Sea Side Restaurant (off Soi 7)

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

On a whim, I ate at the Sea Side Restaurant (sometimes called Sea Side 2, although I'm not sure if there still is a Sea Side 1). Anyway it's located in a subsoi off Soi 7, not far from the intersection with Beach Road.

The subsoi is directly across from the Silver Star A Go Go. It's just before Tequila Reef if you're heading up Soi 7 from Beach Road.

It's not fancy, but a cheerful and clean place, quite busy the evening I went.

A nice basket of condiments, but the bottles were running low.

The waitress was friendly. The menu featured what could be considered British comfort food as well as some Thai dishes. The prices were low, with a lot of dishes between 80 and 200 baht. The most expensive item on the menu was the roast lamb at 250 baht and that's what I chose.

My comments so far have been the restaurant equivalent of saying a blind date has a nice personality, so I'll get to the actual meal. Here goes:

The first sign that all would not be well came with the tiny saucer of mint sauce that was served alongside my San Miguel Light (70 baht). It was bitter and stale tasting, with the vinegar so acidic it could have been used to clean the points of a car battery. It also had oil added to it, as though it were salad dressing. Bizarre.

And the meal itself?

The Good: A large portion at a cheap price.* The mashed potatoes had a good texture.

The Bad: Everything else. It was one of blandest plates of food I've ever had in front of me, including hospital food after stomach surgery. No taste in anything except maybe the generic made-from-a-packet gravy.

How the lamb could become so tasteless I don't know. It also had the strangest consistency of any meat I've had since I ate at the Dog Meat Restaurant in Beijing in 1995.

I didn't take more than one bite of it. The vegetables had had every molecule of flavor boiled out of them.

The Ugly: The Yorkshire pudding. It is NOT supposed to look like that when you cut into it. No way I was going to put that in my mouth.

Bottom line: Yuck! Don't get me wrong. I enjoy British food and it's delicious when prepared as it should be. Unfortunately, it so seldom is.

I'm putting on my virtual fireman's protective gear now as I imagine some flames will be coming my way. The Sea Side, like the nearby Sailor Restaurant, is said to have a very loyal following. I came close to getting death threats when I criticized the food at the Sailor and it was worse than the Seaside. But I have to tell it like I taste it.

Evil

* I began to have philosophical qualms about that statement. Is a large portion of bad food at a cheap price a good thing? I suppose it's relative. If you're hungry and don't have much money, then I guess it's better to get a large portion at a cheap price than a small portion at an expensive price. But undeniably, the mashed potatoes had a good texture.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Evil Penevil

[bigmick 840]

I ate there about 7 years ago and said i would never go back, seems like nothing has changed.

[Nightrider 340]

Thanks Evil , i will be giving that place a miss now.......!

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

I ate there about 7 years ago and said i would never go back, seems like nothing has changed.

 

At least not for the better.

 

Evil

[wacmedia 277]

Hi,

 

It's useful to be warned of these places. Some people just leave their business slide.

[Harvey 249]

Very good and informative report. A real service to fellow BMs.

 

I need to apologize. I meant to up vote your original post, but fat-fingered me accidentally hit the red button on my iPad screen. And I can't figure out how to undo that. Sorry. (This is the second time I've done this in a week. I need, perhaps, to stop voting.)

[jacko 8,815]

I thought that was Seaside 1 and Seaside 2 was on Soi Chayaphum a few doors down from Crazy Daves.

It always had bland but filling British comfort food but I also stopped going some years back.

Service then had got a bit dopey.

They seemed to prefer to leave the AC off and the door open.

Don't like dogs wandering around in a restaurant.

 

I think I had 2 bad meals consecutively......I would not have risked lamb.

I was quite a fan of braised steak and chips.

 

It is more comfortable to eat pub grub (which is often poor too) in aircon for me.

[cbrib 354]

I've been to both and would rate them as a quick cheap fill up. Nice report Evil!

[Wobbly 13]

not used the one off soi 7 for many years (didn't rate it) but I do occationally go to soi chayaphum for their liver and onions and the braised steak, ok not great but certainly well worth 150 baht

[jacko 8,815]

On a whim I gave this place a try last night... braised steak, chips and cold peas.

Not very many customers but steady, I think it is just 'ticking over'

Service is reasonable although one would have to stretch one's imagination to believe the attempt at gender.

Peas were served cold and rather too much of the liquid had been slopped in. In the past I disliked having the dogs wandering around, yesterday they were not apparent, perhaps they were avoiding the unpleasant odour in the AC area. It remains super cheap, you can get filled up for under 300 baht. One of the few places that doesn't charge over the odds for a drink.... my soda water I think was 25 baht, most pub-grubs will hit you for 50 baht.

I don't think I will be back but I bet the place survives.

Edited October 31, 2014 by jacko

[cbrib 354]

I go to the one on soi Chiayapoon once in a while for a quick cheap breakfast. Not bad, not great, but with their prices it's hard to complain