Giggling Squid Berko in Dacorum

Used to be a weekly regular, but in the last year the standards seem to have significantly slipped in the kitchen and with the disinterested service - all while the prices have leapt to silly levels for what you get. Thai Cottage wins hands down for quality of food, authenticity, service and value.

Sharing platters and honey crisp seafood were fantastic. Lovely evening in the courtyard

Such a beautiful restaurant. Can't wait to return with my friends for a lovely lunch.

Good food and attentive, friendly staff.

The Food was nice except I feel the beef was not up to par. Looked to me like beef Short Rib trim but still had a lot of inedible fat attached. Nevertheless the service was fine, attentive and polite. The restaurant itself is quaint. Low ceilings front of house with a small courtyard for summer seating, and more room out the sude/back. Clean and tidy. Gents toilets were clean and presentable although I was here for a relatively early Friday lunch so I'd expect no less. Nice enough but the food felt a little chain-like to me today. If you're OK with that then you'll enjoy any giggling squid, but Berkhamsted is nice all round.

What a lovely experience staff lovely food great our first time but will be back soon

This is an amazing place to eat out. With very attentive waiters and a cosy atmosphere. Thank you to Omi especially for being so friendly, becuse of him I will definitely be returning again!! :)

This is a really great place to go if you’re looking for great food and great service! Thank you so much for Omi for really taking care of us and being super friendly and accommodating! Will definitely be back!

Had a really bad experience last night and paid the full bill which is frustrating. The food was really disappointing, didn't have the main thing I wanted on the menu, chicken was a funny texture and the slow cooked beef in my curry was awful, really fatty and poor quality. I barely touched my food and left hungry. I won't be going to a chain Thai restaurant again.

Excellent vegetarian Thai curries...

It was a nice surprise to find this small on the outside large and nice on the inside- food was great, service was fantastic, the atmosphere great 5 stars

A good overall meal, friendly staff.

Food absolutely outstanding, best Thai food ever, beautifully flavoured, fresh, and utterly delicious. Service was ok, waited a while for staff to greet us on entering. Had to pop my head into the kitchen to let them know ourselves and other customers were waiting. Was sat, as usual next to another family, but there were plenty of other seats available. They were so so loud and noisy, did slightly ruin our experience. Oh, and we had to ask for our plates to be removed after eating......wasn't offered the dessert menu either. Just few tweaks from staff to make customers visit more enjoyable.

4 of us dined. Tasty dishes, served hot. Starter's very tasty but a little sparse for the price we felt. ( We had a sharing platter+ extra starter dish ) would have been nice to have a few complimentary Thai prawn crackers offered. ( Other restaurants we've had this) Wines £24 .00 & up a bottle, reasonable selection. Staff friendly although seemed harassed, but then it was a busy Friday.

If they could fit tables stacked on top of themselves they would. Terrible service. Not a smiling face in sight. Hard to get the servers attention to order another drink. Went for a romantic meal but was placed between two tables of screaming children. No pleasantries when leaving, could have been called out without paying they wouldn’t care.

Popped in for lunch and ordered a few tapas dishes. I was happy with all the dishes I ordered but really enjoyed the sticky chicken and massaman curry. Friendly staff. Would recommend 👌

Loved everything about this cosy restaurant..the service , food, ambience and the hospitality was mind blowing. I know for sure that I can hop skip to thos place when I crave for authentic Thai cuisine.

Had a tapas lunch with my daughter, this was our first time. Every thing was lovely, the staff were lovely and the food was great.

Sharing platters very delicious. Large portions so never able to sample dessert! Worth a visit just for the lychee martini.

We booked a table for 4 on a quiet Sunday evening. The food was quite nice, we all enjoyed it. However we were asked to leave as soon as we paid the bill? I understand the reservation requests the table back at a certain time, however they were more than happy for us to continue to order dessert, we had starters, mains and desserts, but promptly asked us to leave as soon as we paid the bill, we had not even finished drinking our drinks. We did not even stay excessively late. We were at the restaurant for about an hour and 45 minutes. I would understand if the restaurant was busy, but the majority of the restaurant was empty. Multiple tables clear. I would say that 70% of the tables were empty and unused, yet we were asked to leave because they needed the table? It was extremely rude considering we had paid £170 and they wouldn’t even give us 5 minutes to finish our drink once we had paid, yet there were at least 6 other empty tables in the section we were in, we were clearly packing our belongings and just finishing our drinks. Dont forget they add a service charge ontop of that aswell, which isn’t clearly mentioned. Which was £15.30 which was automatically added to the bill.

Really disappointing. The noodles were underwhelming unless you are a huge fan of Tofu in your meat dishes. The service was poor - everything took too long, no one asked how the meal was and you had to beckon to get any attention. There was obviously some of sort leak from one of their kitchen appliances and throughout the staff seemed more keen to deal with that than serve their customers attentively. We should have left after the starters. I’ve only been once before to Berkhamsted Giggling Squid a few months ago and that was a better experience.

A waiter, more interested in himself than getting the orders correct! I ordered a large bottle of sparkling water to have to chase it up twice, and after 25 mins, I got a small one!

I love this restaurant! Great food, service and lovely atmosphere. Some different dishes on the menu you won't find elsewhere. Top restaurant 😍

Ordered takeaway- the squid was pretty good however, the green curry and rice was like a microwave frozen meal. Could tell the broccoli was either frozen or it had been defrosted. Veg and rice were soggy. Not good enough for the price

Open all day from noon to 10:30PM, 7 days a week making it convenient for a late lunch at off-peak times. Good food, good service and pleasant staff all in very nice surroundings. We mostly ordered from the tapas menu with one additional item from the main menu to share.

Found the reviews quite surprising. I’ve had far better Thai food in small pub or cafe kitchens than in here. Average and overpriced.

Fantastic food and service as always Highly recommended

Lovely restaurant! Our waitress Zoe was excellent! Great night out, would highly recommend.

Great food, highly recommended, love the caramelised pork belly, very fresh and good flavours, not the cheapest place but well worth it

Really disappointing experience! We have been a number of times and never been disappointed before. We were sat in the passage way, which was busy and noisy, which made conversation difficult. The service was slow and disjointed. The food was thoroughly underwhelming and I sent my main back which is not something I ever really do. I have beef two ways and it was dry, tasteless and boring. Service with loads of barely-cooked onion, which is just didn’t fit. My wife at a king prawn pad Thai which was huge and tasteless! The pork better starter was good but the sizzling squid was oily and served with a different sauce than on the menu. It’s not that hard to get Thai food right, they got it wrong on this occasion!

Good food, fast and friendly service and a decent atmosphere

I have been to Thailand many times and really like Thai food. I went with 3 other people. They largely liked it, but I didn't. My satay sauce was watery. My main was nothing short of awful. I had beef Panang. The beef tasted as if it was re heated, over cooked and cheap. The Panang sauce tasted as if it had come out of a packet and was powdery. The egg fried rice had a crust on the top where it had dried out. I was seriously disappointed. The bill was £171 for starters and mains for 4 people, plus a bottle of wine and a couple of soft drinks. It's expensive for what was served up. I don't normally do chains and this is the reason why. On the positive side it's a nice atmosphere and the staff were nice. The atmosphere and staff are the only reason it didn't get 1 star.

Came here yesterday for a birthday lunch with my husband. The food was absolutely delicious - this will always be one of my favourite restaurants ever!

The best Thai Food I have had in the UK. Very good service and friendly staff. no baby change though which was a pain.

Lunch yesterday was that good we returned today. Zoe our waitress was lovely and couldn’t do enough for us.

Great food, cosy atmosphere, a little expensive especially the wine.

Great service from Zoe so welcoming and helpful

Disappointing experience at Giggling Squid, Berkhamsted. Service was definitely not customer friendly, and can’t believe I had to argue over the quality of a 5 quid starter. Just replace it if the customer isn’t happy. Won’t be coming back.

Great service from Zoe. Professional and highly helpful with my food allergies

Lovely restaurant, been a few times and the food has been consistently high quality, the kids menu is good value and they have a good variety of foods for vegans/vegetarians. The atmopshere itself is all very nice, lots of flowers and lights, despite being quite small it dosen't usually feel too crowded although as a bit of a warning to people who are extremely claustrophobic the ceiling can be a bit low in some parts.

Lovely restaurant and excellent Thai food. Lots of variety and the sharing dishes are a nice touch. Very reasonable prices

Nice Thai based restaurant with plenty of space between tables, which is rare these days. Good selection of dishes. Service charge is added to bill so be careful not to add tip without allowing for 10% already added, which we are not keen on personally.

There's definitely nothing giggling about a cooked squid. Let's keep it real it's a screaming squid.

The food was delicious 😋, really really good experience.

Went here on a Sunday lunchtime for a birthday celebration. Starters and main courses were good, especially chicken satay, the noodles, curries and sea bass However, a group of 20 arrived near to us, presumably having spent several hours in the pub, and proceeded to shout at each other at the top of their voices. Everyone else left, presumably for a table in another room. However we had already just been served food, so this was not an option for us. The noise was horrendous, and in over 50 years of dining out, this was by far the worst I have ever experienced We complained to waiting staff, but nothing was done. A polite request to tone it down might have been appropriate

Had a lovely evening out here with my partner. Is one of our favourites.

Had to walk out the restaurant, worst service ever, me and my partner ware the only ones at the restaurant (my partner wanted to take me there for lunch it was my birthday) they made us wait an hour for our food and not only that after an hour they brought us only half a meal with no rice and made us wait again for the rice with curry waiting in front of us getting cold!Also within that hour no one even come up to us to check on us or ask if we needed anything we had to go up and ask how long more we have to wait. So when we got our curry an hour later with no rice and they made us wait again for the rice we just got up and walked out. We will not be returning there again and also told our friends and family about it so they won't be going there too. We can also see bad reviews on local Facebook pages that this is the worst restaurant in berkhamsted and food is overpriced.

Made easy to book using the internet.Excellent food.In fact exceptional

Overpriced and made me feel very unwell with upset stomach which took me out for 3 days. I reported this to the Giggling Squid who maintained they’d investigate. Unsurprisingly some days later they came back to me to say no one else that evening had reported illness and therefore closed my complaint. That didn’t explain the fact I’d eaten their food and been sick straight afterwards. I know it came from their restaurant. I’ll never dine here again.

Don't know how long the restaurant has been in Berkhampstead, but a real treat. Top service with a welcoming smile started us off well. Fantastic vegetarian selection. I choose the Paneang curry with vegetables and a portion of coconut rice. Super fresh tastes with Thai basil. My family had sticky chicken which they also said was delicious. And all set in a great looking building

Harry was so helpful and the food was delicious. Thank you Giggling. Always delicious food!

Tasty food served by very friendly and efficient staff. The squid was especially good. Will return.

I would like to leave an honest review here of my take away experiences with the giggling squid. I ordered a take away of green curry and a pad Thai. It was so so so greasy. The curry had 2cm of oil on top and the pad Thai was like oil noodles. Really expensive for such a poor standard of food quality. Is it authentic? No. The green curry tasted like Indian curry powder. Sorry but avoid. There are lots of wonderful independent Thai places in the area.

The red curry was not authentic and had a powdery texture to the sauce which made it inedible. Very disappointing. It also lacked sweetness and seasoning was unbalanced. The duck spring rolls were very good.

We rang ahead to check availability and we’re not told of any issues. It did however take a long time for them to answer the phone but we assumed they were busy. On arrival (Wednesday evening) we waited for over 10 minutes to be seated, the two guys in front of us went to find someone!! The first thing said to the waiting group was not ‘sorry for the delay’ it was ‘we don’t have enough staff tonight’!!! We asked the second staff member who had appeared if this was going to affect he service and he said it would. In fairness we asked for an honest assessment and he gave it. As it was a special meal, we decided to leave and eat elsewhere!

Shame. High expectations. Especially paying 50% more than the other one in town. I didn't expect it to be on the stingy side. Also had to put it in the microwave to heat it back up. Very sorry.

Fantastic food, great atmosphere and wonderful service from our waiting staff, Scarlett!, she was attentive and friendly! Try the Drunken ribs, they’re a must and the Pad Thai was delicious

Food is good but the experience with a child dining here makes you want to reconsider. I would have given it less stars due to unwelcoming experience but the 2 ladies who took our order once seated made me reconsider. They did great! But…the older asian lady/the manager(maybe?) at the front door needs to learn more about welcoming guests. I am not asking for cuddles but a simple welcoming smile. Fine, she’s not having the best day but professionalism comes in handy considering you are welcoming customers. I understand the building is preserved and all that, but absolutely not family-friendly or disabled-friendly. The incident today when my little one and I were following the “manager” to the garden area and she can’t even hold the door to ensure it doesn’t smack our faces and when it happened she can’t even apologize sincerely.

Lovely restaurant, delicious food, good variety of vegan options- highly recommend.

Served by a wonderful lady called Pim, service was quick and the food was amazing! We will definitely be back again!

Absolutely gorgeous, fabulous food, lovely staff and a beautiful setting. Our waitress, Pim, was very friendly and helpful. I have an egg allergy and their allergy menu was easily accessed via a QR code.

The food is always fabulous, fresh and tasty and the pork dumplings are amazing. Ommy served us and was friendly, professional and knowledgeable about the menu, it was a lovely dinning experience.

We always enjoy consistently good dinners here, and the service is good too.

We received a warm welcome at the Giggling Squid. The setting was very good and the food and service was warm and friendly. We enjoyed the salt and pepper squid and beef massaman.

Just below their usual attentive service tonight. Felt a little ignored but the two staff in our area were young and possibly learning. However great food as usual and will be back. Would have loved it more if service had been as attentive as usual.

I took my 95 and 94 year old parents for a belated Fathers Day lunch his choice it never disappoints. We all had the set tapa’s menu and it was delicious

I visited this restaurant and was blown away. The hospitality by staff was great and very welcoming. The young gentleman that assisted us certainly knew the menu and his suggestion I was very grateful for. The mixed fish salad was sumptuous, and I have never tasted said so tender! And thoroughly enjoyed the pineapple and coconut drink. And of course, glad we twisted our arm for the sorbet! A place not to be missed!

I suggested the Giggling Squid to my partner as I’d only been once or twice before. But last time had a good experience and had tasted the Salt & Pepper Squid. We arrived, the could fit us in the garden as weather was beautiful. Ordered a couple of cocktails. The Thai Sabai was delicious, so I had two! The food was out of this world. Salt & Pepper Squid❤️, beef cheeks ❤️ everything was tasty and service was on point. Well done!! Will be back

Extremely good experience,really tasty meal and attentive staff. Quick service and lots of choice on the menu.

Booked a table of 4, had a mixture of starters to share between us and they was all very good, mains was good but desert was a let down as it was still a bit frozen which come on a birthday plate, also no desert wine. Staff was pleasant

I absolutely love thai food and I love visiting Giggling Squid, every meal I have is always so tasty and full of flavour

Great food great staff we were on vacation for 3 night and ending up going to Giggling squid for 2 night in a row the restaurant itself feel very cozy and family business feel. Can’t wait to go back for more

Had a meal at giggling squid, told the server I had a allergy and ordered squid after checking online I see the squid had milk in, surely the server should know about allergies and what’s in the food?? Ordered round my allergy with looking online...

Superb Thai food. Nice ambience. Service from the Thai staff was great, friendly and courteous. Sadly the sullen and unsmiling service from the English staff was quite the opposite.

I had never tried this restaurant but I had heard good things so booked it for a family meal. The restaurant looks small from the outside but is huge. The staff were warm anc welvoming. We Ordered a variety of dishes. All were wonderful and...

We visited on a weekday for our works Xmas dinner and the food was delicious . We ordered a starter plater to share and various mains , all were great sized portions and so tasty . I felt it was great value for money ,...

Visited for the first time in Berkhamsted as had heard good things about this restaurant from friends. But the food was nothing special. We love Thai food but this place is Seriously overpriced for what it is. And we didn’t like the “old” place at...

This is a really nice restaurant. Great food, lovely staff. I treat myself to lunch there whenever I’m in Berkhamsted.

Me and my wife visited there on 1st July for our wedding anniversary meal. My wife ordered the grilled squid starter, ate some and then realised it was very undercooked. The staff didn’t seem bothered but took it off the bill. My wife then became...

I’m so sad to leave this review as usually we have such lovely meals here but our last visit was not acceptable. We ordered our favourite starters to find they tasted very different to usual, we spoke to the waitress who said they had a...

I was treated to a thai meal with my family for Fathers day. We are very keen on Thai food and eat at many different Thai restaurants. This experience was not what I expected, we were sat down and given menus but I had to...

It was my 1st visit to a Giggling Squid and it was great. Loads of choice and the food was so tasty. I will be back

We absolutely love the Giggling Squid! It looks lovely both inside and outside, the staff is very friendly and the food is absolutely delicious. Especially their lunch deals are to die for. Their cocktails and mocktails are great too!

Very good food ans excellent lunch prices.. Recommend by me :-)

Really good food, and very decent prices. Thoroughly enjoyable if you like Thai food.

We had a table booked for a particular time, and arrived on time at the restaurant. We Had to wait 30 minutes to be seated at our booked table. The waitress eventually took our orders and when we said we were ready to order she...

Fantastic tasty food, beautifully prepared. Friendly, attentive staff. A great atmospheric. What more could you want? Highly recommended.

Enjoyed a fabulous meal here for our Daughter's Birthday! 🌟 Friendly and Efficient Staff. Delicious Food & Cocktails🍹 Highly Recommend!!

Awful experience with my food, 3 different dishes so spicy and uneatable , tasteless, uncooked vegetables .just plain waste of money

Just popped in on the off chance of a table they were so helpful and food was amazing. My partner has been to Thailand 5 times and he couldn't fault the food and service was great. Thanks for a lovely Easter Saturday dinner

Ordered a take out/delivery Easter Saturday the food was awful,squid was ‘mooshy’ the ‘crispy’ chicken was slimey and the chicken wings were dry and hard we also had a massaman curry which was ok all of the food was cold for the pleasure I paid...

I’ve had some good meals here but unfortunately standards seem to be slipping? Tonight’s vegetable Curry had stale, past use-by-date vegetables. Pieces of brocoli tasted actually rotten :-/ Went in the bin unfortunately. Sticky chicken was salty and the texture was different -not sticky but soft and pasty. Morning gory lacking smoky wok flavour and watery. Overall feels like a bit more attention and consistency is needed…

Went with friends on Monday and when we booked they said we could have the table from 7:30pm but we would have to leave by 9:30pm as they needed the table. When we left there was one table 9f 4 people in the restaurant and...

Good food good ambience Good staff as well

Giggling Squid is by far one of the best Thai restaurants we've eaten at. The staff were so lovely, very attentive and approachable. The food was top tier. Looked the part as well as taste. We were given a complimentary dessert to celebrate the occasion. Was definitely chuffed at the thoughtfulness of the staff members. Everything was great. Thank you guys! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We went for a Mothers day lunch with our 3 children (2,7 & 8). Service good and food was really tasty. I was really impressed by the kids menu which helped to open up a new cuisine to our usually fussy kids. Will definitely return.

Love Thai food. Really nice selection. We will be returning for lunch too. Also the resturant is so pretty

Amazing food! Shame they do not deliver to my area. I will definitely be back soon.

Amazing first experience. We will be back soon Second experience want so great. Drinks were forgotten and arrived slowly. The food again was very tasty, but. After our main was served we were forgotten about, we were never asked about puddings and waited over 45 minutes to be seen about the bill.

Lovely restaurant with attentive staff. Enjoyable Thai food.