The best restaurants serving Thai food in East of England

Fresh tasty food would defo go again

If you are looking for authentic Thai food or something close, don’t go to the Thai Rack. The food is disappointing, as is the service. Simply too busy to pay attention. Everything is over sauced and heavily laden with sugar and salt. We were told that rather than serve authentic cuisine, they cook for the local palette. That’s understood. They are catering to the market. But to be told that we, as customers, should request authentic Thai food is problematic. Surely the onus is on the restaurant to offer both as does another Thai venue in Royston? This restaurant has clearly found its niche that is to trot out British style Thai dishes for locals. So if that’s not for you, please don’t bother and if you’ve travelled in Asia then stay well away. The sweet and sour chicken was drowning in sauce: more a soup than a stir fry. The chicken was thickly cut; a basic mistake on a good stir fry. When I poured the stir fry liquid onto an empty plate to show how much sauce they had served, then asked if they would eat all that liquid, the response was ‘no’. So why would they expect a customer to stomach this? The dish tasted more Chinese than Thai. Just chicken drowning in too sweet and too salty a sauce. Also the colour was a high red. Perhaps artificial? The vegetables were limp due to too much fluid. The rice was plentiful and moist but lacked any flavour. The crab tasted musty. The pork belly was over cooked, as if reheated. No crisp on the belly fat, where any fat could be found. The fat had more of a stretchy consistency than a crispy one. The pork itself was hard, and dry. Clearly overcooked. Perhaps reheated in a microwave? The colour was off too. The papaya salad rather than fresh and fragrant was also over sauced and limp. The same sauce as used on the soft shell crab starter, but diluted down. Again, super sweet. No bite to the vegetables. No standard citrus, lemon grass or chilli notes, more glutinous sugary and salty soupy sauces. Apparently, made this way for us locals. Customer service was embarrassingly poor. No one asked how our food was once we started to eat. Admittedly, the venue became more busy. But there was no interest there aside from banging out the order and leaving you to it. We asked 12 times for the bill, which they didn’t want to provide. However, the conversation about the whole experience was very much one of excuses, and had a sickly, patronising whiff of ‘you’re trying to run a number on us’. We paid in full, of course. We wanted to pay. We insisted. Having asked over and over for the bill, it was left for us to walk up to the bar and insist to pay again and again. At the bar, we were greeted with more excuses and contradictions as to why the food was so disappointing. It’s not about making payment or not, it’s about the restaurant taking on feedback and treating the customer with respect. It was very much about them; their excuses and ‘guilt’ (as they said) about the food, rather than about truly listening for improvement or to grow the customer base. Please provide a positive, respectable dining experience than tell me you feel guilt. If you love authentic Thai food, you’ll likely know where to go in Cambridge. This experience is for people who like heaps of food on the plate that heavily tastes of sugar and salt. No notes. No flavour. No fragrance. It was essentially a high class ready meal. We ate well less than half of the dishes. Just gave up. This is the third time eating with the Thai Rack in three years as each experience to date has been a farce. We’ve always paid in full and tried to give it a go because we want to support our local venues. But no more to the Thai Rack, and refusing to pay is simply to let them off the hook as they can convince themselves it’s a con rather than genuine customer feedback. They don’t care. That was the sentiment and clear by the response and behaviour. Then again, they have a niche but it’s not for diners who seek authenticity, or at least balanced flavourful cooking. No star rating. Thanks

This hidden gem cafe is an absolute delight! Best food and drink I’ve eaten in Watford for years. Everything is freshly made, and the menu is varied between hot and cold, small bites to bigger meals. Best hot chocolate ever, actually tasted like chocolate. The staff are friendly, polite and efficient. Basically a wonderful place to eat if you like fresh quality good food, and the cakes are amazing too.

Excellent food, good service, fair prices. There is nothing to dislike. Best to reserve a table for popular times - it gets busy

Out favourite Thia restaurant. Very relaxing atmosphere, staff very attentive and the food is so fresh tasting. Very nice Thai restaurant.

Being vegetarian I was pleased to see that they had veggie options on the menu. The starter was deep fried bean curd (Tofu). As soon as I bit into it the oil came pouring out, it was awful. The chili sauce seemed like it was just out of a regular bottle, nothing special. Then it was green curry, average. The sticky rice was served in a plastic bag and in a basket, its all too messy. The beer I ordered was warm. The restaurant did not have my reservation although I had called through 3 days earlier and the service was OK but food and drinks served so fast you felt like you were being rushed out the door. The whole place is a bit dated for me and could do with a face lift. On the plus side, my friend loved her sliced duck and said it was to die for. I guess that's why we were in there.

I had dinner here with a group of friends one Thursday evening. The service was exceptional with all members of staff going out of their way to be friendly and helpful. Although we did not have it, they do a special 3 course Banquet deal on Thursdays (and other offers such ‘early bird’ dining). The food was first class in all respects, tasty and served hot, we really could not have asked for more. I had the green curry with chicken, just fabulous. Booking a table is advised. Very highly recommended, it is a place that we would happily visit again.

the food was nice, but it took 1.5hrs to be delivered

Great Atmosphere, really unique authentic Thai furnishings. Absolutely delicious food and my favorite Thai restaurant 💚. Tom Yum soup for a starter was especially good 😋.

A wonderful restaurant with lovely owners. Food and atmosphere was fabulous.not my first visit and won't be my last. Food ir really authentic and atmosphere is cozy. Good for couples or groups. Staff aim to please and are so gentle and polite

I absolutely love this restaurant! The staff are so nice and helpful, the food is delicious. I can't recommend this place enough.

Beautiful food and lovely staff. My only two concerns were that, firstly, we were initially shown to a table for two positioned so we were facing the wall with very little room between potted plants and my chair. Not very feng shui! Secondly, my partner and I would have liked ONE glass of wine with our meal, but only two/three choices were offered by the glass on the drinks menu with 90% of the wine list being by the bottle, not ideal when we are driving, so we ended up having Coca Cola instead. I think this is a restaurant aimed at a group clientele rather than couples (hence selling bottles of wine), so we will go elsewhere next time.

Excellent food and friendly service as ever. Great flexibility for people with allergies too. Often have great conversations with these people. It's ine of the advantages of a locally owned and run restaurant over the big chains.

Very good restaurant. Good food and excellent service.

This restaurant's food is superb, the price is very reasonable. The staff are great. I've been to many Thai restaurants, this one is definitely one of the best outside of Thailand 🙏