The Michelin-starred Bangkok restaurant Raan Jay Fai has come under scrutiny again after a Thai customer accused the establishment of treating local diners unfairly compared with foreign visitors. The allegation, shared on TikTok on Monday, quickly drew public attention online.
In the video, the customer recounted arriving at 7am to secure a queue number for a five-person party, landing in third place. When the restaurant opened at 9am, she said a staff member refused to seat her group because not all members had arrived.
Despite offering to begin ordering food while waiting and explaining that her friends were just 10 minutes away, she was reportedly instructed to join a separate queue.
According to her account, the staff member also warned that if her friends arrived and she did not eat with them, it would become an issue, adding that she should show better etiquette.
The customer said she felt the treatment was different from what foreign diners typically received, including her foreign friends, and described the experience as discriminatory based on appearance and nationality.
She eventually secured a table after nearly three hours of waiting. The frustration continued, she claimed, when the group ordered one bottle of cola and asked for two glasses. Staff allegedly refused, telling them glasses would only be provided if they purchased a bucket of ice.
Restaurant Responds
The following day, the daughter of the restaurant’s owner addressed the issue on 3PlusNews, saying the policy of not seating incomplete parties has long been in place.
She explained that in the past, customers who arrived without their full group sometimes occupied tables for one to two hours before ordering, while others lingered for extended periods after eating, preventing new diners from being seated.
Regarding the remarks mentioned in the video, she said they were directed at hired queue standers, not regular customers, and were meant to discourage that practice.
If the communication caused any discomfort, she added, an apology would be appropriate, but there had never been any intention to discriminate.
The incident is the latest controversy involving the famous eatery. In August, an influencer complained about being charged 4,000 baht for the restaurant’s signature crab omelette, which is normally priced at 1,500 baht.
The restaurant later apologised, clarifying that a more expensive crabmeat had been used, which should have been communicated. The Department of Internal Trade subsequently fined the establishment 2,000 baht.
Jay Fai, situated in a small soi off Mahachai Road in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district, received one star in the inaugural Michelin Guide Bangkok 2018 and has maintained it every year since.
Its 81-year-old owner, Supinya Junsuta, is a culinary icon known worldwide and was recently featured in a documentary film that premiered in Bangkok in June.
