Tequila Reef New Ownership With Large Improvements

[LASportsNut]

1 hour ago, likeaking said:

Did they have the stools upside down again?

Ha, ha. Actually, I was with my ex-TGF and I noticed a different vibe as I walked up the Soi.  The only reason I remained and did not turn around was that I was with her.  We went into the bar and did not notice anything unusual until after I ordered.  I looked around and noticed all the USA military photos were a bunch of guys at the beach or in the water.  They were all over each other.  It was very romantic (LMAO).   

Found the place: Sue's Place

Sue's Place, 359 of 836 Restaurants in Pattaya  $$ - $$$  Mexican

325/141, Soi 13/4, Beach Road, Central Pattaya, Pattaya, Thailand

Edited July 10, 2017 by LASportsNut

[duffMaster]

2 hours ago, LASportsNut said:

I am from LA as well (obviously).  I know you are trying to be honest and I agree with you 98% of what you said.  However, this is Mexican food in Thailand. So for what it is, it is what I expected.  

Part of the problem is the ingredients are just not the same, mainly due to the cost and availability.  

Just think of the times we have Thai food in Los Angeles, So Cal or anywhere in the USA.  It is normally authentic Thai food, as most all the restaurants are owned by Thai (usually from BKK).  However, the food is just not the same. Mainly due to the availability of the ingredients is not the same.  Many substitutions or omissions. 

I think the best option is to avoid any food except Thai food in Thailand.  However, I spend about 4 weeks at a time in LOS and I am craving In N' Out Burger or Mexican food and a margarita by week 3.  

You can find the same ingredients here in Thailand as you would in Mexico or the US, so that's not an excuse. You can buy or make pretty much everything needed for a good Mexican meal. 

Avocados in supermarkets, tomatoes anywhere, refried beans can be made from black beans ,  corn flour for the tortillas easily be found, sour cream in any supermarket, cheese in any supermarket, chipotle you can grow by yourself here or ask someone doing it for you. Lime no problem, dark chocolate in any supermarket. Salsa make your own, Any other spices can be easily grown if not available in to buy in Thailand.

In today's world it's easy to find stuff online also, just import it if it's truly impossible to find in here in LOS. There is really no excuse and blaming that the ingredients are not avaliable.

You can get good food in Thailand that's not Thai. Good steak, burgers, pizza, , Japanese, Italian , Indian can all be found in Pattaya. It shouldn't  be brain surgery making good Mexican food in Thailand... but you need to have a good chef for starters, and that seem so be a problem here, reading the reviews. Proper on location Management also seems to be lacking. To bad, I like a good Mexican meal once in awhile when being on the ground. 

[LASportsNut]

6 minutes ago, duffMaster said:

You can find the same ingredients here in Thailand as you would in Mexico or the US, so that's not an excuse. You can buy or make pretty much everything needed for a good Mexican meal. 

Avocados in supermarkets, tomatoes anywhere, refried beans can be made from black beans ,  corn flour for the tortillas easily be found, sour Cream in any supermarket, cheese in any supermarket, chipotle you can grow by yourself here or ask someone doing it for you. Lime no problem, dark chocolate in any supermarket. Salsa make your own, Any other spices can be easily grown if not available in to buy in Thailand.

In today's world it's easy to find stuff online also, just import it if it's truly impossible to find in here in LOS. There is really no excuse and blaming that the ingredients are not avaliable.

You can get good food in Thailand that's not Thai. Good steak, burgers, pizza, , Japanese, Italian , Indian can all be found in Pattaya. It shouldn't  be brain surgery making good Mexican food in Thailand... but you need to have a good chef for starters, and that seem so be a problem here, reading the reviews. Proper on location Management also seems to be lacking. To bad, I like a good Mexican meal once in awhile when being on the ground. 

I agree with you on most your points.  However, I find the beef (Austrailia?) and the cheese (who knows from where?) to be completely different than in Mexico and/or Southern USA (Arizona, California, Texas).  These seem to be the main issues.  

[just hanging]

1 minute ago, LASportsNut said:

I agree with you on most your points.  However, I find the beef (Austrailia?) and the cheese (who knows from where?) to be completely different than in Mexico and/or Southern USA (Arizona, California, Texas).  These seem to be the main issues.  

not sure what sam did but I didnt find much difference in LA mexican for the beef or the cheese. 

[just hanging]

same with rich man poor man, I love this dish and the cheese and chicken is great, and you can supsiitue pulled pork.  You can find mexican here but must look

I hope the op fixes it, but having restaurants and bars in the real world, when you have bad servers or cooks, you cant fix them.  I gave up giving second chances after my first year, they are good for a week and then back to the same old thing, like breaking up with a girl, when its over it cant be fixed 90% of the time

I do love their ribs and sauce though, the only thing I have tried

if the new owner gets mex like sam I will be ordering all the time.   Mikes is awful

[duffMaster]

36 minutes ago, LASportsNut said:

I agree with you on most your points.  However, I find the beef (Austrailia?) and the cheese (who knows from where?) to be completely different than in Mexico and/or Southern USA (Arizona, California, Texas).  These seem to be the main issues.  

Thanks! Nothing wrong with Australian beef...if that's what TR serves?, the local Thai beef is pretty horrible tough. . You can find imported cheese here and there is good cheese made outside the US and Mexico that will taste excellent with Mexican food ... so that shouldn't be a showstopper. 

Also good chicken, pork, prawns and fish here that can be used as the Protein in Mexican....so not just beef. 

Edited July 10, 2017 by duffMaster

[Kreggerz]

How about a full time real Mexican chef?

That's a large famous restaurant in a prime foot traffic location.

It would be huge news and great for business if they had a full time Mexican head chef and started producing food that wouldn't make an actual Mexican person want to wretch in disgust. 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Kreggerz

[SirL]

I don't have much idea how "authentic" it is, but IMO the Mexican buffet at Beefeater on Sat and Sun proves that good Mexican food can be made in Pattaya.  Rather than the expense and difficulty of importing a Mexican chef from LA, I'd simply be looking at recruiting one of the chefs from Beefeater.  Wouldn't offering him/her one and a half times the money they're getting now lead to the problem eventually getting solved?

Edited July 10, 2017 by SirL

[Garzan]

I think @tequilareef could have shortstopped a lot of the issues here if he would have added "coming soon" to the thread title. Large Improvements Coming Soon. Unfortunately he didn't, so when people gave him the benefit of the doubt, and gave TR another try, and the improvements obviously had not been made yet, his credibility suffers. 

TR has got an awesome location, and it could be outstanding. It just needs those "large improvements" like attentive staff, decent cook, reworked menu, etc to actually happen. There are other restaurants in Pattaya that prove good Mexican food can be done, and I hope, at some point TR manages to do it. I've had many a meal there, and while I would rate it as 'okay', it's a ways from being 'good'. I'd spend a lot more money there if it got closer to 'good'. :-)

[LASportsNut]

8 hours ago, duffMaster said:

Thanks! Nothing wrong with Australian beef...if that's what TR serves?, the local Thai beef is pretty horrible tough. . You can find imported cheese here and there is good cheese made outside the US and Mexico that will taste excellent with Mexican food ... so that shouldn't be a showstopper. 

Also good chicken, pork, prawns and fish here that can be used as the Protein in Mexican....so not just beef. 

Yes, you are correct.  There is nothing wrong with Australian beef.  I was just trying to point out an "opinion" from an earlier post.  

The point is and was that with subtle recipe replacements, it can slightly change the flavor or the food. Similar to Thai food in the USA.  Although the Thai food is good to very good and tastes very similar, it is just not the same as when iI eat Thai food in Thailand.  

[hellyes2oo2]

Maybe the solution for TR is to interview and get in place a new chef, and new staff, then get rid off all the existing staff. Then close down for a week, train all the new serving staff, upto an acceptable standard, and give the new chef time to get used to his new kitchen, and work out a new menu. Then have a night where he invites some of the people on here who are well aquainted with mexican food, to taste the new food and give their opinions, and depending on the results re-open again. I guess he may have to make a few tweaks, but at least he will have the opinion of the people who are likely to eat there.

[Billy Shears]

You guys hit the nail on the head. The ONLY way to get real Mexican food, is to have a good Mexican chef. It's a shame that no one in Pattaya has spent the money to make this happen.

[Pattaya_Brian]

6 minutes ago, WhiteThai said:

You guys hit the nail on the head. The ONLY way to get real Mexican food, is to have a good Mexican chef. It's a shame that no one in Pattaya has spent the money to make this happen.

Actually there is another way. Sue at Sue's Place on 13/4 sent her grandson to culinary school in the U.S., so the story goes.

The end result was the Blue Parrot (now closed) and some pretty awesome Mexican food. When the Parrot closed, they just moved everything next door into Sue's Place. 

I just had the awesome chicken burrito last night.

[duffMaster]

13 hours ago, LASportsNut said:

Yes, you are correct.  There is nothing wrong with Australian beef.  I was just trying to point out an "opinion" from an earlier post.  

The point is and was that with subtle recipe replacements, it can slightly change the flavor or the food. Similar to Thai food in the USA.  Although the Thai food is good to very good and tastes very similar, it is just not the same as when iI eat Thai food in Thailand.  

Think it's more have to do that food tends to be altered a bit to fit the Taste in the country you live in, that dosent have to be a bad thing necessarily, it can still be good, it's just different and you don't have to shun it because of it. 

Its like Chinese food in the US...taste nothing like the real Chinese food. ..but I have eaten authentic Chinese in the US so it do exist...not just from the fast food joints. American Pizza has little to do with a real Neapolitan Pizza ...but that dosent mean you can get good authentic Italian Pizza in the US..plenty of good Italian joints. But if you grew up in the US you probably prefer American type a Pizza.  I can get good Thai back home, but it's cooked by Thais and the main difference is a bit less spicy ...but if I ask them to spice it up, they do. Taste like here.

Think the taste difference has a lot to do with the environment you are in...all those lovely asses around seem to affect our taste buds too 5555

[Billy Shears]

I'm sorry Brian, but I have to politely disagree. I used to be a semi-regular at the Blue Parrot. I would to go there 2-4 times a week when I was in town, and while I always thought it was the best Mexican food in Pattaya, it was closer to Taco Bell than real Mexican food. A good Mexican chef will never have attended culinary school, he will have a Mexican Mother who taught him the right way, and will have worked at a Mexican restaurant for many years. There's a lot more to being authentic than just going to school.

[Billy Shears]

Just now, WhiteThai said:

13 minutes ago, Pattaya_Brian said:

Actually there is another way. Sue at Sue's Place on 13/4 sent her grandson to culinary school in the U.S., so the story goes.

The end result was the Blue Parrot (now closed) and some pretty awesome Mexican food. When the Parrot closed, they just moved everything next door into Sue's Place. 

I just had the awesome chicken burrito last night.

 

I'm sorry Brian, but I have to politely disagree. I used to be a semi-regular at the Blue Parrot. I would to go there 2-4 times a week when I was in town, and while I always thought it was the best Mexican food in Pattaya, it was closer to Taco Bell than real Mexican food. A good Mexican chef will never have attended culinary school, he will have a Mexican Mother who taught him the right way, and will have worked at a Mexican restaurant for many years. There's a lot more to being authentic than just going to school.

[fredhara1]

Man mexican is like my 2nd favorite cusine, nice to see some good places (or pics atleast!)

[Pattaya_Brian]

8 minutes ago, WhiteThai said:

I'm sorry Brian, but I have to politely disagree. I used to be a semi-regular at the Blue Parrot. I would to go there 2-4 times a week when I was in town, and while I always thought it was the best Mexican food in Pattaya, it was closer to Taco Bell than real Mexican food. A good Mexican chef will never have attended culinary school, he will have a Mexican Mother who taught him the right way, and will have worked at a Mexican restaurant for many years. There's a lot more to being authentic than just going to school.

Closer to Taco Bell? Oh dear!

Yes, we will have to agree to disagree. 

[just hanging]

1 hour ago, duffMaster said:

Think it's more have to do that food tends to be altered a bit to fit the Taste in the country you live in, that dosent have to be a bad thing necessarily, it can still be good, it's just different and you don't have to shun it because of it. 

Its like Chinese food in the US...taste nothing like the real Chinese food. ..but I have eaten authentic Chinese in the US so it do exist...not just from the fast food joints. American Pizza has little to do with a real Neapolitan Pizza ...but that dosent mean you can get good authentic Italian Pizza in the US..plenty of good Italian joints. But if you grew up in the US you probably prefer American type a Pizza.  I can get good Thai back home, but it's cooked by Thais and the main difference is a bit less spicy ...but if I ask them to spice it up, they do. Taste like here.

Think the taste difference has a lot to do with the environment you are in...all those lovely asses around seem to affect our taste buds too 5555

Chinese food in NY and in LA are exactly like what I got in the night market in hong kong....exact

you gotta find a mexican or get sams boys.    Mikes is not even close

[Kreggerz]

I wasn't a fan of Sam's as many people are but it definitely had more Mexican cred than Mikes or the Reef which for me has always been almost shockingly bad.

Still think getting a real full time Mexican chef in would give any local Mexican restaurant an edge over all the competition. It's an expense but for a large operation it seems to me the potential big increase in sales might be worth the risk. 

Getting it 100 percent as good as a better place in East L.A. isn't realistic, but 80 percent would be amazing in Pattaya. 

Also they might get a chef that was good in a native environment but can't cope with the local culture well to produce decent results here. Like Thai staff that does it their own way when you turn your back and can't handle having their face hurt by a foreigner, etc.

But I doubt any place here will ever go for broke with a Mexican chef. Too bad.

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Kreggerz

[duffMaster]

1 hour ago, just hanging said:

Chinese food in NY and in LA are exactly like what I got in the night market in hong kong....exact

you gotta find a mexican or get sams boys.    Mikes is not even close

Try mainland China next time...Hongkog has some great food , but it ain't tasting like it does on the mainland. I prefer HK or the s.k the bastardized  version of Chinese myself, and I have eaten myself from the North to the South incl the Scheuan kitchen ( my favorite).

 

sorry for thread f...ing. Back to Mexican .

[just hanging]

Just now, duffMaster said:

Try mainland China next time...Hongkog has some great food , but it ain't tasting like it does on the mainland. I prefer HK or the s.k the bastardized  version of Chinese myself, and I have eaten myself from the North to the South incl the Scheuan kitchen ( my favorite).

 

sorry for thread f...ing. Back to Mexican .

thats why I didn't mention the Mainland, I like the fancy stuff, not noodle soup.    I worked for a guy that owned a big mansion, his maid asked if I could convert her garage to living quarters, she was originally mainland Chinese.  She cooked for us several times and just like HK, NY, LA

[duffMaster]

8 minutes ago, just hanging said:

thats why I didn't mention the Mainland, I like the fancy stuff, not noodle soup.    I worked for a guy that owned a big mansion, his maid asked if I could convert her garage to living quarters, she was originally mainland Chinese.  She cooked for us several times and just like HK, NY, LA

It's how the chop up everything and eating anything that I don't care for. Chinese food outside Mainland China usually cut up protein better . Less bones, fat, and intestines in the meals they serve. That they use it to in cooking for the taste is a different matter. Bones and fat are great for taste, but don't want to eat it. 

But you can find good food. Great vegetable dishes, dumplings, spicy Szechuan dishes , Hot Pot 's are all great food to have when in China. Sometimes the more expensive resturants serve the worst food in China. Fish head resturants and resturants serving exclusive foods are more weird than tasty. 

[QuotaMan]

A mid-day visit

 

 

It was mid-day and only one other customer inside.

At the time only one woman on duty, cleaning the floors and taking orders. 

I ordered the chips and salsa and the (according to their menu), “VEGGIE” CALIFORNIA WRAP BURRITO “, Pregnant Flour Tortilla filled with Mexican Rice, Baby Corn, Fajita Vegetables, Mixed Greens and fresh Salsa.

Service was fine, nothing special, take my order, serve it.

Chips were great, warm and tasted fresh out of the fryer. Salsas were ok, a bit too chunky and not that flavorful. My recommendation is to offer unlimited servings of the chips for a higher price (my small portion was 50 baht). Some Mexican restaurants in the U.S. offer unlimited chips as a complimentary item.

The burrito itself was so-so. The lack of beans inside a veggie burrito was odd as well as some of the filling choices (mushrooms?), so I had to special request beans from the waitress, no big deal. I did like that the burrito had no cheese, so kudos for that.

I had to scrape off the sour cream (didn't know it came on top) as I don't eat dairy products if I can help it. I also didn't like the sauce they used for the inside of the burrito. At the time I couldn't pinpoint what it was about the sauce, other than it was incredibly spicy (which later contributed to a bit of stomach issues). Then I realized that it probably tasted similar to the watery red wet sauce topping they put on some burritos in the U.S. I personally don't think that type of sauce should be used as a filler myself.

I don't know if many people even order a veggie burrito as it seems most people who go to Pattaya are meat eaters as I used to be. But just my opinion that to improve this, they'll need to ditch that red sauce, a lot of the vegetables, and put a lot of refried beans and rice in the burrito. 

Cheers.

[deandog]

Reading the posts in this thread are somewhat discouraging to me as I have know Tequila Reef and his recently passed away father for about 5 years. While I have been to the Pattaya location only a few times and not at all for a couple years, they always served decent mexican food and the best margaritas. Same with the Angeles City restaurant. I just want to throw a little support TR's way. He and his father are two of the best guys I have met in the mongering community. I hope everyone will cut TR a little slack as he tries to improve the restaurant and overcome a devastating personal loss. I have confidence he will make good on his promises and in the meantime if the food is not up to par yet treat yourself to the best Margs in the city, AC or Pattaya.