Why So Many Time In Thailands Restaurants Guests Get Not The Menu The Ordered?

[Sandman77]

Hello!

after living now in thailand for nearly 1,5 Year of my lifetime,i want to try to find out the reason why so many time happen,that the menu,the guests ordet in the restaurant,the restaurant stuff bring the wrong one,i order not spicy but i got very spice,i order a menu,and get a soup,our via versa!

when,i order more then 5 things at one time,mostly it happen,that some things are missing!,and not come!

in many german traveler books the write,also you have to pay everything when the bring the wrong menu!

for sure,when the burmese worker,not understand the language,and translate to the cook wrong then this will happen,a goood friend thai citicen

told me,the truth, would be that the concentration of the stuff is not always the best,the have there minds somewhere else when the serve the menu:)

espasaly in phuket,i got the most problems,of visiting many parts in thailand and traveling over 4000 km,to nearly all areas,one time i got a old fish hard like stone,i ask please replace this i cannot eat,4 minutes later the stuff comes back and told me,here another fish of the same family,,for you,but it was exactly the same fish i send back,or i order fresh orange juice in phuket,and got a chemical one,with to much sugar,i want replace,the stuff say nothing go and never come back,but on the bill i have to pay,around 30% of the bills,when i calculate by my self are wrong in the amount!

many peple coming first time to thailand,are most angry when the got spicy instead of order not spice!

more expirience now,from other users in this topic!

[Mooner]

Thai roulette!

Seriously! These things happens when people do not share a language.

From your post it seems English is not your first language! I'm sure you have been misunderstood before.

Try to make sure you are understood and remember. Patience is a virtue!

[Awohalitsiktoli]

Thai roulette!

Seriously! These things happens when people do not share a language.

From your post it seems English is not your first language! I'm sure you have been misunderstood before.

Try to make sure you are understood and remember. Patience is a virtue!

You no doubt know this, but it helps if you have a menu with pictures and can point out what you want to the waiter.

[QED]

Hmmm, I have had this happen probably less than 10 times in 6 years, mostly when I was new here. Definitely sounds like a communication problem.

[rak sa_ngop]

I always try and look 'clever' by ordering in Thai. So when I get the wrong food I only have myself to blame.

[Ulysses G.]

Many years ago, we knew a guy who always went on about how great his Thai was. One time he - as usual - ordered breakfast in Thai. The the waitor brought him the wrong dish and brought the rest of us the correct ones that we had ordered in English.

He yelled at the waiter, "How could you get mine wrong? I ordered in Thai". The waiter looked at him and said, "Nest time, try English".

[vpi78]

Many years ago, we knew a guy who always went on about how great his Thai was. One time he - as usual - ordered breakfast in Thai. The the waitor brought him the wrong dish and brought the rest of us the correct ones that we had ordered in English.

He yelled at the waiter, "How could you get mine wrong? I ordered in Thai". The waiter looked at him and said, "Nest time, try English".

Nice one.

[Jingthing]

Well it can cut both ways. A recent experience that worked my way even though it was a grey area for sure.

I ordered pad krapow in Thai, clearly.

The waiter replies in English and points to some picture on the menu which frankly I didn't really look at closely, so I said yes, pad krapow.

The food comes. It is totally wrong.

I object saying I said pad krapow in THAI and you understood what I said, correct?

He agreed. He replaced the order.

Edited August 18, 2011 by Jingthing

[DaveHKT]

Well it can cut both ways. A recent experience that worked my way even though it was a grey area for sure.

I ordered pad krapow in Thai, clearly.

The waiter replies in English and points to some picture on the menu which frankly I didn't really look at closely, so I said yes, pad krapow.

The food comes. It is totally wrong.

I object saying I said pad krapow in THAI and you understood what I said, correct?

He agreed. He replaced the order.

...He replaced the order. He then took the first meal into the kitchen and promptly ate it. Both customer and staff happy...ideal situation

[Jingthing]

I don't know whether it cost him or not. In any case, I think it is usually much harder to get a Thai kitchen to redo a dish if you complain than in the west. Usually if they agree to do anything, they do some half assed thing to the original dish rather than do a new one.

[testeroffaith]

Maybe you need to write the order yourself

[NanaFoods]

It true that some problems are a result of communication breakdown, but my experience seems to suggest it's more a case of zero training and a lazy unmotivated waiter/waitress who refuses to write anything down, and thinks they can rely on their "stellar" memory.

One example is a restaurant in Ayutthaya (when I used to live there). Nice place, great food, and German-style beer. But they consistently got our orders wrong - and my wife, who is Thai, did all the ordering. Clearly not a communication issue.

After a few times of this repeated scenario, we developed a plan. And the next time we had friends along as well, so we insisted the waitress write everything down. There were 4 of us this time, not just two, so I had zero confidence she'd get it right. She countered with "jamdai bpen" (or I can remember) - I said, (in Thai) "you never remembered correctly when there was just two of us, now there are four. Write it down!" She left to get a pen and paper. My wife reviewed the order before sending the girl off to the kitchen.

We got our correct order.