Sawatdee Thai Restaurant

Reviews 5

A

A Private User

We dined at the St Paul location this evening and even as regular guests that have recommended this spot to many friends, family, co-workers etc..., we will never return. We came to enjoy ourselves and unwind for happy hour after work. After our appetizer (which was wonderful as always) we were deciding to try something different from our usual order and narrowed it down to three items. We asked our server, explained what we liked and were sort of looking for, could he please offer a suggestion. He came across as very arrogant, saying that the three dishes we had selected were completely different, and then just looked at us for an answer. So after an uncomfortable moment he finally directed us to a dish with rice noodles, vegetables, your choice of meat and a green curry sauce. All of which we love. When it arrived the noodles appeared to be overcooked, vegetables pale, limp and few, and the chicken(??) didnt amount to much. Mostly it looked to be a bowl of noodles floating in sauce. Now, as a person who is a server in a fine dining establishment in downtown St. Paul, and someone who has been in the restaurant business for over 18 years, I am always wiling to give anything a try because I have been surprised before. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. Both my guest and found it to be as I described above, and decided to let our server know that we did not care for the dish due to the many reasons. He appeared to be offended (which was not our intent, we explained all of the reasons why. His response was "everyone who orders this never complains" and then took the dish, walked away, came promptly back and put our bill on the table. Now, we had not asked for our tab, we still had cocktails and would have possibly ordered something else. Taking the hint, we went to pay the bill, opened the check and found that our server only took off half of the dish that we did not eat. We each had one bite only. When he returned to collect the credit card, I politely asked why we were charged for half off the dish, to which he stated he would not take it off completely. I would not expect to have anything else taken off the bill other than the dish in question, but he was steadfast. I then asked to speak with a manager and he informed me he was the manager and owner (Mr. Kung). We went back and forth, yet he would not budge stating that many people like that dish. I was amazed at his arrogance and lack of guest service. He even mentioned in our discussion that he knew we came in quite often. We paid for our bill of course, and told him we would never return. Now, in my opinion, especially as someone who deals with situations like this on a regular basis, I was appalled and amazed and cant believe that a business in this economy could treat a guest with such disrespect. I am hurt, offended, and disgusted by the treatment we deserved. Quite a shame, good thing we have many great spots in the city that will appreciate our business. May this find its way to people who understand that a guest is something to behold.

---

JO

Jonathan Lin

I came here to get some take-out to eat with my girlfriend. Its located in Downtown Saint Paul and only metered street parking is available. The restaurant itself was pretty big and moderately clean, but service is on the slower end. I ordered take-out and the guy said it would take 30 minutes.. as he said it was really busy. When I got there, not even half the restaurant was full and it was like 8PM. Still had to wait even more upon arriving. Now onto the food.. I ordered the tropical fried rice with tofu, which is like Pineapple fried rice at many other locations. It was pretty disappointing. It lacked flavor and it lacked ingredients. It was really oily and greasy. It was like bland rice stirred up in tofu, some veggies, few pineapple chunks here and there. It was seriously lacking flavor. I also ordered it medium spice, and I tasted no spice at all.. I wish I asked for Sriracha or something so I can drench it in it. I dont usually outside sauce unless the dish lacked flavor. My girlfriend got Pad Thai and she said it was not good as well.. I probably wont be coming back here as there are many other Thai places to try. It was pretty pricey too.. 15 bucks a entree. It barely filled me up after my run. I much rather go to Ons Thai on University as its more authentic, better tasting and a little more affordable.

---

JE

Jeff Larson

Totally disgusting and no "deal" even at 50% off! The curry was definitely made from store-bought paste (saw the cook in the open kitchen 5 feet away scooping curry paste from plastic containers. The curry was sugary sweet-I don’t think coconut milk was even used-just white sugar. The spice (should be blend of spices pounded together) was only red pepper flakes which do not create flavorful spicy food, just tasteless hot food. This s NOT Thai cuisine. Its a bastardized Minnesota/Norwegian (sorry to all you Norwegians out there) version of what someone thinks Thai food is. Ive traveled to Thailand 10 or more times for business and extended one month vacations and have never encountered food that resembled what Sawatdee St. Paul serves. In fact, I have never had such bad Thai food even in restaurants in the US. If you want try an authentic tasting Thai restaurant, try Amazing Thailand in Uptown Mpls. (no I am not getting a commission for mentioning that restaurant). Great atmosphere and food. If I must end on an up note (I am Minnesotan, after all) the waiter was attentive and professional-too bad he has to serve the food prepared in that kitchen.

---

CH

Chelsey Oleson

The food was great. But, I experienced some of the worst professionalism I have ever seen. My friend witnessed a bartender grab a waitresses butt while she was at a cash register. We asked the waitress if she was okay with that, and she said she wasnt, and that she has complained to management about it before. We thought, maybe if we are customers and we complain to management that maybe they will take it more seriously and do something about it. Well, first we ask for the manager, and they tell us the main manager is eating or something, so they bring another manager. She comes over, and shes laughing about it, and telling us the waitress is okay, and that she talked to both of them about it already, while continuing to laugh, basically acting like its not a big deal. Then, she offers to buy us shots, brings the shots over and she and another worker drink shots with us. Completely unprofessional. I felt like I was watching an episode of Restaurant Stakeout. I felt so sorry for that waitress.

---

CA

cathryn arnst

The first experience that a consumer has with a restaurant is the greeting. We went to Sawatdee on a Thursday night, stood at the entrance for several minutes and watched the greeter and waitstaff stand at the kitchen. The did not acknowledge us and were talking amongst themselves. Finally, standing 15 feet away the "greeter" waved us to a table and said "over here." He placed the menus on the table and walked away without saying a word. He came back with silverware placed that and walked away with out saying anything else. This was the most unwelcoming experience I have ever had at a restaurant. We felt like we were a burden to this guy. It was obviously a chore for him to help us. Swatadee, if you want patrons to enjoy your food, make sure they have a wonderful experience and are welcomed into your restaurant. I will say that we walked up the street to Black Sheep and had an amazing dinner with wonderful service. We were welcomed from the moment we walked in!!

---

---