Niagara's Finest Thai — Restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake

This severely over-priced tourist trap restaurant should be embarrassed at the slop that they served our party of four. The first sign of trouble came when the "appetizer assortment" arrived at our table. For some bizarre reason they offer a platter for two people and another one for three people. Because we were a party of four we had to order two of the platters for two. At $30 a platter here is what they served us. Each platter had two tiny spring rolls that were so uniform in size and lacking in filling that it was obvious these were frozen manufactured products. The "assorted" satay consisted of two small curry flavoured skewers of "organic" chicken that were tough and dry. The coconut shrimp were two small shrimp coated in a weird coconut macaroon coating that was overly sweet. Perhaps money is no object to the Niagara-on-the-Lake crowd but six nasty items on a plate for $30 should be an affront to even the most affluent of diners. Just when it seemed that things could not possibly get worse our entrees arrived. Each plate was priced just under $30 and the servings were so small that it bordered on the comical. I chose the "Chef's Signature Pad Thai". The menu stated that this dish consisted of fried rice noodles, egg, tofu, peanuts, preserved radish, bean sprouts, green onions, cucumber, shrimp and organic chicken. What arrived at the table resembled a pack of instant noodles from the dollar store. The noodles were not fried. They were boiled into a stodgy mess of starch and impossible to separate. There was no evidence of fresh bean sprouts. The tofu was missing in action. The preserved radish might have been there, but who knows. The green onion and cucumber were completely omitted. The shrimp consisted of two anemic shrimp and the purported organic chicken was three small pieces of dried out chicken sitting there flavourless and sad looking. I brought this up with our server, who adamantly insisted that "our chef is from Thailand". Well, good for him. I was born in Scotland but it doesn't mean I know how to make haggis. She also repeated to me a number of times that "different chefs do different versions of Pad Thai". Okay, this might be true but this version resembled something someone might make on their dorm room hot plate. My fellow diners were also less than happy with their dishes. One of them ordered a dish with beef tenderloin. What they claimed was tenderloin had the consistency of finely chopped and boiled stewing beef. It was so bad he ate one bite and pushed it away, opting to eat just the over-boiled jasmine rice that was indistinguishable from short grain sticky rice. They did comp him the dish but at this point that was of little consequence. I say this without irony or exaggeration, the Thai Express in our local mall serves comparable and in some cases better food without the pretentiously priced items that Niagara's Finest passed off as fine...

Firstly, this review was made after I spoke to the manager about my experience. The conversation was positive! From my recent visit, I must say the ambiance and service at Niagara’s Finest Thai were truly wonderful. The staff were attentive, and the atmosphere felt warm and inviting, which initially set the stage for what we hoped would be a memorable evening.

As a vegetarian (no meat, eggs, or fish), I reviewed the menu online ahead of time and felt confident there would be a good selection of dishes available. Based on this, I booked a table for a birthday celebration with a party of eight — 5 of us being vegetarian (not vegan). I even confirmed in advance that there seemed to be many options to accommodate our group.

Unfortunately, our excitement quickly shifted once we arrived and began reviewing the actual menu with the server. To our disappointment, we learned that many of the dishes we had considered were not suitable for our dietary (was told most contain fish/shrimp paste and no exceptions) needs (no meat, eggs, or fish)  even something as simple as a mixed vegetable dish was not an option. This was highly surprising and extremely disappointing, especially since the online menu and speaking to the restaurant prior to booking gave a very different impression.

When it came to the food itself, the flavors leaned heavily toward sweetness and coconut milk, which overpowered the dishes and did not reflect the balanced, traditional Thai flavors we had expected. The lack of flexibility in the menu was also discouraging. Given that Chef Kitti Wisesputi (Chef T) is highlighted on their website as leading an “outstanding team of culinary professionals,” we had expected more creativity and accommodation especially for a party of eight celebrating a special occasion. Unfortunately, that standard was not met, and the dishes felt uninspired rather than elevated.

Price was another concern. The dishes were significantly overpriced for what was delivered in both quality and creativity. In hindsight, given the cost, lack of suitable vegetarian options, and overall underwhelming flavors, we should have left and chosen another restaurant.

Overall, while the ambiance and service were commendable, the menu, execution, and value left much to be desired. With more flexibility and true culinary creativity, this could have been a fantastic dining experience but instead, it fell well short of...

I am Thai woman visiting Niagara from the USA with my husband and 20 months old baby. My husband knows that I love thai food so much so he took me here by surprise. He said that this restaurant has the best rating among Thai restaurants in the area. We arrived here around 4 pm. The restaurant was empty except one person at the bar. However, we found out the restaurant was pretty fully booked. The restaurant manager kindly squeezed us in to the restaurant’s busy schedule. Our waiting staff I believe named Carol was very pleasant and professional. So overall we are happy with the service.

In term of the price and portion, we ordered beef tenderloin kra pao, approximately $18 or $20/dish. The plate was decent size but full of green beans. Only a small amount of beef tenderloin. The second entree we ordered was the chef’s specialty “ Pla Lui Suan” $30/dish. It was deep fried basa fish. The fish fillet looked big from outside but when you bit through it, most of it is flour. There was a small amount of meat inside. I understand that this is a tourist area. I don’t mind paying higher prices but I expected a decent amount of meat when ordering protein.

As for the taste, I am happy with the Pla Lui Suan taste, but very disappointed with beef tenderloin pad krapao- I hardly tasted anything from this dish. The dish was full of undercooked green beans. Only few basil leaves can be found in the dish. You can’t even smell the aroma from the basil in this dish.

In conclusion, I am very happy with service of the restaurant but I think the restaurant needs to improve on the portion and the taste of beef Kra Pao. My husband and I have tried many thai restaurants in the USA that had and didn’t have Thai selection certificates. Although the restaurant is granted Thai Selection certificate, we still find this restaurant still has much...