The Hit And Run Restaurant "review" Thread

[Jingthing]

I would definitely want to it eat it IF it was a recipe like that and cooked that way on a grill!

But I reckon generally restaurant wings are FRIED. (That grilling recipe took a really long time.)

Also if a PB & J wing item on a menu uses such an interesting spice combo as in the video, I would think you'd want to give some kind of hint of it on a menu rather than just a label.

Jelly, I think of cheap just sweet grape jelly as a default, not Tabasco jelly which does sound like a good fit for wings.

Anyway, when I'm wrong I'm wrong, and I don't mind eating some crow (crow wings!) when that happens.
I have learned that since I left the USA so long ago that some places have cropped up offering numerous surprising and bizarre unusual wing recipe flavors (as opposed to the classic Buffalo wings flavor profile), so clearly this new place wants to feature and introduce this concept here in Pattaya. Of course I'm making no comment on the execution of these recipes, but as before, certainly would be curious to hear from people who do try them.

I wish them the best of luck in their new venture ... but I do suggest an attempt to creative more of a fun and festive atmosphere in the space, as I think that might stimulate sales of that kind of "beer food" which dominates the menu. I think optimally a place with such offerings should aim for people to feel FUN! PARTY! FUN! as soon as they open the door.

You know, things like decorations, MUSIC, promotional events, waiters trained to promote the fun mood, etc. etc.

Of course a variation on that is a SPORTS BAR ... but this place does not appear that it is going to be doing that.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Dosa King

Indian vegetarian restaurant

Fixing to open on 2nd road across from Royal Garden Mall.

Same biz as the Bangkok Dosa King?

I think probably so.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Jingthing

[Tolley]

I went to the Hippopotamus in Central yesterday for lunch and I was mighty impressed with what I got.

I had an Australian steak ribeye with baked potato and vegetables for only 299 baht and it was really nice and the service was great and of course you get a good view as well.

I have eaten at Beefeater lots of times and this was comparable to Beefeater with the steak not quite as good as Beefeater but the vegetables much better but at less than half the price.

Thumbs up for Hippo.

[KittenKong]

Hippopotamus is a French-owned brand and the French can usually be relied on to do decent food, even in chain restaurants and cafeterias.

[Awohalitsiktoli]

Well, a few months ago I went to a place that has "hippo" in its name (for legal reasons, I will not say their name and they could be located anywhere...prices vary and are subject to change ). They had a great special: 199baht burgers! The burgers were very good. Then I went back about a month ago. They had the same sign out front: 199 bhat burgers. I ordered what I thought, because of the sign, was a 199 bhat burger and then the bill came to much more than that. I could have paid it, but on priciple I asked to talk with the manager and took him and his assitant outside to look at their "false advertising." He said, yes, it was 199 baht but not now. I told him that I was not going to pay and to take it back. I also told him to remove the false advertising. Did he do that? No! TIT. I was there a few days ago and noticed that the sign is still up. I like the place but as long as they continue to engage in false advertising, I will refuse to eat there.

[Jingthing]

Interesting and obviously that doesn't sound right to advertise a promotion not actually offered.

I would recommend however on any kind of promotion anywhere to get a verbal confirmation before ordering.

To be fair about that specific place one time I went and complained that I thought the promotion was still on from seeing the sign earlier but the sign was gone when I got there ... and a manager was called and she extended the promotion to me as an exception.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Jingthing

[ThaiBob]

The Hippopotamus offers a 20% discount to Pattaya City Expats Club members.

[Ling Kae]

Well, a few months ago I went to a place that has "hippo" in its name (for legal reasons, I will not say their name and they could be located anywhere...prices vary and are subject to change ). They had a great special: 199baht burgers! The burgers were very good. Then I went back about a month ago. They had the same sign out front: 199 bhat burgers. I ordered what I thought, because of the sign, was a 199 bhat burger and then the bill came to much more than that. I could have paid it, but on priciple I asked to talk with the manager and took him and his assitant outside to look at their "false advertising." He said, yes, it was 199 baht but not now. I told him that I was not going to pay and to take it back. I also told him to remove the false advertising. Did he do that? No! TIT. I was there a few days ago and noticed that the sign is still up. I like the place but as long as they continue to engage in false advertising, I will refuse to eat there.

You did the right thing and I would have done the same. It is the only way they "might" learn.

[peterb17]

I have nothing at all against the PCEC.

I was just joking around a little bit.

Believe it or not I had never even eaten Buffalo Chicken wings in the U.S. before I moved to Thailand. I first had them at the Great American Rib Company when they were open in Pattaya, and they were excellent. They used a famous brand of imported American wing sauce and I chose the SUICIDE HOT level, which for me is not challenging. It's basically a bar food that originated in Buffalo, New York.

The combination of the hot and spicy fried wings with the actual typical pairings ... blue cheese sauce (as a dip) and celery ... and of course BEER does work remarkably well.

Hi there

I can totally understand the bar food bit- lots of things here that Thai friends say you should have with a drink- for example deep fried pork strips - quite dry with dipping sauce .

It's a bit like Tapas- it's a bar food - washed down with sherry- which is so expensive here - oh for Fino or Paulo Caotardo ( think the spelling is rubbish) .

But these have changed into very traditional bar food into mainstream restaurant food- can you think how much a chicken wing costs? So its profitability - not a bad word, when you are trying to keep your restaurant going.

I hate the corporate chains who have transformed cr*p into food .

I totally accept your apology about the PCEC -ok it's not full of hunky twenty year olds - more like elderly Vets- but it does not seem to be full of bitter and twisted expats.

As ever keep up the good work.

Have been to La Taverna loads of times - I like the staff and slightly bizarre manageress who slips into Italian. All the staff have come from Samui- where there is a sister restaurant .

Went yesterday - they have been increasing prices- not good- it's quite expensive already .I don't care too much about price- but have to be sensible .

[Jingthing]

The chicken wings place does have a lot of "fun" items on their menu. Such as chocolate chip pancakes. No, I don't want to eat that but surely some people might. For their sake I hope they can get some kind of MARKETING program in gear, because I don't think their kind of novel concept is going to sell itself in this environment.

As I mentioned before the "fun" menu concept would be better if it MATCHED a fun decor, fun atmosphere, and even a fun menu DESIGN.

I'm a little shocked that Taverna has already raised their prices!

I thought they were already pushing it for the area.

I did make a second visit and tried the spinach and ricotta cannelloni.

It was decent but I thought they should have mentioned the heavy cream sauce in the menu description as that dominated the dish and I wouldn't have ordered it if I had known.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Jingthing

[KittenKong]

I would recommend however on any kind of promotion anywhere to get a verbal confirmation before ordering.

Absolutely. The same rule applies to Yorkshire puddings.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/704812-sunday-roast/page-3#entry9741428

[Jingthing]

THAI HOME

Excellent Northern Lanna Thai (and other types) restaurant on Soi Chaiyaphreuk Jomtien CLOSES.

I have regrets about this because I had meant to post about it extensively complete with a picture gallery. It was in fact my favorite Thai place in Jomtien. I wanted to try more of their menu first and it appeared they were doing alright, so no rush. Or so I thought.

But apparently not well enough, because I recently dropped by to be met with a closed place and a big FOR RENT sign.

This place was a short walk down Soi Chaiyaphreuk on the right hand side walking from the beach. At first glance it appeared it might be a tourist trap, prices seeming a tad high and the decor touristically atmospheric. They were open only for dinner and did seem to mainly attract foreigners. Usually all those might be bad signs ... but NOT in this case.

It was actually in my opinion an amazing place that had dishes you couldn't easily find here. Including Burmese tea leaf salad, Khao Soy chicken soup, Taiwanese 3 cup chicken, and sometimes fried chicken wings stuffed with spicy pork and vermicelli. Done very, very well ... in other words, the prices turned out to more than fair. I know I wasn't the only fan as I heard other tables literally raving about the food and promising return visits.

I "review" this place POST MORTEM only to emphasize YET AGAIN that if you like a restaurant in Pattaya ... EAT THERE NOW!

Sometimes places that you think are doing well and you foolishly take for granted ... well ... DON'T!

I'm really going to miss this place.

Edited August 22, 2015 by Jingthing

[balo]

I never went there myself but looked inside a couple of times and the restaurant was almost empty.

I was almost sure it would close it's doors soon , to expensive food for the local Thais and not enough tourists in the area.

A place like that would probably be successful on a different location like beach road.

[Jingthing]

I never went there myself but looked inside a couple of times and the restaurant was almost empty.

I was almost sure it would close it's doors soon , to expensive food for the local Thais and not enough tourists in the area.

A place like that would probably be successful on a different location like beach road.

Well, another business problem I think they had was with their menu. It was quite a large and interesting menu but it took a lot of work to understand it except for about 20 percent of their dishes which were featured outside. Sometimes it surprises me that places don't invest a bit in producing clear menus. I consider myself adventurous and willing to work really hard to understand what's on menus (within reason) but I don't think most tourists are quite that tolerant ... and like you say, that really was their market ... tourists.

[GaryB1263]

CLOSED:

Rock the Sausage,

German fast food, Bratwurst, Currywurst, Chips, etc.

2nd Road and Soi Diamond

Maybe it would have worked in Naklua?

Anyway that LOCATION seems really problematical.

Before that there was a fast food Indian chicken franchise concept that has worked in India.

But not there.

I miss Rock the Sausage. There Brats were excellent.

Arai Krap!

[MZurf]

A new restaurant has opened on Thepprasit specializing in Ayutthaya style boat noodle soup. Extremely popular with the locals already. Went there today and about 80 of the roughly 100 seats were taken, and I have seen this several times when passing the place.

I had the noodle soup with pork (without the blood though) and it was simply some of the best noodle soup I have ever tasted (warning; it's spicy). The portions start at 15 Baht (very small) and a standard portion (still small) is 30 Baht. The great thing about this is of course that you can try four different kinds of noodle soup and still only pay 60 Baht. They also serve the usual Thai/Isaan dishes at very competitive prices.

The place is called Naay Chang Kuai Tiao Ruea Ayutthaya (sign is in Thai only) and is located abt 100 meters before and on the same side as the new giant Supalai Mare condo when going towards Thappraya Rd.

[Jingthing]

A new restaurant has opened on Thepprasit specializing in Ayutthaya style boat noodle soup. Extremely popular with the locals already. Went there today and about 80 of the roughly 100 seats were taken, and I have seen this several times when passing the place.

I had the noodle soup with pork (without the blood though) and it was simply some of the best noodle soup I have ever tasted (warning; it's spicy). The portions start at 15 Baht (very small) and a standard portion (still small) is 30 Baht. The great thing about this is of course that you can try four different kinds of noodle soup and still only pay 60 Baht. They also serve the usual Thai/Isaan dishes at very competitive prices.

The place is called Naay Chang Kuai Tiao Ruea Ayutthaya (sign is in Thai only) and is located abt 100 meters before and on the same side as the new giant Supalai Mare condo when going towards Thappraya Rd.

No English menu, right?

[MZurf]

A new restaurant has opened on Thepprasit specializing in Ayutthaya style boat noodle soup. Extremely popular with the locals already. Went there today and about 80 of the roughly 100 seats were taken, and I have seen this several times when passing the place.

I had the noodle soup with pork (without the blood though) and it was simply some of the best noodle soup I have ever tasted (warning; it's spicy). The portions start at 15 Baht (very small) and a standard portion (still small) is 30 Baht. The great thing about this is of course that you can try four different kinds of noodle soup and still only pay 60 Baht. They also serve the usual Thai/Isaan dishes at very competitive prices.

The place is called Naay Chang Kuai Tiao Ruea Ayutthaya (sign is in Thai only) and is located abt 100 meters before and on the same side as the new giant Supalai Mare condo when going towards Thappraya Rd.

No English menu, right?

I didn't see any menu (in the traditional sense) at all, but they did have posters with pictures of the dishes. There was a lot of information written in Thai only on blackboards so one can only hope they will make menus in English at a later stage.

Oh, and they're open between 0800-1800 hrs.

[Jingthing]

I'd be surprised if a place like that ever bothers to make English menus.

[MZurf]

I'd be surprised if a place like that ever bothers to make English menus.

Mayhaps. It depends on the number of farangs visiting and complaining about it I guess. I have visited many a newly opened small Thai restaurant that had only a Thai menu. When coming back after a few weeks/months a great deal of them did actually have (sort of) an English version of it.

Edited August 24, 2015 by MZurf

[Jingthing]

5 Star J Vegetarian Restaurant

Pattaya Tai at 3rd

http://www.fivestarj.com/#_=_

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293919-d3628657-Reviews-Five_Star_J_Vegetarian_Restaurant-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html

Tripadvisor hype is right this time!

Pattaya veterans know this place has been around for many, many years but there was a "freshening" up in recent years including a reorganization of the kitchen/menu.

And what a great menu it is.

Well, I decided to finally check this place out.

WOW!

Not going to get into specific dishes or suggest everything on the menu is great, but in my opinion this really is an EXCEPTIONALLY good restaurant.

You don't have to be vegetarian to appreciate that either!

Sorry veg-heads ... the secret is out.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Jingthing

[thailandforumaddict]

Jstar is now overpriced since the farang owner and Thai girlfriend/wife manage it...

Do you know where we can eat Vietnamese food around Pattaya now that the main restaurant is closed ?

Thank you.

[Jingthing]

I find the prices more than reasonable considering the quality and flavor of the food, the clean and pleasant venue, and the very attentive helpful service. Drinking water is included free and there are no service charges. I don't begrudge good restaurants the chance of a profit. Happily for them they seem to have a loyal following. Cheers.

I have no hot tips on Vietnamese food in Pattaya. The place in Jomtien Complex is closed. There is a small stall in the Central Pattaya beach food court ... don't get excited.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Jingthing

[MZurf]

5 Star J Vegetarian Restaurant

Pattaya Tai at 3rd

http://www.fivestarj.com/#_=_

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293919-d3628657-Reviews-Five_Star_J_Vegetarian_Restaurant-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html

Tripadvisor hype is right this time!

Pattaya veterans know this place has been around for many, many years but there was a "freshening" up in recent years including a reorganization of the kitchen/menu.

And what a great menu it is.

Well, I decided to finally check this place out.

WOW!

Not going to get into specific dishes or suggest everything on the menu is great, but in my opinion this really is an EXCEPTIONALLY good restaurant.

You don't have to be vegetarian to appreciate that either!

Sorry veg-heads ... the secret is out.

Being one of the most carnivorous carnivores you'll ever meet I never had an "excuse" to try this restaurant, although I've thought about it often over the years while waiting for the lights in that intersection.

Well, today I took the plunge and was amazed at how good the food tasted! We had the southern Thai curry paste soup and the shiitake phaneaeng and they were both great tasting dishes. The phanaeng was a little bit on the sweet side (as all phanaengs are for me due to the presence of sweet coconut milk) but still very tasty, and the shiitake was simply amazing, with a texture just like very tender pork. The souther Thai curry soup was delicious. The only way to improve it would be to add pork broth and pork meat

They have a very extensive menu and I was not scared away by the prices (the above mentioned dishes cost 99 and 140 Baht. And they actually offered both black and red/brown rice. Hooray! I have only found one other place that offer this and that's in Cabbages and Condoms.

Two thumbs up - I'll definitively do as Arnold!

Edited August 25, 2015 by MZurf

[Jingthing]

A place like that would be appreciated in great food cities like San Francisco which already has many great vegetarian options.

[balo]

Same here I always wanted to try vegetarian , I only passed the place several times and always seem to be busy with customers . 99 baht for most dishes , sounds cheap enough to me. Will check them out this week.

But not for the veggie burger

[WitawatWatawit]

Dined there a couple of times now - echo all of the above sentiments. The freshness of the food is excellent, and that's the big difference. I hope the owner, that guy with the pipe, takes heart from the good reviews here and keeps this place on a steady course.

[thailandforumaddict]

So there is no more Vietnamese around Pattaya ? Weird !

About the Vegetarian restaurant, somebody tried to order online and deliver at home ?

[luckyluke]

They do TakeAways,so you need the menu, a telephone and a motorbiketaxi.

[Jingthing]

Speaking of pure Vegetarian restaurants!
CHOTIVALA, a 100 percent Indian veg restaurant from BANGKOK has now opened on 2nd road accross from the Central Beach mall.

You can check out the Bangkok menu here.

The menu of course is very similar to the long established SARAS at Royal Garden Mall ... though Chotivala seems a bit cheaper especially for thalis. Yes I checked the prices at the actual restaurant. (But SARAS is on eatigo.com and Chotivala isn't.)

http://www.chotivalabangkok.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293916-d3514438-Reviews-or20-Chotivala_Pure_Vegeterian_Restaurant-Bangkok.html#REVIEWS

With DOSA KING planning to open also on 2nd road, personally I think we are all now more than WELL COVERED for South Indian vegetarian food!

Edited September 1, 2015 by Jingthing