Surin West — Restaurant in Birmingham

I seriously wish I could give zero stars to this place based on the apathy of the entire staff. The service was not only horrible, it was non existent. A very good friend of mine (whom had not eaten at this restaurant before) and I, tried to dine here recently. It was a week night around 6pm. There were very few people dining and there were several empty tables, yet we had to wait at least 10 minutes to be seated. That was not too bad, but unfortunately it only got worse. When we were seated we waited patiently for over 30 minutes for someone to come over to our table, which was visible to everyone in the restaurant- we were not over in a corner. We watched as everyone around us were served, including people that came in several minutes after us. No one even came over to ask for our drink order. However, we sat patiently while I talked about how great the food was, and how it would be worth the wait. After 35 minutes, I politely approached one of the servers, and asked if he knew who our server was because we had been waiting so long. He replied that he would check into it, and if no one else could help us, he would. Shortly after that a female server came up to the table and said she would be right with us. No apology, but that was ok, we were just happy to finally be getting some service. We watched as this woman casually walked around and did everything but serve us for another 15-20 minutes. It became very clear that no one cared whether we were served or not. Keep in mind that the restaurant was still not busy. Finally, my friend and I got up and left. We had somewhere to be, and had come extra early to dine at this restaurant. At this point, we had about 45 minutes to find another place, choke down some food, and rush to our event because we had wasted an hour at this restaurant. Luckily, we went across the street to IKKO Japanese restaurant where we were immediately greeted, sat, and served. It was a great experience- customer service and food, especially compared to what we has just come from.  We were a bit late to our event, but at least we finally got something to eat no thanks to Surin West. I understand things happen, but the attitude of the staff is what really got to me. They didn't care, and made no bones about it. I will...

Where to begin? This is totally not Thai food. If you're coming from out of town and are in the mood for Thai cuisine wait until you get to the next city like Atlanta. Sorry Bham folks, ya'll have given this place a 4.6 rating, so I can only assume you have been pre conditioned by this place and just don't know. A dish with some soy sauce sprinkled on it doesn't constitute Thai. I have had much better "Thai" coming out of the Chinese restaurant.

Now that we've established this is a restaurant, not a Thai restaurant, but they do serve dishes. The vegetables seemed fresh. The portions don't exactly meet the price (which isn't small), I had a dish that came with shrimp and vegetables, two small sized shrimp. They could have left the shrimp off, but then the total price of the dish would need to be significantly lower.

You're paying for the ambiance, not the food. If you're looking to take someone on a date who doesn't know Thai food, this might be the place. It's not cheap compared to the quality (which could be seen as a plus on a date, not a cheap date).The servers are not attentive, meaning no interruptions. It's fairly fancy indoors, outside not so much but that's just this part of the city I'm guessing (panhandling, etc.). They serve drinks, big plus. Quite possibly the reason the food doesn't need to be all that good. The presentation of dishes is decent. I'm still wondering how this comes up as being a Thai restaurant. About the equivalent of asking for a really spicy hot sauce but getting ketchup.

On to service. I will refrain from going into details, people have jobs and as unpleasant as it was I'm not trying to get anyone reprimanded or fired from a job. It could have been a lot better though.

2 Stars - In summary I think it could be a decent place for a date filled with drinks. There's a couple of good things going for this place and it adds up to atmosphere. If you're looking for Thai cuisine pass it up. If you're looking for a nice foodie experience pass it up. If you're looking for good service, every person is different, I didn't get a good server. I will certainly pass this place up, each...

It's been years since I've been here, but this place seems to have really gone downhill. This used to be one of my favorite 5 Points spots! But not anymore unfortunately. Upon entering the restaurant, the host, who was lounging in a nearby booth staring at his phone, slowly got up, sauntered over to us and just said "2?" At this point we were fearful of what was to come. So we followed this young man with pants around his thighs to our table. Our waiter was great, until another waiter motioned her over and she abruptly said I'm sorry I'll be right back. We then watched her argue with another server on who stole who's table. Then we were greeted by our new server, who finished our drink order. He was alright.

The place used to be cozy and homey with good vibes, but now what after appears to be a large renovation, it seems clinical and empty. Yes it has been years since I've been here, but I guess I've been lucky in that sense. There is 0 artwork or decoration on the walls, and it feels more like a cafeteria than a restaurant. The music was so low we could hear every conversation in this empty cavern of a room.

The hot sake was the best thing we got - all of the food is overpriced and way undercooked. We paid $13 for a veggie dish with a small cup of rice. It was not nearly the portion size nor had the flavoring of the dishes they serve at the Crestline location. The broccoli was almost raw. The "vegetarian" happy hour eggrolls were tiny and flavorless, literally just cabbage inside and nothing else. Pretty sure the frozen boxes of eggrolls at Aldi are comparable or possibly even the same thing as what we were served. The chicken satay was decent, but still overpriced. Again, the only thing that was really good was the hot sake. Don't waste your money here - neither the food nor the atmosphere is worth it. Just go to Ikko across the street for...