Fresh Thai — Restaurant in Little Elm

Hello everyone. I wasn’t going to write this review initially, but my conscience is not letting me do that. So with that being said, here we go. On Friday(02/09/24) me, my wife & 2yr old kiddo went to dine in. We walked in & waited to see if anybody acknowledged or noticed to help us find a table somewhere. Since we didn’t get anybody to seat us, we went ahead & sat ourselves in the one of the many open tables. No biggie. Thought it wouldn’t hurt because there were so many open tables. At the time we went, there was only one customer eating in the dining area. Eventually, a gentleman came over & put menus on our table, no greeting, didn’t say a word or gave any kind of acknowledgement. Then he came back with lukewarm water with no ice in halfway washed cups & i’m not exaggerating. He then went away for a bit & eventually came back to take our order. Food came out and it was pretty decent. I’m not writing this review to critique or complain about the food, but just principles. I’ll get to that part shortly. Although the sweet sticky rice could use a little bit of work, since it was dry. After/while we ate our food, our server never once came back to check on us. Just to ask how the food was or if we needed anything. Mind you, if it was a busy time, I’ll completely understand. There was a young lady working at the same time also. She came to us eventually, made sure we were good & was very polite. After our meal was done, the gentleman came back with our receipt, again didn’t ask us if we needed anything, just robotic. And this is when I noticed something on my receipt. I wish I had the original ticket where it said “gratuity 20%.” I only have the copy of the receipt after payment & it only says “tip” instead of “gratuity.”(PIC ATTACHED) I questioned the gentleman regarding the gratuity. He said that “we charge 20% gratuity for all dine in now.” I thought this was odd due to the percentage & also the number of party dining in. I’ve seen places where they charge gratuity for a party of 6 or more people. But it is what it is. So here’s my problem/concern. You(Fresh Thai) is expecting/charging a 20% gratuity/tip for subpar service. I wouldn’t have been bothered as much if I’ve received decent service. Please don’t get me wrong. I believe it’s a tough industry to work in & those tips are earned through hard work & good customer Service. So I’m all in for tipping. I kept calm & didn’t want to be confrontational, since that’s not my style especially with other customers around. So I just paid & left. After I left, I recall seeing the same server giving an IPad to another customer for payment. I thought this was odd too since I was just given a pre printed receipt with a pre selected gratuity amount. It could be something or it could be nothing, just a thought. Moral of the story is if you(Fresh Thai) is charging people 20% gratuity, at least put forth an effort & give decent service. I definitely won’t be coming back again. Hope this review...

I stop in every now and again to get an order of fresh spring rolls which is 80% lettuce, tiny bit of noodles and 1 piece of shrimp cut in half. IT'S $9.00 FOR LETTUCE!!! If I'm willing to drive I can get it for $6.50 OR EVEN LESS but that's over 7 miles away and I'm disabled. We also get the fried Thai Spring Roll that has NO PROTEIN in it..and they are $5.95 for 2. I bought 3 of those and 1 order of fresh spring roll and it was over $32!!! OVER THIRTY TWO DOLLARS FOR TINY ROLLS!! They put them in a wax bag and tip over the TINY container of sauce and place it on top then STAPLE IT SHUT. When I got home the sauce had begun to leak in 1 bag but ALL THE FRIED ROLLS were now COMPLETELY STEAMED TO A SOGGY MESS AND STUCK TO THE PAPER BAG!! I couldn't peel all the bag off the rolls without tearing them apart. So 3 went into the garbage. I have 3 completely mushy rolls left!!! WHY ARE THEY PUTTING MOLTEN HOT FRIED FOODS IN PLASTIC BAGS AND SEALING THEM SHUT TO STEAM??? They should be in a container that still circulates air, like a Styrofoam container...HOWEVER STYROFOAM SHOULDN'T BE USED AT ALL BECAUSE IT ISN'T BIODEGRADABLE AND HOT FOOD CAUSES A TOXIC REACTION WITH STYROFOAM!!! To say I'm disappointed is an understatement! I'll either go to Manee Thai off the tollway or stick with Fortune Star Chinese who also do 6 or more Thai dishes at a reasonable price! I can get 3 or 4 orders (at $3.99ea & $6.49ea for 6 dumplings) Appetizers, 1 SUPER large serving of Fried rice and 4 entrees for $72, I do it every 2 weeks or so, if I'm already out!!! They have the best Chinese in the 8 states I've lived in and hands down anywhere here! Their Thai curries and dishes are great too!!! Here I pay half that in Appetizers alone!!! $9 for a roll with 80% lettuce is unconscionable and unnecessary! I've worked in the restaurant business and know overhead and how to apply it to food prices. These are EXTREMELY HIGH for this cuisine!!! Soooo disappointed as I was their biggest fan when they opened but I won't be ripped off. Yes there's inflation but taking advantage of it to this extreme is just a way to lose...

My boyfriend and I went here tonight. We ordered fried veggie dumplings, sesame chicken with steamed veggies added, and pad thai with tofu (I’m vegan, my boyfriend is not). First the dumplings came out steamed, which we agreed to go ahead and eat because we were hungry. They tasted like they had ground meat in them, which was suspicious since they weren’t the dumplings we ordered in the first place, but our server assured us they were the vegetable dumplings. Also the steamed vegetables my boyfriend ordered worth his sesame chicken came out with the dumplings instead of with the entree. The entrees came out very quickly, while we were still eating the dumplings. My pad Thai tasted just fine and was spiced according to my order. However, my boyfriend’s chicken tasted like frozen chicken nuggets and was not spicy at all and he was not happy with his meal. He told the server he was not happy with the quality of the food and sent it back after two bites. The server took the chicken away and got me a to-go box for my meal. When she brought us the bill, the chicken was still on the ticket. We pushed back against this and asked to have it taken off the menu. This led to a very long and awkward back and forth disagreement with the server who insisted that we pay for the chicken. Eventually , she called the manager on the phone who told us that satisfaction is NOT guaranteed and that he did not want to take the item off the ticket. We have both spent 7+ years in the restaurant industry and feel that this is poor practice, but even so, communication could have made us feel better about this situation. The server could have asked if there was something else he would like to order or told us that we were expected to pay for the item regardless of our satisfaction before she took the food away. Overall, I appreciate the marked vegetarian options and I’m sure that the other Thai options are higher quality than the Chinese option he ordered, but poor customer service and communication are ultimately what ruined this experience for us and we would not recommend this...