Grand Chaopraya

A fantastic restaurant that almost speaks a bit too loudly about their listing in the Michelin guide of recommended restaurants. The Michelin sign is bigger than the actual restaurant sign - which is weird, because the place is excellent and wouldn’t need to do that. All dishes (mostly seafood) that we tried were amazing. Sitting by the river makes for a special atmosphere. The river prawn is of course the star here, but so is the other seafood. Also, I wasn’t happy to see that they offer gifts (a free dessert or something) to people who review the restaurant and show the review to the waitstaff. Needless to say, I didn’t accept the offer - and per my policy, I usually subtract one star from the rating of any property that does that. I didn’t do it in this case because the place is so good. There would be no need to bribe reviewers because the quality here speaks for itself. Reviews should be honest and a restaurant should speak by the quality of their food, not by their gifts to reviewers.

Beautiful location and views met us as we walked in. The menu was filled with pictures of appetizing entrees. We ordered several and they all came looking very appetizing and the taste is excellent. The river prawn is simply amazing!!! Service is very good and fast! We are a group of 8 and we all had fun! We are very very full!!! Thank you for excellent service and delicious food!!!

the staff here felt strangely entitled for some reason, and the entire experience was uncomfortable from the moment we arrived. my boyfriend and i parked our car outside the alley leading to the restaurant and walked in. the security guard greeted me in english with “hello,” and i replied back in thai. his tone felt oddly aggressive for someone who is essentially the first impression of the restaurant. he asked if we had a reservation, which we didn’t, so i asked if reservations were required. he told us that without a reservation we would have to sit in “the artisans” zone because “the wine” and “the grand chao phraya” were full. i said that was fine and that i just needed to use the restroom first. after that, we walked into the artisans area and i tried speaking to the receptionist in thai, but she didn’t understand since she wasn’t thai. another thai staff member then came to help and she was honestly the only staff member who was genuinely kind during the whole interaction. i explained that the security guard directed us to this zone because the others were full. she informed me that the menus at the artisans are different from the other two zones. when i asked about two specific dishes i wanted, she said those would only be available in the other zone. she used a walkie talkie to check with the other area and found that there were seats available inside the air conditioned room, but the riverside seats were full because of a large reservation of around 150 people. she kindly walked us over there. however, once we arrived, another staff member greeted us in a rather demanding tone, repeatedly asking how many people we were and insisting that we quickly pick a seat. the overall attitude already made us uncomfortable, so we decided to leave instead. on the way out, the same security guard was asking another couple the exact same questions he had asked me earlier. while he was talking to them, my boyfriend tried walking past him, but the guard stepped backwards without even looking and almost bumped straight into him. the entire interaction left us feeling like we were being judged the moment we walked in. we were dressed casually in shorts and simple shirts since we were only planning to have a quick meal, while many other guests were dressed more formally. it honestly felt like we were treated differently because of that. my boyfriend, who is a foreigner, was especially disappointed. for a restaurant that holds so many michelin recognitions, we expected a certain level of hospitality and professionalism. instead, the experience felt cold and unwelcoming. in a country known as the land of smiles, the lack of warmth here made the restaurant feel less like a place that values hospitality and more like a place that simply runs for the money rather than the people it serves.