Tup Tim Thai Restaurant and Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Gainesville

I've been ordering from Tup Tim for what's got to be going on 4 years. I feel like it was during COVID that I started. So I've been a pretty regular customer, however I started to notice some things.

Up front, I should note these are based on delivery orders and how the food is prepared before the driver picks the orders up.

One of the first things I began noticing was how inconsistent the prep was for the food. Sometimes it would be under seasoned, verging on almost no seasoning. Other times the flavor would be there but the meal would be drenched in oil. The times it's just right, it's as good as any Thai place you're bound to find. But consistency is the key to meal service and Tup Tim has suffered from this greatly over the last couple years.

Most recently, I've started noticing portion discrepancies. When my former roommate and I first began ordering Tup Tim we felt that the portions were great for the price. We felt they could charge a little more an get away with it. And so they have. I'd happily continue to pay $15 for those portions (especially with inflation being what it is) but they're not consistent with portions either. I noticed that sometimes I'd get just a small container with my order and others a large styrofoam box while paying the same price for both. Now I've pinned down a trend that when they do BOGO deals with Uber, for example, that they give two smaller containers but if I order a portion I get a large styrofoam container. So if I do BOGO, I'm getting the same single portion they offer but it's just divided into two containers. THAT is not fair. You pay a service fee for delivery based on how many pieces there are in the order and as such BOGO ends up costing more than the single serving because you're paying for the delivery of more pieces.

So, to the owners, you've got great recipes. You truly do. However, the kitchen staff needs to work to insure that each order is the same when it leaves the kitchen as much as they can. Things happen, but things can't happen this often. If you're offering a deal, honor that deal with integrity and don't just do something like splitting a regular single portion into two.

You had a great foundation, now meet that...

Nice place in University Avenue, with parking in the rear. The atmosphere is really nice and there are a few outside tables fronting the avenue. Service is excellent, really polite as well. Chicken Satay is a great appetizer - they really got great flavor in the sauce. The sushi is pretty good but they use krab instead of crab and the propensity of offerings seem to include cream cheese and eel sauce, to the point I just went with a krab roll, instead of any 'real' sushi. My Daughter had the Manhattan roll and, while that wouldn't be my normal choice, I tried a piece and it was actually really good. Price range on sushi is about 5.00 to 30.00 per roll. For Entrees the selection is Huge. For a lot of the stuff you pick the dish, then you select the meat, or combination of meats... ranging from chicken to duck (which meat affects the price). We had Garlic and Pepper mixed meats and it was excellent - sauce it was cooked in was close to perfection. We also had a ginger salad that I am sorry to say I would not recommend. Soda is by the can, not fountain if that makes a difference to anyone. Pricing, overall, isn't bad. I think we spent close to 53.00 for a very large 2 person lunch. That was appetizer, an entree, a soda, a salad and several sushi rolls. The portions were pretty good and I was happy with the price considering what we got. Overall we really enjoyed it and will be back...

NEVER GOING BACK.... I witnessed the slow decline of this place since it opened several years ago and stopped going completely about 2 years ago or a little longer. I figured I would give them another chance. I called at 9:15 on Saturday July 5. The guy answered and said "Hold" and put the phone down. He picked it up about 30 seconds later, and said "Are you still there?" in a tone that sounded like he was hoping I had hung up already. I ordered a Yum Beef Salad, a dish I am very familiar with. It used to come in a big clear plastic box and was a decent amount of food for $12. The dish is normally served on a bed of Romaine lettuce. What I got was a little box barely big enough to hold a sushi roll with about 1/3 the quantity I was expecting, based on my previous experiences here. See my photo of mostly-eaten salad to indicate the size of the container. It had no Romaine lettuce at all, just a bit of beef, some onions, a few shreds of cilantro and a few cucumber slices, and way too much dressing for the amount of salad. The parking lot was empty on a Saturday night and only one table had someone eating. I would have gotten so much more for my money if I had driven to Mahzu Sushi, which was my...