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Trip Advisor's List of Top Pattaya Restaurants


Evil Penevil

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This is a list of Trip Advisor's top 59 restaurants out of 944 in Pattaya as of Jan. 28, 2017. It was supposed to be a list of 60, but Mai Thai Cuisine at #9 fell by the wayside while I was formatting the list.  My apologies to Mai Thai. You can find the T A ranking's for Pattaya here,  However, T A continuously updates its rankings, so what you read today may differ from the lists below.
 
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And the top 10 in more detail:
 
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These 60 restaurants were placed highest by Trip Advisor's algorithm for ranking restaurants based on reviews by anonymous posters.  It is NOT by any stretch of the imagination a list of the best restaurants in Pattaya as it doesn't feature objective standards for quality.  Even if such standards could be established, it would be impossible to apply them to anonymous reviews.
 
Basically, the list is a mishmash of the most popular Pattaya restaurants according to Trip Advisor's set of rules for calculating rankings. It's a very flawed approach that is wide open to manipulation. Just consider the recent case of the fake restaurant listed as #1 in London: How An Entirely Fake Restaurant Became London's Hottest Reservation.
 
But even if the ranking algorithm were perfectly fair, there's still an inherent contradiction which can't be overcome.  How do you compare a fine dining restaurant to a casual budget restaurant?  Or a pizzeria to a seafood restaurant? Or a classic French restaurant to an Indian or Tex Mex restaurant and say which is better?  It's impossible.
 
That said, there's no denying T A is hugely influential and contains some excellent reviews and tips on restaurants.  It's a matter of using it carefully and sorting the fake reviews from the genuine.  Keep in mind, too, that restaurant reviews are always subjective and reflect personal preferences.  Diners have different priorities when it comes to restaurant meals.  Some are most concerned with portion size and price; if they get a lot of food for a little money, they are happy. Others are focused on the quality of the food and the total dining experience, which goes beyond the food on the plate.
 
A few things jump out regarding the list of the top restaurants.  It's not surprising to find places like Cafe des Amis, Bruno's, Livv, Moonlight, Horizon and Casa Pascal among the top 10; fine dining restaurants always do well in ranking lists. It's surprising, though,  that Five Star J comes in at #3 and absolutely mind-boggling Caravan, a Russian-Uzbek (!!!) restaurant, would place third.
 
Surprising and mind-bogging, that is, until you take into account how T A compiles its rankings. Both Five Star J and Caravan appeal to limited groups of customers- Five Star to vegans and vegetarians; Caravan to Russian and Chinese tourists. Within those groups there's more uniformity of opinion about the restaurant's food, so it gets a high number of positive ratings.  Those who don't like vegetarian or Russian food aren't likely to eat there at all and it therefore doesn't get a lot of low ratings.  
 
It's a bit more complicated that that, but without going into a lot of detail, it's safe to say the high rankings of Five Star J and Caravan are largely quirks of the T A system.
 
I also found it surprising that Hooters ranked in 32nd place, one notch above Pattaya Beer Garden. Considering how much hatred is expressed on the punter boards over Hooters, I'm astounded it's done so well in the T A reviews. A comment in of one of those reviews made me chuckle:  "The biggest Hooters I've ever seen."   :P
 
I found it strange that very popular Thai seafood restaurants like Mum Aroi and Pupen didn't make the top 60, nor did popular Thai chains like MK.  But that may simply be due to Thais not writing reviews on T A. There are a few I'd never heard of in the list- Bacco Beach and DOM Pizza (location, location, location!) and a couple of the Indian restaurants.  Over the years, I've eaten in about 40 of the restaurants on the list of 60.
 
Anyway, what restaurants do you feel shouldn't be in the top 60 and which are glaring by their omission?  Remember, the list is about popularity, not quality.
 
Evil

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I am highly surprised by this ranking. I consider this a list of restaurants in Pattaya and not more. I have my own list of favorite places places and Five Star J and Caravan definitely do not appear on this list (but each to their own).

It maybe tells you something more about how to evaluate TA rankings.

Thanks for finding out and communicate.

 
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By the way, I miss Aquapaza. This is a mediterranean / Italian restaurant  which has besides the 'standard' menu a daily changing selection of fresh catch of the day. Highly recommended.

You can find the restaurant between Pattaya and Jomtien close to the Pratamnak traffic lights.

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What, no Tin Cup? :rolleyes:

Thanks for the post, Evil.

Every hole a goal.

Condoms kill boners. Save the boners.

Stop the Vagilantes.

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As mentioned, TA's list is based on a combination of popularity and score. So to be high in the list you just need a lot of reviews and a fairly high average of those reviews. I dont think that this conveys much information that I would find very helpful.

One other problem that I have with TA is that often the reviews are for completely different businesses, that maybe only share a name with the one in question. Sometimes they dont have even the name in common.

So when I look at TA (which is rarely) I tend to ignore the scores and just read the text of the reviews. Most can be discarded at first glance but a very small percentage do come across as having been written by people with something approaching good taste and who possibly know the difference between an undercooked burger and steak tartare.

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Yeah, Tripadvisor should be taken with a bucket of salt. About Caravan, I have eaten there twice. The first time I would rate it as excellent Central Asian food but the second time was kind of gross. Definitely doesn't deserve such a high ranking. 

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I find TA to be almost useless in Bangkok, almost all restaurants get 4/5* reviews...

useful as a listing but not the reviews,  in future am sure they'll develop some kind of algorithm to differentiate the reviews

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Pepper and Salt should be on it in my opinion. Fantastic food and suprisingly affordable.

It's a bit of a ride down Soi Khaotalo and that's probably the reason they are ranked 107 on Tripadvisor but this is by far the best restaurant on the Dark Side I have eaten. If they were located in Pattaya Central this would be a certain top 10 restaurant. 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293919-d8419141-Reviews-Pepper_Salt-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html

 

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The problem with T A's ranking of restaurants in Pattaya or anywhere else is that it doesn't measure what people think it measures. It's not a listing of restaurants by quality or even popularity in terms of the number of diners.  It only measures  how the restaurant ranks according to T A's system of ranking restaurants.  That system has some inherent flaws and it is also easy to manipulate, so sometimes restaurants get high rankings that reflect neither quality nor the number of diners.

It's a bit like what is sometimes said about certain students- they may not know much about the subject, but they are good at taking tests. The same is true of some restaurant owners.  The food they serve may be second-rate, but they have learned how to manipulate the T A ranking system to get a high spot on the list.

I could open a can of very fat and ugly worms with a post on the individuals behind some  reviews of Pattaya restaurants, but it's not a good path to go down. It's also not a problem on Addicts  itself.  Suffice it to say, as someone already did, that the reviews on T A should be taken not just with a grain of salt but a ton of it. Never forget that a high ranking on T A is no guarantee of quality food.  

Evil

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I think I’ve been to 12 of those on the list.

9 of those I won’t be returning to.

3 were bloody awful.

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

So remember to “Enjoy every sandwich”

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51 minutes ago, Evil Penevil said:

The problem with T A's ranking of restaurants in Pattaya or anywhere else is that it doesn't measure what people think it measures. It's not a listing of restaurants by quality or even popularity in terms of the number of diners.  It only measures  how the restaurant ranks according to T A's system of ranking restaurants.  That system has some inherent flaws and it is also easy to manipulate, so sometimes restaurants get high rankings that reflect neither quality nor the number of diners.

It's a bit like what is sometimes said about certain students- they may not know much about the subject, but they are good at taking tests. The same is true of some restaurant owners.  The food they serve may be second-rate, but they have learned how to manipulate the T A ranking system to get a high spot on the list.

I could open a can of very fat and ugly worms with a post on the individuals behind some  reviews of Pattaya restaurants, but it's not a good path to go down. It's also not a problem on Addicts  itself.  Suffice it to say, as someone already did, that the reviews on T A should be taken not just with a grain of salt but a ton of it. Never forget that a high ranking on T A is no guarantee of quality food.  

Evil

Completely agree with what your saying here! The whole ranking system of TA can very easily be manipulated by creating a number of fake accounts and write great reviews.

Another problem with this ranking is they are comparing apples with oranges. There are high -end restaurants on this list where an entree costs 600-100 baht and those places are compared with restaurants that offer a full meal for that price.

It would be more honest to judge a restaurant by price range, say low-, mid- and high level and get those places reviewed by a number of serious food critics but that's just not the way the TA system works. For this reason I rate your opinion and reviews on various types of restaurants in Pattaya much higher as this TA list.

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The list certainly contains many of Pattaya's better restaurants, no doubt about that. But...

1. If you know the town, you don't need the list.

2. If you don't know the town, where would you start? 

When I look at the top 10, there are 6 joints listed that I've never even heard of. There are many very good restaurants that don't even make the list. 

Let's say you're a newbie and you've walked by the Pattaya Beer Garden so you know where it is. You see it ranked at No. 33 and you think, "I gotta go there." You would be impressed... until the food arrived. 

Just above the PBG is Hooters. This list is telling me that Hooter's food is only a little better than PBG. Giving me a fookin' break.

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On 29/01/2018 at 14:42, likeaking said:

What, no Tin Cup? :rolleyes:

Thanks for the post, Evil.

Kiss missing also................:Moon2:

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No mention of Au Bon Coin?

yes, it is a suspect looking list, but thanks for posting.

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8 hours ago, petermik said:

Kiss missing also................

Kiss comes in at #61.   

kiss.JPG.6660798c82dd30cd74000cfecef19158.JPG

In the past, it has ranked among the top 40 to 60.  The popularity of Kiss is testimony to the number of reviewers ( and real-life customers) who have transport cafes as their standard of culinary excellence.  They have eaten bad food all their lives and consider it to be the norm.  Among other cheap Charlie favorites, the Sailor Restaurant on Soi  8 is ranked #198 and the nearby Seaside is #404.

On 1/29/2018 at 21:42, likeaking said:

What, no Tin Cup? :rolleyes:

Thanks for the post, Evil.

Tin Cups (aka Hole-in-the-Wall) definitely should be listed on T A.  Does anyone know its real name in Thai or English?  I've asked several Thai girls and they always answered, "No name."  I will endeavor to get Tin Cups listed on T A but that could be difficult . T A is super sensitive about new listings these days due to the recent London tool-shed fake restaurant scandal.  It might be too much for the T A people to believe a restaurant like Tin Cups, with cockroaches the size of kitten scampering merrily on the floor and even  across the tables,  actually exists.

On 1/29/2018 at 21:05, Halfaboy said:

By the way, I miss Aquapaza. This is a mediterranean / Italian restaurant  which has besides the 'standard' menu a daily changing selection of fresh catch of the day. Highly recommended.

You can find the restaurant between Pattaya and Jomtien close to the Pratamnak traffic lights.

It ranks as #73.

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8 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

No mention of Au Bon Coin?

Au Bon Coin is not only mentioned, it is listed twice.  

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That trip Advisor doesn't catch and correct that sort of mistake also points to deep flaws in the system.

Evil

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Beefeater on place 11... Yeah I really liked it there... I think I went 3 times in 3 weeks, the only restaurent I revisited If I remember correctly... 

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I haven’t used Trip Advisor much. 

Just had to check it after our experience with the dreadful waitress at Momento Beach.

Trip Advisor was pretty accurate. Yep. Lots of customers mentioned that miserable bitch. 

 

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5 hours ago, soi16 said:

Bronx Pizza number 24. 

Better than Hard Rock.

 

Bronx Pizza is well over rated average at best.New York pizza just across the road now from BP serves up a much better quality pizza.

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TripAdvisor can be really, really bad.

I've reported several restaurants closed and they never respond. The listings remain. Some of the active listings have been closed for several years. Sometimes fools post new reviews for long closed restaurants. They obviously lied about when they ate there as you are required to say when you visited and it needs to be somewhat recent. I understand not jumping the gun, but that is ridiculous. 

I did add one new restaurant that was obviously legit as I included their facebook page and full address. They never added the listing.

I've reported several big errors. Only one was corrected.

I'm wondering if this is because it's Thailand and they don't really care? 

To say their overall credibility is in question is putting it mildly. 

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2 hours ago, Kreggerz said:

TripAdvisor can be really, really bad.

I've reported several restaurants closed and they never respond. The listings remain. Some of the active listings have been closed for several years. Sometimes fools post new reviews for long closed restaurants. They obviously lied about when they ate there as you are required to say when you visited and it needs to be somewhat recent. I understand not jumping the gun, but that is ridiculous. 

I did add one new restaurant that was obviously legit as I included their Facebook page and full address. They never added the listing.

I've reported several big errors. Only one was corrected.

I'm wondering if this is because it's Thailand and they don't really care? 

To say their overall credibility is in question is putting it mildly. 

Sounds like a site that has outgrown its manpower. Like Facebook, they just don't have enough live people to man support would be my guess.

Facebook deletes pages all the time if they get any kind of complaint at all -- whether it's legitimate or not. That's because with almost 2 billion users, they just don't have enough people to go and look at all of the pages that get flagged by other people. It's automated.

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@Pattaya_Brian

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Bullseye.  In 2016, Trip Advisor had revenues of US$1.48 billion, but only 1,500 employees in the U.S. and 3,224 worldwide, almost all of whom were concerned with sales, Search Engine Optimization  or administration.  A very tiny number were involved in reviewing or editing reviews.

According to Trip Advisor's annual report for 2016,  the site had a mind-staggering 436 million reviews.  An average of 290 new contributions were submitted PER MINUTE that year. They would need thousands and thousands of employees to give new contributions even a cursory glance.  It's all automated- and that makes perfect business sense.  T A's biggest asset, the contributor-generated reviews, costs them nothing. More employees to check reviews with human eyes would add a big expense, but it's unlikely that would add to the bottom line.  T A is doing fine even with the occasional scandal.

As someone else stated, T A is mainly useful as list of hotels. restaurants, attractions, etc.  The reviews and rankings are far less useful, but that doesn't seem to have a decisive influence on its appeal.

Evil

:devil

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Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't TA rankings only contain restaurants that received reviews on TA ? 

Do they source their information from anywhere beyond their own website ?

As others have written, you have to accept these as well as any online reviews with some scrutiny.

TA is much better for hotel reviews only because it is one site where you often get responses from ( alleged) hotel management  towards complaints and concerns.

BTW... In the OP you mentioned how Hooters has so many bad comments on this board, which is true, but mostly by a handful of people who seem to be mostly against an  American brand and anything more than 100B for a meal. 

Funny because I really like Bon Chon chicken which has similar pricing to Hooters and also adds 10% and 7% to their bill , but I never see them getting beaten up.

I am not ting tong...my mother had me tested.

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