Super Cheeky Restaurant Check Bin "surprises" And How You Dealt With Them

[canman]

I was once served a lasagne with absolutely no pasta in it at all. Tasted OK though....to be fair this was the first Italian restaurant in the town so the locals were likely none the wiser!

I was once served a lasagne in Bang Chang which was frozen in the center. I was not having much luck explaining the problem to the waitress and so resorting to my extremely limited thai, pointed to the center and said Nam Kang. She gave me a funny look, shrugged her shoulders and took the dish away. Back she came a minute later with the same dish with a couple ice cubes now sitting in the center of the lasagne.

I could not help my self and burst out laughing, poor girl did not know where to look.

[Chonburiram]

Jingthing,

lets say you go to a Mexican restaurant in Jomtien ( don't know if there is one ) and you order "extra spicy" and the place would only use original mexican ingredients, so, 80 ฿ extra for fresh Jalapeno Peppers would not sound too cheeky to me.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Chonburiram

[Jingthing]

Jingthing,

lets say you go to a Mexican restaurant in Jomtien ( don't know if there is one ) and you order "extra spicy" and the place would only use original mexican ingredients, so, 80 ฿ extra for fresh Jalapeno Peppers would not sound too cheeky to me.

Yes sometimes Mexican restaurants charge for jalapeno peppers and in such cases those charges are LISTED on menus. That is well known. My ____ story was not remotely similar, but thanks for playing!

My reported experience was more like ordering a 100 baht pad krapow and saying phet phet and getting charged 140 baht. It is simply not done.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Jingthing

[smokie36]

I think it was an Iranian place.

[Puschl]

So to summarise......was it avocado, tomato or lime that was missing from your guacamole?

I think he's referring to the missing sour cream in the Borshch.

Strangely enough I was thinking of Borsht too, but fancied the red beet was missing

My biggest restaurant bill surprise happened in Canada, oh, sorry, I meant in _____. They bluntly added 13% to the total. Advertized prices don't include tax.

[Chicog]

A friend of mine complained to his bank because a Thailand hotel had charged the bill twice to his card - and it wasn't even his bill.

A month later, both transactions were reversed. He's never been charged for the original bill and that was last March.

[StreetCowboy]

I think it was an Iranian place.

Was there no sausages in the bangers and mash?

Easy misunderstanding, I suppose...

SC

[Chicog]

I think it was an Iranian place.

Was there no sausages in the bangers and mash?

Easy misunderstanding, I suppose...

SC

You'd be amazed at all the halal beef/chicken sausages and "bacon" you can get.

[StreetCowboy]

I think it was an Iranian place.

Was there no sausages in the bangers and mash?

Easy misunderstanding, I suppose...

SC

You'd be amazed at all the halal beef/chicken sausages and "bacon" you can get.

You're over-estimating my amazability there. I really can't be bothered with turkey bacon, and didn't really miss bacon at all when I was in Dubai. I have no strong objection to chicken sausages, though in Sid's I always have the pork, as it just seems more natural.

SC

[smokie36]

Sometimes I choose the vegetarian sausages, based upon experience. Nuff said on that point.

[Chicog]

You're over-estimating my amazability there. I really can't be bothered with turkey bacon, and didn't really miss bacon at all when I was in Dubai. I have no strong objection to chicken sausages, though in Sid's I always have the pork, as it just seems more natural.

SC

Don't get me wrong. I think they're <deleted>. It's like decaffinated coffee and alcohol-free beer. What is the bloody point?

[junglechef]

In Hua Hin I went to a not so small Thai place and they didn't give me enough change and when I inquired they very rudely told me the prices had gone up. If your wondering, no I didn't accept that.

On a more amusing note last week in Chiang Mai I saw a sign in French of a restaurant name that implies French cuisine, walked in and there was a French language cooking show on the tv which really got my taste buds excited. The owner came over and greeted me in French and I asked in English if he was the Chef to which he said no but added that the Thai cook was proficient in French food. After looking over the menu and only seeing Thai and a few standard falang dishes I asked what French food they served and he replied hamburgers and pasta! And this was after I had told him I was a Chef who did my apprenticeship in Paris, to quote my young Thai son, "Come on man!"

[S0S]

Had an interesting experience a couple of months ago in a quite large 2 floor fully air-conditioned very busy Thai/Chinese restaurant off Sam Sen road (not all that far from Khao San, Bangkok).

They added a charge to the bill for air-conditioning of either Baht 5 or 10, (I can't remember which). I found it funny enough not to make an issue of it.

I did however ask them remove from the bill (which they did), the extra bowl of rice they charged for that I did not order or have.

[Dancealot]

I never notice when i am 'over charged' at a restaurant because i do not allow myself to be annoyed by this minor discrepancy when relaxing.

[ScotsExpat]

Still in Pattaya, I frequented a Russian restaurant on Walking Street.

The missus and I ordered a starter and a main course each...

Her starter arrived.....

Our main courses arrived...

I asked for the bill...

The bill arrived, with my starter right behind it...

10 minutes of arguing about being charged for a dish I never received...

Paid bill LESS price of starter... No tip..

End...

[Osiris]

Look, it's cool if you want to focus on the mystery restaurant but that is going to get tired because I will not be revealing. I was looking for stories about similar surprises around Thailand. If you don't have them, then maybe this mystery restaurant really IS exceptionally cheeky.

(King David Kosher has been closed for years now! I never ate there but I did walk in once to look at the menu. This is a true story. I asked the Thai waiter, so what's good here? His answer, I kid you not ... NOTHING! Actually that's particularly funny because a stereotypical canned response from waiters when you ask what's good is ... EVERYTHING)

Despite all the crap you seem to be getting about how offensive it is to be over charged, I get it! I hate the constant being on guard that it takes to survive an experience here, especially one where food is involved. Really, you should be happy when you are eating.

When I first got here, I was the mark. As I began to understand the culture, I stood my ground and told them how it was going to happen.

Since, I have taken to cooking at home. I avoid all the negative interaction and I am happy when I eat. I enjoy a better, more healthy meal, save money and the leftovers for later. I also do not put as much money into this society... Food for thought...

[Scottythai]

Best one for me was at the Giant Seafood place on Sukhumvit Soi 24. I was there with my family and a few very close friends so 10 in total. One thing I will say for this place is they do have everything that swims or craps in the ocean and it was all great. If you have not been there its like a supermarket you get a push cart and basicaly shop for your seafood. Price per KG is there and though its a bit more than market value its very high quality. Now we get the the check out and the bill is very high no problem I figured as it was for 10 people it would be. Go back and explain how we would like the various items cooked. Order some beer (seafood goes with beer like fish in water) Order some Kow Pad Goong and Pooh. Ask for the second bill as you pay the first at the check out and bang getting charges 600 baht to cook lobster and various other prices for other items. Made me laugh but was a fun night and well worth the cost. Just a heads up for anyone else who goes there.

[besth]

Best one for me was at the Giant Seafood place on Sukhumvit Soi 24. I was there with my family and a few very close friends so 10 in total. One thing I will say for this place is they do have everything that swims or craps in the ocean and it was all great. If you have not been there its like a supermarket you get a push cart and basicaly shop for your seafood. Price per KG is there and though its a bit more than market value its very high quality. Now we get the the check out and the bill is very high no problem I figured as it was for 10 people it would be. Go back and explain how we would like the various items cooked. Order some beer (seafood goes with beer like fish in water) Order some Kow Pad Goong and Pooh. Ask for the second bill as you pay the first at the check out and bang getting charges 600 baht to cook lobster and various other prices for other items. Made me laugh but was a fun night and well worth the cost. Just a heads up for anyone else who goes there.

OK, how is this not naming & shaming and the OP can't say the name of a dish or even the mysterious missing ingredient?

By the way, in that seafood restaurant there are lists at every table explaining very clearly all the cooking charges. It is expensive, but no hidden surprises in the bill.

Not restaurant related, but about 18/20 years ago, first time in Phuket with my ex-wife, before digital cameras (or before we had one), we took a roll of film to be developed to one of the then many shops.

When we went back to get the pictures, I took them off the envelope... they weren't ours. I pointed it out to the lady in the shop, who then looked into various other envelopes without finding ours. Next thing, she went through the pics she had given us, pointed at one of them, a lady around late fifties, early 60s, blond short hair and then immediately pointed at my ex with a "see? it's her" expression in her face (my ex was under 30, heavier set than the woman in the picture, long brown hair, not a resemblance anywhere).

The lady in the shop got quite upset and insisted that we took the pictures and paid for them. I was quite upset that she didn't have OUR pictures. After a lot of wasted time I saw that was going nowhere, the lady was getting a bit aggressive but I was definitely not going to pay for some stranger's pics (and take them away from them if they were going to be trying to pick them up later). In the end I told her to keep looking for our pictures and we'd be back the next day. Never bothered to go back.

Not a case of "all farang look same", I'm sure it was just cheeky, incompetent business.

[britgent]

Relevant but not relevant if you know what I mean.

Just landed in cm and bought a bottle of single malt whisky in duty free.

Exited airport and grabbed a taxi. Bottle is in a clear plastic bag so drivers eyes nearly pop out his head when he sees it.

Hilarity ensues after he shakes it and says "oh no, broken. It OK if you leave in taxi I put in bin later".

Needless to say I took hold of the 10 minute old purchase to discover it was still OK.

No tip there.

Most intriguing bit was alighting from said taxi condo security guard tells me he wants some whisky from wherever my travels take me next time as he has a worldly palette. It'll be interesting to see his face upon requesting the money for his foreign whisky.

That's all.