A foreign tourist in Phuket has drawn criticism after refusing to pay part of a restaurant bill at New Break Taek in Chalong, sparking a local media stir. The incident involved an 80 baht dispute over a strawberry smoothie the customer found unsatisfactory. Shared on Thai social media, the footage shows a heated exchange leading to the customer's partial payment and departure.

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Background discussions reveal the tourist, accompanied by her daughter and a Thai babysitter, ordered shrimp satay, a pineapple smoothie, and later requested a sugar-free strawberry smoothie. The total bill amounted to 455 baht. Following a complaint about portion size and taste, the restaurant offered to remake the drink, but she declined and paid only 375 baht for the satay and pineapple smoothie.

The incident has prompted a wave of online reactions, especially among local business operators in Phuket. Some suggest pre-payments, while others call for stricter legal measures against non-paying customers. Restaurant employees shared concerns about covering unpaid bills per policy, though management later absolved them after reviewing CCTV.

Looking ahead, local businesses are advised to exercise caution with foreign tourists, with some suggesting changes in billing practices. Meanwhile, this dispute marks a first for the long-standing restaurant, which prides itself on a 20-year history without similar issues.

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  Adapted by ASEAN Now · The Thaiger · 22 May 2026

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I've eaten at plenty of places where the food wasn't good.

You can't just not pay because you don't like the food.

Just cut your losses and don't go back.

So many cheap Charlie tourists here now. What? you argue over an 80 baht drink... trailer park trash. No wonder Thais say all sorts about cheap tourists (I could quote the Thai phrase for it, but won't)... just a joke and a silly nasty entitled bitch.

I agree with Sir Dude and I bet I can guess the nationality.

At least it wasn’t one of those 455 baht bills where the pineapple suddenly develops legal representation 🍍⚖️

Much ado about nothing................

2 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

So many cheap Charlie tourists here now. What? you argue over an 80 baht drink... trailer park trash. No wonder Thais say all sorts about cheap tourists (I could quote the Thai phrase for it, but won't)... just a joke and a silly nasty entitled bitch.

Bit of an anti-foreigner pile-on, to be honest.

I’ve been out with Thai friends and family plenty of times where food or drinks weren’t up to standard, complaints were made, and the item was removed from the bill without drama. That’s normal customer service, not someone being a “cheap Charlie”.

I’ve personally complained before about a steak that tasted tainted, like the meat wasn’t fresh. The restaurant offered to remove it from the bill, but I still chose to pay because I wanted to make the point respectfully and hopefully encourage them to improve next time. But the key point is this: when something is genuinely poor quality, customers absolutely have the right to complain and reject it.

In this case, they lady specifically asked for a sugar-free smoothie. If the first one came out wrong, I can understand why she didn’t trust a replacement. Once confidence is gone, it’s gone.

My wife has an MSG allergy and we always ask restaurants to avoid it. Sometimes staff insist there’s no MSG when there clearly is - my wife can tell almost immediately. They’ll then offer to remake the dish, but she refuses because if they ignored or lied about it once, why would she trust the second attempt? She’s the one who ends up sick afterwards, not them.

People seem obsessed with the fact it was only 80 baht, but that misses the point entirely. The amount is irrelevant. If food or drink is genuinely bad, incorrectly made, or not what was ordered, customers shouldn’t be expected to just smile and pay for it anyway.

Sounds like an entitled Karen to me ,even has a nanny...

regards worgeordie

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

If food or drink is genuinely bad, incorrectly made, or not what was ordered, customers shouldn’t be expected to just smile and pay for it anyway.

But this can lead to abuse.

The customer can pretend it wasn't good to avoid paying.

How can they screw up a smoothie?

13 minutes ago, swerve said:

I agree with Sir Dude and I bet I can guess the nationality.

What nationality?

I can think of several candidate nations.

Karens are prevalent in all of the primarily English-speaking nations apparently.

Edited May 25May 25 by cdemundo

2 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Sounds like an entitled Karen to me ,even has a nanny...

regards worgeordie

Thai customers complain and have items removed from bills all the time when food or drinks aren’t up to standard. So if this had been a Thai person, would it even have made the media?

And the “even has a nanny” comment is ridiculous. Plenty of expats and Thai families have nannies here - it’s completely normal and has nothing to do with entitlement.

She ordered a sugar-free smoothie, they got it wrong, and she chose not to pay for that item. That’s called being a customer where she is entitled to receive what she ordered.

The only issue here IMO - is whether or not she was polite or not when handling the situation - and there's no comment of her throwing a tantrum, shouting or being rude to staff etc.

4 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

If food or drink is genuinely bad, incorrectly made, or not what was ordered, customers shouldn’t be expected to just smile and pay for it anyway.

But this can lead to abuse.

The customer can pretend it wasn't good to avoid paying.

How can they screw up a smoothie?

I think its easy enough to recognise when someone is 'bill-skipping' - this woman wasn't - she just received an incorrect order and didn't pay for it.

How can they screw up a smoothie ?? - exactly, thats probably why she declined when they offered to re-make it.

19 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

The amount is irrelevant. If food or drink is genuinely bad, incorrectly made

Im not, in any way, a connoisseur but how is it possible to make a bad strawberry smoothie?

Fruit smoothie at restaurant in Europe can cost everything from Thb 100- 400, - so should be interesting to know where these guest come from🤔

Felt

Posts with derogatory nicknames, intentional misspellings, or personal remarks will be removed. Spell names correctly for all sides of the debate.

Did they make the wrong drink for her? The place is empty so there's no excuse for that.

A couple of years ago there was an air head waitress at my usual breakfast place. I asked her to get a pen and piece of paper to write my order down but she dismissed that idea and got the order wrong, bringing bacon instead of sausage. I pointed out the error so she brought a side order of sausages and added it to my bill. A word with the cashier after breakfast put an end to that idea (no, I didn't eat the bacon as I wasn't going to pay for it). All of the waitresses gave me the stink eye and it took over a year for the air head to serve me again. No problems since then and she's even friendly now that Pattaya is dead.

"... local businesses are advised to exercise caution with foreign tourists..."!

In any large restaurant anywhere in the world, you’ll always get the occasional customer who complains, sends food back, or tries to angle out of paying. Some people have turned it into an art form.

But the basic rule of hospitality is still that the customer is always right, even when they’re being difficult.

What happened here wasn’t some cultural pattern that requires Phuket restaurants to suddenly treat foreigners with suspicion. It was one picky customer arguing over an 80‑baht sugar-free smoothie.

Incidently, this restaurant has a customer review rating of Excellent, with one Web site saying "However, getting a table for lunch can also be difficult, and you might have to wait quite a bit...".

Anytime an establishment goes out of their way and offers to redo the dish, or redo the smoothie, it's incumbent upon the customer to follow through and acknowledge that, and show some appreciation.

Anybody can get an order wrong, and these days people are so particular about their needs and their wants that it's not so easy for the average Thai to be that specific. It happens to me all the time, do I make a big fuss? No. Sometimes I'll ask them to redo the dish, a lot of times I'll just let it go.

9 hours ago, swerve said:

I agree with Sir Dude and I bet I can guess the nationality.

Clearly a European. They have a sense of entitlement and look down on Thais

10 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Bit of an anti-foreigner pile-on, to be honest.

I’ve been out with Thai friends and family plenty of times where food or drinks weren’t up to standard, complaints were made, and the item was removed from the bill without drama. That’s normal customer service, not someone being a “cheap Charlie”.

I’ve personally complained before about a steak that tasted tainted, like the meat wasn’t fresh. The restaurant offered to remove it from the bill, but I still chose to pay because I wanted to make the point respectfully and hopefully encourage them to improve next time. But the key point is this: when something is genuinely poor quality, customers absolutely have the right to complain and reject it.

In this case, they lady specifically asked for a sugar-free smoothie. If the first one came out wrong, I can understand why she didn’t trust a replacement. Once confidence is gone, it’s gone.

My wife has an MSG allergy and we always ask restaurants to avoid it. Sometimes staff insist there’s no MSG when there clearly is - my wife can tell almost immediately. They’ll then offer to remake the dish, but she refuses because if they ignored or lied about it once, why would she trust the second attempt? She’s the one who ends up sick afterwards, not them.

People seem obsessed with the fact it was only 80 baht, but that misses the point entirely. The amount is irrelevant. If food or drink is genuinely bad, incorrectly made, or not what was ordered, customers shouldn’t be expected to just smile and pay for it anyway.

As a Cafe owner I agree 100% on this. Anyone can make a mistake in this process, the customer, order entry, the kitchen, the server and the customer. Then you factor in the differences in taste preference. If you don't hear there is a problem, you can't fix it and potentially fix a longer-term issue if one exists. You cant be perfect every time and the customer isnt always correct either. We welcome and encourage feedback, good and bad.

This article would have been a lot more 'juicier' and interesting had the words '' an Israeli'' were in the story.

13 hours ago, save the frogs said:

I've eaten at plenty of places where the food wasn't good.

You can't just not pay because you don't like the food.

Just cut your losses and don't go back.

It is particularly bad as often lowly paid staff are expected to cover shortfalls.

As is often the case the focus is negative on foreign tourists when I hake heard of many Thais doing a runner too!

14 hours ago, save the frogs said:

How can they screw up a smoothie?

possibly by making it sweet when she asked for no sugar.

This lady was unfairly classed as a ' Diner dash '.. Untrue. She settled the bill for the correct food and declined to pay for the substandard drink the restaurant agreed to remake.

Why was the beverage to be replacef if the woman's complaint was not genuine???

Edited May 26May 26 by jippytum

Phone cameras are everywhere today. Currently, there is a focus on foreigners behaving badly. Why take a chance on becoming the star attraction in the lastest incident of misbehaving Euro? Just pay the 80 baht, so you don't appear on the news or in forums like this.

5 hours ago, Yagoda said:

Clearly a European. They have a sense of entitlement and look down on Thais

Deffo a Yank, world's worst for complaining.

Edited May 26May 26 by roo860

Some times the staff just don't listen, Maybe it was important for the person who the drink was for "No Sugar" I have to be very careful these days no sugar, no salt, my wife checks everything, the amount of sodium,

My wife went in to a well known coffee shop here in Thailand and asked for a De caff coffee, They gave me normal coffee I didn't know until after I drank it, my heart rate was going up through the roof, even the doctor said that was not Decaff,

Same with peanut allergies, Ive seen Farangs carry a note with them to show the staff, that does not always work, I myself was in ICU earlier this year and they brought another Farang in who had a peanut allergy, he also had a note to show to staff about his allergy, 3 days he spent in hospital, He said he was going to sue the restaurant, I dont know if he did,

5 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Some times the staff just don't listen, Maybe it was important for the person who the drink was for "No Sugar" I have to be very careful these days no sugar, no salt, my wife checks everything, the amount of sodium,

My wife went in to a well known coffee shop here in Thailand and asked for a De caff coffee, They gave me normal coffee I didn't know until after I drank it, my heart rate was going up through the roof, even the doctor said that was not Decaff,

Same with peanut allergies, Ive seen Farangs carry a note with them to show the staff, that does not always work, I myself was in ICU earlier this year and they brought another Farang in who had a peanut allergy, he also had a note to show to staff about his allergy, 3 days he spent in hospital, He said he was going to sue the restaurant, I dont know if he did,

Maybe you shouldn't be eating in Thai restaurants and coffee shops.

They don't really cater to 'special' dietry needs like your home country.

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Maybe you shouldn't be eating in Thai restaurants and coffee shops.

They don't really cater to 'special' dietry needs like your home country.

I dont now, Ones I do I know them, most of 7/11 stuff I cannot eat now mainly because of the high sodium content, My wife is doing her best to keep me alive,

Edited May 26May 26 by ChipButty

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

The amount is irrelevant. If food or drink is genuinely bad, incorrectly made, or not what was ordered, customers shouldn’t be expected to just smile and pay for it anyway.

Was it any of those things? Hard to say really.

The other thing is whether she took one sip and complained, or drank it all and then complained. I think depending on which it was, would color my opinion somewhat.

Apparently she also complained about the portion size?

I mean if it had sugar in it, I would have thought it was simple enough to trust a replacement to be without sugar. Simple mistake easily corrected. If the milk was off, that would be different.

Doesn’t sound like she is the most empathetic of people.