Paya in Hertsmere

After waiting for 1 hour and 10 minutes for our food to arrive we had high expectations wrongly thinking that Paya would have been beavering away cooking our food from scratch. How disappointed we were. My wife ordered Peppercorn Salt Tofu and I had it with chicken. Both were re-fried and dried out layered in almost raw onions and carrots. I had the Chicken in Black Bean Sauce which was tasteless and gloopy, like they had just thickened a watery sauce with cornflower. My wife’s Szechuan Stir Fry Tofu was again tasteless and floating in almost raw vegetables as was her Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables. Now, I’m no Ken Hom but believe me I know how few ingredients go into making a takeaway Chow Mein Chicken. In my 60 years on this planet I had never had a bad Chow Mein until last night. Raw carrots, raw onions, tasteless and a pointless game of spot the chicken. My Pork Ribs in Sweet Peking Sauce were small, bite size lumps of gristle that resembled ribs in the same way a pebble resembles the white cliffs of Dover. In fact the only two edible items on our £70+ bill were the Crispy Vegetable Rolls and the Egg Fried Rice. In the past we’ve always received a bag of prawn crackers but not this time. We have been ordering from Paya for almost 10 years but will never do so again.

DISGUSTING totally tasteless, no spice, watery and gave me stomach pains, the place needs to be closed down,HORRIBLE, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY OR RISK YOUR HEALTH

AWFUL! Spent 1hr 20mins for tasteless boiled chicken which was meant to be chicken cashew nuts, cold rice and chicken with a paste which should have been chicken satay. Don’t waste your money!

Terrible tasteless food rice all stuck together not fried rice prawns burnt ,veg came in some kind of liquid again suppose to be fried in all complete waste of £46 takeaway I did phone them but they didn’t seem interested.So disappointing just wanted a break from cooking I say never again

Decent food , enjoy the flavour of both chicken cashew & chicken satay however they give you about a teaspoons worth of satay sauce to go with about 4/5 skewers hence the 3*.

Last 2 times, food has been below average, last night was the last straw, chicken wings were undercooked, so much so there was flour on the wings from not being fried enough, the lamb tasted of lemon which is a cooks secret to disguise bad meat and oh my was it... my partner has been Ill all night from it. Absolute con for saying healthier take out. If you want to lose weight, eat here as you will be so ill from vomiting the pounds will fall off!

Ordered a delivery from here. Quite possibly the worst Chinese takeaway I have ever had. Sweet and sour - wrong. Char Sui pork - wrong. “Authentic Chinese curry” - wrong. Fried noodles which I can only describe as dry cut up raw ramen noodles. Even the rice was stodgy. Nothing authentic about any of it. Added to all of that, it took over an hour to arrive and when I called to see why it was late, they lied and said it was already on its way and then suspiciously about 10 mins later the delivery status on Uber eats changed to “On it’s way”. I don’t ordinarily leave such bad reviews, but it was such poor quality that I felt it was needed. Would definitely not recommend. Most of the food went straight in the bin, complete waste of money.

Far too salty to the point where we couldn't eat it. Mixed up an dish in the order and then was cooked in a fashion that is not to the description. Not good at all.

Never ordered from this place before but our local chinese is closed in these current times and this was the nearest one we could find. Placed the order over the phone of what we would usually order from our local (that would normally cost around £50) - was told over the phone that it was £72.45 which we thought was extreme but thought it would be worth it if it was nice! (wish I'd looked at the reviews before we ordered!) - was firstly disappointed to hear that they had NO prawn crackers so we didnt even get anything complimentary for the amount we were spending! We couldnt believe it when it arrived, to say minimal for the money was an understatement - none of the dishes were filled up, the mixed starter tray consisted of minimal amount compared to what we'd get from our usual chinese and nothing had much taste! They did deliver within the hour that they had stated but got lost en route so the food was barely warm. When the driver called for directions to our house he was extremely rude! Would definitely not order from these people again ... absolute daylight robbery to charge £72.45 for what we had!!

Appalling. Dumplings - undercooked TWICE Chicken balls - completely overcooked and inedible. Ribs have no meat or taste. We sent back the first order as cold and see above. Only to received the second order even worse. On calling the restaurant they conveniently turned off their phone or was given user busy. Awful.

unfortunately not mind you just look at windows that are filthy .and you can see them if they cannot be bothered to clean front of house viewing

Ordered from here on Just Eat. The food was cold, very oily, left feeling very sick. Waited for the food for over an hour and half, not to mention the quality of the food was appalling. The crispy noodles were literally crispy - pretty much exactly how it looks uncooked but browner. All the sides, shredded chicken, beef, squid was just completely soaked in batter and unbelievably chewy. Even the special rice had minimal amount of actual meat and was very bland. The pricing isn't fair for the quality. Payed £70 to be left feeling sick and hungry. Very disappointed. I want compensation for this experience.

@#k a duck!!!! Here is my experience the night I discovered the 'gem' that is paya!!! I was chilling on the sofa watching the footy, it was around 8pm and I had just rolled a fat joint, I thought to myself, I better order some banging munch, I scrolled through the just eat app and BANG there she was.... Paya.... I had found her, don't get me wrong the prices are pretty high, but jeeeeeeez the food was worth it, I lf you want a cheaper chinky then go elsewhere and save yourself a tenner for a ten bag! I ordered the chilli beef, Hong Kong chicken, egg fried rice and a side of bbq sauce, Eta of delivery was 9pm by the time I finished ordering, which was spot on, as by the time I finished my joint, my munchies should kick in by then, It was around 8:50pm and my munchies had well and truly took affect, I tried to fight with these through pacing up and down the living room, constant curtain twitching,and even resorting to sniffing the sweet smell of a pack of cherry bakewells! 'knock knock' goes the door! What it's only 8:55pm I thought to myself, surly this can't be my munch. I approached the door, looking through the spy hole, I saw him... Pavel..... I can only described this courier bred by santa himself, as a polish football hooligan, I slid the door chain to the side, and proceeded to open the door, 'hello my friend I am Pavel I have your paya order,' says pavel, how looks can be deceiving! , pavel may look like he about to knock out 4 West ham hooligans, but my god he was a kind polite man, After a swift handshake and I slipped pavel a few quid tip,pavel walked away in his leather jacket and tight levi jeans, I shut the door and let pavel enjoy the rest of his life delivering to many more happy customers, Immediately as I proceeded to kitchen I could feel the heat through the bag so I knew I wouldn't have to shove it in the oven for a few minutes, which really helped as by now I had the munchies bad! The smell coming from the bag, I could only describe as myself being fully sedueced by payas aroma! I dished up, plate looked banging, egg fried rice, Hong Kong chicken, chilli beef, and few prawn crackers to munch on the side, I sat down and rolled a quick fag for afters, mouth watering, belly rumbling I grabbed the plate, It was time! F@#K A DUCK!!! This food is banging, Seriously I have munched a few chinkies in my time and this is by far a different level!!! Egg fried rice was amazing Hong Kong chicken, now jeez it just melts in your mouth, and the chilli beef, holy Sh#t! It was amazing, tender crispy and very spicy, had my nose running like Jimmy Savile in a playground, but wasn't to bad, I just smashed out a few prawn crackers to cool my mouth down, which seemed to work, I went in for 2nds and saved a bit for the morning to throw in the microwave for a bit of breakfast, Paya has well and truly inserted a beautiful food baby in my belly, and I didn't feel violated what so ever! I highly recommend paya, Your chef is a legend!!! I know where I'm going next time I get the munchies!!! Say hello to pavel for me, I hope your spent your 3 quid well, you earned it my friend, Until we meet again paya............. 10/10

We've been ordering food from here for a few years now. Sometimes delivery can be slow but if you don't mind waiting the food is worth it. My wife is a vegetarian and they have quite a few options available. The Thai food can be a bit hit and miss but the traditional Chinese takeaway options are brilliant. Would highly recommend.

There’s another restaurant that sells Thai food and that’s 10 times better. I accidentally ordered over the phone to these guys, half way through the call I realised it was the wrong place as they didn’t have certain things on the menu. My Thai red curry is like brown orange colour doesn’t taste that nice, ordered sticky rice and they delivered plain boiled rice. The dumplings are lovely and I also had salt n pepper ribs which were lovely. The moral of the story, stick with Chinese and don’t order Thai until they change their ingredients.

I often order from Paya. They deliver and there food is free from monosodium glutamate. The food is quite good. Delivery is fairly speedy and well packaged.

Not only was the food cold when it finally turned up after nearly 2 hours but the chicken was raw, which is completely unacceptable and dangerous. I paid nearly £40 for a takeaway to then receive such disgusting food.

Just awful. A simply horrible meal. This place should not be in business. I ordered a takeaway of simple Pad Thai. instead I got Chinese noodles covered in Soy Sauce and the meal tasted "off" After 2 mouthfuls I put the plate away and threw in the bin not wanting to risk food poisoning. I urge everyone reading this to avoid this restaurant like the plague.

I used to love this place until the new management took over and raised the prices ridiculously high. This was my order: Crispy Seaweed 4.25 Smoked Crispy Chicken 6.45 1. Crispy Seaweed £4.25 2. Smoked Crispy Chicken £6.45 3. Black Bean Sauce, B. Beef £7.45 4. Crispy Shredded Szechuan, B. Beef £7.95 5.Singapore Noodles, A. Vegetarian (Noodles) £6.45 6. Egg Fried Rice £3.45 It came to £38 (including £1.50 delivery and a 50p card charge). That’s 6 dishes for almost £40, 3 of which are a vegetable rice dish, vegetable noodle dish, and vegetable seaweed dish! Such a shame as I really liked this place but cannot justify those prices

It's difficult finding a decent takeaway place in Radlett, which is odd since there are so many restaurants. Last night was another classic 'Keystone Cops' moment when everything went wrong. Wrong food delivered (every dish was wrong) and when I called, they were rude and unhelpful - they even made me wait during the call whilst they took another phone order. In the end, money and all food was returned in favour of pizzas from another place, but I am finally giving up now! I had a houseful for a celebration and frankly they let me down (one too many times). Reading the reviews, I agree with others although I imagine the owners/managers don't bother. I look forward to a time when there is a decent Thai or Chinese (dedicated) takeaway with good, fresh food that deliverer the food ordered in good time. It can't be too difficult to pull off especially in such a wealthy place with high demand for these services. In the meantime, with Paya so well below this standard, we will vote with our feet.

Not the first time they’ve been late. No prawns and prawn toast crispy duck was cold and somehow unseasoned.

Awful food. Don't order from here. Worst example of special fried rice I've ever seen. Singapore fried noodles with 1 shrimp (yes, a singular shrimp in the whole thing). I've even had to put 1 star for restaurant service because food of this quality has to reflect in some other area. Second time food has been really poor from here. Never again Paya, never again...

Fast delivery. Lovely food. Would order again

I have been ordering from these guys for quite some time. Their service is excellent.

the food keeps getting better and better!!!!

Fairs fair...! I previously slated this restaurant a long time ago, but it’s only fair to rectify that and say they have won me back and then some! The food I’ve ordered the last couple times (dim sum and ho fan noodles) has been absolutely delicious - best food I’ve had for a while in fact...my favourite restaurant, again!!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

amazing amazing food. always arrives hot. the dim sum is to die for and all the other dishes!!!!

Food was delivered on time. Some dishes were nice but others were really greasy. Generally okay but a little expensive compared to other Chinese takeaways in the area. Would probably order from somewhere else next time.

Food was cold and awful! Was also late by 30 mins.

Great restaurant! Love the kung po chicken! Will definitely order agaibln

wasn’t great and quite expensive. wouldn’t order again

Unfortunately, I never got my food order, after 1 hr and a half after getting a text to say my food was on the way after 1 hr. I called twice to chase up and eventually told they never got my original order. Although the man on the phone was apologetic and offered to make food ASAP, I think that's very poor/unacceptable service and wouldn't recommend this to people I am sad to say.

No problem with service or delivery - quality and taste of food was poor. Didn't resemble Chinese / Thai tastes. Very disappointed.

Agree with other posters that the Thai was bland. Vegetarian mock duck was great. The worst thing is that the restaurant did not tell the address and delivery instructions to the driver, so we waited 20 minutes longer than needed. Rubbish service

Not happy about service. For a Tuesday and what I ordered it shouldn't have taken so long.

Fantastic food and not greasy at all. The amazing thing that will make me order from them again is that clearly printed on the menu is that this restaurant does NOT use MSG in there dishes. Amazing food.

Absolutely terrible quality food

Did not specify a delivery time, just asked for asap. Were told 7.10 and delivery driver called just before 7 to check the address. Food arrived earlier than expected which was great. Food was as ordered, I had asked for one dish to be changed slightly from menu and that came as we wanted. Food was not piping hot but warm enough. Food was tasty. Will order again.

Ok for the money, but one tim missing

First time ordering from here. Food was delicious and delivered hot and on time. Really impressed, will be using again.

Food was bland, wrong dish delivered for my wife, piece of plastic found in my Thai stir fry (nearly swallowed it!) Overall not great, only tried as our usual place seemed to have an issue with their menu. Won't be trying again.

Food was late by 25 minutes Order was wrong was given a prawn massaman instead of beef Just eat was beef but receipt on bag was prawn Will not order again

Food was delivered over an hour late. Tried calling 50 times but line always busy. Only time they answered someone babbled something in Chinese then left the phone on the counter for 10 mins and forgot about it. Order a few different Thai dishes, all of which could only be described as anaemic with no flavour or colour. Would not recommend.

Please don’t order from here, they tell blatant lies to you. They claim to have your order, they tell you it’s out for delivery and then 2 hours later they tell you they never received your order even though Hungry House confirmed they accepted the order. Total waste of time and I won’t be using them ever again.

Had to chuck away most of the food because it taste absolutely disgusting. The noodles are overall greasy and taste more like they had fajita sauce poured on it. The soup went straight in the bin, smells off and smells like you put an oxo cube in it. Chicken balls are overalls cooked, hard and couldn’t even chew parts of it, the sweet and sour sauce is more like jelly. The duck was alright. Nothing special but edible. Pretty much binned £50.

Ordered black pepper after ordering from another paya in west london and was terrible, fatty meat, nothing like what i had previously received which was tender steak, not even certain that the meat itself is beef, also arrived very late, was not given refund.

Didn’t follow all directions asked for no onions and bean sprouts, but got double bean sprouts. But tasty

Lovely food, lovely driver, perfect!

The set menu had four packets of Egg Fried Rice which was too much rice. Could have been only two with a couple of noodle dishes instead. The starter snacks were very basic.

food delivery was early and hot.

Food acceptable but nothing special. Much better value for money available in the local area, so won't bother ordering from here again.

not a good Chinese I'm sorry to say food was distinctly average - we threw 80% of it away

The restaurant have the driver the wrong address. Then I had I wait around and direct the driver. The food was cold

late. cold. I’ll never order again. so not worth their prices, it used to be amazing, my fave and I have placed 10 orders over time whilst watching it get worse and worse. still no one has done anything regarding my feedback on my most recent order, you have published the star rating and not the words even though there’s no reason why you can’t display it. I spoke to JE on live chat regarding the shocking service and they haven’t even bothered to resolve what happened and still associate with this place like they don’t care. I am not the only one complaining so maybe I’m on the list of victims of Paya Radlett and they’ll get around to doing something soon????

Really well good fresh and tasty food

Worst takeaway we have ever had. Over an hour and a half late with no apology whatsoever from the delivery driver. The food was inedible, cold and stale; yet we paid almost £50.

For a long time phai has been my go to , a little more expensive and longer wait time but always worth it, so I am hoping this is a one off. Food was totally ineable, stone cold ,flavourless and extremely greasy

very tasty and came earlier then expected..recommended

Wonderful food. Always fast delivery. Tofu is great.

There was no sweet and sour sauce included and the duck was dry and overcooked. Prawn crackers were far too thick and the chow mein tasteless. Most went in the bin.

YESTERDAYS DUCK!!! Duck was clearly not freshly cooked - not crispy, chewy, awful! Plum sauce was enough for 2 pancakes - really ???? Will Not use again !!!!!

Food was very average not the worst but not amazing. But what annoyed me most was the delivery man who asked for Payment when I had paid by Apple Pay. He then told me my postcode was wrong! Will not be ordering from this place again!

The service was very quick and the delivery driver was lovely. However, the food was very poor and very over priced at £42 for 6 items for 3 people. The chicken balls are very average, have paid a lot less for better - as well as the rest being burnt and too dry to eat. I’m sorry but I won’t be ordering from there ever again.

hiya can someone please contact me about our meal? I’m a frequent customer and always get the green Thai curry but was really disappointed this time. None of us have actually eaten it in the end as it’s like a bag of sugar was put in it?? have you changed the recipe? many thanks

I have to say i was thoroughly surprised by the portion, there was a lot of it. It was not really sure what to expect but I loved it. The food was fresh and a hot temperture. I had the thai green cary and loved it will definitely.

Excellent food and very polite delivery man

delicious food!whenever we feel like having Chinese,this is our go to,,.the food is always hot and yummy and prepared the same way everytime,so no unexpected surprise.we love it

Extremely disappointing order, food was flavourless. One item was missing, promised a refund which I did not receive. Avoid

delivery took 85 minutes and was delayed from original delivery time. food nice as always but angry that for £4.25 I only got 5 mini spring rolls. that’s ridiculous!

Food not turned up at all. Left with the food at 6:45 from Paya according to text. Calls not being taken and one time they did answer they hanged up. Shambolic

Restaurant added 10 mins to delivery time and then delivered 40 mins prior. Food was average.

Excellent food as always! Many thanks.

what’s the point ipre-ordering if the delivery is then 45mins late! and duck pancakes with no pancakes? cannot recommend

Squid was like it was cooked yesterday and reheated today. Won't order it again.

Thank you Fast, efficient and good quality

Won't be ordering from this place again. Declined recent orders. Don't advertise you deliver to my area when you can't. Apart from that, food isn't that good. Noodles lack taste and are so stuck together they are barely 'noodles'..and portions are small.

Really expensive. Added 25 mins to the delivery order, then said on app had been delivered and still took another 20 mins. Crispy chilli beef was not crispy and I have better food, quicker and cheaper from other local Chinese.

Delivered 1hr too early Food warm at best Rice was clumpy, chicken balls over cooked and soggy chips

Delivery took 1 hour 10. Average food

Food was good Pad Thai was bit sweet. The wine..i wasn't expecting much but was happily surprised with Hardys which is a winner!

Food tasted great delivery was very fast and food was still very hot. Overall it was great and would buy again.

I think the normal manager and chef were off on holiday together... Delivery was 20 minutes late (after the restaurant had already extended the requested delivery time by 20 minutes). When it arrived they forgot the wine, which had to be delivered 25 minutes later. The good thing about this was that I was able to return the Pad Kee Mao to the driver as it was disgusting. I’ve ordered this before from different Paya restaurants and this was awful... like someone had put old, mushy rice noodles into a Chinese sauce (with ONE green bean) and then chucked in flaked chillies, not even fresh ones. The rice pasta dumplings were delicious as normal, but I’ll never order from here again. I appreciate the refund of £5 for forgetting the wine but would have thought I’d be refunded the food I sent back.

Threw half of it away. Duck was underdone and wasn’t ‘crispy’, but instead soft. Each pancake had a rip in it so none could be rolled up and made into a pancake roll without breaking. Perhaps they had been over warmed or crumpled up in a box. Prawn toast was incredibly dry and chewy. Wouldn’t order from here again, very disappointing and total waste of money.

Ordered for the first time and all the food was delicious. One of the best chinese food I have had in a while. I will be ordering again in the future.

Average. Rice stodgy. Everything just meh. Average.

Dont order the ribs. Was very disappointed to get 4 ribs on a bed of lettuce for the price they charge. Not going to order from there again

Excellent - we just found our new favourite Chinese restaurant!

worst experience of my life! do not order from these people. disgusting behaviour from their staff and the food was poor. half portions and they did not deliver all the food we ordered. Complete rip off!

Great place would go again, Food was at a good standard the only thing which let it down was the half duck didn't get enough greens and sauce with it. fix that and I will be a regular

The most expensive and the least satisfactory Chinese meal we have ever had.

absolutely shocking want a refund

food was so late- app told us it was delivered when it wasn’t. restaurant continued to repeatedly tell us it was 5 minutes away. terrible terrible service

Didn’t follow instructions as to what I didn’t want in the meal. But the order took so long I couldn’t send it back as I couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t take another hour and 20 till I ate. plus this is not the first time it has been late.

awful service from paya. not the first time. I won’t be ordering from here again. food was 45 minutes late. and took 1.5 hours to arrive from ordering!!! considering they are five minutes away is shocking.

Lovely Food as Always. They forgot the Pancakes. so I called the Restaurant and they came back and Re delivered them. very Happy.

Very disappointing. Awful rice, really watery sweet and sour. Expensive noodles. Won't order from here again

Quality of food was fine but delivery was extremely late turning up 30 minutes after stated time. Would seriously think twice before ordering again.

Quality of food was fine but delivery was extremely late turning up 30 minutes after stated time. Would seriously think twice before ordering again.

Delicious! Will definitely order again, thanks!

Delicious! Will definitely order again, thanks!