Thai Spoon — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

We have been coming to Thai Spoon for around 2 years now. Frankly, we used to come almost every week to two times a week when we first started coming here, but as of the past couple of months I’ve noticed a lot of changes in both the food and waiting service.

Food: It’s really inconsistent. Sometimes they serve small portions which after a year of experience is definitely noticeable. And what’s worse is that it’s a gamble whether or not the food actually tastes good. The fact that we now have to consistantly ask the vegetables to be burnt, because they used to be really well cooked but now they serve practically raw vegetables (this is consistant). But the food overall I would say is good.

Service: Service has been terrible. There used to be a lot more older and experienced folk in Thai Spoon who actively kept up with you. My favourite was this guy who really knew his way around the restaurant, and whenever me or my friends or family are vegetarian he would mention “hey this has fish oil” or something per each dish. But sadly he and a lot of other people were let go. What was replaced is a lot of college students, which isn’t terrible alone, however the quality of service has drastically decreased. For example, they never check in on the table; low key feel like they check more on tables with white people more than people of color. But regardless, it’s been consistently having a need to wave down a waiter in order to even just have our drinks served such as a simple sprite. Or a need to refill. Or even the normal “how is the food currently”. None of that happens as of late. Service is consistently bad regardless of business.

I understand there may be hardships for restaurants in given time, and I feel like with the amount of changes they have even done with the food or appetizers such as removing the sweet potato chips instead of the shrimp chips. But Service is really what makes or breaks the restaurant. This to...

RUDE, obnoxious owner from hell...I have gone to Thai Spoon for several years just for the Massaman Tofu Curry, but no more. While that particular dish remains good, the atmosphere has gone downhill. There have been a number of times where the atmosphere has pushed the boundaries, but today reached the breaking point. On the far end of the restaurant a very rude women sat lounging around with her cell phone on speaker, cackling and shouting into the phone with an equally obnoxious caller on the other end. I felt as if I were being forced to eat in a 911 emergency call center. It sounded as if 2-way police scanner or radio was playing. It was LOUD. It went on so long I finally got up to complain at the counter. I was told that it was THE OWNER on the phone and they could do nothing about it. A few minutes later, I found my waiter at the far end of the restaurant and asked for a to go box and the bill explaining my reason over the very loud owner's continuous babbling. It ruined my appetite and our daughter's birthday lunch. This is not the first problem I've had. In the past the music has been so loud, we've walked out upon entering. There was no music today, BTW. Several years ago, before they changed their hours, we were left to wait in the rain having arrived less than 5 minutes early for them to reopen after their late afternoon lunch to dinner transition. Upon being let in 5 minutes after the opening time had passed, we were told that the kitchen wouldn't be ready for another 20 minutes. We left. We should have left and never come back, but we realized problems arise. However, today's incident with the loud, obnoxious owner was unbelievable. It was stupid. It was unprofessional. It was rude. It was the end of our visits...

THERE IS A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING-

First off, I will openly express that the food here is excellent; it always has been. The service, however, is a different story. This time in particular was quite unforgettable. We were seated and gave our drink orders. Then waited about 20 minutes to receive our waters while watching our waiter serve, wait on, and turn over other tables (they did appear to be short staffed this evening and for that I do feel bad for them, but we just wanted some water.) About 30 minutes after placing our food order, our food finally arrived- or so we thought. Both me and my partner had began stirring our food, placed a bite of food on our forks, and I had just lifted it to my mouth when the waitress ran up to me saying "no! please don't eat that! please put your fork down!" She went on to ask if the food in front of us was what we had ordered; and yes, it indeed was. Despite this, she proceeded to remove our plates from in front of us (me holding my fork in my hand with the food still on it) and stated, "so sorry, this is actually for another table." She retreated to the kitchen and after 3 or so minutes, served the SAME food that had been given to us to the table behind us. The couple beside us was also astounded and me and my partner were shocked at the fact that this is unsanitary, rude, and just unacceptable. We were told that there had been a printer issue in the kitchen and this is why our food was taking so long. After another 20 minutes, we finally received our food, and it was good (thankfully.) No compensation, discount, or apology from a...