You won't find many, or any reviews of this place too easily - I don't know why as I was especially keen to have a few prior opinions before we went there to test the water, but I searched in vain.

The Lipstick Lover has had a continuing birthday party since May. I won't mention her age, but lets say it was a milestone birthday.

Women tend to be cautious when discussing their age for some reason and husbands need to be wary and mindful or face the consequences. My motto in marriage is, "happy wife- happy life" and this has worked pretty well most of the time. I recall my mum took about five years to progress from 40 to 41 and dad never said a word.......

Anyway, we had decided our trip to Thailand this year was to be a special treat for the Lipstick Lover, you know, a nice hotel (Sofitel) and plenty of eating out, relaxing around the pool, cocktails and drinks and another birthday dinner at a place my daughter, our son in law and I would select. My daughter and her husband and I did the rounds at lunch time testing the food and atmosphere at what we thought would be a nice place to celebrate with good food and good company with a few family members and a couple of very good friends who had made the trip to see us from one of the Islands, where they have been since March living the life of Riley. We selected "All Seasons"for the birthday bash after my daughter and her husband tried it for lunch and said it fitted the bill for our night out.

All Seasons is a nice place. Its quite near the Hilton and attracts a lot of people from this hotel- The place next door, Sawasdee restaurant is well known and is still well patronised by the tourist brigade not by the Thais but I feel it is not what it used to be- Don't get me wrong, its quite ok, but you can do better- I think it has rested on its laurels for a bit too long and needs to lift its game. Eating at Sawasdee used to be a good experience, but now its a run of the mill establishment with above average prices and bland tourist food, especially catering for the western palate of not too authentic Thai food. Thats just my opinion- others may well disagree.

All Seasons has pretty much filled the gap left by the once good Sawasdee and the restaurant always has plenty of diners at lunch and dinner.

Well, we explained to the chief honcho at All Seasons that we wanted to book a table for around 10 or so and we wanted to make it a birthday party. The manager indicated the booking would be fine and as it would be a birthday he would throw in an ice cream birthday cake at no extra charge- I'm quite partial to ice cream so this sounded like a good deal- we booked.

The next night we all arrived around 7pm and we were shown to a nice long table under a couple of fans- nice thought. Fresh tablecloths and flowers on the table, nicely folded napkins and a choice of knife and spoon as well as chopsticks on their little resting plates. Menus arrive quickly and the prices range from around 100 baht up to around 350 baht for the whole fish dishes and the big prawns. About 180 baht is the average for a good dish, so a bit more than some of the other places we had been eating at.This street has the Sofitel closeby and the Hilton only a stones throw away, so the food is marked up accordingly to capture the people who don't want to eat at the hotel all the time and like a little atmosphere when they eat and have tourist dollars to spend. All Seasons caters to these desires.

The waitresses are happy and efficient, the beers around 160bt a large bottle and cocktails, around 160-200 bt arrive quickly. I order a bottle of red wine,around 950 baht. Its a "Chateau Superb" brand from Chile, or similar , quite average stuff, but drinkable. I am paying the bill tonight and have told everyone to order what they want.Believe it or not we all tend to order they same food we had been eating at the other places. Spring rolls and mixed seafood entrees, Red duck curry, green curries, Penang curry, chicken with cashews, prawns with chilli and basil, papaya salads,whole fish , deep fried with garlic and pepper. I can't remember them all.

The food starts to arrive about 20 minutes and we had finished our first round of drinks. The manager checks to see if we are happy- we are. The food comes in fairly quick succession so we are all being fed more or less at the same time. This is good as the place is pretty much full tonight and the kitchen is flat out.

The food is memorable and good quality ingredients have been used. No complaints from anyone about any of the dishes. Tonight is a birthday night and we don't rate the food. However, I make a mental note that my dish is a 8/10 and the Lipstick Lover agree hers is good and also an 8/10 at least (chicken and cashews). The pina colada is also an 8/10 she declares and I have a sip and agree its good.

Its 8.30 pm and the lights dim. The staff gather and sing "happy birthday". Other people in the restaurant also join in........ The ice cream cake arrives and with a flourish the manager produces a big knife and cuts it up and plates it for us. Its a big ice cream cake with happy birthday written in chocolate on the top and we all get a large slice- its yummy. I wander off to look at the kitchen- the staff try and shoo me away, they don't want me looking in their kitchen. Its a bit messy, but not grubby and I am sure the hygiene factor is ok- not brilliant, but still ok. I tell them roi mah (good food) and they all smile. By 9pm we have finished and its time to pay the bill. A good night with enjoyable food.

Summary- Food ? I think most dishes around 7.5-8/10.Value?. A bit pricey when compared with Poolsuk Road eateries, but not for this street. 6.5/10. Atmosphere? Probably 8/10 with the tablecloths and flowers etc.
Service? Good- a genuine 8/10. Kitchen hygiene? I think around 6.5/10. Toilets? 7/10.

Our bill, including food and alcohol (including quite a few cocktails and large beers and the wine) was 6200 baht for 8 adults and one teenager. No charge for the ice cream cake. If we had not indulged in so much alcohol the bill would have been a lot less.

Hi Wabbit,

I think that was good value for money, particularly for the Soi where the All Seasons is located. The free ice cream cake was a nice touch too.

It would seem from your comments and those of others, that Sewadee might have run its course. When I last reviewed it, about eight years ago, it had a delightful menu, good service, very reasonable prices and was one of the best vantage points for "people watching".

To my way of thinking, particularly when converting the price into Aussie $$$$, 350 baht for a whole steamed Garoupa or something similar is a bargain as that works out at $11.20AUD.

I went to a seafood restaurant yesterday for Father's Day here in Melbourne and amongst other things, I ordered a whole steamed NZ Flounder. The price Wabbit please?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $41.95!! (1300 baht).

So for the celebratory birthday dinner for your wife and family and friends, 6200 baht ($A200 - $A20 a head) - including drinks - is more than reasonable. Yep, you could have gone cheaper, but would it have been as enjoyable?