Bad At Any Price- Updated Aug. 9, 2017

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

I started a thread a few months ago on restaurants in Pattaya where you can eat good farang food under 300 baht. It was quite well received, so I thought I'd push the envelope a bit and start a thread about restaurants which have served me really bad or inedible food in Pattaya. Farang and Thai food at any sort of restaurant or street stall will be eligible as "hall of shame" candidates.

While this thread can serve a useful purpose, I fully realize there is a huge risk of abuse by trolls and others with a grudge against a restaurant owner. If the thread becomes too silly or obnoxious, I'll simply chalk it up as an experiment that failed and ask the mods to close or delete it.

One point has to be emphasized: even good restaurants can serve a bad dish. One bad dish doesn't make the restaurant "bad" as a whole. Sometimes bad, even inedible, dishes get served due to a mistake or carelessness. It's one of those things that shouldn't happen but occasionally does. In other cases, the dish is bad because all the food the restaurant serves is unacceptable. That's when it's a bad dish from a bad restaurant.

I'll kick things off with an example that shouldn't prove controversial: the beef noodle soup from the Boat Restaurant on 2nd Road near Pattaya Tai. I can't imagine that anyone who has their taste buds intact would think it anything but bad. The only positive point is that cost only 60 baht and I didn't get sick from a mouthful of broth.

The broth tasted off and meat had a very odd color and texture for beef.

The Boat closes relatively early and lets in its last guests for the evening around 8.00 p.m. and I made it just under the wire. That I was the final customer for the day may have had something to do with the bad bowl of soup.

The appearance of the fat on the meat kind of creeped me out.

It should have been rendered more if the meat had been slow cooked for a long time, as would be expected with that sort of soup.

One mouthful was enough to tell me I didn't want more. I chek binned and left almost immediately. The waiter didn't bat an eyelid.

I pondered for a moment what sort of customer could like the Boat's beef noodle soup. The only one I could come up with was Melvin, the Toxic Avenger, who eats peanut-butter-and-Draino sandwiches.

Seriously, I have read that scientific studies have shown heavy smokers sometimes lose the ability to sense bitter taste due to the deformation of their taste buds. Bitterness is the primary taste that warns when food is potentially poisonous or at least bad to eat. So Toxie and two-pack-a-day smokers might find the Boat's beef noodle soup to be acceptable.

Standard disclaimer: one bad dish does not necessarily imply that other food served by the restaurant would also be bad. The Boat Restaurant is one of the oldest restaurants in town, dating back to the 1970s, I believe. It couldn't have survived all those years by only serving bad food. However, from what I've seen (and I pass the Boat several times a day), its customer base is almost entirely farang with a sprinkling of Thai female companions who've been dragged along. It's only a guess, but I'd say the extremely cheap prices are the main attraction of the Boat. When prices are very low and profit margins razor-thin, food that should have been tossed sometimes gets served.

That said, the Boat Bakery turns out good products, including custom-made birthday cakes.

OK, time to get off the Boat. I invite other BMs to offer their examples of really bad dishes. Keep in mind it should be BAD to the point you can't eat it, not just a dish you didn't like. Moreover, it should be the taste, flavor and to some extent the appearance that makes the dish bad. Portion size, value for money, sullen service, etc., shouldn't become decisive factors. It should be a recent meal, not an ancient atrocity story that dates back many years.

Just to give some indication: I have rarely had a bad meal in Pattaya. I've a number that weren't very good, mediocre at best, but only a few that were bad under the definition I'm using for this thread. I am absolutely not saying inedible restaurant food is common in Pattaya.

Fire away, but do so accurately and at appropriate targets. It can be the most expensive restaurant in the city or the simplest street cart. As long as you got something in your mouth you wanted to spit rather than swallow, then the place is a fair subject for a post in this thread.

Evil

Edited August 9, 2017 by Evil Penevil

[atlas2 4,329]

I'm really not playing devil's advocate.........And although I keep thinking of stopping when I pass it, I haven't been there for a long time....And.......and I rarely eat noodles...So couldn't judge on that dish.

 

OK with that out of the way........Oh yes and I'll add as well that I don't expect too much for the prices there. But it was a place I would pop into often for a late breakfast of chicken and ginger, or kai jeow moo sap when I stayed in hotels locally.

 

Now you're judgement is forcing me to return. I usually calibrate cheap Thai restaurants with a dish I know well like, 'Kow-kapok-gai, si ki-dow..Ki dow mi suk, gai sap'. Ordering's a bit of a mouthful...but a simply delicious one when it arrives.

 

So out of a loyalty based only on past experience, (accepting my experience may have passed it's 'sell-by-date') and the many happy memories I'll stick up for good old Boat Bakery and say I like the place. .........Mind you, I liked school dinners.

 

On a connected issue, I bumped into a husband and wife team that have lived here for yonks and review restaurants for one of the local rags.

 

They could, and did give me chapter and verse on the best Italian, Indian, Greek, French, Lebanese etc but when it came to Thai food they were flummoxed. You touched on this yourself Evil. I rarely have a Thai meal that's anything like bad.

 

We are lucky here.

Edited October 24, 2016 by atlas2

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

Atlas-

 

I find your post encouraging and your good experience at Boat adds balance to the thread. As I said, one bad dish doesn't make the restaurant bad, although I am a bit surprised Boat would cock up a staple dish like beef noodle soup.

My goal with this thread- and I realize I'm treading on treacherous ground here- is to highlight bad dishes, not to label the restaurant as bad. I have generally avoided Boat for meals because most of the TGs I've been with have turned their noses up at it. However, I have bought cakes and other bakery goods from Boat Bakery and they have always been fine. Just about any restaurant in the world can put out a bad dish or two from time to time.

By way of illustration: Noma in Copenhagen, which had been named the best restaurant in the world in 2010, 2011, and 2012, had 63 diners fall victim to the norovirus (aka vomiting bug) in one night in 2013. Noma fell to #2 that year and regained the #1 ranking in 2014.

And of course it's not uncommon for a restaurant that had been good in the past to decline because of a change in ownership or management, among other reasons. And inconsistency has always been the hobgoblin of small restaurants in Pattaya. Good one day, bad the next, often because the regular chef didn't show up for work.

We'll see how this thread goes. If it's not heading in a constructive direction, it will either fade into obscurity or I'll ask the mods to close it.

Evil

Edited October 25, 2016 by Evil Penevil

[teelack 9,640]

The mantra of the Boat always has been CHEAP! I will admit that I decided some while ago that I would be happy to pay a bit more and go to some other place, All I ever eat there is the breakfast and it has been adequate for the money however all that has changed as the Retox breakfast has shown that you can get good and plentiful food for very little money. The Boat is what it is and I think that those that like the cheap meals will still see it as a bargain.

[GulfportBob 1]

I enjoy the Boat Bakery food.

I especially like the potato stuffed with chicken.

[ttk 236]

I have been going to Boat since 1999. Food is cheap and good. I have never had a bad meal there nor have any of the people with me. I have been there for breakfast, lunch and dinners and it has been an even mix of Thai and Falang. Never been near closing time.

[biggles 509]

I went there on my firstvisit around 2009 and mate and I were regulars and the staff knew what we would order every time. I havn't been there now for 2-3 years but their Pad Thai was very good.

[parry 58]

Yep I agree with the above, Boat is cheap and cheerful. I have eaten there a few times and had the Beef Noodle Soup more than once and it has been fine to be honest. I seem to remember I had read Gabor enthusing about it so paid a visit myself.

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

I began this thread with a tinge of trepidation as I worried it could get very silly, very fast and I'd have to request the mods to lock it. That DIDN'T happen; the comments have remained quite sensible. Well done!

It seems like the Toxic Avenger beef noodle soup - only for those who have burned out their taste buds- is sticking to the top of the "Bad at Any Price" list. It doesn't appear to have many rivals. That's in sharp contrast to the "Under 300 Baht" thread where many BMs had suggestions for good places to eat.

It's just one more bit of evidence that when it comes to food, Pattaya isn't bad at all.

Evil

Edited November 22, 2016 by Evil Penevil

[RhinoTusk 4,901]

The last time I had breakfast at the Lek Hotel it cost 70 baht, that was quite a while ago. Same same as the Apex, bad at any price. Imho

[teelack 9,640]

The last time I had breakfast at the Lek Hotel it cost 70 baht, that was quite a while ago. Same same as the Apex, bad at any price. Imho

 

I too stayed at the Lek and the lukewarm breakfast was dreadful at any price. The room was so so but the abiding memory is still that breakfast. I never went back.

[yselmike 390]

I tried the dinner buffet at the Lek once many years ago,

Couldn't eat it and i mean couldn't the meat!stew was impossible to chew I just left.

[lounge_lizard 108]

I tried the dinner buffet at the Lek once many years ago,

Couldn't eat it and i mean couldn't the meat!stew was impossible to chew I just left.

I tried it as well, many years ago. I managed to eat some of it and had the runs for the next three days.

[sinbinjack 251]

I stayed at the Lek for my first 2 visits to funtown and whilst I was happy with the room , it was 12 years ago, the food was awful just to look at and I never ate there . I found much better places all around Pattaya that were miles better and many places just as bad but much cheaper. Food is a personal thing and what 1 man loves another man can hate, the Lek food just looked awful and unsanitary it may well have been good but doubt it.

[tallguy 1,475]

I haven't stayed at the Lek but did try the breakfast years ago when I was staying at the Dynasty and have never been back. On the one hand it put me off all similar, apparently cheap, buffet type meals. However, occassionally when travelling around I have come across worse breakfasts which were included in the room price.

[Bullfrog 2,224]

I was out and about yesterday on my annual investigation for possibilities for a group of friends to spend Xmas Dinner together. I hadn't been in Rosie O'grady's in years so thought I'd pop in and order a lamb dinner. Lamb was good, spuds were good, veggies were soggy and wet, but the yorkshire pudding.....OMG ... the yorkshire pudding.

 

I could see that it had been cooked in oil so I just touched the top of it and oil oozed out the top. I picked it up and removed it from my plate and just by picking it up my fingers became greasy and the oil dripped a path across my plate....I can only assume that it was deep fried but had been put in the oil too soon before the oil had reached cooking temperature so it acted like a sponge...Aweful at any price..

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

Yorkshire pudding is simple to make but it requires skill and a very hot oven, both of which are sadly lacking in the kitchens of some farang restaurants in Pattaya. You'd think that with the number of ex-pats and tourists in town who are familiar with this classic side to a roast dinner, the restaurant would get it right or take it off the menu. Unfortunately, a few restaurants which should "know better" continue to serve truly bad Yorkshire pudding.

 

One problem is that a lot of the cooking of farang food is done by Thai cooks who have no idea how it should look or taste. In one place, the cook came out of the kitchen and asked me if the dish I'd been served was OK. I was and I complimented her on it. She said she never eats farang food, only cooks it and never knows if what she's sending out is good or bad. I suggested that she should ask the farang boss to taste one example of each dish on the menu so she'd know if she'd gotten it right.

"Boss not care," was her answer.

Evil

I

[Bullfrog 2,224]

Yorkshire pudding is simple to make but it requires skill and a very hot oven, both of which are sadly lacking in the kitchens of some farang restaurants in Pattaya. You'd think that with the number of ex-pats and tourists in town who are familiar with this classic side to a roast dinner, the restaurant would get it right or take it off the menu. Unfortunately, a few restaurants which should "know better" continue to serve truly bad Yorkshire pudding.

 

One problem is that a lot of the cooking of farang food is done by Thai cooks who have no idea how it should look or taste. In one place, the cook came out of the kitchen and asked me if the dish I'd been served was OK. I was and I complimented her on it. She said she never eats farang food, only cooks it and never knows if what she's sending out is good or bad. I suggested that she should ask the farang boss to taste one example of each dish on the menu so she'd know if she'd gotten it right.

"Boss not care," was her answer.

Evil

I

 

Well that just about sums it up "Boss not care"... The Yorkshire pud in PBG is just about perfect each and every time I have ordered it because the Boss and all the staff do care

 

May I just say (just as you said about an English Thanksgiving Dinner) that Yorkshire pud is a starter not a side dish. But I bet my original '70s Leeds scarf that Retox and other Yorkshire bar owners won't offer it as a starter......

[yselmike 390]

Yorkshire pudding is simple to make but it requires skill and a very hot oven, both of which are sadly lacking in the kitchens of some farang restaurants in Pattaya. You'd think that with the number of ex-pats and tourists in town who are familiar with this classic side to a roast dinner, the restaurant would get it right or take it off the menu. Unfortunately, a few restaurants which should "know better" continue to serve truly bad Yorkshire pudding.

 

One problem is that a lot of the cooking of farang food is done by Thai cooks who have no idea how it should look or taste. In one place, the cook came out of the kitchen and asked me if the dish I'd been served was OK. I was and I complimented her on it. She said she never eats farang food, only cooks it and never knows if what she's sending out is good or bad. I suggested that she should ask the farang boss to taste one example of each dish on the menu so she'd know if she'd gotten it right.

 

"Boss not care," was her answer.

 

Evil

 

I

The other thing about cooking Yorkshire pudding is that the fat/oil in the dish you are cooking it in must be smoking hot,and that takes some nerve for a novice cook

and then they have to pick it up and put it in the oven.

[Bullfrog 2,224]

The other thing about cooking Yorkshire pudding is that the fat/oil in the dish you are cooking it in must be smoking hot,and that takes some nerve for a novice cook

and then they have to pick it up and put it in the oven.

 

Oven? The one in Rosie O'Gradys saw nothing but an unheated deep fat fryer.....

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

The last time I had breakfast at the Lek Hotel it cost 70 baht, that was quite a while ago. Same same as the Apex, bad at any price. Imho

 

I took one for the team and tried the breakfast buffet at the Lek Hotel for the first time in ten years. It was bad in 2007 and even worse today. I can't remember what I paid in 2007, but it now costs 150 baht.

 

 

Yuck, yuck and yuck. Horrible to the max. I tried three mouthfuls of what I had on my plate and spit them into a paper napkin. No way I would swallow that stuff.

 

 

Everything was lukewarm or room temperature. The one thing you don't want to eat are room temperature eggs that have been standing on a table for who knows how long. The potatoes had a consistency I'd never encountered before and hopefully never will again. I took what I thought was a pork stew but turned out to be spaghetti sauce that was sweet beyond belief. I think they used ketchup as the main ingredient. The salad was old, like several days old. The chicken was obviously left over from the previous evening's buffet (hopefully not longer), but it was so hard and dry looking I didn't even taste it.

 

Since i needed something in my stomach, I had a bowl of corn flakes and milk, then a small bowl of plain boiled rice.It's hard for them to mess up those dishes, but the corn flakes weren't very fresh. I would have eaten some of the fruit, but flies were crawling all over the slices of watermelon and pineapple.

 

A total waste. The only rating I could give the breakfast buffet at the Lek would be:

 

Evil

[Kev 178]

Gee Evil the things you sacrifice for your fellow mongers mate, they should give you a medal for having that breakfast Mind you must of been really, really hungry to even volunteer for such a dangerous task.

[teelack 9,640]

I think that the Lek breakfast about 10 years ago was about 70 baht and it wasn't worth that at the time. Thanks for the update.

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[jacko 8,814]

I believe it is brave to make a negative report of a poor eatery, but it is at least as valuable to the readers as a good one.

 

Thanks for taking 'one for the team'....

[losgrad 264]

I also remember trying the Lek buffet breakfast about 10 years ago and Evil's report brought back the memory....

 

Earlier this year, i was In Beijing at a 4 star hotel (at least the rooms), where the food displayed in their buffet looked perfect. The deserts must have been made with a 3-D color printer using paper and cardboard, the fruits freshly painted in bright colors, the meats made of textured cotton or something. Anyway, the appearance of the foods were exceptionally deceiving.

 

As many things in life, it's not always as they look.

 

Enjoy.