All In Hua Hin makes me sick!!!

[KelpieKiss]

Just had the worst eating experience I've possibly ever had in Hua Hin at 'All In Hua Hin'.

I've been to AIHH many times and really enjoyed the food, I've never had a complaint and recommended it to lots of people.

I noticed on their menu outside that it says design something to eat from our refrigerator. BIG BIG MISTAKE!

I wanted 2 spicy Italian sausages on half a baguette with some fried onions. So did my girlfriend. I went over to the fridge and showed the girl very carefully what I wanted. She seemed to understand perfectly as she repeated it to me in detail and then said 'and your girlfriend wants the same?' - yes.

It came out after less than 5 minutes. I was a bit dubious as thick raw sausages usually take longer to cook. There was one sausage on each half baguette and loads of raw salad - no onions. I wasn't angry and calmly explained that I wanted 2 sausages on each, no salad/vegetables and some fried onions please. 'Ok no problem'

I was amazed when they came back literally 1 minute later with 2 more 'cooked' sausages. The salad was of course still there. I took a bite only to have loads of burning oil squirt onto my tongue. The inside was completely raw. The 'chef' had deep fried them like a spring roll for 1 minute.

I was annoyed but calmly called one of the girls and explained that I couldn't eat raw sausage as they would make me sick. I then asked for the bill. After 15 minutes and after asking for the bill 4 times it arrived. I'd been charged for the baguette and 1 sausage??? I asked 'why did you charge me for 1 sausage?' she ran off and came back with a bill for 4 sausages! This is when it got nuts. I had to explain separately to every member of staff why I did not want to pay for the food. One girl got very angry and shouted, 'Why you no tell me you no want them medium cooked'. I tried to explain that sausages should just be cooked properly every time. She muttered insults in Thai and walked away.

Then the 'manager' Nok came over. After explaining AGAIN she started shouting too so that the whole restaurant could hear her, 'why you no tell my staff if you have problem!!! Why you just want no pay?!!!, You order you pay!!! etc.' A few farang regulars were at this point shaking their heads and looking at me like I was a nasty tourist giving the poor Thai girls a problem. By the way if this was you, you're a twat.

Anyway, I paid the full bill and asked if I could speak to the owner. Nok laughed and said 'come back tomorrow, tell him you speak to me, he tell you same thing'. My question to all of you is this. Was I the asshole here and would you bother going back to speak to the owner who will probably tell me to F Off?

By the way, I know some of you will come back with 'I've never had a problem there' but I've been there lots and never had a problem until today. They definitely should have known my face and realised that I've always paid with no complaint and tipped very well.

[Wanderlust]

KK,
I can understand your annoyance and frustration, but i think you should have called the manager earlier in the situation to tell her that the food was not cooked properly and would make you ill if eaten. Asking for the bill seems like a strange thing to do when you have not had the food you wanted, and I would imagine that an earlier chat with the manager would have seen you get the food you wanted and the manager and staff to be aware of the potential problem of customers eating insufficiently cooked sausages. Of course they should already know this, but perhaps it was a new chef or new waitress? The manager's reaction is wrong but understandable in some ways, and also it is possible that something has got lost in translation along the way. From what you have said about earlier visits there it sounds like you just caught them on a bad day, and I have certainly never had any problems there, but I am not a regular by any means. I would go back and see the owner and I am sure it can be resolved.

[Francois]

I've been to AIHH many times and really enjoyed the food, I've never had a complaint and recommended it to lots of people.

Huh... AIHH ? Translation please for a poor lonesome newbie

[Wanderlust]

Francois - see the title of the thread! AIHH=All In Hua Hin

[KelpieKiss]

AIHH = All In Hua Hin. It's a German restaurant.

Wanderlust - A very fair response. However, when a member of staff sees that you have taken 1 bite and then you explain to them that the food is inedible, I would normally expect her to have some small ounce of common sense (I know TIT) and tell the manager herself. I never asked for the bill straight away. I was actually expecting some properly cooked food to be brought out. I was hungry after all. I made it clear I didn't want to pay for food I hadn't eaten and asked to speak to someone in charge. It obviously got escalated through the ranks of all the staff before the 'manager' thought she would step in and just shout at me.

If you'd have seen the way this manager Nok was acting you'd have realised that a 'chat' wasn't what she wanted. I wasn't the one shouting.

[Big Boy]

KelpieKiss,

Had you not said

I've been to AIHH many times and really enjoyed the food, I've never had a complaint and recommended it to lots of people.

I would have said vote with your feet - never go there again (or at least that's the way I would have done it).

However, this is obviously a 'one-off', and I guess you've returned several times because you actually liked what you got. You've caught them on a bad day, and maybe a little of your bespoke order was lost in translation. Don't dwell on it, just go back to see the owner to resolve your differences today. The longer it takes, the worse you're going to feel about it. I'm sure the owner will not want to lose a regular.

[Francois]

Francois - see the title of the thread! AIHH=All In Hua Hin

Right... That's was I've done but even google is poorly documented about this restaurant and AIHH is of no meaning for me

I can understand your position and whatever the reasons, the manager was wrong.

It would be interesting to know if the management has changed coz your were very happy before and this happened so suddently...

[huahinsimon]

Just had the worst eating experience I've possibly ever had in Hua Hin at 'All In Hua Hin'.

Anyway, I paid the full bill and asked if I could speak to the owner. Nok laughed and said 'come back tomorrow, tell him you speak to me, he tell you same thing'. My question to all of you is this. Was I the asshole here and would you bother going back to speak to the owner who will probably tell me to F Off?

:

Yeh KK, you were the asshole allright!!! for paying the bill in full. You shoulda stuck to your guns But its difficult when you're made to feel like the bad guy. Deep fried for one minute indeed. and you being a return customer.

I ordered a Greek salad there once. It came with Spanish olives stuffed with pimentos. yuk with feta cheeze. I called the waitress, tried to explan that a "Greek salad" came with Greek olives, not Spanish. Could I get Greek olives please. A large blonde woman came over, musta been the mama san. I explained the situation. She said, "That's the way we make a Greek salad here. We haven't had any complaints."

Maybe your customers never been to Greece. Don't call it "Greek" salad.

If we used Kalamata olives we'd have to charge more.

Ok, so charge more.

But nobody would buy it.


Forget it, I just wont come back!


Should you go back? I would. and take your girl friend. Be sure miss Nok is there too. Tell the whole story, pulling no punches, but not exaggerating. Give the owner a chance to make it right. and retrain ms Nok in the nuances of customer service. If he doesn't treat you right, let us know about it.
He should fix you up with a couple a good meals and drinks to boot after the way Nok treated you. and you can teach the staff how to cook a sausage with onions, hold the salad.

btw. did you ever see Five Easy Pieces? one of the best restaurant scenes ever in the movies. along with Falling Down.

thanks for the report. Glad I never went back!

HHS

[KelpieKiss]

It would be interesting to know if the management has changed coz your were very happy before and this happened so suddently...

I was happy before as I always ordered off the menu. The robot chef in the back has obviously been well instructed on the menu but they shouldn't be advertising that you can 'make up an order from the refrigerator'. I just can't understand why a place that sells such nice sausages doesn't have any idea how to cook them.

It's usually the case here that you only find out what a place is like when there is a small problem. It's only when you complain that everything goes pear shaped. They obviously have no concept of how to deal with a problem and just right of a little bit of food when a good customer is unhappy. 'The customer is not even slightly close to being right' should be their motto.

[KelpieKiss]

btw. did you ever see Five Easy Pieces? one of the best restaurant scenes ever in the movies. along with Falling Down.

The one where Jack Nicolson knows Five Easy Pieces on the piano? I've seen it but can't remember the restaurant scene.

Just reminded me of another thing that happened. I went into a sandwich shop in London(not Subway, which is always delicious). The guy behind the counter was wearing the usual, disposable plastic gloves. A pigeon flew in the shop and was flapping about on the ground. The guy ran round the counter and picked it up and threw it out the shop. He then went back behind the counter and asked me what else I wanted on my sandwich. He never changed his feckin gloves!!!

I'm starving by the way. I've only had one bite of a raw sausage all day!

[KelpieKiss]

Should you go back? I would. and take your girl friend. Be sure miss Nok is there too. Tell the whole story, pulling no punches, but not exaggerating. Give the owner a chance to make it right. and retrain ms Nok in the nuances of customer service. If he doesn't treat you right, let us know about it.
He should fix you up with a couple a good meals and drinks to boot after the way Nok treated you. and you can teach the staff how to cook a sausage with onions, hold the salad.

Don't think I'll go back. Not really looking for a free meal. Once I've had an experience like that I don't want to sit in the place again. They might spit in my food.

[Jockey]

I've been there about 10 times and about 3 times I've had a bad experience with very bad attitude staff. Once I was waiting for about 10 minutes before I was given a menu. I waited another 15 minutes to order from the menu despite politely trying to gain someones attention. At one point about 4 waitresses were gossiping in the corner and seemed to only become interested in work when a new customer came into the restaurant. It was very frustrating to say the least. After I ordered (a Greek salad and one hot coffee), I waited 5 minutes for the coffee then another 15 minutes passed without any salad arriving. I tried to catch the attention of one of the staff but they seemed to be deliberately trying to avoid me. Finally a Greek salad appeared! At last I thought... but the waitress looked lost as she stood in the middle of the floor right next to me. I politely stood up and tried to tell her it was probably mine, (after all I had been in there for over 30 minutes), but she ignored me and just plonked it down at another table of 5 people who had been sitting there for only 5 minutes. I asked to speak to someone who might know where my Greek salad was. Lost confused waitress huddled and talked amongst themselves, someone pointed to the salad at the other table, none of them seemed able to look at me. It was if I had a big ugly bogie sticking out my nose or something and they just couldn't look me in the eye. After about 45 minutes it became clear i wasn't going to have a salad, but I had managed to get a hot coffee out of them so decided it best I pay for that and go without waiting any longer for the salad. When I got the bill it was for 1 hot coffee and 1 Greek salad. It took another 10 minutes to explain to them I had not eaten a Greek salad. Finally, as if grudgingly, they took the money off the bill for the Greek salad I had ordered but had waited over 1 hour in vain for. Like Kelpie Kiss I was being treated with disdain and other customers seemed to be looking as if I was causing trouble, when in fact I was trying very hard to remain cool and relaxed. I resolved never to return to All In Hua Hin ever again, but actually went there yesterday (months later), and the service and food was OK. I guess its a "hit or a miss" kinda place!

[Nereus]

. Like Kelpie Kiss I was being treated with disdain and other customers seemed to be looking as if I was causing trouble, when in fact I was trying very hard to remain cool and relaxed. !

This really gets up my nose: if I need somebody to help me I will ask---otherwise mind your own business.

I have had several similar experiences in Hua Hin "restaurants", seems to go with the territory. The best way seems to be to vote with your feet.

[Big Boy]

A bad experience on 30% of your visits - you've got a lot more patience than me Jockey.

My usual rules are:

1. Bad service/food on first visit, pay the bill and never return.

2. Bad service/food on a subsequent visit after previously having received good service - complain, and providing the complaint is dealt with, consider going again (never contemplated the spitting in your food scenario).

3. Bad service/food on a second occassion, complain and never return again.

[Farang]

KK, go back to AIHH and calmly explain it all to one of the owners. Tell them of your earlier good experiences
with them. Do not fold, do not pull your punches, give the owners a chance to remedy whatever went wrong.

Once you've done this, please let us all hear about how it went.