Samgasat Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Edge Hill

Vegetarians and vegans be warned.

Was excited to hear that they have a separate vegetarian and vegan menu. Most of the dishes contained fish sauce though, but it said on the menu something like 'please talk to staff to discuss your dietary requirements, meals can be made without fish sauce' (I wish I took a photo of the menu). I asked for the kow soy vegetables without fish sauce. They came back and told me that they can't make this dish without it. I then just asked for any vegetable curry without fish sauce and they said they cannot do that. I politely told him that this vegetarian/vegan menu is misleading because a meal isn't vegetarian/vegan if it has fish sauce in it. They said many vegetarians don't mind that there is fish sauce (not true) in their food and that they simply cannot make a curry without fish sauce. Thai is my favourite cuisine and I've been to many Thai restaurants, I know its possible to make a vegetarian curry without fish sauce. So to the vegetarians and vegans in Cairns looking for a Thai restaurant, I do not recommend Samgasat. They don't understand what vegetarian/vegan is. I ended up getting stir fry vegetables which was nice but not worth...

Unfortunately this place is not suitable for families who may need high chairs. They force you to sit right next to the toilets. We arrived at 5:30PM, restaurant was empty except 1 other table and we would’ve been out by by 6:15 (still wasn’t packed then when we walked past). But we were told children are too inconvenient to have anywhere other than right up the back by the toilets, despite there being practically no one else there.

We understand concerns for safety in terms of blocking paths and politely tried to suggest various solutions whereby the high chairs are on the window side etc. There were numerous tables where the children could have sat and stayed well out of the way of the walkway but no matter what we suggested they were not willing to accomodate or even consider. We were repeatedly told it was due to the “crowdedness” 2 high chairs would cause at any other table and that was the only suitable table. Basically there was no flexibility whatsoever despite being there so early when it was empty. We eat out with the kids at least once a week and this was a first....

This review is based on going here a couple of times now. The food overall is great, pushing towards the amazing side. Had the crispy pork which was heaven unfortunately was more of a veggie dish than pork but still very enjoyable and had the whole fried fish our last visit which I highly recommend. Definitely fresh quality ingredients. There is definitely negatives though, service is extremely slow. They sit you down and really won't check back on you if you don't say something. You really need to communicate a lot with the staff if you want anything done. The menu unfortunately doesn't really have a thorough distribution of the dishes, which can be difficult when ordering sides and also there is no alcohol sold on premise, which isn't really the biggest deal so definitely do not forget your drinks. Food is 4 stars, compliments to the chef. Unfortunately service is 2 stars. I would recommend this...