Nongkhai Thai Essendon — Restaurant in Melbourne

WOW! With extra emphasis on the wow! Food, atmosphere, service was exceptional! Must try of Thai lovers. So; let’s break it down…

Atmosphere: * Outside seems really plain, but when you enter it’s like entering relaxed lounge of luxury. The leather chairs and lounges are very comfy, and the decor supports the amazing Thai culture to great effect. Definitely a place for all occasions. Extremely well done!

Customer Service:* Both customer service reps were excellent. Both were bright, colourful and very polite and helpful. Our order was taken effortlessly with entrees, mains and drinks; entrees under ten minutes, mains under ten minutes afterward. We were asked after our dinner, offer dessert and if anything else was required. It was an absolute delight.

Food (why were are here): Order: Mixed Entree, Duck Gang Keon Whan, Chicken Gang Dang, Chicken Pad Ki Mau. All Excellent!!! Mixed Entree - excellent assortment and all hot, crispy and excellent flavours. Duck GKW - the duck was so amazingly tender and juicy; along with the sauce the pumpkin added its own special something, truely a must try. Chicken GD: As above, the chicken was succulent and the sauce was so rich and flavourful. Excellent! Chicken Pad Ki Mau - the spice really took the show with this dish, nice fresh ingredients with that fresh spicy chilly was just a winner.

Overall: This restaurant really delivered across the board with presentation, service and excellent Thai cuisine! If I can get back here regularly I would be trying every dish they have on the menu. Absolutely well done, NongKhai Thai! ...

I write this review on day one of yet another Melbourne COVID lockdown.

I couldn’t get through to the restaurant on the phone at around 5:30 pm.

The reason became apparent when I arrived at the restaurant as there was nobody at the front counter to answer the phone. There was one worker running between the kitchen and the front counter bringing orders out.

While waiting to place my order, two other people walked in and placed orders ahead of me. To say this was annoying would be an understatement.

When I finally got to the counter, the worker went to walk away. I had to get her attention and say ‘ I have an $80 order I’d like to place after waiting for 10 mins. Would you like to take it or not?’

She looked at me like I had three heads, after which I said not to worry about it and I took my money to my local fish and chip shop.

With the hospitality industry going out the door backwards because of COVID lockdowns in Melbourne, I would’ve thought restaurants like this would bend over backwards to make sure customers walking in off the street had their orders taken as much as the lazy knobs using Uber Eats.

Evidently this restaurant couldn’t give a rip whether they serve their customers or not. If you order via Uber eats, you are more chance of getting a meal than you are if you’re a walk in, without a mobile phone and a car parked out the front with its hazard lights on.

I will never, ever waste my time again attending this establishment. ...

I ordered 2 noodle dishes, a beef massaman a serve of rice and a couple of roti. I was told it would be 40 minutes and turned up to the store 45 minutes later. I got served after 5 minutes gave the guy my name and he went off to check what was happening with my order. He never actually told me but over the next 40 minutes he had to check my name 3 times and never once actually returned to talk to me.

1.5 hours after my initial order I finally got my food amongst a crowd of disgruntled people who had mixed to no messages on the state of their orders.

I was initially annoyed however when I ate the food I was pleasantly surprised. Everything tasted pretty amazing. I was almost ready to write a 4 star review until I had the massaman curry. After a few bites I realized that the beef was mostly raw. Not rare or medium rare but RAW.

I'm pretty disappointed by the overall experience. If the store put together a coherent ticket system and communicated better with customers I'm sure things would be better and I might return. But for now I'm not sure if the addition of raw beef makes me...