Karma's Cafe

If you want decent Thai food with decent service - go to Village of Thai.

This is the first review I have ever written. I was a server for 5+ years and totally understand that restaurants get busy and things are not always perfect. I often can sympathize with servers and have never complained due to slower service as I know how things can get in the food service industry. However, my experience at this restaurant was unacceptable.

Before we arrived, we called ahead to see if we could make a reservation and were told it was not necessary to make a reservation for a party of 2. So, we arrived about 30 minutes later and were immediately asked if we had made a reservation. We said 'no, we called 30 minutes ago and were told we didn't need one.' After some mass confusion, we were seated at the bar where the bartender (the only employee who seemed concerned about us the entire night) poured us some water - we weren't asked if we would like anything else to drink. We noticed there was a large party in the restuarant, but they had food and were eating so we knew this would not slow our service once we ordered our food. About 25 minutes later, we were seated at a table and given our menus. A server came over to us immediately and took our drink order and asked what we would like (we literally had 15 seconds to look at the menu). We told her we had not had a chance to look at the menu yet. Once our drinks came, we ordered our appetizer from a different server. About 5 minutes later, the same server who was pushing us to order immediately came over to take our entree order. We gave it to her, and within 10 minutes our appetizer had arrived. We finished it and then waited and waited and waited. People who had been sat at their table after us were finished their meals and leaving the restaurant, and we still had not been served our dinner. We had also sat with empty wine glasses for approximately 30 minutes while watching employees chat behind the bar, nobody coming over to offer us another drink. We had to get up and go to the bar to ask for another drink. After getting our drinks, we continued to wait - for an hour and a half until finally our entrees arrived.

Once our entrees arrived and the restaurant had basically cleared out, we were starving and frustrated. It was the icing on the cake when the server commented that 'if we had have ordered before the large party ordered, our food would have come quicker.' Keep in mind that this party had been served their food before we were sat at our table, and smaller parties who were sat after us had already left. We were in shock that they were blaming US for their terrible service. Was it also our fault that we sat with empty glasses for half an hour? The server then laughed, and walked away. The only person who came over to apologize for the lack of service was the bartender, who in no way was our 'server.' We did not receive an apology from either of the servers, just laughter and blame for their lack of customer service.

Once it came time for them to close (since we had been there for HOURS), they were very quick to get us out.

I won't be back, ever. I would not recommend this place to anyone I know.

When I decide to spend the money for dinner I expect that I am buying a certain type of experience. I want to enjoy my appetizers with a couple of nice drinks and then have my entree with a nice glass of wine. While I visit with whoever I am having dinner with.

I did not get what I paid for. Yes the food was bland but as someone who likes a lot of salt I would not have held this against the restaurant thinking it was just my taste and that they were preparing meals for a wide spectrum of diets. However, if you intend to under season your food you need to have salt and pepper shakers on the table. When I asked for a salt shaker they did not have one at the restaurant to offer me. Instead, I was brought a plastic shot glass with salt in it. It is very pretentious for a Chef to believe so much in their ability to season food for everyone's palate that they do not even have a salt shaker available. This alone would not have driven me to write a nasty review.

While still enjoying my second ginger martini and my appetizers, chef/owner Karma brought our entrees to the table. I was surprised and said to him "Oh, you didn't wait for our appetizers to be done to pick up the entrees?" (typically in the food industry the server will tell the kitchen when the table is done their appetizers so that the kitchen knows its okay to go ahead with the entrees) The response I got from the chef/owner was "What, do you expect me to take them back?" and he kind of laughed and walked away...

So my meal was a hundred dollars after tip for the two of us and I didn't get the experience I paid for. I left feeling offended and will not return. Perhaps Karma is just burnt out and should sell. This restaurant has lots of competition with kubo, village of thai and cosmic charlies all within walking distance. I don't need to go somewhere and be treated like this.

Also, the fact that karma does not respond to any of the comments posted here, showing concern for customers who have had a bad experience is indicative of his over all bad attitude.

We heard great things about the pad thai but it wasn't nearly worthy of its $15 price tab or the attitude given to us for politely questioning the taste (salty, bland). I'm not claiming to be a pad thai expert, but I've lived in Thailand and eaten plenty in my day- different taste by different chefs I get that...

But instead of trying anything to satisfy a disappointed customer the owner/chef yelled loud enough from the kitchen to the waitress " they don't like it too bad they dont have to eat here" (waitress was nice by the way). On the way out some additional sarcastic sympathy was a nice touch - Karma indeed.
I'm never one to leave reviews, in fact this is my first.

I drove up there for my birthday for the 3rd time in a row. Always been up for dinner. Went up March 10 for lunch. Most of the food was not properly seasoned or prepared. Bland and did not eat most of it. Unhappy with most of the food and won't go back. If Karma hires someone to cook for him for lunch he needs to get someone who can cook.

Very surprised at a negative review for Karma Cafe. we had a great experience, food was excellent, I had the chicken Satay and my wife had the beef (cant remember name of it but it started with an "f" it that helps) it was amazing, full of flavour. Had a nice selection of different beers and our veg.rolls were great. Wife doesn't like Cilantro so they made the roll without. Atmosphere was cozy and the service was perfect. Prices were more than fair and you can tell the food is fresh...hard to find restaurants who serve fresh food lately...Karma does. Really enjoyed our evening and we'll be back.

Because we are a family of travellers we have been exposed to many different cultures and the food that is associated with them. Thai food is a family favorite and we were looking forward to trying out a "new restaurant" based not only on the reviews noted on this site but having seen a television show which show cased this particular restaurant. I can honestly say that this was not what we had expected. The restaurant's ambiance was so-so, but I will say the server we had was very attentive to our needs, (but I should add that there were only two other people there for lunch), but the food was sub-par. The servings were in fact very small, the pad thai lacked any type of "zing" it was very bland in fact. There is only one menu, not a lunch/dinner difference and if we were to receive these serving portions for dinner I can say that we would be leaving the restaurant hungry. Very expensive for what we received, example- Butter chicken, did not contain enough chicken to be classified as a breast, in a tortilla shell, rice and salad, cost was $12.99, pad thai with chicken was $14.99, not a lot of noodles and again very little flavor. The whole experience was disappointing, would I recommend, no, would I go back, NEVER.

We ate here on a very short deadline. It was my second visit and my husband's first. The food is wonderful and the staff were able to accommodate our time concerns with no problems. The atmosphere is a little noisy but not to the shouting-at-the-top-of-your-lungs-to-be-heard point. The food, the food is WONDERFUL. The Nepalese choices are different and interesting without being too hot. Portions are adequate, neither too small nor too large. Presentation is excellent.

Since the prices are modest the place appears to appeal to the university crowd. It might be worth visiting at times when the engineers aren't out for a night on the town.

We will definitely be back to explore the rest of the menu.

Wow...really surprised how good the food was, especially the spring rolls, they might be the best I have eaten! The servers were a little unenthusiastic but the food was so good I really didn't care. Kind of surprised I don't hear more people talk about this place????

I have visited many times and always love the food. Certainly one of the best in town for food quality. The service is sometimes slow but always pleasant. Meals seem to be priced fairly since I always leave feeling like I have had a real treat.
If you are not in a hurry and have pleasant company for the meal you won't mind waiting a while to get fresh Thai food made to order. All carefully prepared. All delicious. Medium range of available beverages.

The service here was excruciatingly slow from the moment we stepped in. It took ages to get someone to take our order, and then it was well over an hour before our food arrived. After we finished eating, we waited and waited for the server to notice our empty plates - he never did. Eventually we all walked up to the bar and asked for our bills.

The food was well-prepared and tasty, but it is not worth suffering through the poor service. There are other restaurants in Peterborough that serve decent Thai food. I won't be back to Karma's.