Mai Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Boise

Like quite a lot of reviewers said, some waiter can ruin your lunch/dinner.

I was there with my family and ordered buffet services at noon on Saturday. We are astonished at extremely unprofessional and rude services received from a waiter (Maybe called ``Corey" shown on our receipt. Sorry if it is not him in this case) and felt very offended.

During our meal, I overheard the waiter Corey was mentioning us and explaining in a funny way to other customers sitting next to us. The waiter "accused" us that we took all sushi (of course not true) out of the sushi trays, so the slow services of sushi trays is not his fault but our fault.

First, what he said is not true at all. The truth is their service for buffet on weekends is slow, for example, the tray of Pad Thai was empty for quite a long time either.

Now let's check the facts. I guess the owner may have heard the story from the waiter's side, just like he talked to other customers. Once again, that's not true. (1) We ordered buffet services for 3 people and in total, we took 3 plates of sushi from 12:15PM to about 1PM. (2) Please think of a simple truth, we are not 20 years old young men, we are not huge, how many sushi we can eat? Oh, must be tons of I guess.

Second, what he did is absolutely unprofessional, by using an old trick of making political infighting among customers to relieve their responsibility.

Perhaps, the waiter has misjudged me according to my asian face, but fortunately or unfortunately, I do understand English.

I was very shocked by this rude, ridiculous manner. How can a waiter look for excuses and "blame" customers in such a stupid way? A few moments later, when the waiter passed me, I immediately questioned him the reasons why he pointed to me and mentioned me in conversations with other people. He denied first but had to admit it was his fault.

Later, he returned to me saying he had reported to the manager (I highly doubt if he has told the complete story since it is a very serious case but the manager was not quite clear about details when we checked) and will waive my bill for 1 of 3 guests. Again, I was still in deep shock and didn't know what did this mean. Now I felt I was insulted one more time by the fake story he may make that I was simply a "bad" customer for a free lunch. Come on, I work at Boise Downtown and had visited Mai Thai so many times. There's absolutely no reason for me to do so. If the owner could see this post (their website "contact me" doesn't work), please let me know and I would be happy to pay a bill for 1 more guest, though without tips of course.

The most unacceptable thing is, when we left for check, the waiter still kept chatting with other customers by blaming us for sushi services. I guess he needs some training and education. His behaviors benefit nobody, not customers, not restaurant owner, not himself either. How desperate and stupid his way is? I was so irritated and really wanted to teach him a lesson, if my baby boy would not be with me.

This restaurant was an ok place and I went there with my colleagues and group from time to time. But this rude waiter is the killer and I really hope I can give a 0...

Happy Hour 5/5 Healthy Choices 4/5 (based on happy hour menu only) Bar 5/5 EASY! Seating 3/5 location 5/5 Price 4/5 Overall diversity and comfort level 5/5

Wow! What a good time! I've been wanting to try this place for some time and tonight I finally did! Yay! I'm a SUPER fan and will visit again soon, tomorrow perhaps?!?

Walking in, I was nervous because I didn't have reservations and I looked at other reviews on Yelp using the keyword "Happy hour" and it was very clear that I needed reservations. I walked in about 5 pm and I was the only person there, which allowed me to look around and take some photos. Beautiful-- period. Shortly thereafter the people rolled in, and rolled in, which was an ah ha moment! Get there early! The crowd was all over the place, which as a sociologist I loved. People are beautiful and amaze me! This is a smaller establishment and they do their best with space. Look up at the fans--- never seen that before (look at my video).

Being a single dad of 4 I've recently learned that Happy Hour is a way to get what you want, and pay half the price and Mai Thai didn't disappoint. The waiter was very nice, knowledgeable, and receptive.

Happy Hour is 1/2 price apps and BOGO drinks! You must sit in the bar area for Happy Hour, but there are over 10 tables, one booth and ample seating at the actual bar. You just can't sit in the dining room.

This is what we ordered:

Portobello Tempura Mushrooms ($6 happy hour $12 regular) A++ Huge chunks of Mushroom tempura covered and fried. Served with Sweet Soy sauce. Epic!

California Roll-- ($5 HH $10 reg) These rolls were wrapped very tightly and big chunks with quality ingredients-- another A+ Ordered two of them! Classic Kani and avocado roll with sesame and cucumber.

Thai Chicken Satay's with a peanut sauce ($6 HH $12 reg.) 3/5-- not my favorite, but good nevertheless.

• DRINKS** Full bar-- bartenders are true mixologists! Their menu has lots of signature drinks and lots of different expirimental drinks. Again, BOGO. I ordered:

First was Spiced & Iced-- Markers Mark, Averna, Amarula, Thai Chili Honey, Mint, Thai Iced Coffee and vanilla whip. This was really good, but has a little spice to it, which is good-- just beware.

Should I get another? Of course, I should because it's free! BOGO ... I couldn't decide between the house Mai Thai or the or the smoke show. I asked the waiter and he was 100% invested in the smoke show, which is: Bulleit, rye, Benedictine, Peychaud, burnt pineapple, with baked pinecone smoke. When it was brought over you could smell the smokiness... mmmm it was good n strong.

Well, thanks for reading. I hope you get to enjoy Mai Thai and have the most amazing day ever! Thanks...

I have always dearly loved this joint but my last experience as a whole was super lackluster.

On an impromptu decision we decided to head downtown on a Friday night. Silly? Perhaps. But like where I work the week after a holiday is generally slow. We entered Mai Thai and no one.... may I repeat no one acknowledged that we walked through the door. Nor was the next set of patrons greeted. I get everyone is understaffed but it literally takes zero energy to greet someone and say you'll be with them shortly. I had to bend down and peer up to get some eye contact after waiting a good 10 minutes without being acknowledged. They sat us after a small wait. Our server was kind enough.... super socially awkward though and I could barely hear him or understand his words.

When our apetizers (potstickers) arrived the food runner damn near dropped the plate on our table, rushed through asking us if we had everything we needed, and hustled off before we could answer. Postickers were ok...just OK.... very little color or texture and kind of one note flavor wise. Our meals Pad Prik King and Green Curry with beef were dropped off in a very similar manner as our appetizers (same food runner) and were good but meh as well. Kind of chilly too.

As a server myself I know sometimes it's a drag to be at work. I'm not always the best at my job and sometimes I downright suck. I know we are short staffed but damn it's sure nice to go into a place where the staff is friendly even if super busy.

Mai Thai is a great place to eat so I'm sure it can't be that bad to work at. At least please act like you like people and care about thier experience. Everyone from the hostess the food runner just seemed really.... I don't want to use arrogant but I mean a few steps underneath that term is were the energy was at and you could feel it even...