Anna Bay Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Anna Bay

I hesitated to give a 1 star review due to the current COVID situation. However, the reasons for the review are related to matters that existed before the current lockdown. I also leave this review respectfully and with the sole intent of giving honest, balanced feedback in the name of raising standards.

First, the positive feedback: helpful and friendly staff, and a pleasant environment.

However. At the restaurant’s own admission, entrees were pre-cooked and re-heated resulting in dry, floury chicken satay, dry and stale money bags, and equally dry and unappealing fish cakes.

The main dish (bbq chicken) and wasn’t much better but it was edible. Suffice to say, we ended up throwing out half of the food we ordered at a cost of $61.

The appeal and flavour of good Thai food is in the quality of ingredients and, importantly, the freshness of its preparation. The restaurant will say that it’s the only way to serve up food orders quickly. The really sad part is that it doesn’t take much longer or any more effort to cook all dishes from fresh and I’m sure, like me, the vast majority of customers would happily wait 5 - 10 minutes longer for their order in exchange for better quality food. And most likely be willing to pay a little more too.

Serving up freshly cooked meals is entirely possible, even in a regional area. I’ve enjoyed exceptionally good, freshly prepared Thai meals in small towns like Gloucester, Goulburn and other regional areas in NSW. Places where restaurants are highly dependent on locals returning vs catering to a high proportion of weekenders and holiday-makers. Perhaps part of the problem in Port Stephens?

In fairness, Anna Bay Thai isn’t the only Thai place in the area serving up pre-cooked/re-heated dishes. The same issue has been the case with at least 3 other restaurants nearby. So, with all due respect, I challenge them all to cook everything from fresh in future. When this happens, I’ll happily return and, assuming the quality and flavour matches the freshness, will be the first to write a 5 star review. More to the point, I’m sure they will enjoy more commercial success (revenue and profit) while customers will enjoy better meals and return more frequently. Disappointing as my experience was, I genuinely...

Went for dinner on 1st January with the young family. At arrival we were warned of a 20’ wait. After an hour wait and having witnessed how the phone did not stop ringing and endless number of people came to pick up their take aways, we politely stressed that it was not fair to prioritise every take away over the people dinning in. There also was a large family, with young kids in the same situation. The poor answer given was, ‘we will try our best’. After another 10’ wait, the owner came in to whom I reiterated the poor customer service, lack of response and willingness to give us priority over the endless take away orders. The owner went to the kitchen and 2’ later left the restaurant with no answer and rushing to get out of this mess to avoid any explanation.... This was enough to make us decide to leave. When leaving the table, the waitress asked whether we wanted to cancel the order...

I am always keen to support local small business. However, such a lack of common sense, basic understanding of customer service and attitude to solve a problem from the waitress and owner himself makes me wander whether this business deserve this support in the first place...

Next time we fancy thai, we will try the restaurant at...

Honestly I’m sad to say but this is the worst Thai I’ve ever had and a disappointing end to our lovely stay in Anna bay . I felt bad that we wasted our money. All the sauces were like thick water and the meats were all tough. The massaman beef was thinly sliced steak meat and the flavour was not what you would call massaman and very sweet . The prep time was very fast but I can see why - I’m so disappointed. We picked up our meal and ate at home … My kids all sent their bowls back to our kitchen only half eaten. Actually feel so ripped off at the poor quality of food and a waste of our...