This is the 2nd time in 6 months that our food order in a restaurant has been forgotten. We were given a menu within minutes of arriving and ordered our food and drink almost immediately. Our drinks arrived very quickly but we waited and waited for our food and observed others that arrived after us now eating. After 40 minutes since ordering we called the waitress who to her credit went to check immediately and came back to apologise that our order had been missed and did we still want it. I said if here within the next 15 minutes then ok but alas it wasn’t so we asked for our drinks bill and left.  
so how long is reasonable before getting impatient in these situations?  

 

This being Thailand, you could have waited until you died of starvation before they noticed.

 

Thais pay attention when you walk into a restaurant, after which they ignore you. Drives me nuts. There is only one place where they have been trained to watch the guest discreetly and unobtrusively, yet be there exactly when you need them.... The Oriental Hotel.

 

oh yes memories of laos 25 years ago when the tourist industry was just getting started, they meant well but food in restaurants often took an age to come and when it did arrive it was often the wrong order, but we ate it anyway because we didnt want to wait and wait and wait for the correct order.

 

sometimes you just have to chill because fighting the system just gets you stressed.

They have the attention span of a fly! Focused for around 10 milliseconds!

4 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

They have the attention span of a fly! Focused for around 10 milliseconds!

you need quicker reflexes, to capture the moment... ????  

 

 

19 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

They have the attention span of a fly! Focused for around 10 milliseconds!

This does have a lot to do with all staff constantly fixated on their cell phones. Orders (customers) are considered distractions to whatever they are doing on their cell phones at that moment.

24 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

They have the attention span of a fly!

Truer words were never said. They either stand there impatiently clicking their pen, or ignore you. Arrrrgggghhhh! It does the Farang no good to think about it.

41 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

This being Thailand, you could have waited until you died of starvation before they noticed.

 

Thais pay attention when you walk into a restaurant, after which they ignore you. Drives me nuts. There is only one place where they have been trained to watch the guest discreetly and unobtrusively, yet be there exactly when you need them.... The Oriental Hotel.

Go to a decent restaurant then

A few of those young waitresses are worth a second look...many are approachable...have your cake and eat it too...

I have walked out of restaurants after waiting while watching several tables of people that arrived after us getting their order taken.  It's not that uncommon to get wierd non-service like that.  When you do do it, it's best to not try make a scene imo because it's a loss of face and Thais tend to react badly to that. 

So sorry.  You tired of waiting for your restaurant meal?

Maybe you should go to one of the food handout locations where people are starving and stand in the hot sun for 4 hours prior to getting a cup of rice and an egg.

I've had a lot more trouble in Australia with slow service. I think the record was set up in the Yarra Ranges, two hours for a freaking gourmet hamburger. Manager was one of these guys that looked very busy, but achieved nothing. I've found restaurants here to be quite quick. I'd never go back to one that's slow, no matter how good the food is.

Maybe it's because I don't muck around and order quickly from the menu. My GF faffs around with the menu, questioning the wait staff. Her food invariably arrives 15 minutes later than mine.