Indian Restaurants Mystery, Ace Detectives Needed

[LammyTS1]

because your friends can't afford an Indian tailor. as simple as that

I couldn't comment on their reasons but me personally? I wouldn't want to spend another 2500 baht on a pair of Indian tailored trousers from BKK that are badly tailored, using cheap material.
Oh yes, I fell into the free tuk tuk trap, lol.




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[NanLaew]

14 hours ago, Bill Miller said:

I find this cavalier attitude about conducting business somewhat irksome

Nothing unusual about being laid back in LOS. Missing the boat in Bang Saray beats the bejezus out of waiting for a table at some pretentious but ultimately mediocre dining establishment on Pratumnak. Patience is truly a virtue and if anything should be in your excess baggage allowance for your trip to Thailand, it's patience.

 

14 hours ago, Bill Miller said:

I have not seen many Thai tailors, really.  I would go to whomever had the material, price, and style that I liked, which might well be one of the many Indian establishments

Virtually all of the Indian tailors use Thai tailor shops to do the actual suit construction. Some don't even hide their light under a bushel and have a Thai (looks Chinese) guy doing the actual measurements in the shop. That guy is a tailor. The Indians helping you pick (the most expensive) worsted or mohair are the salesmen. Can't debate how successful the tailor shops still operating around the bottom-end of Sukhumvit are but most of them now operate boutique hotels in the area, some sharing the same premises as the original tailor shop.

 

Back on topic, albeit momentarily, as someone more astute has pointed out, the Indians like to eat late so if you are driving home from your 7 PM 'steak and ale' experience on Soi Diana or 'happy hour' at the Bodega Bar, you will see mostly empty Indian restaurants. Someone else was pondering where their customers come from so I guess that's another Pattaya denizen who hasn't cottoned on to the rather significant uptick in Indian tourists over the past 24 months or so. Yes, the TAT may inflate the figures for their frequent media self-congratulations but the basis for their heady claims is a reality.

 

Queue the overdue 'quality tourist' jibe.

 

[Bill Miller]

1 minute ago, NanLaew said:

Nothing unusual about being laid back in LOS. Missing the boat in Bang Saray beats the bejezus out of waiting for a table at some pretentious but ultimately mediocre dining establishment on Pratumnak. Patience is truly a virtue and if anything should be in your excess baggage allowance for your trip to Thailand, it's patience.

 

Virtually all of the Indian tailors use Thai tailor shops to do the actual suit construction. Some don't even hide their light under a bushel and have a Thai (looks Chinese) guy doing the actual measurements in the shop. That guy is a tailor. The Indians helping you pick (the most expensive) worsted or mohair are the salesmen. Can't debate how successful the tailor shops still operating around the bottom-end of Sukhumvit are but most of them now operate boutique hotels in the area, some sharing the same premises as the original tailor shop.

 

Back on topic, albeit momentarily, as someone more astute has pointed out, the Indians like to eat late so if you are driving home from your 7 PM 'steak and ale' experience on Soi Diana or 'happy hour' at the Bodega Bar, you will see mostly empty Indian restaurants. Someone else was pondering where their customers come from so I guess that's another Pattaya denizen who hasn't cottoned on to the rather significant uptick in Indian tourists over the past 24 months or so. Yes, the TAT may inflate the figures for their frequent media self-congratulations but the basis for their heady claims is a reality.

 

Thanks for the info. 

[sead]

On 5/2/2017 at 3:39 AM, Jingthing said:

Fake news. 

 

Seriously, I think this entire topic is vile and based on a totally false assertion. I have eaten in three of the restaurants there, and yes there are even more there now. Madras Darbar, again is often packed. Please stop spreading LIES. I have personally experience eating there, multiple times, when they were packed. That one is the most popular on the roe but the other ones aren't always empty either. 

Well after 5 years in Pattaya and every day at central at different times, i also stayed 6 months in the nightmarked outside central because i had a spot, i almost never seen anyone in any of those places

[Jingthing]

Just now, sead said:

Well after 5 years in Pattaya and every day at central at different times, i also stayed 6 months in the nightmarked outside central because i had a spot, i almost never seen anyone in any of those places

Get your eyes examined.

Just passed a few nights ago.

Madras Darbar was half full.

There are seasonal tourism factors with the South Asian tourist market. 

[Asiantravel]

I know it’s not only Indian travellers that eat at these restaurants but they would certainly make up a large portion of the clientele. The ongoing cash shortage in India is definitely having some impact on Indian travellers in that some people simply can’t get hold of their money in cash . About a week ago I asked an older Indian guy here in Pattaya what the situation was really like back in his home as an alternative to me just reading newspaper reports and his reply was “ it’s very tight at the moment and a huge number of ATMs throughout the country are still empty “

 

 

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/demonetisation-effect-rural-india-still-faces-cash-shortage-117042900725_1.html

[JSixpack]

12 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Get your eyes examined.

 

This may be the key point here as evidenced by the numerous threads & posts about optometrists. Evidently many of our old posters either can't afford or are too cheap to buy new eyeglasses at the prices charged at the shops around town.

[Salerno]

On 02/05/2017 at 4:05 PM, anfh said:

You will NEVER get beef in a bona fife Indian restaurant - cows are sacred creatures and cannot be eaten ( or cooked for anyone else ) 

Remind me to admonish those hundreds if not thousands of Indian restaurants that served me beef dishes during my misspent youth between bar closing and heading to a club for not being "bona fife" Indian restaurants.

[Pattaya46]

Yesterday at about 10:20PM, looking at these 5 restaurants, from left to right:

1. The big Black one, the most recent, was rather empty but still ~10% of tables with customers
2. The second one had at least 1/3 of tables occupied. Let's say 40%
3. The Red sign one, was nearly 3/4 full  : 75%
4. The Yellow sign one, barely 1/4 tables : ~20%
5. The Orange/white/green, last on the right, was... full!  100% of tables occupied

 

So I clearly think there is something really wrong with your statement "Any time I check them out day or night ,week day or weekend alls I ever see is empty restaurants" .

 

Seems to me that - at least late evening - they make good business.

 

[LammyTS1]

I noticed the few Indian restaurants south Pattaya were not busy at all one day last week as I was passing but as someone mentioned, they apparently eat very late at night.

The 4 or 5 on 2nd rd heading south:-

1st one - empty

2nd one - 1 table(2 customers)

3rd one - 1 table(2 customers)

4th one - 1 tables(2 customers)

5th one - empty

Lebanese one - empty




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[chickenslegs]

On 5/4/2017 at 10:24 PM, Jingthing said:

Get your eyes examined.

Just passed a few nights ago.

Madras Darbar was half full.

There are seasonal tourism factors with the South Asian tourist market. 

Some people here will describe it as half empty.

[Jingthing]

Well, I got some inside info that Indian tourism has been down recently. I've already said that there is an oversupply of Indian restaurants in town. Most seem to find ways to stay open but just noticed that the Honey Guesthouse one in South Pattaya recently closed. But to say the Indian restaurant row across from Central is ALWAYS empty or nearly empty is totally false. 

[JHolmesJr]

On 2 May, 2017 at 10:56 PM, Farang hunter said:

it's where I eat my briyani chicken, aloy

much much better to cook your own….many great videos on youtube.

 

Prefer to do that as I can control ingredient quality and spice levels myself.

 

Plus I only use extra virgin olive oil….no ghee, butter or disgusting stuff

[Naam]

2 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

Plus I only use extra virgin olive oil….no ghee, butter or disgusting stuff

disgusting stuff is Indian food without ghee!

[fforest1]

8 hours ago, LammyTS1 said:

I noticed the few Indian restaurants south Pattaya were not busy at all one day last week as I was passing but as someone mentioned, they apparently eat very late at night.

The 4 or 5 on 2nd rd heading south:-

1st one - empty

2nd one - 1 table(2 customers)

3rd one - 1 table(2 customers)

4th one - 1 tables(2 customers)

5th one - empty

Lebanese one - empty




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Agreed these 5 Indian restaurants hardly ever have 

customers..

I have looked many times...

Alls I ever see is Empty Empty...... 

I see lots of restaurants with customers but not these...

 

 

[Ahab]

I good rule of thumb that I use is to always avoid an empty restaurant. If the locals do not like going there it is very likely that the food is not good, or it is much too expensive, or both. A restaurant full of locals normally means tasty food at decent prices. It works everywhere from the USA to Thailand (and most places in between).

[NanLaew]

On 5/4/2017 at 10:21 PM, sead said:

...i almost never seen anyone in any of those places

...at any of the times that you consciously made the point of looking.

[NanLaew]

12 hours ago, LammyTS1 said:

I noticed the few Indian restaurants south Pattaya were not busy at all one day last week as I was passing but as someone mentioned, they apparently eat very late at night.

The 4 or 5 on 2nd rd heading south:-

1st one - empty

2nd one - 1 table(2 customers)

3rd one - 1 table(2 customers)

4th one - 1 tables(2 customers)

5th one - empty

Lebanese one - empty




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[fforest1]

We could use some more reports on these Indian restaurants

especially by people walking by later at night...

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, Ahab said:

I good rule of thumb that I use is to always avoid an empty restaurant. If the locals do not like going there it is very likely that the food is not good, or it is much too expensive, or both. A restaurant full of locals normally means tasty food at decent prices. It works everywhere from the USA to Thailand (and most places in between).

That isn't always such a great indicator in a tourism fueled market like Pattaya. There aren't anywhere near enough locals to support all the Indian restaurants there. 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, fforest1 said:

We could use some more reports on these Indian restaurants

especially by people walking by later at night...

For what purpose? Planning on opening a new Indian restaurant? 

[fforest1]

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

For what purpose? Planning on opening a new Indian restaurant? 

Well if these Indian restaurants are doing so good I just

might have to open one too... 

[Ahab]

28 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

That isn't always such a great indicator in a tourism fueled market like Pattaya. There aren't anywhere near enough locals to support all the Indian restaurants there. 

Good point, but there should be people (local/farang/someone) dining there if the food is good.

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Ahab said:

Good point, but there should be people (local/farang/someone) dining there if the food is good.

It's not realistic to expect crowds all the time. I've had great food before at empty restaurants and crappy food at full ones. The true test is in the eating. 

[Naam]

3 hours ago, fforest1 said:

We could use some more reports on these Indian restaurants

especially by people walking by later at night...

true! i can't think of any more interesting report

[LammyTS1]

 

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Ha ha.

 

The 2 customers u see inside could possibly be the owners. They could actually be completely empty.

 

Too much time on their hands....

 

 

 

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[Ahab]

18 hours ago, Jingthing said:

It's not realistic to expect crowds all the time. I've had great food before at empty restaurants and crappy food at full ones. The true test is in the eating. 

True, but if you have a choice, knowing nothing else about the restaurant, as a general rule, picking the crowded place over the empty one has worked well for me around the world.

[Naam]

48 minutes ago, Ahab said:

True, but if you have a choice, knowing nothing else about the restaurant, as a general rule, picking the crowded place over the empty one has worked well for me around the world.

most crowded restaurants lack individual service, respectively compliance with individual requests of a guest. and as a demanding gourmet i don't enjoy my food listening to sh*tty small talk from any crowd left and right. that's why i prefer my dining room to most (not all) restaurants. 

 

but of course... to each his own.

[oldcarguy]

16 minutes ago, Naam said:

and as a demanding gourmet i don't enjoy my food listening to sh*tty small talk from any crowd left and right. t

as a demanding drive thru McDs customer I am happy if they ask me if I would like to Super Size my order :)

 

and give me more than 1 napkin !

[KittenKong]

I dont think there is much of a mystery about these places.

 

Many stay in business with (apparently) few customers because their list prices have a huge markup built in. It's one way of showing a profit at the end of the day. The other way is to sell a lot with a lower margin but that is less common here, at least in more upmarket places.

 

I also dont believe that Indian clients in these places always pay the list price, so I suspect that many of the Indian places are actually running two different  business models simultaneously in the same establishment. Lower margins and more turnover for Indians, and higher margins and less turnover for everyone else.
Same food though, little of which is actually very expensive to produce here. I've often seen Indian dishes here being sold for 250-350B that do not contain more than 30B worth of ingredients. Much better value can be had in Bangkok.