Cafe De Bangkok Gilbert — Restaurant in Gilbert

I love Thai food. Today, I visited an exceptional Thai eatery- Café de Bangkok. This was a surprisingly fresh, unique and authenticate restaurant. The location is on E Gilbert Rd, just south of N Houston Ave.

The restaurant is fairly simply, but with plenty of tables. The restaurant is well staffed, which is a nice change from most restaurants in the post covid era. When I arrived, they seated me immediately.

I ordered shrimp wonton soup for the appetizer. It came out and was sizzling, literally. The metal bowl with the wonton soup was centered with an oil lamp which kept the soup hot. The lamp burned out in a few minutes, keeping the soup hot while we enjoyed it. It was simple wonton, which wrapped shrimp, and the broth was enhanced with fresh bok choy. At $17 it was unique, but at this price, only reasonable for purchase in a meal on special occasions.

For the main course, I ordered three items: Jumbo Fried rice, Penang curry, and garlic & pepper pork. The jumbo fried rice was a dazzling dish of beef, pork, and shrimp slices amongst fried rice, egg, carrots, onions, cheese, peas and tomatoes. It was expensive (nearly $20), but sizzling and wonderful.

The second dish, pengang curry beef, was nicely spiced but not spectacular. I would say the flavor was flat in terms of its texturea and the beef was dry. This was my least favorite of the dishes. I would not order this again with beef. Chicken might be a better match for this curry.

The last and final dish we enjoyed was the Garlic Pepper dish. Normally served with beef, I had it made with pork, which was brilliant, juicy and spicy (i had this with 4 level spiciness). The amount of pepper, zestieness of the garlic and juiciness of the pork made this a stellar selection. At $16 this was my favorite dish.

The staff was fast, courteous, and helpful. The prices were reasonable. The presentation was surprisingly brilliant. The tastes were excellent. I...

The dining experience was initially satisfying, with commendable food quality and attentive service on a Sunday afternoon. However, the atmosphere soured dramatically during payment. Despite being a group of three adults, one 10-year-old, and a peacefully sleeping baby, we were perplexed to find a gratuity on our bill typically enforced for larger parties of five or more. Upon raising this with our waitress, she repetitively questioned our preference to have it removed, a request we made with the intention to tip independently. The meal, costing $73, was overshadowed by a $15 added gratuity.

The situation escalated when the waitress vocally involved another staff member to remove the charge, unnecessarily drawing attention in an otherwise empty restaurant. Her insistence on the triviality of the gratuity amount, despite our clear wishes, turned a simple request into an uncomfortable confrontation.

The incident took an even more unacceptable turn when, upon settling the bill, the waitress inquired about our duration of residency in the U.S., a question both irrelevant and offensive. This final breach of decorum compelled me to leave immediately after signing the check.

This experience was marred by unprofessional behavior, transforming what could have been a pleasant outing into a regrettable ordeal. Despite the quality of the food and the initial service, the encounter with such discourteous and unethical staff behavior has firmly dissuaded us from ever returning. It's disheartening to endure such treatment, a stark contrast to the hospitality one would expect.

This incident left a lasting negative impression, ensuring we will...

I eat from this place at least once a month and normally have no issues. I will never go there again after my experience tonight however.

I placed a togo order of 3 items, a pad thai, curry dish, and cream cheese wontons. When I got home and unpacked my bag, I noticed they forgot the white rice that goes with the curry. No big deal right? Wrong, apparently. When I called the restaurant, the lady insisted that they put it in the bag. As I was staring at the unpacked bag in front of me, I assured the lady on the phone that no, I am looking at everything, and it was not in the bag. Whatever. So, I head back to the restaurant to get my white rice, and again the lady tells me that not only did they put it in the bag, but they HAVE ME ON CAMERA carrying the bag that shows the white rice in it. I asked her to show me a picture or video clip showing that I have the white rice, and they refused. Cafe de Bangkok - if you choose to respond to this review, I challenge you to post the supposed footage of me with my phantom white rice. Please, make me look silly. The funny part is after all this, the rice wasn't even fresh.

All this over a free side of white rice? Checking my credit card account summary, I spent nearly 600 dollars at this place last year. I don't care how good the food is, after this experience I swear I will never come back. Filter the reviews by star rating. From the low star reviews you can see that the people that run this place have a pretty bad attitude problem and are not able to handle any criticism or...