Tamarind Thai Cafe in Three Rivers

Great little Thai restaurant in Rickmansworth. Has maintained standards over the years. We do miss Sashi but nonetheless, service and food remain top notch.

This restuarant used to have authentic tasting thai food however has since changed. I had the Tom yum soup which I had to send back twice. It was inedible, way too salty and had been made using a ready made tom yum curry paste from a Chinese wholesaler. I then ordered a dish with tofu, the tofu was so tough and could not be chewed. I then learned the restuarant buys pre-fried tofu. The chicken was also frozen and had a strange taste. It seems like the restuarant is using pre-made pastes and ingredients, nothing is fresh or authentic.

We love the Tamarind Thai cafe! The food is always excellent and great value for money, the staff are also very nice.

This is our most favourite of Thai restaurants. Wonder food. Vegetarian Red Curry with extra hot chillis and rice, that's the way to go.

Popped in for a quick late lunch. They have a special lunch menu with a very good value selection of one plate dishes for under £10. I had red curry and rice with prawns and the other person had chicken pad Thai. Both produced quickly, large portions and delicious. Hadn't been here for a while and good to know they are still producing delicious and reasonably priced food. Very small cafe style restaurant but worth a visit.

underwheming food. Pad Thai too sweet, to add insult to injury they said they did not have peanuts but that was after the food came out. Beers not very cold. Did not enjoy the quality of the chicken. Cashew nut chicken very average. This place used to be the bees knees. I used to eat here very regularly. Afraid I will not be going back ... other diners seemed happy so it could be just a matter of taste. Lady at the till cold and miserable... so different to "back in the day"

A tiny restaurant with lovely food and friendly staff.

Its was ok, i had the spicy noodles, and it tasted like its cooked in a burnt wok.

The best pad Thai I have ever tried

I have been visiting here for the last 7 years, and the quality and service have been exceptional. I came here with my staff as well for lunch and yesterday came down for dinner. Very authentic and 😋 Thai food.

Lovely little café restaurant, cosy atmosphere inside. Came here on a Monday evening for dinner following a recommendation and it did not disappoint! The pad Thai was yum and I highly recommend the red curry if you like a sweet creamy curry with a hint of spice! I could just drink the sauce alone! I will definitely come back.

Great experience as usual at my favourite Thai restaurant

I have been to the Tamarind Thai cafe a number of times and can wholeheartedly recommend it. Their lunch menu is very reasonably priced, and the food is simply delicious. The Pad Kaprow can be made with extra chillies if you no longer have the need for your lips. Simple cafe with extra seating upstairs. Friendly staff. It is never empty which is testament itself to the quality of the establishment. I shall be returning often.

Holy moly. Wow I've not been wowed by a curry in a Long time. This was amazing. Authentic and cheap this place needs to be much more busy it's so good. 10/10 will be coming back

Love this, my style of eating, not pretentious, no silly tea lights, no flowers pots, slates, buckets or oversized plates. Just good quality well cooked food in decent portions, friendly helpful staff. When I eat out the food and cleanliness comes first, the service second. Please don't go there as they may not have room to fit me in.

It's ok but a bit like a cafe. Food ok but disappointing as the true Thai flavours are just not "there"

Never again, this was once the best thai restaurant for MILES. now its just the same as every other. flavours used to stand out here, and now everything tatses the same. not sure what happened, but i know i miss tamarind circa 2017!

ABSOLUTE GOLD FIND! the food here is delicious. Staff friendly. I loved this cafe.

The food here is so bad now. Used to be amazing. Had a green curry. No coconut milk, just water. Chewy chicken. So sad it’s got so bad. Halfway House in ricky is much much better

Pretty nice Thai food and reasonably priced. About £8-10 per dish. Decent portion size.

Was amazing but seems to be a change of ownership and staff. No longer bustling or that friendly. Food is still decent but better off going to the White Horse.

Used to live in Ricky about 10 years ago and regularly visited to eat in with family and friends. I’m in the area for work about once/ twice a month and as the other half and I are so fond of Thai, I usually pick up a take-out on my way home. Positives: - You cannot beat the place for value for money, regardless of whether you’re eating in or taking- away. Tonight’s order with 3 starters, two mains and 2 rices came to just under £50. - Having spent time travelling extensively around Thailand, I echo the majority of comments here that it’s probably the best that I’ve tried outside of Thailand (up until this evening, see below). Every dish we’ve tried on the menu is flavoursome, freshly cooked and entirely authentic. - Having only collected recently and not eaten there, the decor has improved with the multi- coloured chairs and updated tables (used to remind me of my old primary school classroom with the wooden chairs) and to be honest, it’s called a CAFÉ for a reason. You’re paying café prices so don’t expect traditional Thai decorations or tacky frippery! Niggles: - The web address on their Facebook page leads you to something which is clearly not their website- maybe a generic web hosting platform which develops sites for restaurants? I see from some of the other reviews that this issue was supposed to have been sorted ‘soon’ but that reply was written 2 years ago. If it ain’t working, take it off until it’s fixed or operational. - Management haven’t placed the menu on the Facebook page but seems to rely on customer’s photos of the menu pages? It’d be good to have an up to date menu posted by the establishment so one could be sure that what you’re ordering/ paying is indeed correct. Otherwise a copy of the menu included with your takeaway would be sufficient. - With dishes such as the Moneybags, Satay skewers etc. it would be useful to have on the menu the number of items included in the portions, ensuring that when ordering for a number of people (or my greedy other half with the appetite of a prize stallion) that there’s enough to go around. I can’t be the only person asking this question when ordering, surely? - Maybe it’s just me but I would like to see sticky jasmine rice on the menu rather than just the egg- fried and plain steamed. - Other half wanted a portion of vegetables to accompany his main so I wanted to order the stir fried broccoli and garlic but the side dishes they used to have on the menu have disappeared. Maybe a smaller portion as sides might be an idea? Negatives: Just to be clear, this is the first time I’ve encountered anything negative with the place so I’m hoping these are just anomalies! - For the first time this evening I ordered the vegetable tempura. Maybe a trained professional might care to say otherwise, however in my experience, tempura batter is supposed to be light and crispy. What I received this evening was more akin to a portion of chicken balls/ pork balls from the local Chinese- with thick, doughy and greasy batter and sadly, meagre vegetables inside (carrot slice, anyone?); sadly not providing a great eating experience and mostly ended up in the bin (see accompanying photo). - Usually the portions are extremely generous, however upon opening my chicken Panang curry, I was a little shocked at the amount of chicken, vegetables, sauce (well, everything) in the container. At almost 10 quid for this dish, I was somewhat disappointed but fortunate that I’d ordered a container of rice for each of us otherwise I think I’d be going to bed hungry tonight (well this morning as it’s now 1:45am). Photo attached. I did collect at 9:15pm, there was only one table still seated at the restaurant and maybe the kitchen was low on ingredients, but I’m really hoping this was a one- off. I would hate to lose faith in this little gem of a restaurant and stop giving them my custom as I think it’s now more important than ever to support local, independent businesses. Hopefully management will be able to come back to me on my comments and take on board some of my suggestions.

Not as good as it used to be lost its charm sad

8 of us went for lunch yesterday, the lady that would normally greet us was not their, so not the same experience also ran out ofprawn crackers … and had to pay over £100 in cash for lunch luckily cash machine close by, 4 stars because the food is amazing however the service could let you down especially cash only !!

Doesn't acept card payments at lunch time, cash only

Great food. Good prices. While the service was good, it wasn't very friendly, atleast when compared to other eateries we've tried in Ricky.

Order takeout - no delivery service. Excellent food and excellent value

Fabulous food and excellent service! Lovely staff! Great experience as always!

Don't book this restaurant expecting a large posh dining room because it's casual dress but I would recommend that you do book, it's a small popular place. The food is excellent, plentiful and if you want it spicier then just ask. The staff are polite and friendly. The only down side is that it was cold in there but once you start eating you forget how cold it is. All in all though I highly recommend this place.

The restaurant itself was freezing cold and we ate with our costs on. Starters very very greasy Mains were a little better. Can't imagine going back

We have been here many times and always enjoyed the food and service. This evening it was a total different experience. First of all when we arrived the place was freezing. Many of the diners were eating with their coats on. We ordered the mixed platter for 2. When it arrived there were no dim sum included and instead corn cakes. When we asked they said they have changed it to corn cakes but it has not been changed in the menu. They did in the end bring us some dim sum after we asked for them twice and took away the corn cakes we said we would not pay extra. The spicy salad was very poor. Not in a lettuce casing, no crushed peanuts and rather than finely chopped carrots and cabbage there were large chunks. It didn’t taste very nice either. We asked if the heating was broken as it was so cold. The waiter felt a radiator said it was on and walked away. We ate the remainder of the meal with our coats on. The service was poor with empty glasses and cans being left on the table and staff banging crockery and cutlery on the table like they really didn’t want to be there. When paying the bill I was told the amount after the waitress worked it out on a calculator. Only giving me an itemised bill when I asked for it. I refused to pay the discretionary service charge as there was no service. All in all an experience that I do not wish to go through again. With the cost of eating out being so high there are certain standards that should be met. Unfortunately this place doesn’t and we will not be going back or getting a take away again.

Lovely dinner and good service - very authentic Thai food!

Gteat place to eat, mainly because of the absurdly characterful and friendly lady that runs front of house. Food is good, usually busy

This place used to be good, I specifically asked for extra sauce on the curry they literally diluted them with water and oil, and the curry’s were bland, the rice was burnt and mixed up. This place is a hit and miss. Very disappointed with the food overall. The lady who runs this place is always too busy not looking into what the customer is asking for or listening to what they want.

Very much a cafe layout, the green curry and egg fried rice was really tasty and all reasonably priced... recommended.

Best Thai green curry I've had in a long time. Very friendly staff and owner.

Went tonight for dinner. Husband ordered the steak special. It was so fatty he couldn't eat it... literally lumps of fat served up rather than being trimmed first. We complained, told owner we would pay half. She agreed and then told us as we were leaving goodbye, don't come back, your banned!! What for.complaining about one dish!! Stupid woman to treat a customer in this way. If you go, don't complain or you will be banned too!! No wonder it wasn't full on a Saturday night... speaks volumes.

Food is what this place is about. A simple cafe style with excellent food and good service. Good menu plus tempting specials, if I could go back the next day I would.

Last minute find. Super busy but owner kept us informed how long things would take. Food was great, service made us all happy. Would return!

Made to wait outside for 20 minutes after pre booked table time.. woman serving was drunk, shouting snd very very rude service.. literally told to Hurry up and order a main because the kitchen is closing.. after waiting 20 minutes outside even although she said 5 minutes etc.. repeatedly asked for items which she rudely dismissed and never turned up. Worse experience ever of coming here. I definitely wont be back any time soon. Visited 10/08/22

Great food, amazing service and good value for money. Love it here!

Always a great experience, wonderful hostess and great food

Great for quick tasty lunch. Waitress most accommodating and friendly

First time visiting and had a lovely meal here last night. Staff were attentive, relaxed and funny and the food was delicious and very well priced. Will definitely be back and will recommend

Lovely little family run businesses with great food and great service!

We love this place and the staff are so friendly.

Very nice, clean, friendly service and delicious food delivered to our table in minutes!

I have lived in Rickmansworth a while and this was my first visit to The Tamarind. What a great experience! Very warm welcome - well chilled beer and the food was delightful. Had some, ribs / tempura prawns / pan fried garlic salmon. The house red wine was very smooth. They showed such a true, Thai desire, to serve you and treat you as a VIP. They deserved the business. Prices were very fair and I would thoroughly recommend this place.

This is one of the best Thai meals I have had, well worth a visit, I would suggest you book a table, as it gets very busy.

Best thai food I've had in the UK. I could genuinely eat the red curry every day it's a must have when you go

Took take away , food was awful in taste , we ordered 2 portion of egg fried rice , in one box it was just quarter of portion . Recently there quality of food gone down , won’t recommend it

Great takeaway and eat in joint Lunch time specials are great value

Kind and attentive host. Fantastic food. Recommended

Had a very poor experience and food was not that great either. Ordered spring rolls but it tasted like Indian samosa, pad thai resembled the plain noodles and had beef pad ped which was terribly salty. Sadly one of the worst thai dine in London.

My husband, kids and I, decided to have an impromptu dining experience at tamarind Thai today. This is a restaurant that has served us reasonably well, and for the last 12 years, we have treated ourselves to specific dishes from there - either as dine in, or take away. When we arrived The young waitress was really polite, prompt and attentive. Unfortunately, this is where the good service started and ended. My ‘usual’ menu choice of vegetable spicy noodles with no egg was ordered, as well as pad Thai for my daughter and the special softshell crab for my son and green Thai prawn curry for my husband was placed together with our starters. The starters were a tad salty (I had the Tom ka vegetable soup), but reasonably pleasant. Then came the mains. To call my vegetable spicy noodles ‘burnt’ - would be an understatement. I had 2 forkfuls and asked my husband to try it too because I couldn’t believe my eyes, tastebuds or sense of smell and needed his help to validate it. He had 1 forkful, and asked me to send it back. I politely flagged the young waitress to articulate my issue. Essentially, my food was inedible. I mentioned this to the young lady, who took one look at my food, gave me a knowing look, and walked back to the kitchen with the smell of burning following after her. There was never any doubt about what was wrong with this meal - you could see it, you could smell it, you could taste it. This dish, is one I have ordered at least 10 times from tamarind Thai over the years. I know what I should expect to receive, and the charred carbon texture or soot like elements of the spices, slathered in some equally incinerated lubricant is not something i, or anyone in their right mind would consume - let alone pay for. As a fair person, I expected the patrons to either a) offer to remake my meal or b) give me the opportunity to order something else if this dish was falling outside the remit of the current chef’s abilities. Instead, I had the lady at the desk walk back the meal to me, to say it’s the wok that gets ‘very hot’ - it is not burnt - she said. To patronise me like that obviously did not sit well with me. I politely pointed out that this was a meal I had ordered several times in the past, and this fell far below the standard anyone would reasonably expect for food. I told her I would not be eating that food, and she could take my food. Service in other areas would have included a basic level of customer service - ie, taking my feedback on board, and or offering to improve our dining experience in some way. This did not happen. Fast forward to bill paying time - and an argument within earshot of other diners ensued between my husband and the lady at the payment desk. We could not reasonably be expected to pay for a meal I didn’t eat - not because I misordered, but because it was inedible. She then launched into a monologue about how we don’t know Thai food (husband has lived in Thailand before, and we have all been there) and that it wasn’t that burnt, we would eat it at home if we burnt the food slightly etc etc. We had to put our foot down to avoid this extra charge (although I couldn’t tell you exactly what we paid for as nothing is itemised at bill paying time). All in all, food was less than the usual standard we had come to expect from thamarind. Some of it was sickly sweet (pad Thai) and some of it too salty (Tom ka). The vegetables (spring onion, herbs and chillis specifically) were also not fresh either. The rest was somewhere around average, with the service falling far short of any basic standard by the lady at the desk, vs very good and professional by the young waitress. I am not a person who returns food, is unconstructive, lacks empathy or leaves bad reviews. I am a massive proponent of supporting smaller businesses, going local and just generally being good person. To this end, I do hope tamarind use this as a learning opportunity to do better. While the pricing is extremely favourable, more candor and appreciation of your patrons would go a long way.

Quite a small an intimate restaurant in Rickmansworth run by a very friendly, if slightly eccentric owner! The mixed starters for two were nice, except the prawn tempura which were more batter than prawn and a bit greasy, the extra dish of Khanom Jees were delicious. The Phad King main course was very tasty and the chicken fried rice portion was huge! All in all a great place to go for tasty authentic Thai food reasonably priced.

Poor show, lukewarm food which was below average

Real authentic Thai. Food good - had lovely lunch

Lovely attention and delicious food, so far everything I tried is fantastic and I loooved the red curry I first had today🤩

True Thai food. Specific atmosphere for food being served. Amazing ! Greets!

Amazing food, friendly staff. Great value

Amazing Thai, warm reception and great service. Good takeaway service too. Very swift!

We were recommended here and so glad we were… the ladies are lovely and the food was amazing.. a touch of Thailand in Rickmansworth will definitely be back 👍👏👏

Yummy food. Very authentic taste.

Could/should do better, maybe next time.

Tastes are amazing, good prices too

Yummy food and excellent hospitality, definitely worth regular visits.

The food here is delicious, I will recommend the pad thai if you like sweet food ..I love it .

The food is great, and the ladies working there are very welcoming. The food is also served quickly. Highly recommended

Great little find, the service is amazing and the food is very affordable and great quality!

Very good food brought to us with equal service

Very cosy and and excellent atmosphere with great variety of Thai dishes to choose from. Reasonable prices served by friendly staff. Parking is a bit tight but it's best to book table ahead. The downside is the toilets are upstairs and not accessible by wheelchair users.

We absolutely love this restaurant, the super warm welcome and beautiful tasty food bring us back time and time again. Many thanks.

Very good and tasty food would have given it 4 or 5 stars but disappointing that lucnch time is only thursday to sat when last year it was all 5 days a week. Have to come on a thursday or friday lunch time instead of any of the other week day bit restrictive

Great food, friendly and fast service.

Had a takeaway from Thamrin after a very long time, sadly I was very disappointed. Ingredients didn’t taste fresh. It used to be my favourite, unfortunately this is not the case anymore. Worst Thai I’ve had in a long time and won’t be returning again.

Fantastic place, very good price and very yummy. Separate opening hours and menus for lunch and dinner.

Very tasty food. Service fantastic & quick. We would recommend this Thai restaurant without hesitation. Excellent authentic food & the lady that served was so helpful & friendly that we would like to go back again & again.

Authentically delicious food delivered by a waitstaff full of positive energy. Dinner at Tamarind had all the pleasures of an elegant night out without the frills, fuss, or elevated price point.

Best Thai place in Rickmansworth! Got nothing bad to say at all, the food is fantastic, the service is lovely and the price is very fair.

Simply the best Thai food in Rickmansworth. Delicious!

Some things on the menu don't seem to be available now although they were still on the printed menu handed to us (?) Food is tasty

Lovely food friendly staff always a pleasure to eat in or to have takeaway

Decent food, nice atmosphere, can be a bit loud, but enjoyable

Nothing flashy about this place but good is good and reasonably priced.

If u want cheap quick lunch and like Thai spicy food, here is the place, I don’t mind to hv lunch here as the place is small, no atmosphere, it’s like eating at the canteen, don’t want to stay here for more than 20 mins, so crowded ! Definitely not the place for dinner am afraid ! Food usually good if they don’t put too much salt in it !

Delicious food, served with a huge smile and enthusiasm.

This restaurant not only serves exceptional food but the waitresses are fantastic, friendly and characterful. We were also pleasantly surprised to see that the £20 tip we left was handed directly to our waitress.

Good food, good service, waitress was so kind.

Really authentic unpretentious thai cafe, fast and simple service but most important part is the food which is closest taste to when we were in Thailand

Very good value for money, tasty food. Not socially distanced tables though. Food served quickly and owner very welcoming.

Delicious jungle curry and red curry and Nice wine. very good prices.

Had a lovely dinner here all 4 of us really enjoyed it!

We always use this little restaurant when we want a Thai meal. The lady Manager is extremely efficient and can do many things at the same time. The food is good, the prices are reasonable and I can thoroughly recommend.

Love this place the lady behind the counter is a superstar

Great service. Well priced food. Helpful staff

Tamarind Thai has reopened! We had a celebratory meal with special fried rice, volcano duck and chi chi prawns. Lovely!

Great Thai food at a decent price. Yes the lady on reception can appear chaotic and rude but she is perfectly fine! The food was great, lots of flavour, would definitely go back here. Reminded me of all the great food we ate in Thailand. There aren't many seats and it's best to book ahead if you want to sit down. They do takeaway but collection only.

So happy the guys are very much open for takeaways- had the usual wonderful meal from them this week, thank you. The food really is superb and cheered us up no end. We’ll be back soon x

Excellent food at a very good price. Rapid service for those going to Watersmeet! Everyone must go there!