Erawan Tea Room

We were at the Erawan and we wanted a quick and easy lunch.  We always remembered that the Erawan Tea Room had good service and good food.  So; it was decided, Erawan Tea Room here we come for a quick and yummy lunch.

However; the experienced started badly once we arrived.  We were greeted by an arrogant restaurant manager who treated the Erawan Tea Room like one of those VIP places in New York or London where the customers queue up along a red rope and he alone decides who deserves to enter his domain.  OK...atleast he was not rude, he was just obnoxious.  He showed us to our table, gave us the menus and disappeared.

The decor of the Erawan Tea Room is of old Thai charm mixed with a dash of Philippe Stark like red lipstick curved sofas.  The room is full of natural light from large windows and is spacious.

My friend and I shared the starter; Grilled pork with Sticky Rice (180 baht).  The pork was of good quality, was tender and juicy.  The sticky rice was the perfect partner to the roasted pork.  A simple dish that is always satisfying.

For our main dish; we both ordered Pad Thai (250 baht).  The pad thai arrived and it was beautifully presented.  The pad thai was wrapped in a lovely thin egg omelette.  Once we opened the omelette to our dismay; the pad thai was mostly made of rice noodles.  We could barely find any shrimp or even tofu.  So pretty much; the pad thai dish was of noodles and egg.  The taste was too sweet and we had to add more fish sauce and chili to balance the tastes.

Overall;  what a disappointment!  It was not the Erawan Tea Room we remembered for good service and food.  On top of the most useless and arrogant manager who seated us down; the service was the worst we have experienced in a very very very long time in Bangkok.  It was obvious that they were understaffed and the place was 100% full.  It took 15 minutes before someone came to take our order, then it took another 10 minutes to get our drinks, it took another 20 minutes to get our food, it took 10 minutes to get our bill, it took 10 minutes for someone to pick up the bill, it took 15 minutes to return the bill.  It was an irritating experience to go through for just a mediocre pad thai.

This in no way is to say the staff that was working that day were not doing their best; they were working very hard and trying to be positive with the situation; but it was the manager's job see the situation and call for help from the Erawan Hotel.  This was a sad and unexpected waste of an afternoon.

Address:  494 Ploenchit Rd., Bangkok

Telephone:  02-254-1234