. We reordered it and explicitly asked for it to be non-spicy. But when it finally arrived, it was extra spicy. This left one couple in our group with no choice but to leave the restaurant hungry and eat elsewhere.

All of this happened while we were the only guests in the restaurant.

Mistakes can happen, but it was still an inconvenience. So I politely asked our server if a discount could be offered for all the inconveniences. I suggested 50% as a starting point, expecting a fair counteroffer. Instead, the owner emerged from the DJ booth and reacted in a completely unprofessional and loud manner. He called me disrespectful and crazy, making the entire situation even more uncomfortable. He blamed everything on the electricity problem, but the mistakes happened before that. Rather than addressing our concerns, he brought up irrelevant arguments, such as asking if I was a business owner myself or how many languages I speak. After enduring his rude behavior for several minutes, he begrudgingly offered a minimal 10% discount, which did little to make up for the terrible experience.

The prices at this restaurant are already high and in no way justified by the poor quality of service or food. Customer satisfaction clearly isn’t a priority here, and I cannot recommend this place to anyone. Maybe a drink at the beach, but definitely not for a meal.

The faults of the server and kitchen may be excusable, but the behavior of the owner is unacceptable.

Since the owner has shown himself not to be open to criticism, be prepared for a rude and unreflective response to...

The food was okay, but for the amount more expensive then in other restaurants. Anyway, we went in to eat. Except guests whom ordered drinks, we were the only guests to be seen who ordered food. The communication was a little bit difficult, since we had some vegan people and people with allergies in our group. Sadly, the service did not understand us well, so some dishes came wrong to us. That was not the problem at all for us until every dish came to different times, some took very long (over 1 hour for the last dish) and drinks came much later then the first dishes. The service apologized, but since one person could not eat a dish we asked politely for a discount. Unfortunately the owner of the restaurant got really angry. We tried to stay calm and after a huge discussion we got a discount. I work in a restaurant too as service craft and this was totally against what I learned how to treat customers and what I got to know from the hospitality in Thailand. The owner was really rude. Things can go wrong and the service people have my fully understanding, but the way we were treated was not bearable. This made me do to give only one star. In addition we sat there in the dark multiple times due to electricity breakdown (which can happen). Overall with these circumstances I would not recommend this restaurant. If you want drinks and a nice view, go for it. But there are cheaper and better restaurants to dine in, especially where you not treated like this...

Food is expensive and takes too long for only three tables in the restaurant. No food at any table is difficult to make. Fried food took too long as it was. Over 40 min. Then two Thai dishes which are stir fry so minutes by a street vendor took an additional long time.

Edit: This owner never talked to me. It seems he talked to the table next to us that had three breakfasts. They did look very angry. Don’t make up silly things to make yourself feel better. It seems you are more focused on future remodeling than service. It would have been the correct thing to do as an owner to come around and check on your guests. Don’t be fooled by this guy. The staff are the same as worked here 9 months ago when we came. Seemed like a better situation then but I do remember a bit long wait. The price doesn’t match the low quality of food or the service. If you had come and checked on our table and even focused on how slow the service was, then apologized for the wait it would have resulted in no review. There was no one on the beach. As the sun was extremely hot yesterday. You should take this review to heart and make improvements so your business can succeed not whither and die. Attacking me in comments shows your true nature. Make sure of who you are responding to before you “go to...