BANGKOK – The Michelin-starred Bangkok eatery Raan Jay Fai has defended its policies after facing fresh criticism on social media, with the latest complaint accusing the restaurant of discriminating against Thai customers.
In a TikTok clip shared on Monday, a diner described arriving at the famous shophouse at 7 am to queue for a table. She held the third spot in line for a group of five people.
When the restaurant opened at 9 am, she said a member of staff refused to seat her because her full group had not yet arrived. According to her account, the staff repeated that all guests had to be present before anyone could sit down.
She said she was then told to move to a separate queue for those with incomplete parties, despite offering to start ordering food while waiting. She added that her friends were only around 10 minutes away.
The customer also claimed that staff warned it would be a problem if her friends turned up, and she chose not to eat with them. She said a staff member suggested she show better manners, which left her feeling insulted.
In her post, she said that in her experience, foreign diners, including her own foreign friends, received friendlier service at Raan Jay Fai. She felt the way she was treated showed bias based on looks and nationality.
After nearly three hours of waiting, the group finally got a table. The customer then raised another complaint. When the group ordered a single bottle of cola and asked for two glasses, she said the staff refused and told them they would only get glasses once they bought a bucket of ice.
A day after the video began to spread online, the owner’s daughter appeared on 3PlusNews to explain the restaurant’s side of the story. She said the rule against seating incomplete groups had been in place for years.
She pointed to past problems, saying that some people who arrived early and sat down without their full group had taken up tables for one to two hours before ordering. Others stayed seated for a long time after eating, which made it difficult to serve those waiting outside.
Addressing the remarks that upset the customer, she said those comments were meant for people hired to stand in line on behalf of others, not regular diners. According to her, the tone was intended to discourage that kind of paid queueing.
She added that if the way the staff spoke made the customer feel uncomfortable, then an apology was appropriate. However, she insisted there was no intent to discriminate against Thai guests or any other group.
This is not the first time Raan Jay Fai has faced public criticism. In August, the restaurant was caught up in another social media row after an influencer complained about being billed 4,000 baht for the restaurant’s famous crab omelette, which is usually listed at 1,500 baht.
The restaurant later apologised and said the higher price came from using a more expensive type of crabmeat, something that should have been explained in advance. The Department of Internal Trade later fined the restaurant 2,000 baht over the issue.
Raan Jay Fai sits in a small lane off Mahachai Road in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district. It earned a Michelin star in the first Bangkok Michelin Guide in 2018 and has kept that star ever since.
Its 81-year-old owner, Supinya Junsuta, better known as Jay Fai, has become a global food icon. She has drawn visitors from around the world and was the focus of a documentary film that premiered in Bangkok in June.
