Steak & Co. in Soi Lengkee (formerly China Garden)

[Duvel]

I purposely decided that I would leave it until my next trip in October to try this place as I knew there would be teething problems

 

However I feel you should have invited a few of the well known reviewers in - pre-opening to sample and advise

At the defunct China Garden Chinese restaurant things only became worse after the “teething problems”.

Not a good outlook.

[Duvel]

I'm in Pattaya Sunday & going to stay the rest of the week until my flight back to the UK the following Sunday. Yuri the manager changed the butter today to salted rather then unsalted, I have told them to stop the "paprika butter" and I will find something with Chef on Sunday to replace it.... 

 

I admit we probably did cut a cost on the bread, sorry... We bought the French sticks from Makro because they were the cheapest, an error on my part and we will find a local better supplier (Loaf or Continental) 

The roasted vegetables on the plate shouldn't actually even include diced potatoes, it's meant to be turnip, carrot & Asparagus which might be why it was a little firmer then expected, I'm glad you liked the tomato stuffed with creamed spinach, these are all little touches on the place in addition to the Free side order / Free sauce.  

Try “Délices de France” French Bakery.

They bake real bread and they also supply to Friendship Supermarket every day.

[Duvel]

What was the problem with the dill cream? I see capers and that is a great plus in Pattaya, most places I had this dish looked at me like I was from Mars when asked about capers....

Capers are for sale at Foodland; nothing exceptional in Pattaya.

[China Garden]

I will be going through both of these reviews with Chef Gerry later today and address the issues outlined in the two very good reviews. Penevil pointed out we are very close to becoming a serious contender to Beefeater who have been open 10 years in Pattaya...  There's plenty for us to be working on but also many  positives to be taken from these reviews, thanks again for taking the time to write such a detailed report.  

Edited August 24, 2014 by China Garden

[baise moi]

Capers are for sale at Foodland; nothing exceptional in Pattaya.

And in Big  C, Friendship and about a half dozen other places. I was talking about restaurants.

[gee2]

went to try the place last night could not complain about a thing good food ,good wine ,staff worked very hard .

good job ian most of the bad comments are from people who eat cheap and stay in cheap places most expats who enjoy a good meal will come and eat here 

and  guys who come on holiday who like decent food .

still pissing myself at the poster who talks about them shit holes he eats at ffs.this place is for a night out, not  a quick munch sitting in a no aircon place for 150 baht crap before you go to your 2 for 1 beer bar and cheap hookers .

go for it ian and give beef eater a run for its money ,i will be eating here and when friends come over will be taking them also, good luck i dont think you will need it take some of the points about the little things that go along way 8/10 for last night 

[Evil Penevil]

most of the bad comments are from people who eat cheap and stay in cheap places ...

still pissing myself at the poster who talks about them shit holes he eats at ffs.this place is for a night out, not a quick munch sitting in a no aircon place for 150 baht crap before you go to your 2 for 1 beer bar and cheap hookers .

To which BM or BMs are you referring? I haven't seen any comments like that in this thread.  Have you?

 

Evil

Edited August 24, 2014 by Evil Penevil

[nixonsbest]

went to try the place last night could not complain about a thing good food ,good wine ,staff worked very hard .

good job ian most of the bad comments are from people who eat cheap and stay in cheap places most expats who enjoy a good meal will come and eat here

and guys who come on holiday who like decent food .

still pissing myself at the poster who talks about them shit holes he eats at ffs.this place is for a night out, not a quick munch sitting in a no aircon place for 150 baht crap before you go to your 2 for 1 beer bar and cheap hookers .

go for it ian and give beef eater a run for its money ,i will be eating here and when friends come over will be taking them also, good luck i dont think you will need it take some of the points about the little things that go along way 8/10 for last night

I doubt you even went there, "went to try the place" no food description, nothing!

 

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[expatdude]

I guess some people think that uncritical praise and encouragement are all that is useful to Ian, whereas others believe that Ian is capable of accepting, and indeed grateful for, constructive criticism.

 

The personal attacks on those giving constructive criticism are ignored by any rational observer--if they are useful at all it is as a warning about the character of the attacker.

 

I am sure everyone on this thread wishes Ian great success. We all will benefit if he succeeds. Attacks are ridiculous in that context.

Edited August 24, 2014 by expatdude

[Dodgy]

I was also eating at steak and Co last night with a friend and have to concur with the reviews above. Starting with the bread which was fine for me but the butter! really really salty.

My main course was a Medium Well Done fillet mignon, it came a well presented plate of food with a quality piece of beef. Unfortunately it was well undercooked, I would say medium rare at most (raw just below the surface) this was mentioned to the manager (?) who was told by the chef he cooked what was ordered. It seems chef is spot on at cooking something perfectly that you haven't ordered, there was no offer to take it back although reheating a rested steak covered in sauce would not be ideal. I appreciate the misunderstanding with language so maybe some form of tick card for ordering would clear up misunderstandings.

There were other issues with my friends meal including a greasy crouton and incredibly salty spinach (what is it with salt in this place?)

To sum up, I was really looking forward to the opening of steak and Co to give me an alternative steak fix to Beefeater. I may have gone on with a critical eye but there are little things that need addressing and I'm sure they will be. The chef IMHO needs to be a little more forgiving, surely if he's worked in top restaurants before he's had plates come back with complaints. He can't just say that's what you ordered or that I like to do it differently to everywhere else (greasy crouton, what?!) will I be back? I'd like to say yes but if I'm looking to eat steak will I think to chance steak and Co or be sure on Beefeater.

 

Afterwards ditched the wife and went on to the 2 for 1 bars and cheap hookers

Edited August 24, 2014 by Dodgy

[expatdude]

Afterwards ditched the wife and went on to the 2 for 1 bars and cheap hookers

 

That's the funniest remark I've seen in a long time. Thanks for a good hearty laugh.

[Soi7]

I can assure you Chef is going to find the Pattaya customers a tough crowd and one very hard to please. Why ? Well the way I see it Pattaya and his customers are from all corners of the world coming here to vacation as well as to live

 

so in saying that The food he served an American may be unacceptable to what the customer expected yet fantastic to someone from the UK and just ok to a guy from Norway. Their Ideas of Med rare and medium well may differ so whos right ?

 

There will never be a happy medium in my opinion Ian try as you may you will not fix everything people say is wrong as while wrong for some fine for others.

 

Best of luck

[expatdude]

Actually, medium rare and medium well are very well defined-you can google that. Not trying to be argumentative here, just a fact. People's understanding of it, however, can be off.

 

What you say about varying tastes is true, but the fact is that it is possible to serve good food, and there are people who can tell the difference between good and bad food and there are those who can't. I don't mean you--I'm just talking in general. If Ian listens to the right people he will maximize his chance of success in my opinion. Just saying 'people have different tastes' and giving up is not the right path.

[Dodgy]

Just to clarify my expectations, I ordered medium well done. This "I" would expect to be pink inside with maybe a small amount of blood. Medium rare is what I was served, confirmed by the chef, being a thick cut it was raw in about 70% of the steak.

To be clear, if you ordered medium rare and was served what I was given you would be delighted, it was a beautiful cut of meat prepared well, unfortunately not my choice so was wasted.

 

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[Soi7]

Actually, medium rare and medium well are very well defined-you can google that. Not trying to be argumentative here, just a fact. People's understanding of it, however, can be off.

 

What you say about varying tastes is true, but the fact is that it is possible to serve good food, and there are people who can tell the difference between good and bad food and there are those who can't. I don't mean you--I'm just talking in general. If Ian listens to the right people he will maximize his chance of success in my opinion. Just saying 'people have different tastes' and giving up is not the right path.

 

Not based on this post as he believes what he got was med rare and the Chef stated it was cooked as ordered Med well thats my point  I do not say give up but rather try as he may he will be always be fighting an uphill battle thats how I see it anyway

 

Just to clarify my expectations, I ordered medium well done. This "I" would expect to be pink inside with maybe a small amount of blood. Medium rare is what I was served, confirmed by the chef, being a thick cut it was raw in about 70% of the steak.

To be clear, if you ordered medium rare and was served what I was given you would be delighted, it was a beautiful cut of meat prepared well, unfortunately not my choice so was wasted.

 

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[expatdude]

No, I'm sorry, but you don't understand. He ordered medium well and was served medium rare. The cook came out and confirmed it was medium rare--then went on to say the server had told the cook that the customer had ordered medium rare (which the customer hadn't). The only confusion was apparently by the server misunderstanding what the customer had ordered or the cook misunderstanding the server.

 

There was no confusion between medium rare and medium well by the customer or the cook.

 

The cook then chose not to rectify the situation. A horrible choice in my opinion, and I think even Ian would agree that if the cook made such a choice he made the wrong decision.

 

Edit: While I'm simply trying to clarify, I feel as if I'm piling on at this point. Ian has already come back to town because of this--he's doing the right thing and will straighten things out one way or the other I'm certain. Having watched Ian's style for many years, I know he would never endorse a customer being served the wrong temperature of steak, pointing it out, and not having it rectified. It's simply not within the realm of possibilities that Ian would ever be ok with that as he has proven time and time again with his posts on this board. I believe Dodgy's post is not dodgy at all, especially given previous posts in this thread by other credible posters, but as many have said, this information is like gold to Ian and he'll get things fixed one way or another.

Edited August 24, 2014 by expatdude

[GlennUK]

I think the pattaya crowd will be tough to please some are very well travelled and have eaten at the best places in the world.

 

Also the food standard in the top places in Thailand is very high and competitive.

 

Mind you least they can do is clean the plates before serving as in all the pictures they have left some gunk smeared on the plates !!     

[Soi7]

No, I'm sorry, but you don't understand. He ordered medium well and was served medium rare. The cook came out and confirmed it was medium rare--then went on to say the server had told the cook that the customer had ordered medium rare (which the customer hadn't). The only confusion was apparently by the server misunderstanding what the customer had ordered or the cook misunderstanding the server.

 

There was no confusion between medium rare and medium well by the customer or the cook.

 

The cook then chose not to rectify the situation. A horrible choice in my opinion, and I think even Ian would agree that if the cook made such a choice he made the wrong decision.

 

Edit: While I'm simply trying to clarify, I feel as if I'm piling on at this point. Ian has already come back to town because of this--he's doing the right thing and will straighten things out one way or the other I'm certain. Having watched Ian's style for many years, I know he would never endorse a customer being served the wrong temperature of steak, pointing it out, and not having it rectified. It's simply not within the realm of possibilities that Ian would ever be ok with that as he has proven time and time again with his posts on this board. I believe Dodgy's post is not dodgy at all, especially given previous posts in this thread by other credible posters, but as many have said, this information is like gold to Ian and he'll get things fixed one way or another.

OK got it I misread it

 

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[China Garden]

Well I am in Pattaya and had a heart to heart with both Yuri & Gerry, we all accepted there are things to be learn't from the pass few days service.

 

The medium-rare / medium well was unfortunately a genuine mistake on behalf of the kitchen, Yuri should have taken the steak away to be re-fired or put in the oven, again it just compounded the problem by doing nothing, sorry ... we will do better next time. 

 

Regarding the butter being too salty, we had complaints the butter was tasteless / bland so we changed to a premium creamy "salted" butter... this has a lot more taste then unsalted but naturally its not going to be to everyones liking.... we are sticking with salted butter for the time being, I can see why Beefeaters give Nachos & salsa ! haha

 

The crouton for the Rossini was too greasy has been discussed, chef fry's the crouton then dry's it off in the oven, I know you suggested using butter and an alternative, we will look in to that idea.

 

I'm checking the stock which chef makes over a period of days reducing and concentrating the flavours, we are aware of the problems regarding "lack of salt or over saltiness" in sides & sauces.... we hope to find a balance which will be "broadly acceptable" to most customers.

 

Tonight we are hosting our first Birthday for a party of 10 .... I'm here for the remainder of the week to push the standards & the way in which we deal with feedback

Edited August 24, 2014 by China Garden

[nixonsbest]

Good on you mate! I will be back to try the big ass 600g T Bone while your here. I'm sure as your grill gets older it will develope it's own brand of taste.

 

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[petermik]

It seems to me that Gerry the chef is a bit of a loose cannon-feel sorry for the owner Ian

[expatdude]

It seems to me that Gerry the chef is a bit of a loose cannon-feel sorry for the owner Ian

 

Perhaps, perhaps not. Some of the things that have happened are worrying, I would agree. If the chef is calcified and won't change his ways, it could be problematic. If he's willing to change and actually has a good palate and starts to taste everything that comes out of his kitchen, he could be a great asset to Ian.

[baise moi]

Regardless of all the pros and cons it is refreshing to see a restaurant owner interacting with his customers like he does. He's got all my votes but talk is cheap - I'll stop by in the next couple of days or so.

[ertert]

Tonight we are hosting our first Birthday for a party of 10 .... I'm here for the remainder of the week to push the standards & the way in which we deal with feedback

Head Chef's responses to feedback passing the buck to the owner, service staff instead of rectifying the complaint to the customers satisfaction is ridiculous. It seems like he has no experience in dealing with customers at all. 

 

Its like he sees complaints as an attack on his cooking instead of a problem that needs resolving.

 

The complaint where the customer said his steak was undercooked is easy to fix and should have been rectified immediately

but all he got was an excuse? Bizarre...

[nixonsbest]

Well I am keen for a PA meet, greet and eat at Steak and Co next week while Ian is here!  PM me if your a interested!  No vegetarians allowed!