Sam's Bann Thai — Restaurant in Riverside

We found ourselves staying at a Holiday Inn Express, in Colton CA. Let's just say our stay was due to a merciless heat wave, that forced us out of our home due to a faulty AC, into the added expense of a hotel which helped to keep cold as penguins, while outdoors the oppressing heat took over the land. Hotel stay spells dining out every night. Tonight it was Sam's Bann Thai, which delivered to the hotel. After reading several reviews, most praises, some less so, we ordered: Wonton soup, $7.95. Broth was vigorously flavored with excessive cabbage, carrots in less amount, and 2 mid size shrimp tail on. Amount was a supposedly 16 ounces. Arrived hot, but felt a little short on protein. 3.5 Stars. Shrimp Egg Rolls, $8.95. The thinnest egg roll I ever seen, darker than recommended, dry and accompanied by their version of sweet and sour sauce. This one with the consistency of water. No cornstarch? 2.5 Stars. Chicken Fried Rice, $11.95. Plenty of rice, a couple chunk of tomatoes, thick sliced onions, zero veggies, a blunder that was left practically intact. Money to the trash. 1.5 Stars. Yellow Curry Chicken, $12.45. Disgustingly sweet, watery curry sauce, the whole thing a regret. What is up with the Asian mentality that just about anything, and everything, has to be smeared with sweet ingredients. Bet half a dollar, they do not eat what they sell to the general public. Next time I will get a milkshake for a third of the price. 1.5 Star Chicken Satay, 8.95. Overpriced, dried, flavorless, accompanied by extremely sweet cucumber salsa, in a tiny container. Peanut sauce thick as putty, so sweet it got disposed swiftly. 1.5 Stars. Egg Rolls, $7.95. Decent for a change of pace. Sweet and sour sauce watery, no praise for the execution. 3 Stars. Fried Bananas with chocolate dip, $6.95. Egg Rolls with banana purée. Chocolate dip barely gets a passing grade. 3 Stars. The mediocre feast commanded a whooping $77 plus tag price. The person who took the order was very nice, paper plates and plastic utensils, and napkins too. Sad to say that if this place is a 5 Star, or even a 4 Star, then really good Thai food can not be measured by the same...

If I could give this place zero stars I would. We used to love this place - but after tonight’s horrible experience, we will never ever go back. We walked into a quiet nearly empty restaurant with no wait time. When we were seated, we were left unattended for 45 minutes, before our server finally came to our table. We asked for waters and had to wait another 30 minutes - our server disappeared again and we waited at least 30 minutes to actually order our food. There were maybe 6-8 other people dining there at this same time, who were also waiting on the server for several minutes. When our food was finally brought to our table, it was lukewarm at best - our server placed our food on the table and quickly turned around and walked away. She didn’t check on us or ask if we needed anything else. We would have appreciated at least one refill on our waters, as we had ordered spicy fried rice and drunken noodle, but instead had to wait another 30 minutes for her to come by. We asked for the check and it included 18% gratuity. We told her we didn’t think it was appropriate to include such a large tip, because we had to wait so long for service and food, and our food was barely warm. She proceeded to argue with us about the 18% tip and then got frustrated and stormed off. She returned with a re printed check and showed us that it did not include gratuity. I always leave a tip, but this time I chose not to.

*Also, the bathrooms have a strong foul odor that blows into the dining area every time someone opens/closes the bathroom doors. we were seated near the kitchen area and observed extremely unsanitary conditions, including dust and grease build up above the “expo counters”, dead roaches on the floors, and rat droppings.

*HORRIBLE SERVICE. DIRTY KITCHEN and DINING AREAS.

please do yourself a favor and...

The Husband and I often go to Sam's Bann Thai when we stroll downtown and it has never disappointed.

Hadn't been in a while, so we went tonight, $50 gift card in tow, after walking the Festival of Lights in downtown Riverside.

I noticed a "NEW" sign outside and a somewhat different interior, so I asked our server if there is a new owner. Yes, since May I was told.

Service was slow. My husband ordered Calamari as an appetizer which was always good. For $8.75 he got five or six greasy, rubbery sticks with some sauce. Then he ordered a fried eggplant dish. "Sorry we're out of eggplant," our server told him. Okay, what about Pad Thai? "Oh, sorry we're out of Pad Thai, too." Well so now what?

He ended up with some spaghetti noodles and fried tofu. Then we waited for flatware because there was none on our table. Sigh.

I had pot stickers and Yellow Curry which tasted okay.

Then, the crowning moment: "We can't take this gift card because we aren't affiliated with the other (Bann Thai) location." Even though your name is Sam's Bann Thai and your address is in the back of the card?

"Yeah, I know, that's weird."

Wow.

I think this was our last visit to Sam's Bann Thai. I'm hoping the original location won't disappoint. I still have a $50 card burning a hole...