Hanuman Thai Cafe Kirkland — Restaurant in Kirkland

I think this is my second-ever negative review. It is very sad, because we gathered to say goodbyes to our friend, who is leaving the state. First of all, first Thai place I've ever seen that charges extra (separately) for shrimps and for peanut sauce for their fresh rolls. Overall food tasted okay. Second of all, even though on Google it says "open until 9:30" the owner was shooing us out (almost literally) at 8:50. He said that his job is very hard and they have so much to do, while hovering over the shoulder of my friend, while she was finishing her last bits, after a 12 hours shift at the hospital (talking about the hard work and a person who came literally from work to eat). And finally, after we politely pointed out that this isn't a very nice practice, he literally said "you can give us a one-star review, we don't care", so here we are. And looking at his rude replies to the other, even slightly negative reviews, for sure this business doesn't deserve any customers. I know very well a few family-owned restaurants, where all food is homemade, that struggled a bit, especially during the COVID, but they never complained or absolutely had never been rude. Thus we always go there to support their business, but will never come back to this Thai place.

EDIT(Reply to owner since it's not apparently possible to respond to comments): It's still utterly unacceptable to advertise one closing time, but close earlier for convenience with no prior warning. People make plans with a certain schedule in mind. If you had told us that you were closing earlier when we came in, we would have gone somewhere else that was open longer. Instead, you pulled a bait and switch and waited until we paid(with tips, which we would not have given if we knew obviously) to tell us. Don't hide behind a veneer of concern for your staff, it was a deliberate decision on your part not to tell us you're closing early until it was too late. Business isn't about charity and kindness. Business means you offer something specific and people choose to pay for it or not. Would you like to buy something just to find out that "plans had changed and you should understand that it wasn't convenient to make something exactly as you wanted and paid for"? No. There is an easy fix: change your time to 9 p.m. on a weekdays, so there's won't be such a confusion and it will be easier on your staff, but you are not going to, because you are greedy and on some rare days, when there might be lots of clients, you will easily sacrifice your staff well-being and stay later. Besides, most restaurants close kitchen and begin to clean it while last customers are finishing their food, so don't tell me that you just didn't choose something that was convenient for you, trying to manipulate customers into feeling bad for your staff. It isn't our...

As a small business owner myself, I understand the importance of being friendly and accommodating to customers. Unfortunately the manager himself, simply is not.

He point blank canceled my order and refused to serve me…I have never seen this in my life.

Why?

I order a chicken Phad Thai ($15) and want to add a fresh roll at $11. It comes with Tofu so I upgrade it to the prawns for $2.

His print menu reads: Rice wrapper with tofu, fresh vegetables and basil. Served with plum sauce or peanut sauce sauce.¹

That “1” he has is so small and put as a superscript character that I didn’t see it. So I told him I’d like the peanut sauce but I don’t understand why I have to pay an extra dollar for a small to go container of peanut sauce…he responds with that’s how it’s always been and it is one dollar if you don’t want to pay it then we don’t have to serve you. I went on to say you wrote your menu saying plum OR peanut sauce so it’s technically your fault for not being clear. He then points to the small 1 and says it’s there. I then immediately apologize and say oh I’m sorry I did not see that if that’s the case okay. He thennnnn goes on to say we are not “engineers” with a big corporation to make menus that are perfect, I wrote it myself. You think we are trying to steal from you but what is $1 dollar to us. He thennn pulls out his big board stating his open business hours that show 11 - 9:30 PM and because we stop serving at 9 pm people get mad even though we are “on our knees” working hard.

I asked him 2 other times very clearly, okay I apologized and I’m not trying to argue with you, will you not serve me? He repeatedly says “no I prefer not to deal with people like you, we can cancel the order thank you.”

This manager (or owner if he is it) needs to learn what it means to communicate properly with customers. His reaction made it obvious, this is not the first time a customer has been upset about the way they run their restaurant.

I even tried to calmly talk to him outside to try to explain why I said it and tell him how he can fix his menu and that I’m seriously not against him. I am telling you because I know these things matter as a business owner and a marketing Director!! But continued to be rude, insensitive to any form of embarrassment he may have caused me, and most of all stubborn...

Wonderful food, but one star dining experience. We were meeting new family for the first time and were excited that the restaurant was on the quieter side so we could have a nice conversation. The manager rushed us though - had us in and out within 30 mins. We asked to order more drinks & dessert and he said we weren’t allowed to. He mentioned we had only ordered 4 dishes (family style dishes) for 5 people and that he needed us out.

That said - food was amazing! Just don’t show up hoping to have a nice dining experience!

Update, since I can’t respond 😢: We spent no more than 35 mins in your restaurant. When we arrived, the restaurant was absolutely empty. You did not inform us that there were parties waiting. Despite that, you gave us less than 5 minutes to look at the menu, and were rude when weren’t ready. We would have done drinks if you gave us the option. Given our party, we would have preferred to do drinks first.

We had no idea what the portion size was, we hadn’t ever been to your restaurant. In fact, we planned to go to another restaurant, but the wait was super long. Given your restaurant was empty, we were already hesitant.

We felt pressured to order without coordinating, so everyone felt like they should just share whatever was ordered. We ended up ordering 4 dishes, 2 bowls of rice, and an iced tea for 6 people but honestly didn’t even process how much we had ordered because we were too pressured to keep our order quick, given your body language. We wanted to order more food and drink for a second round since we were still hungry (15 minutes after the food came out) and were met with absolute incivility.

Next time, do not seat a party of 6 if you are unwilling or have promised tables to others. Had to take off of star because of...