Yok Yor Seafood restaurant has been operating on the Thonburi banks of the Chao Phraya River now for a very long time. It is in essence a mini empire, as apart from the cavernous restaurant, there is another large restaurant at the Marina farther down the river as well as the capacious restaurant boat that plies the river in the evenings usually thronged with either Chinese visitors or Taiwanese.

Despite its long presence we had never eaten there and as we were staying in a hotel on that side of the river we thought it would be a good chance to try the offerings of this acclaimed Bangkok institution.

On inquiring at the concierge’s desk about the best way to get from the Millennium Hilton to the Yok Yor restaurant, the concierge rang the restaurant and they sent a boat down river just to pick us up from the Hilton’s landing pier.

Several minutes later we were alighting at the Yok Yor pier and escorted by one of the waitresses to an outside table overlooking the lights of Bangkok on the other side of the river.

The first thing that strikes the visitor to this eatery is its enormous size. I estimated that when full it was capable of seating something like 2500 covers in its combined inside and outside configuration.

On this particular Sunday evening it was anything but full. I guessed that there were about 30 people dining there at 7 pm which in place so big gave off a sense of almost being empty.

We were presented with a large menu each containing a litany of seafood dishes and the cornucopia of Thai cuisine.

I asked the waitress to bring a large bottle of Heineken and a bottle of water to our table while we were deciding what to order.

The Shopper Girl opted for a plate of Vietnamese Spring Rolls for her starters which we decided would do both of us for an entree.

We waited for about 10 minutes for the waitress to return to take our orders and arrive with our drinks. I could clearly see the half dozen or so young women gathered around a TV and giggling at what I surmised was one of those silly Thai situation comedies.

After another few minutes I got up and approached them and asked them politely to come and take our orders.

One of the girls followed me outside to the deck and we placed our orders for the Vietnamese Spring Rolls, the Shopper Girl’s main course selection of Thai Hot and Sour Prawn Soup and my pick of spicy squid with stir fried vegetables.

The orders were written down and confirmed and a minute later another waitress arrived with a large chilled bottle of Heineken beer and a big bottle of chilled water for the Shopper Girl.

Just as we were having our first sips, another waitress arrived with another large Heineken and another bottle of water. “You order song (two)”, she inquired. “No, just one beer, one water”, replied the Shopper Girl.

A little while later the plate of Vietnamese spring rolls arrived and we shared this entree. The rolls were authentic, small, tightly wrapped, with noodles, finely sliced vegetables and prawn mince inside the casings, perfectly deep fried and accompanied by a small bowl of piquant dipping sauce.

We soon demolished the 14 rolls and commented to each other that it was the perfect start to a meal.

As we discussed several things, our drinks soon vanished and we waited for our main courses to arrive. After an interval of 25 minutes, I got up once again and approached the gaggle of waitresses and asked if someone could take our orders for another round of drinks and I mentioned that we were ready for our main courses.

I went back to the table and waited for another five minutes and just as I was about to approach the waitresses again, our main courses arrived. I asked for another Heineken and a pineapple juice for the Shopper Girl.

We then tucked into our main courses. The Shopper Girl commented that the sour and hot prawn soup was indeed very spicy hot whilst I decided that the spicy squid was very nice, but disappointing in its portion control. Whilst the girl’s soup was of good proportions, my spicy squid with vegetables consisted mainly of the latter and very little of the former. I counted the squid pieces at 11 after separating them from the forest of stir vegetables on the plate.

Still no drinks. I downed the eating irons and approached the waitresses once again and asked them if they had a problem in serving us drinks. I was met with blank stares, whereupon one of them then headed for the bar.

She returned with a large Heineken and a bottle of water. I reminded her that we had ordered a pineapple juice for the Shopper Girl whereupon she returned a few moments later with an orange juice saying “sorry, no ‘pin-ap’ juice”.

My wife told her to take away the orange juice and asked for a bottle of water.

At this juncture, I had finished my miniscule helping of spicy squid, so I started to on the girl’s sour and hot prawn soup. It was a lovely mixture of prawns and cellophane noodles, swimming in a concoction of lemon grass, galangal, lime juice, lime leaves, chilli, garlic, tomatoes and fish sauce. It was streets ahead of my spicy squid with vegetables selection.

The Shopper Girl asked if I could hurry them up on the bottle of water as her mouth was suffering from the overload of spice. I waved fruitlessly at the coterie of waitresses who were more interested in the handful of patrons inside the restaurant than us lone diners on the outside.

I went inside and in a loud voice asked for “where is our water”!

One of them ran to the bar and ran back to our table and got there with the water before I had returned.

We finished our drinks and I asked for the bill. We waited five minutes, then exasperation took over and we both got up and approached the reception desk. “The bill” I barked. One of the waitresses reached under the desk and produced the following:

2 x bottles of Heineken @ 115 baht each, total 230 baht. 2 x bottles of water, at 40 baht each, total 80 baht. 1 x pineapple juice, 95 baht; 1 x plate of Vietnamese spring rolls, 110 baht; 1 x hot and sour prawn soup, 190 baht; 1 x spicy squid with stir fried vegetables, 195 baht.

I asked for the pineapple juice to be deleted and was then presented with a bill of 805 baht. Additional was a 10% “service” charge and a VAT of 7% giving a total of 942 baht($AUD34.90 at the time).

I presented them with a 1000 baht note and for the residue I would not have normally demanded it, but given the horrible service I was not prepared to leave a tip of any description, especially as we had been hit with a “service” charge of 10 %.

The restaurant's boat took us back down stream to our hotel on a river that was unusually quiet on that particular Sunday evening.

SCORE: Food, 6/10; value for money, 3/10; ambience 4/10; service, 1/10: TOTAL: 14/40.

VERDICT: The food was reasonably OK, with the hot and sour prawn soup being the highlight. The food generally was overpriced in my estimation and definitely the low light of the evening was the appalling service from the coterie of waitresses who were more interested in watching a stupid Thai TV show than serving the handful of guests who had decided to patronise the restaurant on that night.

CONCLUSION: The Yok Yor has obviously done a lot of things right in its history. It could not have expanded as it has done so successfully without putting all of the commercial markers in place. However, it might have been the dearth of tourists in Bangkok at the time that led to the small patronage on the evening of our particular visit, but nothing can be used as an excuse for the absolutely appalling standard of service that ourselves and others were on the receiving end of during the course of the evening.

As this was our first visit to this restaurant we don’t have any markers for comparison purposes of previous visits. Maybe the service could be put down to an aberration, but there is still no excuse for it whatsoever.

Maybe if you the reader were to visit this place in the future, you might it find it full of diners and the service swift, but I would surmise that the food would still be somewhat overpriced as are the drinks. One last thing: the place is geared for karaoke. If there are a couple of thousand Chinese/Taiwanese singing karaoke, then for me at least, I would avoid the place.

ADDENDUM:I know many people have fond memories of this acclaimed eatery over many years. I would have very much liked to have had a positive experience, but I can't give high marks and fulsome praise when it isn't deserved. I can only score and comment upon the restaurant as we found it on our particular visit.

NEXT WEEK: We leave the ho-hum service standards of Bangkok and its economic woes and head to far northern Thailand where we discover a lovely restaurant reminiscent of the Thailand of yesteryear, in the peaceful Mekong river side village of Rob Suak.

A while back, we always enjoyed Yok Yor Marina and Restaurant. I have never eaten at the other branches.

That said, the last time we visited, for a friend's wedding reception cruise, the place appeared to have changed. The restaurant had taken on a "cheaper" appearance.

Maybe there is new ownership/management.

If there is new owner/management, then amongst the chattels they have also purchased the name and good will of the business. The last two will decline rapidly if the service at the Yok Yor was anything to go by, along with inflated prices for just OK food.

That 10% "service" charge is simply another tax. Staff will see none of it. You'll find it only at restaurants that actually keep books, or those who simply want to scalp the clientele.

Rest assured the lousy staff didn't get any gratuity.

The compelling TV soapie watching is an interesting phenomena which seems to afflict many Thai restaurant waitresses. We had a similar experience at the Lek seafood restaurant on our last visit there. It certainly can be frustrating when you are looking to order a drink and your meal and there is little interest from any of the staff.

I'm not sure why the TV's are supplied for the staff. I am sure many of them must think..."Damm, another customer. if we didn't have them this would be agreat place to work in".

IMHO, most eateries that cater to Thai clientele have "inconsistent" service. For every eatery that brings the food out in a logical manner, we find at least a dozen that have no order to them at all.

I always thought lousy service was a trademark of Thai dining. In fact, when we have bad service at a Stateside Thai joint, I always joke that it's because the place is authentic!

Sorry to hear that you had a slightly unpleasant evening. This is unfortunately often the case in Thai restaurants, unless they are better quality, such as those in Western-standard hotels. There are on the other hand, many independent restaurants who offer good service, but finding them as a tourist, unless by recommendation, is by pure chance.

Sadly Thai standards are sometimes lacking.