Went to a popular restaurant recently which had a lovely photo of a pork rib dinner for 319 baht. As shown, the advertisement shows a nice strip of ribs, about a dozen with 2 piles of fries. The actual meal had only 2 large ribs, and 1 pile of fries. The meal looked significantly different than what was advertised. In Thailand it seems OK to advertise meals that when provided don't look like the advertisements. This isn't the first time this has happened.

 

How do you handle such a situation? Would you send it back? Would you walkout without paying? Accept as is?

 

I just ate it as delivered, didn't complain, but also no tip, and never will I ever return to this restaurant.

 

Same as any other place 

What did you expect

So I guess you don't frequent KFC, McDonalds or PIZZA Hut?

Very reminiscent of this movie scene

 

 

 

Yeah, funny movie .

I had it last year, i messaged the owner on a facebook post as the difference of advertising vs actual was laughable. He was in denial and all the fanboys started posting about the food there being good. He wouldn't post the photo though.

 

Just don't buy it again

From my observation, most restaurants in Thailand generally use stock photos that they get off the internet instead of taking photos of actual items which they serve. There seems to be no "truth in advertising" here like in the US. What else would we expect in a country where it is totally acceptable to tell lies. In your case I would have refused to accept that dish unless they threw in the third rib. I recently ordered tacos off a picture menu showing 3, but I was only served 2. When I confronted the owner, his answer was "oh, we just made a change in the menu and haven't had a chance to update our photo". If he was honest, he would have made a note on the menu and alerted me before I ordered. I gave him a tongue lashing and never came back. He never offered to serve me the third taco. Obviously, his conscience wasn't working properly. 

Thailand is well known for producing fakes and because of the infamous defamation laws they can get away with virtually anything and that includes advertising.

 

 

 

 

The restaurant's photo the OP posted looks like only two ribs to me. 

 

That said, the actual meal does not look very appetizing. 

1 hour ago, fittobethaied said:

From my observation, most restaurants in Thailand generally use stock photos that they get off the internet instead of taking photos of actual items which they serve. There seems to be no "truth in advertising" here like in the US. What else would we expect in a country where it is totally acceptable to tell lies. In your case I would have refused to accept that dish unless they threw in the third rib. I recently ordered tacos off a picture menu showing 3, but I was only served 2. When I confronted the owner, his answer was "oh, we just made a change in the menu and haven't had a chance to update our photo". If he was honest, he would have made a note on the menu and alerted me before I ordered. I gave him a tongue lashing and never came back. He never offered to serve me the third taco. Obviously, his conscience wasn't working properly. 

Do you think the McDonald's burgers in the US look like the photos? 

 

I find the McDonald's stuff in Thailand looks better than the stuff in the US. 

It's the same with hotel and b and b pictures.

Photos taken when hotel was built probably more than 10 years old ! 

Good restaurants don’t have photos of food they serve ! I find it very unattractive, bright colors. Often on TripAdvisor people photograph their meals to share or send to friends. Some of them are really well photographed. Otherwise,:plastered on a window or a menu I find that cheap bad taste.

Common in every country 

17 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Do you think the McDonald's burgers in the US look like the photos? 

 

I find the McDonald's stuff in Thailand looks better than the stuff in the US. 

I was surprised to find that McDonald's burgers in Thailand taste much better than the ones here in the U.S. of A..   I wanted some western food and due to painful knees I did not want to go downtown Bangkok to walk around and find some.  So hobbled across the street from the condo to the McDonald's in the mall there.  

 

After I returned to the U.S. of A., bought a McDonald's burger here and the taste did not compare to the ones I ate in Thailand.   Those small McDonald pies in Thailand are better too!
Also, some of the western food restaurants run by westerners have poor tasting food too!

Maybe they thought you needed to diet...........

Read the fine print. Many restaurant menus have a very tiny notice printed somewhere that says, "Pictures are for advertising purposes only".

21 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

The restaurant's photo the OP posted looks like only two ribs to me. 

 

That said, the actual meal does not look very appetizing. 

Agreed. Poss kitchen error on the skimpy French fries?

 

Tho on average, the fries portion in Thailand is (thankfully) smaller than in the west.

The best meals I find are at the little family run hole-in-the-wall joints with no photos or advertisements. 

Could be worse though  

Is this Sizzler? Give me a break

On 1/26/2024 at 11:12 PM, Banana7 said:

Went to a popular restaurant recently which had a lovely photo of a pork rib dinner for 319 baht. As shown, the advertisement shows a nice strip of ribs, about a dozen with 2 piles of fries. The actual meal had only 2 large ribs, and 1 pile of fries. The meal looked significantly different than what was advertised. In Thailand it seems OK to advertise meals that when provided don't look like the advertisements. This isn't the first time this has happened.

 

How do you handle such a situation? Would you send it back? Would you walkout without paying? Accept as is?

 

I just ate it as delivered, didn't complain, but also no tip, and never will I ever return to this restaurant.

 

That's why Gmap is my go to for research.   Photos from customers.  I'm rarely surprised.

 

Unresearched restaurants, I've actually asked .. "is it going to look like the photo" and many times told, 'it's just a photo from internet'.  Usually can tell by their reaction, how far off it will be.

 

Always an added plus when a restaurant is busy, as many times I ordered what I saw someone else eating or what strolled by while I was deciding.  Always take a slow stroll to your table and gaze around what's on the other tables.