Paradise Road — Restaurant in Melbourne

Came here to celebrate a birthday thinking that a 4.2 star average google review would surely be a safe bet for a pleasant experience. I was dead wrong. Got unauthentic, stale thai food that tasted like leftovers, and the pleasure of dealing with a 'manager' who had absolutely zero care for customer experience. Aside from the terribly stale, unpleasant food (beef in crying tiger salad was so tough it was not chewable, salt and pepper calamari bland and had 0 seasoning, duck in the red duck curry was tough as well, curries had no flavour, soft shell crab overfried, essentially there was a problem with every single dish, no dish tasted authentic, all were bland and unappetising, none tasted like it had been made by a thai chef with experience) the worst issue of the evening was the customer service. Our entire table of 8 had issues with the pad thai that smelt foul, like a damp rag, likely from some of the ingredients that had been left sitting for too long. This wasn't the usual funky smell from fish sauce in thai cuisine (I have tasted many pad thais in my life) but smelt of damp rags or clothes left in the rain too long. We intitially let the waiter know that there was something off with the pad thai (we ordered around 9 dishes, all tasted unauthentic, but were tolerable, but the smell of the pad thai was so offputting we couldn't eat it). She took it to the kitchen and returned a few moments later, plonked it back on the table saying it was "presented as it was supposed to be." I then went back and spoke with the manager, and was completely dismissed. She basically accused me of trying to manipulate the system to get the dish for free, indicating that apparently "half the dish had already been eaten" so she couldn't (as the manager) do anything about it. Bear in mind we had 8 people at the table. We had to taste the food before we knew it was off... had she paid attention she would have seen that most people had it left on their plates. Instead of acknowledging the issue and rectifying it, she continued to accuse me and say there was nothing she could do. The pad thai was a vegetarian pad thai... would have probably cost less than $5 to actually make, yet the manager was so concerned about the bottom line rather than a paying customer's experience that she was willing to stand her ground. We were at a standstill for about 5 minutes before she finally agreed to take the item off the bill, but had to add in one final jibe about "I'll do it this time, but you can't order this dish again in future." At least she got that right, there is no way I would be returning even if someone paid me. This restaurant is a complete farse of a thai restaurant with no authenticity or understanding of customer service. Completely left a sour taste to what was supposed to be a wonderful birthday...

We had a birthday dinner on Friday 31/5 and it was a wonderful dining night. The dishes and service are very satisfying though the space is quite limited. I've already started to look into another friend’s birthday next month as the restaurant provides exceptional food service at such reasonable prices. Upon our arrival, we ordered our first round of entre and mains whilst waiting for the birthday boy to arrive. The oysters were very fresh and seasoned with the right amount of herbs that weren't overwhelming but brings out the taste of the oysters. Beef served on a sizzling plate was tender and medium, though I reckon if they ask and specify patrons’ likes would be better since the beef slowly settled to medium well before we could finish it. Although it wasn't done as to how I like it, the taste and texture were still amazing. The stir-fried crispy pork was indeed crispy but went down to our least favourite of the night as the oyster sauce covered too much flavour of fresh spices. However, it goes very well with rice, if you're a fan of rice. Green curry and tom yum were good too but tend to be quite normal like other shops and the tom yum lack of seasoning a bit. The staff who served us was a young lady with glasses and dark ponytail, named Hannah if I remembered it right. She was very patient, friendly, smiley and helped us with some questions and ordered. It's worth mentioning her wonderful service as we were not an easy table to deal with since it was a special occasion and we had to keep calling her around for another round or more questions.

I'd take off 1 star out of 5 due to how limited space it is and how close each table is, which result in very high noise level. But Hannah’s great attitude, the amazing food at a relatively cheap price, and how satisfied the birthday boy was, will keep...

3 Sept, dinner. Table No 70. 5 people. Total bill $ 500. ($100 pp)

Food was good as usual. I'm afraid, that's where the good feedback ends.

Service very poor.

Slow service. (Our previous visit a few months ago service was slow, too - this time worse) The gentleman waiter forgot my Tom Yum Kung. I tried to get somebody's attention. Nobody noticed my raised hand. Embarrassed, I let it go. I also wanted another bottle of wine, again nobody noticed my raised hand. I let it go. Then after the mains, we wanted dessert. I had to wait 15+ minutes to get sombody's attention. Not happy. At all.

Ambience very, very bad.

You CANNOT have tables so close together. I could not leave the table to wash my hands without inconveniencing my own guests (they had to stand up an step into other people's personal space to let me pass) and tables around us. The wait staff could barely reach our table.... so how are they expected to provide any service???? AND. AND we are still in the grips of COVID!!

Meanwhile, the Magager (lovely bloke) and the staff spent a huge part of their time scurring around - cleaning/ setting tables and not paying attention to customers right under their noses.

Briefly spoke to the Manager about slow service..... YES! I agree there might be a shortage of trained staff. But, you KNOW that. In that case, for Heavens sake, DO NOT OVER BOOK YOUR RESTAURANT!! That is TQM one on one.

Value for money - Is this what $100 pp gets you? You do the math.

We entertain fairly often. I dont mind spending, but I expect reasonable service. We have visited Elephant Corridor three times and Paradiae Thai approx four times.

Moral of the story. We will...