Hillcrest Thai Restaurant Not the Best Service

Lotus Thai was voted "Best Thai Restaurant" by the San Diego CityBeat in 2004. However, that was three years ago, and although the food is excellent, service is shaky at best.

My friend and I decided to give Lotus Thai one more try. In the past we have experience extremely slow & forgetful service and tonight was no different. It was a Monday night and they were not overly crowded or busy, so that can't be blamed for the problem. No, I just don't think exceptional service is a passion at Lotus Thai.

We were greeted in a timely manner by one of the waitstaff. Although the restaurant has a hostess stand, there was no one dedicated to manning the station, so whoever happened to be closest was the one responsible for seating the guest. We were ushered to the last booth on the left side of the restaurant.

This restaurant is six years old and the owners have recently opened a sister restaurant located in the Gaslamp District. Décor seems to have been recently upgraded, with new fountains and interesting room dividers, and of course the traditional gold Buddha. Although visually lovely, the music piped in didn't fit the décor and style of the restaurant. A selection of "lite rock" was being piped in. I think we would have preferred something more traditional.

As we perused the menu, we discussed what we were going to order, as we were planning on sharing. We settled on the Panang Curry with Chicken, as that is our perennial favorite, but to start we ordered the Lotus Tapas Platter and Jasmine Tea.

When the tea arrived, we asked for sugar. The waiter stopped by with two spoons to stir the tea, but no sugar. After about three minutes my friend spied the sugar on the bar and went and fetched it for us. The tea was very good and definitely needed the sugar.