Sunrise Tacos Is Expanding

[StrongView]

I just had lunch @ the Emporium branch. Food was good, though with only two people staffing the shop @ 12:00pm on a Saturday it took 28 minutes from when the order was placed to the moment it was placed on our table. This is no ones fault really (given the need to quickly establish the restaurant), but worth noting. Two thumbs up to the limited staff at the Emporium shop whom both spoke English very well. They understood my fast, mumbled New England accent and got the order mostly right (it was a slightly confusing order). Hopefully you'll do much better business than Homework did (I was surprised they lasted as long as they did). Good luck!

[Onyxia]

Went and tried the food at the asoke branch. The burritos were excellent. All the ingredients seemed fresh, by far the best burrito ive had in thailand. Service on the other hand was down right terrible. When we arrived there was one man in front of us, a farang who seemed to be having a hel_l of a time placing his order. There were 6 people behind the counter working. While we were waiting for the guy to finish his order a family of 4 came in behind us. I figured someone would step up to start taking the next order, but 5 people were just standing there watching the one worker take the order. So when it gets to us to order we manage, wife is thai and she even had a hard time placing the order. Next up the family behind us placed there order, we sit and wait. We notice only one worker is preparing the order while the rest just standing there. The guy in front of us finally gets his order, doesnt look to happy. We figured we were up next, while we waited for a bit, the family behind us start to get there order brought out to them. Wife gets up and asked if are order was skipped, the guy apologized and then started to prepare ours. I was ready to just cancel order at that point and go, we stuck it out. Food was excellent, but really need to train your staff.

When we paid seemed like it was a girl in training. She had to call someone over to help ring it up. Maybe we were just unlucky and arrived on a night with all new trainess. If not i would strongly suggest some actual training. Wouldnt have been so bad, but seeing 3 or 4 people standing there doing nothing, while one guy was struggling with taking orders and preparing the food.

If you are looking for a good burrito, doubt you will find better in thailand. Hope to see staff a bit more capable next time.

[Sunbelt Asia]

I just had lunch @ the Emporium branch. Food was good, though with only two people staffing the shop @ 12:00pm on a Saturday it took 28 minutes from when the order was placed to the moment it was placed on our table. This is no ones fault really (given the need to quickly establish the restaurant), but worth noting. Two thumbs up to the limited staff at the Emporium shop whom both spoke English very well. They understood my fast, mumbled New England accent and got the order mostly right (it was a slightly confusing order). Hopefully you'll do much better business than Homework did (I was surprised they lasted as long as they did). Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback. We are working on this. ( I'm away for two weeks but have put in motion some more people and training)

Regards

Greg

[Sunbelt Asia]

Went and tried the food at the asoke branch. The burritos were excellent. All the ingredients seemed fresh, by far the best burrito ive had in thailand. Service on the other hand was down right terrible. When we arrived there was one man in front of us, a farang who seemed to be having a hel_l of a time placing his order. There were 6 people behind the counter working. While we were waiting for the guy to finish his order a family of 4 came in behind us. I figured someone would step up to start taking the next order, but 5 people were just standing there watching the one worker take the order. So when it gets to us to order we manage, wife is thai and she even had a hard time placing the order. Next up the family behind us placed there order, we sit and wait. We notice only one worker is preparing the order while the rest just standing there. The guy in front of us finally gets his order, doesnt look to happy. We figured we were up next, while we waited for a bit, the family behind us start to get there order brought out to them. Wife gets up and asked if are order was skipped, the guy apologized and then started to prepare ours. I was ready to just cancel order at that point and go, we stuck it out. Food was excellent, but really need to train your staff.

When we paid seemed like it was a girl in training. She had to call someone over to help ring it up. Maybe we were just unlucky and arrived on a night with all new trainess. If not i would strongly suggest some actual training. Wouldnt have been so bad, but seeing 3 or 4 people standing there doing nothing, while one guy was struggling with taking orders and preparing the food.

If you are looking for a good burrito, doubt you will find better in thailand. Hope to see staff a bit more capable next time.

Thank you and sorry to hear this. What day and time was this?

Seems to be the feeling on the staff. Review in the Bk mag on Friday we are the best Mexican food in Thailand. They gave us 4 stars but mention the staff was not effective (although eager to help) Sounds like I was not around because when I am we use the Thru-put system with a person not working, pitching in to help on the line.

Will be working on this.

Regards

Greg

www.sunrisetacos.com

[Onyxia]

Went and tried the food at the asoke branch. The burritos were excellent. All the ingredients seemed fresh, by far the best burrito ive had in thailand. Service on the other hand was down right terrible. When we arrived there was one man in front of us, a farang who seemed to be having a hel_l of a time placing his order. There were 6 people behind the counter working. While we were waiting for the guy to finish his order a family of 4 came in behind us. I figured someone would step up to start taking the next order, but 5 people were just standing there watching the one worker take the order. So when it gets to us to order we manage, wife is thai and she even had a hard time placing the order. Next up the family behind us placed there order, we sit and wait. We notice only one worker is preparing the order while the rest just standing there. The guy in front of us finally gets his order, doesnt look to happy. We figured we were up next, while we waited for a bit, the family behind us start to get there order brought out to them. Wife gets up and asked if are order was skipped, the guy apologized and then started to prepare ours. I was ready to just cancel order at that point and go, we stuck it out. Food was excellent, but really need to train your staff.

When we paid seemed like it was a girl in training. She had to call someone over to help ring it up. Maybe we were just unlucky and arrived on a night with all new trainess. If not i would strongly suggest some actual training. Wouldnt have been so bad, but seeing 3 or 4 people standing there doing nothing, while one guy was struggling with taking orders and preparing the food.

If you are looking for a good burrito, doubt you will find better in thailand. Hope to see staff a bit more capable next time.

Thank you and sorry to hear this. What day and time was this?

Seems to be the feeling on the staff. Review in the Bk mag on Friday we are the best Mexican food in Thailand. They gave us 4 stars but mention the staff was not effective (although eager to help) Sounds like I was not around because when I am we use the Thru-put system with a person not working, pitching in to help on the line.

Will be working on this.

Regards

Greg

www.sunrisetacos.com

Was around 6:30pm on sunday night. What suprised me the most was my wife actually enjoyed the burrito. She never really likes any mexican food ive dragged her too. Was the first time i heard her say she liked it.

[Sunbelt Asia]

Was around 6:30pm on sunday night. What suprised me the most was my wife actually enjoyed the burrito. She never really likes any mexican food ive dragged her too. Was the first time i heard her say she liked it.

Thanks for letting me know. I came back to the store a little past 7:30 p.m. so just missed you. Was there for a couple hours till I had to leave for the airport. Did spend a couple hours teaching the cashier that night. You are right she is new along with a couple of the staff.

We will get better. That’s my job to make sure we do.

Great to hear your wife liked the burrito. We are getting more and more Thai people trying our Mexican food. On Saturday we smashed our previous all time record for daily sales by over 25% at the Suk 12 location. ( not even counting the Emporium sales) so good things are happening for us. Just have to work more on the staff when I'm not around.

www.sunrisetacos.com

[BCMike]

Good to hear you are expanding and working on improving with your staff. I have been to the Soi 14 location a few times and am happy with the quality of food. Last time I was there (early July) I ordered 1 borrito and 3 tacos (of the same type) on a single order form (using one column for the burrito and one for the 3 tacos). The worker who made the tacos seemed a little confused when reading the order form, and when I opened the order up at home discovered I had 3 differently prepaired tacos: one correct as ordered, one made with the burrito toppings in the first column, and one without any meat! The borrito was made correctly but was prepaired by a different worker - delicious. Anyway, the food still satisified our craving but I would suggest providing an order form at the restaurant more like the fax form on your website which I think is much more clear as it uses rows rather than columns for each item ordered and has a clear list of all the topping options.

[Sunbelt Asia]

Good to hear you are expanding and working on improving with your staff. I have been to the Soi 14 location a few times and am happy with the quality of food. Last time I was there (early July) I ordered 1 borrito and 3 tacos (of the same type) on a single order form (using one column for the burrito and one for the 3 tacos). The worker who made the tacos seemed a little confused when reading the order form, and when I opened the order up at home discovered I had 3 differently prepaired tacos: one correct as ordered, one made with the burrito toppings in the first column, and one without any meat! The borrito was made correctly but was prepaired by a different worker - delicious. Anyway, the food still satisified our craving but I would suggest providing an order form at the restaurant more like the fax form on your website which I think is much more clear as it uses rows rather than columns for each item ordered and has a clear list of all the topping options.

Thanks for the feedback.

Have not been in Thailand or in the stores the last three weeks. I have been on vacation and it seems the stores numbers have not gone down much. Some days I could see they miss me. :-)

Will be making some changes to help the staff even more. I like your ideas.

The funny thing is, its so easy at all the Taco places I visited in the States even when they don't speak English just Spanish. Then again its just the meat, onion and cilantro and some salsa on the tacos. No sour cream, cheese, jalapenons or guacamole option.

I feel our meat was better than most of the places I visited in the States with the exception of Chipotle. I visited 23 taco stands and no one came close to Chipotle burrito. It was pure heaven and better than even our burrito. The problem I had with the meat at most places was it was bland and greasy. So much that I would get a headache after eating it. IMHO, a close second to the best taco and burrito was Robertos Tacos, which was very good. Even after the $26.00 taxi to get one taco and a burrito from there, I was happy.

Some new changes will be happening but not with our meat. IMHO we have nailed it. What we also are the star in is our guacamole. My God some of this stuff they call guacamole in the States, they should be ashamed. The only place that came close to ours, I paid over $10.00 ( 300 baht) for and they made it at my table in front of me. Chipotle is a distant second to ours. You come to Sunrise Tacos, try our " Stephanies Guacamole." It's the real deal and at a low price. I'me very proud of this signature dish.

We've had a number of reviews on websites and magazines, newspapers that we are the best in Thailand and I want to step this up a notch. Please continue to give feedback. Remember you guys ( Thaivisa members) are 10% phantom shareholders. Your comments will continue to help us improve.

Greg Lange

Owner

Sunrise Tacos

[jazzbo]

Hello Greg -- This is the bio listed on the Chipotle Mexican Grille website. Anybody who worked 2 years for the famous/infamous Jeremiah Tower is no slouch.

Steve Ells

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Steve Ells founded Chipotle in 1993. He is Chief Executive Officer and was appointed chairman of the board of directors in 2005, and has served as a director since 1996. Prior to launching Chipotle, Mr. Ells worked for two years at Stars restaurant in San Francisco. Mr. Ells is a 2003 recipient of a Silver Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers' Association. Mr. Ells graduated from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history. He is also a 1990 Culinary Institute of America graduate.

My favorite Burrito place was Taqueria Morelo in Oakland, CA and several of the places near Salinas, CA. 'Glad that you had a good trip. Jazzbo

PS I am off to USA end of this month for 3 weeks and will be staying a few days in LaPlace, Louisianna -- the self-billed 'andouille capital of the world'... I miss the Cajun/Creole food more than the Mexican

[DP25]

Sunrise is already way better than Chipotle, which makes the worst burritos I've ever had the misfortune of eating. Maybe in Boston or the midwest it's a good option, but not in the southwest. Their rice is horrible, plain white rice has no place in a burrito and it makes the burrito inedible in my opinion. Sunrise along with every taqueria in Texas and California that serves Mexican rice blows them outa the water.

[angsila]

Good to hear you are expanding and working on improving with your staff. I have been to the Soi 14 location a few times and am happy with the quality of food. Last time I was there (early July) I ordered 1 borrito and 3 tacos (of the same type) on a single order form (using one column for the burrito and one for the 3 tacos). The worker who made the tacos seemed a little confused when reading the order form, and when I opened the order up at home discovered I had 3 differently prepaired tacos: one correct as ordered, one made with the burrito toppings in the first column, and one without any meat! The borrito was made correctly but was prepaired by a different worker - delicious. Anyway, the food still satisified our craving but I would suggest providing an order form at the restaurant more like the fax form on your website which I think is much more clear as it uses rows rather than columns for each item ordered and has a clear list of all the topping options.

Thanks for the feedback.

Have not been in Thailand or in the stores the last three weeks. I have been on vacation and it seems the stores numbers have not gone down much. Some days I could see they miss me. :-)

Will be making some changes to help the staff even more. I like your ideas.

The funny thing is, its so easy at all the Taco places I visited in the States even when they don't speak English just Spanish. Then again its just the meat, onion and cilantro and some salsa on the tacos. No sour cream, cheese, jalapenons or guacamole option.

I feel our meat was better than most of the places I visited in the States with the exception of Chipotle. I visited 23 taco stands and no one came close to Chipotle burrito. It was pure heaven and better than even our burrito. The problem I had with the meat at most places was it was bland and greasy. So much that I would get a headache after eating it. IMHO, a close second to the best taco and burrito was Robertos Tacos, which was very good. Even after the $26.00 taxi to get one taco and a burrito from there, I was happy.

Some new changes will be happening but not with our meat. IMHO we have nailed it. What we also are the star in is our guacamole. My God some of this stuff they call guacamole in the States, they should be ashamed. The only place that came close to ours, I paid over $10.00 ( 300 baht) for and they made it at my table in front of me. Chipotle is a distant second to ours. You come to Sunrise Tacos, try our " Stephanies Guacamole." It's the real deal and at a low price. I'me very proud of this signature dish.

We've had a number of reviews on websites and magazines, newspapers that we are the best in Thailand and I want to step this up a notch. Please continue to give feedback. Remember you guys ( Thaivisa members) are 10% phantom shareholders. Your comments will continue to help us improve.

Greg Lange

Owner

Sunrise Tacos

Greg

What cities did you visit for the mexican food?

Bob

[jazzbo]

I made no comment on the quality of Chipotle's 'Mexican' food.

But the situation is similar to Pizza Hut -- which was started in Wichita, Kansas.

[Sunbelt Asia]

Sunrise is already way better than Chipotle, which makes the worst burritos I've ever had the misfortune of eating. Maybe in Boston or the midwest it's a good option, but not in the southwest. Their rice is horrible, plain white rice has no place in a burrito and it makes the burrito inedible in my opinion. Sunrise along with every taqueria in Texas and California that serves Mexican rice blows them outa the water.

When you read any negatives on Chipotle.( They average around 3 positives to every negative) It usually is the white rice that the people don’t like on the negative.

What cities did you visit for the mexican food?

Bob

In the past have visited many taco stands in different cities. This time though was in Atlanta and Vegas. Both cities have large populations of Mexicans.

'Glad that you had a good trip. Jazzbo

PS I am off to USA end of this month for 3 weeks and will be staying a few days in LaPlace, Louisianna -- the self-billed 'andouille capital of the world'... I miss the Cajun/Creole food more than the Mexican

You are right, Mr. Ells is a winner.

Have a safe trip.

www.sunrisetacos.com

[bangkoksingapore]

out of curiosity, if you dont mind, what is rent at the sukhumwit 12 location?

I ate at that location today and it was amazing!

[lannarebirth]

Then again its just the meat, onion and cilantro and some salsa on the tacos.

That's all one shouls want or need on a good taco. Focus on making those few ingredients the freshest you can and you can't lose. Burrito a different story. You can throw anything you want in there. I haven't visited your place yet. Do you have fish tacos? My favorite.

[bangkoksingapore]

the little girl who was working this afternoon seemed like she really knew what she was doing.

[bangkoksingapore]

i went back today and tried the guacamole. i thought it was just average and could have been spicier, maybe chop up some jalapeños and throw them in there? i also prefer a bit of oil added to guacamole. maybe others can give their opinion.

[Jingthing]

i went back today and tried the guacamole. i thought it was just average and could have been spicier, maybe chop up some jalapeños and throw them in there? i also prefer a bit of oil added to guacamole. maybe others can give their opinion.

Putting jalepenos or oil in guac is just wrong. Garlic, yes. If you want more peppers, put them on your taco or burrito.

[Ulysses G.]

NO on spicy or oily Guac!

[futureexpat]

I had some nachos and guacamole at your Emporium place for the first time this week.

Here's the short review: I will be back again and again.

Long review: The nachos were very good. They met the two most important requirements to be considered good nachos: they were big and tasty. 179 baht for a big, tasty, filling farang meal at the Emporium isn’t bad. I would have liked some more cheese but it was still quite good. (I forget what cheese you use but please use real cheese and never the cheap, watery Velveeta style stuff that is actually a "cheese product" but not cheese)

The only two problems I had with the meal were out of your control; I couldn't have a beer with my meal because of the hours I was there (whole other discussion). Well, if I can't have a beer, can I have a coke? Not exactly. The fountain coke at the drink shop at the Emporium is always flat. Really horrible stuff. They've got diet coke in a can but I don't want that either. My guess is that they are the only ones allowed to serve drinks. Any way, you should be able to get a coke with your nachos. Tea, smoothies or bottled water just don't do it.

Well, I'll be back. The food was really good and I'll just bring my own can of coke and pay for ice.

PS Although your Mexican food is quite good, it doesn't come close to the best I've had in the US in California. This is not a knock on your food because it really was quite tasty and I'll be paying you over 1,000 baht a month as long as I'm in Bangkok.

As far as guacamole is concerned, it was good and good gaucamole is easy to make if you follow the KISS rule: Keep It Simple Stupid. It should be obvious that guacamole is all about good avacados. You can add a little something extra to improve the taste but what really ruins guacamole is when people try to save money and start adding too much of the cheaper ingrediants in order to save money. Like "guacamole that is about 50% tomatoes or when thye add a 'thinner' like sour cream.

[khunopie]

Award Winning Guacamole on an Industrial Scale

1500 ripe medium Oz or Kiwi avocados, seeded and peeled

100 large onion, chopped

300 garlic cloves, crushed

200 tomatoes, diced

100 pounds Monterey jack cheese, grated

500 green chiles, diced

100 cups fresh cilantro, finely chopped

50 cups fresh lime juice

100 tablespoons Lawry's seasoning salt

Pepper to taste

In a <deleted>' enormous mixing bowl, coarsely mash avocados, leaving some chunks. Add remaining ingredients and mix to blend.

Serves: 3000

Edited August 17, 2007 by khunopie

[Sunbelt Asia]

http://jupspintoh.com/?p=66 " The Sun never sets"

Well written blog on Sunrise Tacos Sukhumvit Soi 12-Soi 14 branch. This person also posted some great pictures of the tacos they ate.

www.sunrisetacos.com

[Sunbelt Asia]

Long review: The nachos were very good. They met the two most important requirements to be considered good nachos: they were big and tasty. 179 baht for a big, tasty, filling farang meal at the Emporium isn’t bad. I would have liked some more cheese but it was still quite good. (I forget what cheese you use but please use real cheese and never the cheap, watery Velveeta style stuff that is actually a "cheese product" but not cheese)

Thank you for the review. Think our nachos will be even better now as I'm been working on improving them. We have added more cheese and some secret ingredients. Its gone over well at the Suk 12 so the Emporium will be doing this recipe as well.

As far as guacamole is concerned, it was good and good gaucamole is easy to make if you follow the KISS rule: Keep It Simple Stupid. It should be obvious that guacamole is all about good avacados. You can add a little something extra to improve the taste but what really ruins guacamole is when people try to save money and start adding too much of the cheaper ingrediants in order to save money. Like "guacamole that is about 50% tomatoes or when thye add a 'thinner' like sour cream.

We have many fans of our guacamole and you are right, the key is simple. The key is great avocados and no mayonnaise, sour cream, soybean filler, 50% tomatoes, green toothpaste or whatever someone wants to do to thin it out.

www.sunrisetacos.com

[Sunbelt Asia]

i went back today and tried the guacamole. i thought it was just average and could have been spicier, maybe chop up some jalapeños and throw them in there? i also prefer a bit of oil added to guacamole. maybe others can give their opinion.

Thank you for your comments.

We do use fresh jalapenos and extra virgin olive oil as two of the ingredients. I don’t dare change a thing on our guacamole, I would be lynched.

Could of been a off night. Please try it again.

www.sunrisetacos.com

[Sunbelt Asia]

Award Winning Guacamole on an Industrial Scale

1500 ripe medium Oz or Kiwi avocados, seeded and peeled

100 large onion, chopped

300 garlic cloves, crushed

200 tomatoes, diced

100 pounds Monterey jack cheese, grated

500 green chiles, diced

100 cups fresh cilantro, finely chopped

50 cups fresh lime juice

100 tablespoons Lawry's seasoning salt

Pepper to taste

In a <deleted>' enormous mixing bowl, coarsely mash avocados, leaving some chunks. Add remaining ingredients and mix to blend.

Serves: 3000

Sounds good except for the grated cheese in it.

www.sunrisetacos.com

[Sunbelt Asia]

out of curiosity, if you dont mind, what is rent at the sukhumwit 12 location?

I ate at that location today and it was amazing!

60,000 Baht per month is the rent. Glad you found our place "amazing"

www.sunrisetacos.com

[Sunbelt Asia]

That's all one shouls want or need on a good taco. Focus on making those few ingredients the freshest you can and you can't lose. Burrito a different story. You can throw anything you want in

That’s why we let the customer build their taco or burrito. Some like just meat on a tortilla. Others want everything except the kitchen sink. That’s why I get a kick out of it when someone says " Why does Sunrise Tacos put cheese on a taco?" It's the customer choice... some love it that way, others don't. We leave it up to the people.

As for fish tacos... not yet but we do have specials from time to time. We had ceviche tacos the other night that went over well.

Hope to see you one day soon at Sunrise Tacos.

www.sunrisetacos.com

[khunopie]

Have you considered making your guaK with genetically modified avocados to cut costs? How about chinese avocados made of plastic?

Edited August 18, 2007 by khunopie

[Sunbelt Asia]

Have you considered making your guaK with genetically modified avocados to cut costs? How about chinese avocados made of plastic?

That sounds yummy. :-) We have tried the Thai avacados with a 3 imported to Thai ratio. It does not work well as it makes the guacamole a different texture.

We are using over 400 imported avacados a week and are ok with the higher food cost.

www.sunrisetacos.com

[dekka007]

Had the steak filled tacos at the emporium a couple of days ago with cheese. Steak was so chewy i had jaw ache after finishing the first taco (Not joking!) so left the other 2.....

Perhaps some better quality steak is required and perhaps a touch of tenderising before hand and less cooking of it.

Will give it another go in a couple of weeks see if its better.