Tiki's kitchen * Thaï and E-San Food * — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

Long wait, horrible service. When I got there it was busy, with all the tables outside taken and only space inside. I took a paper, wrote my order down -clear soup and spring rolls- and brought it to the kitchen. The lady was fairly stressed as it is only her running the whole thing (cooking and serving tables in a full restaurant) I accepted I was gonna have to wait quite a long time but I was fine with that. After an hour and a half she comes through shouting: spring rolls, spring rolls. I asked: are this the ones that also have a soup coming? (only because I wanted to make sure I wasn't taking anybody else's order) she shouted it was only spring rolls so I assumed they were not my ones. 10 minutes later she comes through again screaming at me in front of the whole restaurant, very angry saying they were my spring rolls, I had ordered them why didn't I take them. I said: are they the ones that go with the soup? And she shouted NO NO SOUP!! ONLY SPRING ROLLS!!!! She then comes through with the paper that had my order in it and points at the spring rolls she says, still shouting of course: YOU ORDERED THIS!?!?!? I said: yes and there is also a soup (pointing at the soup), she then throws the spring rolls on the table and leaves. The whole restaurant is looking at me at this point and I don't know what to do with myself. Anyway, I assumed the soup was coming in a moment, but boy was I wrong. 15-20 minutes passed and there was no soup so I stood up to go and cancel it only to find this lady crying in the arms of a customer. The customer then turns to the rest of the restaurant saying that she's very stressed and we need to be nice to her. She also states that if we want to cancel any orders we must approach her, so I did, only to be told my soup was already being made. So I waited and waited and waited and the soup never came. When I went back to see what was going on there were no pans on the job, no food on the go. We had a look through the orders and mine was on the pile of finished orders so yeah, my damn soup never came. And I left 2.5 h later still hungry and embarassed, because of the treatment recieved and the time I had waisted.

I understand she was stressed and I understand we all have bad days but there's no excuse to treat customers like that. If she is alone she could turn people down, get an extra hand to help or have less tables so she could manage it more easily and the overall experience would be better for all the parties involved. The food was okay but not worth neither the wait nor...

Let's start with the positives. The food is amongst, if not THE best Thai food in Koh tao, maybe in Thailand in my experience to be honest.

She's a seriously talented chef who clearly thrives in the midst of chaos... which brings me to point 2....

The waiting times here are not for the hungry or the impatient. Bring a pack of cards, grab some drinks from her fridge and be prepared to wait at LEAST 1 HOUR, PROBABLY MORE LIKE 2.

Get there at 6.30-7pm, and judge how many other people are there and you may get lucky.

We went 4 times in 5 days. The food is seriously seriously good.

You need to write your order down, and be very specific

Dishes come out 1 at a time which is unique but almost feels like a fancy taster menu.

The restaurant is far from fancy. In fact it's very grubby and could do with some love.

But it's one of those places, that if it had any external influence, it would probably lose its magic and charm.

Trust me, I was tempted to try and convince Tiki to let me bankroll restaurant version 2.0, but it's best left alone and enjoyed as it is.

Don't go if your hungry or in a rush.

Other than that. GO GO GO

It's very cheap too! Make sure you tip.

9/10. Loses a star because it's so slow.

She should definitely just put some basic signage up explaining she's a one staff establishment and further explaining how to order and wait times expected etc..

I watched so many customers get up and leave. I even convinced a few to stay and explained how to order etc

Anyway..

There's my two cents on a...

This is the best restaurant in Koh Tao. If you want real Thai food that is cheap and delicious you need to come here. We ate here the day we arrived and continued to eat here every following day until we left. The "Massaman Chicken" is the best, it warms you from the inside and fills your heart and soul with joy. So does the owner Tiki. She is friendly, kind and heartwarming. Furthermore, she always has a smile on her face and provides you with the best food you can find on Koh Tao. We really wanted to take her with us so we could have this amazing food at home too. But Tiki belongs to her kitchen in Koh Tao which is the ultimate reason to come back to Koh Tao. Everyone knows Tiki provides astonishing food so her kitchen is always filled with people. She handles all of the meals herself which may result in some waiting time. However, Tiki got you covered! Some board games can be found to pass the time. And when you receive your food you will be blown away. Besides the "Massaman Chicken" you should defintely go for the "Spring Rolls" as well as the "Mango Sticky Rice". I would give ten stars, if I could. Thank you for feeding us every...