Amphawa Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

That night, I was looking forward to eating at Amphawa Thai Restaurant, expecting a nice casual dinner with a few close friends. What I received from the customer service, solely from the owner, was far from it & very disappointing. I have never written a bad review in my life, but this matter has been constantly dwelling on my mind since the incident & I feel it needs to be shared. As a Muslim girl I have never felt so uncomfortable eating at a restaurant in my entire life up until that night. Throughout the entire evening, the restaurant owner would show up at my table and constantly make smart remarks regarding my religion (the headscarf gave it away I was of Muslim faith). It initially started when I asked if the meat was halal, to which he replied & laughed, "maybe in a 100 years when I'm dead." I let this pass, thinking that was the end of it. To my surprise, the smart remarks continued throughout the night by the owner... "I'm going to bring you guys a nice big dessert with alcohol all over it," & "You've lived a very sheltered life from this world, haven't you?" & "Do you have a boyfriend?, I'll be your husband". By this point it was very clear he had a preconceived image of all girls wearing a headscarf. Australia is a very multicultural, very accepting nation, & in my 18 years of living here I have never ever felt so offended & discriminated against, never ever had someone create such a fixed & oversimplified image of who he thought I was as a person, with judgement based entirely on the headscarf around my head. My only regret that night was not standing up for myself right there and then & not speaking up about this matter earlier. I sincerely hope my review has made you understand that your comments were very offensive and in no way funny or to be taken lightly. Please try to be a little more conscious, a little more respectful, and little more understanding of other religions & cultures, so that maybe no one else will have to feel...

I have been a long time recurrent customer of the restaurant, and unfortunately I’m reviewing my last night experience, I don’t know exactly what happened to them, but this never happened before: We went last night (28/12) to get takeaways on a hurry, we asked how long would it take, and the lady that took our order in person said 20 minutes, we wanted to cancel because of the hurry and she said no worries around that not too long….. We waited 1hour and 15 minutes….. the restaurant at that time was totally empty!!!! And only couple of people waiting for orders and everyone very unhappy

We understand that many things can go wrong, maybe your chefs quit, or didn’t come, maybe you were short in preps…. But what we can’t understand and reason why we really won’t be coming back in a long time, is the lady that took our order, first lied! Secondly hided herself, nowhere to be seen, and then sending young ladies to apologise for the wait and keep telling us that the food was coming…..

Please with an empty restaurant and we only ordered 2 takeaway meals. we wouldn’t have problem to comeback another day, but it was very much a forced hour… and the food was not even as good as before

Wish you the best, but I needed to share...

Since Jason took over this restaurant in mid 2021, Amphawa has been the best thai restaurant in Australia. That's a huge claim but, as a lover of thai food since the early 80's (40 years!), I know when I'm in the presence of greatness. Everything here is great - super fresh and tasty. And the wait staff are so friendly and helpful.

On Wednesday, we had an amazing meal of cashew nut noodles with duck (see photo 1). It was so good, we were back again tonight (Saturday). This time, we ordered the incredible BBQ chicken (with delicious secret sauce) and coconut rice (see photo 2). And we always order the superb pork dim sims for entree - the freshest, most delicious dim sims on the planet! Plus I always ask for fresh chopped chilli on the side to compliment the main course. These chilli's are amazing! Too hot for almost everyone but I love them!

It's not expensive so we eat here often. Highly recommended. 10 gold stars!! And it's BYO & licensed, with plenty of free parking directly outside. And yes, you do need to drive here (or catch an Uber) because it's off the beaten path, in a location where you wouldn't expect to find the world's best Thai restaurant. But make the effort and you'll be...