Tree Tops Signature Dining — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

We ended up here unplanned as it was after 8 pm and our other restaurant fell without electricity. Let's be clear: I was totally unimpressed but will rate this 2 stars because the staff are friendly and ambience is cozy, in an old-fashioned unpretentious way. If this would be Tokyo it's not even worth 1 star.

The menu with wine pairing is 3990 baht minus tax so roughly 5000 a head. I know everyone is trying to do their best, but at $160 / person, it's a bit ridiculous to force myself to be compassionate.

First of all, I miserably fail to understand the concept. It's like someone in the kitchen decided to pick some random dishes, decided to make it fancy by adding non local ingredients and also thought it was fun to serve 2 giant portions of meat. Just to make you feel stuffed, you know. If it were our local taxi driver inviting us to his house, I'd understand. But that's unfortunately not how value for money is perceived. We were also kindly informed the food concept was Mediterranean, however I believe “passé” is perhaps more appropriate. I also use olive oil in my kitchen but that doesn't make it Mediterranean. And by the way, 2/4 dishes had red beets, so maybe the chef was trained in northern Europe?

First course was a mistake. Don't deep fry a delicious tiger prawn in a heavy batter with sesame. It destroys the prawn's flavor. Also, if you're trying to be a classy restaurant it is a big no-no to drop garlic mayo on the plate. It's a testament of lack of skill & creativity.

The fish was nicely grilled. But I rapidly run out of compliments. The food was cold. But that's not the worst part: the dish is a complete cacophony of tastes. A bit like Britney Spears singing Celine Dion wearing a Lady Gaga outfit. Perfectly acceptable in a ladyboy cabaret show. The thyme fights a totally misplaced, irrelevant berry sauce, which then killed the sauteed leak. I also suspect the leak of not being fresh and frozen because it had lost its flavor and thread-like. But wait, isn't that a northern European ingredient?

Then came the lamb. Cold, medium instead of medium rare (those are actually 2 different techniques). There was virtually nothing interesting to complement the meat. Sauce was ok.

And then, the “moment suprème”, braised beef. Honestly, bravo because it was tender, very tasty. But why polenta? And why beets? And why carrots? “Germanyterranean” I guess. I also suspect the sauce to be largely the same as the previous plate, or at least recycled from the same fond. But again, why 2 meat dishes in a row if this island has so much to offer in terms of fresh seafood? Maybe they should rebrand into a bistrot specializing in boeuf bourguignon. Less fuss, less bloat, sticking to something you're good at. And actually succeeding in making the main dish stand out, served in the wine it was braised in.

I had my hopes high for desert, thinking they can't mess this up. But it did deserve the anti-climax label. Way too copious, with… too much unnecessary stuff. Like sprinkles of pistachio, a bizarre pink dust of undetermined nature, some crunchy chocolate cookie that was so hard I couldn't take a bite of it, a mushroom shaped meringue which definitely came out of a plastic bag, again way too hard, a pale, buttery, flavorless chocolate mousse, some white mousse which basically tasted like whipped cream, vanilla ice and a crunchy cookie with chocolate and again mousse layers. The last one was actually edible. It felt like the chef went to Tesco and just stuffed whatever was in sale in their trolley. I love mousse, but use dark chocolate, add a bit of cognac. People don't want yet more calories after going through a meal like this.

The Coppola cabernet was probably the best wine they served us. I won't even mention the others because it's pointless in the grand...

We visited this restaurant, considered a signature dining spot, with European-level prices and high expectations as we celebrated a birthday.

The service was Michelin-star level, simply phenomenal. When we exited the taxi, a waiter escorted us, and the sommelier joined in, impressing us with her deep knowledge.

We ordered a bottle of The Pale Rosé (which is priced at $10 in a store but costs $100 here), chose both tasting menus, and sampled all the dishes.

We were surprised that the menu differed from what was advertised on the website. The staff explained that this was a brand-new menu starting that very day, and we were the first ones to try it, right after the staff – we felt like guinea pigs! Typically, when a restaurant is running a new menu, it's customary to inform guests beforehand and, of course, adjust the prices accordingly, but this was not the case.

Bottom line – very disappointing. We were eagerly waiting for the lobster and caviar dish, but after one bite, we couldn’t eat it. The eggplant dish was at the level of a guesthouse cafeteria, and the pea soup tasted like it came from a 7-Eleven package.

The chicken dish was dry, and the potatoes tasted like they’d been sitting in the oven for days. The food was nowhere near the level of a chef’s restaurant, or any respectable level at all. Sprinkling a bit of caviar on a dish does not make it a signature restaurant!

There were a couple of good dishes, like the tomato pie and goose tartare. But the price? 11,770 THB! We were shocked to find that the prices were significantly higher—by tens of percentages—than what was listed on the website. For that amount, you could eat for a week at other restaurants and enjoy it much more.

The chef came out to ask for our thoughts on the meal, and we were honest with him. However, he completely ignored our feedback. In the end, we received the bill as if nothing had happened, and the manager told us that since we had tasted all the dishes, there was no reason not to pay for the entire meal. An embarrassing end to an embarrassing meal.

The location is dreamy, and the staff is amazing. But we won't return, and we wouldn’t...

Summary: Gastronomical boredom at astronomical prices.

What the chef at Tree Tops tries to sell as haute cuisine is an uninspired sequence of bland dishes that will not impress anyone who has an above average interest in fine dining. At a whopping 10,500 Baht bill (approx. 290 EUR, which included the wine pairing of one preselected glass with each course), honestly, I think the value for money is almost criminal. It seems the chef is either wildly underexperienced or has abandoned any ambition to impress his guests.

We were lured to the Tree Tops restaurant at Anantara by many of the raving reviews online because we had both our honeymoon and a birthday to celebrate. The hotel and restaurant setting are impressive, and the separate dining platforms that set guests apart from others, between the trees with views of the harbor, give off an air of exclusivity that many will find appealing. We tend to prefer the atmosphere of a restaurant shared with other diners ourselves, but that may be a matter of personal preference.

We were attended to by a very friendly employee named Thidthee, who did her best to tend to our every need. She was very professional and enthusiastic in her service. She also sang happy birthday as she presented a surprise chocolate cake as an extra dessert (which was a bit much after the chocolate mousse and ice cream but sweet nonetheless).

Unfortunately what little positive experience we had at the Tree Tops is limited to the setting and the friendly service, as the quality of the dinner itself was far below our expectation and the level that the restaurant apparently sets for itself with its price range.

I would not recommend the Tree Tops to anyone, at least not until the restaurant either significantly improves its menu (which probably means hiring a new chef) or drastically lowers its prices to be in line with the quality it offers. The overall experience, although superficially luxurious, left us with a feeling of having been conned into some tourist trap, which is a bad taste that should be unacceptable for any...