Bowmanville Thai — Restaurant in Clarington

So I ordered the chicken satay, tom yum soup with shrimp, spicy thai noodles with beef, chicken and shrimp pad thai, basil rice with bbq pork, crispy tamarind beef and shrimp rolls.

All the meats were fresh, delicious and ABUNDANT. This is not a place that will give you like two pieces of meat for an order and say it's a main, and that is so rare, especially these days. I will say the chicken felt a bit overdone in the pad thai, though the satay was great, but I preferred every other protein that I ordered. The shrimp was a standout among standouts in preparation, not at all gamey or overcooked, they were huge, juicy, bouncy, fresh, and hot. The pad thai is the best I have ever had. EVER. And I have had a lot of pad thai in a lot of places over a long period of time. The basil rice was also extremely good, very aromatic and flavourful, the pork in it firm and tender. The soup was comforting and creamy.

They listen to order notes very attentively, which is great as someone with food intolerances, allergies, and both needs and likes food prepared a certain way (typically extra spicy). I really appreciated that.

They did forget a lot of my order, but the restaurant went above and beyond and delivered it to my address to correct their mistake, and it was all delicious.

It does not seem to keep for very long, so be mindful if you mean to have leftovers, but it's fantastic fresh anyway.

The shrimp rolls were very tasty, but it felt like the lettuce-to-other-ingredients ratio was very high, and would have liked to see more of others and less of it. I know some needs to be there to hold it all together but it felt like too much. The sauces, ALL the sauces for everything that came with them were fantastic, though.

The only other thing is I really, desperately wish this place did mango dishes, especially mango coconut sticky rice which is a staple dessert in thai restaurants. Maybe someday, but the reason why I long for that is because they knocked everything out of the park and would love to see their take on it. For now, I cannot praise this place enough, easily some of the best Thai I've had, and I've had Michelin starred Thai food as well. Thank you for the marvelous experience, can't wait to...

What an absolute disaster.

We placed our order over the phone which was very challenging. The person on the phone didn't speak English well nor were they very familiar with the menu, forcing using to reference dishes by menu number instead of just a verbally telling them our order.

We were told that the food would be ready in half an hour.

I hadn't eaten in over 24 hrs due to work. My wife was hungry from working all day and our two children were also very hungry and were excited when we told them that we would be having Thai.

I arrived at the time when the order was supposed to be ready and stood at the front counter. I was ignored for over 10 minutes by all staff present.

At this point, the order is 10 minutes late.

When I was finally asked what the name on the order was, I was told it would be an additional 10 minutes.

I was annoyed, but I waited. And waited.

20 minutes after I was told it would be 10 minutes (now 30 minutes late), I was then told they hadn't even started preparing the order and that it would be another 15 minutes.

Of course I couldn't trust that the food would be only another 15 minutes. I had already been misled and lied to.

I told them they need to be upfront and honest with their customers about order times - despite my own hunger, I had a family including children at home relying on me to bring home the Thai food they were looking forward to.

Staff didn't seem to care whatsoever, and actually visibly appeared relieved that they didn't have to prepare my order.

I arrived home empty handed and my kids were very upset. Thanks for nothing Bowmanville Thai.

How unprofessional of you. Don't lie to your customers about how long the order will take. Be honest about how long the food will take so that I can prepare my family accordingly.

We won't be returning despite having enjoyed Bowmanille Thai for several years. We will also be sharing our experience with family and friends and recommending they don't patronize this business.

Writing this low rated review is my absolute pleasure.

If you continue to operate your business this way, you can expect to be shutting its doors permanently in the very near future.

Thanks...

Since it's changed owners (which occurred years ago now), this restaurant has been better than ever. The owners are very nice people who obviously appreciate the business they receive and are willing to do anything they can to resolve an issue. (I once had a problem with a delivery driver not giving me proper change, because he wasn't carrying it. They refunded me money and apologized.)

The food is quite good and it's pretty affordable. Easily the best Thai food in Bowmanville. I know that's not saying a lot because Thai Hot Spot has closed, but I felt this way before that place went. Thai Hot Spot was overpriced, the food was nothing special and the owner had his head up his own ass.

(At Thai Hot Spot...) When my food came out at a mixture of temperatures one time, I complained by email and was told that would never happen because his chefs were too good. I should've complained in person, but I'm shy and don't like confrontation. I had ordered a basil beef stir fry, and parts were warm and parts were cold. I don't know how.

Anyways, Bowmanville Thai makes really good stir frys and spring rolls, and is well worth checking out. Please support them so they...