On's Kitchen — Restaurant in Saint Paul

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE.

To preface, I've been to On's three times, twice for takeout and once dining in. I loved On's! Thai food is just tasty and I have usually been happy. This last time I was there I dined in and two friends of mine got drinks. One drink was $18 and another was $12. These prices indicated to us that these were going to be quality drinks, after all I go to places with proper mixologists and the drinks still aren't $18! The Phuket sunrise in particular was awful, they didn't have the actual mixer and just replaced it with club soda. We asked to just return it. Instead they brought out the drink as it should've been made, even though we said we didn't want it. To no one's surprise, it was still awful and I don't even know if it was made correctly because they told us originally the fountain machine wasn't working. I'm not kidding, I've made better drinks for myself at home drunk at 2am.

Anyhow, I've never been to a restaurant where they haven't taken pride enough in their service, food, and drinks to accept when a customer tells them it's not up to par. I don't want to be that person, it's awkward, but genuinely this experience was awful. A waitress came over and asked us what was wrong, even though we had clearly just said it was bad and tasted watered down due to the club soda being used. She just kept pushing and asking so I just said, "Sorry it just wasn't what we were expecting." Then she said "Sorry we can't refund it. We're not even trained as bartenders so that's why it was bad probably." That's when I tried to say again it's not worth $12 for a drink we DIDN'T drink because it was bad. They argued they brought a second one out that we DIDN'T ask for. They argued we said "It wasn't what we were expecting." But that's only because I was trying to avoid an awkward situation and being nice. It's one thing to say no returns, but this was downright manipulation.

DON'T OFFER $12-18 DRINKS IF YOU CAN'T MAKE DECENT TASTING RECIPES AND YOUR STAFF ISN'T TRAINED TO MAKE ACTUALLY GOOD DRINKS.

Even though the food was fine, this whole experience left such a bad taste in my mouth. I can tell they know what they're doing when it comes to authentic Thai but I won't be coming back and I will stop recommending this place. There's plenty of Thai places that have only treated me with respect, definitely no places that have manipulated me.

I'm sure I'll get a response that will deny this, but that's what happened and they should've just owned up to the mistake. You can see by the other responses they give to bad reviews that they don't ever want to admit to anything being wrong. $12 wasn't worth losing a customer that spends $100+ every time she has ordered from there. I have only been respectful and appreciative, and a business owner should return the same...

Update: I don’t think you guys truly understand the difference between a credit card and a debit card. Regardless of what your interpretation is, it is a FEDERAL LAW that states, it is illegal to charge a surcharge for a using a debit card. Which is completely different from a credit card. I should have know by your other responses that you would not truly take the time research and respond intelligently. Also, just because you guys post a sign stating you charge a 3% fee, doesn’t make it legal for you to do so. Pulled straight from Visa’s website “US Merchants cannot surcharge debit card or prepaid card purchases.” If you actually take the time to read the Durbin amendment like I had previously stated, I think you would understand what I’m talking about. You could also go and ask any business whether it’s legal or not to charge a fee for using a DEBIT Card and I guarantee they tell you no. Best of luck to you with your personal business interpretations! I hope the AG and FTC interpret the same way as you.

Visited On’s kitchen tonight and am honestly sad to have to give a family owned business 1 star. The food was great but I cannot allow them to continue to run their business with illegal practices. Everything was great up until our group got our bill. I noticed that there was a credit card fee added to our bill even before they knew what we were using to pay. My group was confused about this, so I went up to ask. When I got to the register the lady in the kitchen rudely says “do you need something?” I told her I was confused about the added credit card fee on the bill and stated it was illegal for them to charge us to use our own debit card. She snarked back and said something along the lines of “if you have anything that says visa, you get charged that fee.” I knew this was incorrect so I pulled up the information on Google and went back up to the register. I told the server to leave the charge on my receipt (because I wasn’t going to continue arguing) but what they are doing is illegal. He laughed like I didn’t know what I was talking about. This business, I’m assuming has been charging their customers to use their own money, which is illegal in all 50 states. I did give her an opportunity to fix the situation but all she gave was a snarky attitude. Also FYI, starting January 01, 2025, businesses are no longer allowed to charge itemized line items like surcharges and service fees. Based on the owners responses to other reviews, I have also attached pictures of the law but you can also google the new bill HF 3438 and the...

... Update to this review: There were actually no belittling comments made by my girlfriend or myself. There was no empathy or even "I'm sorry." from the person we spoke with and we were told it's our fault and that we don't know how to handle spice. We've eaten here many times before and hadn't had an experience like this. When you treat every customer who has a bad experience like they are the one's who are wrong, that's a poor way to run a business. You lose customers that way pretty easily. Your replies to all the low reviews reflect this, as if though you could never be wrong. I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you by giving you our business and communicating our bad experience.

Original Review: My girlfriend and I ordered food for takeout. We both ordered medium-spicy. When my girlfriend took a few bites of her food, her mouth was on fire and she was in tears for 15 minutes. Even after having ice cream and milk, her mouth was still burning.

My meal was also medium-spicy and was no where near the same level of spice that my girlfriends meal was.

AND THEN…. The strawberry flavored bubble tea is now Pepto Bismol-flavored. I’ve had the strawberry flavor here before two years ago and it was not this flavor. I know it’s not ACTUALLY pepto bismol, but it tastes exactly the same. They must have a different supplier now, maybe it’s a pharmacy. But I appreciate the help from the pepto bismol tea on our stomachs after that level 9 spice in our meals.

Then we called the restaurant to let them know about our experience and there was zero sympathy for our experience and weird flavored tea. The manager immediately suggested we use milk to calm the burn like we were born yesterday. Also, she didn’t even apologize, she just argued with us telling us not to order spicy next time! Ma’am this was supposed to be medium spicy, not a ghost-pepper eating contest.

So if you ever have issues and want to complain to the manager, just do it here. The manager will never take accountability and just argues. In the end, she hung up on us. This is a great way to make a good name for your restaurant.

Thank...