Wild Rice Laos & Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Queensland

*See bottom for revisit Jan 2020 review

Having such a good rating, I was excited to give Wild Rice a shot and hopefully have a really good meal in Townsville.

The sever was super friendly and we were greeted and seated with a smile. The restaurant is quaint and well decorated. Unfortunately the one server was the only person working the floor so it took quite a while to order and for our food to arrive after we ordered - granted the weather was horrible so it's understandable they may have been short-staffed. Nevertheless the service was very acceptable throughout.

The food itself was alright. I had the green curry and it really lacked the flavour of other similar curries I've had. It was just kind of.. bleh. Was alright, just nothing special at all. I also made the mistake of asking for it a bit spicy and was rewarded with (literally) an entire huge green chilli pepper cooked in the curry. It was ludicrously hot, but I powered through nonetheless and tried to be impartial in my evaluation despite searing off my taste buds throughout the meal.

Overall, an ok place for curry but I would really struggle to say it's worth the price. The friendly service and style really makes me want to like it more.

REVISIT JAN 2020

So I decided to try Wild Rice again on another trip to Townsville.I was, again, craving some good Thai food and this time I wasn't disappointed.

Again the ambiance was very nice. Despite the small restaurant being full when we arrived it didn't feel cramped at all. The service was quick and everyone was very friendly. I had the green curry again but asked for it mild to medium - which seemed to be the right choice. In my previous review I mentioned that it lacked flavour, but this time I found that it was very aromatic and well balanced, but was very light compared to other similar curries. I may have found this disappointing during my last visit when the weather was miserable and I was looking for a heartier meal, but in the summer heat of Townsville, the light texture and subtle flavours were quite nice. I think it still could have used a bit more of a punch of flavour to hit the mark. The coconut shrimp were a nice starter, and the meal was good...

Terrible. Worst dining experience I've had in a long time. On arrival there were plenty of tables available but they asked us to wait to clear a smaller table because there were only 2 of us, that's fine but the other waiter then tried to give our table to someone else who arrived after us. We then sat and waited for 15 mins for someone to come over and take a drinks order. While ordering drinks we asked if we could order food too, they said yes. I asked if my starter and main could come together, they said yes but the starter came first. My beer came but my girlfriends drink didn't, then my starter came and I asked the waiter where my girlfriends drink was to which he replied they are very busy. Her drink came and then her main, my main didn't. Her main was going cold so she started eating and mine came about 8 minutes later. My main, half grilled chicken was dry, the veg was dry and the rice was bland and also hard. Nobody came to ask us if the meals were OK or if we would like another drink. A family moved from another table right next to ours and they began to play videos for their baby on a phone which was old Mcdonald on repeat, staff didn't seem to care and other diners noticed too. Food was that dry in the end it wasn't edible so we got up and left. Again, as we were leaving nobody asked if our meals were OK they just took payment.

All in all, absolutely terrible and 100 dollars...

Went here for my Birthday dinner and loved the atmosphere of the restaurant. We got there pretty early for dinner and it was already packed, despite it being a restaurant you have to walk up to and can't just walk past, which made it clear to us that it was popular. No doubt I understand why as the portions are huge with a variety of authentic Laotian and Thai dishes. As someone who is half Asian and has travelled intensively in Laos and Thailand, I was pretty happy with the dishes but it could've been slightly more seasoned and fresh... And worst part was that they had run out of sticky rice AND wild rice (plus no vegan desserts), which made me quite upset as it is the restaurant name and my two favourite foods, and plant based Thai desserts are plentiful. Nonetheless the staff were very professional and kind, the service and energy of the restaurant made it a pleasant experience and I was really happy with their vegan main meal options. We got the deconstructed mushroom soup noodles and claypot....