Bangkok Garden — Restaurant in Portsmouth

This place used to be my all-time favorite. I came here to grab lunch all the time, but I think they might've changed management and the chef. The service and food quality just hit rock bottom, so I only come here if I don't have much lunch time. Today, I ordered my usual pork Laab and mango sticky rice. The pork Laab was bland, which is something I can tolerate since it's been like this for the past few times, but the mango on the sticky rice was obviously rotten. So, I called the restaurant to let the person know. She told me it's not bad, it's the type of mango they use. I told her it's definitely bad. She asked if I could bring the food back. At this point, I had left about 20 minutes ago and was already on the interstate. I told her I couldn't, so she said, 'Okay, bye,' then ended my call. I was furious at this point. I turned around and came back to the restaurant so I could get my refund. When the lady saw me, the first thing she said was, 'Oh, I thought you were on the highway?' with an extremely sarcastic tone. I was extremely upset at this point, but I didn't want to make a scene since there were other customers. So, I told her, 'Here is the sticky mango rice. I don't want you to make me a new one; I just need a refund.' She said, 'Oh, sorry, we don't do refunds here.' I told her, 'I don't care, I need my money back, regardless of cash or a refund on my card,' and I was getting pretty loud since I was extremely upset at this point. She said, 'Okay,' then called someone to walk her through the refund. Apparently, they do issue refunds; she just didn't know how to do it. From the beginning to the end, I never even heard 'sorry' from this lady in charge. I would definitely avoid this location...

Restaurant inside is pretty, nicely decorated and comfortable for a low-key date night. We are fairly new to Portsmouth and haven't had Thai since we lived in Baltimore so I was really looking forward to trying Bangkok Garden. Unfortunately, the food wasn't very great. Probably a C minus at best. My husband ordered Massaman curry and I ordered the Panang Curry Thai hot four stars; we also ordered Spring and Summer roll appetizers and Spicy roasted duck entree to share. (Clearly, we were hungry and really looking forward to satisfying our Thai craving.) Our curries tasted the same; mostly just bland coconut milk. My husband had raw potatoes and raw peanuts in his and mine was not spicy at all. If I order a dish, especially a Thai dish, with Thai hot/four stars, I expect it to be spicy; the Panang curry was more like negative one star in terms of spiciness. It tasted like they just threw together coconut milk, raw veg, and poached chicken and let it all boil together for 5 minutes, no flavor or love whatsoever. The appetizers were also rather bland. The duck was okay, sitting in sweet sauce more than being roasted and crispy. It was a Thai version of a Chinese takeout restaurant in terms of food quality; good enough if you accept it for what it is but not what you call a great, authentic Thai restaurant. The service was great though; we had a server named Viking and he was very nice and attentive. All in all, we are still on our search for a great Thai restaurant in the Norfolk/Portsmouth area. So far, the food scene here has been mediocre and...

I recently had a very disappointing and frustrating experience with a food order at this location. I picked up pork laab and mango sticky rice, but the laab was bland and the mango was spoiled - it had turned white and developed black spots. When I called the store to report the issue, the staff member became argumentative, insisting the mango was fine. I offered to send photos as evidence as we are already in the interstate but she refused, instead asking me to drive back to the store to return the item and she just end the call. So I decided to drive back, worst part is as soon as I arrived the store she didn’t even apologize, and even told me “Oh I thought you already on the highway”. Even after I drove back the store and return the food she still wouldn't offer a refund, saying she'd only replace the mango sticky rice and don’t know how to process a refund. Despite my inconvenience and the obvious spoilage, she continued to dispute the issue. It wasn't until she consulted with someone else over the phone that she finally processed a refund. The entire experience was disappointing, especially given our history as repeat customers. Although the staff member's unfriendly demeanor wasn't new, the poor handling of this situation was the final straw. We're choosing NOT TO RETURN, and I hope the management takes steps to address...