Restaurant Review: Sunrise Tacos, Close To Nana

[bergen]

It is cheaper than Norway, but then again Norway have europes highest prices when it comes to food. In Norway a cucumber can cost up to 5 euros. I remember when I went there for work.

Wow! That must have been a big one

[Onnutrd]

Loud, fat, rude Americans, hired company in tow?

Your prejudice is showing.

They could have been Canadians, eh?

Yes, canadiangirl. I am most disturbed by you writing. You should have written "average sounding, normal weight americans with average behaviour. Hired, but not by the army." Never judge ppl by thier origin.

Maybe she was simply being objective. She states "Loud, fat, rude Americans" becuase maybe it was simply the fact of the matter. They happened to be loud, were fat, and obviously rude at the same time.

However, if she said "stupid loud, fat, rude Americans" well then...that's just disturbing, but the point is, she did'nt. She simply said, "Loud, fat, rude Americans" which IMHO, qualifies the majority of the US.

[blizzard]

anyone try the nachos supreme. ok til you get to the bottom where everything looks like pig slop. why dont they drain the liquids when they make the dish.

ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SOUPY!

[Ulysses G.]

She simply said, "Loud, fat, rude Americans" which IMHO, qualifies the majority of the US.

Your "opinion" gives a pretty good clue to who the "stupid" one is.

[Nysan]

It is cheaper than Norway, but then again Norway have europes highest prices when it comes to food. In Norway a cucumber can cost up to 5 euros. I remember when I went there for work.

Wow! That must have been a big one

I would say bigger than average but not "biggset ever seen". This was about november 2005. I saw it in a small town up north salled Dåva. I guess the prices are lower in the south (Bergen), but nothing can erase that fact that Norway is quite expensive. Thats why many Nowegians travel to Sweden (for example Strömstad, Karlstad) to make their weekly gorssery shopping.

[mattias33]

As far as i know Oslo (capital of Norway) has been nr 2 after Tokyo as the most expensive town in the world for many years. And i think last year they officially past Tokyo and are now nr 1. Ive been in Norway quite a few times and i would say NOTHING is cheaper in Norway than Thailand.

Anyway, living in Samui this thread makes me very hungry first of all and secondly very jealous of you guys living in Bangkok with so many different options for Mexican food. You are lucky!

Then i totaly agree with Sunrise. You have every right in the world to answer in a thread about your buisness. In fact i wich more people do so. I mean company-owners that regulary read comments from their customers and listen to what they say, that is a great way of using a messageboard. It is great for the owners aswell as us customers. And also for the rest of the readers who get the oppinion from many posters, put it all together, and make a descission to go there or not. A foodreview in a magazine is most of the time (at least in Samui, but its common practice in many newspapers) a person going into a restaurant and saying "hi, im from a paper and want to write a review, can i eat for free?". If he gets alot of food he write good. But food is so much more than the taste. Priceworthy and so on is something you never can now from a foodreview in a magazine. In here you can.

Next time im in Bangkok i am going to try sunrise, thats for sure!

[huppe]

I tried this by giving it a second chance. That was a huge mistake. First time I ordered, food was "decent" and warm and quite quick delivery. Nice english speaking staff also at phone.

We live here at Asoke, only about 500-1000meters from the place, I called there two nights ago and ordered Tacos and Burrito. Delivery was very fast, it took about 10-15minutes after the phonecall I got someone already at the door. Ok, that's great but something felt to be wrong, how could it be this fast?

Ok, I opened the package, firstly Tacos. There was salsa jar inside the tacobox, it was left opened and salsa was all-over the box. Also the tacos were COLD, and I don't mean almost cold, but really cold, like they've been taken directly from the refrigerator and but in the box with foliopaper. YAK! Also there wasn't chicken at all, maybe some tiny bits but you really had to look for those from tacos.

Next one was burrito, it was wrapped also in foliopaper, maybe it is aluminiumpaper in english,I'm not sure. Anyway that was cold too and more awful was that the "bread" around stuffings was transparent. I know reason for that, it's been in refrigerator with all the stuffings in for days and it also tasted like that. This must been the worst food I've ever had in Thailand, really! There's been only 2 times I had to leave dish without eating it, one time was when I order "khanom jeen naam ngiao" and other was this Sunries Tacos Burrito. Oh my god, that was really disgusting! I also had stommyache after tasting that food in next couple of hours, I'm lucky I didn't actually eat whole dish!

Ok, then it was first time for me EVER to call back and complain about food. I got someone on the phone and again someone, almost all staff pretended that they don't speak english (but they spoke english very good when I order food, what's the problem now). I got only ignored and phone was left on the table for like 30minutes. I hang up and call back several times. Finally I got somebody called "Eric" on the phone and he listened my problem but manager was away and he couldn't help me with this issue today. He promise to call back tomorrow.

Tomorrow came and nobody called back, I decided to call them. Finally (I think) I got manager on the phone, very nice and good english speaking gentleman (maybe native?) and he listened carefully my problem. It took like 15minutes in the phone discussing with him. I tried to get answers how can food be cold, when it's +30 degrees outside and delivery took less that 15 minutes. I got no answer for that. Finally he asked if I wanted to order something now? hel_l No! I only wanted to know how are they gonna correct their mistake. I got no answer for that either. Only "thanks for your opinioin, that is very important for us. Have a nice day"

Oh my god. Unbelievable! Almost like saying "<deleted> you and don't come back". I Dont.

Do NOT go to Sunrise Tacos, not ever, not in any circumstances! Avoid that place!

EDIT: By the way, they are not delivering anymore. Chefsxp is doing their deliveries nowadays.

Edited January 25, 2008 by huppe

[Jingthing]

Maybe you should try the burrito in shop? I think their burritos are the best in Thailand. Maybe not saying much, but they satisfy a craving for sure. You have to experiment with ordering them how you like, there are so many options to build your ideal burrito, it might take several visits to get the burrito of your dreams. I don't think much of their tacos though.

Edited January 25, 2008 by Jingthing

[huppe]

Maybe you should try the burrito in shop? I think their burritos are the best in Thailand. Maybe not saying much, but they satisfy a craving for sure. You have to experiment with ordering them how you like, there are so many options to build your ideal burrito, it might take several visits to get the burrito of your dreams. I don't think much of their tacos though.

You could have better burrito from Foodland fridge, 2 or was it 4 pcs for 95thb.

Anyway there has just been opened Coyote only about 500meters from Asok to Phrom Pong. That might be worth of visit. Although they also have their menus with European prices

http://coyotebangkok.com/

I wish we had Chiang Mai Saloon here at Bangkok also

http://www.chiangmaisaloon.com/

Edited January 25, 2008 by huppe

[Jingthing]

Nah, none of those places have California / Mission district style burritos. Only Sunrise does. I think you have an agenda. My only agenda is good eating.

Edited January 25, 2008 by Jingthing

[madjbs]

I agree with Jingthing, it seems you have an axe to grind.

[percy2]

Wow being accused of having an axe to grind because of a negative report.

Playing devils advocate , you could say being so quick to accuse might make people think you have an interest in Sunrise Taco's beyond the food.

Cheers

[madjbs]

There are negative reports and there are over the top negative reports. When it goes over the top it just discredits any validity the original report actually had.

[Dr. Burrito]

Well, in his defense, I have had several less than happy experiences with delivery from there in the past. The one time I called and spoke to Greg about it, he tried to turn it on to my staff messing up. Hardly the way an owner would be trying to win business in my opinion.

I'll go with the walk-in still there from time to time, but never again will I have delivery.

Dr. B

[Jingthing]

OK, in fairness, I don't really picture burritos as travelling so well. Maybe better to eat in house.

[madjbs]

I have had 3 delivered burritos in the last 2 weeks and all of them have been fine, perhaps there is a couple of rogue delivery boys who like to take their time.

[huppe]

I'll go with the walk-in still there from time to time, but never again will I have delivery.

I could try walk-in dining there for sure. My opinion was only for delivery, nothing else. Sorry if I didn't express myself clearly enough.

I don't know how familiar you are with this restaurant but it is even different building where this delivery works. And when it is Thailand, it could be anything between those two buildings

[blizzard]

i think someone could make a buck opening a taco bell in farang areas!

[TopDogger]

I've been holding off posting this here, but the burrito I got delivered on wednesday was the final straw. In the last month the quality of the food delivered has been on a gradual decline, but this burrito was a complete disgrace. No cheese, sour cream or salsa in it as ordered/paid for and on the tab. The thing was as good as 100% chicken and beans, with little drabs of rice,lettuce and onion, wrapped so badly it looked like it had been run over by a truck.

I'm not trying to discredit sunrise here, I only had good things to say about them initially and have sent many a customer in their direction. Something needs to be done though as the quality of food is rapidly declining, a lot of people I know have already stopped from ordering from you.

[blizzard]

i get the feeling if a farang manager is not there, noone really cares.

[dantilley]

Would be a shame if Sunrise lost its touch. I'm gonna go there today and see if these reports are true

[madjbs]

Does anyone know if the Paragon branch is open yet?

[on-on]

i get the feeling if a farang manager is not there, noone really cares.

The tacos are the best in Bangkok, for sure, or I'd stop going. That's not saying a ton, of course, as Bangkok has Mexican food ranging from rancid to edible in general, but the quality of Sunrise has improved regularly since they opened to slightly-better-than-edible, so I keep going back and trying again and again. I'd trade it for a copy of Miguel's up in Chiang Mai, but I don't get to make that decision and judging by how poorly the Mike's franchise was handled here in Bangkok I'm terrified of what might happen with a Miguel's franchise.

Anyway, to your point, I've noticed that anytime I'm there, the top job of the guy running the place (who is nice enough) is to constantly ask the workers why they aren't doing their job and then explain their job to them again. After several visits where one thing or another got bungled, I've decided that on the dining side (as opposed to the taco stand side) he would do a lot better if he just adopted a service like Pancho's back in Texas. Hand out his order forms at the door and have a little flag on a string at every table. Let people fill out their own order forms to avoid the inevitable miscommunications with the staff and then raise the flag when they need something. As is, the service is very friendly and quite incompetent. I'll still go no matter how bad the service gets (as long as it's still friendly) because, really, what are my options? Still, it'd go a lot smoother on the dinining side if I could just check off my own taco form and hand it back instead of relying on the help to accidentally ignore me and then mix it up.

[mattias33]

i get the feeling if a farang manager is not there, noone really cares.

Thai-style. "boss is gone, lets go to sleep". Only westerners look at "what did you do when i was not here?". Thais think "boss look=work, boss dont look=sleep or watch tv!" Dont know why but its the case. You want a good buisness with thai employes, make sure to watch them, all day!!!

[PadThaiGuy]

i get the feeling if a farang manager is not there, noone really cares.

Thai-style. "boss is gone, lets go to sleep". Only westerners look at "what did you do when i was not here?". Thais think "boss look=work, boss dont look=sleep or watch tv!" Dont know why but its the case. You want a good buisness with thai employes, make sure to watch them, all day!!!

They need time after punching in to:

Call mom, noodle break, pick nose, take a nap, fool around, gossip, play with phone, SMS.......

I hired two college graduates for my office staff.

They were both an hour late on the first day!

One was washing her dog and the other was watching football.

I explained they had to be on time and they looked perplexed.

[siamesekitty]

"Maew mai yoo, noo ra ruhng" = when the cat's not there, the mice are merry!

oops,

[Strap]

Sleeping again?

I would have thought the 'boss' finally cough them sleeping?

Ok last visit was about 2:30 am Friday night,Yes I was out that night having fun with a friend and decided its time for a nice change of pace place to eat. My friend hasn't been there before so no problem.

We both ordered and the service staff were fine and seemed to understand us ok. The food was good the soft taco's were sorta falling apart ( or I was ) but nothing a spoon couldn't fix.

Then the nachos came out, they looked good until I realized that the meat was ice cold so knowing we were both a little off ourselves we inspected it more and found it was hot on the bottom just not on top, But what is with all that oil? there really was alot of oil or spices? on the bottom of the plate that we now placed on top to re-heat it.

I think the food quality itself was good, just the prep work might need some revamping.

Cheers

[TopDogger]

i get the feeling if a farang manager is not there, noone really cares.

For sure, there all very polite and everything but its obvious from the way the foods prepared (on occasions) that no one really gives a fuk. Perhaps just a couple of rouge employees? Maybe it would be a good idea to get them to write their names on the receipt as the person who prepared it, this may iron out a few of the bad apples?

[samran]

Was there today, and food was good, the best in the last three times I was there. Then again, Greg was there too, which may or may not had something to do with it (he is an excellent host by the way).

Only problem is that he's hired one or two staff from the phillipines -and it caused problems so far as communications went. I'm a assuming they are new. Nothing wrong with that (especially if they are new) but they need to work on their ability to understand non-N.American accents (my wife - a kiwi - had to repeat the order 5 times). I took over speaking Thai (well he looked Thai, and it was fair to assume that he was) and it took a little while for him to sum up to courage to say that he wasn't Thai.

Maybe an idea would be to give them name badges and little flags of the languages they speak underneath.

But, at the end of the day, the service (after the inital order) and the food was spot on and the price is right...

Good work greg...

[TokyoT]

Only problem is that he's hired one or two staff from the phillipines -and it caused problems so far as communications went. I'm a assuming they are new. Nothing wrong with that (especially if they are new) but they need to work on their ability to understand non-N.American accents (my wife - a kiwi - had to repeat the order 5 times). I took over speaking Thai (well he looked Thai, and it was fair to assume that he was) and it took a little while for him to sum up to courage to say that he wasn't Thai.

I am pretty sure they have had Pilipino staff since they opened.

I eat at Sunrise twice a week most of the time and generally speaking I have only good things to say about the food and the service – with the exception of the delivery option.

Initially the delivery option seemed like more of a chore than anything else – sometimes deliver, sometimes not. Now with the addition of ChefsXP to handle most of the delivery this issue has been mitigated (well at lest between 10:30 and 10:30). I actually placed an order thru ChefsXP for food from another restaurant tonight and they brought a Sunrise menu with the delivery. In any case regardless of the restaurant I have found that Mexican food does not seem to hold up very well to delivery in Bangkok – so most of the time I just go get it myself.