E'norme Restaurant = Enormous Disappointment

[JLT]

Restaurant E’Norme = Enormous disappointment.

After checking the previous day to make sure they were open at lunchtime, I booked a table for four people. Arriving, it was somewhat surprising to note we were the only guests (apart from 2 people who turned up a little after us).

We ordered 4 fairly simple, basic lunches – pan fried salmon with sauce and garnish; deep fried fish; Teriyaki Chicken and rice and Tom Yung Kung. You’d have thought all reasonably standard meals for a restaurant like this.

Food ordered at 1pm
- At around 1.25pm, Tom Yung Koon served, no sign of other dishes. My (Thai) wife pronounced the Tom Yung Kung as “poor to average”

- Following discussions with waitress (manager?), at 1.40pm, Teriyaki chicken served, decidedly poor, overcooked (but not hot!?)
- At 1.50pm deep fried chicken arrived (which was returned as not cooked through properly)
- At approx. 2pm pan fried salmon served, again promptly returned as was ice-cold in parts!

So an hour or so for 4 extremely disappointing dishes, which were all served separately and of which 2 were poorly cooked and inedible and 2 of which were just poor. We decided not to wait for re-heated dishes to be served and asked for the bill.

When asked about the poor food we were told “Ah, sorry…cook not come”.

What! Is there any point in opening a restaurant if there’s no cook and why were we not told this when we ordered?

The waitress discounted the bill for the 2 items that were returned but no apologies were forthcoming and we never found out who did cook the meals (maybe the cleaner?). Oh and by the way, the portion sizes were not “E’norme”, they were on the petit side of average

It’s unlikely we’ll return and for what it’s worth we’d advise giving this place a miss (certainly at lunchtime)

[northernjohn]

Well I can certainly see where they were in their rights to be highly teed off at the service and food. Particularly the time difference in serving the different meals. that is some thing that has always bothered me in Thailand. Most places it is not to bad but there's was on the ridicules side.

Reminds me of a place in Bali where the wife received her meal ate it and I questioned the waiter about mine and he said they did not have the ingredient's.

I wonder what the place would be like with it's regular staff.

Got to give them a thumbs up for not trying to charge for the two returned ones. Many places would.

Also sounds to me like they got lucky that several of the dishes were petite.

[eyecatcher]

....oh and I admire your patience.

If food is not on my table in 15mins I mention to the staff that if its not here in 5more we are leaving.

Ok if the place is heaving I would be patient but for only 2 of you in the place. I would have walked.

Pathetic this one dish at a time scenario.....1st to arrive is usually the boiled rice that was made 4hrs earlier and now needs scraping out of the pan.

[thaigolfer]

Food and service is below zero.

And this month of May they add 20% to their beers and no promos anymore.

The well know Thai Trick to get more customers.

[JLT]

As the OP it saddens me that a simple typo can lead to such crass comments.

[northernjohn]

As the OP it saddens me that a simple typo can lead to such crass comments.

It is going no where ask a moderator to close it.

[chuang]

Had the same experience some time back at one the the restaurant in Nimin...food arrived on time but they all tasted totally different...we used to patronise this restaurant...ask why, waitress said cook no come...so used a part-time cook...LOL

[justcruisin]

I shouldn't even bother to reply as i can not complain.

Went there on the opening night with a lot of Thai friends about 20 ppl.

The food was great and the whiskey/ drink department were working overtime.

Myself and my friends were a bit miffed when after the 5th bottle of J.W black 1 Ltr that the J,W Red come out!

It was opening night after all so they are recouping their loss to this day!

IMO it is some tax write off of for some wealthyThai/chinese family.

Total cost for the night by our group including food and drinks.... 0 Bht!

I like freebies like that.

[wooloomooloo]

To the OP - how much did this gourmet experience cost you?

[JLT]

To the OP - how much did this gourmet experience cost you?

For the 2 poorly cooked and mostly uneaten meals - approx 525baht...For a bottle of red (average to good, not excpetional) wine to eat with the "meal"...950baht. Oh and the meal included a 10% "service" charge which I'm ashamed to say I never argued about but just paid and left.

[uptheos]

To the OP - how much did this gourmet experience cost you?

Whatever he paid sounds like way too much for totally abysmal service, which ruined a dining experience. The owner or whoever was in charge should have cancelled the bill, the food could have been cooked by the cleaner for all we know.

Good to have the head up about these places.

However, I do realise some are just personal gripes and need checking for yourself.....if you want to take the chance.

[Rooo]

Some common sense please. Are we grown ups? I have deleted rubbish posts & replies quoting them.

[pitchag]

i have got the the stage to ask for all the meals to be served together or I will not accept them ,I am fed up getting the rice 15 min before the rest of the meal

[uptheos]

i have got the the stage to ask for all the meals to be served together or I will not accept them ,I am fed up getting the rice 15 min before the rest of the meal

A very good restaurant, but notorious for serving dishes at intervals is Tha Nam, but if you make it clear, they will make an effort to get everything to you at the same time.

[eyecatcher]

i have got the the stage to ask for all the meals to be served together or I will not accept them ,I am fed up getting the rice 15 min before the rest of the meal

A very good restaurant, but notorious for serving dishes at intervals is Tha Nam, but if you make it clear, they will make an effort to get everything to you at the same time.

Do you threaten to lob one of the staff into the river?

[uptheos]

i have got the the stage to ask for all the meals to be served together or I will not accept them ,I am fed up getting the rice 15 min before the rest of the meal

A very good restaurant, but notorious for serving dishes at intervals is Tha Nam, but if you make it clear, they will make an effort to get everything to you at the same time.

Do you threaten to lob one of the staff into the river?

Not any more.

[Johpa]

A very good restaurant, but notorious for serving dishes at intervals is Tha Nam, but if you make it clear, they will make an effort to get everything to you at the same time.

The Tha Naam that I knew along the river was a very traditional, and popular, Thai eatery and Thai restaurants are not focused upon serving all the ordered dishes from one table at the same time as it is assumed that all dishes are being shared. But to compensate, the Thai hostesses at the Thai restaurants tend to do a great job of keeping your glasses of alcoholic beverages forever filled between dishes.

[PostmanPat]

Apart from quite a number of bad reports, including this thread, I would be decidedly suspicious to enter this ridiculously named and ridiculous looking restaurant.

Anything which attempts to look like a fake French Chateau, and takes a French name which is grammatically non existent seems a bit dubious and suspicious to me.

I live nearby and the word around here is that the owner who drives a Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley or similar ( I think he has a few cars) uses the place as a show off to his similarly rich friends, and his main aim was to build "the biggest place in the area" and that he barely gives a hoot about his customers most of whom leave disappointed!

[northernjohn]

To the OP - how much did this gourmet experience cost you?

Whatever he paid sounds like way too much for totally abysmal service, which ruined a dining experience. The owner or whoever was in charge should have cancelled the bill, the food could have been cooked by the cleaner for all we know.

Good to have the head up about these places.

However, I do realise some are just personal gripes and need checking for yourself.....if you want to take the chance.

I think it is best to take it all in with a bit of skepticism. I know of two different places I could have posted bad about. But that was a while ago and since then I have been back to the one and heard nothing but good about the other one. Mind you my first opinions were about two years ago. Give them time particularly if they are new. They may be just an off day.

Serving meals with no cook is not an off day it is really bad business. They should have closed for the day. But then again TV posters being what they are would find that a reason to talk them down.

[KhunKevin]

here's another place to tick off your dining pleasure's, just right next door to E'norme, the Windmill......the service here is very 'run of the mill' to coin a phrase, maybe when the chef did not turn up they went next door to the Windmill's chef to cook your meals?

I would personally write a review on TripAdvisor, as this tends to get the attention of owners.

[eyecatcher]

There is a bit of irony aswell; I remember riding past a day or two after opening to see the biggest spirit welcoming ceremony.

Chairs, awnings,monks,cars galore and as you see now a massive spirit house.

I just wonder which spirit they welcomed....the wrong one it seems.

[cheeryble]

I also was interested in etymology of E'norme and had come to the conclusion it was opened by a Frenchman with a either a stutter or a love of click languages.

ps disturbed to learn it's not a real chateau.

Next you'll be telling us the windmill down the road is fake.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[uptheos]

A very good restaurant, but notorious for serving dishes at intervals is Tha Nam, but if you make it clear, they will make an effort to get everything to you at the same time.

The Tha Naam that I knew along the river was a very traditional, and popular, Thai eatery and Thai restaurants are not focused upon serving all the ordered dishes from one table at the same time as it is assumed that all dishes are being shared. But to compensate, the Thai hostesses at the Thai restaurants tend to do a great job of keeping your glasses of alcoholic beverages forever filled between dishes.

That's not compensation, that's to get you to buy booze faster!

[eyecatcher]

I also was interested in etymology of E'norme and had come to the conclusion it was opened by a Frenchman with a either a stutter or a love of click languages.

ps disturbed to learn it's not a real chateau.

Next you'll be telling us the windmill down the road is fake.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

If I open a restaurant, selling beef, spuds and yorkshire puddings I might call it Ee_Bah_Gum

[cheeryble]

I also was interested in etymology of E'norme and had come to the conclusion it was opened by a Frenchman with a either a stutter or a love of click languages.

ps disturbed to learn it's not a real chateau.

Next you'll be telling us the windmill down the road is fake.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

If I open a restaurant, selling beef, spuds and yorkshire puddings I might call it Ee_Bah_Gum

I presume you mean E'b'gumme.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[PostmanPat]

E Ba Gum backwards spells Mugabe !

[eyecatcher]

I also was interested in etymology of E'norme and had come to the conclusion it was opened by a Frenchman with a either a stutter or a love of click languages.

ps disturbed to learn it's not a real chateau.

Next you'll be telling us the windmill down the road is fake.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

If I open a restaurant, selling beef, spuds and yorkshire puddings I might call it Ee_Bah_Gum

I presume you mean E'b'gumme.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

No, ...google ee bah gum and you will find this hilarious sketch. English yorkshire humour though.

[dru2]

I also was interested in etymology of E'norme and had come to the conclusion it was opened by a Frenchman with a either a stutter or a love of click languages.

ps disturbed to learn it's not a real chateau.

Next you'll be telling us the windmill down the road is fake.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

I'ts called Yangzi ("Chang Jiang" = Long River) in the Chinese sign.

[cheeryble]

Thankyou Dru2

I should also point out that click languages were spoken by all of us, going back so far that the Hadzabe and the Ju/hoansi hadn't yet split into two groups, which was the first branching of the (then very small) human race..

(t's a fascinating genetic detective story which I believe is explained in the excellent Before the Dawn, Nicholas Wade.)

Cheeryble

[northernjohn]

i have got the the stage to ask for all the meals to be served together or I will not accept them ,I am fed up getting the rice 15 min before the rest of the meal

A very good restaurant, but notorious for serving dishes at intervals is Tha Nam, but if you make it clear, they will make an effort to get everything to you at the same time.

Seems to me a very good restaurant you shouldn't have to ask they would try to serve them as close together as possible.