sukhothai

the food is good, but the service suk-ed. we selected this restaurant on the basis of reviews here on urbanspoon figuring thai food would be nice after a 6-hour drive. it sits in a strip mall and as you enter, you practically fall right in because tables are not more than 3 feet from the doorway. it was already fairly packed once we arrived, but they were able to accommodate our party of eight.

i knew we were probably going to be in trouble when our wait person repeatedly told us that it was her first day on the job. she proceeded to tell us her life story as if i was interested, yet knew absolutely nothing about the menu.

we began with a few appetizers which came out sporadically. what i really didn't understand is that they seemed to be unable to carry more than one item at a time. haven't they heard of trays?

judging from the patrons there, it was obvious that this was more for the bohemian crowd who liked to bring their own wine to enjoy. after about 20 minutes of waiting i noticed that the wait staff had not made much headway in terms of getting anyone's food on the table. people were sitting idly looking at one another as time kept ticking away. remarkably, there were a number of tables getting their food who came in and ordered long after we did. after almost an hour (thank god we ordered some appetizers to tide us over) our food came out...but not really. one dish did. about five minutes later another...and so on.

my wife and our nephew ordered the spicy shrimp salad and it was nothing more than what appeared to be a dinner salad with a few shrimp on top. seriously? the kicker was it appeared as though the kitchen cut up what was left of a head of lettuce throwing in the center and all. definitely not worth the $9.25 asking price.

we had ordered a couple of bowls of soup (the bowls are fairly large and enough for two, while the cup is very small) and had to ask for bowls, spoons, ladels, etc. it has always been my experience that whenever you order thai soup that they bring out some rice. this we had to ask for as well. aside from that, all the other orders were fairly tasty.

we overheard the wait staff ask a patron at another table once her food finally came out, "well, was it worth the wait?" she shook her head and said firmly, "no." she was right. the service was horrible and no one there seemed to care.

the manager brought out the bill and brazenly placed it on the table without so much as an apology for the poor service and time it took to prepare. i surveyed the bill and requested that my wife's salad be removed since she refused to eat a "side" salad at an entree price. and would you believe, they charged us for the rice? i looked at her with complete contempt and asked if she was serious? she removed that as well.

while the food might be tasty, the service ranks as some of the worst i have ever experienced and we eat out a lot. i venture to guess that the preponderance of positive reviews from sukhothai come from people who are doing take-out and don't suffer the agonizing wait.

i can't see how this restaurant has received such a high ranking. someone should call zagat to have their "zagat rated" decal scraped and removed from their entrance door. the woman at the other table was right, the food is not worth the wait and aggravation. the first part of this restaurant's name sums up what their service is all about..."suk".

usually we are very happy with sukhothai. but today we ordered lunch from them through skip the dishes and it was a complete letdown. it came to $30 and the portion sizes were much smaller than i remember. we only ordered chicken curry and tom yum soup, which is basically broth, so we definitely felt jipped. for $30 we could have made both dishes to last us well over a week. instead we got one meal out of it. super disappointed.

absolutely delicious. every item i've tried on my numerous visits to sukhothai have been delicious. however, their best dish imho is the beef with basil. i've ordered it at other thai restaurants but no one makes it like sukhothai. service depends on who you get. the staff seems nice but the lady who runs the place can sometimes come off as stern.

awesome flavors. the soup's are fantastic, green curry is my fav, matsuman and radnar are my usuall items and the stuffed chicken wings are very tasty and filling, can't say enough good things about the food and the staff.

great eats. i eat at sukhothai on a regular basis.
great food, and awesome service every time.
you get a lot of food for the price, and every dish is always very exciting to try.
i recommend pad kiew waan to anyone who can't make a choice their first visit!
overall, excellent! way to go guys!

did not meet my expectations. pretty expansive thai place compared to other spots in ottawa, considering its location on the very outskirts of the city. portions are not very big for the price tag. will not be returning.

just had pad thai there, and it felt rushed. spring roll was ok

terrible! msg? usually exciting cuisine very blah here. i'm amazed that this place has 91%. i'd give it 50%.

great service & great food. i admittedly went into this restaurant, by accident, looking for directions. it was my first time in winnipeg and canada. the host was very courteous and accommodating. then when i discovered what kind of food it was, my friends and i ate there. i love thai food and this restaurant was exceptional. the food was very traditional and the flavor was perfect. but, what drew me in initially was the friendly customer service. thank you making my first canadian experience a wonderful one.

great thai!. i have dined here many of times and it is always great.
i cannot comment on the wine or cocktails, because i do not order any alcoholic beverages here. i save that for more relevant dining environments.
instead, i can say that the food is fresh, spiced enough, and authentic.
i love the coconut rice which always adds a wonderful extra bit of fragrance to every dish.
for dessert i always order the bananas and black thai sticky rice.
however there was one major disappointment this evening!
first i must explain that i love papaya salad! i have had thai papaya salad all over the continent . however, this was the first time i had someone willing to share the papaya salad with me at sukhothai and i wish that we had never ordered it. what a disappointment. it tasted as if the papaya had been soaking in the dressing for days. it was soggy and there was no crunch. frankly it tasted old. the peanuts were not even good!
this is too bad and i hope that they remedy this.
i will be back again but not for the papaya salad.

i've been here on several occasions and here are some tips:
service is a lot more attentive during the night; they have a lot more staff and it's much busier during those hours. during lunch hours or the day the service/food is a hit and miss, don't expect too much.
-their pad sew, green curry and payaya salad is really good and i always find it be consistent
-their pad thai isn't the greatest
-everything ranges in price but mostly around 13-14 a plate
-photo enclosed came to $46 total

a new favorite!. i cannot believe how amazing this place is. every single thing i ate was fantastic. i would especially like to highlight the mango salad... to-die-for. service is a little on the slow side but very friendly. great bang for your buck.

impressive. have not eaten here for years and am wondering why not. food was delicious. level 3 spice was plenty hot, especially for the soup. the thai ice cream drizzled with mango and coconut was delicious. service was a little slow--they were very busy on a thursday evening--but exceptionally pleasant. good value for money.

nice spicy soup. the soup here is excellent- we usually get the green curry, as well as some spring rolls with peanut sauce. not to be missed are the thai iced tea and deep fried ice cream.

excellent eats. pad si ew and coconut rice are amazing. i'd eat it everyday. order it. you wont be disappointed.

oh and their lychee martini is awesome too.

- graham