Everything is wrong with Lotus of Siam NYC

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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"Yelper Laura P. has a much better experience during her visit, especially with their wine. “This is an interesting place that combines the amazing looking of the Vegas joint with the amazing wine list of Cru. This place is good for someone who wants to switch it up from the french/italian/fusian/new american routine.”

[scratch.gif]

This person seems quite confused. Even if she meant ‘amazing look’ (not amazing looking) of the Vegas joint. Ummm… has she been there? Amazing look is certainly not how I would describe LOS-LV. And the wine list of Cru? I don’t think so.

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I smell SHILL.

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One of the anonymous comments in the Eater write up:

Lotus of Siam is working out the kinks like most new places. It was very interesting to see the Wine Berserkers group leave when they did the other night>They were snooty folks(probably ex- Cru wine snobs)<

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Funny. How would they know who we were–ie that we were the group posting? Sounds like someone who works for the restaurant.

I don’t think it is the old Cru wine list, is it? I think we asked and they said no, didn’t they?

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Here I thought Abooboo was smelly, and not snooty.

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Wilfred, the amazing disappearing somm told us that they did not have access to the Cru list yet, I asked him point blank.

Look, I’ll stand by what myself, Brad and the others who were there wrote. That was our experience, unfortunately. Let’s not forget, we WANT this place to do well. Another thing: that night, we bumped into Asher Rubinstein who was eating there, and he asked me to post this:

We had a friendly, knowledgeable and attentive waiter (Michael, I think). Drinks (mostly beer) kept flowing. But food took a long time to get to the table. Not as long as with you guys, but long.

Portion size was disappointing. The chicken in the chicken curry was miniscule. But the food, for the most part, was flavorful and interesting.

So, my experience was not ideal; portion size and slow service were bad points. But it was definitely better than what you experienced.

Hopefullly this means they’re going through (BAD) birth pangs, but frankly our experience suggests that there are structural flaws that I really hope they address rapidly. This town is unforgiving.

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I asked too, and was told no.

The more I see pictures posted of dishes they didn’t serve me, the more dissatisfied I become.

Gary

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It was interesting to read in one of the other reviews that the manager was also rude and defensive. Maybe they should look at their management closely. Rude is not what a manager should be, unsless the customer is asking for it.

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This what I was saying quite a few posts ago. It sure seems like the upper management of LOS east has major issues, and are very poorly trained for a city like NYC. It is obvious to me that some at the top have a chip on their shoulder, maybe due to way too much pressure and way too little preparation (training). To handle the 8 top like they did, no matter how early in the opening, is just not acceptable at all. If I were any of them, I too would expect some sort of reaching out by LOS before I went back. It is just way to hard to get the taste out of your mouth when treated like that…at least it is for me.

Funny story about Blue Hill at Stone Barns. About a year ago, a friend of mine went there with his GF. He brought one bottle of Pegau, that he had many times in the past. He did not want it decanted. The Som there was relentless, including being rude to him, by saying things like “do you know what the cost of corkage is” and “This one requires decanting” and etc etc. Finally, and my friend is the least confrontational person I know, he lets him know that he does NOT want it decanted. So, what does he see across the room? Yup, he is decanting his Pegau. Then, to the disbelief of his two eyes, the Som not only pours himself a taste, but a HUGE taste (like 1/3 of a glass). THEN, pours another person there with him, the same size pour. My friend was stupified. [scratch.gif] But still said nothing. He gets home and the next day relives the story. He also relives it with another friend who is not confrontational at all, even though he was a swat team member of NYC’s top swat team (if there is more than one). Anyway, he writes a letter detailing, in amazement what “his friend” encounter, and that while he has been to BHSB more than a dozen times, he has also been there half a dozen times more with this friend. And that he is totally embarrassed. Well, they get the letter, and the manager immediately writes back apologizing and letting him know that he is having a FULL staff meeting that day, and will be bringing this instance to light and using it as a tool of what not to do. Make a long story short, they wrote back with further apologies, and to let them both know that when they comes, they will have at least corkage waved, among other “gifts” to let them know how much they mean to them. THAT is how you do things. That is a lesson that LOS should incorporate into their way of handling issues like this. Hopefully, they will do so. As I am sure that they must be aware of this thread by now, and knowing how they are in Vegas, I expect them to want to do things right.

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Lesson learned, hang out with Ray for soft openings of NYC restaurants [rofl.gif]

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I just had to post a reply to this, because we had such a horrifying experience at Lotus, very similar to yours. They served us a completely HOT bottle of JJ Prum Riesling (after asking me what vintage I wanted, when they only had one vintage on the wine list.) When I told the server it was hot he said “well, I’m going to put it on ice”. Unreal. The busboy spilled soup on my friend’s jacket and when we told the manager he said they “couldn’t have spilled soup because they don’t serve soup here”. Um…what were the 4 bowls of liquid we just had then? We got charged EXTRA when my PREGNANT girlfriend had to substitute a raw tuna dish on their prix fix…also something they never told us about, when we made the reservation they said they’d have their regular menu available. And our check was over $500, a real raping if you ask me. I live 5 blocks from Sripaphai and could have triple the food for about a third of the price. The only highlights for me were the beef salad and the papaya-peanut salad…everything else was mediocre at best.

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Now THAT’S a drive-by if I’ve ever seen one. [welldone.gif] rolleyes

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Every right to post here, your experience. But the rules are here, that you must use your real name.

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Yeah, it doesn’t bode well that they joined 30 minutes before posting their first and only post, and that the real name rule was ignored.

I’m gonna guess though, that this ain’t Lyle Fass using another name. neener

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He must be a shill for the restaurant!
newhere

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Eh, different things make people signup. Real name is important, but easy ti miss/misinterpret (some might think firstname plus initial is OK).

I guess I’m bemused by all the fuss over a Thai restaurant. I cannot imagine that the food is so much better than many other good Thai places as to be worth this kind of money or fuss. But then I don’t get to Vegas, so I’ve never been.

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Only if that restaurant is Sripraphai.*

*The old kid on the block in Queens that LoS is up against.

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I’d encourage Somer to update their real name, otherwise, it will come across as definitely a shill or something of that nature. And, if they don’t their account should be frozen. Hopefully, Somer will do this and be a future part of this community. All are welcome, as long as they follow the rules.

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Before anyone goes overboard with calling this person out, as it turns out, this thread was linked by Eater.com. That would explain the spike in views and this person may have just migrated from there and may not know this forums customs. For all we know, Somer may be the person’s real name. If it isn’t, then a polite suggestion to register with a real name certainly would be in order.

Regardless, this person’s experience seems to exactly mirror all that went wrong with those that have reported a bad experience thus far. That is poor service by waitstaff and management, problems with their wine storage, food that’s under performing and a high tariff. I don’t believe anyone is purposefully gunning for them, but the criticism is consistent and reflects a clear systemic failure of the restaurant to date.

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FWIW, I was JOKING about the person being a shill!