Paya Thai Curry — Restaurant in Venice

It was my birthday. One I won't ever forget! I googled places near Nokomis beach and saw the great reviews for Paya Thai Curry restaurant so we went there for supper with my sister and her husband. It was Good Friday and it was extremely busy there but the staff were doing their best to keep up. We had 3 different people waiting on us, a young man and two women, one of whom was Ana. (She was the only one with a name tag and perhaps she was the manager or the owner). The food was delicious and worth the wait!! When it came time to leave, I went outside with my brother in law while my husband and sister waited to pay for our meals. My brother in law had left a tip on the table and my sister was paying cash. It was taking so long that I went back inside to see if there was a problem. My husband was paying with a $100 bill and the young man went to get him some change in the back. Meanwhile Ana came to take my sisters cash payment. Ana had obviously already been to the table and collected the tip about which she was not happy. At the cashier counter she proceeded to call my sister out for the 10% tip that her husband had left on the table and asked where the other 10% was as she looked at the amount my sister was giving her. She PUBLICLY ridiculed her in front of the other customers saying that the tip wasn't enough, she should have been leaving a 20% tip, asked her if her food hadn't been good, that the amount of tip she was leaving was shameful, all loud enough that all the other customers were overhearing the VERBAL ABUSE. We, my husband, sister and I stood there in disbelief! We have never had a waitress complain to us about the size of a tip (which I believe the is still up to the customers discretion). The 20% amount was circled on the bottom of the receipt, I believe, which we took as a suggested amount. Ana then asked my sister pointedly if she wanted her 29 cents back from her payment for her meal. My sister said YES! After being treated so badly did Ana really expect that she was going give anymore than she had to! As we left we hear Ana say..."like you need it more than me."

When we finished our meals we had been so pleased that we had found this gem, commenting on how clean the restaurant was, how good the food was and that we would definitely go back next time we were in the area. I don't think we will be opening ourselves up to that treatment again! It shook us all up but especially my sister. She was made to feel small and was embarrassed publicly. If I was only rating the food I would give...

The older Russian women that serves table a needs to be fired. She’s going to drive all loyal customers away. I have spent a decade in the service industry and she had by far the most appalling behavior I have witnessed. She said “jeeze” and rolling her eyes when asked for separate checks, stopping us to ask for my tip money, did the same thing to our neighboring table, gave us a smart mouth comment that on a Saturday night normal people make reservation and why don’t we have a reservation (nothing in their website dates they require reservations, not even a mention they recommend one), told us we were lucky to even sit down because she’s turning everyone else away because no one knows how to make reservations. We waited for 15 minutes before getting a soft drink. She was non present and the whole experience was awful with service. We watched her the entire time from our table next to the kitchen make rude comments, roll her eyes, and treat other tables poorly. They young man who we had serve us at our prior visit was trying to help her, but she was even nasty to him. He basically saved the day by getting tables what they needing and brought out food. Food was amazing but this lady needs to go. If she can’t greet guest without attitude or not roll her eyes and express verbal distaste when customers ask for simple things like separate checks or to even just sit down and get a table. If we come back and I see her, we are trying right back around and will not be dining. Manager/owner of this place, do yourself a favor and can her before she runs your business to the ground. FYI this was the collective opinion of two other neighboring tables. I have already seen another review about her from Saturday night at 6:30pm....

UPDATED MARCH 2025. They reopened in a new location not prone to flooding. The place is small but serviceable. The food is as delicious as always. I did my normal takeout. The only issue I had is that they boxed up the food, had it sit on the counter for about 10+minutes while they waited for the soup. Seems like soup should be the easy one, and ready before the hot dishes are prepared and left sitting in a box. Maybe they were short staffed, or still working though the new place, as it was busy with diners and take out. But definitely the best Thai food around. Updated July 7,2024. Haven’t been here for a while and all I can say is -excellent Thai food has come to Venice. We’ve been here a few times since my last review and food was ok, but not great. Tonight, everything tasted substantially different from past meals. Not sure if there is a new chef or management, but cudos to all. Finally had my pad Thai fix after 1 1/2 years My older review - Coming from the NE, we've had the fortune to eat at many very good Thai restaurants. Paya thai didn't disappoint. The thai basil was flavorful as was the Tom yum soup. The portions were large and the food quality was very good. My wife had the tofu dish which was only fair, but out if the 6 dishes we had, 1 was fair, the others very well done. Maybe not quite NE level but the best in the the Venice/Nokomis area. It's well worth the visit and support...