Green Papaya Thai & Sushi (210 Location) — Restaurant in Nocatee

UPDATE: Bad food, poor service, incorrect orders, dirty interior. This place has declined incredibly!!!

We stopped by on a Tuesday around 8. From the moment we walked in the door, until we left, nothing was the usual 5 star experience we have had in the past.

Service: Hostess answered the phone as we walked in and would not even gesture for us to please wait/be patient, etc. She spent 5 minutes on the phone verifying an order or something. When she did get off the phone, there were no apology or explanation, just “2?” As in just the 2 of you for dinner tonight?

The server took a long time to get our orders and would disappear for long periods of time.

Atmosphere: The table next to us had dirty dishes from the previous customer, and it remained that way for around 10 minutes.

Food: Order (Pad seew & Pad Thai) was incorrectly made (my dish was supposed to come with broccoli but it didn’t have any. I asked about it and the server asked if I wanted the entire dish remade or just the broccoli. I asked for just the broccoli. Several minutes later, an old woman walked up and abruptly set down a bowl of mixed vegetables and announced “broccoli” which it wasn’t, it was clearly a bowl of mixed vegetables, with just 2 tiny pieces of broccoli.

Our rice noodle dishes were incredibly sweet. Almost syrup-sweet and lacked any other flavor. At the end of our meal, we had an entire plate of rice noodles remaining-due to the sweetness, all we could eat was the protein and vegetables because we doused them with soy sauce. The noodles were like candy or a dessert. Super weird.

When we paid, the first tip option on the portable card reader the server was holding, was 18% and it went up from there. Come on. 15% is standard for parties less than 6. It was just the 2 of us.

Anyhow, we do not think we will visit Green Papaya anymore, at least until we hear some positive news. Please go back to the excellent service and delicious SAVORY (not sweet) dishes that earned you the original 5 star review.

ORIGINAL POST: Outstanding Thai food, affordably priced modern & clean/organized atmosphere!

Green Papaya is the best Thai Food option in northeast Florida. We had the appetizer sampler, Basil Thai fried rice with beef, and noodles with scallops. Each dish was bursting with flavor and incredibly tasty. The interior was very modern and aesthetically pleasing. Each staff member was very courteous and professional.

Very convenient location on CR210 and I-95. I highly recommend this venue for a date night or if you are craving...

Surprisingly rude 'Host' at the front entry on Friday, June 7, 2024. I arrived at approximately 6 PM, very hot & tired after fighting traffic for an hour to get to this destination. As a HEART patient - I just wanted to dine on delicious, healthy favorites, & go home. There were MANY (10-12) empty tables, bar stools, etc. The "Host" told me I'd have to wait 15 min. or more before he "could seat me." I pointed to the many empty tables & stools, and said, "But you have all these empty tables and stools, I'll take any of them." He glared at me and said that I'd have to wait, that's their policy. I told him I am a heart patient, and just needed soup and salad, and drove a long way to dine here, and was very hot and tired. He just smiled - actually it was more of a sneer. I then told him I'd leave and eat elsewhere. He made NO ATTEMPT to give me one of the dozen or more empty chairs at the tables, nor one of the empty counter seats.

If the owner/manager has any doubt about how this Host 'received' a loyal Green Papaya patron, I encourage you to replay video footage of your front entry and observe this interaction yourself.

The downtown St. Augustine Green Papaya has very nice each time I've eaten there. We LOVE their food! My family and I dine there frequently, and have ALWAYS been treated respectfully and courteously. I find it hard to believe these establishments are under the same management.

I'll not be going back to this SR 210/St. Johns location. Life is too valuable to waste time in hot sunshine, 99 degree temperature, & bad traffic, to stand around miserable for 15 min. when there was no valid excuse to be treated so offensively by a young man, who was obviously grinning/sneering, appearing to relish in my discomfort after I'd walked across the hot parking lot, exhausted and dehydrated from the sunshine & 99° 🥵 heat.

Thank your immature, inhospitable 'man/boy' Host for his rude and inhospitable greeting. He's clearly untrained in the fundamentals of customer service. I'll not return & suffer his contempt again.

Sincerely,

An 80 Year Young Retired Professional, Fran (and her family and neighbors and friends

P.S. - TODAY (Sunday, June 9, 2024), I had a delicious and healthy late lunch at the ST. AUGUSTINE GREEN PAPAYA on US 1. Enjoyed delicious Spicy Seafood Soup and Tuna Sashimi Salad - and appreciated the EXCEPTIONAL customer service & hospitality by all there!! ...

I just got off my shift in the hospital. My family and I decided we wanted thai and we love the other location. I walk in to make an order for my family dinner and am met with a smiling face asking if I am dining in or take out. I tell her I’m ordering take out and am told that a gentleman walking over will get my order. Well he walks over after a while and instead of taking my order he looks BEHIND me and notices a “regular customer” walk in and he says to that gentleman behind me that he has his order ready. I’m like okay that is fine. I get it. Give the guy his food and then get the customer’s order. Well the guy notices his order is wrong. So he offers to re-do what is wrong and has me wait as the guy chooses what he wants instead and goes to the back to give the guy’s new order. This took a total of nine minutes of my time before I actually got a chance to put my own order in. I am trying to be understanding. But then when my actual order was ready it got worse. The gentleman working the front ran over to give the regular customer his food. At that exact moment I get a text message my food is ready. I ask the girl in the bar if someone can bring me my food. She told me that it is her second day and that I need to wait for the guy to get back that is working the front. Two other guys are just looking at me. No one is bringing me my food out. Finally one of the guys who is looking at me asks her what I am waiting for. She tells him that I am waiting for my food. He goes to the back and brings it up front to me. For reference this was five minutes after my text message that my food was ready. I ask him if all the food is in the bag (only was asking because everything is check marked on my receipt EXCEPT the two items on the bottom of the receipt and I wanted to make sure those two items were not missing). He makes a sarcastic remark to me that obviously it is if he brought it out to me. Not very good customer service after...