Chaiyo's Thai & Sushi — Restaurant in Knoxville

If I could give this 0 stars I would. Our waitress was amazing. But the owner was beyond terrible. I went with a group of friends for the first time. As soon as we were served, one of my friends noticed immediately that there was an eyelash in her food. We were all polite and noticed our server was busy so we waited a few minutes before we had the chance to tell her. Once we did, our waitress took it back only to come out and said “our owner took the eyelash out but she isn’t going to make a new one or else she will make you pay” she also look frightened, as if she was yelled at or something. Our friend didn’t want to make a scene and she was hungry so she ate around where the eyelash was, only to find a hunk of plastic in her food. Not to bother our server again because she looked scared last time a male server was near us and we kindly told him were sorry but there’s plastic in the food and showed him. He sincerely apologized and took the food away. After that our waitress comes to us to try to makes things okay, we see if she can get a new roll. Our waitress explains to us that if she wants a new roll we have to pay. My friend didn’t want to deal with it, but I very politely asked to see a manager/ owner. The waitress said “are you sure? she’s going to yell at you” I said I’m not going to yell I just want to ask her if she can get a new roll, no big deal :) the waitress pauses and then goes back to tell the owner. The owner, a crazed older lady, comes out with her hands In the air yelling saying “what!!!!” I continued to say, “there’s no reason to yell, I’m just wondering why my friend has to pay for her food if the other one had plastic and eyelashes in it, she just wants to eat” she continues to scream at our table, touching my shoulder over and over, I ask her to please stop touching me and relax. She makes a scene the whole restaurant goes silent and everyone is watching. She screams saying she works hard to put food on our table, (as if she is providing for us???? We’re paying for this ?????) she continued to tell us she’s not budging so we ask her to get away from us, we pay, make sure to tip in only cash so our waitress is taken care of and we leave. Not to mention the food wasn’t even good. Not worth it,...

This place ruined my Friday evening due to their incompetence and poor customer service. My friend and I went here expecting to have a nice dinner. It was our first time there and it looked promising. We were seated promptly and the waitress took our orders within 10 minutes. We ordered steamed dumplings as an appetizer and each ordered an entree. I also ordered a Thai iced tea. The tea arrived soon after but after waiting nearly 30 minutes still no food. The waitress noticed and told us our food was coming. However after an additional 10 minutes there was no food and we noticed that most of the the frenzied activities in the kitchen was to fill take out orders. None of the seated customers had food. My friend, now frustrated, went to inquire about our food and the rude waitress said they had many take out orders to fill first. We had now waited 40 minutes and no appetizer and no food. We decided to leave hungry and frustrated for being treated like we did not matter. What I don’t understand is why they kept taking take out orders in the first place if they couldn’t take care of the customers they had seated in their restaurant? You don’t seat customers and then make them wait indefinitely without so much as an explanation for their food not being ready or at least without bringing them an appetizer. This place seemed disorganized and the staff seem to not have customer service skills. Don’t waste your time and go somewhere else for Thai food. Very...

The food at Chaiyo is decent but not the best Thai in town. We've eaten at Chaiyo off and on for several years. I recommend going here for lunch (if you can find parking) because the prices for their lunch menu are much more reasonable than their dinners. They've also raised prices in general lately though.

Well I haven't ordered their sushi, on the Thai side of their menu there's really not a bad item. Their curries and drunken noodles are flavourful and all of vegetables are usually pretty crisp. Any of their entrees can be made with beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, or tofu so they are definitely vegetarian friendly. Also, their 0 to 10 heat index is definitely accurate -- for me, spicy starts around a 6 or 7, while a 9 or 10 can leave you sweaty.

If eating in the restaurant for lunch, their service is typically attentive so it does make for a good location near the UT campus for a quick lunch.

If you order take-out from Chaiyo, make sure they've given you everything you've ordered - as I found at tonight (2/19/22), if they forgot to include something in your bag and you don't discover it until you're home, they won't issue a refund (unless you return to the restaurant which, seriously, how much of a pain in the butt can...